Empress Dosha

Chapter 12

"I miss home." Shamaki stated.

"I also do. Mama, Baba and Hajara. All of them." Kuntal sided with him.

"I can't wait for us to finish this mission and go home." Mande added looking at a sketch.

"Why did Binta choose to come with you?" Dosha questioned. The men sometimes come by her house during weekends.

"She is not only the woman assigned to follow us. There are other women with us, the one that are interested, they help us with the battle. It is like they fight more than us the men, without weapons. Brave women are selected." Bardi explained.

"A woman must not be brave to be able to fight. Where I come from, a woman is a fighter." Dosha said snatching the journal from Mande.

"That is interesting." Bardi complimented. "I will like to have a brave woman by my side."

"What of the woman next door to our house?" Kuntal asked.

"I never said I like her. I just admire her." Bardi answered.

"Which will turn to likeness." Kuntal said placing a hand on his twin brother's shoulder, Bardi swatted it.

"Ku bar shi mana, autan ku ne (You should leave him, he is the last born of you all)." Dosha said smiling as she adds some more to  the sketch.

"You have a sketch of Haidar?" Mande teased her.

Dosha gave him a playful glare, she knew the blow was coming. "It is a gift to him." She answered.

"Just?" Bardi teased raising an eyebrow.

"Stop it." Dosha warned raising a finger at him.

"Should we?" Kuntal teased.

"All of you stop now. You do not know what love is, so stop teasing her." Shamaki warned.

"I am not in love with him. He is just my friend, stop saying that." Dosha clarified, even though she knew they were kidding.

"I know that face, you still think about her up till now right?" Mande asked his twin brother.

"You are unbelievable Shamaki. You still think she would wait for you? She is a woman and she would have gotten married." Bardi said.

"Ta min alkawari (She promised me)." Said Shamaki.

"Promises can be broken Shamaki," Dosha said looking forward, "Do not rely on them....and there would be family pressure on her. She would have to abide by them."

Shamaki huffed, opening and closing his mouth not knowing what to say. His inner mind always told him the same thing, and something tells him to believe their words.

"So how are you close in finding our nemesis?" Dosha questioned to change the topic.

"We are almost close, the men at the southern part are doing a great job." Mande answered.

She smiled, "I want to...."

"No, Dosha. The appreciation is okay over the years. You already thanked us and we accepted it. Why repeating everytime?" Kuntal asked.

"I just couldn't believe it. What if those men really took me to him? What will happen to me?" She asked.

Bardi scoffed shaking his head. "You might be heavy with his fifth child now. That is what he does to every woman he captures. Some escape his toture and some while escaping were killed. One of the women we saw told us everything he does to them. Uncountable women are in his territory and most of them are carrying his child. His offsprings are more than...I cannot say the number." Bardi explained shaking his head again.