Chapter IX: Hostage Rescue Reunion

"Malachi, find a crate, or something to be used as a weight on one of those pressure plates," the Prince ordered, "Kaileena, you come with me. We need to get Farah out of there."

Without another word, everyone sprang into action. Malachi grabbed a piece of rubble and dragged it over to a plate; Kaileena and the Prince had already taken off down a hallway toward the screams. The hallways and darkened corridors seemed to wind on endlessly. Fortunately, because they were on the bottom floor of the prison, there were no beams to climb or holes in which to fall.

"It will be nice to meet your former lover," Kaileena joked.

The Prince stopped. There was a twinge in Kaileena's voice that made him uneasy. While the nature of her feelings for him (as well as whether or not she was even capable of romantic feelings) was as of yet unknown, she did seem to have an attachment to him; an attachment he feared made her reluctant to share his attention. While this was understandable—he being her first friend in the eons she had been on the Island of Time—it could cause problems.

"You're not going to have a problem with her, are you?" He asked.

Kaileena seemed to be caught off guard by the question. "No…why would I?"

"Well, you don't seem to like having Malachi along. Are you worried that I'm going to abandon you or something?"

"How…" the former Empress, not used to being addressed like this, was about to lash out. But the truth was, the Prince was onto something, she knew. With addition of another woman—one the Prince had been romantically involved with no less—Kaileena was unsure where she would fit in. First, one of the Prince's brothers in arms, and now Farah. "Well, it seems as though I'm the only one without any connections here…nothing in common to speak of. I guess that's why I'm a little…worried."

"Kaileena," the Prince replied, "you know how I feel about you, and to say that you have no connection with me…well, that's simply not true. Regardless, we can't leave her there, and we need her help."

"I know," Kaileena looked down, "I don't mean to be neurotic. I'm sorry," she drew her weapons and gave the Prince a quick nod, "Let's do this."

The Prince drew his sword as he inched along the wall toward a corner on his left. He peered around the corner to see a pair of Raiders guarding a door. He immediately turned back to Kaileena and held up two fingers.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Raiders," he replied.

Kaileena picked up a small piece of brick and tossed it back down the hallway from which they had just come.

"What was that?" asked one of the Raiders.

"Don't ask me. Go check it out," his comrade grumbled.

The Prince and Kaileena backed up out of the torchlight and pressed themselves up against the wall as they waited for their enemy. The Raider approached…and passed right by without even noticing their presence. Suddenly, the Prince stepped out, grabbed the Raider's mask and pulled back his head, exposing his throat. With a motion as smooth as the finest oil, the Prince cut the Raider's throat from ear to ear, severing the arteries and the jugular veins in one swipe. In less than six seconds, the dungeon guard was unconscious, and in fifteen, he was dead, pouring out the Sands of Time that flowed through his body into the Prince's talisman.

Without a word, Kaileena pulled a dagger out of the fallen Raider's sheath and crept silently toward the corner. She got to within about twenty feet of the Raider before throwing the dagger into his neck. His death was a bit louder than that of his companion, but this did not matter since he was the only one left.

The two moved swiftly to the door, stopping about five feet in front of it, once again, pushing themselves up against the wall. Without a word, Kaileena moved to the door and removed the locking bolt. She then pulled open the heavy wooden door allowing the Prince to run forward with his sword at the ready. Inside, they found an empty room about thirty feet long and fifty feet wide. Being windowless, it could only be lit by torch, and there was only one burning, which meant that more than half the room was covered in darkness. The normally tan stonewalls were stained with something dark red: Blood.

This room has been used as a torture chamber, the Prince realized with horror. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a heavy breathing. He looked up to see, straight in front of him, Farah tied to a post. Whoever had been tormenting her did not seem to be around, so the Prince moved forward casually. As he stepped out of the shadows he called to her.

"Farah."

The young woman looked up at him with panic in her eyes.

"No, no! Stay away, it's a trap!"

Suddenly, secret windows on each side of the room opened up. Six archers, three in each window sprung up and took aim at the Prince. There was no way he could retreat to the safety of the hallway in time. Charging the archers, who already had their bows drawn, would be futile, and Kaileena could not do anything without getting herself killed as well. Suddenly the volley of arrows was released. The Prince quickly reached for his talisman, squeezing it and activating one of the sand tanks just as tips of the arrows began to pierce his flesh.

Suddenly, all the arrows flew back to their shooters who relaxed their bows and ducked down as the secret windows closed. The Prince backed up into the shadows before Farah had even known he was there. Now that he was safe once again, the Prince released his talisman, restarting time eight seconds earlier. He would try again, this time planning accordingly to deal with the archers.

"This could be a trap. Move along the right wall and stay in shadow," the Prince whispered to Kaileena.

She moved to her right and the Prince moved to his left, hugging the darkened wall. Because there was a tiny bit of dim light from the torch and because their eyes were adjusted to the dark, both Kaileena and the Prince could see each other's shape and give signals to one another. When they both passed just beyond the secret windows, the Prince called out.

"Farah."

Farah looked around until she spotted the Prince's silhouette; her eyes widened in horror.

"No! Stay away, it's a trap!" she warned urgently.

Like clockwork, the windows slid open and the archers appeared. This time, the Prince was directly beneath them. With a quick slash, he cut all their bows in half. He then vaulted up onto the window and kicked one of the archers in the face, knocking him out cold. The Prince recovered, decapitated the next archer, and stabbed his sword through the neck of the third one. Now inside the cramped room, he ducked behind the wall just as the three archers on the other side of the room released their volley. It would be their last as Kaileena, who had moved out of the kill zone, cut them down before they could reload. With that, the Prince jumped back into the main chamber and made cautiously for Farah.

"Is there anyone else?" he asked her.

"No, it was only the archers. The interrogator left," she replied with relief.

The Prince then removed a small dagger from his belt and cut leather straps that held Farah to the pole. Her feet touched the ground for the first time in two and a half days. She began to swing her arms to allow the blood to flow back into them.

"Thank you, thank you so much," Farah gratefully bowed her head to the Prince and Kaileena who was now at his side, "I owe my life to both of you."

"Well," the Prince said smiling, "for a bit of payment, you can join us in finding who did this and killing him."

"Or her," Kaileena added.

"That is not payment, that is a privilege," Farah answered determinedly, "You have no idea what I've been through. Though, I'm sure you two—whoever you are—have had similar experiences."

"You could say that," the Prince said, glancing over at Kaileena, who grinned and nodded in agreement, "Do you have any weapons?"

Farah rolled her eyes and grimaced, "One of the archers stole my bow. I'm a good archer in general but I can't miss with my personal bow."

"Wait," Kaileena walked over to the secret bunker in which the archers had been hiding. She noticed that one of them, who was dressed a little better than the other two, had a different bow as well. He must have been an officer and treated himself to the spoils of war. She retrieved the composite bow, returned and handed it to Farah.

"Is this it?" she asked.

"Yes!" Farah said excitedly, almost giddy, "talk about good luck!"

The attractive Indian princess strung it, and then drew the string to make sure it was still in working order. The bow had been made with the greatest skill and the best material India had to offer and Farah, an avid archer, kept it in perfect condition. She then walked over to the body of one of the fallen archers and retrieved a quiver of arrows and slung it over her back.

"Alright then, lead the way," she said.

With that, they moved out of the room, retracing their steps until they reached the light of the main cellblock. Suddenly, Farah stopped.

"You, I have seen your face before," she said to the Prince, trying to access her memory, "But in all that's happened in the last few days, I cannot seem to remember."

"Kakolukiam," the Prince spoke a secret word that Farah had told him during the adventure that resulted from his first release of the Sands.

Her eyes widened, "That's the word my mother used to…wait, oh my! It's you! You saved me seven years ago from that awful vizier. Do you remember that?"

"Farah," the Prince almost laughed, "I am never going to forget that."

"You told me a fantastic story," Farah giggled, "You kept me up all night…"

She suddenly stopped and looked at Kaileena, a bit embarrassed.

"Just with the story. We didn't…"

"Oh, I understand what you mean. I saw the whole thing happen," Kaileena assured.

"What do you mean? How could you see everything that happened if you were never there?" Farah was confused.

"The story I told was true," the Prince explained, "That's how I knew your mother's secret word, and how Kaileena here knows what happened.

"Farah, I give you the creator of the hourglass and the Keeper of the Sands…well the former Keeper of the Sands. The former-Empress of Time," he said looking at the beautiful woman beside him, "Kaileena."

Kaileena smiled warmly. Farah tilted her head.

"Are you…human?" she asked, "I heard that the Empress was some sort of great spirit."

"No…well, yes the…" Kaileena was not sure how to explain it, so she decided to forgo the explanation altogether, "No, I'm human. Born naturally, mortal. I got in way over my head with the Sands of Time," she then looked at the Prince and smiled again, "I think we all did," she said, to which he nodded.

"Strange, that all that could happen…but at the same time, it did not happen," Farah shook her head, "I'm confused."

"Don't trouble yourself, such a thing confuses me as well," Kaileena said empathetically; then she laughed, "And I'm the one who started all this!"

"We can talk about this later, but we should regroup with Malachi," the Prince said.

An exasperated look came over Farah's tanned face, "Not Malachi the Hebrew?" she groaned.

"Yes, that's him. Why?" the Prince asked.

"I'm fairly well acquainted with him. Trust me, he seems alright at first, but once you get to know him, he is the most annoying person you'll ever meet."

Kaileena grinned slyly at the Prince, "Are you sure you don't want to get rid of him?"

He looked back sheepishly.

Farah giggled again, "Although, I have to admit, Malachi is rather handsome."

The Prince burst out laughing as he watched Kaileena's look of triumph turned to frustration.

"I guess I will have to kill him and make it look like an accident," she grumbled.