Finally, here is the update! Thank you for the wonderful reviews!

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Chapter 6 – the Helping Hands

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In my mind, I could almost imagine the walls of the corridor closing in around me. There was no way out, save the one I came through, and if I would return that way, I might not be able to catch up with the Prince again. It was a difficult decision… but I chose to try and break down the bars. For at least ten minutes I hacked, slashed, tore at the bars of my cage, but they didn't move, for all of their rustiness. And their openings were too petite even for my think frame to squeeze through. I almost wanted to kick them, but I knew it wouldn't change a thing, only perhaps break my toes.

Far away, in the distance, I saw a mass of gold and light, floating, like some heavenly being… towards thee palace, the one atop the Tower of Babylon. I knew at once that this was no deity, just one traitor eager to masquerade as one.

The sound of calm and heavy footsteps alerted me to the presence of someone else behind the corner, just out of my sight. Well, I decided, if it was a Sand Creature, I could run back and try to find another way here. But if it was the Prince, I had to somehow alert him to my presence. I began shaking the bars as much as I could, trying hard to make him hear me.

To my greatest relief, it was the Prince… and he spotted me behind the gate. At once, he rushed towards me, as if I were mortally wounded. I sighed in relief, probably for the first time showing that I am really glad to see him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, sincerely hoping that he was, because for once, I was unable to get us­… very well, myself… out of this mess.

The Prince frowned and said with a notable bitterness: "He has escaped. And you?" suddenly, he laid a hand over mine, the one that had been clutching the bars desperately. I paid it no heed for once and ignored the fact that my muscles lost much of the tension they had been trapped in moments ago. "What of the troops?"

I shook my head sadly. "Dead. All dead. But I saw the Vizier," I added quickly, so that I wouldn't forget this piece of crucial information. "or whatever it is he's become. He flew towards the palace."

The Prince nodded curtly. "Then we know where to go."

"Alright. But I seem to be…uh…stuck." I was ashamed to admit this helplessness, but it truly seemed that I couldn't get out on my own. "Could you help me find a way out?"

Instead of answering, the Prince darted to the left and vanished out of sight. That surprised and irritated me a bit. I was hoping very much that our bickering at the beginning hadn't now turned against me and that he wouldn't decide to just abandon me here… or play a prank of a similar nature on me. But I heard the muffed sounds of battle and weapons clashing from somewhere bellow, wicker bins and pots breaking… and after a minute, the bars in front of me flew up and vanished in the ceiling. I ran out at once, hoping very much that they wouldn't fall down a second later.

They didn't, but by that time, I was already standing at the railing, looking at the Prince, who stood a floor below me, smiling in thanks.

"Thank you Prince." I said, meaning it this time."

"Of course. The problem is…now I am trapped." the Prince said, trying to sound casual.

I saw that there was a door next to him… but two pressure planks on the floor. He couldn't stand on both at the same time, clearly. It was my turn. "Allow me to return the favour then."

I looked around, searching for something I could shoot down like I did with the bells at the Temple. Sure enough, I saw what I was looking for. It was a crate, not a bell, but it would do. It was held on a hanging platform by several ropes. If my calculations were correct, shooting down one of the ropes would change the balance of the crate and it should fall. If not, I had arrows to spare. But my theory was correct. The Prince shot me a smile of gratitude after pushing the crate upon one of the planks and activated the second one. He vanished through the door quickly.

I followed, still a floor above him, through the paths were different, I imagine, than those he walked now. I encountered no enemies, which I thought was most suspicious. Nevertheless, I was glad that after a few minutes, I spotted the Prince again. He had climbed some kind of small tower and was trying to get around it and descend to the ground. I was just about a meter above him.

"There you are!" I called out.

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed, "There are enemies below!"

"Okay." I looked at my path. Again, it was blocked. How was I to get past a bunch of crates without knocking one over and alerting the monsters below? I could get to the next ledge… if there was one crate less, I suppose. I was quick to inform the Prince of that, but he said nothing, simply continued. I could do little more than watch him, because even arrows would put the guards below on their guard.

Once again, he got past them easily. I spotted a bright beam of light ahead and then, it suddenly vanished. I remembered seeing those things before and guards emerging from them. Something like passages, but far more frightening.

And then, suddenly, the crates before me dropped one level lower. I smiled to myself, took a step back and jumped atop the topmost crate. It swayed slightly and then began falling forward, but I jumped and grabbed the ledge in front of me in time. With a grunt, I managed to raise myself and once more, I felt ground beneath my feet. I waved with my bow at the Prince.

As he vanished, I started moving as well. My path, fortunately, seemed to be very easy. I went slowly, my bow and an arrow ready, but encountered no resistance. As soon as I entered a three-way crossroad, something dropped nearby and the Prince sprang to his feet from a roll, appearing as suddenly as he had vanished. I had to say, I was impressed.

The panoramic view of the palace provided neither of us comfort, but we were now very close… it was only a quick hike through the city now and we would be right next to the tower. From there, it was only a matter of climbing it. I think we both had absolute certainty as to where the Vizier might be lurking.

"At last we have returned." the Prince said, very quietly. He seemed to have calmed somewhat, but he was staring at the tower with fierce determination.

However, fate had other plans that day.

From behind us, I could hear whimpering. A woman, clearly. It sounded like begging… as if she was begging for her life. It was a most pitiful, heart-wrenching sound and I found it impossible to ignore. Just as the cries of the dying at the Temple. Just as the screams of my people. I couldn't stand there and pretend I didn't hear it. But perhaps my mind, my burdened conscience, had conjured it all up!

I turned to the Prince. His confirmation would bring me to reality. "Did you hear that?" I asked, turning to look, hoping I would see proof of what my senses said.

There was a silence from the Prince before he said, his mind made up: "Farah, we must press on."

He had heard! He had heard, I was certain of it! Was this some kind of jest? This wasn't the time! I couldn't leave the suffering to suffer! "Are you mad!" I cried, looking at him with wide eyes, "She was begging for her life! She said there were others." Surely he didn't mean this!

But he did. "No!" yet he refused to look at me, trying to stay committed to the path he had chosen. Perhaps he was afraid that looking at me would cause his determination to sway. "We can afford no more delays!"

"These are your people!" I cried, hoping that he didn't mean what he had said. It was his duty to help them! "You are their prince! And yet you would leave them to suffer?"

He stopped in his steps and looked at me, as if begging me to understand. I didn't. I couldn't. "That man has taken everything from me!" he said, pointing at the palace. "And now that I have the opportunity to punish him…you want to delay me?" The quiet desperation was now strong. "Have you forgotten what he did to you?"

"But I-"

"You are burdened by a guilty conscience Farah." Why must he see what I don't want him to see? "He made you watch as your people suffered, unable to aid them. You were not to blame. Don't let it cloud your judgment." And he turned away, as if that solved the situation.

But I wasn't some little girl who he could put in her place. I had outgrown such things. My will was that of a Princess and my conscience said that these people weren't meant to suffer as they did. I could not leave them, I had to save them. With or without his help. Perhaps he wasn't who my hopes had made him out to be. His thoughts always returned just to the primal need to avenge his lost honour. I realized that it was important to him, but to a royal, their people should be their top priority, especially in a situation such as this. We could help them… and if he wouldn't, I would.

"It is not I who suffers from clouded judgment." I said crossly, folding my arms. "You may not be willing to help them, but you cannot stop me!" I turned away and walked off angrily. I didn't look back.

" I go to kill the Vizier and end this!" I heard him shout after me. I paid it no heed. "While you run around applying bandages to axe wounds!" Something within me winced. But my feet sped up and I found myself running.

I couldn't believe that I had been wrong. But perhaps my judgement had been clouded. I had believed that, despite his bitterness and anger, he would be able to push his own personal interests aside for the good of his people. Apparently, I had a lot to learn about people. He was living proof of the fact that I was too much of an idealist. I might have matured and learned a lot over a short period of time, but still, I saw the world as I wished it would be.

I didn't turn back as I ran. Fortunately, the path I had chosen was mostly clean, tainted only by a few corpses. The gates of the brothel were wide open as I ran through. Almost immediately, I had to hide behind a pillar as an arrow flew in my direction. As I had thought, the place was filled with enemies. The archer, I dealt with quickly by crouching and shooting the arrow from a strange angle. However, new kinds of enemies appeared, like I had never seen before.

A wraith-like thing rose from the ground and it seemed to float across the room. As I watched it, it suddenly turned and threw a dagger at me. I barely dodged it and shot two arrows at it, enough to cripple it for a moment and allow me to throw the dagger right back. It hit it squarely in the chest and it broke into grains of sand. The daggers, however, remained intact.

That was fortunate, because in a moment, three women appeared. Well, they seemed to have feminine traits, but their faces were masked. Most of their bodies were scandalously exposed, just like prostitutes would do and in each hand, they had strange curved blades. I shot an arrow at the nearest, but the thing deflected it easily with its weapons. I shot another, but again, the monster just sent it flying away with an unpleasant titter that turned into a kind of moan. I was bewildered and now slightly afraid, because the three began closing in on me.

I couldn't shoot them with my arrows, but fortunately, I spotted the daggers lying on the floor. Passing my bow to my right hand, I grabbed a dagger and defended myself against the onslaught of blows that followed. After a few swings they took at me, I noticed that there eventually came a moment where they had to stop moving. With all my strength, I swung the dagger and brought it to the stomach of one. She swayed and collapsed… but the weapons remained. I grabbed both of them this time, swinging my bow over my shoulder, twirling the twin blades to get a feel for them. Then, I was ready to face the other two wenches.

Fortunately, they weren't exactly smart and thought I would be an easy target, when forced to use a weapon I wasn't familiar with. They were all the more surprised when I sliced off their heads within a few minutes.

The weapons broke into sands once I was finished with them, but I didn't mind. I just dusted my hands for a moment before reclaiming my trusty bow and continuing through the building, arrows at the ready. Obviously, I couldn't de-monsterize the entire brothel. And it wasn't my goal, anyway. Exterminating the beasts wasn't what I had come to do. I was here for the women, to save them, and I would do that before leaving here. Their safety was my priority.

I avoided the traps and patrols in the brothel, which was secured like to military target would be, who knew why. I had a few lucky shots before I was discovered. An archer noticed me and fired an arrow at me, missing. I would have taken him out, if I could have, but I saw that another of them had taken up residence on the opposing balcony. They had me cornered – wherever I would appear, both of them had a clear shot at my head. I hid behind a pillar and knew that I would have to stay there.

But I couldn't. I knew they wouldn't wait for me to make up my mind. Their hasty steps alerted me to their presence and once more of those quasi-dancing wenches appeared at my side, I did the most rational thing I could think of. I threw myself out of the window. Fortunately, I had seen that the ground was only a meter or so beneath me, so there was little harm in falling. At once, I took off and before I knew it, I was away from the brothel, far enough to elude the sight of my pursuers. But I hadn't completed my task, which irritated me no end.

I had to rethink my strategy, I decided. I found myself a shielded platform, where I had the upper hand, the higher ground, and pondered my plans for a moment. if I was right, I was somewhere near the plaza I had seen before, from the windows, so I could try and…

"Farah!" A familiar and thoroughly unwelcome voice called from beneath my platform. I turned around with the most irritated and arrogant face I could muster and looked at the Prince as if he wasn't worth a damn.

"What do you want?" I asked, expecting another fight. He climbed up to where I was standing and lowered his head for a moment. When he spoke, his voice wasn't forceful or angered.

"I have though about what you said, and you were right." There was no shame in the apology, only honesty. I felt my mask of anger and annoyance fall down crashing. I hadn't seen him like this yet. Atonement seemed foreign to him, but still, it was a welcome change. He had to really care about… about… my opinion…if he had crossed all these paths just to apologize for this. "I-"

There was a swoosh and something solid and sharp flew in front of our faces. The Prince and I dodged it… barely… and then looked up to see out assailant. For a moment, I thought it was one of those near-naked wenches that I had encountered previously, but this one looked different. Her clothing was more modest and different. Her skin was luminously pale, but of a pale violet colour, looking most unhealthy. She wore a horned helmet that seemed too big and her eyes gleamed. On her belt, she had more than a healthy supply of daggers. The Prince had no chance of recognizing her, but I did.

Another traitor. Mahasti. One of those who had taken Zurvan´s side in India.

"Can't you see we're in the middle of a conversation?" I snapped at her, hands at my hips. "If you really do desire death kindly wait your turn."

I was ready to dodge another dagger, but instead, she turned and ran off.

The Prince had a look in his eyes like a hunter ready to jump at his prey. However, he quickly turned to me. "I have killed most of the guards; it should be safe. Go and free the women." I nodded and headed off, hoping that the traitor would meet her fate… and glad that the Prince had returned. "I will deal with her." I heard him say as I headed off.