A/N: Well, first of all thanks for reading this. Oh, some characters will have 2 names: an Arabic one and a more Occidental one. Courtney is one of those characters; her other name is Khadiha.
She was coming home, finally; after all this time.
The cold, salty breeze hit her on the face, relaxing her, the everlasting sound of the waves as they slide against each other helped her calm down. It was true that she had never have a thing for boats, or for sailing, but the fact that it was this boat the one bringing her back home made the whole trip a more bearable affair.
The girl leaning against the side of the ship was probably one of the most beautiful women the kingdoms of Orient had ever seen. She was petite and had tanned skin covering all her body. She had full, red lips and a small nose, with some freckles on it; but the most amazing feature on her heart-shaped face were her eyes. They were the color of night, a deep shade of gray that sometimes looked like onyx; they tended to change their shade of gray depending on the girl´s mood. Long strands of brown hair covered her neck and fell pass her shoulders, covering her back and stopping when they reached her tiny waist…
But her curvy body was hidden under a vast robe that started on her shoulders and fell all the way down to her toes. And her hair wasn´t exposed either; it was covered by a shayla,a long piece of scarf-like clothing that covered her head and shoulders so that the only part of her body other people could see was her face.
It was part of her religion; the beauty of a woman must always be guarded only for her husband´s eyes. It was all written down on the Quran.
–Khadiha! –A male´s voice called for the girl –Khadiha! We´re almost there. Lucky-Jack has already catch sight of land, just a few leagues ahead.
Khadiha, the brunette girl who had been leaning against the edge, turned around slowly and faced the captain of the ship.
He was called Jack, too, and was a strange-looking person. He was son of an Arabian woman and an English soldier and had grown up in the Royal Court of Britain; and had gotten the favor of King Jacob I. He had refined manners and a peculiar accent when he spoke in English. Oh, and he was the tallest man Khadiha had ever seen.
Also, Captain Jack was one of the most honorable men that served Khadiha´s older brother, the magnanimous Alejandro II, Prince of a kingdom of Orient that is now known as Saudi Arabia.
A month ago, Captain Jack had accepted the mission of bringing Alejandro´s younger sister, and also the one with the most capricious temperament, back to the Kingdom. The girl had spent nearly two years in the British Court, learning all there was to be known about manners, about businesses, about dresses and about young men who wanted to marry her because of her beauty and wealth.
And Khadiha was a girl that learned quickly, sometimes too quickly for her own sake. She had grown accustomed to the cold and elegant manners of the Ladies that lived in King´s Jacob castle; she had learned how to ride almost every kind of horses, she had learned how to walk and breathe with those horrible dresses that every rich lady had to use when having dinner with the King himself. And also how to break the dreadful corsets when she was mad but nobody allowed her to hit her tutor and protector, Lady Heather.
But the time Khadiha had spent in the Royal Court, having to deal with tutoring lessons from the devil herself was long gone. Now she was heading home, to the open arms of her beloved brother. Now she didn´t have to deal with stupid Sirs that came from God-knows-where just to admire her, as she was some trophy… She didn´t have to deal with old Ladies telling her that she was the most exotic girl that had ever been in the Royal Court. After all, it was not Khadiha´s fault or merit to own that tanned skin.
A couple of hours later, the boat finally reached land.
As soon as Khadiha´s feet reached the dock, music started playing in a beautiful harmony. Neys, panduras, arghuls, mizmars and other musical instruments started playing a song the musicians from the Arabian Court had composed for Khadiha, the most beautiful jewel in the Kingdoms of Orient.
Dancers moved their bodies around the young girl, enveloping her in thousands of colorful veils. Men were enchanting snakes in their wicker baskets, playing a mesmerizing melody with their zurnas. The crowd slowly divided, opening a road for the King.
Alejandro II was riding a splendid black horse. A giant smile spread on the King´s face when he saw her younger sister, surrounded by the dancers he had hired on Egypt for this special occasion. Khadiha was finally home.
When he was close enough, Alejandro dismounted and walked towards her sister. He hugged her and kissed her on the head.
–Salam aleikum, Khadiha –Alejandro said. –Is good to have you here again.
—Aleikum salam, brother. Is good to be back.
Alejandro hugged her again.
–I´ve got a present for you.
He signaled to the men that stood behind them, and two of them separated from the column and walked towards Khadiha, bringing a marvelous white horse with them.
The girl walked towards the horse, caressing it with one hand. Behind her, the sun was setting. With one little jump, she sat on the horse, and along with her brother, she began the ride back to their castle, she began the ride back home.
The alleys were becoming darker with every minute that passed by.
Duncan ran through the streets of London, praying the rest of his crew had understood the plan. The chance to steal from the richest families of the United Kingdom was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And for a bunch of pirates like them, well, it meant becoming rich for the rest of their miserable existences.
It wasn´t that he didn´t trust in his mariners, it was just that some of them were too clueless for their own sake. Take Geoff as an example. The guy was an ace with the sword and could swim better than Duncan himself, but when it came to remembering where they were headed… he couldn´t even remember he was on a boat. And last time, that had been a problem.
Duncan sighed, at least Geoff had company this time, DJ was certainly smarter than the blonde mariner, though he was too soft-hearted for a pirate. Duncan let out a sigh of despair. He knew this night could change their lives, but he´d gotten a bad feeling about this. Perhaps they should have waited a little longer.
Being lost in his thoughts as he was, the young man didn´t see the dark silhouettes that were running towards him until they collide against him, sending everybody to the ground.
Quick as a snake, Duncan was back on his feet, wielding a dagger, ready either to attack or defend himself.
–Wow, easy man. –A deep male´s voice. –We meant no harm.
–DJ? Geoff? What are you doing here?
–Duncan, man! See DJ! I told you it was him!
Duncan face palmed. The duo was supposed to be on call at that Duke´s house! How was the rest of the crew supposed to attack the city if they were not receiving any signals that it was safe to advance?
–Dudes! What the hell are you doing here?!
Geoff and DJ stopped their bickering and blinked. Duncan was waiting for a response but neither DJ nor Geoff wanted to be the one to give their leader the bad news.
–I´ve already asked twice and I´m not asking again. Spit it out!
Geoff pushed DJ. The heavy-set spoke then.
–We had troubles at the Duke´s house; he had more guards in every entrance than last night. Geoff and I tried to knock them down but we had only knock some of them out when Little Tim and some others came running. Robyn was getting impatient; he said he had already waited enough. He was ravaging this city tonight whether you were ready or not, Duncan.
DJ didn´t need to say anything more. Duncan had gotten the message; half of his crew planned a riot against him. And probably some of them were out to kill him.
–So? What are we waiting for? Let´s go!
Duncan took off running, not really caring if Geoff and DJ were following him. He needed to get to the governor´s house first. He needed to wreck the whole place down first, so that they could get to the ship first.
–Duncan! What do we do now?
–We wreck the governor´s house. Let Robyn and the others keep the Duke. We´ve got bigger plans.
Their silhouettes soon got lost among the shadows of the city walls.
Khadiha woke up with the rising sun.
The whole castle of sand was waking up too. She could hear the sound of the kitchen maids preparing the first and most important meal of the day. She could hear the voices of the merchants that were working at the market that stood at the other side of the castle´s walls.
This castle was surrounded by a city of sand, and yet it was too close to the sea to Khadiha´s taste. She preferred the other castle, the one that had been built in an oasis, a little piece of heaven surrounded by a sea of sand. But Khadiha liked the sand; she could handle the overbearing heat of the desert. It was the fluidity of the deep and blue ocean what she couldn´t handle at all.
After the reception at the dock, Alejandro and Khadiha had rode through the wild lands of their kingdom. They had passed other cities and their mosques and markets before finally stopping at the city where they currently were.
The governor of this city had offered his castle, a humble home, to accommodate the young Prince and his younger sister. Alejandro´s army was located against the castle´s walls, but still inside of the castle.
A bunch of maids opened the double doors that lead to the chambers that had been given to Khadiha. The governor was offering a massive party the night after tonight to the honor of the Prince and his beloved sister, the most beautiful woman Orient had ever seen since the times of the Prophet. And so, said beauty had to be ready for the banquet.
Letting squeals of delight and talking the whole time, the maids led Khadiha to a huge and luxurious bathroom. A huge tube filled with rose petals was waiting for her. As Khadiha slipped into the water, she felt her whole body relaxed. This was a real bath not those terrible opportunities English women had to clean themselves.
They washed her hair and perfumed her body once she was out of the tube.
–I heard Prince Malik from Constantinople is coming tonight, Princess. –One of the maids said.
–I´ve heard he is the most handsome man in the Kingdoms of Occident –said a young maid.
–And I heard he wants to marry you and that he is coming tonight to close the deal with your brother.
Khadiha just listened to the young and old maids talk. It wasn´t the first time she had heard women talking about the heir of Constantinople. Back at the Royal Court, young Ladies only seemed to be able to talk about that guy.
She remembered Lady Lindsay and her best friend, the ugly but good-hearted Lady Beth; she remembered them talking dreamily about Malik. They had told Khadiha that the rumors said he was the most beautiful man on Earth. They had said that when he was born, he was given two names, representing the two different cultures of the world he was bound to rule someday. Malik, was the name for the kingdoms of Orient and the wild lands of Africa; Justin, was the name for the kingdoms of Europe and what still needed to be discovered in Occident.
The duo of young Ladies had also told Khadiha that when he was just a little kid a mysterious witch had doomed him; giving him a different personality per name.
But all the stories that danced around the mystery of Malik were bullshit to Khadiha´s ears. She had two different names too, thought one of her names was given to her under not-too-pleasant circumstances. And she was not some type of legend or monster. She was just… human, and so was Malik.
Anyway, the maids just kept on chatting about the handsome heir of Constantinople and about how good Khadiha would look on her wedding with said gentleman.
An hour later or so the double doors opened again and Alejandro entered the room followed by a couple of men that carried a package with them.
–Yalah! Yalah! –the Prince said. –I want a word with my sister.
The maids left the room as quickly as they could, which took a while; and the men left the package on the bed before retreating silently into the hall.
–I hope you fin thee chambers appropriate for you, Sister.
–They´re lovely brother, though not as glorious as the ones back home. –Khadiha watched her brother carefully. It was not proper of him to come into her chambers with a package. And the fact that they were guests in someone else´s castle made the whole thing weirder. –What, may I ask, have I done in order to make you feel the need to come to my rooms?
Alejandro smiled slightly, a charming twinkle in his green eyes appearing just for a moment.
–It is not something you have done, is something you will do. –The Prince looked at Khadiha expectantly, but she remained silent. –Tomorrow night, Governor Said will host a party in our honor, Sister, and the most prominent members of the most important Courts of Orient will be here, because tomorrow´s party will not be just a trivial celebration.
Khadiha felt the blood drained from her face.
–Tomorrow night Prince Malik, the Heir of Constantinople, will propose to you. I´ve already promised him your hand, Khadiha; all you have to do is accept and smile.
The girl felt as if the floor under her feet no longer existed. Her vision went blurry and her head started aching.
–Khadiha? –Alejandro asked, watching as the girl in front of him slowly fell apart. –Are you alright?
Slap!
Khadiha´s tanned hand moved so quickly that her brother didn´t see it coming.
–Of course I´m not alright, Brother. I´ve just come back from the horrible English Court and now you tell me you´ve sold me to an Occidental Prince! You may be the heir of the Kingdom, and therefore you´ll be my King, but I do not accept this!
Slap!
It was Khadiha´s turn to feel the pain. Alejandro´s hand had come up just as quickly as hers had been just a couple of minutes ago. She had seen the blow coming, and yet she was surprised. Alejandro had never hit her before; but then again, what did she expect? She had hit the Prince first.
–You will marry Malik, whether you like it or not. The union between our Kingdoms will be the most powerful alliance that had ever been held between Orient and Occident and if you are the price I have to pay, then so be it.
He left the room without another word; he left her sister behind with all her tears and sobs.
As soon as the double doors closed, the maids returned to the room and surrounded Khadiha, trying to comfort her.
–Yalah! Yalah! –she shouted. –I want to be alone!
Scared by her anger, and by the sound of her tears, the maids slowly left the room, the sound of their whispers echoing through the rooms even after they were long gone.
Finally, when all that could be heard was silence and the shadows coming from the windows towered over her, Khadiha got up. Putting herself together, Khadiha walked towards the bed, slowly reaching for the package her Brother´s men had left there earlier.
It was a wedding dress.