The King's Bride

500 BCE.

A night in the desert was the beginning of this story. There were a few men in uniforms and two maidens making this journey. They hadn’t see neither man nor beast for the past two days traveling on this desolated path. At last, they decided to camp for the night with two separated tents. The desert was the strangest environment that one could ever encounter. During the day, the scorching hot sun would burn you alive, but at night, the cold wind would freeze you to death.

Their camels were camping outside the tent. Inside one of the two tents, two maidens looked into each other’s eyes to eyes as if they could look past each other’s soul. One was the princess named Amatak Hagaso while the other was a maid name Bakani Abhar. The princess' eyes were full of confidence. She had been lecturing the poor maid for almost an hour before this. The maid's eyes were full of tear.

“If you ever reveal this, you, me, and everyone at home will die!” the princess finally spoke.

“Your Highness, please don’t do this.” the maid pleaded shaking her head. The princess smirked and started to rip the clothes off the maid.

“You don’t have any choice.” The princess said.

Bakani continued to cry. Before she knew it, the princess forced a colorful, glittery and flowery pinkish, reddish dress on her. She dolled her up in a pretty bright scarf over her head. After that, the princess smirked again as she studied the maid now in full dress.

“A chance like this never comes to a girl like you; you should thank me for letting you marrying a great king!” The princess nodded proudly.

Bakani looked at her princess with anger in her eyes. Being thankful for this forceful marriage was the last thing on her mind. She knew that marrying King Jerodfan Partakus would be the last wish of every woman in the world. Back in Afaishan imperial city, the other maids, her coworkers, gossip about him that he was ruthless. In war, after they declared a won, he beheaded all his prisoners. Her princess didn’t want to marry him, so she didn’t want to marry him either.

“From now on, you are Princess Amatak and remember what I taught you back then.” The princess continued as she looked at Bakani.

“No, you can’t do this to me, please.” The maid finally spoke as she cried. However, crying didn't even break the princess. She was already thought this plan through.

The princess took one of the camels and rode away, leaving the girl with the guards as they continued on their ways to Hanshim.

The next day, Bakani’s heart pounded hard against her chest as she thought about the princess and what just happened to her. Unfortunately, it was too late to understand why the princess was acting weird back home. The princess gave her many hints, yet she didn’t get it. She was just one of the maids that stood by her door. One day, the princess lined up all the maids in the castle. She walked down the line looking through all the maids. When she came to Bakani, she stopped and examined her closely. After she studied Bakani, she dismissed everyone.

Afterward, the princess announced that Bakani would be the one coming with her to Hanshim as her personal maid. Because of that, the princess taught her many things that she didn’t need to know about Hanshim. She didn’t understand why, a maid needed to know about politic. For weeks, the princess was nice and kind to her. She treated her like a sister. She even gave Bakani the best clothes that she had. Bakani thought that her good deeds had finally paid off. She thought that it makes sense for the princess to treat her nice because they both were going to a new strange land. They had nobody else but each other to depend on.

The truth was finally revealed itself. She was nothing but a maid. The princess just used her like she had always done in the past. The princess was mean to her and abused her for about a year. The princess didn’t even know her name. Whenever the princess had an emotional breakdown, she would abuse all the maids in the castle and make them do impossible task. Everyone complained to the king, but the king loved his daughter too much that he spoiled her.

Thinking back, Bakani was angry at herself for falling into the princess’ trap. She had to abandon her name, her life, and her family just to fulfill the princess’ scheme. Now, she’ll never be able to go back to her family. She’s getting farther and farther away from home. She wondered when she will ever going to meet them again.

While thinking about the princess’s scheme, Bakani realized the view that they passed by. The desert seemed to never end. Day after day, she continued to think about running away. But under the desert, will she ever survive in this alone? She didn’t have any skill to go into wilderness. She didn’t forget what the princess told her. If she did not make it to Hanshim as a whole, her country would suffer a disaster war. Nobody wanted to go to war against King Jerodfan.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a small black dagger with a unique gold cross-guard. The pattern on the scabbard was decorated with golden scrap. She thought about her grandfather, the one who gave her this dagger as a present on her becoming of age. This dagger had been with her since she was 15. Her grandfather had taught her so much before she became a maid in the castle. He taught her how to play a harp, herbs for medicines, and little survival skill. Then Bakani was called to become a maid for the castle.

Every girl in Afaishan had a chance to serve the royals as a sign of loyalty to the king like every boy had a chance to become a soldier. Of course, they got paid for their service. Some girls decided to work as a maid for life. However, Bakani’s dream was to finish her duty and go back to her family. Now, there’s no way to go back as she looked ahead of her. She had no way to turn back now.

Finally, the desert had reached the endpoint. In front of her, there were green trees. They were tall and had lots of shades. She was glad that she’s not under the hot sun anymore. The wind blew gently against her face as they made their ways through the small road in the forest. They passed by a green meadow. She looked around in awe. Those meadows were green and with little white flowers blooming beautifully. Soon, she started to see lots of animals and fields full of wheat.

They passed by lots of houses built out of stones. As they passed through the village, she was amazed by everything. The road, the people, and the decoration of the village were beautiful. Every house had their own styles and unique architectural design to it. She looked ahead of her and saw a beautiful grand city. The whole city looked like it was made of gold because of the golden hue that stood out from the burning sun. She could see that the roofs were mostly domes. Of course, Jerodfan’s imperial city would look like this. It suited his image of a powerful king. She thought.

“My Lady, we are almost there.” One of the guards said, looking back at the girl.

There were a few guards escorting her to the king. They all had seen what the princess did, but none of them really care about it. They were just doing their duty and turn a blind eye to that incident. Bakani heard the guard and nodded her head. She pulled her headscarf to secure it better around her face. She didn’t want anyone to see her.

Even though the wind was blowing gently at her face, it didn’t calm her down. Adrenaline hit her when she realized that she was getting close to King Jerodfan. What scared her the most was that she was just a maid. The King was waiting for Princess Amatak, not a clueless maid like her. If he ever find out that she was not the real Princess Amatak, her life would end there.