Arta's heart jumped when she heard Osman's voice shouting her name. Arta and Abtin could hear the food steps running behind them.

"Hurry up princess!" Abtin shouted.

Arta was crying without even noticing how hard she was crying. It was so sad for her leaving Osman, the love of her life. Thinking about how she betrayed his trust was worsening her pains. She could have told him from the beginning, he would have helped her and things wouldn't turn out this way. But now it was too late.

Tears blurred her sight and she fell from the last two steps. Abtin helped her standing up.

"Are you alright?" he asked looking concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm fine"

Abtin quickly walked towards the corner of the basement area. He pushed one of the bricks that had a very tiny lotus symbol on it.

Arta was standing close to Abtin when Osman arrived.

"Osman..." Arta whispered. The heavy stone door opened in front of Abtin and Arta.

Osman and Arta were gazing at each other. Arta could see in his eyes how heartbroken he was.

"Osman, I'm sorry." Tears were dropping down her eyes to her cheeks and her neck.

"Don't go Arta." He said with a low husky voice.

Abtin had drawn his sword "Come on princess you must leave."

Abtin grabbed her wrist and pushed her toward the tunnel's entrance.

Osman roared "Don't touch her." And drew his sword.

Ahmad and Samir also arrived with a couple of soldiers.

"Go princess, I'll stop them from following you as much as I could."

"And then what? Where should I go? Running? How long? Running to where exactly?"

"My soldiers are waiting for us on the other side."

"They are your soldiers, not mine!"

"You are their princess. Don't give up like that on your people."

"I have never given up on our people. Abtin this was not the way to help people." Arta said.

She looked at Osman and continued "If you hadn't interfered, we had had great plans to help people and the country. We wanted to work together to make Persians and Arabs live peacefully together. To unite the two nations."

Abtin smirked "unite two nations? You two are so naïve I must say." He laughed then continued "you have not stepped out of the palace for so long princess. You don't know what is going on, you have not seen how Arab soldiers and their beloved generals treat our people like insects. Is this what you want for Persians?" Abtin looked angry.

"I did not know." Arta mumbled looking like a child receiving blames from her father.

"Look at me princess, this is your last chance, my last chance to rescue you." He paused "Go and help your people or stay and rot in this palace and pretend not to know anything about your people troubles."

Arta looked at Osman again who was silently listening to their conversation. Osman slightly shook his head and signaling Arta not to leave him.

Arta was crying, she was so confused. How things turned out like this. It was like a nightmare, she wanted to wake up.

"I will hold them back, but you must run."

"Arta...don't," Osman said for the last time.

Arta stepped into the tunnel and Abtin quickly pushed the door but before he could close it completely Osman rushed toward him and wounded his hand.

"Run princess, run for the sake of Persia." Abtin shouted with all his power.

Abtin and Osman started to fight. Arta could hear the sound of swords clashing together from the half-closed door.

She looked at the darkness behind her and remembered the last time she was here. At least she had a torch. How could she run in this absolute darkness? She had no other options though.

She started to walk quickly and then running. She was touching the tunnel's wall all the time to get some hint of the path. The sound of clashing swords faded away as she proceeded into the tunnel.

This was the second time she had put Abtin in this situation, leaving him at the other side of the tunnel to defend her life.

It did not take long when she could hear noises and see lights approaching her from behind. Her heart sank into her stomach.

She whispered "Abtin.." for sure Abtin had been killed.

She was running as fast as she could in the darkness but the sounds behind her were approaching faster.

It was not dark anymore "Arta!" Osman shouted.

Arta turned and saw her husband's furious face. His arm was bleeding, she touched her heart as she saw his wound.

"Why Arta?" Osman asked.

She was crying, she was tired and ashamed of looking into his eyes.

Osman approached her "This is the end for us!"

Arta cried harder she had nothing to say.

"Take her!" he ordered Samir and Ahmad with a low and heartbroken voice.

Then he ordered the soldiers to follow him to the end of the tunnel to attack the rest of Abtin's soldiers.

***

"I'm sorry princess!" Samir said with a sad voice while locking her cell's door.

"Me too Samir." Arta said looking as sad as ever. "Can you tell me what happened to Abtin?"

"Yes, he..." Samir started to explain but Ahmad cleared his throat signaling him not to say anything.

Samir looked at Ahmad realizing that he should not reveal any information to a prisoner. Then he looked at Arta feeling guilty.

"It's ok Samir, I understand!" Arta said softly to him.

"Let's go!" Ahmad said to Samir and they left Arta in her dark, damp, and smelly cell. There was nothing in the cell. An empty square cell.

Arta went and curled herself up at the corner of the cell in the darkness. Hugging her knees and started to cry.

She had lost everything all over again.

***

Two days past and Osman did not visit or talk about Arta. He wanted to forget her, but it was not that easy.

He had busied himself with long hours of fencing. He was fencing and practice fighting all day long until he was physically exhausted enough to just shut his eyes and instantly fell asleep.

"What do you want to do with the princess?" Asked Samir one day when he couldn't keep up with the fencing practice with Osman.

"I don't want to think about it."

"But you have to. She is still your wife and you have to make a decision Osman." Samir said looking serious.

Osman threw his sword angrily to the ground and rushed toward Samir "Why do you care? I don't want to think about it." He shouted while raising his fist to hit Samir on the face.

"wowowo, calm down prince." Ahmad approached them and stood between Samir and Osman.

Osman suddenly came back to his senses "I'm sorry!" he apologized to Samir.

"It's ok." Samir said patting Osman's back "I know it must be hard for you, but you need to make a decision. You cannot keep her in the dungeons forever. Especially when Sultan realizes what had happened. He had ears all over the palace that report to him everything, you know that."

Osman shook his head desperately "I know, I just want to erase her from my mind but it seems impossible. I don't know what to do. I cannot trust her anymore. I cannot have her by my side anymore." He paused "I need some time to think."

"yeah, I know, but put yourself in her shoes as well. She is the princess of this land and she was worried about her people. You know how Kabir and his men are acting and they are unstoppable because he gets his orders directly from Sultan." Samir said with concern.

"I know all about it and I feel weak not to be able to do anything regarding this situation. But still, this is not a good excuse for her to betray me, to go behind my back and spy on us. This is totally unacceptable." Osman looked angry again.

Samir shrugged "I told you what I needed to say as a friend, the rest is up to you."

Osman nodded.

***

Two weeks past and Arta was still in her cell looking as pale as ever. She wasn't feeling well for the past few days, but she did not want to say anything so that they think she is making things up to rescue herself.

Samir was the only familiar person who usually came to visit her once a day. He usually brought her food and fresh clothes. She never asked him about Osman or Abtin in order not to put him in an awkward situation.

That day Arta was feeling extremely tired and cold. She had nausea and occasionally feeling sharp abdominal pains.

She thought that she had probably lost the days and it must be close to her period. At first, she did not pay attention to the pain but after a few hours, the pain seemed irresistible. She was biting her arm in order not to scream.

What was wrong with her. This was not a usual period pain. She felt wet down there. She looked at her bright color dress and in the dim light of the cell, she saw that it was quickly becoming dark. she was shaking out of pain and fear. She touched the dark substance coming out of her. It was blood, a huge amount of blood.

She was losing her consciousness. With a low faint voice she called "guards I need help" but no one heard her.

***

Samir was walking toward Arta's cell with a torch in one hand and a tray of food in the other.

"Hello princess, I hope you like fish soap. To be honest I'm not a big fan of this soap myself. But I guess it is better than the crappy prison food, right?" and he laughed.

Her cell was dark and it was unusually silent. "Princess?" he called her again.

No answer.

He opened the cell and walked inside. The tray fell out of his hand when he saw the horrific scene in front of him. Arta was drowned in blood and looked like a corpse.

"Guards!" he shouted.

Two soldiers ran toward Samir.

They also looked shocked by the amount of blood and the small fragile creature lying on the floor in her blood "go and bring a doctor, you go and bring the price, hurry!" they both left in hurry to bring the doctor and Osman.

"Princess? Wake up!" Samir approached Arta. He did not dare to touch her. She was lifeless. He did not know what to do. So he quickly put his robe on her. He accidentally touched her arm and it was ice cold.

He gasped "She is dead!" He whispered to himself and tears dropped down his eyes.