The soldier widened his eyes as Kabir jumped inside the cell through the window. “Who are you? Don’t move!”

Kabir’s heart skipped a beat and he blinked at the armed soldier. “Um…hi?”

His step-sister, Divya, who was chained to a rod in the cell, jolted when Kabir came in.

The soldier whipped out his sword and pointed at him. “I said DON’T MOVE. Why are you here? Who sent you? Are you a spy?”

Kabir was pretty sure he never said that, and now he was stuck, weaponless. He had to defend himself. 

Divya rolled her eyes and struggled to sit comfortably through the heavy chains. “Just get over with this. I’m hungry.”

So was he. He could run away from the turret and the cell somehow, but then Divya would be executed soon. The appearance of the cell didn’t help. The thick grey stone walls were gloomy with sconces and old-fashioned torches poking out of them, and the corner were decorated with spider-webs. The stick that Divya was attached to didn’t budge as she struggled with the chains.

Before Kabir could think of anything, the soldier slashed his sword in a wide arc. Kabir tried to dodge, but the sword raked his shoulder; it sliced his shirt open and tore into his skin. Pain shot up through his shoulder and he fell on his knees, his eyes watering.

He was about to stand up when the soldier slashed his sword again, but this time Kabir jumped out of the way and fell on his back on the ground, landing next to Divya. The soldier advanced ominously towards him, but Divya stuck out her leg and made him trip. Kabir rolled out of the way as the soldier fell flat-faced on the ground, letting go of his sword.

Ignoring the increasing pain in his shoulder, Kabir snatched the sword and pointed it at the soldier, smiling triumphantly.

“Phew! That was a close call!”

Kabir didn’t answer. They were alone in the cell, and their boat was waiting down the turret. Hopefully the soldiers didn’t see the boat.

Rolling her wrists to ease the pain, Divya stared at him, expecting something from him to say. “Hello? By the way, welcome.”

“Welcome?” he snapped. “I’m the one who saved you.”

“You only came here to save me. Without me, you would’ve still been sliced by that soldier.”

 “I had it under control.”

Divya narrowed her eyes at his wound and nodded. “Yeah, totally.”

Silence fell, but the tension between them grew louder. At last, Kabir asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Divya looked at him for a moment and started cackling. “Tell you?” she laughed, holding her stomach. She continued to laugh but faltered when Kabir glared at her. “Oh… you weren’t joking.”

He sighed and repeated the question. Divya smirked, and asked him back, “If I did, would you’ve believe me?”

He froze.

The truth was no. Kabir wouldn’t have believed her if she told him that she had overheard the prince scheming against the King and that the prince might’ve seen her. But it wasn’t until she went missing, that afternoon, did he realize that something was wrong.

He looked down at his toes, not meeting her eyes. He heard her smirk again. “Knew it.” She walked to the open window and threw one of the end of her chains down and tied a knot with the other end. She tugged it and nodded with satisfaction. “We’re good to go. C’mon.”

He stood there, watching her. Finally, he murmured, “I’m… sorry. You’re right. I never would’ve believed you even if you did say.” A cold hole opened inside him. He felt horrible on the fact that his sister fell into this trouble just because she didn’t trust him on believing her. Sure, she was his least favorite step-sister, but still…

She blinked at him and pursed her bleeding lips. She coughed. “Well…I’m sorry too. It’s actually my fault. Honestly, I understand why you wouldn’t trust me. I’m a liar. If I just told you about the situation before, all of this would not have happened.”

That was a good point, but Kabir decided not to say that. “Guess we’re even now.”

She nodded, smiling sideways and held out her hand. He shook it. With her help, he managed to climb down the turret and sit inside the boat. Divya rolled her sleeves and began to push the boat, and together, they sailed to their village.