Red was the color of power. Amir had realized that long ago. It was the color that the man spilled when he made his first kill at the age of ten and the color that all men who followed spilled. It was the color of fire...the element he always wanted instead of his darkness element. But then how could he complain about the power to go into the minds and souls of men and completely obliterate them leaving them without a thread of sanity intact.
He remembered when he first obliterated a person's mind. It was related to the color red as well. He was in the playrooms of one of his half-sisters from his father's concubines, and he spotted. A princess doll that he instantly recognized as a forest girl with her white skin, green eyes, and clothing. But something was different about this doll. Its hair was red. Most dolls of forest girls he had seen had yellow hair, or sometimes black hair like a desert girl.
He went over to this doll and picked it up and began to stroke its red hair in wonder. He was so lost in it that he didn't notice the nurse coming from behind him until the doll was plucked from his hands.
"Prince Amir!" He heard the shrill nurse cry. He looked up at her angrily for taking the doll away from him.
"Boys, especially crowned princes, should not play with princess dolls, or any kind of girl toy." She scolded him. He did not react, visibly to this.
"Why does the princess have red hair." He asked calmly, as he got up.
"Because she is a forest princess and some forest girl's have red hair." She stated in an annoyed tone. He then held out his hands for the doll.
"Then give her to me, if she has red hair then she is my princess." The nurse shook her head.
"No." She snapped. "Suddenly, the young prince's face turned to fury.
"Give me my princess, now." The nurse turned to leave, but the rage over having his princess taken from him bubbled over in absolute madness. Suddenly black tendrils shot from him and into the nurse's head and she gave a blood curdling scream. She dropped to the floor, foaming at the mouth. He paid no attention to this and calmly went to pick up the fallen princess and sat down to play with her.
He never understood why the adults were so upset to find this scene later and the look of fear in their eyes when he explained what he had done. Everyone had looked at him with fear. Everyone that is...except his..father. He had smiled proudly.
"For the first time in half a millennium a royal son of the desert has been born with the powers of darkness! Not even light can match the power of darkness! Nothing is more powerful than darkness." He laughed and smiled at his son as he went over his plans that he-his son-would one day rule all the seven desert kingdoms, even the western ones.
"But what about the forests?" He asked his father.
"What about them?" His father seemed annoyed that his son was bothering him despite his joy being over his son's powers.
"Why stop at the deserts? Why can't I rule the forest as well?" His father gave a hmpf at that.
"The forest? Those primitive savages have nothing to offer us. The desert is where power lies, my son." Amir just stared at his father.
"I want more than the desert. I want to conquer the oceans, the mountains, the rivers, wetlands, plains, and jungles." For once in his life his father was speechless.
"Amir, my son, I am proud by your desire to conquer and lead, but taking over the world." He gave a chuckle. "That will get you killed." He stared at his father.
"But you said nothing was nothing was more powerful than darkness. So why shouldn't I be the most powerful man in the world." His father shook his head.
"You will understand the world is much bigger than you think, my son. Now go rest. Your training will begin tomorrow." Amir nodded and turned.
At that moment, at age eight, he knew without a doubt that he would, before his eighteenth birthday, have to kill his father in order to take his throne and start out his military conquest.
After all the world was big, as father said. If you wanted to conquer it you had to start early. To his credit, his father is true to his word and he begins his training the next day.
As he mentioned before, his first kill was at tender age of ten. His father didn't have a hand in it. The kill was completely on his free will and doing. It was some noble from the third desert kingdom (his father ruled the fourth) and the politics were complicated, he understand and knew this man greatly unnerved his father. He also threatened the stability of the Fourth Kingdom of the desert.
So Amir decided to kill two birds with one stone, as the children passed the Eastern mountains would say. One night he used his darkness powers to cloak himself in complete and utter darkness and sneak out of his room. He used his darkness powers to silence his feet and his senses to dodge guards in the dark.
His teachers didn't know about this power.
Amir knew even then that it was always better to keep your best cards close to your chest.
He kept his silent and deadly course as he made his way to the man of the Third Kingdom's room. Years later, Amir would not be able to recall his name and barely his face. All he knew was that this man needed to be dead. He waited for the guard to pass the room on his patrol before he entered it.
When inside her shuts the door and uses his darkness to cloak the entire room. No one would hear anything outside this room. He unsheathes the dagger and walks toward his sleeping victim and father's rival.
He is struck by how frail and weak this man is. His cane is in the corner. In truth his outside reflects the inside. The man is not powerful on his own. He truly has no crown, titles, armies, or riches that was truly tied to his name. He only gained them threw family favors and charming the right people. Amir now became truly disgusted by him.
He vowed to never be that weak. Without another thought of changing his mind. He uses his darkness to bind the man and give him one stab in the heart. He hears him screaming and begging, but he pays no heed. He does not see the need for more than one stab to do it. He will die from blood lost soon enough and too many stab wounds would make this look like a crime of passion than the simple ransacking that he wanted to make it look like.
He looks at the blood spilling out from the frail man's open heart wound and a strong part of him wants the red blood. He wants to feel it. He wants to taste it. He wants to wash himself in it. But he can't afford to get his hands dirty, so he goes about his business in wrecking the room. However he needs to take something. So he takes the royal crest of the Third kingdom and slips it into his pocket. That could fetch a good price on the Dune market.
That's what they'll think anyway. As for what he'll really do with it...he has an idea, but it will take patience and his plans going as he wants them too.
He leaves the ransacked and bloody room without a speck of dirt or blood on him. The only evidence of his crime being the crest in his pocket. He leaves the room with his cloak of darkness still around him and sneaks back into his own chambers under its cover. He lays the crest in a secret place beneath a loose stone on the wall, under his bed, that only he knows about. He knows because he has left things there before (as a test) and no servant ever found them.
After his guilt is hidden. He looks up at the Forest Princess on his mantle and places a kiss on her soft forehead.
"Everything I want will be mind. I will just have to have patience. I know that is what I need." He gives her one last kiss before going to bed. The next morning he is awakened by guards coming into his room, warning him of an assassin being loose in the palace.
He feigns the act of being a frightened child while the proof of his guilt is barely hidden from their eyes. It takes several days for the palace to calm down...when they finally think they have the traitor in their mists. A common guard. Now Amir knows the most critical part of his plan is before him. He takes the undisturbed crest from under his bed and buries it in his pocket.
He knows that the guards won't let him through, but luckily the guard has relaxed enough so the hallways aren't full of them. He can easily maneuver under his cloak of darkness and makes his way to his father's chambers. He stows into his father study when an adviser enters it. The darkness masks his footsteps as he moves into a corner and waits patiently for his father and his guest to finish their business with each other.
Once the adviser leaves, Amir spreads out an invisible cloak of darkness throughout the room that only his eyes would be able to see. No one would be able to enter or hear anything from the outside. He wanted to keep as much of his power hidden from his father as he could. Always keep your best cards close to your chest, he reminds himself.
Then he appears and walks up to his father who was currently hunched over his desk, looking over papers. He says nothing until his father finally peers up and jumps back at the sight of his son. Obviously startled that he could enter without him realizing it.
"How did you get in?" He questions his son.
"The guard is innocent, my Sire." He tells him, ignoring his question.
"How do you know, my son?" His father furrows his thick brows in confusion, "He is the only one who could have done it. He was the only guard there." Without another word, he pulls out the crest of the Third Kingdom and lays it on his desk. His father can't catch his words and Amir uses this chance to speak.
"I did it for you father...and our people." He lies. Amir did it for himself. He will not lie to himself about that. In winning a battle it is better to know yourself than your enemy. He knows very well that he is selfish, but has no problem with it.
His father tenderly picks up the crest and holds it, shuddering. Amir continues.
"He was going to cause trouble with our people and with you. I was tired of seeing him mock us. He was frail and a coward who used his position to abuse us all." He looks away with a false expression of regret. "I never expected an innocent man to go in my place." He lies again. Amir is proud of how he is able to lie with such ease. He looks back at his father. "I will face any punishment you deem deserving of me." He then looks down, and makes a tear go down his face.
His father doesn't say another word, not before coming around the desk, and scooping his child up in his arms. Amir leans against his father's shoulder and smirks for a moment. He knew very well that his father couldn't kill him. He is the heir, their greatest weapon, and not to mention the scandal it would cause.
"My son...I am so proud of you." His father's voice sounds like it is about to break into tears. He hugs his father's neck, not able to hide his smile, but removes it when his father sits him down.
"But you know I cannot reveal the truth. You are the heir of the Fourth Kingdom and if they found out you killed one of their nobles it could mean war." Then he shakes his head. "No it would mean war."
"But father what about the guard?" He says feigning concern. In truth as long as he is free he doesn't care about the guard.
"I will fake his execution and then send him off to another kingdom. Do not worry, son." Amir smiles at his father, as though he is relieved at the news.
"But...the fact you were able to sneak passed the guards...shows a lot of promise. But how did you do it?" Amir has prepared an answer.
"The darkness conceals all." He said, "Especially at night." He doesn't want his father to realize just how powerful he is until the killing blow. He can easily use his power to conceal himself during the day, but his father doesn't need to know it at all.
"So you cloaked yourself." His father guesses, partly correct. Amir nods strongly. His father already knew he could cloak himself.
"This is very good son. You can do a lot of good for the kingdom." Amir smiles. He knows, like him, that his father is selfish. He will use the 'good of the kingdom' as a mask for his own ambition. Not that Amir cares. A selfish ruler is easier for his purposes. He and his father then have a long talk. From that day forward he becomes his father's personal assassin and spy.
Amir agrees to this, but smile as he leaves. How little does his father know that this will turn on him in the worse way.
For the next seven years he kills so many men that he begins to lose count. Rumors spread throughout the desert about an underground guild of assassins. They have no idea that all these crimes are being committed by a boy, who has not yet reached manhood. He spies also and learns countless information and the games of politics. He occasionally suicides a woman, but he always kills her soon after. The desert woman with their black hair offer nothing to him, but a fleeting pleasure to him. He still wants his red haired princess. He secretly still has the doll, but hidden now.
He is told that he has grown strong and handsome over the years. He is glad for that, not out of personal vanity, but because people can be more easily fooled by a handsome man. His allows his black hair to grow to his shaven chin.
One day, he hears of a scholar coming to see his father. This offers little interest to him because he is not likely going to be a target of assassination, or spying. However, it is a boring day in the palace and he spends his time in sparing practice, but there is someone watching on the balcony. Judging by their height a woman, one barely into womanhood. Her head is covered by a scarf and her face is too faraway to make out. It is unusual for a woman to watch a sparing match, but not forbidden.
He shakes it off as a simple curiosity.
He is fighting against Raheem, an air mage. In truth, Amir hates sparing. He has to hold back so much so that no one will suspect him of how powerful he is. He knows he most have his enemies underestimate him. Raheem is one of the strongest fighters in the Fourth Kingdom, so he must make it look like he is struggling. At full strength he could end this fight in moments, but he must drag it out. Once he decides it has gone on long enough, he makes a streak of darkness that is so strong that it knocks Raheem out of the Raheem.
"Prince Amir is the winner!" Shouts their master. He walks over to his fallen partner and helps him up. Raheem smiles at him, showing no anger at losing. Raheem thinks that he is Amir's best friend and Amir likes it that way. He needs to look like he cares about others. It makes it easier for others to serve his purposes.
"Looks like you win this one, your highness." Raheem says as he gets up with a laugh. Amir will sometimes let Raheem win so that people will think they are evenly matched. He must hide his strength until the time is right. He will kill his father within a year's time. He barely pays attention to the footsteps coming down the stars as Raheem makes small chat with him.
"You let him win." Comes a feminine voice, but it is different it has a thick forest accent to it. He pauses. It couldn't be...could it. He turns around.
Her hands are folded across her chest and her stance his bold. His breathe catches in his throat. Her pale skin, green eyes, and accent. It is clear she is a daughter of the forest. But could she have...dare he hope?
Raheem gets a chance to speak before him.
"No, he didn't, girl. You have a lot of nerve coming in here and accusing the crowned prince as such a thing. Especially as a woman and a foreigner." Raheem glares at her, but the forest girl doesn't bulge. Raheem stares at her.
"You just entered womanhood. You should be looking for a husband instead of watching fights." Amir more carefully stares at her. Raheem is right, she looks as though she is in her early teens.
"I will take no husband of the desert." She states, firmly.
"Then go back to the Forest." Raheem spats, crossing his arms over his chest. The forest girl simply shakes her head.
"I have a loyalty to my master, a man of the desert. There is nothing for me in the forest." Amir blinked was she a slave? He knew that the forest people did practice slavery(as most cultures), but they rarely sold their slaves, especially the women, to outsiders. Raheem was about to say something, but the prince stepped forward.
"Remove your scarf." He tells the forest girl. She gives him a stubborn stare and makes no moment to follow his orders.
"Why should I?" She asks. Raheem has no had enough of this foreign woman.
"You dare disobey the crowned Prince of the Fourth Kingdom? You shame your master." At the mention of her master the girl's eyes softened. So her loyalty to her master is more than talk. The prince stores this in the back of his mind for later use. She reaches up with her hands and pulls down the scarf.
Amir's breathe catches in his throat and probably for the first time in his life he is speechless.
Red hair...gorgeous red hair. Like the princess he always imagined. She had come to life and was standing before him. But this woman gave no demure stature or look. She was proud and strong, it only whetted his appetite for the young girl.
"You look at me as though you want to devour me whole." The girl states. Raheem gives a sound of disgust, but Amir holds his hand out to signal him to stop. He smirks at the red head. He is liking her more and more. She is observant, smart, and blunt. It has been so long since he really had a challenge.
"Will you do me the honor of stating your name, age, and name of your master?"
"My name is Anesca, I am thirteen years old, and my master's name is Medhi of the Seventh kingdom of the desert." So she is thirteen, a year away before she can be married or made a legal sex slave. But her age matters little to Amir. He wants her and that is it. Medhi...it takes Amir a second to remember the name.
"So your master is the scholar that is meeting with my father."
"Yes, your highness." She says, surprisingly without sarcasm. Raheem can't be held back any longer
"If your master knew how you were speaking to the prince you would disgrace him." Anesca frowns at this and lowers her head.
"Forgive me, your highness, Amir, Prince of the Fourth Kingdom of the desert." She doesn't say it reluctantly, but speaks with sincerity. But he knows it is not for him. It is her loyalty to her master that makes her apologize.
"You should do it on your knees." Raheem spats at her. Amir is proud of his 'friend's' loyalty to him, but right now it is unneeded. Before she can begin to get on the floor, Amir signals her to rise.
"There is no need for that Raheem. She has apologized. I have no desire to humiliate a young girl any further." He looks to his friend.
"Go rest and eat. I would like to speak to this young woman alone." Raheem gives a concerned look, but doesn't dare to disagree with his prince. He goes, leaving him and the red head are alone. She stares at him with her green eyes. She doesn't say anything, as she waits for him to make the first move.
"Are you hungry?" He gently asks. Anesca now looks confused and thinks for a moment. "Well?" He repeats.
"A little." She admits, "We just arrived and we didn't have breakfast." He comes out to her and with tenderness takes her hand. His brown skin contrasts with her white. He gives her an encouraging smile.
"Come with me and I will get you some tea and something to told you over. I promise nothing more." She is silent and he can tell she is thinking. Trying to think of a way to get out of dining with him.
"It would do your master a great honor for you to eat with the crowned prince." He tells her with a false smile. For a moment she looks up and glares. He has found her weakness. Her master. They both know it and they both know Amir plans to exploit it to his full advantage. She gives him a reluctant nod and he leads her away.
He can feel her reluctance, but he doesn't care as much as he should. He is so excited that he is losing control. He fights to regain it. He will need control if he wants to get this girl into his bed. He leads Anesca to a smaller sunlit room with a divan and table. He invites her to sit down first, since he is a gentlemen. She sits down, but he can sense the hesitation within her. She is on the edge, and it is his job to relax her.
He finds a passing servant to bring them tea and simple fare. He turns back to the red head and reads her body language. It is all closed in. He feet and legs are together. Her hands are crossed in her lap and her shoulders are tensed. It is beyond obvious that she does not want to be here. He needs to relax her if he wants to seduce her.
He has never had to resort to rape, not because he is incapable of it. But because he is too proud to have to use force when he can easily seduce.
He sits on the other side, so he can intimidate her less. He looks at her. She is looking down, not making eye contact. It is not so bad. This gives him a view of her luscious red hair. He says nothing. The prince can tell something is about to boil over in her. The servant comes with their food and she takes the tea, but doesn't touch the food.
Finally it comes to a head.
"Why did you pretend to struggle with the fight?" She finally asks. He calmly sits his tea and lays his arm across the divan top and spreads his legs. His body language is in complete contrast to hers. He wants to show he has nothing to be afraid of because he does not.
"What makes you think I was holding back?" His voice betrays no emotion.
"Because I have watched fights all my life. Usually a fighter gets tired by the end of his fight...but-" She finally turns his green eyes onto him, "-you came alive with a style and strength you haven't been showing before."
"Hhmm..." He says as he sips his tea. "That is an interesting observation. But why would I do that?"
"That's what I was wondering." She bites her lip and hesitates for a precious seconds. "What do you have to gain and I think-I think-" He can tell she is not fully confident. "I believe you don't want people to realize how powerful you are." She is correct, but Amir does not show it in his face. "Darkness is strong, but you don't want people to realize how strong."
"Nothing is stronger than darkness." He repeats what his father always told him. Then she gives him a determined look.
"No, you are wrong...light is stronger and so are people with the elemental crystals!" She gasps and covers her mouth. Amir purposefully furrows his brows and holds back a smirk. Looks like she just said something she shouldn't have. Anesca now looks around nervously.
"Pray tell me what are the elemental crystals?" He smoothly asks, trying to hold back the delight in his voice at catching her so off-guard. "Are they a forest thing?"
"No..they are not. They are nothing just an old myth." Her voice gives away her nervousness. She can't control her emotions and voice that well. Oh she has so much to learn. He wouldn't mind taking her under his wing in exchange for payment, of course.
"Oh, it didn't sound like an old myth when you said it with such confidence and you compared it to light." He points out. He pays attention to the cup in her hands, she is moving it from one palm to another. He wonders if this is a nervous habit of hers.
"It is nothing!" She affirms, but far too strongly for it to be nothing.
"Hhmm, but out of curiosity perhaps I should ask my father's scholar's about these elemental crystals."
"No, don't!" She cries, as she hurriedly sits up, but in her haste she spells her hot tea over her. She gives a hiss of pain at the sting of the hot liquid. He quickly ceases this as an opportunity to get close to her. He graves a small towel that the servants left them with and puts his hands on her shoulder and begins to help clean her. She doesn't seem to like it, but says nothing. Her mind is too far away to care at her closeness to him.
"Tell me what the elemental crystals are so I don't have to go searching for answers myself." He whispers in her ear. The closeness of her body to him brings a stirring of arousal in him, but a repulsion in her. She moves away. He folds his arms and looks down at the thirteen year old girl.
"Well?" He asks She looks to the side, but knows this time that she can't get away with this.
"The elemental crystals are what my master, Scholar Medhi, believes were created by the original elemental mages. He has found evidence among the sacred runes to lead him to believe their existence."
"But what do they do?" He asks.
"They are suppose to increase the powers of the an mage by a hundred fold. One crystal for each element." She looks away and makes a face as though she was disgusted by what she just admitted.
"I see. So your master is going to try to convince my father to help with this research." She just nods. "I will try to convince my father to help your master if you agree to come with me on a ride tomorrow." She looks up and her mouth drops.
"It will be a group." He reassures her. "And quite a few women there." Anesca looks away.
"Fine, your highness. I will go." She says, but doesn't sound happy about it. Not that he expected her too. He takes her hand and kisses it, as per forest custom. He wonders if she will wipe his kiss off, but she doesn't.
"You may go." He tells her and he doesn't need to tell her twice because she bolts out of the room immediately.
He chuckles. Now it was time to convince his father of this mad plan.
A little darkness mind manipulation should do the trick.
I would like to thank Carly Cuttlefish for helping me brainstorm this story.
I would also like to thank my regular readers for continuing their support as I go into a new genre and welcome new readers. Please tell me what you think in reviews.
Note: Most of these chapters will be told in Anesca's POV, not Amir's. It just felt it was right to start with his pov
