He continued to compliment me with such ease. I wondered why he didn’t hesitate even once. It made me happy, the things he said. I looked at my reflection, I guess I was a little pretty. I smiled at myself when my heart filled with happiness.
“And to top it all off, you big green eyes are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.” He said.
I looked at my own eyes, the eyes I feared because they were different.
But then I was no longer looking at my own reflection, I was looking at his. He is the Prince of Egypt; someone who I thought would be spoiled, stubborn and hateful. I was happily proved wrong. I saw him move when he noticed I was looking at his reflection rather than my own, so I turned my face to look at him.
He looked at me as well. He seemed to be uncomfortable for a second, but then eased up. We looked at each other for a while, I don’t know why. My heart did maybe a hundred back flips in that little while. It was quiet; I heard only birds chirping and the breathing of Arius and I.
Unexpectedly, the silence was broken. “Brother?” Someone yelled from far away.
It startled the both of us, I turned and saw someone running towards us.
“Brother! What are you doing?” The boy yelled.
The Prince began to panic. “Umm, umm…” He said as he looked around. Then he pulled one of his rings off and dropped it in the fountain.
“Hey, brother. What are you doing?” The boy asked when he had reached us.
“I am, umm, looking for my ring.” The Prince said.
“Why?” The boy asked.
“I seemed to have dropped it in mother’s fountain. This girl was assisting me.” The Prince said.
The boy was small and cute. He had short black hair and large brown eyes and when he smiled I could see the dimples he had on his face. He called Arius ‘brother’ so I assumed he was the younger brother of Arius.
“Well brother, you have a lot of work to do! What were you doing here anyway?” The boy asked.
“Just taking a break.” The Prince smiled.
“Well come on then!” The boy said grabbing his brothers’ arm.
“Wait, what about my ring?” The Prince asked, looking at the fountain.
“Why don’t you look for it, my Lady?” The boy asked and I nodded my head.
“Oh, then I’ll tell Aziza.” The Prince said as he walked away.
“Thank you.” I said smiling.
He smiled too, and mouthed sorry.
I nodded and continued to smile as they walked into the palace.
I looked into the water again and waited for it to stop moving. When it did, I saw my reflection again and laughed to myself.
The fountain was beautiful and while I looked at it I remembered the Prince calling this fountain his ‘mothers’ fountain’. I wondered what he meant by that. I looked around, and finally found the gold shining in the sunlight at the bottom of the fountain.
I slowly put my hand in the cool water and picked it up. The ring was beautiful; it had a snake design around it and inside the eye of the snake was a red jewel. I sat on the floor and leaned against the fountain. It was too big to fit on most of fingers, but if fit perfectly on my thumb.
I held my hand up and watched it sparkle.
I smiled to myself. I guess I get to keep this until I meet up with the Prince again. I thought.
I walked into the palace and I noticed a lot of slaves looking at me, well my hand to be specific.
I then bumped into Saia. She hugged me. “Alexandra! Where have you been? Oh, it seems like it has been forever since I saw you! Why don’t we—” She froze. “Wow! Look at that thing!” Saia grabbed my hand and held it close to her face. “Where did you get this ring?” She asked me admiring it.
“Oh, it isn’t mine!” I said.
“Then whose is it?” She asked me confused
“It’s the Princes’… I mean the Pharaohs.”
Saia gasped, “Alexandra! How could you?”
I didn’t understand her at first, but when I did, I held my hands up. “No, no Saia! It’s not like that! I didn’t steal it!”
“Oh. Then why do you have it?” She asked, still confused.
“The Pharaoh accidentally dropped it in his mother’s fountain and he asked me if I could find it for him.” I explained.
Saia nodded. “But why are you wearing it? You might get in trouble.” She said and I realized she was right.
“Maybe I’ll go look for the Pharaoh right now and give it to him.” I said turning around.
“Okay.” Saia said. “I’ll let you do that now… I don’t want you to get in trouble!”
I nodded as I started to run to find the Prince.
“Bye!” She yelled.
I waved without turning around.
It was moments later that I almost bumped into Aziza. “Chione!” She yelled.
I bowed and put my hand behind me.
“I need you to go to the market and get some things for me.” She said.
“But I have—” I started.
“No, you don’t! Go now!” She said. She gave me a list and money.
I rolled my eyes and rushed off. The market place wasn’t too much of a long walk from the palace, so I could finish this and then find the Prince.
When I made it to the market place I watched all the busy people at work. Small shops were aligned side by side down the long road. It was very busy, but no one seemed to mind, everyone was smiling.
I looked at the list, there were only fruits on it. So I ran to the fruit shops. As I searched the shops an unfamiliar man walked up to me.
“My, my.” He said. I turned around and looked at him. He was tall, skinny and had a scary face; he had black long, messy hair, and black eyes. “Hello dear.”
“Hello.” I replied.
“Would you like to sell any jewelry?” He asked, looking at my hand.
“Uh, no sir, thank you.” I said, I turned around and tried to walk away.
“Wait, Miss! I pay a lot of money for your jewels.” He said, he grabbed my hand and looked at the ring on my thumb.
“Um, please don’t touch m—”
“Wow, this ring has a very detailed design, you can sell it for a lot of money!”
“Sir, this ring is not mine.” I said, getting angry.
He looked at me and then pulled the ring, it slipped right off and as soon as he got it he ran.
I stood there frozen for a moment. “Thief!” I finally yelled.
I looked around, no one even flinched.
So I ran after him pushing anyone in the way. Oh no, oh no! I thought.
The dress I wore made it even harder for me to run, but I was fast enough to keep the man in sight. “Stop!” I yelled. I couldn’t let this guy get away. I pushed many people down, and kept yelling sorry as I ran past. “Stop, you!” I got really mad. I ran and ran after him, but he wouldn’t stop.
But when we ran into an alley, he began to slow down.
I slowed down too and tried to catch my breath.
Then suddenly, two other men walked in, one was short and fat, and the other was tall and skinny, like the man who stole the ring.
The thief stopped running and smiled at his friends. “Look, you got us a ring, and a girl!” The short fat one said.
I stepped back and then they all ran and surrounded me.
Shoot. I thought. My heart was pounding hard and my hands were shaking.
“This is going to be fun.” The tall skinny one said, grinning.
I tried to run but they all moved in towards me, I closed my eyes and felt someone pull my right hand. I then heard a crack and a scream, and I opened my eyes.
Standing in front of me was my hero, my guardian angel.
The Prince had his hands balled up into tight fists and his face looked mad and hard. I looked around and saw the man who took the ring on the floor. The short man and the tall man looked at each other and then charged towards the Prince.
I screamed.
The Prince pulled me and when he moved the short man tripped. The Prince took his foot and kicked the short man, who flew into the tall one.
The tall man struggled to push the short one off him but as soon as he did, he got up and charged at the Prince again. The Prince, still holding me with one hand, pulled his sword out of its sheathe with his other hand. He held it straight in front of him, and the tall man stopped and stumbled over his own feet. He fell to the floor and I think he passed out.
The Prince slid his sword back into its sheath and then muttered, “weak fools.” He then turned to face me.
“Why were you running after these men?” He asked, his face was still hard and angry, I could see the veins in his hands and forehead.
“I, umm.” I stuttered. “What are you doing here?”
He shook his head. He then put his hand on his head and pressed on his temples.
I pressed my lips into a thin line and realized that I shouldn’t question him, I should thank him. “Thank you!” I said bowing.
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”