The battlefield

I was pushed away by Queen Yalda, she quickly took charge, sending a girl for rose water and another for salt. She sat beside Atusa and splashed some water to her face. Her long eye lashes moved and she opened her eyes confused and shocked. My heart flew away, all I wanted was to take her in my arms and calm her down, telling her everything was going to be alright.

Then she remembered the princess, her daughter left for the battle field. She tried to sit while her eyes searched for me, then called my name: Farhad, please, I beg of you, go and bring her back safely. Please....

She was begging me, making my pain grew even bigger. I bowed and said: "Do not worry my lady. I promise to bring her back to you."She smiled as I turned away calling for my servant, Araz while rushing out of the hall.

" get me the fastest horse we have and listen carefully. I am going to get the princess, you gather all the guards and servants left in the castle and help the ladies to leave. Do not let them take unnecessary properties, it will just slow you down. Remember, try to get all of them as far as possible, but if for any reason you could not, or if they caught up with you, just save the two queens."

" but sir, where should I take them?"

" you know my summer house in the north? That will be safe for a while"

We reached the stable and Araz prepared a horse for me. I was not optimistic about catching up to princess since her horse was one of the fastest in the land and she was a brilliant rider, but I had the advantage of knowing short cuts and if she was going to meet her brother, I knew the rout she was taking to get to her brother.After all, I had promised Atusa to bring her daughter back safely. 

I rode across the wood, heading towards our army's camp. I still could not believe what was happening. When Alexander declared war and attacked us, the king called all his knights and asked for strategies and plans to defend the barbarian army. Commander Aria, the chief of the army planned this final battle. No one thought at that time that Alexander could come this close to the heart of our land, but Barbarians defeated our army in three occasions and we were forced to retreat. This was supposed to be our final battle. Our army was broken, tired and hungry but still we had hope. Aria's plan was a great one.

In order to get to our city, they had to pass the great valley. Aria proposed that our soldiers should lurk them in there and attack them using our martinets. Those who survived the rocks, were going to be killed by archers and swordsmen. Everything was going great but...

I still did not know the details but i knew this much: we were betrayed. One of our knights actually let Alexander know about our plan and as a result, their army took another rout, circling our camp and attacking our soldiers by surprise. Our army was trapped in the valley now fighting but we knew they could not hold much longer. Time was running out.

I whipped my horse harder, nervous that I was not going to get the princess in time. Poor thing, she Blamed herself for this battle, but we knew it was not her fault. She did not know about Alexander's proposal until after our first defeat. Even then she wanted to offer herself to the barbarian king to stop this bloodshed, but the king would not hear of it. 

I was getting close to the valley and could hear the screams and sound of the swords clashing. I got off the horse and started walking, searching for any sign of princess while praying that she was not caught by the barbarians. I had to get closer to the valley and I  was getting scared.I was never trained in fencing and I did not carry swords or any other weapon. If it was not for Atusa and princess Roxanne, I would not have put myself in such danger.

I found the princess hiding behind a big rock, the valley was right under where she was. She was watching the battle from her hiding place and even though her face was covered I could see she was scared by the way she was clenching her hands to the rock she was hiding behind.

I ran towards her while bending my body, carefully not to be spotted by anyone. She did not see me at first and got a fright when I touched her. I put one hand on her shoulder and the other on my nose signing her to be silent. She sighed in relief at the knowledge that it was me. I sat beside her and whispered:" we need to get out of here my lady, before anyone sees us"

" I can not just leave, what about my brother? What if they kill him?"

" the king is a skilled fighter, he will be able to fend himself and he will escape. Aria is also protecting him so you do not have to be worried. Right now, we have to get you to a safe place. Your mother and the queen will also..."

My words were cut by a loud voice: the barbarians hailed:" victory, victory"

I was shocked, we both paused for a second and then turned to see what was happening in the battle field.

It was heart breaking, i could see the king in his silver armour on his black horse in the middle, Aria and four other soldier were circling to protect him from attacks. They were all that was left from our army, the rest were killed. Barbarians gathered around them, laughing and hailing, but not attacking them. I could also see Alexander, he had a red outfit on and was  among his men watching the king's desperation. The princess was shaking, I put my hand on her shoulder and whispered:" we need to go."

She did not move, still looking at the scene to see what was happening to his beloved brother. Alexander shouted: " drop your weapon and surrender and I might spare your miserable lives". Darius replied:" never, I prefer to fight and die as a king to live and see someone like you ruling my land."

" then I shall grant your final wish since I am a generous man"

He came ahead waiting for Darius to come out of his protection circle and fight him. I saw princess's hand grabbing her necklace which was a portrait of goddess Anahid, the goddess of protection. She was praying.

I did not want to wait any longer, even if the king was successful in killing Alexander, his army would have killed him and i knew dangers of our presence in there. I took princess's hand" come on, Anahid will protect our king but we need to go now."

" I can not leave my brother to his death. You leave. I stay. That is an order."

She was as stubborn as ever, I knew I could not leave her. We watched as two men drew their swords and fought. Roxanne took her necklace out and squeezed it in her hand while praying. Alexander was a great fighter, he was the attacker and Darius mostly defended himself. I could not see his face but I knew he was tired. He could not move quickly enough and after a few attacks, his sword dropped on the ground. 

Barbarians hailed as their king walked victoriously towards Darius, moving his sword to his throat. They were chanting :"cut, cut,.." while Alexander danced the sword in his hands, close to Darius's throat. Right at that moment, there was a scream:" no, please do not..." I quickly realised it was Roxanne  and stretched my hands to cover her mouth but it was late. I saw their eyes turning to us as we stood there. We were trapped.