*My bold button has appeared to have disappeared :/ but hey! Hope you guys are all good, and heres my latest chapter, I liked writing this chapter, I liked being able to describe the town to you, I hope you enjoy it, and thank you ALL for your support and kind words! Remember all OC/Settings are mine, but anything you recognise isn't x*

*Chapter 48-Nadir's POV*

Persia was long since behind us, the barren lands before us, of a country I had not explored in many years. Of course I had left Persia many times, on duties, but always I had returned, the chains pulled and I would be back in the country I hated, yet at the same time adored. Within the huge gates of Persia was not only a broken nation, but also there was memories, and love, things I did not wish to let go off. I had grown up there, I had met my wife, brought my son up, I had done them all and the memories were always what brought me back. But now I was never going back, there was no real plan. Just the packs that the pony carried and a desperate feeling within us all to get away from Persia and fast. How long I had wished to get away from Persia, but now I was free, I felt strange, a sombre feeling of un knowing curtained over my mind, I had the urge to gallop back to the huge gates a beg to go back in, I knew Persia, I was comfortable there. I had rank, I was known, the thought of settling in a new country terrified me. I could speak eight different languages, and knew most cultures, but still it was never the same as your home.

But as the huge shadows of night fell upon the paths before my panting horse, I looked down at my little boy, his head resting on my chest in sleep, wrapped up to keep him warm. This is why I had to do this; this is why I had to leave all I knew behind me. My boy deserved a good life, a life of freedoms, of education and culture. I needed him to be safe, and I had to honour my wife. I knew I was doing the best for him, he needed to escape the horrors he had seen, I hadn't pressed him, about what had happened in the torture chambers, and how the fire had started. I knew in good time he would tell me, and I would be there. For him leaving Persia would be leaving behind bad memories, and sadness, a lingering presence of the mother he never knew. He would now have a life of normality; I would get a normal job, return home to him every day and spend time with my beautiful boy. Perhaps whether we were going we would get a home, a place with a garden, where he could play, and perhaps he would even make friends. I knew in my heart which country we were heading for, and it made sense. We were heading for France, the young girls origins.

I watched as the almost blue horse before me cantered slowly, her nostrils blowing, her white mane blowing in the evening breeze, the moon lighting her and her riders up. Upon the mystical horses back, sat two riders, the girl behind was holding the bundle in front of her tight. Desperately trying to avoid sleep. I pushed my mare beside her, and noticed her beautiful little chin was dropping onto her chest.

'Christine, Christine, come child we shall stop for the night.' I called. I watched her large blue eyes open, and she looked as if she might protest, but even the horse brought itself back to a walk and an eventual stand still, showing its fatigue matched its riders. I watched her nod gently, silently, she had barely spoken, since we had left three days ago, and when she spoke it was quietly, and usually on the brink of tears. I pushed my horse on a little more, the barren lands had a few bits of tall shrubbery within it, and these held small water holes around them, and these gave some shelter form any frantic sand storms, and provided something for the horses to rest against. I got down gently, holding my boy in my arms, tying the pack pony to the stake I threw into the ground, quickly undoing its packs, half of them I had not even looked in yet, just taking the key items, the tents, and the food that had been packed, and of course the first aid kit. I said a small prayer to the guard who had organised all of this, he done well, I did not even dare guess what was in the other packages, but the ones we had opened were full of necessities, and this was clearly well planned out. I smiled as I put my boy down, let him snuggle on the package of quilts whilst I sorted the horses out, I provided them both with food bags, and small blankets across their backs to protect them from the chill.

I then turned and gave a sad smile, my heart breaking. The horse, Purdy, was on her knees, letting her rider gently slide off and pull the bundle that was Erik with her. Christine sat resting her back against the horse, as she cradled Erik his long frame across her knees. Her eyes filled with love as she looked down at him. I sighed, the girl and the horse cared for him, he had such an impact on people, he was able to make them love him. It was strange, I quietly put the tents up as I thought of the horrific burns he was baring now, they were wide gaping, pulsing, pushing the yellow liquid from them. His skin stank, I had treated him as well as I was able, but the threat of infection was so great, I knew in my heart survival was very limited. It broke my heart when I had treated him, it was a struggle to touch him, Christine had, had to hold his long hands as he had tried to reach for me, no doubt to get me off him, he hated being treated, I knew he was mental in pain to, that his mind was going through a torment, I could not ignore his screams of a night, and the horrific wrenching of him vomiting heavily. It was all too much, but yet I played along with the game of ignorance that Christine seemed willing to believe in and shield her eyes from the cruel reality that this man, her lover would most likely not make it to Europe. I held back the lump in my throat; I would fight for this man. I had to give him everything, I had to try, he had saved my son, he had given him life. If not for Erik, my boy would have been dead. I shuddered at the thought. I had to try and save him, I had to.

At this moment, the aim was to get to the boat yards of Amman in Jordan, this would be the easiest way to travel, and if Erik made it there, then it would be easy once on the boat for me to treat him, I needed to stitch the wounds, to dig into the flesh and remove any chance of infection, it was impossible to do so in the desert lands, sand would eat his flesh quicker than infection and only help its cause. It would be safe once on the boat I would be able to get him fixed to a point where he would be safe, then the boat ride itself, it was a week's journey from Amman to Italy, the boats conditions were not ideal. But he had survived so far, and I had to do this. I had to use everything to save him. I had to. I nailed the tent down, and noticed now Christine was snuggled tight against Erik, the horse still laying with her hooves tucked under her providing support as Christine was whispering to Erik, who I noticed was very weakly touching her lips with his long bandaged hand. Before them a little fire Christine must have lit. I sighed the flames caused the shadows of fear and sadness to be light upon her beautiful little face. I moved the packages gently not to disturb them into the two very small tents, I could not risk theft, I dragged them in, filling the containers up from the small water hole near the horses who nickered at me gently at me, their heads down with fatigue. The poor tired creatures, they had a long journey to still continue with. But they were in a much better condition than Erik.

I picked up my son, placing him gently in the tent he would share with Christine, tucking him into the quilts, he had been busy marvelling at every rock and tree, every bird that landed, his little mind had been busy searching for answers. I kissed his forehead, and closed the tent, sighing, now came the hard part of the evening, I had to re bandage Erik. I was not feeling up for a fight, I was tired myself, we had travel hard, and I had slept little. I walked over carrying the containers of food and sat beside the fire, Christine was huddling Erik still, the mare remaining behind them, no doubt providing them warmth. I sat on the sand opposite, and Christine looked up at me, Erik sat very weakly beside her, looking like if he did not have the mare, and Christine's arm he would have fallen. His breath was crackly, and his eyes remained shut, his hideous face on show, but only just beneath the mounds of covers around him. Christine sat with her chin on her knees, one arm around Erik, the other throwing sticks onto the roaring fire

.

'Here Christine have some food my girl.' I said kindly, I passed her dried meat and fruit; she smiled and whispered her thanks, putting down the food and asking 'what about Erik?'

I sighed, wishing she would care for herself, and passed her the food I had mashed up for him, I knew had he been more conscious he would have protested, strangled me, and might have even hurt Christine for daring to feed him like a child, yet he seemed too drained to even fight, his long legs sprawled before him. I did not dare think of the pain he must have been in, the scabs and weeping wounds they must have hurt so much.

'Here, eat this and it will help.' Christine said in her small and broken voice, raising the spoon to Erik's bloated lips, his eyes were swollen, scabs all over his face, hideous and cruel, I watched him give a shuddering sigh and take it. Christine gave a little smile. It was strange seeing her looking after him, it had always been Erik looking after her, with his strange obsessive ways, her quietness spooked me. I watched as Erik moved a little sitting up, wincing, biting into his blistered lip in agony and groaning.

'That's it Erik, I think he's getting stronger Nadir.' She sounded excited, the first bit of emotion to her voice in a long time.

I looked at Erik, his slumped posture; the way each breath clearly caused him nothing short of agony. I was not sure who she was looking at because Erik certainly did not look strong, but as I watched her kneeling before him, feeding him the fruity mash, a little smile on her tired and skinny face, I didn't dare pull her dreams around her, she was desperate to get him better and I guessed this hiding of emotions, being quiet was her way of being strong. I was very proud of her, so proud, she had grown up so much, I knew in the great scheme of things, and now we were outside of Persia that I knew only a fraction of the girl, but I could not help being proud of the fact she had the ability to remain strong. She found hope, when hope was not there, she saw stars in an almost certainly black sky, she pulled down anything negative and created a world where nothing, not even the thought of losing someone would stain her pure world of positivity. This was a gift, a rare and special one. Just like she was.

'Yes…yes he might be.' I didn't dare look into her eyes as I lied through my teeth, just stuffed my mouth with the dry meat.

'That's it Erik, sit up a little.' I heard her soft voice say, I heard a horrific groan come from Erik.

'It…it…hurts…' was all he managed, he had given up with speaking anything that wasn't curses when I was helping his wounds, or soft words to Christine.

'I know it does, but I shall help you, I promise.' Christine was smiling at him, and I watched as tears rolled down from Erik's eyes, and he dragged his limp frame to her slightly, she smiled and gently rested her head on his quilt covered shoulders.

I watched them both, the way Christine looked at him was suffocating, the love pouring out her eyes was staggering. I couldn't help but smile. I lit my pipe from the fire, and sat back looking up at the dark sky, taking my map from my pocket and sighing.

'What is it Nadir?' I looked up and Christine's small voice had asked the question.

'A map, our journey becomes complicated now; we will hit a city tomorrow, a large and dangerous place, we will not go unnoticed, it will be a another three days before we get to the port, it is key that we keep under cover, and stick to the shadows.' I looked up at her and found a strange strength within her eyes.

'I see, Purdy is still going very strong, she is a good horse.' she smiled, pulling her knees to her chin beside me.

'But how are you Christine?' I asked her quietly, looking into her navy eyes, 'how are you really?'

'I hurt a little bit, and I'm a bit tired, but I just worry for Erik.' she gave a sad smile, looking at his tucked up body, he was stroking Purdy's nose, who was tucking into his side from her laying down position.

I took her hand in mine, trying to bring her some comfort.

'I will try and make him better I promise, I will try.' I said with a lump in my throat, I knew this was a promise I could not officially keep, I knew that in my hearts of hearts I could only make this man comfortable. 'Come, lets get him rested for the night.'

She gave a small nod, going to Erik's side as I dragged him to his feet, he roared in pain, and his body was relatively limp, the bundles of cloth around him did not help my case as I rather awkwardly put him in the tent, laying him down on the blankets, he wheezed, and tears rolled down his horrific mash of a face. Before I could even do anything Christine had rushed to his side, kneeling and holding his hand, whispering him sweet nothings as I worked on his horrific wounds, they were in awful condition, the stench was enough to make me gag as I wiped the discharge of his skeletal chest.

He began to thrash horrifically I knew the pain must have been horrific and must have nearly been enough to send him mad. He screamed in pain his long hands reaching to no doubt get me, and remove me from him, to take away the pain, he wheezed and gave little sobs as I poured the alcoholic substances across his chest in hope to seal the wounds, they fizzed on hitting the wounds.

'M-make it...make it stop….I can't do it...let...let me die!' he screamed, arching his back. Christine took his hands again, turning his face to look at her.

'Im here Erik Im here….I promise I wont leave you.' she whispered.

'No...no...' he thrashed, I pinned his shoulders down he was so weak my slight pressure kept him there, this discouraged me, Erik always had strength in him to fight, but not now, now he was so weak, he didn't care.

'I love you.' Christine whispered, kissing his hand, I watched as Erik gave a sickening smile, tears rolling down his cheeks, as I wiped the final huge wounds, suppressing gags as I did so.

I gently put the cotton back over the wounds to shield them, and then with a sigh, sat back.

'I've cleaned his chest up Christine, I will need to do his legs now.' I gave her sad smile, she always left at this point as it was not appropriate for her to see him in such a way. She kissed his hands once more, and then left the tent.

I vacated the tent after many moments of being cursed, and shut the tent door, the stars filled the sky and illuminated by their beautiful light was a tiny white figure, standing with her long curls down her back, her head tilted up, taking in the stars, the beautiful diamonds which shone down happily upon her, making her look like a creature of a mythical story. Beside her stood Erik's horse, her hand resting upon its neck, the pair stood together. They did not belong here anymore, they were creatures of another world, of a world of beauty of kindness. I watched her, she had an air about her now, she was no longer a child she was a woman. Though she was tired, hungry and probably in pain herself, she had one goal it seemed and that was to get Erik out of this awful place and back to safety, and it was my responsibility to get them both there.

XXX
Christine POV

There was no word to put on my emotions, I could not name them even if I tried, where one emotion ended another began. It was all a blur, all a mess within my head. I could see no way to get out of this what seemed never ending situation. My legs ached from the relentless riding, sores had formed on my thighs from gripping onto Purdy's back desperately, my arms throbbed from clinging to Erik with all the desperation I could muster. My back was covered in bruises from my fall in the sand pit, my hands were slightly burnt, everything seemed to hurt. But, I couldn't think of myself, I could only think of Erik, and the pain he must have been in, his skin from what I had seen, and I knew Nadir was concealing the rest of the damage from, was hideous, the welts on his skin, huge like someone had shoved their fists into his chest again and again, leaving huge gaping wounds filled with yellow liquid and the stench was unnameable, like death itself. I knew I could not think like that I had to think positively and get him better.

Every night was the same, his hideous screams, my realising the cruel reality of the pain he was in, my heart breaking at Nadir's false hope and then my turning to the stars for answers, and for some sort of sign. I could forget everything when I looked up into the deep navy and asked in my kind the little glittering stars to tell me all the answers. It cleared my mind for a moment, allowed me to be free, I could pretend, play make believe, but then the night would grow dark, a cloud would cover the clouds, and my mind would fill again with tortuous images which would proceed to haunt me through the night, until I would awaken. Then after the small breakfast of usual mashed fruit and feeding my poor darling Erik, we would be off again, at a relentless pace in the never ending barren land.

But today was different the barren land began to end, and there in the distance was buildings. Their tiles sparkled in the relentless heat, Erik was fast asleep in my arms, resting against me, Purdy was panting heavily. My skin was red, slightly burnt by the sun, I had pulled the long piece of fabric that tied in a bow around my dress and made it into a makeshift bonnet, giving me some protection from the glaring sun. We neared the sparkly and vast place before us, and it again like Persia had a fortress around it, but this one was not of the metallic grey like Persia's, it was kind, of a beige colour, the top held patterns, flowers carved into the stone, and animals. This gave me a little bit of hope. I looked to Nadir and Amir who smiled at me, he seemed to be enjoying the adventure, he held the reins of the pack pony in his hands happily.

'Now, we must be careful, you both must remain silent when we get through the gates, and then you must be careful, especially you Christine white girls are very rare here.' Nadir said seriously, I held the sleeping Erik a little tighter, if anyone wanted they'd have to fight me for him, he was mine.

Nadir pushed Angelica into walk towards the gates, two young guards stood at the side, they wore basic uniform of blues and whites, they had a strange flag painted across their clothing. They looked at us suspiciously as Nadir approached them. They spoke for a few moments, one searched the pack pony, talking in a fast paced language I did not understand, they looked at me, coming close, Purdy reared frantically, I gave a scream clutching to Erik as she landed stamping her hooves, I soothed her lathered neck. The men nodded at Nadir and nodded passing him a bit of paper he tucked into his shirt quickly, he beckoned me forward, Purdy arched her beautiful neck throwing her mane proudly. She fell beside Nadir and Angelica happily, but still prancing, once through the gates we rode steadily, the houses here were rather small, but still rather beautiful, they had low roofs, people laid outside of them sunning themselves, the children ran in and out the houses with kites happily chasing one another. I gave a small smile, the people raised their heads to look at us as we rode pass, I looked away at this.

Trees gave us some shade, tall scrawny things, but still they had large leaves which provided some protection from the sun, which I was grateful for, we continued riding at a walk, Purdy's head stretched to the ground pushing the sand with her nose, for many hours, the small houses seemed endless, now and then they thinned and beautiful statues, houses of prayer, big beautiful white buildings of song and art sat happily. Soon the houses began to disappear, and beautiful buildings appeared, children ran around happily, horses were tied around, trees were more common now, and so were the huge statues and beautiful prayer houses. Before us was the town centre I could not help but gasp. This was not like Persia at all, this was beautiful, a place of beauty and purity. The walls of the houses and shops were all white, but they had large balconies, children, women, men sat on them, curling up in the shade, the houses were not large, but tall like Persia's and narrow. The place was full of chatter, that fast paced language. The houses seemed to be in a large circle, an entrance and an exit. The market and shops lining them with a never ending array of coloured goods, from silks to fruits. Like Persia it was all joined together by narrow sandy lanes. In the middle of the circle of houses was a large well, a water fountain, I could not help but smile when I saw children jumping in and out of it happily, splashing one another, all of them beautiful, dark skinned and with big brown eyes, and smiling mouths, horses were tied around it, drinking from it on one side. I looked up at it, on the top of the fountain was a huge statue: a tall leader, his face was round and handsome, in one hand a sword the other a scroll. The blue water of the fountain twinkled in the sun, trees flanking the shops and houses, providing shade for the women and men who watched their children playing.

But then they all turned, each one of their eyes looking at us, looking us up and down. A lot of the children fled the fountain running back to their parents who stood now. The chatter began to die down, and I looked to Nadir who raised his hand, and spoke to them in a clear voice, he looked at me and Erik as he spoke, and motioned towards Amir, he looked a little desperate. A tall man came forward and nodded, talking Nadir, who sighed in relief.

'He said he will help us and let us rest the horses, and ourselves, he has a place for us to bathe.' he sounded relieved.

Purdy leapt forward and all but dived into the fountain leaning over it with her beautiful neck, and dipping her nose into the cool water, sipping happily. I gave a small smile and held Erik tightly, I tapped her sides, and I felt her kneel down, I gently pulled Erik from her back, he was awake now, and groaned. The children were watching in wonder as Purdy remained on the ground whilst I waited for Nadir to lift him gently to his feet.

'It hurts Nadir...' he groaned clutching to Nadir's shoulders, his long legs looking like they might buckle, his face was covered by cloth, which cast shadows across his sore skin.

'Come Erik this man shall help us.' Nadir followed behind the tall man before us, who bowed to me, I curtsied to him and watched him chatter to Nadir who went inside with him, he turned to me.

'I will be out in a moment, you're perfectly safe here, he promised us protection, can you wash the horses down, the servants will remove the packs, Amir will help, I need to get Erik out the sun.' he said desperately, I nodded in agreement, turning back to the horses, Amir was undoing the packs on the pony, reaching up, I smiled at him.

'I done the packs Christine.' he smiled happily, two young men picked them up from the floor, and put them to the door, despite being servants they seemed happy, they were well looked after that was for certain.

I ignored the eyes that followed me as I walked to him, taking his hand immediately, I noticed now Purdy had a little crowd of children around her, she was being stroked, she was up on her feet again now, her ears pricked not quite sure of how to compose herself around such small people, but they all looked at her like she was a unicorn. I smiled, and took the bridle from Angelica's mouth, and Amir did the same to the pack pony, I talked to Amir as we did so, and tried to ignore my worry for Erik my desperation to go and find him and Nadir. I was also trying to block out all the staring eyes, but that was seemingly impossible. I noticed as we talked that Amir seemed a little thinner, and taller, he was such a beautiful young boy. I sat beside him on the edge of the fountain, we huddled close despite the heat, both of us shy of the company that stared at us. The children still watched Purdy in wonder, I had tied and washed the two other horses in the shade, where they rested their hooves, by rolling in the sand. Purdy hastily escaped the hands of the children and trotted over to me, putting her nose in my lap, looking up at with her big brown eyes, I smiled touching her ears, they were so soft.

'She loves you now.' Amir laughed. 'Erik will be jealous.' he gave a giggle. I looked at him and smiled, and tickled him.

'Oh and why is that?' I smiled as he squealed wildly trying to escape my tickling hands.

'Be-because he l-loves you!' he giggled happily, escaping my hands.

I sighed happily.

'Can I tell you a secret Amir?' I whispered with a grin on my face, he nodded happily, 'well I love him too.'

He gave me a smile and took my hand that wasn't stroking Purdy's tired face and gave it a squeeze with his tiny hand.

'He will get better I know it.' he smiled.

I was about to reply when I suddenly realised a group of little girls stood before me in their hands they held little flowers. I watched as they pointed at my hair, one of them held a little brush. I looked a little confused, Purdy turned her back, her ears back at them in a sulk thinking they wished to play with her, she trotted off to join the other horses in the shade, I realised now my homemade bonnet had fallen off, my long brown curls down to my waist and bouncing. A woman hurried over to the girls, who whispered to her desperately.

'They wish to brush your hair miss.' she said in a heavily accented voice, but I could understand her, this took me a little by surprise, but as I looked at the little girls desperate faces and smiled.

'Oh of course.' I smiled at them, the woman nodded at the girls, and they squealed in delight, one sat behind me and brushed gently, the other took the bits brushed by her friends and began to plait them quickly with little and talented hands, I realised now they all had short cropped hair.

'It is accustomed to have short hair in this country, due to the heat it is ideal to have it so, that is why they are amazed by your hair miss.' The woman was beautiful, so strong, her figure was curvy and covered by a tunic of many colours, in her hair was a strange beaded band which pushed it of her beautiful face, her big brown eyes were like cocoa. She was so strong in her looks, a real woman. I felt a little helpless, but I smiled at her.

'Oh that is a shame, they are all very beautiful girls.' I smiled at them all, the woman translated and they all giggled happily.

'The boys wish to play with you, they play with the water.' she smiled at Amir, who smiled at me, I nodded and he rushed off with a group of young boys. I sighed happily, dipping my fingers into the water, Purdy came back over as the girls plaited my hair, adding flowers. They gasped at her, reaching up to stroke her, and I was certain that she rolled her big brown eyes at their little reaching hands.

'They think she is very beautiful like you, is she yours?' The woman was sat beside me now, and I smiled.

'No, she is….she is the sick man's I travel with.' I said sadly.

'We have many methods of medicine in our country we will help him I know it.' she smiled getting up and walking away.

A small girl pushed my now long plaited hair over my shoulder, it was folded over and had little flowers within it of all different colours, I smiled happily.

'Thank you!' I smiled, the little girl didn't understand, so I hugged her tight, she gave a giggle, and went to stroke Purdy with her friends.

For that brief moment I felt normal, I felt like I had no worries in the world, that I was free of problems. It was nice to feel like this for a moment, I allowed my eyes to shut. But then a horrific scream came from the house that Nadir had taken Erik into and I was brought back to reality.

I ran into the house and gasped Erik was up but had Nadir pinned to the floor by his neck, blood trailed along behind him.

dun dun dun! Eriks up then...but leaping about wont help him now will it...uh oh!