warrior's heart

chapter 16

Marliyyah walked into her father's chambers and closed the door quietly. She sat beside him and took his frail hand in hers, kissing it.

"Assalamualaikum baba,it is I Marliyyah. I apologise for not coming to see you in a while. Alot of things have happened and I came to tell you. Remember that evil man, Fazil Beig,he sent some emissaries to me to propose marriage. I refused him baba. I just could not bring myself to marry a man who has no respect for lives. I did the right thing,did I not baba?"

She looked sadly with tears in her eyes at her father. The mere thought that he could not hear her nor comfort her tore at her heart. She needed him now more than ever and he was unfortunately bed ridden. She wiped her tears and prayed for him before standing up to leave.

As she turned around, her sandal kicked a bottle which went rolling towards the door. She picked it up and sniffed it and immediately began to feel light headed. After she had gained her composure, she picked up a small rag and covered the bottle with it to go and search for Abu Hakeem. She had a bad inkling about the content of the bottle.

After she had closed the bottle and left the room, sheikh khalid came out from where he was hiding and released the breath his was holding, realising his predicament. In an attempt to over drug the king and do so before anyone came in, he had forgotten the bottle and had quickly gone to hide as he heard footsteps.

If the princess ever found that the reason why her father was not waking up was because he was being drugged,then all hell would break lose. He had to leave Misrah as soon as possible for Boa before any investigation started. He looked at the king with spite before gathering his bisht and leaving the chambers.

******

"What do you think of the letter Murad, is it mature enough? Is it courteous enough? Does it sound desperate? Ya Allah Murad stop looking at me like that!"

Murad chuckled in amusement as he saw his friend pace up and down in nervousness. Nawfal was a lot of things but nervous was not one of them. He walked over to him and put a hand reassuringly on his shoulders.

"Calm down akhi, take a seat and breathe steadily . I am sure the princess's guardian would not find your letter childish. You wrote with honesty and good things always come out of honesty. Calm down and be prepared for a positive reply. Now let us go and play Chaugaan. It has been a while!"

Nawfal smiled, relieved that his friend had comforted him and he folded his sleeves before removing his bisht and wearing riding boots. They left to go and meet the other soldiers to have a thrilling competition.

As soon as Murad told the men about the competition, the excitement could be felt as they scrambled away to wear more comfortable riding clothes. The news suddenly spread in the kingdom that the sultan was having a Chaugaan competition with his soldiers and they were welcome to watch.

Stalls began to close hurriedly and soon,the riding arena which was meant to be just for soldiers, was filled with the subjects of Heman. Children ran to sit on front rows to get better views as their mothers sat close enough to watch them in case of any mischief while the men sat on their own side of the arena,ready to cheer the players.

Nawfal emerged alongside Murad and his soldiers and the people went wild cheering for the men who stopped at nothing to protect them, especially their Sultan. Their Imam was made the judge of the game and the teams were divided with Nawfal as the captain of one and Murad as the captain of another.

Chaugaan was a game Nawfal learnt from India when he had gone to study and also learn military tactics. The emperor had invited him to watch the sport and he had been intrigued by it. Men were divided into two teams and they were given long sticks with bottoms that looked like clubs to hit a ball and pass to their team mates while trying to ensure that the other team did not get hold of the ball until it had gotten to the goal post where they could score. Nawfal ensured that he taught his soldiers the game and after three practices, they had become very good at playing it.