Luckily they have allowed one of your loyal maidservants to stay with you. Quickly, you exchange clothing with her, leaving her sitting with her back to the doorway. Anyone peeking in will believe you’re sitting in quiet contemplation at your dressing table.
You cross to an intricately carved decorative platter mounted on the wall. You press the jeweled eye of a bird, the raised paw of a cat, and the rough bark of a tree and step back. The wall slides open, revealing a secret passageway. You step inside and press the same buttons on the inner wall. The door slides shut again. Did the Persians really believe you wouldn’t know the palace’s many secrets?
You welcome the cool quiet of the hidden room. You need this moment to think, to get your bearings. You must find Prince Dastan and somehow retrieve the Dagger.
You’ve heard from your maidservant that Prince Dastan often carouses with his men and almost seems more comfortable among common people than with royals. But his father, the king, is due to arrive at any moment. He could be staying close to his brothers right now. What should you do?
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“Prince, you have something of mine that I’d like returned,” you say calmly. “My dagger.”
“Actually, Princess, I think you need to be returned. To your chambers,” Dastan says. “You are to marry my brother to create an alliance between our peoples. We can’t have you running around dressed as a servant. Who knows what trouble you may cause.” He gives you a warning look. “And there will be trouble if you try to escape.”
He gestures, and the crowd of men who had been watching the fight now surround you. “Let’s escort the princess back to where she belongs,” he says.
A messenger arrives on horseback. “Prince Dastan! I’ve been sent to find you,” he says. “Your father, the king, has arrived!”
Prince Dastan’s face lights up. “So soon!” He turns to you. “Let’s dispense with formalities and introduce you right away.”
The guards drag you to where the royal procession is arriving. You frantically try to think of a way to get the Dagger and to escape this terrible fate.
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“Sorry, Princess,” Prince Dastan says with a smirk. “You can’t have your city back. It’s in Persia’s hands now.”
You fight back your fury. Such insolence. But to snipe at him won’t get you what you need. “I simply ask for you to return the Dagger you wear in your belt,” you say softly. You can’t risk the guard hearing.
He pulls it from his belt and holds it up. The jewel in the handle glints in the light. “Why should I?”
Your mind races. What will appeal to his pride? “You wouldn’t have won that fight without my guidance,” you remind him. “Surely you agree a gift of gratitude is in order.”
His eyes narrow as he looks from the Dagger to you and then back again. Then he shrugs. “Why not?” He tosses the Dagger to you. You catch it neatly.
“Thank you,” you say. You turn to go but feel you need to try one last time. After all, Dastan is not all that bad. “Please, Dastan. Keep a close eye on your uncle.”
“That’s an old trick, Princess,” Dastan says. “Divide and conquer. You seek to create a rift in my family. It won’t work.”
You know not to say anything else. He could change his mind about the Dagger, and you can’t risk that.
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“I can’t help you!” you cry. “Leave me alone!”
They lunge at you and you scream. Then you realize—all you feel is a strange fluttering. They have passed right through you!
“Use the Dagger!” they cry. “Use the Dagger and bring us back to the time when we lived.”
“I can’t,” you say. “That’s not what it’s for!”
You feel the odd sensation again as they try to get the Dagger away from you. Try as they might, though, they can’t grasp the weapon. Their transparent fingers can’t hold it.
“Get away from me!” you shout.
“Never,” the voices moan. “We will never stop!”
Now you understand why the city was abandoned. The inhabitants must have discovered it was haunted!
You race to Astrella. Storm or no storm, you’re getting out of there. Now!
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You slip the Dagger from the secret pocket in your skirt and hold it out to her. Her eyes glitter as she takes it.
The moment it is in her hands, she laughs.
A terrible, horrible, evil laugh.
“Well done!” she shrieks. “Thank you for bringing it right to me!”
You stare speechlessly as the girl transforms in front of you. Her fingers become talons, and she grows much taller. Her teeth turn into fangs, and her face stretches and twists into a grotesque mask. Her skin grows mottled, until you realize it’s not skin at all, but scales.
She’s a demon!
You scream and turn to run but the demon’s too quick. It’s disgusting tongue flicks out and catches you, the way a frog might catch a fly!
As the demon pulls you closer and closer, its stinking breath makes your eyes tear. You struggle to escape, but it’s impossible. Not only did you hand over the sacred Dagger to the evil creature, now you’re going to be its dinner!
After being so easily duped, perhaps it’s only right that this should be your . . .
END.
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Your mind reels.
You’re about to start begging, pleading, weeping even, if that’s what it’s going to take. But before you can say a word, Dastan puts a hand on your shoulder.
“I’m coming with you,” he says. He climbs back up onto Aksh. You watch him, confused. “You—you’re going to help me?” Dastan gazes down at you. You can see something has changed deep within him. He reaches out his hand to you. “We can sit here and chat, or you can get on the horse.” You smile and take his hand.
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“Dastan, if you give me that dagger I can give you anything you want. Your heart’s desire. Riches beyond your imagining,” you say.
“Not interested,” he says.
“How can you say that?” you ask. “Everyone has something they want. I promise you, I can provide it. Do you want a palace? A harem of beautiful women? Armor of the finest materials?”
You watch as Dastan does something strange. He takes off his shirt and wraps it around his head, covering his ears. “What are you doing?” you ask.
He points at his ears and shrugs. Now you understand. He doesn’t want to listen to you!
You fall behind a bit as you try to come up with a new plan. Suddenly a searing pain shoots up your leg. You glance down to see a scorpion scurry away. You’ve been stung!
“Dastan!” you cry. “Help!”
But he just keeps walking. He can’t hear you!
“Dastan, please. . . .” you try again. But it’s no use.
He gets further and further away as you call out, growing weaker by the minute. Your mission has been a failure in . . .
THE END.
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The man’s words barely register. Your mind is reeling. “Tamina,” Dastan says urgently, “if Nizam knows of this place we have to get out of here.”
You stand up and push past him without a word. You have no time to mourn—you know what you must do. “There’s only one way to stop all this,” you declare. “To be sure the Dagger is safe.”
“How?” Dastan asks. Can you tell him? You decide you must. “The temple holds the stone the Dagger came from,” you say.
“The first thing we learn, if all else fails—put the Dagger back in the stone. The stone will envelop it, pull it into the mountain. The Dagger will disappear forever, returning to the gods.
” You feel dazed, as the implications of what you’re about to do rush into your thoughts.
Dastan must notice the gravity of your expression. “What else?
Tell me, Tamina!” You take a deep breath. “The original promise must be fulfilled.” Dastan takes a step backward as if your words have knocked him off-balance. “The girl who offered her life for mankind,” he says slowly. “You plan to take her place. You’ll die!”
“The gods must take back the life they spared,” you reply simply.
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Hours later you are seated behind Dastan on the great warhorse Aksh riding alongside a river. You are miles away from Alamut. Dastan signals the horse to stop and you both dismount. Dastan kneels beside the river, letting the water drip through his fingers.
“This stream is a tributary of the river that runs through Avrat,” he says sadly. “The water they’ll use to wash his body.”
At first you find his words perplexing, then you realize he’s speaking of his father. “You mourn the father you murdered?” you ask.
He glares at you. “I did not murder my father.”
You nod, surprised by how quickly you believe him. But if not Dastan, who poisoned the robe? You sit beside him.
“It was foolish of you to add my troubles to your own,” he says.
You remember the moment you discovered that he had the Dagger. It was when Tus threatened your life. He pulled it out—as if he meant to defend you, even against his own family.
“You were ready to risk everything for me,” you say. “I saw that in your eyes.”
“I swore to my brother I’d take your life, rather than let any other have you,” he confesses.
Interesting, you think.
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Dastan begins pacing, tossing the Dagger from one hand to the other. You’re not sure what has him so agitated. He is muttering to himself, but loudly enough for you to hear.
“After the battle, he asked for this Dagger as tribute. I didn’t think anything of it. It was Tus!” Dastan turns to face you, his eyes cold. “He gave me the gift that killed our father. He stands to be crowned king. With this Dagger he could change course at a critical moment of a battle, foresee the blade of a rival. He’d be invincible.” Now he gazes up at the stars. “Tus is behind it all. My brother.”
You don’t know what to say to him. You can see it’s as if his world is collapsing. You feel a pang of sympathy. But that doesn’t change things. In fact, now that he knows about the Dagger’s power, Dastan is much more dangerous to you—whether or not he is hurting.
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You don’t want to risk joining up with strangers. You duck behind a dune and wait for them to pass. Then you continue making your way across the harsh and unforgiving landscape.
You have the awful sense that you’re being followed. But any time you turn, all you see are swirling dust funnels.
You have to take a break. You find a scraggly tree and drop under it, grateful for the small patch of shade. The heat must be affecting you—it looks as if there are furrows forming under the sand. Heading straight toward you.
You shriek as a pit viper bursts out of the sand. Then another! And another!
Then three dark-cloaked men thunder toward you, riding massive horses. Why didn’t you hear them? What is going on?
“Stay back!” you shout. You grip the Dagger. Should you use it to turn back time?
Before you can decide, the vipers strike! One sinks its fangs deep into your hand, making you drop the Dagger. You fall to the ground and watch, amazed, as another snake swoops in and picks up the Dagger in its mouth. It slithers up the leg of one of the men, who pockets the weapon with a smile.
“Thank you, Princess Tamina,” the man says. “We’ve been searching for this.”
Without another word, they turn the horses around and vanish beyond the horizon. The snakes disappear, too. Who are they? you wonder. How did they find you?
You’ll never know. The viper’s venom soon takes over your body. This is your . . .
END.
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“I mean no disrespect,” you say, “But the Dagger is entrusted to me, and I must keep it in my possession until I get to my destination.”
She smiles. “Well said. I am proud that you are a Guardian. The Dagger of Time and its secrets are well protected. I can see that.”
“Thank you,” you say, relieved she isn’t offended.
“I know you must have questions,” she says, “but now is not the time. We will meet again one day.”
You’re disappointed that you can’t spend more time with her, but she’s right. The Dagger must be brought to safety.
You lead Astrella back down the tiled passage. But when you turn to look back, the chamber has vanished. In fact, you realize, so has all the tile.
You reach the mouth of the cave and to your great surprise, find your trusted advisor, Asoka, waiting outside.
“What are you doing here?” you ask, rushing to greet him.
“Good news, Princess,” Asoka says. “The Persians have left the city! I don’t know why—but you may return with the Dagger. All is well.”
“That’s wonderful!” you say. “But how did you ever find me?”
“I’m not really sure,” Asoka says. “I felt guided by some kind of intuition.”
You have a feeling there were other hands at work in ridding Alamut of the Persians and in bringing Asoka to you.
“Thank you,” you whisper toward the cave. Then you mount Astrella and you and Asoka head home.
THE END
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Both you and Prince Dastan could be recognized by the many dignitaries arriving for the king’s funeral. You can’t risk that.
You scan the area and notice a small trapdoor just around the side of the entrance into the city. “Let’s go see where that leads,” you suggest. “It could be the water system.”
Dastan nods. “If we travel underground, we’ll be hidden.”
You slip through the masses of people and make your way over to the trapdoor. With all eyes on the procession, no one notices Dastan yank the iron ring and pull the trapdoor open. You quickly climb down the steel rungs, and he pulls the door closed behind him.
That’s when you notice something—the stench!
“Bad idea,” you choke out.
Dastan pushes up on the trapdoor but it doesn’t budge. “There must be something blocking it now. A horse, or a carriage, maybe.” He turns back to look at you. “We must be in the sewer system.”
You nod, covering your nose. “Well, it will still get us inside the city,” you say, trying not to inhale. “Even if it is disgusting.”
You start down the maze of tunnels. Unfortunately, it’s not just repulsive—it’s also really confusing. You get hopelessly lost.
This just might be where you and Dastan spend the rest of your lives. It is just the beginning of . . .
THE END.
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Shaking your head, you urge Astrella into a gallop and soon catch up with Kartosh. “Never would have guessed that a mud horse could move so quickly,” you comment.
“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Kartosh says. “And much I’d like to know about you.”
You want to avoid his questions, so you decide to ask your own. “Why were you in the box?” you ask.
“A minor disagreement,” the genie says. “I am grateful that you broke the spell.”
“I did?” you say, perplexed. “How?”
“First, by opening the box. That’s how I knew that you have a sacred destiny. You are human, that’s easy to see. But only a very special human would be able to get the latch to release. And then, by inviting me to join you.”
“What do you mean?” you ask.
“The spell would only be lifted if I
was invited to leave the cave.”
So that’s why he made you ask him again. You want to ask who put him in the box when you notice Astrella has grown agitated. She keeps looking back. So you glance over your shoulder.
“Uh-oh,” you say. “A sandstorm!” Sand funnels in the distance twist toward you. Strange—the funnels are moving completely in synch.
Kartosh looks back. “That’s not a sandstorm,” he says. Then he looks at you. “It appears, traveler, you have very powerful enemies.”
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For the first few miles you stay off the roads completely—you don’t want the Persian army to stop you. Eventually the terrain turns rougher, and you begin to feel fairly safe.
Safe from the Persians, at least. You still have no idea what to expect as you head farther and farther away from Alamut. You’ve never left the city walls before. You’ve never had a reason to.
No matter. You have the memory of every lesson you ever had as a Guardian to guide you. That is security enough.
You feel even more reassured when a city looms up ahead, precisely where it was foretold in the legends. And, just as in the directions you recited again and again, there are caves carved into the sheer rock face to your right. Perfect. You’re exactly where you should be.
Strange, you think, as you get closer to the city it looks abandoned. The walls are in disrepair and the crumbling gates are wide open. Then again, the stories of the journey to the temple have come down from ages long past. It could have been a bustling market city a thousand years ago!
The sky darkens and lightning flashes across the sky. You need to take cover. Should you hurry to the city and find shelter in one of the buildings? Or should you duck into one of the nearby caves and wait out the weather?
The Guardian's Path Page 3
