The moment arrives. The regent carries the crown to Nizam as he puts on the ceremonial robes. This is your last chance to stop it.

You leap up onto the platform. "Stop!" you cry. "You are giving the empire to the king's true murderer!"

88.

"I will talk to Father," you tell Nizam. "It's important he know that Tus and Garsiv did not die in vain. That will only happen if we find those forges and put an end to the Alamutians' dealings with our enemies."

"Good," Nizam says. "Let me know what happens."

You steel yourself to face your father. You battle the pain you feela"both at the loss of your brothers, but also at the idea that despite everything, your father never truly cared for you the way he did for them. But you have a mission to accomplish, and emotions won't help you.

You arrive at the chambers where your father is staying. A guard bars your entrance.

"He's not seeing anyone," the guard tells you.

"He'll see me," you insist.

"He was very clear," the guard says. "You are one of the people he specifically does not want to see."

Your heart sinks. This is what you were afraid of. Nizam was right. Your father has turned against you.

128.

There's no way that you trust her. "Forget it, Princess."

You race out of the courtyard. She's following you, so you take every twist and turn and finally you lose her.

But you have also lost yourself!

You have no idea where you area"this is a strange city and you just ran wherever your feet took you. You slow to a walk and step out of an alley.

And find yourself in the courtyard of the palace! You ran right back to where you started!

"The murderer!" a voice calls out. "Get him!"

A volley of arrows streaks through the night sky from all directions. A searing pain radiates through your body. Your eyes flutter and you realize this is . . .

THE END.

In despair, you pack a few meager provisions and head out to the stables. You see no point in staying. If you were not welcomed by your father, then you are not welcome in the kingdom. You have no future here.

You ride north. You're not sure why, other than that it is away from Nasaf, your home. Your former home, you remind yourself.

For days you ride up into the mountains, never seeing a single other soul. The desolate landscape matches your mood. If only you had kept your brothers from invading. They would still be alive, and you would still be in your father's favor.

But would you really? According to Nizam, Sharaman never saw you as a real son. So even if you had changed the events, it wouldn't have made one bit of difference. You would still be the outsider.

How could I have not seen it? you wonder as you lead your horse along a heavily wooded trail. King Sharaman always made you feel we were close, that your bond was just as strong as his bonds with Tus and Garsiv.

You emerge from the trees and look down upon a tiny village in the valley below. Perhaps they will allow you to spend the night there, water your horse, and add to your provisions.

73.

You grab the torch. You don't want to risk your neck by running in the dark.

You round several more corners, and by the time you take the fourth or fifth forked pa.s.sage you're pretty sure you've lost Ogav and his pals. You slow down.

You need to take a break. And you've got to come up with a way out of here. Otherwise you may be doomed to spend the rest of your life underground!

You lean against a walla"and tumble backward! Somehow you tripped a secret doorway.

Shaking your head, you find yourself in a giant chamber filled with sand. Your jaw drops as you stare at a towering structure. It looks like an enormous hourgla.s.s.

You step toward it and trip, sending the torch flying. It hits the gla.s.s and you hear a sharp ping! Luckily it just created the tiniest of nicks.

No one will notice that, you figure. Phew! A trickle of sand drains out of the minuscule hole. No big deal.

Then images suddenly begin to whirl around you. You watch in astonishment as you see yourself enter the chamber! It's as if time is rewinding in front of your very eyes!

GO TO PAGE 66.

Nizam's cold l.u.s.t for power enrages you. You scream and lunge at him, swinging your sword. Nizam lifts the Dagger to block and you knock it out of his hands. Nizam cowers, waiting for you to deal a deathblow.

"I trusted you," you tell him.

You stand over your uncle, struggling to bring yourself to kill him. Suddenly he reaches into his cloak and pulls out a short-blade knife. He slashes you across your gut. You drop to your knees.

"Dastan!" Tamina cries from her hiding place.

Nizam rushes to recover the Dagger. "I never understood why my brother brought trash into his palace," he says, crossing to the Sandgla.s.s. "Enjoy the gutter, Dastan. It's where you'll stay under my reign."

He raises the Dagger, ready to pierce the Sandgla.s.s and rewind time to the moment when he saved his brother. Only this time, he won't.

But when he breaks the seal, he will bring down utter distruction.

Another tremor, and cracks appear in the floor. Nizam stumbles as the ground shakes.

"Don't use the Dagger," you plead. "It will unleasha""

"Unleash what?" Nizam cuts you off. "G.o.d's wrath? h.e.l.l itself? Better to rule in h.e.l.l than grovel upon the face of this cursed earth!"

50.

"Let it go!" you shout at Nizam.

"Never! This is my time now!" he roars back at you.

Sand pours out of the Dagger as ghostly images of you and Nizam float backward through the actions you just performed. You see yourself somersault in reverse, landing on the column. You see Tamina clinging to the edge of the chasm. Then you watch her fall up and back onto the ground, where she totters.

You could go to her and keep her from ever falling in. But that would mean you'd have to let go of the Dagger. Is your destiny to save Tamina or the Dagger?

If you rush to Tamina, 132.

If you cling to the Dagger, 133.

You can't lose Tamina. You leap from the Sandgla.s.s platform to grab her. Your sudden movement jerks the Dagger out of Nizam's gripa"and out of the Sandgla.s.s!

You topple backward and manage to steady yourself beside Tamina just at the edge of the chasm. The Dagger skitters to a stop just a few inches from you and the sand stops flowing. You bend to grab the Dagger.

"NO!" Nizam lunges for it. You swiftly move out of his path, and his momentum carries him right into the abyss. He falls, screaming the whole way down.

You take a deep breath. It's over. You pick up the Dagger and hold it out to Tamina.

"I believe this is yours," you say.

She takes it, her eyes full of tears. "You did it," she whispers.

"We did it," you say. "And now the world can be safe again. All is as it should be. We have each met the challenge of our destinies."

THE END.

If you don't stop Nizam and the flow of sand out of the Sandgla.s.s, it won't matter if you save Tamina! The Sandgla.s.s will shattera"and all of humanity may perish!

Time continues to stream backward as you struggle to make Nizam release the dagger. The Sandgla.s.s begins to creak angrily as if it's about to shatter!

You let out a powerful, guttural bellow as you summon the strength to shove Nizam away from you. He stumbles and you yank the Dagger from the Sandgla.s.s.

Whoosh!

The rewind stops, and the hole where the Dagger pierced the gla.s.s miraculously closes up. You feel dizzy and faint. . . . You shut your eyes for just a moment.

134.

You open your eyes to see a man lying before you in an alleyway. You clutch an embroidered cloth. You open the cloth and discover the Dagger inside.

You've gone back to when you fought with Princess Tamina's guard, who was trying to sneak the Dagger out of the city to safety. To where this adventure all began.

You clutch the Dagger. This time, though, things will be different. You will make different choices. Change the course of events.

This time you will be all that your father hoped you would bea"not simply a good man, but a great one. And your father will live to see it happen. You now know the power of the Dagger and the secrets of Alamut. Perhaps Princess Tamina was right after alla" that you had a destiny, and it was to bring you back to this moment when you could make things right.

THE END.