Aurora waved goodbye to me, running alongside the carriage as fast as she could. I reached out and took her hand, tears filling my eyes. Her hand slipped and I sat back down. Ben reached down from the back of the carriage and kissed her hand.
"Adios, mi amiga!" he called. I heard her reply similarly from behind us. I poked my head out and looked back.
She was gone.
The days passed and each was hotter than the one before. The thick forest I had grown up in gave way to brush, and eventually to flat prairie, and then to nothing. I gasped at the landscape before me, hoping it would not be my new home.
"Ben?"
'Yes, my love?"
'Where are we?"
He sighed and removed his jacket. We had stopped to water the horses and to eat lunch. It was sweltering outside. I leaned back and spread out on the heat baked ground. Ugh, this place was indeed dismal.
"We're in the desert. They call this place Araticia. It is ruled by a sultan by the name of Jasvard. He has a niece named Jezzibel. They says he is very beautiful and possibly an enchantress."
"Oh? How do you hear all this gossip Ben? You're only a stable boy!'
He looked into the distance, towards his home. 'I have my ways."
"Pfft. is that where we're going?"
"Yes'm. To serve the princess 'til she's married."
I turned my head to gaze over at him better. He was splayed on his jacket. The reddish tones in his hair shone under the harshness of the sun. I knew i was going to burn badly if I stayed out here much longer. I jumped up and got back in the carriage. I opened all the windows and undid the top clasp of my dress.