As Long As You're There
By Hanabella Louise
Chapter 2- Regrets
Dastan was an idiot. He'd been told this by his brothers and best friend Bis so many times, and he'd never agreed with that statement until now, when it had come to the way he had acted on his wedding night, and the lie he had told Tamina was now one of his biggest regrets.
"I'm such an idiot!" Dastan shouted, throwing the dagger he held in his hand across the room, nearly cutting Bis as it hit the wall.
"Two things; one, will you please calm down and stop trying to kill me? Second, just go and tell Tamina how you truly feel. That's the only way you're going to fix this mess" Bis said, pulling the dagger out of the wall and walking over to Dastan, offering his friend the dagger back. Dastan looked at his best friend for a moment before he took the dagger from his grasp.
"It's not that easy, Bis. It's been two months since the wedding, and she's hardly spoken to me since our wedding night. She'll never forgive me," Dastan said, sitting down before stabbing the table with the dagger. Bis sighed, and sat across from his best friend.
"Dastan, nothing in this life is easy. Answer me this, you love her, don't you?" Bis asked with a tiny smile.
"Of course I do," Dastan replied, playing with the dagger that was now stuck in the table.
"It'll take time for her to forgive you for lying, but if you love her, she'll be worth the time it'll take," Bis said, putting his feet up on the table. Dastan thought over what his best friend had said for a moment, before pulling the dagger out of the table and putting it back in its sheath on his belt.
"Thank you, Bis," Dastan said with a smile, before leaving the room and heading towards Tamina's chamber.
"Tamina, may I please come in?" Dastan asked through the door. He'd stood outside the door for at least two minutes before he found the courage to knock. He called her name through the door, and waited another couple of minutes for a reply that never came, which he found most odd, given that Tamina had hardly left her bed chamber since their wedding night. Dastan waited another moment before he gently eased open the door and stepped inside.
"Tamina, are you in here?" Dastan called again. Her bedchamber was empty. The bed had been clearly made, and the only person in the room was Dastan. So, where was Tamina? That was the question that now burnt in Dastan's mind. He sat on her bed, thinking about where she might be. He sighed, putting his head in his hands. This was all his fault. If he had been honest with her on their wedding night, he wouldn't be in this mess right now.
"Can I help you, Prince?" Dastan looked up at the sound of Tamina's voice. Tamina's chest was rising and falling very fast, which told Dastan that she'd been running. He saw that she held a dagger in her hand, and he'd never seen a dagger like it before. The handle was pure gold, and the marks on the dagger were extraordinary.
"I said, can I help you, Prince?" Tamina asked again, breaking Dastan's attention away from the dagger and back to his wife.
"Sorry, yes, I came to talk to you. Tamina, why are you all out of breath?" Dastan asked. Tamina went to answer, but didn't get a chance, as both Dastan and Tamina heard shouting come from the end of the corridor. At that very moment, Bis burst into Tamina's bed chamber, slamming the door behind him.
"We're under attack!" Bis said once he'd got his breath back. Dastan looked at Tamina for answers, answers he wouldn't be getting any time soon, as the attackers started trying to break into Tamina's chambers.
"Quickly, we must escape. We'll use the balcony," Tamina said, grabbing Dastan's hand and quickly running towards the balcony. Dastan turned to look back at Bis, who hadn't moved from his place in the doorway. He had pulled out his sword.
"Bis, come with us!" Dastan said, as Tamina opened the door that connected to her balcony. The door had a key in the lock and two bolts, one across the top, and one across the bottom.
"I can't, Dastan. I have to stay here and buy you and Tamina enough time to escape. I have to fight against these attacks, and you have to get yourself and Tamina away from here safely," Bis said, giving his friend a tiny smile. Dastan sighed he was torn between his friendship with Bis and his love for Tamina. If he stayed to help Bis fight the attackers while Tamina escaped, there was a chance that Tamina might get hurt, and Dastan couldn't bear the thought of any harm coming to Tamina, even though he had hurt her himself. So, once Tamina had unlocked the door, Dastan gave his friend one last look before he jumped off the balcony to the ground, catching Tamina as she jumped. Bis appeared on the balcony for a moment, before turning fast as the attackers entered the room. Tamina untied one of the palace horses, as Dastan watched in horror as Bis was killed by one of the attackers. Dastan had to stay focused. Otherwise, he and Tamina were dead. He grabbed the horse from Tamina, jumping on before grabbing Tamina's hand and pulling her onto the horse, before riding out into the desert and far away from Alamut.
"Will you please explain what's going on?" Dastan asked Tamina, as they sat near a river in the desert, with hardly anything to eat or drink. Tamina remained quiet, not looking at or answering Dastan's question. Dastan let out a sigh. He sometimes wished that Tamina wouldn't make the simplest of things difficult.
"Tamina, please explain. I'm not asking for much. I'm just asking for an explanation," Dastan asked, but Tamina still refused to answer his questions. She couldn't even keep eye contact with him for more than a few seconds. Dastan let out another sigh. He stood up, walking around the fire to where Tamina had placed herself and sitting next to her as he did. She moved a few inches away from him.
"Will you please answer my question?" Dastan asked her in a gentle voice. She finally turned to look at him as she spoke.
"Why should I have to explain anything to you, you spoilt Persian prince? Just because you're my husband, do not think you can order me about!" Tamina shouted at him, before picking herself up off of the ground and walking away from him. Dastan got to his feet quickly, and grabbed Tamina's arm gently.
"I'm asking you to explain, because my best friend since childhood was killed protecting us, and you've got me all wrong. Tamina, you're judging me because of the fact that I'm part of the Persian royal family. Well, let me tell you something, Princess. I wasn't born in a palace, like you. I was born on the streets. I had no family, and the King took me in. Don't judge someone before stopping to get to know them first," Dastan said, before letting go of her arm and turning away from her. Tamina stood frozen, staring at Dastan, in utter shock at the words that had just left the prince's mouth. Tamina gently grabbed his arm, pulling him to face her.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged you so harshly. And you're right, I do owe you an explanation, but you might want to sit down first before I explain," Tamina said with a small, gentle smile. Dastan did as Tamina asked, and sat back down around the warm fire. Tamina sat next to him, admiring the way the flickers of light from the fire made Dastan's eyes shine.
"I went to see my private physician this morning," Tamina began to explain, but Dastan looked at her, confused.
"Hold on a minute. What does your private physician have to do with the attack and Bis being killed?" Dastan asked, confusion painted in his voice. Tamina just sighed.
"Do not interrupt me, Persian. Please, just listen. I promise all will become clear in time," Tamina explained. Dastan went to say something else, but Tamina gave him a look that stopped him from saying anything.
"As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, I went to see my private physician this morning, and as she was telling me something rather interesting, one of my advisers came into the room. He said that invaders had been seen at the city walls and that they'd come for the dagger. When I was a little girl, the gods released a sandstorm to punish mankind for their sins. They planned to wipe mankind from the earth, but I offered them my life. This single act of kindness showed the gods that not all of mankind is evil. The sand can turn back time. The dagger itself only holds a minute, but if the dagger is opened inside the glass chamber that contains the rest of the sand, the gods' rage will be unleashed, and mankind will be destroyed. I retrieved the dagger from the table, and was planning to leave the city with it when I found you in my chambers. You weren't supposed to come with me. You changed my original plan. Now, I must take the dagger to the temple where the glass chamber is hidden. It's the only safe place for it," Tamina explained. Dastan listened, although at certain points he wanted to interrupt, but he bit his tongue.
"What did the physician say to you?" Dastan asked. That was the only part of her explanation that Tamina had left untouched.
"We should rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight, Dastan," Tamina said, avoiding the question. She went to stand up, but Dastan grabbed her arm, preventing her from doing so.
"Let me go, Persian," Tamina spat at him, trying to release her arm from his grasp, but the more she struggled, the tighter Dastan's hold on her became.
"I will once you tell me what the physician said," Dastan asked again. Tamina looked at him for a moment, tears in her eyes.
"I'm with child, our child. There, are you happy now? Now will please will you let me go?" Tamina said, trying to hold back the tears that had formed in her eyes. Now would have been a good time for Dastan to put right his mistake, but he was so much in shock that he let go of her arm and neither said a word to each other, and it was just like their wedding night all over again.
A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken me forever to update!