Ram was woken by the light radiating on him from the full moon in the midnight sky. He opened his eyes and saw his friends talking softly in the corner of the carriage. Ram coughed and his friends looked up and saw that he was awake. They silently crawled towards him and sat down near him. He looked around and saw Tashi sleeping soundlessly beside him.
“Do you have any idea where they’re taking us,” Ram whispered.
“No. Tom knocked us unconscious too. We only woke up about 10 minutes ago,” Lucas whispered back.
Tashi stirred and all the men turned towards her. She shivered and rubbed her shoulders. Her hand moved around and found Ram’s chest. She lifted her head and lay it on his chest and sighed quietly.
Ram looked at his friends and they grinned at him. He daren’t move or she might wake up. He unconditionally sneezed and Tashi’s eyes flashed open. She realised what she was sleeping on and instantly lifted her head.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered groggily.
“That’s alright Princess,” Ram said. He was disappointed that she had moved her head from his stomach.
She rubbed her shoulders again and sneezed.
Ram was about to offer her his jacket, when the carriage came to an abrupt halt. A few seconds later the doors of the carriage opened and they were pulled out of the carriage. They were in the middle of a forest. There were acres and acres of huge trees, small bushy shrubs and rose bushes. David, Tom, James and Adam were all there. They blindfolded Ram, Jon, Lucas, Daniel and Tashi and lead them through the forest.
After a few minutes they all stopped and their blindfolds were removed. They all gasped at what they saw.
They were in a large, highly-decorated room. Everything was neat and tidy, there were guards everywhere and in front of them there was a man sitting on a gold throne. He looked fairly attractive. He had a tall, slender body. Dark haired, dark eyed and a goatee. He was dressed formally and was staring at them intently.
“Fergox Heartaxe,” Ram gasped when he realised who the man was.
“I’m so glad you recognised me,” Fergox said snootily. “I was afraid I would have to explain.” He smiled at them and then his eyes fell on Tashi. “What have you done to the poor girl?” he asked his men. “I told you not to fool around with her.”
No one answered.
“Well anyway, let’s get down to business shall we?” he asked rhetorically. “All I want to know is: Will you give up your kingdoms to me? It’s a simple question,” he said and then waited for an answer.
“No!” Ram and Tashi said together.
“Well I guess we’ll have to persuade you then,” Fergox said. “Guards leave the room.” All the guards nodded and marched out of the room.
“David, tie up their hands,” he waved at Ram and his friends.
Fergox stood up and gestured at James to give him his sword. James handed the sword over and stepped back to watch the action. Fergox slowly walked to Tashi and circled around her, looking at her body. He nodded and smiled appreciatively. Tashi kept her head down and her hair came around her face to hide her.
“You are most beautiful Princess Tashi,” Fergox said. Then he drew out his sword. He pushed a small button on the sword and the blade was replaced by a long metal pointer. He pointed at Tashi and starting speaking. “You cannot fight me Princess. Surrender your kingdom to me and I will spare your betrothed and his friends.”
“We both know you are lying,” Tashi said with her head still down.
Fergox put the pointer under her chin and pushed up until they were looking into each other’s eyes. “You will surrender Princess. I assure you of that,” he said. He pushed the button on his sword again and the pointer became a blade. Slowly he moved the tip of the blade over Tashi’s face and body. He started at her cheeks, then her lips and then her chin. He moved to her arms and stopped at her breast bone. “You know, I was the reason you became a Princess.”
Tashi looked at him with hatred flaring in her eyes. “Then I loathe you,” Tashi spoke very unlike herself. It sounded almost terrifying. “You took me away from my only family and made me live alone in a boring castle with rules and regulations and the same tedious routine every day. I hate you. I will hate you every second of every day and I will pray to the Goddess every day, wishing that she will kill me so I don’t have to see your face ever again.” Tashi looked to the floor again with a disgusted look on her face.
Ram was staring at her and willing himself not to run up to Fergox and kill him.
Fergox gave his sword to James and smiled evilly. He moved closer to Tashi and grabbed her hands. Tashi tried to get her hands free but she couldn’t. He had her in an iron grip. He leaned his head closer to her and whispered in her ear. “You are helpless.” Then he moved towards her lips. Tashi turned her head in the last second and he ended up kissing her cheek. He chuckled and moved away from her.
He took his sword and walked to Ram. He sliced the sword on Ram’s neck and a thin line of scarlet began to bleed. Ram groaned in pain.
“STOP IT!” Tashi screamed. “Why are you doing that? STOP IT!”
“You said that you would rather die than see my face again. It hurt me, so I’m punishing him,” Fergox explained. “You can make it all go away though.”
“HOW?!” Tashi screamed.
“You’ll have to see my face for the rest of your life,” Fergox said, looking at her.
Tashi put on a confused face and looked at Fergox for further explanation.
“If you do this then I will not kill your friends. I will make it official. I will sign a contract to say it and they will stay in the castle for the rest of their lives,” Fergox said.
“I’ll do anything. Just don’t kill them, please,” Tashi begged.
“Anything?” he asked, smiling.
“Yes,” she croaked as tears rolled down her face.
“You have to... marry me,” Fergox said.
Tashi stopped breathing and the words Fergox had said repeated in her head again and again. marry me, marry me, you have to marry me, marry me.
“NO!” roared Ram. He looked at Tashi, but she was looking towards the floor and she was extremely still.
“Tashi, will you marry me?” Fergox said formally.
Tashi looked up and Ram saw the pain in her teary eyes. She opened her mouth and Ram held his breath; waiting for the verdict. “Yes,” she whispered.
Ram’s head was reeling. The word seemed to echo forever. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. “NO!” Ram shouted at the top of his voice.
“Wonderful,” Fergox said, ignoring Ram’s cry. “The wedding will be very soon,” he said to Tashi. “Take them to the dungeons,” he said to James and Adam.
“No,” Tashi said. “I want them to be treated as guests and not prisoners. This is the only thing I ask of you. Please?” she asked.
Fergox sighed. “Very well. They will stay in the guest quarters,” Fergox smiled at him.
“Thank You,” Tashi said, but was still crying.
“Well let’s go then, it is almost 11 o’clock and you must be tired, my love. Let’s go to our bedroom and sleep,” Fergox said merrily. He took Tashi’s hand and they filed out with Ram and his friends following.
Fergox showed them the main places in the castle. Tashi wasn’t listening to anything her was saying. She was just frozen. She always looked down and she never spoke unless someone asked her a direct question. She was lifeless.
Ram couldn’t focus on anything else and was just staring at Tashi the whole time. He couldn’t see her face because he was always behind her, but he knew how she felt.
When they reached the bedrooms, they stopped. Fergox led Tashi to a room on the right of the corridor. “I’ll be there in a moment, my love. Make yourself comfortable and please change into the clothes in the wardrobes,” he told her. Tashi walked into the room and shut the door. “Your room is there Ram,” he gestured to the room opposite and turned to David.
As Ram and his friends turned to go into their bedroom, Ram heard Fergox whisper to David. “Make sure no-one disturbs us. I plan to make this a night to remember forever,” he grinned at him and went into the bedroom.
Ram walked into his bedroom sat down on the bed with his head in his hands.
“Ram? We’re sorry about what happened. We know you really liked Tashi,” Daniel said sympathetically.
“Did you hear what Fergox said to David?” Ram asked looking up at his friends. They all shook their heads.
“He said... he said that he didn’t want anyone to disturb them because he wanted to... to make this a night to remember forever,” Ram quoted through gritted teeth.
His friends had identical masks of horror on their faces.
“That’s disgusting!” Jon declared with a horrified expression on his face.
“And it’s illegal. She’s only 18 and he’s 35,” Lucas said in a disgusted voice.
“Tashi would stop him before he even touched her,” Jon said.
“Yeah, but he could blackmail Tashi. Or he could get Tom to put a spell on her. Or he could force her into it. She’s strong, but not that strong,” Ram said.
“We have to stop him,” Lucas said.
“Okay, but how?” Daniel asked.
“I have an idea,” Ram said. They all sat down and discussed the plan.