When Farid and Meggie reached the marketplace, the festival was already well into the event. To Farid this was any normal festival, but to Meggie it was like a magical scene out of a book that she could only imagine. She saw the stands and the sellers trying to get a passerby to purchase their items. At the center of the festivities, brightly colored performers juggled some even blowing fire. Meggie looked up at Farid and noticed the mesmerized look in his eyes as he stared at the fire. He pulled her into the crowd and they melted right into the scene.
"You must be really interested in fire breathing." Meggie laughed.
"Yeah, it's always interested me. One day I want to be able to get up close to it." Farid sighed.
"There's actually someone where I come from that could teach you," She admitted. "His name's Dustfinger; they call him the best fire-dancer where he comes from."
"What's a fire-dancer exactly?" He asked.
"Well he can speak to fire. Oh, and he's even able to control it!" She replied happily. "Maybe I could introduce you to him sometime."
"Aw, thanks Meggie! I'd just love that!" He said excitedly, taking her hands in his. She smiled and turned back to the performers. One of them blew fire close to them and Meggie instinctively backed into Farid's arm. They looked at each other, looked away after a few seconds, and then blushed furiously. Farid led Meggie out from the crowd and they walked beside the carts, looking at the items on them carefully.
"Hey, boy." One of the sellers called to Farid. "Why not buy a necklace for your pretty wife?"
"Oh, we're not-" Farid tried to explain, but the seller had already approached them and he held out a necklace.
"Wow, this is so beautiful." Meggie gasped as she held the necklace in her hands. It had a silver chain and had a pendant attached it. The pendant was a bright red ruby that glowed in the sunlight.
"For you, it's only 6 gold coins." The seller boasted, as if they were getting a deal.
"Well it seems very nice, but-" Meggie sighed.
"We'll take it." Farid cut in and plopped six gold coins into the man's hand.
"Pleasure doing business with you." The man said and walked back to his cart.
"Where did you get the money?" Meggie asked suspiciously.
"When we were standing in the crowd, I pocketed a man's coins." Farid explained casually. "Now turn around so I can put this on you."
She rolled her eyes, but she did as he said and the necklace was around her neck in the blink of an eye. Farid studied her and gave her an approving smile.
"How does it look?" She asked, holding the pendant in her hands.
"Lovely, just like you." He replied. He realized what he said and looked away with embarrassment. When he turned his head, he spotted a man watching them about ten feet away. Farid gasped when he realized it was one of the thieves.
"Meggie, we need to get out of here." He whispered.
"Why? Are the officials on your trail?" She teased.
"No, Dariad and the thieves are." He muttered. He put his arm around her shoulder and glanced back at the thief, but he was already gone.
"There's another one." Meggie gasped, recognizing one of the thieves in the crowd they had previously been in.
"They knew we were coming." Farid groaned.
"What do we do?" She asked.
"I need to get you out of here; they can't get their hands on you." He said and pulled her into the crowd. The chatting and laughter all around them silenced the loud beating of Meggie's heart as more and more thieves surfaced around them. Meggie felt completely trapped as Farid tried to find a way out, but a thief was nearly everywhere they looked.
"I'm so sorry Meggie." He whispered. "I should have never brought you here."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dariad had a frown on his face as he watched Farid and Meggie stroll around the festival as if nothing was wrong. By what he saw, he could tell that Farid had grown feelings for the girl and the girl had somewhat grown feelings for him. Yet neither of them had the guts to admit it. Then sour taste came back to his mouth when he saw Farid buy the necklace for Meggie. Both of their faces lit up for that brief moment. Farid seemed giddy that he was able to touch the bare skin of Meggie's neck as he put the necklace around her neck.
At least he bought the necklace with stolen money. Dariad thought bitterly.
A triumphant grin came to his lips when he saw that they had seen the thieves closing in on them. It amused him that Farid had tried to get Meggie out of the area, but he only drew them closer to their capture. He saw Felix waiting in an alleyway for the thieves to herd the two into it. Then Dariad would join Felix and they would be able to bring the two back with them to the camp.
Maybe I could sell the girl for a hefty price. The boy would be a good slave as well. Dariad thoughts as he made his way toward the alley.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Farid took off in a sprint, pulling Meggie along as he did. When they reached an alleyway, he stopped as Felix appeared out of the shadows. Meggie gasped and Farid held her tightly in his arms. They turned around to run, but another thief was behind them. Meggie screamed and Farid pulled out a dagger. He swung it at the thief, who now had a long gash going down his arm. He pulled Meggie away from the scene and they ran around the festival trying to find an escape route. Meggie felt her lungs burning in need of oxygen, but Farid kept pulling her along.
"We can't let them get us!" Farid panted as they continued to run. Suddenly, Dariad appeared from another alleyway, a dagger in his hands. Farid came to halt and he pushed Meggie behind him protectively. He held out his dagger and pointed it at Dariad.
"Let us leave." Farid snarled.
"Not a chance, boy." Dariad sneered. "
Meggie clutched Farid's free arm as he pulled her beside him. Farid and Dariad glared at each other until an official noticed the daggers and began to shout at the other officials around them. Three of the officials took care of Dariad while another approached Farid carefully.
"Well Prince Farid, we meet again." One of the officials sneered as he approached Farid and Meggie. Meggie stared up at Farid with confusion, but he was looking at the official with annoyance.
"Leave me alone, Shivesh." Farid groaned.
"Your father has been looking for you, and here you are." Shivesh said with a triumphant grin. "Come, we must go to the palace. The king will be pleased to see you."
"You and I both know you only care about me because you want to be on my father's good side." Farid pointed out as Shivesh ushered the two out of the festival area.
"Farid, tell me what's going on." Meggie demanded.
"I can't right now, but once we're in private I will." Farid whispered into her ear as more officials hovered around them. Meggie looked uneasily around at the people, especially at Farid. He had lied to her. He said his father had been a trader, but if that was true then why had Shivesh said that his father was the king?
I know Farid lied to me, but how much of his story did he lie about? Meggie thought suspiciously.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Shivesh led them into the palace and Meggie looked around in amazement. It was so beautiful and magnificent that she thought it was read right out of a fairy tale. There was a door at the end of a long hallway and it was open, revealing a room with a throne at the end. As the trio entered, Meggie saw an elderly man sitting on the throne, another boy
"Farid, my son, it's so good to see you." The man said.
"Good to see you too, dad." Farid said with a weak smile.
"He seems to be in good condition." The boy muttered. "Who is that girl?"
"No one you need to know." Farid snapped.
"Well since she's certainly not of our race, then she's obviously an outsider." Gregory smirked. "And all outsiders must be sent away."
"For your information, she's a princess from a foreign land. I helped her escape from the thieves that held her captive." Farid said matter-of-factly.
"Really? Well you can both stay with us for as long as you need. Shivesh, take them to the guest room."
Shivesh ushered them down another hallway. Once they were out of the throne room, Meggie distanced herself from Farid.
"Here is your room. Someone will come and bring you dinner." Shivesh said and opened the door to a magnificent room. Farid and Meggie stepped in and the door closed behind them. Meggie plopped herself onto the bed and Farid stood before her uneasily.
"So, how much of your stories have been lies?" Meggie asked.
"I'm sorry I lied, but you have to understand-" Farid sighed.
"No, you understand! I told you nothing but the truth, and then you go and lie to me!" She snapped.
"Let me at least explain myself before you start yelling at me!" He snapped back, causing Meggie to go silent. "I only lied to you because I didn't like my past. Besides, you'd think I was crazy if I told you I gave up the life of luxury just to be a thief!"
"I wouldn't think that; I would just appreciate that you told me the truth." She said softly, placing her hand on the necklace. Farid sighed and sat down beside her, pulling her into his arms. He rested his chin on top of her head and she rested her head on his chest.
"I'm sorry, but I want you to think the best of me." He sighed.
"I've thought the best of you since you saved my life. You've done more for me than anyone else would." She murmured.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Farid said. "So…what do we do about the whole princess thing?"
"I think I'll actually enjoy being treated like royalty. You can call me Princess Meggie from now on, by the way." She laughed.
"You better watch yourself. My dad might just marry you off to some foreign prince, Princess Meggie." He teased.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After much deliberation, Fenoglio had come up with an idea. At the moment, he was writing up a page for Mo to read aloud, which left the three to sit and wait.
"Do you think Meggie is okay?" Elinor asked.
"I'm sure someone has married her by now." Dustfinger said, getting a glare from Mo and Elinor. "Don't look at me like that. Girls get married at her age where I come from and it probably goes the same for the people in the book you read her in."
"I'm afraid he's right. Girls in Arabia do get married at quite an early age. For all we know, she could be preparing to be married to some prince." Elinor sighed.
"If that's the case, we can finish off Capricorn and rescue Meggie as soon as Fenoglio is finished." Mo clarified.
"You sound like you actually believe that this writing trick is going to work." Dustfinger snickered.
"Fenoglio's the writer of the book, so anything he writes might just come true when Mo reads it." Elinor pointed out.
"I just hope that Meggie is a very patient girl considering how long he's taking." Dustfinger mumbled and gestured over to Fenoglio, who kept rewriting on the page.