Daring

After the shipwreck, Alicia had thought that she knew how it was like to be utterly and truly exhausted but now she saw that it was nothing compared to the fatigue that came with travelling through a desert....especially as a slave. It also didn't count in her favour to be so sick and feverish. The three men made her walk through the desert during the day, from sunrise until sunset and then, at night she was to sit, tied to whatever tree there was at an oasis. Shahid and Dasem talked and laughed and ate and joked and bickered around the fire and practically wherever they could, while the leader often maintained a cool distance from them, choosing to speak to them only when imparting orders. Alicia learned that he didn't mind their bickering as they travelled through the desert, but when the time came for them to shut up, they had to shut up.

Alicia's condition had gotten worse and she was at a position that she had to truly and utterly acknowledge the fact that she was sick. Her breath had gotten shallower, her cheeks had gotten more gaunt despite the meager food they gave her and sometimes, she had mild hallucinations where she thought she saw the people she knew. But true to her word, she remained silent.

Every step was a struggle, every breath was shallower than the last until eventually, she fell on her face when her legs gave in.

"Boss!" One of the men yelled. Alicia was barely conscious but she could hear the panick in his voice. She tuned in and out of what was happening, her brain too sick and too tired to process the proceedings, but she was almost sure it was Shahid, she heard saying,

"...the girl is weak and she is about to die. The way I see it; she is more trouble than she is worth. Let's just leave her here."

And at some point, she remembered being placed on the horse (like a sack of sand). She remembered the sound of a horse's hooves against the ground, coming towards them and she remembered a man's voice before she completely gave into to the darkness.

She didn't know how much time it was before she came back to. And the first thing she noticed, was that she had a roof over her head. The next thing she noticed, was the sweet coolness of the wind and goodness, the lack of humidity in the air; she was out of the desert. Sitting up slowly, she saw that she was in a bed but she was hit with a spell of dizziness that she never wanted to sit up again.

"Oh good. You are awake. Do not get up yet, you are still a little sick. That was some fever you had." A middle aged woman said, her hair salt and peppered, slightly reminding her of Advisor Phillips (that traitor). The woman sat her up slowly, pushing some pillows behind her before she checked her pulse and blood pressure. Alicia was surprised at the modern apparatus the doctor used, but she listening to her accent, Alicia knew that she was not back home in America, she was still at this Narvíana kingdom.

She opened her lips to talk, but her throat was so dry and it felt like she had had her throat scrapped with sandpaper.
"Water," she whispered hoarsely. The doctor wisely put a glass of water to her lips (Alicia could have never had the strength to hold the glass by herself) and she drank, savoring every gulp and trying hard not to choke.

"There you go." The woman chooed. If she didn't hate the world so much, Alicia would have liked doctors. They were always so kind and gentle.

"Okay, your blood pressure is normal, you are a little feverish and you're still weak, but you should be fine by tomorrow. I am still keeping you here overnight. But by tomorrow morning, you will be good to go." She walked towards the door with a smile but Alicia couldn't help but ask,

"Excuse me, but where is 'here'?" She was a little anxious because she did not even have the strength to protect herself....not that she did in the first place, but being able to walk was something.

The woman nodded and said, "I'll call him. He should explain everything to you."

He? Who was he? Was it the man she had heard before she completely lost consciousness in the desert? Was it perhaps the leader of her capturers? Perhaps it was a random guy who had found her facedown in the desert when Shahid and his cronies left her at the desert because she was too much trouble than she was worth. The thought made her angry and she felt her lips thin and her nose flare in annoyance. They would totally kidnap her only to leave her in the middle of nowhere? That right there was the definition of heartless. She folded her arms before she heard him clear his voice as he walked in.

It wasn't any of her capturers and he definitely was not the leader of the gang, but this guy radiated an air of importance and authority. His face was blank but Alicia saw that his eyes were dark, cold and calculating.
Of course, Alicia thought. She had been sold to the highest bidder. That's who he was, she supposed. Her new master, she supposed. Alicia sneered at him.

"I see you're well." He said, his accent surprisingly modern and unlike all the others accents she had heard here in Narvíana.

Alicia remained silent. It wasn't a question

He looked at her, her arms stubbornly folded and her mouth down turned and decided at that moment, that he didn't like her, even for a slave or whatever. She looked right back at him with no hesitation.

His eyes grew cooler.

"Identify yourself." He practically commanded. Alicia did not take orders from anyone.

She looked at him for a second.

"You identify yourself." She replied curtly. She was kind of tired of being pushed around.

"Ah, but you're not in a position to make demands, are you?" He said, hands behind his back as he walked to the window.

"Do you ask all your slaves their names or is just me? Kind of pointless, no?"

He looked at her, a thick black eyebrow raised.

"For your information, I do not keep slaves. But I ask, because there was something in your baggage that determines your path in this kingdom, depending on your identity. Now, will you answer my question or should I find someone who can answer it because that can be arranged too."

It was a pity that someone with such a pretty face could have such an abrasive, rude and cold nature, Alicia thought as she turned her head to the side in dismissal. She was so tired of all these pushovers.

He looked at her for a long time and when Alicia couldn't handle it and it seemed clear that he wouldn't leave her alone, she looked at him square in the eyes and said,

"I stole it."

Despite her fever in the desert, she had thought about what she would say if ayone ever discovered the presence of the Great Crown in her baggage. And despite it all, she would much rather be a thief than be herself; a monarch whose kingdom has been taken over by rebels who probably looked high and low for her for reasons she didn't entirely understand. Anyone would run from her identity if they were her.

"I stole the Great Crown."

~~~~~