the man with a mark of revenge

Pov Alexander

Four sets of eyes followed me as I walked around the room in fury. I was so angry that no one even dared to break the silence, like a wounded tiger I was waiting for the smallest excuse to shout and scream at any one. There was something heavy on my chest, like a suffocated shout that was making it hard for me to breathe, all I wanted then was to let it out and let everyone know how I felt, that it was killing me that the only woman I cared about had been lost and I might never see her again.

We were waiting in Farhad's room for news, I had sent my best men to trace signs and horse's trails to see what rout they had taken. Farhad had finally opened his eyes, he was still weak because of the amount of blood he had lost, but was conscious enough to understand the situation. He briefly explained what had happened to him and assured me that Roxanne was taken against her will. Atusa and Darius's wife, Yalda were on his bed side, and I was not sure if they were more worried about Farhad's health or their loved ones gone. Or maybe they were concerned about what I would do to them in order to avenge what Roxanne and Darius had done.

On the other side of the room, Cleon was looking outside the window. Unlike every other time, he had lost his cool and he looked nervous. I knew he had so many things on his mind, with me being so distracted lately, he was the one handling the kingdom's affair. Was that the real reason for his nervousness?

The door opened and Hades walked in. Ignoring everyone else, he took big steps toward where I stood and bowed quickly.  

"So?" I asked hurriedly. 

"We found two sets of trails my lord, one is heading north, the other towards South. Both of trails has two horses so one of them should belong to princess and Darius." He explained. 

Before I said anything, Cleon came close. 

"We will send two groups then, each one investigating a set of trails. Since there is only one man and princess we are looking for, there is no need to use many soldiers. Two groups of men, each with ten soldiers will be sufficient." 

"I am going with one of them" I said, but Cleon argued: 

"I do not think it is safe for you my lord, considering that assassins are out there coming for you and princess. I personally go with one group and Hades can command the other one." 

Hades nodded in agreement but I had already made my mind up.  

"I am going, I want to kill that b*****d with my own hands." There was no question of whom I was talking about. I did not care that Darius's mother and wife were present,I wanted them to know that I would kill him now that he dared to steal my love away from me. Deep in my heart, I believed they were pleased, glad that Darius had been able to escape me and taken away the only precious thing that I desired the most. I was feeling outraged, and was taking my anger on those poor creatures.

"Then if you are determined to go, we will have to arrange for more soldiers to accompany you in case you stumble upon the assassins" suggested Cleon.

Hades nodded and said:"We are also not sure which way they have taken, so you may never find them and just put yourself in danger over nothing." There it was, the excuse I was waiting for.

I yelled with all my strength: 

"Over nothing? How dare you say I am risking myself over nothing? That b*****d ridiculed me by escaping just under our noses and he took away the woman I was about to marry in less than 5 days, I would risk not only my life, but my honour to find them and bring her back."

Hades just bowed and did not say anything. Cleon tried to calm me down. 

" we will find them at any cost your majesty, you do not need to risk your life, we, as your loyal soldiers will search every inch of this land to find them. At least, you can be assured that Darius himself will protect princess and she is not in a danger."

"You are wrong" said someone in a faint voice. We turned to Farhad's bed , to see the source of the sound. It was Yalda. 

"She is in a great danger." She continued. 

Atusa got up hurriedly and rushed to her side. 

"Shush Yalda, watch what you are saying. You are distressed and your words do not make sense." 

Annoyed by Atusa's remarks, Yalda pushed her gently to the side and stepped closer to us. 

"I know where they are going, I can help you." 

"Yalda, be quite. How dare you..." Atusa's protest was cut by yalda's sudden burst. She shouted: 

"No, I will not remain silent any longer. How long more do you want to keep your eyes closed and lie to yourself my Lady? You know as well as I do that Darius is the biggest threat to Roxanne, he has had the darkest desires for her and he has taken her now just to feed his sick fantasy. Tell them the truth if you want your daughter back."

I was listening to their argument with open mouth, what was she talking about? What dark fantasy? Was Roxanne in danger?

I heard a moan from Farhad. He weakly called Atusa. 

"I think you should tell him my lady. He has a right to know, and they can find Roxanne before it is too late."

Curiosity came over me, what was going on? What danger my Roxanne was in? I turned to Atusa, waiting for an explanation. She looked around, desperate for a way to escape, her eyes pleading with me not to ask her anything. I could not wait any longer. 

"What is going on? What are you hiding?" I asked impatiently. 

Suddenly Atusa broke down in tears and fell to the ground sobbing. 

"My poor Roxanne, I have known all these years that he was evil and in his heart, he had filthy intention towards her, but I deceived myself, I did not want to believe that he could be this despicable, this vile."

Was she talking about Darius? What filthy intentions? He was Roxanne's brother. My eyes widened in confusion and horror of her words. I took her shoulders and yelled: 

"What do you mean? He is her brother, is not he? Answer me" 

Unable to speak, she sobbed harder. I was infuriated and hopeless. 

"He is not her brother, he is her cousin." Yalda said in an emotionless tone. I looked at her in disbelief as she explained. 

"It is a well kept secret in this kingdom, not many know the truth, and those who know it, would not share it with others. I married Darius only months after his father passed and he became the king, Roxanne was a baby then, a baby that everyone thought was the late king's daughter. I myself remained unaware until three years ago, when Darius became really obsessed with Roxanne, he started showing manners that was not normal from even the most protective brothers."

Her face flushed red in Embarrassment as she continued. 

"He was never a faithful husband, always adding new maidens from all over the land to his harem. I loved him but he lost his interest in me after five years and spent his nights drunk with different girls. I never protested, hoping that one day he would realise that my feelings for him were true and strong. Three years ago, he changed for worse, virgin girls were brought to him every night and in the morning their lifeless bodies were taken out of harem. I became curious and decided to investigate so one night, after a new girl was summoned into Darius's bedroom, I sneaked behind the door and watched. I witnessed his crazy behaviour as he asked the girl to cover her face with a veil and then did unspeakable things to the poor thing."

I listened stunned, not able to digest what I was hearing.  

"When he was done, he left the half dead girl and went to sleep. I weeped in silence for the poor girl, but there was nothing I could do. The horror of that night haunted me for a long time, but what disturbed me the most was the veil and the fact that he called the girl Roxanne. I became more aware of his relationship with Roxanne and realised that indeed he was not looking at her as his sister."

I had heard enough, my fiancé was in a terrible danger and there was no time to waste anymore. As I headed towards the door Yalda called after me: 

"They are heading North my lord, Darius arranged for a shelter in North before war..." 

I ran to the stable for my horse, her words echoing in my mind, my dear Roxanne, what if I was too late? Cleon and Hades were following me, we took our horses and as soon as we stepped outside, it began to rain. Damn my luck.

POV Roxanne 

I had no more tears to shed, no more energy to weep. I sat there in the corner of that haunting room, awaiting my fate. The room was dark and cold, with no real furniture inside. There was only a wooden chair beside a very uncomfortable bed that I was sat on, no window for lights and only one small torch by the door that really did not help the horrifying darkness. But worst of all, the unconscious body across the room, just opposite to the bed, made this room like a hell on earth for me.

I hugged my knees and prayed once again for him not to wake up, it was funny, a day ago, I knew him as my protector, my trusted sibling and my beloved brother but now, I was more scared of him than the people who had captured and locked us in this room. The thought of him waking up any moment was scaring me, and even though he was chained, I still felt insecure and unsafe.

I had already lost all my hope of being found and rescued by Alexander, even if he could trace us, since we were now kidnapped and brought to somewhere else, there was no possibility for him to get to us. I still could not believe what had happened outside the cave, Darius grabbed his bow and arrow and went out to kill the commander of those soldiers whom he thought were coming for us. I also naively believed that the soldiers were Alexander's men and he, himself were the commander so I followed Darius in the hope to stop him. The rest happened in a blink of an eye.

Darius took and arrow and aimed his target, I screamed and jumped on him but he pushed me away and went on. The moment the arrow flied from the bow, I hopelessly sobbed, believing that whoever that commander was, Alexander or one of his men, was going to be killed in a second. But then I was wrong.

The arrow went straight for its target but as it was about to be dipped into the man's flesh, he took out his sword and cut in half with a single stroke without even reducing his speed on his horse! Darius, blacksmith and I watched in shock as the soldiers rode even faster to our location. I felt a sudden happiness from this turn of events, whoever this man was, he was coming for my help.

Before Darius could move and change his location, a small arrow pierced into his shoulder. His eyes widened in disbelief and he gasped of pain, but As he tried to take the small thing out, fell to his knees and fainted. Everything happened so fast that blacksmith and I did not even have an opportunity to react.

Before the soldiers reached us (and at this point we still believed they were Alexander's), blacksmith ran away without even acknowledging me. I rushed to Darius's side and examined his wound, it was not deep, and he was not bleeding heavily but because he had fainted, I could tell the arrow was poisonous. Whoever shot it, wanted him alive and unharmed.

Minutes later, my hopes evaporated and vanished as I realised those soldiers were not from our castle. Their commander did not come forward, he stayed in the back as his soldiers grabbed me and tied my hands and feet with a rope. They did the same to Darius and put us on two horses. The commander never came close and I did not even see his face.

They brought us straight to a mansion, not far away from the cave. The outside of the building looked as it had been abandoned for years, with ivies covering its tall white walls and broken windows. This room was in the back of the building, not even inside, and it looked as it had been used previously by servants.

I sat there thinking to myself that they were probably the assassins, they had been paid to catch me and take me to Ravi, but I could not be sure. My fate was now in the hands of these men and I did not even know who they were.

Darius let out a moan and turned a little. Scared, I tried to sneak away even more to hide myself in darkness. Just then, I heard a horrified creak and the door opened. A man entered carrying a torch, he was wearing a robe and his face was shadowed beneath its hoodie. I remained motionless, hoping that darkness would hide me from his eyes. He ignored me at first and walked towards Darius who seemed to be gaining consciousness, stood over his body and all of a sudden kicked him hard in the stomach.

Darius screamed in pain, I covered my mouth to stop myself from making any noise. He stood and watched Darius squirm in pain and then slowly turned to me. I backed up as much as I could on the bed, my back touched the coldness of wall and I knew there was nowhere to hide. He took his time as he walked to the bed and stood by it, his figure making a terrifying shadow on the wall. He lifted his head and then his voice echoed in the room. 

"It is good to see you again princess." 

My heart dropped in horror of what I was witnessing. Dara smiled at me.