Cave of horror

POV Roxanne 

I had been conscious for a while but chose to stay still and keep my eyes closed. I was on the back of a horse, tightly held in someone 's arm as the horse galloped as fast as it could to get away from the castle. I was being taken away from my beloved mother, my home and all the people I cared for. He was taking me away from my hopes and dreams.

My heart broke at the thought of Farhad, wounded and bloody down to his knees as he tried to rescue me. He could be gone by now and with him dead, no one would know the truth that I did not run away. The letter that I had left for my mother would confirm that I willingly left with my brother to escape Alexander.

And Alexander, what would he think of me now? Tears streamed from my eye as I remembered our passionate kiss. Surely he hated me now, believing that I deceived him and lied to him. He would probably take his anger on my poor mother and Yalda who were entirely innocent. Again, because of my ominous existence, people would be hurt.

Then I suddenly remembered what Farhad had said just before I lost consciousness, he said he is not your brother, what did he mean? Surely he did not mean Darius? Maybe I was mistaken and this was not what he had actually said. My mind was not in a steady state and I must have understood his word wrong.

Darius remained oblivious that I was awake or he simply did not care. Every once in a while he would tighten his grip around my waist and canter the wild horse faster. I could also hear another horse, riding just behind us. The blacksmith was following to make sure we would get to a safe place.

The wind was whipping my skin and my tears would dry before they could reach my chin. I tried to cheer myself up, giving myself what I knew was a false hope by thinking surely Darius had a plan, soon we would return and rescue mother and yalda, but deep in my heart I knew something was terribly wrong. I would never see my mother, Yalda or Farhad. Or Alexander....

I tried to silence a sob that was coming up from my throat. I had felt a small bud growing up in my heart, a little warm feeling towards my barbarian capturer that, although small, but it was strongly nourishing my soul. Despite his tough exterior, he had been lenient and warm and forgiving towards me, something that I had rarely experienced from other men in my life.

The wind was getting cooler and I was feeling chilly. Darius reduced his speed and I heard the other horse catching up to us. 

"It is going to rain, we need to seek shelter for now." I heard Darius. 

"There is a cave nearby your majesty, we can stay there until the weather improves." The blacksmith replied.

A ray of hope shone into my heart, if we stopped maybe Alexander and his guards could catch up, surely he was not far away from where we were and soon he would trace our horses and found out where we were heading. But this only could be true if they had actually realised that we were gone, after all the guards were all drunk and Alexander himself was not any better.

After a short ride, we stopped. Darius lifted my body up like a feather and put me down on a hard and cold ground. My eyes were still closed, but from the change of light behind eye lids, I could guess that we were no longer in an open space. I heard foot steps around me and then Darius told the blacksmith to guard outside. I heard him gone and then Darius's strong voice echoed in my ears: 

"I know you are awake Roxanne." 

There was no reason to keep playing a game so I slowly opened my eyes. 

I scanned my surrounding quickly, we were in a small cave. I was laid in a corner on the cold stony surface and the little light coming from the entrance showed Darius standing steps away from me. His back was to me and he was drinking from a water canteen. I sat up quietly, my body was shivering of cold and my muscles were sore from the ride. He turned and eyed me carefully.

I trembled under his gaze, just like every other time that I had done something wrong and he was furious. He handed the water to me but I shook my head and instead, gathered my courage to ask: 

"Where are we heading?" 

"Somewhere safe, where no one can find us, that is all you need to know. In the mean time, there are couple of points you need to remember." 

He stepped closer, his body shadowing me and his intimidating eyes piercing into mine. I pulled back as much as I could, but that did not stop him. 

"You will remember that I am your Lord and master, will obey whatever I command as before, and will forget all those people in that castle including that filthy barbarian." 

His black eyes widened in hatred when he mentioned Alexander. I listened but I could not make myself to stay silent and not protest.

"What about mother and Yalda? We can not leave them there! And Farhad might still be alive my lord, you said we would go back for them..."

"Silence". His shout cut my words. With a single move, he took my hand and lifted me up, my body now pressed to the cold wall of the cave. 

"Did I say you could speak? I spent years in your education and within a short period, you have forgotten how you should respect me!" 

Darius checked to see where the blacksmith was, he seemed to be ignoring us and engaged himself by playing with pebbles outside. The rain was pouring on him but he did not seem to mind.

Making sure we were away from blacksmith's eyes, with a sudden move, Darius tore up my veil. His hungry eyes inspected every inch of my face, and for the first time in my life, I felt self conscious by his look, he made me feel uneasy. There was something evil in his eyes, something dark that made him look like a stranger, not the beloved brother I had had for years. Then again, I remembered what Farhad said just before we left.

"You are not my brother"I murmured, my voice coming out muffled and shaky. I could not believe what I was saying myself, how could this be? What about my mother, and father the late king? He devilishly smiled, his face was so close that his warm breathe was leaving a hot trail on my skin.  

"No, I am not. I suppose, I have to thank poor old Farhad for making this easier on me, if it was not for him I would have struggled to tell you this but now it is out and you know so there is no point in denying it."

He brought up a hand and touched my cheek, then inhaled my scent. I tried to open my mouth, but my lips were trembling and no word escaped. My head was spinning and I was feeling nauseous, Who was this man that was touching me? Or better to ask, who were I?

"Who am I then if not your sister?" I asked, using all my remaining energy. 

He took my chin and caressed my skin with his thumb. 

"You are my dear cousin, daughter of my late uncle and his wife Atusa. My father married your mother after her husband died and you were born a few months later." He answered simply. I tried to digest what he had said, but my mind seem to be paralysed and not be able to process the new information. At least , Atusa was my real mother.

Suddenly, I was dragged hard into Darius's embrace, his hands tugging into my hair and his lips seeking mine for a passionate kiss. I started to struggle hard, trying to shake my head and release myself from his arms but it was no use, He was too strong and my attempt was making him more aggravated.  

"All these years, I have been nothing but caring and gentle, I protected you and kept you pure and away from lewd eyes of men, I treated you like a princess and gave you all the luxury you ever wanted but more importantly, I controlled my own desires for you so you could blossom and grow into this enchanting creature, surely now you see I am the only one who deserves to taste this forbidden fruit. You are mine Roxanne, you have always been mine. From the first moment I looked into those mesmerising eyes I knew you belonged to me." He was whispering against me while trying to force a kiss on my lips.  

Sobbingly, I tried to plea: 

"Please my Lord, you have always been the most caring brother and there is no possible way for me to repay all the kindness and generosity you have shown me, but please let me go. I can never love you as anything other than my king, my protector and my brother." 

For a moment, his grip loosened from my body. I was sobbing and gasping for breathe as he was holding me too tight in his arms. I looked at him with my watery eyes and tear stained face in the hope for his mercy. I was wrong. 

"I have waited long enough longing to have you, I slept with hundreds of maidens, pretending that each of them were you and woke up disgusted and unsatisfied in the hope of having you in my arm one day. When I was down in that filthy cell in dungeon, I was not angry that I had lost my castle and kingdom, I was furious like a wounded bear that now I might never have you, that a barbarian will cut the flower I had put so much effort into. I do not care how you feel now or will ever feel for me, I want you now."

I pulled back and decided to make a run, knowing all well that there was no chance for me to get away. Before I even reached the cave entrance, he grabbed me hard and lifted me up from the ground. I was now on his hands, struggling and screaming like my life depended on it, but he only laughed and the blacksmith still pretended that nothing was happening, guarding outside. I was hopeless.

He dropped me violently on the hard rocky ground. A sharp pain spread in my back and I moaned. I looked at Darius and his devilish smirk, now that I had known the truth, all my love for this man had turned to hatred. He had lied to me all my life but worse than that, he had been harbouring dirty desires for a girl whom had considered him her brother. I yelled at him with all my hatred: 

"You can not get away with this! Alexander will look for us in every corner of this land and when he finds us..." 

He laughed out loud. A sharp and angry laughter. 

"My little Roxanne, how naive you are! You think your lord is a fool to leave a trail that barbarians can follow? Even if it did not rain they could not find us sweetheart, at the same time that we ran away, blacksmith arranged for two men to get out of castle and ride in the opposite direction of where we are heading, leaving signs for those idiots to follow. They are now probably miles away from where we are." 

Disappointed tears streamed from my eyes, there was no escaping this. I no longer had the heart to look at the man standing over me with a victorious smile on his lips, nor did I have any energy to fight, so I closed my eyes and surrender to my fate.

Just when his fingers touched my flesh, I heard the blacksmith calling. Annoyed and aggravated, Darius left me and walked out. Distressed, I sat up and listened to their conversation. 

"What is the matter?" 

"Up there, those riders are heading towards us your majesty." 

Hope embraced my body, I knew Alexander would come. I heard Darius's excited voice 

"There are not many of them, can you tell who they are? The one in front seems to be their commander, you think it is Alexander?" 

"I can not tell your majesty, they are too far away." 

Darius suddenly walked back in and saw me listening. He smiled and turned to blacksmith who had followed him inside and now his attention was drawn to my unveiled face. 

"Well, there is no reason for us to take a chance. Those men are probably barbarians who are searching for us. Whoever their commander is, Alexander or one of his high ranked knights, I would enjoy killing him." 

With that, he grabbed his bow and arrow and stepped outside. My heart froze in fear, he was the best archer in all our land.

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Ok, what do you think? It is shirter than usual, but I figured if I update once a week even with a short chapter, its better than to take two weeks with a long one. Please vote if you enjoyed it and comment to let me know how I am doing. Thnxxxxx