As the evening sun set, Zeidan led his horse around one tree, then another, and into the clearing that spread out.
"Now we're there."
"And where exactly, is this place?" Lyne asked softly.
"It's an old destroyed building of course." He slipped off his horse and wrapping his arms around Lyne's waist, helped her down. He tied the horse's reins to a tree.
The huge red brick structure glowed under the orange, tiring evening sun. Having part of it break down with a domed roof supported by what pillar was left of the building. It rested on a base three feet high like a half-eaten cake with red-colored sugar frosting on a plate.
"That I can see." Lyne followed behind him, her hand in his. "How stupid of me not to have known. My past life is practically just like this building. How can I not relate to this?"
"You do need to forget about that." Zeidan squeezed her hand passionately. "You are with me now."
"Will it make it better?"
"Of course, it will."
She still has that question lurking in a corner of her mind but asking it might cause complicated answers and put Zeidan at a crossroads. Or is she just scared of the answer?
"I spent my childhood and teenage coming here to sulk and talk by myself. Ever since my father died, this has always been my safe haven..."
"What killed your Father?"
Zeidan looked away, blinking consciously as the memories came rushing back. He never would have imagined, a few months ago, that he would end up marrying the daughter of the people who killed his father. His mind drifted back to the years.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to—"
His gaze met hers. There was a glint of affection in his eyes that Lyne couldn't miss.
"It's fine." He said with a smile. "I guess I can say this will be the last time I'll come here. I've found another safe haven." They both climbed the steps into the building.
"It must have been tough, wasn't it? Living all by yourself without anyone to talk to?"
"Maybe. I never thought I was alone then. I had the walls, my echoed voice, and the silence that comes with it." He dropped his coat on one of the huge stones that stood in the middle of the space between the columns.
She walked slowly around the perimeter of the circular floor, running her fingers on the wooden statues that are slowly rotting. "So, is there any other interesting stuff around this building?"
Zeidan chuckled softly before pulling her arm and running deep into the building, careful enough to make sure she doesn't stumble or hit her feet on a stone. When they went down the dark space, she could see light falling in slowly until they got to an open room where tables, rosaries, and a cross lay.
"This...this is a temple?" Lyne managed to speak.
"The humans came to invade us and disturb our peace by organizing a crusade in vampire city without asking for permission. This happened a hundred years ago as I heard. No one attacked them or anything, their foolishness killed them."
"Oh wow! What killed them?" Lyne touched the huge cross-shaped figure that lay in the middle. The pictures of a man carrying a lamb, slowly fading away spread across the room.
"The Priest got fascinated by the tales of the Onyx and so wanted to steal it. The other members disagreed saying that wasn't their initial purpose for coming. They fought. Protests arose and this place became history."
As he told the tales, Lyne could only shake her head as she wondered what it would look like. She developed a mental picture of the men shooting guns probably while mass was going on and kids screaming in anguish, women scrambling for safety. Blood splattered everywhere and as she looked up at the picture of the man holding the lamb, she realized she was right.
Blood indeed was everywhere as red paint covered half of the picture. It was now as hard as a brick and almost part of the picture. But something about that doesn't seem right. The blood didn't look like something that had been there for a century. It couldn't have been more than four decades, Lyne calculated.
But whatever it is, the point is, that the kids and women didn't deserve to die.
"Humans." She didn't know when she said that aloud.
"Will always be humans," Zeidan replied behind her.
"However, are you ready to play a game with me?"
"A game?" She was bemused as she wondered what game could be played in a place where catastrophe had been the foundation. He went to the steps that curved up into an enclosed place in the roof.
"Yes. You can use the steps while I use whatever I can to get to the roof."
"Sounds fun with two people. How were you able to play it alone?" Her tone was skeptical.
Zeidan laughed. "I don't know."
She frowned, slightly curious as she studied the steps and the dark enclosure. "So I'll use those steps to get to the roof while you use whatever? Sounds like an unfair game to me."
"Sounds complicated to me. Yet adventurous."
"Alright, I'll take the steps." As gentle as a deer, Lyne moved to the steps, shooing Zeidan away to the other end.
"What a silly game!" She laughed hard, thinking of it. "But I'll try it anyway."
"Do you think you can challenge me?" Zeidan called from the other side that looked like it used to be an altar. He was now climbing a brown table made from an oak tree.
"No. I don't think you stand a ..." She began to say but Zeidan had started climbing the pole like a monkey. "What the hell are you doing? You didn't even call the shots. This is purely cheating." She pretended to cry as she ran up the stairs, trying hard to get to the roof.
As the sky darkened, the two royal couples kept playing in the old abandoned building like kids. Two adults with similar childhood related by abandonment, loneliness, and pain. They felt like they were now bonded by their missed out past. They looked like they have been friends since childhood.
As the stars began to emerge, they stopped playing. Lyne looked like dough with her hair full of dust and her eyelashes filled with white sand from the building.
As Zeidan saw her face he pointed at her in mockery but Lyne did the same.
"You're laughing at me? Go and check yourself."
He turned towards the mirror-like window and was shocked at his reflection. He was covered in sand and dust. He laughed at himself and they left the building, hands locked as they walked to where they kept their horse.
"We have to sneak in, Lyne. We don't want the people gossiping about the King and his bride covered in dirt tomorrow morning."
They rode away and managed to sneak into the corridor but were shocked when they entered the palace, someone switched on the lamp.
"Luana?!" Zeidan and Lyne chorused.