"…leave us alone."

For a second long the soldiers exchanged puzzled looks, but didn't dare to ask questions and quickly obeyed, leaving the maharajah himself to interrogate the captive, who remained squatting on his heels in the wet grass and looked indeed quite miserable.

Glancing over his shoulder the maharajah snipped his fingers, "Shardul… you too. Guard the door, let no one in. And keep out of hearing range."

Farah stifled a surprised yelp when the brawny figure of the maharajah's captain of guards peeled from the shadow of a nearby tree, the bearded man with the mad eyes had scared her out of her wits more than once when she had been a small child, and until today his ability to remain unseen at a mere arms-length away managed to startle her once in a while. The seasoned warrior folded his hands for a bow and vanished without hesitation though.

"Certainly my lord, I'll do as you command."

Sunshine fell filtered through a network of countless twines that formed an artistic kind of roof over the courtyard, bathing the shrine and it's surrounding gardens in a soft golden light and leaving it cool and tranquil while the rest of the palace had to endure the sun's merciless burning by now. The heavy smell of countless jasmine flowers that stood in full blossom everywhere at this time of the year lay upon the place, like a wafting cloud of sweetness that threatened to slow thought to a crawl if one wasn't aware.

"Let me take this," the maharajah began after a moment of consideration, as if he disliked the idea of touching the magical weapon Farah still held in her hands "…child, tell me, how did this… dagger… find it's way into your possession?"

The prince glanced up at the sky, lost in his own thoughts while the sun warmed his face and Farah began to recount a quick summary of the past night's events, how he had climbed up to her balcony and charmed her with a fantastic story. "They'll surely have me beheaded…" the prince mused and almost laughed "after all that has happened, this is just rich…"

Deliberately leaving out the more embarrassing parts, Farah quickly cut to how the vizier had attempted to murder her, possibly betray the city to the enemy and then been heroically stopped by her nightly visitor.

"Ah," the maharajah sighed, turning his attention to the prince again "I felt in my bones that old snake charmer was up to something. Your trespassing shall be forgiven then, young lad, and I must apologize for the ill treatment you have experienced, for you have protected with your life what is most dear to me. Though it grieves me to say," he added bitterly, "that before we might show you our gratitude, there're still certain matters that need to be discussed…"

The prince swallowed dryly.

"…you DO know what this dagger is capable of?" the maharajah asked sternly, letting the sun mirror in the crystal blue edge of the dagger of time.

"And there goes my head…" crossed the prince's mind, yet he nodded slowly.

"You must know, my family successfully guarded this secret for many generations" the maharajah continued, pacing back and forth like a caged animal "and many a good man has died over the years to KEEP this danger a secret…"

"Father, he saved my LIFE, you can't mean to…" Farah interrupted with a bewildered, wide-eyed stare, but fell silent when the maharajah gestured her not to interfere "please…"

"…and you should also know that I am perfectly aware of the Persians standing at our borders, when there was no word from the western outposts in three days I had scouts sent out to inquire the reason, one even made it back alive…"

"…so I ask myself" the maharajah dilated his last words for emphasis "I ask myself: if what you told my daughter is indeed the truth and you are a son of king Shahraman of Persia… the man who led an army across the continent to plunder my kingdom… why risk your life to come to my house in the midst of the night, why kill a man that was about to hand over the city to your father, why voluntarily return a treasure of value beyond imagination? Explain yourself, and be aware that your very life might depend on the answers you give."

The prince lifted his head to meet the maharajah's gaze, and his words were not defiant, but full of dole and sorrow, "A thousand times I risked my life to safe what's dear to me and yet I almost failed. The man I killed deserved a thousand deaths, for his betrayals were just as many. And the cursed treasure I returned… bury it deep, so it might never see the light of day again, for all it caused me was pain and grief beyond measure…"

…