Confronting Shadows

The Fortress

"Did he? " he muttered under his breath.

isra said nothing.

Two of the men came and handcuff their behind their backs. They took the bags and put it on their shoulder. The men put the revolvers under their jacket to not draw attention and began to walk down to the front of the plane. Yusuf takes the lead with two men stand behind him, keeping isra away from him. two more men stand behind Rasheed, keeping the hostages secured. At the front of the plane the terrified air hostesses sat in their place too scared to even look up.

"We won't be needing you anymore." Yusuf said aiming his gun at them.

"You don't need to do this...let them go." Isra said to him.

"You're right, I don't need to, but I want to. " Yusuf said and fired 5 consecutive shots at each air hostess on their chest. The sound of the gunshots bounced off the plane walls hitting them to the core, ammar more than anyone.

Ammar stood with all the color drained from his face. watching the bodies slump into their chairs with blood oozing out of the open wound on their chest.

"Get the pilots." he ordered and two men run towards the cockpit. A few minutes later they came dragging the terrified pilots.

" Take the plane and go back to your king, tell him we changed our mind." Yusuf said holding the pilots neck, they nodded.

"Take this too." he said pulling out a knife and moving up to isra.

he uncuffed her hand and rolled up her sleeves. Yusuf looked down at the scars on her arms and smiled

"you're going to love this." Yusuf said.

Isra could hear a displeased sigh escape from Rasheed.

He looked at her arm again and cut open a gash drawing blood. Isra winced and struggled as he made it as slow as possible. she could hear the others struggling to hold Rasheed.

"Stay still." one yelled punching his stomach. Isra could hear him wheezing after the wind got knocked out of him.

Yusuf removes the knife and rubs the flat side on the seeping blood, coating the knife. He then sent someone to retrieve a plastic bag from the air hostess quarters. Once the man came back, he put the knife in the bag and handed it to the terrified pilots.

" Take this and tell your king, that his best hand was in fact his worst. Tell him to get ready. War is coming." Yusuf said and climbed down the stairs. Isra pulled her sleeve down and put pressure on the painful wound.

They were then led out of the gate into the airport. Isra looked around at the unbothered guards who let them pass by. Throughout the airport they went through every security check without halt. She looked around at the confused travelers and caught a sight of a clock. They were on time.

Outside the airport Yusuf put them inside a van with tinted windows and drove off. isra looked outside at the city.

The rich drove their Porsche to lavish buildings. while the poor walked or cycled to their smaller businesses. The school goers hurried to schools either on buses or on foot. Working teenagers opened shops waiting for the first customers of the day. isra turned to see teenagers of the same age sitting on the street high. The city center was an immensely interesting place. exotic buildings that looked like it came out of a Sci Fi movie.

No matter how much people portrayed the kingdom as medieval, the city of Maud showed otherwise. It had the same vibe and hubbub of cities like India or the ottoman capital. Were she not handcuffed on her way to fight for her life, Isra would have very much enjoyed the view.