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Chapter 4

Both of them stood in shock at Tamina's action. Dastan was embarrassed that Persia's formidable worrier can be held at knife point, distracted by a beautiful face. Then again, this was not just a beautiful face but the most beautiful site he ever held in his eyes. Tamina was surprised by her own bravery and now wondered what to do next. She clearly had not thought this through.

"Give… lead… lead the horse to me," she said, unsure of what she is to do.

"So I assume you are going to ride away from here, leaving me in the middle of nowhere?" Dastan questioned calmly as he spread his arms at his side to show he made no threat.

"Yes," she said confidently.

All the scheming but all she needed to do was to distract him and steal the horse. She is thankful that he removed his weapons from his person earlier or else her head would have sadly parted from her body.

"So that's honorable? I knew it! Should have known when you did not bawl out your eyes you would be scheming to trick me," Dastan shook his head with a laugh.

Tamina was now insulted that a woman with a weapon was so entertaining to him. "So this is all so amusing for you? Horse!"

Seeing that she was very confident in her actions, Dastan turned the horse and led it to her.

"Stand over there. Over there!" she shouted when he did not do as she commanded at first.

As he turned to leave, he swiftly spun around and the next thing Tamina noted was the dagger being knocked off her hands and Dastan plucked it out of the air. Her hands still bound, she scrambled to the floor and picked up his sword, and without a thought, swung it at him.

Dastan, in defense he jumped back effortlessly and raised the dagger high, gripping it hard to null the power of the sword. As he did so, he unwillingly pressed the jeweled hilt.

The surrounding stood still and his ears began to roar with a boom of a sandstorm. All he felt was the separation of his body and he elevated in the air. Embers crawled up his arms and, as he swirled in the void, he saw all their actions in reverse. Dastan shook his head and his jaw dropped in shock. His grip on the dagger loosened with his mind weak and at that moment, he was violently thrown back in to his body.

They were back at the place where she swung the sword at him but with his mind occupied with the strange rewind of time, she slashed right across his chest.

"Oh gosh!" Tamina panicked at the blood gushing from Dastan's chest. The dagger cannot be taken by the spilling of blood. If she takes the dagger into the temple now, the very foundations will shake unleashing the sandstorm of the gods. "You silly Persian!" she said in disgust.

Dastan looked flabbergasted, his mouth and eyes gaping at her.

"Did… you… you see that? Time… time reversed…"

At those words, Tamina's blood ran cold and the sword fell from her hand. She looked at the hilt.

"You've used the dagger," she said in a desperate voice.

"It… it reversed time… it's… magic…" before Dastan could finish his sentence, the loss of blood made him fall on his knees. However, in his weakness, he knew what he can do - reverse time.

As he prepared to once again press the jewel on the hilt, Tamina rushed to him and in an out of character action, pressed the ruby herself, reversing rewind stormed around her. She held the jewel down looking at the sand reducing. She would love to pass the point where he unveiled her but she needed the sand for actual emergencies than vanity.

She let go and instantly, they were back to the place where he had just unveiled her. Her panic at the events erased by the sand made her breath and heart race and closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm. That is when she once again felt his touch.

He pushed her hair back and Dastan looked at her lips almost wanting to press his lips to them and now that she is not busy killing him, she strangely wished he did.

"I will help you," she said knowing the other path she planned will be disastrous.

Dastan stood silent, lips apart and yet tracing her lips with his eyes. She said his name again and being awakened from the trance, he spoke, "Er... yes... good choice! Let's get ready to ride."

"No, that is a silly thing to do," she replied.

"Look, Garsiv is tracking us and he will…"

"How does he hunt?" she interrupted him.

"What?"

"When he hunts, does he track himself?" she clarified her question to him.

"Yes... well no. He tracks himself too but he also has a very good navigator," Dastan replied.

"How is he in battle? Is he a strategist?" she queried again.

"Only head on. But he is fiercely loyal to the crown and merciless in war," Dastan added.

"Which means he is tracking you with his heart than his mind," she said to herself before asking if their relationship was a close one.

"Of course. He's my brother," he said offended at the question.

"Being a brother does not make people close. Are you close to him?" she questioned again.

"Yes, we are or were," he said sadly.

"Now is not the time to be sentimental! Are you a good strategist?" she asked.

"I am more of the improvising type. Roll with the punches kind. What's all this questioning?" Dastan shook his head trying drowning her voice out and preparing the horse for departure.

"I'm trying to help you. Your brother has no idea that I am with you and chances are, he is looking for only you," she said.

"So?"

"So stick by me if you want to live. He will expect you to ride straight to Nasaf from the South. Where we are now is the Northern trek to Avrat. This is where the split happens. The hidden smuggling route we took in a moment is going to be filled with hoofmarks. The smugglers do it so that the northern winds will blow the treks at daybreak" she narrated.

"So if we leave from here now, Garsiv is going to see our prints heading north if he makes it to this point before dawn," Dastan replied finally understanding where Tamina is coming from.

"Exactly, and knowing you, he will guess that you will go with the smugglers to whomever is supporting you on your presumed murderous quest. So he will try to track you at night knowing that you will travel at night," she explained as best she could.

"So your plan is to hide here for the night and travel during day?" Dastan questioned.

"I advise it. The mountain's shadow shields us tonight," she replied.

He nodded in agreement and Tamina assumed that peace had been made between them. Both stood quiet until Tamina raised her bound hands to him.

"Untie me," she demanded.

"Nope, not going to happen. You are going to be like that until I say so. I don't want you running off," he said as he dragged her off by her arm to the cavity in the rocks.

Dastan pushed Tamina to the corner and retrieving a rolled up rug from the saddle, gave it to her to use as a pillow. She stared in anger at him with, teeth grinding with frustration. As he looked on, she covered her neck and cleavage in a sudden feeling of nakedness with the scarf Dastan had removed earlier.

Dastan laughed at her assumption that he may violate her and with a smirk said, "Don't flatter yourself."

He walked out to the open air and looked at the night sky. The breeze comforted his face but the feeling of loss of his father to death and his brothers to lies ripped his heart.

Tamina looked at the figure standing against the night. His rich coat moving against the wind broke the silence. For the first time, Tamina felt for him. The man that stood against the desert was not a proud royal or a brutal warrior. It was a son who had lost his father. She laid her head on the rug and was determined to keep a watch but she fell asleep against her own will - she had been awake for over a day and the fatigue finally broke her.

Dastan waited until she was asleep and lead the horse into the cavity. He obscured the tracks and sat next to Tamina. He closed his eyes but without sleep, tears gushed for his father and the pain of the situation.

The dessert once again grew silent and frozen as the whole world slept with the young couple.

The peace only lasted only for a little while as Tamina was suddenly woken by a whimper by the horse. Her eyes shot open in fear that Garsiv had discovered them. She found Dastan trying to calm the horse down and looking beyond at the sky, she knew that it was almost dawn.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a whisper but alert against her sleep.

"Garsiv, he must be close," Dastan replied as he held the horse by the reigns.

"The horse told you that?" she whispered mockingly.

"It's Garsiv's horse!"

Her eyes grew wide and she scrambled to her feet, pushing herself off the floor with bound hands. "Are you insane? You escape on the horse of the man who is tracking you?"

"Not the time for judgment! It is the best horse in the kingdom," Dastan argued in whispers.

"Move," Tamina pushed him aside and stroked the horse's forehead. She whispered something in a foreign language and closing her eyes, kept her head against it. It slowly calmed down.

They held their breath and hoped that Garsiv will not hear them. The wind carried the Persian's voices to them, inching ever closer. Tamina squeezed her eyes tight in fear for she knew Garsiv had no reason to let her live. She prayed that whatever her fate may be, the Gods would protect the dagger. Every heartbeat was felt between them and certain death seemed imminent as the Persians grew closer.