Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (42 page)

She then removed the hand that had been
cupped on Baltor’s mouth, placed it lightly upon his muscular
shoulder, and silently gazed into his eyes with absolutely no
doubt.

Baltor responded, this time much quieter,
“Yes, I feel something for you. But I, we, don’t even know what
love is, nor do we even know each other at all.”

A curious expression crossed her face,
certainly no less beautiful than any of her other looks, as she
began to study every contour of his face. Except for a
manly-looking nose and a neatly braided goatee, she realized that
the rest of Baltor’s facial features resembled that of a hawk!

She then looked back into his eyes, and
sighed, “Baltor, Baltor, Baltor. To me, love begins as a simple
feeling, yet ultimately ends as a unified state of mind, heart and
soul. Never will those feelings end, not even death…unless you want
them to! And trust me that we’ll have plenty of time to get to
learn about each other. That’ll be half the fun.”

Baltor stood in silence for a lengthy amount
of time and pondered her words, especially, “not even death.”
Finally he spoke, “I hear your wonderful promises, but—but you
don’t know the first thing about me. Until you do, marriage is out
of the question.”

“Why?”

“There are some things about me that you may
not like discovering.”

“Like what?”

“I… I have an unusual and mysterious illness
that prevents me from bearing sunlight, so I live by the night and
sleep during the day. My illness also prevents me from eating the
same foods as you—my meals have to be specially prepared, and I
have to eat alone! If that’s not enough, I also don’t think that
I’m ready to get married, just like that. Now do you understand my
three very important reasons why?”

“Then I will become nocturnal myself, and you
can eat whatever you want on your own whenever you’re hungry—as for
the marriage, I will patiently wait until you are ready, okay?”

“Just like that?”

“Yes, just like that, Baltor. So please
relax.”

“I’ll try.”

“Will you also try things our way, and if
they don’t work for you, then you can go back to your way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Instead of killing my father, take me with
you, and let’s run away.”

“As you wish, Princess Brishava.”

“Just like that?”

Baltor smiled. “Just like that.”

“Great,” she replied enthusiastically. “There
is one last thing. My father will check on me before he goes to bed
at midnight. Afterward, I will come back, all packed and ready to
go. The only problem we will have is how to escape from this room
and floor of the palace.”

“Escaping will be no problem, my princess.
Actually, I’ve got a good idea—why don’t I simply climb onto the
roof, walk over to your balcony, hop on down, and hide in your room
until after your father checks on you, and then we can leave right
after? After all, I am a professional thief.”

She squealed, “That sounds like a great
idea!” She turned to head out of the bedroom; however, she stopped
in mid-stride, turned around, and jumped back into Baltor’s arms
while exclaiming, “I love you! I love you! I love you so much, my
beautiful Baltor, my beautiful soon-to-be Sultan!”

This time, Baltor was ready for her leap and
even happier about the ensuing kisses.

The second that she left, an unknown amount
of time later, he headed out to the balcony, and while reaching for
the ledge above, he jumped.

After he grabbed the ledge and climbed onto
the roof, he quickly made his way to the princess’s balcony, and
dropped down behind a patio chair.

Upon observing that no one was in this room
either, he then entered, and took a seat in a plush couch. Just
then, the door opened and in she walked.

Once the guards had closed the door behind
her, she turned around and nearly jumped five feet into the air
when she saw him already there, and looking quite comfortable.

“My,” she hummed, “you are quick.”

He threw a humble smile, yet instead of
commenting about his quickness, he asked, “Where would be a good
place for me to hide?”

“Under my bed, but give me a quick kiss
first! My maidens will be here momentarily to assist, so you must
be extremely quiet after they’ve arrived.”

He obliged the princess with a quick kiss,
climbed underneath the center of the king-sized bed, closed his
eyes, and strangely drifted off into a light sleep.

About a minute later, two young women entered
the room. They first removed the barrettes out of the princess’s
hair, causing it to splash halfway down her back, and then they
combed it thoroughly for several more minutes.

Once done, they next carefully removed the
makeup that donned her face with a sponge. Five minutes later, they
assisted her out of her formal attire, and into her pajamas. Once
done, they gave a low bow, said their good nights, and left for the
night.

The princess immediately began the process of
packing her belongings into a backpack.

Once done about a half an hour later, she hid
the backpack in her closet, and then hopped into bed. A few moments
later, she whispered from above, “Hello, my love.”

He immediately awoke from his nap, and
whispered back, “Hello. Are you now done with everything?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good….”

Perhaps a dozen seconds later, she whispered
with excitement, “Hopefully my father will soon come so that we can
go! I don’t like not being able to look at you—not one bit.”

“Well, at least it’s not too uncomfortable
down here.”

After a short giggle, she added, “That’s good
to hear. If you like, later, I could give you a back massage?”

Baltor hummed, “Hmmm.”

“
Shhh
... I think he’s coming.”

The sounds of muffled voices slowly grew
louder as they approached the room, and one of those voices that he
could hear was the Sultan’s, though he strongly suspected that the
other man’s voice must belong to his ruling general.

About fifteen seconds later, both double
doors were opened by the guards, and in walked the Sultan, himself.
Meanwhile, still under the bed, Baltor heard the sliding sounds of
the Sultan’s feet, which were wearing slippers.

Once inside, the Sultan turned back around,
and said, “I’ll be right out in a minute, Ruling-General Glacius. I
need to say goodnight to my daughter.”

Glacius’s snappy reply was, “Yes, my
Sultan!”

The guards closed the door behind the Sultan,
who then approached the bed—the only thing that Baltor could see
was a pair of man’s gold-embroidered velvet slippers, each bearing
the symbol of the crossed-sabers on top.

“Good night, my Princess” were the Sultan’s
first words to his daughter as soon as the slippers had stopped in
front of the bed.

“Good night, Daddy,” she responded.

Now sounding apologetic, he said, “I’m sorry
that I yelled at you earlier, Brishava, but you must ensure at all
times that the attire you wear is appropriate. After all, one day,
you will become the next Sultaness, and I do not want any of our
subjects thinking of you as a slut!”

At that, she grew angry, and retaliated,
“Just because I decide to show a little skin does not make me a
slut, Father! Now if I was inviting all the hunks in our empire to
have a sexual fling with me, then I would understand why our
subjects would think of me as a slut that I’m not and never will
be.”

Upon realization of her retaliatory
statement, the Sultan became quite angry as he snapped, “Brishava!
I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut, especially once
you’ve married the Duke of Vispano in nine months from now. He may
not be as forgiving of a man as I am, and I shall not live forever
to protect you!”

After releasing a little sigh, she agreed,
“You’re right, Father. I’m wrong. Okay? For now, I’ll keep my
little mouth shut, except to swear to be the obedient wife to the
man I ultimately marry before God—I swear that on everything.
Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight, Daddy—I love you!”

The Sultan chuckled, and said, “Good, now
maybe we can have some peace around here. I love you
too—goodnight!” He then leaned in, gave his daughter a kiss on the
cheek, turned around, headed toward the door, opened it, exited the
room, waved at his daughter, and then closed the door behind
him.

About four minutes later, Baltor heard the
sounds of the guards outside the door retaking their post.

As soon as he knew that the coast was clear,
he climbed out, and then asked, “Ready to go?”

“No, I’m not. I have to change,” she answered
just before walking behind a three-piece stand.

When she came out a minute later, she wore a
silky black tunic, pants, black leather boots, and even a black
silky cape. She then opened the closet, pulled out the backpack,
and strapped it on her back.

Despite her camouflaged appearance, Baltor
could make out her perfectly formed curves, and confirmed that she
was indeed quite a beautiful woman, no matter what she wore!

He first stepped out onto the balcony,
scanned the area thoroughly, and then informed, “Hop on my back,
and hold on very tight with your arms and legs.”

Without hesitation she did, and once he saw
the coast was clear, he hopped down from balcony to balcony, until
he landed back onto the ground.

In less than two seconds, he had already made
it to the exterior palace walls, even with the princess on his
back.

Though she wanted to wee out from the fun
ride, she silently continued to watch with exhilarated eyes, as he
quickly and easily climbed the eighty-foot walls, even with her
added weight. Instead of hopping down, as he had done before, he
simply scaled his way back down the other side.

Fortunately, the coast remained clear
throughout these whole eight seconds.

As soon as she had hopped off his back, she
pulled the hood over her head to conceal her face. As she continued
to walk by his side through the streets of Pavelus, she asked with
awe, “How is it that you are able to do such amazing feats with
such amazing speeds?”

“I’m a trained thief, remember?”

“I see,” she said with her voice in awe. A
few seconds later, she added, “Well, as for me, for some time to
come, I’m just an ordinary peasant girl wishing I was a princess,
right?”

“Right.”

They had just been drawing near to a small T
intersection that had buildings to their left and right as well in
front of them. Most unexpectedly, however, a squad of guards
marched around the corner from the right, and headed directly for
them.

Even though Baltor was very shocked that he
hadn’t heard them marching, especially with his vampire hearing, he
still managed to count a leader who led two columns of six guards
that were now about eight feet away.

Upon drawing to five feet away, this leader
called out to his troops, “Halt.”

The leader and the guards halted in unison a
step later: In that same nasal tone of voice, the leader called
out, “Who goes there?”

Baltor had already been using his peripherals
to scan his area quickly, while simultaneously trying to formulate
a plan of escape.

Even after having scanned all around, which
only took three seconds, he couldn’t think of a way to safely get
Brishava onto his back and scale any of the walls of these
neighboring buildings without giving the guards at least one
opportunity to hurt her during the first escape option.

The only other type of escape that he could
think of was taking this road back toward the palace, but would he
be quick enough to grab Brishava, and then safely hightail it out
of there, he wondered?

Meanwhile, Brishava was the one who answered,
“We have been sent on a top-secret mission by the Sultan.”

As for the guards, even though their leader
hadn’t issued the order, they had already begun to semi-quietly
move forward and encircle the two, which had only taken them about
three seconds after the time their leader had asked, “Who goes
there?”

Once surrounded, Baltor then realized that
his second and final escape route was gone, and that the only other
two options were talking or fighting.

“Really,” The leader sighed nasally. “Then I
don’t suppose you have top secret proof to your supposed
claims?”

She answered, “That’s why it’s called ‘top
secret,’ dear.”

“Are you trying to get smart with me? I’ll
take you in for that alone!”

“No, of course not, officer,” she answered
humbly.

“There’s something oddly familiar about your
voice—let me see your face, woman.”

The hope that she would be persuasive enough
to get by them without a fight was beginning to disappear within
Baltor’s mind. He again began to look around with his peripheral
vision at all the possible routes of escape just in case, yet there
was still not a single one found.

Meanwhile, Brishava answered, “I really can’t
do that.”

“Why not?”

She answered in a haughty tone of voice, “My
identity must also remain top secret, Lieutenant—the consequences
for revealing my identity could be disastrous to the Sharia
Empire!”

“Yeah, right. Take off the hood now. Or I’ll
have my troops do it for you!”

Slowly but surely, Brishava complied.

Out of the thirteen men, only this lieutenant
had ever seen and heard the princess once before, which happened at
the only military ball he’d ever attended shortly after his
commission a little over a year ago.

When the lieutenant’s major had first
introduced him to the princess in the greeting line, he had never
forgotten when her incredibly beautiful eyes met his own eyes for
the very first and last time. She had only acknowledged his
existence with the words, “Nice to meet you, Lieutenant
Cuffins.”