ATHANASIA
Someone's hand covered my mouth. My eyes flew open as it hit me. I tried to scream but the person's hand muffled my cry. I frantically looked around for Seth, but all I saw was Seth lying on his side with his hands tied up and a bag over his head. I thought the worst. They killed him. But after I thought that Seth moaned and twisted. I take that back, I thought as I kicked and screamed. There was more than one person there. One grabbed my legs, tying them, and another grabbed my arms and tied my wrists together. I looked at my kidnappers but all I could see was darkness pulsating from them. I gave Seth one last glance before they kicked me in the head and everything went black.
SETH
I woke with a start as the revelation came to me. I opened my eyes but still, everything was black. I lifted my hands, feeling a rope cut into my wrists.
"Dammit," I cussed. I felt at my face and pulled off the sack covering me. The bright sun, splitting the horizon was blinding. I shielded my eyes from it while they adjusted to the lighting. Afterward I grabbed the knot with my teeth, trying to undo it. Finding that I was unable to undo the still tightening knot, I looked around for the guards. They were all lying unconscious on the ground or maybe dead, I didn't know for sure. I stood up; my feet had been left untied. I looked back down at where I had last seen Athanasia and my eyes began to sting.
"I must not show any emotion around these broken guards," I whispered to myself, "I must be a strong leader for them, for Athanasia's people. For Athanasia herself. I must find the Queen of Greece." I walked around, looking for Cleitus. He lay on the ground beside a horse, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"Cleitus?" I knelt by his side, placing my hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?" His eyes flew open at my touch. His eyes, oh gods, his eyes, they were unnatural. They were his usual warm brown. They were pure white. He had no pupils or irises. I gasped and fell back.
"Sethhh," his voice wasn't his own either, "Athanassssia has been taken. You must come and 'try' to rescue your love by the Winter Solstice. Otherwise everyone will perish. If you do decide to come, you will be brutally killed by the King. Stay away." As his voice ceased so did his breathing. He became still, as the sun shone on his dying eyes. I placed my hand over his eyes, closing them forever.
I heard the guards that were alive began to stir and stand up. I stood up, looking down at the dead Cleitus. Did he want me to come or not? I asked myself he said come and try but then he said stay away. I don't get it.
"Prince Seth what is going on?" one guard asked, startling me out of my thoughts.
"Queen Athanasia has been taken from us." I answered him, bowing my head in shame for not being able to protect her. I felt his hand on my shoulder,
"It is not your fault, Prince, things happen," he let his hand fall from my broad shoulder and grabbed at my wrists. The knot came undone and I smiled gratefully at him. I rubbed my wrists as the other guards gathered.
"Queen Athanasia has been taken from us. She has been taken by people unknown to me." I said, answering all their questioning looks at Cleitus lying at my feet. "And Cleitus is dead." I finished walking back to the sheet Athanasia and I had shared overnight. I picked it up, folding it. I brought it over to the still standing horses and placed it in my saddle bags. The rest of the guards did the same with their own bedrolls; they did it with no emotion but sadness and defeat.
I climbed upon my horse and waited for the guards to do the same.
"We will go back to Greece and then I will leave on my own to find your queen." I said before kicking my horse into a gallop. We galloped across the desert until it was too hot for our horses to move that fast. We slowed to a walk and stopped to give the tired horses water. Then we resumed trotting. The sand that was blowing around hurt my eyes and throat as I breathed in. I wrapped my head with a cloth to keep the hot sun off of my head.
ATHANASIA
I opened my eyes only to find that I still could not see anything. I didn't remember anything of that day or night. I didn't know where the hell I was. I tried grabbing at whatever was covering my head, but my hands were actually tied above my head. I couldn't feel them, they were numb. The blood had rushed out of them and down to my body, leaving my hands and arms without feeling.
"Hello?" I called, "Seth?" I heard no such reply. My anxiety level began to rise as the throbbing in the side of my head took my attention. I could feel the blood pounding through my skull and I had a headache. Oh my gods, I thought, I remember now. I remembered someone's hand over my mouth and then the thud and pain of someone kicking me in the head, knocking me out.
I heard footsteps. I moved around to try and get some blood up to my arms. The footsteps seemed to be getting closer but I couldn't really tell because they echoed off the walls. Wherever I was, it had to be pretty big. The hood was yanked from my head. The one who had pulled it off was shrouded so I could not make out his or her features. The only thing I knew then was absolute pain.
The shrouded figure punched me in the stomach, hard. I grunted in pain as they hit me again and again. Finally they hit me in the face. I cried out in pain as my eyes watered from my nose breaking under their fist. They slapped me in the face again and I tasted blood as the inside of my cheek split open from the blow. The figure stepped back and rubbed their wrist. As they did so, I decided to take a risk. The risk I took was to spit the blood pouring into my mouth at them. It was a horrible risk. The figure began to punch me in the stomach again and again. By the time they stopped I was in so much pain, my body decided to black out.