Got another target from Lexa today. Princess Savana. Lexa wouldn't tell me what she'd done, but I figure it had to be something really bad because royalty can usually get away with almost anything. I'm living proof.

Before entering the hell that is the Desert Clan, I stopped to stack up on food and water. I had some time to spare so I took out the poster of the disgraced princess. She had the typical Sankru look. Dark eyes, hair black as night. She had no recognizable features. No face tattoos or something like that. Guess you could say that she was kind of pretty. For a Desert chick.

First thing I did was interrogate a few locals. And by interrogate I mean threatened to cut off hand, because obviously people will not help a stranger out without a little persuasion. They all said I would find Princess Savana in the part of the clan called The Big Waste. Which was ironic, because this whole thing was beginning to feel like a big waste of my time.

I walked for literally days and the only people I came across were dead. I did find a clue that I was on the right track, but I'm not sure I liked it. About a day and a half in, I found two corpses nailed to a tree. And the first one had a poster of Savana pinned to his chest with a dagger. As I said, bad.

Then, like all the great hero stories go, I got insanely lucky. A couple meters in front of me stood a woman matching Savana's description. Again, by pure luck, she didn't see me. She wasn't even facing my direction.

She was trying to get her dinner out of a trap. It was a desert fox I presumed. It was amazing how anything bigger than a lizard could survive in this environment. I watched as the Princess careful approached the animal as I took out my bow.
"It's alright. It'll be over soon." Savana said to the fox as she took out her dagger, "Shh, don't fight it."
Then I made a clumsy step forward, making a sound
and caused Savana to turn. Damn, she seemed more beautiful than her drawing.
"Shh, don't fight it." I repeated her words to her, holding up my bow.
"You should be proud, hunter." she smirked, "No one's gotten this close in years."
"How about you drop that dagger and then you can tell me how amazing I am?"
Savana dropped her knives and I started walking closer when she kicked a bunch of sand straight into my eyes and started running.
Fucking Sankru! Let's just add this to the list of things that would never happen in Azgeda.

When I regained my sight she was gone, but I thought I saw her run into an underground tunnel. I followed, hoping to catch up.
The tunnel went all the way under a hill and then out on the other side. But when I ran out, there was still no Princess in sight. Just sand. Just when I thought I had another week of sun ahead of me something hit my head and it all just went black.

When I woke up I was tied to a tree. Phenomenal. While I was thinking about how the hell did she find a damn tree here I saw her going through my pack.
"Shh, don't fight it." she gave me a smug smile and walked closer to present her findings. She threw a few drawings at my feel, mostly people I've already killed or delivered to the Commander.
"You catch all those?"
"Real honorable, hitting a man while his back is turned." I said. My damn head still hurt.
"This is the desert. Honor gets you killed. Now did you or did you not kill those people from my clan?"
"I did."
"Good. They were monsters," Then she got real close and put a knife at my throat, "Now, you are obviously not one of King Ellic's thugs. So I'll go easy on you if you just tell me who sent you after me."
"You're a fugitive, there's a price on your head. Everyone wants to find you."
"Just spit it out! Who are you?"
"I'm Roan, Prince of Azgeda and I was sent by the Commander to deliver you to King Ellic. Happy now?"
"You're not a prince."
"Sometimes I wish I wasn't."
"Liar!" Savana picked up her things and started walking away.
"Wait, damn it! I'm a prince, you're a princess, what's so hard to believe?" she stopped to listen to what I had to say, "Look, I don't know what the hell you did to deserve this, but I did nothing. I was exhilarated with no good reason and the only way I can ever get back to my normal life is if I do this to people like you."
Savana walked back after I said that and threw her dagger next to my feet.
"If you try, you can get free. And if you're smart, you won't follow me when you do."
I would have said something smart and sarcastic, for sure, but the horizon behind her disappeared in a cloud of sand and dust.
She saw my terrified look and turned around.
"Oh, no!"she yelled and started running around collecting her things in a hurry. It was one of those sandstorms everyone was so scared of, but that never actually happened. Unless you were this lucky...
"Princess? Princess!"
She went out of my field of view since I still couldn't move because of the damn ropes.
"Princess! Savana!"
Of course this is how I die. A fucking sandstorm. Can't even be a blizzard. Again, something that would never happen in Azgeda. I closed my eyes and just hoped it would be fast.
Then I felt something over my mouth. I looked up and saw Savana tying a cloth over my mouth first and then over hers.

Then she took the dagger from before and started cutting me free. At last I could move again, but before I could take a few steps she pushed me down. I was on my knees, very confused about her intentions and it didn't get any better when she kneeled next to me and put her arms around me.

"Do what I do and stay perfectly still." she instructed and held me tighter so that there was no space between us. I mimicked her in everything, even the way she buried her face in my neck.
Then as we were kneeling there, intertwined, the storm reached us.

I cannot even describe the feeling, but I can say it lasted for a while. I couldn't estimate how long, but too damn long for sure.

I tried to distract myself from the storm by thinking about Savana. I just focused on holding on to her. I listened to her heartbeat. And somehow, it passed.

We stayed in our position a little longer than I thought was necessary, but after all, she was the expert.

Then we finally raised our heads and removed the cloths to breathe normally again. Damn, she was even more beautiful up close.

The storm half buried us under the sand so getting up was a challenge. So was shaking the damn thing off your clothes and head.

"Thank you." I said.
I walked closer in case she didn't hear me.
"Thank you, Princess."
"Don't mention it." she said. Anyway, it got her distracted enough so I could take her sword.
"Really?"
"Really." I told her to find the ropes. Then I tied her up and we started walking out of The Big Waste and towards civilization. This time, curiously, she didn't run.

We used the time to get to know each other, and by that I mean we called each other offensive names.
I stopped to try to get some water from a cactus and set a few traps, but I was failing desperately. Of course, it's hard to work while Savana's laughing at my every move.

"Wrong!"she was sitting on the ground, "I don't understand how you made it this far. You're useless!"
"It's called supplies." I gave up and just walked back to sit next to her.
"Are you mad?" she asked when I handed her the last of my meat, "Who do you think will last longer without food or water? Me or you?"
"Nevertheless. You are my responsibility."
"Don't think you can twist this into a rescue mission! You kidnapped me and are taking me to my cousin who is gonna murder me on sight! Why don't you just kill me now and deliver my head?"
"I am not taking you to see Ellic."
"What?"
I didn't answer her since I already said too much. Why couldn't I just stop talking to her?
"Keep walking!" I stood up and lifted her to her feet so we could resume our journey.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To see the Commander! She's reasonable. If you're worth it, she'll pardon you."
"Oh, no one's that naive! You can't really believe she'd let me leave." she stopped to yell at me. Like we didn't have a long enough way in front of us. If she wanted to stop and yell, then that's what we were gonna do.

"It's better than what you have planned! Live alone in the middle of the fucking desert! Where there are no people, and the water has thorns, and everything is trying to kill you, even the damn sand! You'll die!"
"Don't you worry about me!"
"No one can survive alone! No one! What are you gonna do if Ellic sends ten men after you? Or twenty? Or more? You need some kind of allies! Maybe not me, or the Commander, but someone!"
Savana just stared at me like I've just said the most insulting thing she'd ever heard.
"You know I'm right! So I'm gonna let you go now and you can go off and die in your stupid desert! Or you can listen to the advice of someone who knows how it is to be you." I wasn't quite sure if I made it better or worse.

Then she showed me her hands, which were supposed to be tied. Obviously, she could have gotten free at any point. Then why the hell did she stay?

Before I could figure that out she gave me a clue and stepped towards me to kiss me.

At first I thought she just wanted my sword, but her hands were nowhere near it, but around my neck just like during the sandstorm. And I just stood there like a statue.

When she pulled away from my lips for a second I wanted to tell her something but she interrupted me.

"Shh, don't fight it."