The Princess and the Thief

Amunet - [The Bar]

I tried to fight back as the men tied my hands with rope, but it was no use, there were way too many of them. “Feisty one, aren’t yah?” One said.

“I think she gets it from ‘er mother.” Said the man who came with the Thief King to kidnap me.

They started laughing. “Made herself pregnant to be queen.” They laughed. “Feisty indeed!”

I glared at them. “Do not speak so indecently of my mother!” I hissed.

I knew the story well. My father thought it would be a good idea for him to tell us rather than someone else.

It never changed my perception of my mother though, or my father. They were madly in love and society refused to let them be together. In my eyes, they never did anything wrong.

The men kept laughing though.

But a moment later, when the ropes were tied, they let go of me.

I tried to use that moment to escape, since no one was holding the rope.

I ran in the opposite direction, causing the men to yell at me.

But then I felt something tug at the rope so hard, that I was pulled backwards onto my bottom.

When I opened my eyes and turned around, I saw the Thief King holding the rope with one arm. “Get up.”

The joking and teasing nature he had around me had completely disappeared after our last encounter.

“Get up.” He repeated, this time even harsher, as he tugged at the rope.

“What are you going to do?” I asked, as rudely as I could.

He pulled out his sword, startling me, and walked over to me.

Pointing it at my forehead, he glared at me. “Get up. Here you will listen to me. You are not my princess. I give the orders here and you will listen to them or I’ll kill you.”

I swallowed hard.

He put his sword back into its sheath and tugged at the rope. “I will say it one last time.” He started. “Get the hell up.”

I swallowed back the urge to cry as I stood up.

“Good.” He said as he turned around and led me like a dog.

Pyramid however, ran freely.

We left the place we were hiding in. It looked almost like an underground cave in the side of a mountain of rocks. I tried my best to remember the location, just in case I came across a guard at wherever we were going.

But when I turned around, I saw many horses… and nothing else.

There was absolutely nothing that I could see. Just sand.

“Where are we?” It came out as a whisper.

No one responded.

I looked at the Thief and saw him get onto his horse, the rope still in his hand.

My heart sank when I realized what he was doing. “You’re going to make me walk?” I asked. My voice cracked without my permission.

He turned in his horse and looked at me. “I’m going to teach you how you people treat servants.”

I scoffed. “You can’t!”

“I’m surprised your father hasn’t already taught you this. After all, his wife was a servant.”

I was pulled forward when he motioned the horse forward. “Don’t worry, I won’t go too fast.”

His men started to laugh.

Though the hot sand was burning into my feet, and sharp rocks were stabbing my feet and knees when I fell… I tried to be tough and kept walking. Trying to pretend that what he was doing didn’t phase me.

But I could only keep that up for a while.

“Stop!” I gasped when I couldn’t take it anymore.

After what seemed like hours of walking, my throat was completely dried up and I could barely feel my feet.

Right when he turned around to look at me, I had fallen onto the floor, my face in the sand.

“Get up.”

His horse kept going, dragging me behind him.

The only thing I could think of was trying to make him stop. Maybe if I pretended I had passed out, he’d stop.

After another short distance, I finally felt the horse stop.

I heard him get off his horse a moment later and heard him walk over to me. “Stupid girl.” I heard him mutter.

I felt his shadow over me as he turned me around and poured some cool water onto my face and some of it into my mouth.

Suddenly, I felt his arms around his waist as he lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder.

I screamed, startled, and started to fight away, knocking him down too.

I got up and tried to make a run for it, but obviously, it was useless. His hands were on the rope again in an instant and I fell on my face again.

I heard the men start laughing again.

“You’ve got some nerve!” The Thief King yelled.

Curling myself up into a ball, I started to silently cry, letting go of the urge to make myself look strong.

Not only was I tired, but I was embarrassed and horrified by the way they treated me

Never in my life had I imagined that I would be treated in such a way.

The Thief King pulled me up with the rope. “Get up!” He yelled.

But I pulled back and spat in his direction. “Leave me alone!” I screamed as loudly as I could, hoping someone would hear.

Then I fell onto the hot sand, feeling it burn my cheek, and started to cry some more. “I want my father!” I cried. “Take me home!”

“Can’t we just kill her?” I heard one man ask. “She’s such a nuisance.”

That made me start to sob.

“We can’t just kill her.” The Thief King said. “We can only torture the Pharaoh if she’s alive.”

“Let me go home!” I cried. “I didn’t do anything to you! Leave me be!”

I suddenly felt the Thief King lift me up again.

Initially, I tried to fight back, but I gave up. There was no way I could fight off this man, no matter how hard I tried.

He lifted me up like one would lift a baby, and I was more embarrassed now. I tried to fight him some more now, but of course, it was pointless.

But soon, I found myself sitting in front of him on his horse, going to who knows where.

At least I wasn’t walking anymore.

I had somehow managed to fall asleep out of exhaustion at some point during the ride. But when I woke up, we had arrived at some village bar.

The Thief King was lifting me off of his horse and had once again, thrown me over his shoulder, so I couldn’t see anything till they had all noisily entered the bar and he placed me down into a seat.

He was still holding tightly onto the rope.

When I looked up, I saw a fat woman approach us. But as she got closer, I noticed that she wasn’t actually fat. She was actually just very curvy with large breasts, an average sized waist but wide hips. She was also very lovely with black hair tightly braided back and light brown eyes.

But her skin was darker than most women and she wore a lot of makeup.

“Thief!” She called. “What is this commotion you’re bringing into my bar?”

She had an accent, but I couldn’t figure out where she was from.

Persian, maybe?

The Thief grinned at her. “Adelah! Are you not glad to see me?”

She shook her head at the thief, but smiled. “I knew you were safe.”

“Of course you did.”

Her eyes then fell to me. “Who is this?” She was smiling at first, but when her eyes fell on the ropes that tied my hands together, a glare grew on her face as she looked harshly at the Thief. “You’ve kidnapped a woman?”

The Thief sat down and looked up at her. “Yes ma’am. And this b***h right here is our key to glory.”

“That is low, Thief, even for you.”

The smile on the Thief’s face faded, but he stood up, ignoring Adelah and walked away, still holding onto the rope though.

I was pleased to see that the rope was long enough for him to walk over to the other side of the bar without pulling me with him. My feet where still aching and so was my bottom. I just wanted to sit.

Adelah sat down next to me. “What’s your name girl?”

Her voice was suddenly so kind that I felt the urge to cry again.

“Amunet.” I said. “I’m the Pharaoh’s daughter. Please, take me back home!”

Her eyes widened the second I said ‘Pharaoh’ and she turned around quickly. “Thief!” She spat.

It was strange how quickly her voice changed.

He ignored her.

“Khai!” She yelled, standing up and startling me.

Khai?

Was that his real name?

He turned and looked at her this time.

She started yelling at him in an unfamiliar language. But then I realized it was a familiar language. She was Persian. And she was cursing him. I was just unfamiliar with the curses.

He straightened himself up and frowned.

She marched over to where he was in the middle of the bar, sitting next to the other man that had kidnapped me. “Are you a fool?” She yelled, in our own language.

Khai got up, as did many of the other men.

“To kidnap a girl? Let alone the Pharaoh’s daughter?”

“Listen to me.” Khai said. “There’s a reason.”

“And what reason is so great to justify what you have done?”

Khai held his hands up and started to grin. “Adelah! You’re overreacting.”

“I am not.” She yelled. “You foolish boy. You don’t think?”

“It’s for revenge!”

“Revenge against who?”

“The Pharaoh!”

She scoffed before she smacked him across the head, making all of the men get up.

For some reason, I was satisfied.

“I am not even an Egyptian and I know of how great a sin that is!” She exclaimed. “To wish harm on the Pharaoh! Do you wish to be more of a sinned man than you already are.”

“I can’t get worse than this.”

Adelah shook her head. “Return her.” Her voice softened.

“No.”

“You will return her!” Adelah said, raising her voice again.

“I can’t just march right into the palace and give her back!”

“The Pharaoh will not rest until he has your head, do you understand that?”

Khai shrugged. “He won’t get it, and I pray he will never rest in peace again.”

“Do not pray you sinful man.” Adelah hissed. “No god will listen to your prayers.”

Khai rolled his eyes.

“Tell me you will return her, or I will kill you right here.”

Khai suddenly pulled out a blade but Adelah didn’t even flinch.

Would he really hurt a girl?

But if I remember his speech correctly, he only kills people who challenged him… and I guess Adelah had just challenged him.

My heart started to race in fear. I was going to be the reason for why this woman as going to die.

But out of nowhere, he threw the blade in my direction.

I screamed and closed my eyes, but then I heard it stab into the mud brick wall.

I turned my head and looked at one of the men, whose eyes were wide open and his hands were up. He had a knife in his hands.

“Put down your knife.” Khai said.

The man dropped his knife and I saw that his upper arm, where Khai’s blade slashed him, was bleeding.

“No one holds a weapon up to the woman who is like my mother.” Khai said, looking back at Adelah.

“I’m so flattered, Thief. But my mind is not changed. Return her safely to her family.”

Khai placed his hand on his face and shook his head. “I’m sorry Adelah but no. My plan has already commenced and I can’t just stop in the middle.” He said. “The king already knows I’m alive again and whether I return her or not, he’s going to come after me.”

Adelah shook her head. But something made me think she was going to give up on this argument.

My heart sank.

“If you hurt her…” Adelah started, “I myself will go to the Pharaoh and tell him where you are.”

Khai dropped his usually raised shoulders. “You would betray me?”

“I do not approve of this. Not only have you kidnapped a girl but the Princess. That was irrational of you, you stupid boy.”

Khai rolled his eyes. “If she cooperates then we won’t hurt her.”

“Fine.” Adelah said. “But once this plan of yours has failed you return her safely to her family.”

“Failed?”

“It will fail.”

Khai narrowed his eyes at her. “It will not!”

“All of your irrational plans fail. All the time. Whenever you go against your own rulebook, you always fail. This one will be of no exception.”

I admired Adelah’s confidence. To be standing in front of a man who was so much larger and stronger than her and to still speak with such authority.

She gave me some confidence.

But Khai shook his head at her. “We will see about that.”