Her Two Wishes

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

Jasmine

Jasmine stood staring at her bedroom door with her heart pounding like a drum. She was starting to sweat and her legs were shaking. Ever since she was a child, wearing her formal robe would lead her mother to call Jasmine her little China doll. Jasmine hated when her mother pointed out how Chinese she looked instead of like her Arab father, the Sultan. But her traditional Chinese dress certainly came in handy today.

Why today? Because today was the day Jasmine would finally make her escape. Her life had been torture as the princess. From the day she was born she had rules that governed every movement she made. She literally had a movement instructor who taught her how to walk like a princess.

On top of that, every day for her was the same. She woke up, her handmaidens would enter her room, guide her to the bath, bath her and dress her. Dressed, she would be lead to the breakfast room where she would eat breakfast alone. From there, she would be escorted to her daily lessons. Chinese literature, Arabic literature, art class, and music class. But even in her music class, she couldn’t choose her own instrument.

She had wanted to learn to play the pipa after seeing a woman in their royal orchestra play it. The image had reshaped her view of the world. Never in her life had she imagined that a woman would be allowed to play the pipa. And the way she held it, it was like she was holding a lover.

Jasmine was sure that no one else noticed, but she saw how the pipa player’s face contorted with pleasure. She had recognized the musician’s restrained countenance from her own when she first discovered what happened when she touched herself between her legs. The musician experienced ecstasy as she played her bulbous stringed instrument, and Jasmine had wanted that for herself.

Alas, that was not the instrument for royalty, her instructor told her. She was to play the guzheng. It was tradition, her instructor had said. And when Jasmine complained to her mother, her mother lectured her about Chinese traditions and then took her instructor’s side.

That incident, in particular, made Jasmine feel utterly helpless. Everything about her life felt that way. But worse than all of that. Worse than the fact that every moment of her life was maneuvered like a stringed puppet, was the rule that governed every princess in her line. It was that no one, not her guards, not her instructors, not even visiting emissaries, was allowed to look her in the eyes.

For the 20 years of her life, the only eyes she had looked into were those of her father, her mother, her childhood nanny, and Vizier. But, even though he could, her father hardly ever looked at her. He couldn’t because it was rare that they were in the same room at the same time. Her mother, she saw more often, but she too was busy. And, whenever she was unlucky enough to be left alone with her father’s monstrous adviser, Vizier, he always said the vilest things to her that she could imagine.

Jasmine’s heart ached to be seen by another human being. She wanted it so desperately that she had considered climbing to the top of the palace wall and throwing herself off of it. She would be seen then, the whole city would see her.

But what she instead decided to do was something greater. In one stroke she would get everything she ever wanted while also getting back at her parents for every mean thing they had ever done. Jasmine had been planning this for months. She had thought about it for years. And after putting the last preparations in place the day before, this was the day she was going to do it. She was going to run away.

However, Jasmine knew that, as a princess, escaping the palace wasn’t going to be easy. Although no one ever looked her in the eyes, she knew that everyone knew what she looked like. She wouldn’t even make it into the courtyard without a guard a few steps behind her. And, if she just put her head down and ran for it, she wouldn’t get very far.

Her wooden shoes would slow her down. If she took them off and ran in her socks, she still had the layers upon layers of clothing to deal with. She would be stopped in an instant. Perhaps then, her cage would lock even tighter. She couldn’t think of how her life could get any worse, but she was sure that it could.

No, she had long determined that no such straight-forward escape plan would work. She would need to do something that, even if she were caught, would get her out of the palace and keep her there. She would have to convince people that she shouldn’t be there and have them do the work of making sure she wasn’t returned.

With Jasmine’s heart thumping in her throat, she stretched her fingers touching her bedroom’s doorknob. The metal felt electric. Everything around her seemed more alive. Was it because this was the last time she would see all of it? Perhaps. But, with a final deep breath and all of the courage she could gather, she turned the knob of her bedroom door and stepped out into the hall.

As the light from the hallway poured upon her, she looked around. As soon as she did, the guard’s surprised eyes looked down. It wasn’t unheard of for Jasmine to leave her room after dinner, but it was rare. If the royal orchestra wasn’t playing, she would mostly lose herself in a book about faraway places. After all, in real life, she was a prisoner. In her imagination and her books, she was free.

“Follow far behind,” Jasmine ordered with unquestionable authority.

“Yes, your Highness,” the burly, bearded man said in reply.

Jasmine stepped into the hall with her head spinning. She had managed to say her words calmly, but that didn’t reflect how she felt. She was a wreck, but there was no way she could let on.

“Further,” Jasmine demanded knowing the absolute limit they were allowed to follow. “Further still,” she ordered getting the man as far from her as she could.

Part one of her plan was done. She had to enter the hall just before nightfall. That was when no one would suspect a thing. Next, she would make her way to Vizier’s laboratory. She hated him, but she was finally going to use his vulgar familiarity against him.

She knew that at exactly this time, he would be meeting with her father. It was the one meeting he dare not break. All she had to do was get from where she was to that side of the palace and, like that, she would almost be free.

As she had planned, Jasmine sped up every time she rounded a corner. It was extending the distance between her and her guard. Approaching a new corner, the guard would lose track of her. And after doing this enough times, the guard couldn’t see her at all.

That was when Jasmine took off her wooden shoes and ran. She had to take them with her unless the guard would suspect something was up. Yes, the absence of wood clicking on stone would be a clue. But she knew the guard assigned to her. He wasn’t that bright.

With her shoes in her hand and her robe hiked into her arms, Jasmine sprinted through the palace. She knew the route she had to take. It was the one least traveled. It would be longer, which would increase her likelihood of being caught, but that’s what it had to be.

Five turns, six, seven, ten. She was getting closer. The guard had to be running now too. There was a chance he had gone the wrong way. Jasmine couldn’t rely on that, though. She had to keep going. And when her exhaustion hit her and she knew she couldn’t run for much longer, she was relieved to see the door at the end of the hall come into view. The relief was almost overwhelming.

Desperately out of breath, Jasmine slowed to pull on the door. Clutching the knob, it didn’t budge. She tried it again. Nothing. How was this possible? Was it locked? Jasmine examined the knob. There was no lock so it couldn’t be. Then, why wasn’t it opening? Her father had once told her that Vizier was a sorcerer with great magic. Was that how the door remained closed? Was it magic?

Pulling and pulling, nothing happened. This had been a mistake. She could hear the guard approaching. He would come upon her and she would have to explain herself. Maybe not to the guard, but to her mother when she found out.

Jasmine’s heart ached with regret. She should never have tried this. There had been too many moving parts and she had known that. Yet, here it was, the only plan she could come up with and it was about to destroy any hope she had of getting away.

Turning to face her pursuer, Jasmine stared down the poorly lit hall waiting for the guard to round the bend. Was it worth putting her shoes back on? She couldn’t decide. She could perhaps muster up an air of authority which would last until she was escorted back to her room, but what good would that do?

The only thing left now was to plan her climb to the top of the palace wall to throw herself off. She didn’t want to do it, but that was her last resort. She was out of options. She couldn’t live her life like this, so she would end it on her terms.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and steeled her eyes. She was ready. She would not be broken. She was going to go out strong.

As she stared into the darkness waiting for the guard was when she heard it. With the sound of approaching footsteps, there was something else. It sounded like the opening of a creaky door. With a sudden wave of hope, Jasmine spun around.

It was a miracle, the locked door had opened. Had the Vizier unlocked it from the inside? It didn’t matter. Whipping herself behind its formable mass she entered an already lit room. As she did, the door closed behind her.

Startled, Jasmine stared at it. There was no one there. No one had touched it.

How? She wondered. Who? She implored, searching her mind for an answer.

Quickly Jasmine realized that it didn’t matter. Whatever force had let her in, had given her one last chance at life. She wasn’t going to waste it. So, turning around and facing Vizier’s strange sorcerer tools, she found a space for her to execute the next part of her plan.

Dropping her robe and everything she had on top of it, she felt the unusually cool air of the laboratory wash over her. It felt so good. Perhaps it was more than just the cool air that brought her relief, perhaps it was the start of her new life.

There was one important thing to do first, however. She had to check to see if something was true. Part of her plan hinged on what she had overheard. Jasmine wasn’t sure if she had overheard it in a dream or in real life, but however she had, it had felt real.

In whatever it was, she had watched Vizier talk to a man. From what she could see, he was an incredibly gorgeous man. And, in her memory, Vizier was telling him about his laboratory. They were talking about a passage Vizier wanted to be put in. Jasmine assumed the man was a palace architect but there was something about the way the gorgeous man was dressed that told her that he wasn’t.

Whoever he was, Vizier explained to him in detail about how he wanted the escape door to work. Vizier wanted a door that would open to a hall. That hall would lead to two places. One was deep below the palace. The other was to a small door that opened beyond the palace walls. Jasmine needed to make sure that she hadn’t dreamed it. Before she could engage in the next part of her plan, she had to make sure it was real.

Jasmine crossed the room sure not to touch anything. She didn’t want Vizier to know she had been there. Eventually, her disappearance would get back to him, along with her path through the halls and he would figure it out. But, until then, she would have time to get as far from the palace as possible. She didn’t know how far she could get, or even what the world was like outside the palace walls, but she wanted to find out.

Replaying Vizier’s words back in her head, she reached for a lantern attached to the wall. It looked like all of the others, but Vizier had said that it should be indistinguishable. Putting her hand on the metal stand that projected from the stone, she pulled on it. It budged, which was more than any wall lamp should move, but far less than she had expected.