The Game of Time and Crown

Thirteen

When I woke up Darius was nowhere to be seen. I actually panicked for a second but then I saw his red scarf covering my thighs and I heard his voice outside. For a minute, I thought he was discussing on leaving but was stunned when I heard the word sandstorm.

I immediately got up and got out of the room only to fins Darius and the man who lend us his home talking.

"We can't leave yet," Darius stated.

I looked at him, confused.

"There was a sandstorm last night just a few walks away from the village, and since then, the sky hasn't cleared up and it's so windy. We can't trust to set you out there," the man worriedly broke the news to me.

"It's not safe," his wife added.

I looked at Darius and he nervously nodded. And I know very well why. It increases the danger the more we stay at one place for a long time. We are also endangering the lives of the citizens here in the village.

I know very well that the King and Jamshid will sent out troupes and knights that will move mountains to hunt us, specifically Darius.

Because the one that was killed was not just a normal Persian. It was a queen.

The one thing that actually leaves me wondering are their words when it happened. They talked to him like he wasn't a prince.

I looked again at Darius who have gone outside with the man to check on the crops.

"So you came from Persia?"

I jumped in shocked when the lady spoke.

"Y-yes," I stammer.

"But how come you weren't cured there? They have the best healers."

I nervously laughed.

"Well, if they have i wouldn't be here with you."

An idea popped out of my mind. I couldn't asked Darius about anything regarding his identity and who he is but I could ask this person and I could take advantage of the situation.

"Maybe except for the healers in the palace but those are dedicated for the health of the kings and queen and of course for their sons," I said.

"Now that you've mentioned it. How are the Princes? When I left the palace they were just boys."

My eyebrows raised in attentiveness.

"Before we left, one of them has announced his wedding," I told her.

"Which one?" She excitedly asked me, sitting down in the chair in front of me.

"Uhmm I think it was Prince Jamshid."

"Ah! The son of the King and Queen!" She exclaimed.

I was swollen up with confusion when I heard her say that.

"The son of King and Queen? But they have two now and they don't have a daughter "

"Yes they don't have a daughter but years ago, the king met a young man in the city who outsmarted him. So he decided to adopt him."

Young man? Darius?

My mouth fell open.

That's why! That is the reason why Darius felt different that Jamshid and why he knew his way outside the palace.

"The king grow very fond of that young man. He treated the King with love and respect so the king was so happy with him. They were so close that the king literally gave the title to him."

I remained speechless. It's like my mind had already think of so many ways and so many things but i have never think of this one.

"Are you alright?"

I was dazing off.

"You look pale!" The lady rushed to the kitchen and got me a water in a wooden one.

"I might have shocked you with that," the lady apologized but I convinced her not to.

She was about to say something when Darius and her husband entered the house. I automatically looked at him with weary eyes and he might seem to noticed it.

"Is something wrong with you?" He asked.

I just shook my head and walked back inside the room.

I don't know how I will feel about the revelation I just received. This man just became more unpredictable to me now. I cannot even make assumptions about him anymore because I felt like I don't even know if what he's showing to me is real.

Oh sure, what he shows here might be half cooked but that just proved me that I don't really know who he is.

And that makes him much more dangerous.

Until lunch, I was just lying down inside the room. My 'situation' allowed me to just sleep in the bed. I was only called when it's almost time for lunch.

Since the lady doesn't wanted me to help in any way to avoid tiring me out, i just sat there and watch her

Her words were still ringing in my ears so I stood up by the doorway only to see Darius with the other people in the village. He had a whole load of chopped wood in his back and I was guessing that it was the villagers and they bought it from Persia since there weren't any trees nearby.

I almost asked him about it but I don't think I have the heart to do it. I am pretty sure that he knows because as I've heard, he was already a boy when the king took him.

As night begins to set, Napa both called us to dine. I actually don't want to because I know that they have been saving their food. It's hard to even have anything in the middle of the dessert but still, Napa really insisted.

As we sat down, Napa began telling us how the palace looked like.

"I don't know if it's the people or the place is just too big but the palace is not a safe place for some," he said.

I looked at Darius who is busy eating beside me.

But I know he's listening.

"It's so huge," I told them, amazed.

"I always have this perception that the palace is a dangerous place. The city has a lot of thieves and scammers. People there are dying to survive, but you know what more scary?"

He looked at us.

"People in the palace have nothing to lose yet they fight for more. Persia have always had that conflict. People fighting over power."

I tensed up but I didn't dared to look at Darius.

"The palace is..."

We all looked at him when he spoke.

"A beautiful mess. It's not perfect but how you see it will affect on how you view it."

"I thought you have never been in the palace?" Napa asked him.

He seem to have been awaken by that and immediately relaxed his aura.

"I always saw it from a far. But I never really wanted to go there."

"A lot of people want to, including my boy. It was his dream to be a knight."

When I looked at Darius, he was different.

He looked different. The first Napa's wife said that his son was at the market he was so full of hope that he would be able to help that boy but now, his eyes looks so hopeless. Like he wasn't evens sure of who he is.

I looked away and tried to finish my food.

I sat outside the door by the time I finished eating. Luckily, the breeze was not as warm as it is during the day so I didn't bother staying in the door way for a while.

As I was sitting there I tried to think as many causes of why I am here as possible. And the only thing I cannot rule out is the part where I touched Darius, Prince Darius Jarehz of Saudi's hands. I cannot forget the time where he opened his eyes and he looked at me. It's like someone I have known for a long time saw me.

And then here I am, in the middle of somewhere in a different timeline, which I don't even know is possible with the man who look exactly like him.

They have the same name too.

Though the name was pretty common, it is almost unbelievable to even look at him and deny how they look the exact same.

And now, I am entangled with this person who just committed a crime and ran away, taking me hostage and blackmailing me now. Well, I don't want to be interrogated.

I don't have any idea how they do this but my recurring dreams since I was little, which only seem to vanish when I got to go to under hypnosis, about this place begs to differ.

Ever since my mom died, bad dreams flooded by sleep. Different scenarios, different people but same aura and same place. It got so worse that I don't even want to go to bed anymore. I was so afraid of the dark and I don't want the night time to even come. My dad took the hardest decision he ever made, to bring me to a psychiatrist and have them erased by hypnosis.

Though i still have blurry memory of the dreams, since I don't remember them as vividly as past years they don't have that much effect on me so as time pass by, they were just gone.

But I rarely dream after that.

I don't have nay kinds of dream and if I had one, it would always be about my mom telling me that fairytale story that her grandmom used to tell her to sleep.

"You're not going to run out there?"

I looked at Darius.

"Hell no," I whispered.

"I'm taking Caspian with me," I added.

He laughed.

I look at him when I heard him laugh. This is actually the first time I ever saw him do that.

"If you don't want to be there, why are you there?"

I almost slipped and ask him why did he come with the king if he doesn't want to be in the palace.

"The room just becomes dark without light. There is no such thing as darkness, only the absence of light. There is no such thing as a scary place, but there exist a place where you're scared of."

"So, it's all up to me?"

"If you don't love the people inside the palace, you'll never learn to like the place."

"You're better off as a advisor than a Prince," I told him

He scoffed then slightly laughed.

"Why are we going to the north again?"

"Because the palace of the nor--"

"I know, I know. But, why there?"

"Refuge. That country is independent, Persia cannot invade it."

My forehead creased.

"So I'm never gonna be able to go back? I'm gonna be stuck there and you're going to live there without even trying to resolve the problem?"

Irritation began to set in me.

"You're escaping."

"I just did that, I ran away and it's called escaping if you're not aware."

"You're impossible! I though you're going to ask them for help! What are you going to do with me? Expect me to set in that place like I wanted to be there?!"

"Tone down your voice, Napa might hear you!"

"My God!" I unbelievably uttered.

He shook his head.

"Coward," I muttered and then left him.

I was so furious that when I got back at the room and saw his dagger I almost had the urge to just throw it away hoping it would hit him in the face.

He took me as a hostage and drag me into this fcking mess and he expect me to live away from what this body is known to? For all I know, the way to come back to my time is there in Persia. Maybe Laleh can help me or maybe Amaya can and even if no one can help me there, at least I have someone I know even just a little who knows who this body is!

And now, I can't even go back there because I would be killed even before I set foot on the gate.

He poisoned his mother.

"That's it. That is what I believe. Because if he didn't he wouldn't be running away."