CHAPTER SIX
The messenger had been sent to Limia the same night the events had happened. Limia was about a three-day walk away so the trial had been set for the following week. Raziel was locked into a cell and would be left there until his trial. He spent the first few days alone with his thoughts, punishing himself for his stupidity. He would be put to death, most likely, and Azric would stay in power until someone else was able to kill him. However, the third day he had a visitor, one that surprised both himself and the visitor.
On the third day of Raziel's imprisonment Minister Sabian came to visit him. Sabian had only visited the man because of something that had happened the day before between him and his son. He remembered it vividly:
Sabian hadn't for a moment suspected that his son was sleeping with the Princess. But Raziel's botched rape attempt brought the affair to the surface. Sabian confronted his son, who hadn't left Ayena's side since the morning after they had slept together for the first time. Every time Zoser recalled that memory he got sick to his stomach. Just a half an hour after his beloved had left his bed she was brutally attacked by a man she had trusted in her own bed.
"Son?" Sabian had asked when he'd walked into Ayena's room on the second day of Raziel's imprisonment.
"Father." Zoser acknowledged, his eyes not leaving Ayena's sleeping form for a second.
"Zoser, I know about you and the Princess."
The boy scoffed at his father. "Who doesn't?"
"Yes, well, certain events couldn't help but uncover your affair." Sabian sat down next to his son. "I must ask you to discontinue this relationship."
Zoser looked at his father in disbelief. "Do you see this woman? She was attacked two days ago and you think you have the right to come in here and order me around? I'm not the boy I once was, Father."
"That I agree with." Sabian said. Wait for the right time to tell him, Sabian urged himself silently. Don't let him know just yet that he is already betrothed
"I must ask you to leave, Father."
"No. I won't. Not until you promise me that this foolishness will end this instant."
Zoser stood up, knocking over the stool he'd been sitting on. "Get out!" There was a fire in his eyes that Sabian had never seen before.
"Fine. Fine. I'll get out. But if I hear that you haven't broken it off by tonight…"
"Guards!" Zoser called.
"I'm leaving." Sabian was true to his word, for once. He left and went to go talk to Minister Rymon.
Zoser sat back down again, watching Ayena's chest rise and fall with each breath. He would never break it off with her! They'd have to kill him first!
Ayena was waking up and he forced a smile on his face, pretending that the confrontation with his father had never happened.
Now, as Sabian stood outside of Raziel's cell, he knew that this was the right thing to do for his sake and for Zoser's. The guard opened up the door and Sabian walked inside, shutting the door after him.
"Would you leave us alone for a minute?" Zoser asked.
The guard nodded. Sabian was a trusted adviser to Pharaoh. He was most likely there on his business. The guard walked to the other side of the room, guarding the door.
"What do you want?" Raziel asked bitterly. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days.
"I want to strike a deal with you." Sabian said, slowly gaining confidence.
"What?" Raziel wasn't sure he had heard right. "I attack your son's lover and you want to strike a deal with me?"
"That's just the point." Sabian sat down next to him. "My son, although he doesn't know it yet, is betrothed to another woman, an Egyptian woman, and, no offense, I'd rather he marry a native then be seen with a foreigner."
Raziel stood up. "So what do you propose?"
"How does murder sound?"
Raziel leaned his arm against the wall and turned his face towards the deviant minister, a smile forming on his face. "It sounds…perfect."
"You would be willing to kill your king's daughter?" Sabian was surprised. He knew that this man was corrupt, but how corrupt he was was still to be determined.
"Minister, let me tell you a story." Raziel said, standing up. "I am the leader of a group of dissidents who wish to overthrow King Azric and his regime. I was appointed to Grand Vizier after the man who originally held the job was 'mysteriously' poisoned."
Sabian smiled. This man was a younger version of himself, the type of man that he hoped Zoser would become in the future.
Raziel continued. "I've gone with the Princess to many countries, trying to help the Pharaoh make alliances. His power is weak and he needs strong allies so that in the event of a civil war he will have someone backing him up. Most of these alliances have been thwarted thanks to me. Of course, Azric thinks that it's because the countries are hostile towards him. Hopefully by the time he realizes who's really behind it all, he will be buried beneath the sands of Limia." The man paused, watching the guard who was still paying no heed to the pair in Raziel's cell. "The day of the coup is swiftly approaching. In fact, now that I'm going to stand on trial for the…incident…it will have to be sooner than I had planned."
"How do you intend to kill him?" Sabian asked.
"There will be an insurrection among the citizens of Limia, which will be started when one of Azric's guards, who will in actuality be one of my followers in uniform, murders a peasant in cold blood."
"And you believe that everything will go according to plan?"
Many of the people of Limia are disillusioned with Azric. Everything will go according to plan."
Again Sabian smiled, an evil crescent that sat on his handsome face like a king on his throne. "I think that we can help each other, after all." He said.
Sabian and Raziel spent two hours planning. First Sabian would help him escape from the prison before his trial started. Then Raziel would flee to the nearest city and stay there until Sabian sent for him. After that, it was up to Raziel to kill the Princess.
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Zoser was forced to leave Ayena's side that evening. The doctor wanted to take care of her wounds and examine her once more before her father came. He would be coming in a few short days and Pharaoh, still thinking of the impending alliance, wanted her to look as healthy as possible.
Zoser wanted to go to the gardens but somehow he didn't think they would help. He'd been there with Ayena. They were now…sacred didn't seem the word for it, but it was the first word that came to mind. His only other option was to go and see his father. He hadn't spoken to him since the incident in Ayena's room the day before. He figured it was time to set things straight.
Sabian was in his room, reading. Zoser knew that his father was probably still mad at him for refusing to end his relationship with Ayena. They had known each other for just a few days, but there was something there, something that neither of them could explain. It was something that he saw in her eyes when she looked up at him, he felt it in her touch, tasted it in her kiss. There was no way he was going to give up his newfound love for whatever future his father had planned for him.
"Father?" He asked, cautiously walking up to Sabian.
His father looked at him briefly then went back to his book. "Zoser." He said, unenthusiastically. "Is it done?"
Zoser shook his head, his mouth set in a determined line. "No, it isn't Father. Nor will it be. I love her."
The book was set down and Sabian stood up. "You hardly know her." He walked across the room and got out a map.
"I know as much as I need to."
His father spread the map out on his bed, pulled the stool up and started to look at it intently, not even acknowledging his son's presence. "You're making a big mistake."
"Why? Because I fell in love? Because I care about someone? How is that a mistake?"
"She is a foreigner." He traced a path with his finger. He had to figure a way to get Raziel safely away from the palace.
"So? Limia will soon be our ally."
"No it won't." His father murmured.
"How can you say that?" His father didn't look up at him, just continued to look at the map. Zoser lost his temper and swept the map off of the bed in one swift motion. "Look at me!"
Sabian was shocked at his son's actions. "Fine son. I'll look at you. You know what I see?" He stood up and looked his son up and down, circling him. "I see a confused young man, who wants nothing more than to go against his father's wishes. I see a child who pretends he is a man. I see a coward. I see-"
Zoser turned on his heel to face his father. "I am not a coward!"
"No, no, of course not, son. Never a coward." He said with contempt in his voice. "You are betrothed, did you know that?"
"What?" Zoser was shocked.
"Yes. Minister Rymon and I have discussed it. You and his daughter, Kyrie, are to marry."
"You never discussed this with me. I never would have-"
"You're seventeen! You have no say in what I decide to do or not do."
"I love Ayena!"
"You only think you do!" Sabian shook his head. "You know son, I knew that your mother was a bad influence on you."
"Don't you dare insult her!" His blood was boiling.
"See what she's done to you son! She's put silly ideas into your head. Ideas of love, of free will! She made you think that you were your own master! But she didn't take into account that you are and always will be my son! You're just like me!"
"I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!"
It only lasted a few seconds, but the punch that followed this outburst stung on his father's face for minutes afterwards.
"You little bastard!" His father was grabbing his throat, pushing him up against the wall. "Don't you ever do that again or I'll kill you!" His voice rang out evilly in the small room.
Zoser's eyes began to bulge. "Ple-please Father. Don't do this." He managed to choke out. "I am your son." He couldn't breathe. The room was spinning, turning black; everything was slipping away so fast. Suddenly he couldn't see anymore. Then, just as death's icy hand began to take hold, his father let go.
Zoser grabbed his neck, gasping for air. He tried to stand up, but it hurt too much. When he swallowed his throat burned. His head reeled, his stomach churned. He wanted to vomit, but knew that it would hurt his throat coming up.
"Go on! Get out of here boy!" His father shouted.
Zoser still couldn't see, but knew that Sabian was right next to him. As his vision came back, slowly but surely, he saw his father's feet. The torchlight in the room was hurting his eyes, so he shut them again.
"I said, get out!" He kicked his son onto his back. "What's the matter?"
" Can't…move…"
"What's that? You can't move?" He picked his son up, ignoring the fact that he was roaring in pain. "Let me help you." He set Zoser down in the hallway. "Don't let me catch you with that whore again, you hear me?"
Zoser was left in the hallway, all alone, writhing in pain. His father, a man he'd admired his whole life, wasn't the man that he thought he was. It was in that moment that Zoser's whole image of the world fell to pieces.
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That evening Sabian went to visit Raziel again. He looked better than when Sabian had first gone to see him. There was color in his cheeks again and a plate of half-eaten food lay on the floor next to his bed.
Sabina now knew exactly what he was going to do. After Zoser had dragged himself off, drowning in self-pity at what he'd realized about his father, Sabian had gone back to the map and planned out an escape route out of the palace and into Verut, a city just to the north of the palace. It would be difficult to get him out of there but he figured he could create a diversion.
"Minister Sabian!" Raziel was surprised that he'd come back so soon. "What is it? Is there a problem?"
"No, no problem." Then he thought for a moment and said, "Ok, one small problem. You aren't the only one making mistakes, Raziel."
"What? Is Azric here already?"
"No. It's my son, Zoser." Sabian told him what had happened.
"You don't think that he suspects anything do you?" Raziel was beginning to think that this wasn't such a good idea.
"No, just that his father is an asshole." Sabian pulled the map out from underneath his robes. "I've figured out a way to get you out of here." He spread it out on the floor and pointed out the route he'd decided on. "Tomorrow night I'll come in here again and cause some sort of distraction. I haven't decided on what yet. We can't have anyone knowing that I was involved at all." Raziel nodded and Sabian continued. "All right, there's a secret passage that runs from my room to the farthest garden. You are to go to my room and wait for me after I've set you free. From there I'll open the passage and you'll slip out." This is where the map came in handy. "You have to go to Verut. Once you get there, go to the home of a man named Xerin. Tell him that I've sent you to him. He'll hide you until I send for you. Got it?"
Raziel nodded. "Are you sure this will work?"
"No, but it's worth a try." He sat down. "If I fail then we both die. My plans are never carried out and neither are yours. But if we don't at least try, the same thing will happen."
"I know." Raziel thought for a moment. "We have to do this, Minister. There's no other way."
"That's good to hear." Sabian got up to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow night. "Be ready."
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Zoser didn't go to evening meal that night. In fact, after the incident with his father, he had dragged himself to his quarters and stayed there, not daring to move. It hurt to swallow, to talk, even to breathe. But it hurt even more to think. To think that everything that he thought he had known about his father had all been a lie. It was only then, lying on his bed, thinking, that he realized that he had never really known his father.
Sabian had always been so good-natured. He always had a smile on his face. He took his job seriously but his life very lightly. At least, the Sabian that Zoser knew had been like that. But that, he realized, wasn't the real Sabian. That was just someone he pretended to be so no one would know what he was really like.
What was he really like? All Zoser knew was that he wasn't the man he'd thought he was. But if he wasn't that, then what was he? Had he ever really loved Zoser or Jandi? Had his marriage to their mother meant anything at all? From what Sabian had said, Zoser doubted that it had.
Now he knew that what he had suspected was true. He was nothing like his father. And he never would be.
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Zoser raced across the desert, not looking behind him. He knew that Sabian was right behind him, and gaining speed. He had a sword in his right hand, his left arm bent, reaching out to the sky. Suddenly a giant hawk swooped out of the sky, a hawk with one eye torn out. The bird screeched and Zoser dared one look back. The hawk's missing eye was hanging around his father's neck. Shocked and disgusted, Zoser accidentally tripped and fell. His father stood over him, growing larger every second. He lifted the sword over his head, holding it firmly with both hands, then rammed it through Zoser's chest.