Summary: Everything the Prince worked to avoid is happening again. The Prince and Farah managed to escape the sand creatures chasing them but now the Prince believes he has spotted his father.
I just want to say thx to all the people urging me to continue. :-D
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, all is God's.
Fate
Chapter Five: An Old Friend
Farah gasped. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," the Prince said grimly. "I would recognize that outfit anywhere." Farah looked again and this time noticed that one of the sand creatures stood out from the rest. It was taller and garbed in blue cloth and scale armor, or what was left of it.
"So now what do we do?"
"Now, we climb down, before it starts raining," the Prince said, peeling is eyes from his father's animated corpse. Farah gave the ground an uncertain glance.
"You'll be fine," the Prince said soothingly. "There's a ledge just below us, you should be able to reach it."
Farah decided not to try to look for it. Instead she got down on her stomach and reached with her feet over the ledge while the Prince directed her. She could feel it with the tips of her toes when she was hanging from the edge with only her hands. Farah made sure her toes were completely on the ledge before releasing her death grip on the ledge, and even then eased her heels down until they were flat. The ledge extended at a length smaller than her feet, forcing her to turn her entire body sideways to stay on.
"See now, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" The prince said jovially. He joined her, moving much quicker that Farah did. The ledge started shaking. The Prince wrapped his arm around Farah's waist and held onto the edge with his other hand. Then something happened the Prince hadn't seen before. The entire ledge gave way, not just that single section they were standing on, but the entire ledge. The Prince gave the crumbling ledge a disgusted look. 'How insulting! It's as if that ledge is calling me overweight!'
Farah held onto his shoulders as tightly as possible. "I think I see a handhold right next to us. You could probably reach it if you tried."
"As long as you don't try to step onto it, fine," Farah said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you were too heavy for a ledge, so at least let me get down before you collapse anything else."
"Me? I'll have you know that never happened when I climbed down alone."
"So are you calling me overweight?"
"You said it, not me,"
"You know, I could easily dismember…"
"I could easily let go. Now are we going to hang here and bicker all day or are we going to at least try to beat the rain?"
Farah looked over at the hand hold the Prince mentioned. It was small, barely the size of her hand, and less than a foot away. It was most likely the remains of aforementioned ledge.
"It's too small and it looks brittle," Farah said.
"Fine, do you think you could manage to get on my back?"
"Probably, hold on." The Prince removed his hand from around her waist and used it to hold onto the ledge as well. Farah wrapped her legs around the Prince's side. "Will this work?"
"I don't know, I'm worried that you might get hit with something. Are you sure you can't get on my back?"
"I suppose I could try one last thing," Farah said. With her legs wrapped around him, she was able to adjust her hands so that she was holding onto the outside of his shoulders. She used her hands to supports herself & moved her legs over until she was on his back.
"See, that wasn't…"
Farah clapped a hand around his mouth. "Remember the last time you said that? Let's not jinx ourselves." She removed her hands.
"Calling me unlucky, are you now?" the Prince asked.
"Considering the situation, very," Farah replied.
The Prince scoffed. He was able to climb down without any further incidents. His ears were still ringing with Farah's long after they had gotten down.
"Where are we going?" Farah asked when they got down.
"My father," the Prince said, indifferently. He began walking towards the giant walls surrounding the castle.
"Why?"
"I need his sword," he said shortly.
"What good will it do without the Dagger?"
"Trust me," he said. The Prince began walking towards the ramparts surrounding the castle. He had seen stairs leading to the top before their descent. That was where his father was and that was where they needed to go. Farah followed him in silence. They met no resistance, as the Prince thought they wouldn't. Everyone would have rushed to their stations once the attack began. However, this also meant there would be many archers and fighters on the ramparts. Getting to the King of Persia would be difficult.
"How are we going to get the sword away from him?" Farah whispered as they went up the stairs slowly.
"I'm not sure, I'm sort of making it up as I go," the Prince said.
"That's comforting," Farah replied.
"I don't see you coming up with anything!"
"Not like you've asked for my input," Farah retorted.
The Prince snorted and muttered under his breath. "As if you've held back any opinions anyway."
"What?"
"Nothing, just talking to myself," he quipped.
They paused near the top of the stairs. "We'll need to stay down," Farah said. "Some of my father's best archers and fighters will be on this wall."
"Great," the Prince snorted. They managed to reach the top of the stairs without alerting any of the Sand Creatures there, though both knew one step further would alert them all to their presence. The Persian King was at the end of the wall, next to a room that connected the perpendicular ramparts. The Prince silently motioned a plan to Farah. She wasn't sure if she understood correctly, but she nodded anyway.
A few minutes later and an arrow sped through the air, crashing into some boxes in the end room. The noise caught the attention of many of the Sand Creatures and they went rushing into the room. The Prince had been waiting for this moment. The Prince had used flags along the inside of the walls to get as close to the end as he could. Now, he jumped up to, on, and over the parapets, closing the door with a mighty thud.
The Prince dropped to the ground to avoid the blow aimed at his head. Luckily, or not, the sword stuck into the wooden door. The Prince used his hands to spring to his feet, kicking the sand creature back at the same time. The Prince tugged the sword with all his might, but it wouldn't budge. He gave up on it, it wasn't the sword he wanted anyway. For a brief moment, he wondered if he had accidentally locked his father, no not his father, in that room, but he caught sight of the King near the stairs. 'Near Farah!'
The Prince rushed to the stairs, weaving around sand creatures as he went. There were so many of them, they hit one another in their attempts to strike him, clearing a path. This gave him an idea.
Farah, meanwhile, was trying her best to be invisible. That didn't work out as she had planned. Right after she fired her arrow most of the sand creatures went towards the noise. However, one of them, the most regally dressed, went for the source of the arrow, namely, her. She thought she was invisible and that it would perhaps pass, but when it raised its scimitar she knew better. Before she could blink it struck.
She heard a clanging sound and realized she had closed her eyes and covered her head. She opened them now, and saw the Prince standing over her, parrying the attack. She quickly moved out from behind him and loaded her bow.
"Farah, don't worry about it, just get to safety," the Prince said.
"What?" she asked incredulously.
"Trust me!" he said.
"Are you insane?"
"Perhaps, but I have a plan for once!" the Prince said.
"If you say so," Farah said doubtfully. She didn't put her bow away, but she did run further down the stairs. Whatever the Prince was planning, she planned to have his back.
The Prince quickly darted out of the way of the next blow but didn't seem to notice the sand creature standing right behind him. A well-aimed arrow stalled the sand creature. The Prince darted out of the way and the Sand King hit the stalled sand creature, destroying it in a single blow.
Farah stared in awe at that sword. It tugged at her memory, but she didn't have time to ponder it. She was too busy watching after the Prince. His plan soon came to light. He continuously darted around, avoiding attacks at every end, with her help, leading the Sand King to a point of attack, which he would avoid mid-swing. The Sand King would then accidentally strike and destroy one of its underlings. It was a dangerous plan, but it was working. But there were so many left. They crowded the walkway, hitting one another in attempts to hit the Prince, but also making it hard to maneuver around.
The Prince would wear down eventually. Farah only had a few arrows left.
"Prince!" she screamed.
"A little busy!" he yelled back.
Something made a noise behind her. Farah whirled around and came face to face with a familiar old, wizened face. Before she could scream he struck, knocking her aside. She stumbled and fell on the stair, but managed not to go tumbling down stairs.
"Was that necessary?" Farah hissed.
"To save your life? Yes," the Vizier replied.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Farah said. The Vizier jabbed his staff towards her face and she flinched once more, throwing her arms up and jerking out of the way. She mistook the clanging sound as the result of his staff missing her face and hitting the side of the stone steps. When she looked, she realized he had saved her from a sand creature's attack. A short chant later and the sand creature was destroyed and its sand floated away, towards the Prince.
Farah looked for the Prince. He was still dodging sand creatures, though he had slowed down and looked wounded. Cuts littered his body and blood poured from them. Sand was collecting near him. She knew what would happen once more sand had gathered.
"You have to help him!" Farah commanded the Vizier.
"Have patience, my dear Princess." The Vizier began chanting in a deep, guttural voice. He wove intricate patterns in the air as his voice became deeper, more fearsome. Farah was afraid that he was going to hurt the Prince and called out to him. This time, the Prince whirled around to look at her.
"You!" he spat at the Vizier. The Vizier finished his chant and a glow surrounded the Prince. The Prince was suddenly unable to move! He panicked, but was unable to scream. Moments passed and yet his inevitable demise did not come to pass. A sword sat stationary inches in front of his face, so he safely assumed the sand creatures were frozen, too.
"Good to see you, too," the Vizier said.
"What did you do?" Farah queried suspiciously.
"You have eyes, what does it look like I did?" the Vizier retorted. He approached the frozen Prince, Farah hot on his trail.
"Why did you freeze the Prince," she demanded.
"A minor err, simple to recant."
"Don't let it happen again!" Farah threatened.
"Really now, is that the way you should treat a potential ally?"
"Why would we help you?"
"Because my dear Princess, you need me," the Vizier said calmly, pushing aside the sword in front of the Prince's face and tapping the Prince lightly on the forehead with his index finger. A blue glow enveloped the Prince and he collapsed to the ground. The Prince would have fallen straight into a sword just in front of his face if the Vizier had not moved it.
"Really? From the looks of it, you need me," the Prince said, getting up and dusting himself off.
"Do I? Without my magic, you will turn," the Vizier said
"Turn?" the Prince said.
"Into a sand creature."
"You're lying… isn't he, Farah?" the Prince said confidently.
Farah noticed the nuance of desperation in his voice and looked into his eyes. She looked away and admitted softly, "He's telling the truth." The Prince stared at the frozen figure of his father next to him. He had never thought that he might fall prey to the same fate as his father. Fear overwhelmed him, but he did his best not to show it.
"You don't have the Dagger. Without it, you are just as vulnerable as anyone else," the Vizier said, a sickening little sneer etched on his face.
"But what about you?" the Prince asked Farah, ignoring the Vizier.
"My amulet protects me," she said, gingerly fingering said amulet.
"Handy little trinket, isn't it?"
Farah smiled. "In the most impossible of situations."
"Yes, yes," the Vizier interrupted. He ignored the obvious annoyance shown by Farah and the Prince.
"What's protecting you?"
"My magic, which is what is also now saving you."
"Why couldn't you have done that for more people?" Farah asked.
"Even my magic is limited."
"Imagine that," the Prince muttered under his breath. The Vizier ignored him.
"To what extent is not your concern,"
"Yes it is," the Prince argued. "I don't want to turn."
The Vizier waved him off. "Very well, all you need to know is that spell only reaches up to a ten foot radius."
The Prince scowled. "Meaning we need to keep you around,"
"Precisely," the Vizier smirked.
Oh snap, I'm evil. Ah well, I needed a way to explain why the Prince won't turn… :-P Any OOCness on anyone's parts, especially the Vizier? C'mon, you didn't think he'd died now, did you? Pshaw. Don't be afraid to criticize, it's what I want!
My SoT game is scratched. ;; It's possessed! Waaaah! It's not the remote or the PS2, cuz other games work.
