Yes, another chapter! Believe me, I've surprised even myself, even if it seems a bit rushed. Maybe I've been a bit more inspired since I went back and watched some POP walkthroughs. I do feel like I have some better momentum here, so let's hope it continues.

Side Note: I just realized that the Forgotten Sands had different storylines based on the platform on which it was released! Yes, after ten years! I was only familiar with the one with the Prince, Razia, Malik, and King Solomon's army. The storyline for the one released for the Wii was actually quite interesting, even if it seemed a bit recycled. I won't spoil it for anyone who's reading this who isn't familiar with it, but if you liked SOT and T2T, you'll probably appreciate it. Also, I feel like the dialogue, at times for the Wii version of the Forgotten Sands was a bit "modern" in comparison to previous releases, but I'm no one to comment on that type of thing. :P

Last Note: Wherever you are in the world, I hope you're keeping safe during this time. I don't directly care for patients, but I do work in healthcare with people who do, so my best goes out to all of you.


Lady Anemone opened her eyes and found herself struggling to breathe. The last thing she remembered was being in her chambers when a cloth put over her face and mouth that caused her to become unconscious. Now that she has gained consciousness, she noticed the gag in her mouth and and her arms tightly bound behind her back. Looking over to her side, she saw Yasmin unconscious, also with a gag and arms bound tightly. Looking around, she noticed that the both of them were in a dungeon cell of sorts, cold and dark.

Anemone tried to take as deep a breath as she could through the gag to calm herself down. She knew she had to save every last bit of her energy if there was to be any hope for her or Yasmin.

Suddenly, the cell door creaked open. When Anemone looked up, her eyes narrowed.

"Greetings, Greek dog" said Bahar gleefully, as she walked inside. "No King or savage princess here to save you. And even if they wanted to…."

Bahar paused and shrugged, lazily dropping a bowl of water onto the ground, most of which sloshed onto the ground.

"They won't have much time."


Farah swiftly raced through the palace gardens, dressed in her servant's garb, and armed with her bow and arrows. She had managed to spot Sherfiruz but had to keep enough of a distance so that he would not sense her presence. As she trailed him, she kept thinking about what she had heard prior to slipping out.

"Lady Anemone and Princess Yasmin were abducted by intruders from their quarters are are being held hostage in the dungeons"

Farah insides clenched at the thought of Anemone, sick, and frail, being held in a dungeon. And heart heart dropped at the thought of poor Yasmin for having to face such an ordeal as a child. She just hoped they were still alive.

As Sherfiruz trekked forward, leaping across various apparatuses in the garden, Farah cursed internally. Of course, he had to make this more complicated, didn't he?

Eventually, he made it to clearing, where he began to shuffle at some shrubs in the ground. Farah watched from a careful distance, as the shuffling revealed a large knob and lever in the ground. She almost laughed out loud at the memory that came to mind from when they were trying to regain the kingdom.

"Do you think you could move a little bit faster?"She had inquired.

"You're more than welcome to come down here and try it yourself! Seven years and still nothing's changed." He had mused, shaking his head.

Thinking more about that memory, Farah cringed a bit. Why had she been so bossy? And the seven years comment? She had not known what that meant in the moment, but after Sherfiruz had later told her about the sands of time and their experience together, it made her feel even more embarrassed. Apparently, she had been just as demanding back then as well.

Well, it's not like I can offer to help now

Farah watched as Sherfiruz used his strength to turn the lever. At the end of the turn, she heard a noise, as a tiled panel in the ground opened and revealed a small hole, only enough to allow approximately one person at a time. Sherfiruz climbed into the hole, and Farah guessed that there had to be some kind of knobs or rungs he was using to make his way down. She waited a good few minutes before making her way to the hole. Looking down, she saw that her assumption had been correct; there were a series of rungs that went downwards. Heart slightly racing, she climbed down the rungs in relative darkness until she could make out a dim light. Upon reaching the final rung, she turned around and saw an opening for a large tunnel that was somehow dimly lit. Taking a deep breath, she carefully made her way through.

King Sherfiruz waited carefully at the dungeon entrance, observing the situation at hand. Two dungeon guards had been killed, their bodies lying in the entrance. He could see figures, dressed in black from head to toe, moving about the first level of the dungeon. If he had to guess, Anemone and Yasmin would probably be held in a higher security level of the dungeon.

"Any word from the palace? We already named our price for their lives" said one of the intruders.

"Not yet. And yes, we made it aware that the King himself has to show up within the allotted time." Answered another.

"Have the others confirm that the hostages are alive-ARRGHH"

The black-clad intruder gasped as a sword blade plunged straight through his stomach and collapsed in a pool of blood. The other furrowed his brow and brandished his blade, ready to attack. Sherfiruz swiftly grabbed the second man's neck in a tight lock and placed his blade at his neck.

"Who are you working for?" He hissed.

The intruder gasped for air and shook his head, Sherfiruz tightened his hold and brought the blade closer. To his surprise, the intruder, with whatever strength he could muster, used his hand to plunge the blade into his own neck. Sherfiruz pushed his lifeless body away to the ground and continued onward to the next levels of the dungeon. He once again confronted a fair amount of intruders, and his servant's garb was spattered with more and more blood, but not one of the intruders was willing to divulge the identity of their employer.

As he approached the last level, he heard what sounded like the muffled cries of a little girl.

Yasmin

Without thinking, he ran up the stairs and came face to face with Anemone in a cell, crouched on the ground with Yasmin next to her, tears pouring down her face. As soon as Anemone met Sherfiruz's gaze, her eyes widened in panic. Using whatever strength she had, she tried her best to spit out the gag and yell in a muffled voice.

"NOOO! IT'S A TRAP"

The words had barely registered when Sherfiruz felt a number of binds around his neck. He grunted, his hands flying to his neck to try to remove them.

A large black-clad figure came out of the shadows, his hand tightly grasping the binds.

"Well, what do we have here? A servant? I must say, you are no ordinary servant. Taking down my men was no easy feat. However, you are foolish to come here when We had very specific directions. Our deal was with the King. Was he too much of a coward to bring himself? No matter, as time is running short anyway."

The intruder deftly held the binds with one hand and pulled out a throwing knife with the other, clicking his tongue.

"Who to kill first?" He mused. "She's such a pretty thing, isn't she? Maybe I should enjoy her a bit before I dispose of her corpse?"

Despite the binds around his throat, Sherfiruz gritted his teeth,

"You on the other hand, are neither that easy on the eyes, and you've cost me men. I think you'll be first-AAARRGHH"

A slew of arrows hit the intruder in the face, chest, and in the arm. As soon as his arm was hit, the binds on Sherfiruz's throat loosened, and he quickly pulled out of the man's grasp, and stabbed him in the hip, bringing the man to his knees. Sherfiruz locked his arms around the man's neck and pressed his blade into the left side.

"I want a name!" He bellowed.

"You...will… have...to...kill…me" wheezed the man in response.

Exasperated, Sherfiruz plunged the blade into his neck and dropped him to the ground. He removed the cloth he had wrapped around his face and wiped away some sweat and blood, before he frowned and remembered the arrows. Turning around, he came face to face with Farah.

"Farah!" He exclaimed incredulously. "By the g-I told you NOT to come! How did you even get here? I-"

"Not now" quipped Farah as she rushed over to the cell. "We need to open this."

Quickly, Farah and Sherfiruz succeeded in opening the cell door. Sherfiruz rushed to Yasmin, as Farah rushed over to Anemone."

"Daddy!" Exclaimed Yasmin as soon as he pulled the gag out of her mouth and untied her hands. She immediately rushed into her father's arms.

"You're safe now, my little flower" murmured Sherfiruz, as he rubbed Yasmin's back.

Farah pulled what remained of the gag out of Anemone's mouth and untied her hands. Anemone weakly smiled at Farah for a brief moment before she collapsed in Farah's arms.

"Sherfiruz, call for a physician, NOW!" yelled Farah.


"She is very weak, my King" said Royal Physician Farzad. "The gag was heavily soaked in an anesthetic-an excessive exposure to her already frail body. It is akin to poison for someone in her delicate condition."

Mournfully, Farzad took a deep breath. "I have done all I can."

Sherfiruz nodded. "You are dismissed."

As Farzad walked out, Sherfiruz sat next to Anemone's bed and gently stroked her face, causing her to open her eyes.

"My King," she whispered.

Sherfiruz shook his head. "Don't speak, Anemone. Save your strength. It is I who should be speaking. Please, I seek your forgiveness."

Anemone remained silent as she met his eyes.

"I...I do not deserve someone like you, Anemone. You are too pure and good for me, and I failed to love, care, and protect you in the way that you deserve."

"I forgive you, My King, for everything," interjected Anemone. "but please, it is now I who needs to speak, for this is important."

Anemone placed her hand on his. "I am not going to live much longer, my King. As much as it is unpleasant to hear, it is a truth I know without anyone having to tell me."

Sherfiruz bit his lip and closed his eyes.

"For this reason, I ask you to grant me a last favor."

Sherfiruz opened his eyes and nodded. "Anything."

Anemone looked him in the eyes. " Promise me that you will trust, love, and protect Lady Farah and Yasmin with everything you have."

Sherfiruz's eyes widened, but he remained silent.

"I know that you love Lady Farah, my King, and I know that she loves you. The bond you both share is special. Be patient with her. Never doubt her loyalty to you."

Anemone laughed softly. "I know it might seem odd for me to speak so frankly of one of your other wives, but please believe that I speak with sincerity. A love like the one you share is rare. It is nothing short of a blessing, and I pray that you have time to enjoy it, my King."

Sherfiruz nodded. "As, do I Anemone. As do I. I promise that I will do as you say."


Later that day

"Lady Farah, my mistress requests your company" said Parisa.

Farah nodded and entered the room. Anemone was in her bed and opened her eyes as Farah approached. Farah immediately took Anemone's hand, and Anemone smiled.

"My dear," she began, "I can't thank you enough for what you did in the dungeons. You risked your life to save us."

"It was nothing, Lady Anemone," responded Farah, patting Anemone's hand. "I would do it a thousand times over if I had to."

"You have a good heart, my dear. I've known that from the very beginning, and it is the reason I called you here today."

Anemone sighed deeply. "My dear, I will be honest with you. I'm not well. I'm barely hanging on for life, and I..I will be leaving you all quite soon."

Farah nodded, but she could not stop the hot tears that welled up in her eyes. She remembered what Anemone had told her during their first meeting, and she had heard the royal physician give Sherfiruz the grim news, but hearing Anemone's words now twisted her heart.

"Since I will be gone soon, I wanted to bring up my earlier request that you take care of Yasmin for me."

Farah blinked back her tears, nodded, and gripped Anemone's hand tightly. "As I said before, without question, as if she was my own daughter."

Anemone relaxed against her pillows. "Thank you, my dear. I will part this world with fewer regrets knowing that she is under your care. Also-"

Anemone gripped Farah's hand back.

"My final request is that you find it in your heart to trust the king"

Farah met Anemone's gaze with question.

"He loves you deeply, Farah, whether you realize it or not." said Anemone. "He is not perfect, and he makes mistakes, but please, never doubt his love for you or the kindness in his heart. I am almost certain that no one other than you can occupy the special place in his heart."

Farah sighed. "I will do my best to heed your words."

Anemone nodded. "One last thing, perhaps something I should have been a bit more forthcoming about before all of this."

Farah looked at Anemone inquisitively.

"I did not come to the palace sickly, you know. I was slow-poisoned over time."

Farah's blood boiled as her eyebrows shot up. Roshanak…

"I was a bit naive and wide-eyed when I came to the palace, and I suppose some of that ended up being my undoing. It culminated in the dungeons when I was visited by Bahar."

Farah's eyes widened in recognition.

Anemone nodded, understanding Farah's thoughts. "Yes, my dear, Bahar's visit confirmed what I have suspected for a very long time. Unfortunately, I've never been successful in obtaining any proof against her or her mistress, and without that, there is little that can be done."

Shaking her head, Anemone continued. "I just do not want you to make any of my prior mistakes. These people, they are cruel and unyielding. And speaking of cruelty, beware of Roshanak's child, Shaheen. The last time I saw him, I could swear that there was an aura of darkness around him. That is no normal child."

Anemone then gently took Farah's hand into her own.

"My dear Farah, please remember all that I have told you."

Farah nodded once again, and Parisa entered.

"Parisa, after Lady Farah has gone out, please bring in Yasmin."

"Yes, my Lady." said Parisa with a bow, as she stepped out.

"Farewell, my dear Farah. Live well."

Reaching over Anemone kissed Farah on her cheek before settling into her pillows once again. Farah stood.

"Farewell, Lady Anemone."

As Farah left the quarters, she saw Parisa bringing Yasmin to Anemone, and her heart broke into a million pieces. What was Anemone going to tell her daughter?

Heading out to the empty hallway, Farah leaned against the wall, sank to her knees, and let the tears fall silently from her eyes. All of this felt so unfair, but it could not be helped.

Feeling a presence behind her, Farah turned and saw Sherfiruz staring at her. His expression was almost flat, but she could see sadness as he took in her tearful red eyes. Silently, he approached her and pressed her to his chest. At this, Farah shuddered and broke into muffled sobs. Sherfiruz simply held her, stroked her head gently.


Lady Anemone passed away two days later. Her body was prepared for funeral rites and lay in a special chamber before the ceremony.

When no one else was around, Roshanak walked in, pulling out a small amulet.

"As promised," she said, as a wispy smoke came out of the amulet and materialized into the Dark Prince.

"Took you long enough; of course I would have preferred a fresh body." he grunted, holding his hand over Anemone's body. A yellow aura was emitted and transferred into him, making the glowing symbols on his body brighter.

"With this Greek dog out of the way, the savage will not be as difficult to remove." replied Roshanak.

"And what have you planned?" snapped the Dark Prince.

"The Greeks have received private notice that their precious princess died under rather suspicious circumstances. They are not happy with the Persian King" said Roshanak silkily.

"Ah, going with the unrest angle, are we?"

"Also," added Roshanak, "there's more where that came from. The surplus that was promised by the King to the provinces is not going to arrive as planned."

"I wouldn't count out Farah's meddling, Roshanak" spat the Dark Prince. "See to it that she doesn't thwart our plans."

"You seem to have an awfully high opinion of her abilities" huffed Roshank with disdain.

The Dark Prince glowered. "Your hired assassins failed to kill Sherfiruz AND Anemone AND Yasmin because Farah jumped in yet again. You're fortunate that Anemone already had her feet in her grave."

Roshanak sniffed. "How was I to know that the savage would show up with her bow in the dungeons? The fact that she found a way there and survived is a mystery itself. Fortune favors her."

"You have grossly misunderestimated Farah, Roshanak." glowered the Dark Prince. "Have you forgotten that also she bested your brother in an archery competition? And don't you dare say that was luck! Clearly, there is skill there, skill that you keep ignoring."

"Fine," snapped Roshanak. "she may have some skill, but it will be useless in the face of my current plans."

"And don't forget the bratty princess" snapped the Dark Prince. "Make sure you can kill two birds with one stone."


Farah stroked Yasmin's sleeping face. She had finally managed to ease her into sleep. Although Farah was not aware of Anemone's conversation with her daughter, it was clear that the child was instructed to be completely obedient to Farah.

"How is she?" Asked Sherfiruz, who stood by the door. Lately, he had been making secret visits to Farah's quarters to check on Yasmin.

Farah sighed sadly. "Honestly, she's handling it amazingly for someone her age. She's obviously sad and more quiet than usual, and sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, crying and asking for her mother, but that's about it."

"She's fortunate that she has you." commented Sherfiruz.

Farah placed her arms around Yasmin's body protectively. "She will always be like my own. It doesn't matter that she didn't come from my womb."

"I can see that," said Sherfiruz, his expression, first one reverence, then one of sadness. "You and Anemone developed a close bond in a short amount of time."

Farah gave Sherfiruz a grim look. "She was one of the few honest and trustworthy people in this place. She was too good for this world."

"I don't disagree with that," answered Sherfiruz with a grim look of his own. "But on the subject of Anemone, there is something else I wanted to tell you."

Farah nodded and motioned for Sherfiruz to continue.

"The Greek kingdom received word that Anemone's death was an assassination. What's more is that they received news of her death before it actually happened, and not from one of our official messengers."

Farah's eyes widened and she bit her lip.

"Tell me, Farah" said Sherfiruz. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Whoever planned that abduction knew very well that Anemone was sick, that she was not going to survive." said Farah evenly, even though she wanted to scream and curse both Bahar and Roshanaks' names out loud.

Too bad the evidence is simply not there.

"Not only that," added Sherfiruz, "but also, the envoy who was to oversee the delivering of the surplus grain to the provinces was murdered on route. The culprit identified was a Greek"

Farah shook her head from side to side. Too much coincidence

"If my suspicion is correct, the abduction was a distraction-it gave someone time to plan the events that followed in succession, and it served to ruin our ties with other kingdoms." Noted Sherfiruz.

Farah nodded, and she had a good idea of who that someone was.

"And as you can imagine, we are in the middle of a large set of problems right now. The Greek kingdom sees us as murderers of their princess, our envoy was seemingly murdered by a Greek, and the provinces will face a delay in receiving their surplus grain."

Sherfiruz sighed before speaking again. "It looks like we will have to assemble"

"Assemble?" Inquired Farah. "As in your army?"

Sherfiruz nodded grimly. "Yes, we will have to make preparations to head out. This isn't necessarily war, but we have to stabilize this situation, whatever it might take."

Farah nodded in understanding. Growing up in a ruling family, she understood all too well that there was rarely an obvious right or wrong answer when it came to situations like this.

"If you're not against it," she began, "I can ask my uncles to provide you with some military support. You would be better off with the backing of another kingdom."

"That's actually a wonderful idea, Farah" said Sherfiruz, as he nodded approvingly. "We will use my private courier. I will let you know when. In the meantime, I will start the other necessary preparations."

As he stood up to leave, he placed his hand on Farah's cheek and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I never got to properly thank you for what happened back in the dungeons," he said, stroking her cheek. "You saved us all that day, and I am deeply grateful."

Sherfiruz made his way over to Yasmin's sleeping form, kissed her on the forehead, and gently ruffled her blond curls. He then went back over to Farah and took her hands in his.

"The reason I told you not to accompany me that day is that I could not bear the thought of losing you-"

Sherfiruz paused before he looked into Farah's eyes.

"-Again."

Farah met his gaze and immediately understood his reference to their time in Azad and her "death".

"But I realize now what I should have realized back when we took the kingdom back together-that I cannot stop you. For this reason, I simply ask that you be careful and protect yourself and Yasmin. I-I don't want to lose either of you."

Sherfiruz gave Farah one more lingering kiss before he made his way out. Farah remained standing in the same position, digesting all that Sherfiruz had told her. He had been honest about many things: political conflicts, his suspicions, and his feelings. Farah, however, could not be honest to him about Roshanak at this moment.

If I can't implicate her, the best I can do is protect myself and Yasmin. I'm always going to have to be five or more steps ahead.