With shaky legs, Pirbaba stood up. It was as if he was carrying all the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Slowly he approached the corner of the wall at the far end of the hall. They were all watching his every step. If someone had looked very closely and carefully, they could have seen a tiny mark on one of the tiles, it looked like a small lotus flower carving on the wall.

He pushed the tile with the lotus on it with his shaky hands. The sound of stones rubbing together echoed in the hall and a stony box came out of the wall. He took an irregular key shape thing out of the box and walked toward the door. The key was flat and It had an irregular rhombus shape with a round end.

Everyone was bewildered on how sophisticated the process of opening a treasury could be. Osman's heart was rattling in her ribcage out of excitement and anticipations.

There was a very thin and unnoticeable slot on the door that had been damaged a bit when Osman and his men had tried to open the door. Pirbaba inserted the key shape thing into the thin slot on the door.

It took several attempts before the key went completely inside the hole.

Pirbaba looked at Osman sighed sadly, then turned the key and stepped back.

There came several banging and rattling sounds. It seemed as if the walls inside were moving.

After a few long seconds, the heavy door slightly opened. Osman slowly walked toward the door but stopped.

He thought if Persians were smart enough to make such a complex door, there could be some sorts of traps inside as well. He stepped back and pushed Pirbaba to open the door and go inside. Pirbaba shook his head looking sad and proceed to open the door.

The door was extremely heavy that was out of Pirbaba's ability to open it. Osman gestured and three soldiers went and pushed the heavy door. As the door opened several thick and flat stones the size of the door were moving away making loud noises.

"So that's why we couldn't open the door. There was not just one door but several doors behind this door that heavily supported it. How smart!" Ahmad said looking astonished.

Now Pirbaba was walking inside with a torch in his hand and Osman and his men behind him.

Inside was completely dark and cold. Pirbaba touched a square looking bowl close to the entrance door with the torch, the same as the ones that Osman had seen in the bath pool hall before and an array of lanterns and torches illuminated the place.

***

Arta was struggling to free herself from the soldiers' grip on the way back to her room when soldiers stopped and bowed.

"What's going on here?" Sultan demanded

"Prince ordered us to take her back to her room"

"Release her immediately," Sultan said with anger visible in his voice.

Arta looked at the old man. She had seen Sultan once from a far distance when they were moving to the palace from the camp.

Arta pulled her arms and looked at the soldiers with hatred. Sultan came closer.

"What has happened to your neck ya benti" Sultan asked softly.

She looked at Sultan with anger and while clenching her teeth "Why don't you ask your son."

One of the generals behind Sultan came closer while his hand was on his sword "How dare you to talk to Sultan ..." before he was able to finish his sentence sultan raised his hand and stopped him. He bowed and stepped back.

"You should excuse my son; he sometimes forgets how to treat a lady."

Arta's mouth hung open. She didn't expect Sultan to say that.

"Escort Shahzadeh to her room and ask a doctor to attend to her wound". Sultan ordered the soldiers.

Arta was speechless but at the same time felt something is not right. Why did he care?

Sultan and his companies walked toward the treasury and left Arta with soldiers.

"If you touch me again, I'll break your hands" Arta said looking at the soldiers with a hiss.

Even soldiers were confused about how they should react now.

***

As they walked inside the treasury, they saw a big hall with several shelves from floor to ceiling around the walls full of papyruses and stone tablets. The hall didn't have any windows. There was also a sitting area at the corner of the chamber, including a mid-size table and five chairs.

The air inside was dry and cold, ideal to keep the papyrus in good condition. Pirbaba was slowly walking toward the end of the chamber where there was a broad round staircase with low step stairs heading down.

They were now at the bottom of the stairs and if felt like they were in a magical place. They could not believe the scene in front of them.

As far as the eyes could see there were chests and bowls full of gold and silver coins, precious stones, pieces of jewelry, golden statues and dishes. It was as if all the precious things in the world were gathered in one place.

They were shocked by the amount of wealth in front of them. They were speechless. Everybody was mesmerized by the amount of gold and precious things in front of them that they did not realize the Sultan came in. Sultan's eyes widened and his mouth was slightly opened at the sight in front of him.

"Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah..." Sultan was repeating under his breath and breaking the silence.

Everyone bowed to the sultan. There was only Pirbaba who was shaking and crying at the bottom of the stairs.

"I cannot believe this!" Sultan said walking with Osman toward the end of that long hall looking all around the place.

Osman had a huge smile on his face "Yes, this is a big fortune."

Sultan put his hand in one of the gold coin bowls and took a hand full of coins "Now I can say that we are the most powerful and rich nation in the world." He slowly let the coins drop from his hand. "What a pleasant sound!" Sultan said while closing his eyes and listening to the sound of the coins dropping from his hand.

They walked for a few more minutes until they reached the end of the hall "make arrangements to transfer these to Arabia." Sultan said happily. "Now we have one more thing to do." Sultan continued.

"Yes, we need to make sure that the Persian King will not make any troubles in any way."

"Yes that as well, but I was referring more to the princess."

"What princess?" Osman asked looking surprised.

"Princess Arta of course." Sultan said as a matter of fact.

"What about her? I don't understand." Osman was thinking what his father means by that. Is he going to kill Arta? What if he asks Osman to finish her? could he do it? Should he argue with his father? He was thinking of the worst possible things and cold sweat appeared on his forehead, but he tried so hard to look indifferent.

After a few long seconds, while Sultan was examining a gold necklace in his hands he said "You know that the Persians are not happy with us ruling them. We should do something to calm them a bit."

He turned and put his hand on Osman's shoulder, looking into his eyes "I want you to marry the princess. This marriage will hopefully unit our nations."

Osman's eyes widened "What?"

"This will be a strategic marriage and will greatly help us to strengthen our position in Persia."

"But this is impossible. She is an infidel. I cannot marry her. What will our people say?"

"You don't need to be worried about that. I'll take care of it."

"But she won't agree to this marriage."

"Well it is better if you can get her approval but even if you couldn't then we don't need her approval. You are my son, the crown prince of Arabia, and the conquer of Persia." Sultan paused and then continued with a more serious voice "This marriage should happen. I give you 2 weeks to get her approval after that she will be forced to marry you." With that Sultan turned and left Osman in his thoughts.

Ahmad and Samir approached Osman after his father left "Why do you look so serious? Shouldn't we start celebrating now?" Ahmad said with a big grin on his face.

"What is wrong Osman?" Samir asked looking concerned.

Osman didn't want to tell Samir and Ahmad about his father's decision, at least not now.

"It's nothing. We should arrange the transfer of all of these to Arabia."

"it will take a looooong time," Ahmad said looking around himself.

"Ok then let's get started." Osman said clapping his hands. Trying not to think about the conversation with his father.

On the way out a soldier came to Osman and pointed at Pirbaba "What should we do with this man your highness?"

"We may still need him. give him some food and keep him in the palace." Osman said and left.

***

Arta was lying on her bed thinking about today's events and Pirbaba. That poor old man. How could they torture him like that? She wished she was dead and they couldn't use her to force Pirbaba to open the treasury door.

A tabib had already cleaned and covered her wound. "That bastard." Arta whispered angrily while touching her painful neck.

"I have to escape soon otherwise I'll become crazy or dead." She thought to herself.

She was in her escaping thoughts when someone knocked and came in.

"Can I come in?" Nahla the gossiper asked.

"It's funny that you asked because you are already in." Arta said raising one of her eyebrows.

"Hahahaha, oh right." She laughed and swiftly sat on Arta's bed beside her.

Arta glared at her, but it seemed that she didn't care.

Nahla took Arta's hand "How are you Arta? Are you alright?" she said with a kind and concerned voice.

Arta pulled off her hand and sat on her bed. "What do you want?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing I was just worried about you."

"Yeah right." Arta smirked.

After a few silent seconds Nahla asked "So what happened today? What is with your neck?"

"Ah, that's why you are here then. You want the news." Arta chuckled.

"No no no, I really am worried about you." Said Nahla looking in Arta's eyes, trying so hard to convince Arta of her concerns.

Arta looked at her with a look that was saying "I don't buy it". After a few seconds of looking into each other's eyes Nahla said "Ok OK, I'm here more for the news. Happy now?".

Arta laughed. For a second she was really happy that she was talking to someone other than Khadijeh and Osman or that devilish Amal.

"That's better." Arta smiled at her.

"So? Tell me what has happened to your neck?"

"This is your Prince doing."

"WHAT?! No way! Are you serious? Why?"

"Yes, he threatened to kill me if the treasury clerk does not open the treasury for him."

"Ya Allah. What happened then?"

"I think he opened the treasury for him otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."

"But that's impossible for the prince to hurt you. Not after what we all saw the other day." Nahla said looking confused.

"What do you mean? I'm just an enemy in his eyes and I'm sure he is looking for an excuse to end me soon. You see I was the princess of this land, the only princess and I could be a threat if they keep me alive. Sooner or later his sword will touch my neck again and this time will not just be a scratch."

"But why was he so worried about you the other day when you fainted? I don't think that he kills you, like ever."

"What do you mean he was worried?" Arta asked looking confused.

"Well when you fainted, he apparently took you first to his room. I saw how worried he was when he was shouting at the guards to bring a doctor for you. The other maids and I were at the bottom of the stairs when he was taking you downstair to your room on his arms. He looked really worried. He didn't even accept Amal's help to take you to your room."

Arta was silent, she couldn't understand why Osman should be concerned about her. She was just an enemy to them. Nahla must be mistaken.