Chapter 12: The Sheikh's Truth

King Hakeem led them to the castle's outstretching catacombs of centuries of former Kings, Queens, Sheikhs, and Sheikha to the dungeons.

Everything seemed as one would expect, but the bars to each dungeon cell were brand new, without even an inch or spec of rust to be found as if they'd been just forged by the Sahran blacksmith.

But the deeper they went the more the air felt recycled and whispers began to echo in the chambers.

Isla turned to King Hakeem who looked genuinely worried about the whispers. She walked in front of Hakeem and Liam, putting a finger to her lips. She pulled out a small, compacted dagger-like blade from around her formerly covered ankle and crept around the band of the cells, following the noise. Liam signed for her to be careful, but Isla just shrugged.

Through attempted ambush, Isla leapt out from her hidden stance and found the cause of whispers.

Crowded in a few dungeon cells were several of at the very least twenty Silvestrian citizens in each cell, beaten and bruised. Few were cut and others lay on the ground lifelessly, while live ones loomed over them with glum expressions. They all appeared exhausted and scrawny, assumed to be from the lack of food. Silvestrians of all shapes and sizes looked pale and sick almost on the verge of death.

Isla stood, horrified at the sight. Liam, instantly empathizing, unintentionally mirrored her expression. King Hakeem shook his head and held to the bars. "Who did this to you? How long have you been trapped here?" He demanded, appalled at their circumstance. He had a small nagging feeling of who exactly had done this, but refused to accuse his suspected culprit without proof.

Isla hadn't assumed the sight would be this horrible, but at the same moment, she wasn't surprised.

King Hakeem looked around for his ring of keys, but as expected it was nowhere to be seen.

Liam readied to pick the lock, but Isla beat him to releasing them. She sliced the middle, horizontal base of the bars over and under the horizontal bar with the blade, she held, as if they were butter. She did the same with the last two cells as well.

The, now, former inhabitants of the cells fled from the cells, some faster than others. Several of them didn't stop to chat; they left through a passage as soon as they were free. Some stayed to thank their help.

A group of 4 dwarves approached King Hakeem. Two dwarves carried an additional dwarf that seemed unconscious at the very best, though lifeless looked more accurate. "You want to make up for what your Puer son did? Kill him." One dwarf requested, speaking in an accent Hakeem had never heard before.

Another muttered something to the first dwarf in a different language.

Rolling his eyes, the first dwarf changed his mind. "Ooor at least, imprison him. He's made us suffer through Hell. If you can do that then we're on your side."

King Hakeem nodded with a heavy heart. He knew he would never see death as fit for a crime such as this, especially for his son, but he could certainly imprison him for his misdeeds. "I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I will bring justice to him. In the meantime help yourself to the food on the dining table, all of you."

The first dwarf looked up at him without a sign of acceptance. "Oui, Oui, you do that." And the dwarves walked away and up to Prince Liam and Lady Isla.

The second dwarf who had conversed with the first one pushed ahead of the first dwarf. "Thank you. Our freedom has been granted to us, once more. You truly are Godsends. If ever you need anything, we'll be home in our small cottage just North of the Fine Nexus. We are indebted to you."

Liam knelt down, "You really don't need to–"

"–Hey, Buddy, Prince or whatever you are, you want us to repay our debt quickly through advice? Kneel down again and see if an area in the middle isn't used again." The second dwarf warned, his friendly tone gone with the nonexistent wind.

Liam swiftly stood up and Isla leaned to the side to whisper to him, "I was just tryin' to warn you that kneeling is quite insulin' and offensive enough to get you hurt."

"I wish I would've known that sooner. Preferably before I got threatened." Liam cleared his throat.

Isla smiled, giving him a short once over. "Rather threatened, than not."

"True." Liam tilted his head in agreement, before glancing over to Isla, again, "At least, they live in a nice place." He whispered to her, looking back to the dwarves.

Isla side-glanced at Liam, "In all-Silvestrian familiar language, that means 'End of the link'. 'Nice' isn't exactly how I would put it."

Liam's smile melted. "Oh."

Isla nodded and looked down to the dwarves. "We greatly appreciate your kindness, and I wish you good luck in returnin' home. May the taste of freedom feel fresh."

The dwarves nodded and the first dwarf stepped forward, bowing low to her. He managed to grab her hand as he rose. "We greatly appreciate your effort to bring peace, Mademoiselle. May I say just how beautiful you are? Si Beau!" The dark, stout dwarf said as his hat flamed. "My name is Alois. Remember me in your service to the Royaume."

The second dwarf pried "Alois" from Isla's hand. "Excusez-moi, Belle. We are from the Ignis Forge. The folk there are… trop, too much. Au revoir et merci, Dame et Prince." And he pulled Alois away.

Isla managed to smile. "Well, thank you, anyway."

Several Gnomes approached Isla and stood, studying her for a moment. One stepped forward, and cleared his throat. "Hello, my name is Glooth. I feel as if I should inform you of something. You look much like two Elves, a Night Elf and a Moon Elf we saw in here. Erin and Finlay. We were cellmates. But they were taken and let loose several years ago."

Isla crouched down and looked at the gnomes in intrigue. "Erin and Finlay?" Her heart plummeted. "For how long?"

Glooth thought for a moment. "Um.. 4 years, I think. You know, give or take a day."

Suddenly, Isla felt as if she'd swallowed her own heart. "Oh." Was all she could muster.

"But they were released with a troll named Theonis. When Theonis fell mysteriously ill, they tricked the Sheikh into releasing several of us. They were unfortunately long gone by the time their assumption that they'd fooled him well could've faded. The stupid 'Sheikh' discovered the disease in Theonis and they tricked the Sheikh well enough to convince him to let many of us go, before it could spread any more. They'd planned it well, but they left in assumption he would let everyone go, I assume, to be rid of Theonis before the disease spread. But he caught onto the trick before we all could escape and here we are. I cannot say much more. We didn't see too much; That is the extent of our knowledge."

Isla gave them all a weak smile. "Thank you. Good luck."

The Gnomes muttered their thanks and walked off.

Isla and Liam received many other indebted thanks and soon readied to rejoin the party. Quickly after Sheikh Victor's imprisonment, the Nobles, Officials, and Liam and Isla discussed continual treaty matters with the knowledge of the Sheikh's heinous crime. Luckily with no proof of King Hakeem's awareness of his son's plot, the treaty could continue with no further delays.

After another long week of attending Peace Treaty Events in Sahra, Prince Liam and Lady Isla were more than excited to come back to Petra. Liam had instantly noticed Isla's reaction to the Gnomes' news, but Isla had summed it all up in a case of having bad luck. Liam decided to wait until she could be at the Petran Palace before talking to her further. With all the interruptions and her Uncle Levi being present most of the time, he felt they were best conversing where she could feel comfortable in where she was and to whom she spoke to.

Finally they were heading home, or rather back to his home. The trip played through much smoother than the trip to Sahra. The trip from the Sahran Kingdom began with gushing, comfortable conversation between Liam and Isla. They conversed and laughed over how things had transpired in the events they'd participated in. They'd never enjoyed one another's company for so long. Liam nor Isla had ever smiled so wide for so long.

But almost every good thing had to come to an end. After two and half weeks of nonstop conversations, Levi joined them in the carriage. He sat right beside Isla so that Liam could no longer be so close to her. From there, Isla silenced quite abruptly and noticeably.

He looked at her in worry. He knew that her Uncles shouldn't have had so much control over her. Levi's treatment of her was horrible and he had her completely unaware of the toxicity of his behavior. She thought she deserved it.

And Liam's desire to marry her only grew with that knowledge. He hadn't an understanding of how this desire began. For most of his life he fought with her, but just as he hadn't realized he'd miss her when she was absent, he hadn't realized his growing romantic feelings for her.

As a young child, he'd thought she was cute and maybe in a very small way, he had a little crush on her. But it wasn't for many reasons.

In his younger teenage years, he'd refused to admit he'd slightly had a crush on her and hated it when one of the castle guards would "playfully" flirt with her.

But all that was nothing compared to what he felt for and with her now. He just... Didn't understand what that was.

Liam looked at her, determined to uplift her. He completed the sketch he'd begun on their way to Sahra.

Afterwards, he gently tore the page out and folded it, writing something on the outside and inside of the folded picture.

He dropped it to the floor of the carriage and gently moved it toward Isla. He then tapped Isla's foot with the tip of his black boot. Isla's head shot to him, and Liam directed her to look down with his eyes.

Isla couldn't help but smile at his gesture and she lifted the folded paper. Levi glanced at her and she just shook her head. "I dropped it." She excused and he returned to staring out the window. Isla ever-so-gently unfolded it, revealing his sketch of her. Written right beside the more-than-accurate sketch read "Beautiful" Isla's grin grew. She turned over the page as directed on the bottom of the page.

There it read "See? Just as I said about Lord Levi, right? Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong." At this Isla shook her head and rolled her eyes, a smile still evident on her lips. She nudged his boots.

Liam let out a laugh accidentally catching Levi's attention through unintentional noise. Liam clasped his hand over his mouth. "Sorry." He muffled.

As soon as Levi turned away, Liam and Isla silently giggled. They couldn't contain themselves.

"You know, I am aware of your excessive laughing, correct?" Levi spoke aloud.

Isla stopped, "Sorry, Sir." She was still having troubles containing her amusement.

Levi shook his head, again, "No. Go on, it is fine." He uncharacteristically smiled and looked away again.

Isla and Liam looked at each other in disbelief. Isla gestured for Liam to toss her his graphite and he did. She wrote a message to him on the back of his sketch in small writing and subtly delivered it to him.

For the rest of the trip, the two wrote small messages to each other, lightening the mood. Alas after three long weeks from the start of their journey home, they arrived in the Kingdom of Petra.

Liam and Isla helped the servants bring their baggage back inside the Petran Palace to settle themselves in again.

When finally settled, Levi spoke with Isla, once Liam had left to meet with his little brother. After listening to the arguments at the beginning of their journey, Isla had earned herself a good interrogation, then scolding as if she were a young child. Though Levi was quite unaware that Liam hadn't rushed out the door, so the beginning of the conversation was heard. In intrigue, Liam remained in his position to hear the conversation through.

Needless to say, this ticked Liam off.

Knowing of Liam's "absence", Isla quietly left hers and Liam's adjoined room, after the conversation with her Uncle.

When Isla was walking out the door, Liam hid from her view and once she was out of Liam's sight, Liam stormed into the bedroom meeting Levi's gaze with green flames in his eyes. Liam slammed the door behind him and ever-so-slightly raised his voice. "How can you talk to her like that?! Can you not see what you're doing to her or do you not even care about her?!"

Levi's blue/gray eyes flared, "Excuse me? I care for her more than you could even comprehend. The issue is that she knows better than to act like such a child. She is young and still immature. She must know where she stands in life and if she spends it arguing like some spoiled child over matters that do not matter she will easy target for anyone who wishes to harm her." Levi scolded.

Liam narrowed his eyes at him. "Like who? Who would come after her? Do you even know what she was arguing about? Or did you just assume she was being childish? How can you lie to yourself, claiming that you care about her when all you do is complain at her? Every moment you spend scolding her is a moment that demolishes any hope that you care about her. I doubt you even know her that well." Liam thought for a moment about what Baron Julius had said about Kalani's death being for her knowledge of something.

Levi creased his eyebrows together, "As future queen of Petra, she is more than likely to be attacked at some point in hers and your reign. It should not matter what it was about. The fault is hers for bickering. I am in no state of denial. She should be quite aware of my care for her. And in case you still refuse to believe it, I know her quite well, she is my niece." Levi paused, thinking on the third question. "What 'good' reason could she have for her behavior?"

"You really don't see it, do you?"

"See what?"

"That she has emotions! All you tell her is that she needs to learn to bottle it all in. You may be all emotionless but forcing her to be the same way is wrong. She's not you. She's her own person with her own emotions, and the more you make her bottle it the worse the outcome will be. You won't "fix" her, you'll kill her. You don't know her that well, if at all. Because if you did you'd be able to tell that you're hurting her." Levi readied to protest, but Liam cut him off. "If you do know her, then what's her favorite place to hang out? What is her favorite thing to do? What activities does she enjoy? How many friends does she have?.. Prove it. Prove that you know her. Answer the questions."

Levi was speechless for several moments, his dark eyebrows furrowed. "You have no inkling what is at foot, and you want to spend this valuable time asking ridiculous questions. 'Hang-out' places are hardly matters of importance. Favorable hobbies are of little importance. She should fancy her training that is what will keep her alive, not some petty hobbies or friends that will make promises they cannot keep. You fill her head with hopes of change, but do you intend to fulfill those hopes?" He stopped and awaited an answer.

Liam sighed, "I fully intend to keep every promise I make to her. Including being the person who cares about how she feels and handles things. If you really - and I mean really care - about her you might want to try showing it, because as far as anyone is aware, you don't. Including Isla." With that being said, he walked off without finding further explanation, leaving Levi in his thoughts.

~*~

After speaking, or rather scolding Levi for his treatment, Liam considered going after Isla and talking to her, but saw her training with Commander Leo and left with rolling eyes. He had to meet with Jonathan anyway, he might as well let her blow off some steam then talk to her. Then, he could probably "raid" the Palace Library while he was at it.

Isla went to Petra's third courtyard in the castle.

Leo saw her training and wanted in on the "fun". "Hey, mind if I join you?" He requested.

Isla threw her blade at a surrounding Oak tree. Not without a breath in place, she responded. "Sure. Why not?" She didn't tire easily.

Leo unsheathed his sword and came at her at minimal speed to keep fluid conversation with her. "To save my sister the trouble of hearing the latest gossip and curing my curiosity as well, how was your trip?"

Isla countered his slow attack, not matching his slower pace. She clashed her blade against his sword, using more force than necessary. She mentally analyzed how it did go. "It was fine. Things went as they normally do, besides some unexpected mishaps." She'd smiled, thinking about hers and Liam's written conversations.

"Boring?"

Isla shrugged and pushed against him, pushing him back and taking training a little too seriously. "I suppose you could say that. Nothin' deservin' any gossip." She'd kept the unexpected events to herself. Those Silvestrians didn't deserve the whole Petran kingdom gossiping about what had happened.

"Does your good Uncle know you're back?" Leo asked, not minding at all, the hint of other events.

Isla nonchalantly replied, "Nope."

"Huh.. I'd thought he did, we were just talking about you when your carriage arrived. Talk about the timing with that guy."

Isla's ears perked up and she'd paused mid-combat, needing to merely avoid Leo's upcoming attack rather than counter attacking. "Really?"

Leo nodded, "Yeah. I pity you."

Isla raised an eyebrow. "Why? My life isn't that bad. It's typical for any person like me." Isla stopped, finding herself distracted.

Leo pointed a finger at her, "That's why." And he'd resumed his attacks. "You must really have bad luck." He backed her up, tripped her, and bopped her hand with the hilt of his sword causing her to drop her blade. He pointed his sword at her.

Isla's eyebrows creased. "He said that?" She processed it for a moment, surrounding Leo's legs in her two. With force, she turned over, bending Leo's knees instantly and tripping him while sending his sword to the sky. She shook her head and stood, catching his sword by the blade. She threw the sword to the ground, a bleeding palm as result of her quick, almost irritated action. "I'm done."

Brooklynn tried to address her as she walked to check on her brother, but received the cold shoulder.