FITOORI

Chapter 6: Their Worlds Collide

Jalal and Jodha are 18 years old.

1560

In three more years time, it was as if a game had commenced between the Shahenshah of the Mughal Kingdom and the Queen of Gondwana but both remained unaware of being players in it. Jodha thought that her fight was with Islam Shah, Jalal's plans were well hidden and convoluted enough to keep her unaware but she did realize that the army Islam Shah had been using had not been his own, she had reached the conclusion that the army was mercenary and had soon enough out-bidden the previous buyer, whom she believed to be Islam Shah. She secretly bought his army before commanding the mercenary army to attack their own camp- as in Islam Shah's camp- thus ending the war on Gondwana while simultaneously freeing herself from Captivity.

She remembered seeing Rajah bite Islam Shah on the leg while Bheem fought his personal guards off... as she and Moti had left their cage to the safety of Gondwana.

Three months, that's how long Islam Shah had had her under his thumb but except for starving her and some mild torture, she had fortunately been left alone, all so that Islam Shah could marry her while she was still a maiden, securing his permanent control over Gondwana.

Jodha was severely weakened, especially because the guards would only give her food when there was some to spare and the fact that even that food was shared between her and Moti had given them the bare minimum to survive...nonetheless, she owed Moti more than she could ever pay, starving a little was the least she could do. As soon as they had entered Gondwana, they were swept into the castle and given the best medical care and soon Jodha and Moti had recovered, back to their original vigour.

There was a stark difference between Jodha prior to her abduction and post her rescue- she was stronger- not just physically but also mentally and she now knew that nothing could scare her anymore. She was more confident in her skills to free herself from any and all circumstances but above all, she learned that along with her knives and sword, she had another weapon in her arsenal- her beauty.

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Meanwhile, Jalal had remained focused on conquering even more Kingdoms, especially the Kingdoms surrounding Gondwana because Gondwana had soundly defeated Islam Shah and his mercenary army- easily.
All his plans about weakening Gondwana had gone down the drain because they had not just lost the war but also The Gondi Queen- who had returned home safely and soundly-- with all her honour still intact.
He could not come to terms with the stupidity of Islam Shah- who the hell kept the Queen of Gondwana IN Gondwana while in captivity and at War?! Could Islam Shah not have kept her in Punjab? Or better yet, in Afghanistan- far far away from even the hope of getting rescued. Instead, Islam Shah had kept her in a cage, in her own tent while they had been battling Gondwana- probably with the hopes of marrying her as soon as he was victorious- well his plans failed because the Queen of Gondwana proved her intelligence by buying the mercenary army right from under Islam Shah's- and Jalal's- nose and turned them against Islam Shah himself-- Winning the war and her freedom in one fell swoop.. if he didn't detest her so much, he might just be persuaded to respect her.

Nevertheless, an opportunity lost was an opportunity gained, or so they said.

Jalal had then started delegating the war commandership to other capable people close to him- Khan Baba was already his Wazir and War General but Adham Khan and Sharifuddin too had been elevated in their ranks along with a few others by Jalal.
Slowly but subsequently, Jalal started being picky about the wars he took part in- he only ever fought personally if the battle promised to be difficult and other times delegated the conquering to his subordinates much like how recently Jalal had only recently delegated the task to conquer Malwa to Adham Khan- Badi Ammi's son and hence Jalal's milk-brother.
But soon after, Jalal realized what a big mistake he had committed by thinking that Adham Khan was capable of Reason- that he was worthy of Jalal's trust.
Adham Khan had successfully captured Malwa but after capturing the land, his aggression had not stooped. Adham had gone on to kill the women, children and elderly of Malwa. Most of the loot that had been taken from Malwa had been kept by Adham and only some part of it had been sent to Agra.