The dungeon

Alexander raised his blond eyebrow and said:" shall we?"

I was still doubtful, Surely I wanted to see my brother and make sure he was alive but my sixth sense was warning me not to go with him. Yalda's eyes were pleading me to go and bring her and others some sort of news from her husband which made me to put my feelings aside and head out with Alexander.

He walked in front of me and four guards were following us down the castle's corridors towards the basement and dungeon. For a while no one said anything until Alexander broke the silence: " I suspect that you have never been to dungeon, am I right my lady?"

"There was never a reason for me to go there."

"Then this might prove to be a shocking experience."

I unconsciously slowed down, my heart beating so fast. It was true that I never had a reason to visit the dungeon, but more than that, like other women, my access to the castle and people were limited. The girls had told me horror stories about what was happening in that dungeon but I thought of them to be rumours. I believed my brother to be a fair king and those stories portrayed him as a ruthless and cruel ruler, so they must have been lies.

The reality was that I knew very little about people and what was happening outside my residence other than what my brother had told me. He had always made sure that I respected his "rules" of staying in my own residence and not be outside without permission.

While other women were accommodated in the west wing of the castle in closely monitored rooms, I had my own garden and little chamber in the east side called " the forbidden garden". Female visitors were allowed, so my mother and other girls would come to the garden regularly, but no man ever set foot in there other than my brother. I could swim in my private little lake, ride my horse and do other activities and enjoy being served by female servants and eunuchs until the sunset. 

My brother visited me once a day, he used to come at sunset, sent the servants away and asked me to take the veil off. Then we would have talked for a while, enjoying each other's company. If there was a special occasion that required my public appearance, he would give strict orders on what I could wear and how long I could stay out with my mother or Yalda. 

It was not like I had never broken these strict rules, but they always came with high consequence. I remembered Mina, one of my brother's concubines, who used to come to my chamber to join me in my lessons. She was too young, around 14, and still not ready to be the king's bed mate so she needed to be educated in science as well as the art of love making. She had fiery red hair and beautiful brown eyes which always twinkled.

We became good friends and would talk for hours. She always talked about her life before being kidnapped and sold, describing the place she used to live in with her parents and brother. She really loved and missed them, still carrying hope that some day she would go back to her family but I knew better. There was no escape as long as she was alive.

As the days passed, our friendship grew deeper. I could not wait to see her everyday and in the evening, I would have talked to the king about her  and how wonderful I thought she was until suddenly she became ill. She was homesick and depressed, crying all the time or staring into sky silently with a blank expression on her face. i could not bear it so I decided to help her.

I made a plan to go for horse riding with her in my garden and then run away. It was really hard to get ride of the guards but Mina put sleeping powder in their wine and they were asleep. My plan was to get her to the city's gates and when I was sure she got away, I would have returned.

We were caught even before getting out of the castle. My guards were no problem as they were asleep but as we were making our way to the front garden to sneak out of the castle gates, we got caught. Dara was the one who caught us.

Since then I always had a dislike towards him. I was returned to my room and I never saw Mina again. My brother came to my chamber immediately and slapped me hard across the face before I even opened my mouth. He yelled that How dared I broke the rules and I should be severely punished. The guards were sent to the dungeon for their negligence and I was ordered to stay in my room for one week, I thought I was going to be mad by the end of it.

Alexander's voice drew me back to the present: " Here we go."

We were at the entrance to the dungeon guarded by two barbarian soldiers. Alexander signed them to open the door for us and they quickly unlocked it. The door open with an annoying noise and a horrible smell greeted us. It was a mixture of burned flesh, rotten meat and musty air.

My legs could not proceed further, I was standing still at the top of the stairs, leading to the cells where I supposed my brother was being kept but the voices coming from down there were making me petrified. There were not human like, the screams of pains and moaning were giving me goose bumps.

Alexander was two steps ahead of me, waiting. 

"come on princess, do not be alarmed. Your brother is waiting"

" what are you doing to these poor people? Do not you have a heart? No, of course not, you are a beast, an animal..."

My trembling words were cut as Alexander looked at me in anger and stepped back sharply until he reached me, took my shoulders and shook me hard:

" you have to learn to watch your tongue little lady, I am your new king, your new master and you have no right to speak to me like this. Next time you shall receive no warning and I will punish you." 

He let go of me as I was sobbing hard and continued:

" I have not done anything to anyone just yet, these people were here before we came, they were captured, imprisoned and tortured by your brother's guards. "

He turned and walked down slowly, waiting for me to gain control and follow him. I was shocked by what I heard, how could this be? Surely he was lying, my brother was a fair king, he would have never tortured anyone.

I put my hands on my ear to stop the moans of pain, hunger and thirst, moving quickly to catch up. We passed a few cells with closed doors, all seemed to have people inside until we reached a cell guarded by two soldiers. They bowed as they saw us and opened the door.

I suddenly stood, not being able to walk in, scared of what I might see inside. Images of my brother being tortured or dead was passing my mind while everyone was waiting for me to enter the cell. I gathered my strength and stepped inside.

There he was, my beloved brother, his hands chained to the wall and his beautiful face covered in blood. He raised his head with the sound of the door and someone entering and was shocked by seeing me. He said:

"Roxanne, what are you doing here? Why did not you run away?"

I was crying silently under my veil, happy that he could not see my face. 

" once again, you disobeyed the king, I told you to stay in the castle and in run away if it was necessary but you violated my order." 

He was furious like every time I was ignoring his command.

" My Lord..."

"actually princess, he is no longer your king, or lord. I am." It was Alexander who interrupted us. He walked proudly to where I stood, his gaze on my chained brother.

"you see, your sister wanted to run away, but we got her and brought her back."

Darius struggled in his chain, as if he was trying to set himself free but of course he was unsuccessful. 

"Why are you angry at her? Her presence saved your life." said Alexander with a smirk on his face.

I walked closer watching Darius carefully to see if he was hurt.

" Are you injured? "

Alexander's hand touched my shoulder:

" Have you seen enough princess? He is safe and sound."

Darius suddenly roared in rage:

"Do not dare to touch her you filthy barbarian! Take your hand off her!"

Alexander's punch silenced him. I screamed and rushed to my brother but he took my hand and pushed me out of the cell. I could hear Darius shouting after us:

" Roxanne, you have to run away! Do not let him touch you" as I was dragged behind Alexander towards the main entrance of the dungeon. The soldiers open the door and we went out.

" tell your mother that his son is alive. He will probably be sentenced to death after I had a fair trial for him, but for now he stays where he put so many innocent people before."

He signed two soldiers and told them to return me to the women hall. I turned to go but he called after me:

" And princess, you can never run away from me, so do not even try because then I shall find you and once I do, I will be exactly what you described me as before, a beast!"