Wild Goose Chase

"Um, hello." Halice said, waving slightly to the girl in front of her. This was definatly a strange situation to be sure. Will the girl stood there, obviously scared to the bone, Halice looked her over. Yes, she was most assuredly a slave, since she only wore a simple gown and no shoes. She then looked her straight in the eyes, causing the slave girl to cower slightly. Was this form really that scary? "I won't hurt you."

This provided little visible comfort to the slave. In one hand, a ring of keys was held. In the other was a small dagger, clenched tightly. There were tears up and down her arm and most likely her back, probably left form whips. Trying to look as nonthreatening as possible, Halice knelled down on one knee. The grip on the dagger eased finally when the girl noticed that Halice carried no weapons. And then she spoke. "Are you the girl they brought in earlier?" she said, putting great care, and fear, into her words.

"Just say yes."

"Yes, I suppose I was." Nodding, Halice thought. What could have happened that they locked me in such a small cage? It seemed odd, since bandit's and slave traders at laest made sure there was room for the slave to move, however little room that was.

The girl's expression brightened considerably. "Thank goodness! After you were locked in here, I overheard some of the men saying that the newest slave had gone crazy and attacked them. I had hoped that only meant they lost control of you." She paused to breathe, having not taken a breath since she entered this portion of the cave and found Halice. "I hoped maybe that meant you could help me escape. I'm sure my family would reward you justly."

This was a rather interesting turn in moods. One moment the girl was cowering in fear, the next she was happier than a kid in a candy store. Of course, the more Halice listened to her, the more it seemed like the girl wasn't Persian. Indian? Egyptian maybe? Either way, it would explain her happiness at the thought of leaving this place. "Of course I'll help you get out of here." Halice said with a smile.

"Are you sure you're not getting us lost?" the Dark Prince said to Manar as they plodded through the dank tunnel.

"There's only one path through the tunnel!" Manar announced rather loudly, turning to look at the Prince. Since they were in the same body, if not the same person in essence, it was the only way. Although, her could of been a bit quieter. There was a rustling sound deeper within the cave tunnel, then the faded sounds of voices. While he knew that it could be Halice, the Prince was wary, drawing his sword. Manar, while slightly confused, did the same. Nothing th they could have done would have prepared them for what happened.

Bats screamed and whizzed by the two, followed by a pair of throwing knifes. Manar, amazingly, managed to deflect the knife aimed at him, while the Prince dodged to the side. There was a clatter of metal against metal briefly, before several men clad in leather armour rushed out of the darkness. There was four of them, suffice it to say good enough to surround Manar and the Prince of Persia. They were disorganized and manic, but their blades were as keen as the city guards. In one frenzied action, three of them converged on the Prince, who was obviously the larger threat.

But leaving only one to deal with Manar was a mistake. While the Prince was busy dealing kicks and lethally precise strikes, Manar attacked the single man left. The blade sang over the man as her ducked down to dodge, and quickly met Manar's knee head-on. Blood began to flow out of a likely broken nose as the man stumbled back. A deep growl of contempt rumbled from his throat, and he charged, blade swinging, at Manar. Most people in Manar's time would have backed off then, but the man kept coming, and his sword sank into Manar's Sands-infected arm.

Manar panicked, and finally reacted by stabbing the man. There was a wet cough, a dry thud. The bandit's sword yanked from Manar's arm as it's owner fell. The Prince ended his fight by slitting one man's throat, decapitating the man next to him and finally kicking the final man in the gut. Manar, still very naive, trembled as he realized that the man he was fighting was dead. It was one thing to kill a Sand Monster, they weren't even alive anymore, but he had just killed a man. "It's okay, boy. It can't be avoided." The Prince looked down the tunnel, in the distance was a faint light of a lantern. "Down there."

Carefully, the two of them made their way down the tunnel, wary of more bandits. They soon reached the lantern, which lit a path that spiraled down into something like an arena. It seemed strange that there was something like that in the middle of a cave, but if Halice was in here, it was the only way they'd find her. They walked down the path toward the arena cautiously. Something seemed off, but even though they didn't realize it at that point, there was a definite trail of blood from Manar's wound. When they reached the arena floor, they heard the sounds of people running, but nothing appeared.

Both were on guard for a moment, but soon eased up when the sounds moved farther and farther away. It wasn't long before it stopped altogether. "Fools! I told you not to take that girl. It was obvious she was waiting for some! And now look!" a voice echoed in the darkness. That was all the confirmation the two guys needed. With great purpose in their stride, they ran into the next tunnel.

The sea air was a great change from the stale substance in the cave. The slave girl, whose name was Amil, had shown her a secret exit that required a lot of crawling on one's stomach. Taking a good look around, Halice understood why the girl had not tried to use this to escape before. Only a little ways away was a bandit guard post, though it seemed strangely deserted. In front of them, though was a sight Halice could recognize even if she had never seen it before. The protective wall that surrounded the city of Babylon.

"Oh, Babylon, how beautiful you are this day!" Halice exclaimed, overjoyed at the sight of civilization. This moment could only be better if... Ah! A fountain! Water pooled underneath it invitingly, and Halice couldn't resist jumping in. The water that splashed away disappeared as tendrils of white-blue colour snaked their way around her, until she was normal again. Out of the hole leading from the cave came Amil, who looked at Halice in a strange manner when she noticed the change in appearance.

"That dark cave really made you look different!"