The rain was strong and torrential. For the past week the heavens opened leaving no land dry. Fiza stood under the veranda listening to the crackling of thunder and flash of lightening. Ten days had passed. Twenty days were left. Soon, her grandfather would choose a suitor who would be her husband. Since the argument, Uzayr did not return to the haveli. He must have stayed at the stables or returned home.
Restless, angry, rage sweeping through her, Fiza paced her room. Why hasn't Uzayr spoken up? Why isn't he doing anything? She grabbed her shawl and made her way downstairs and ran through the verandas and called the guards.
"Where is he? Where is Uzayr?"
Just as she presumed, he was at the stables hiding from her.
"Coward!" She cursed grabbing the ceramic pots of food that was neatly tied for him.
"Take me." She demanded from the guards. "I will make sure he digests every morsel."
The roads were treacherous. Deep potholes became ponds of water. The SUV rocked side to side along the road. Fiza patted her moist forehead dry with her shawl running her hand along her neck and chest. Her cool, pastel yellow kameez pressed against her skin, her hair matted on her forehead.
When the car arrived at the muddy stables, the driver jumped out with an umbrella for Fiza. But she was quick, she took cover under her grey, soaked shawl carrying the ceramic pots of food towards the stables. The guard called her back, but she was gone, squelching through the muddy stables, soaking through the torrential rain until she searched every space for Uzayr.
Finally, after few minutes she found him with Shah Nawaz's horse. Dressed in a black vest, muddy black shoes and a loose salwar, he cleaned the horses shoes scarping the dirt. She stared at his strong, muscular arms, his thick neck and her heart thudded with excitement.
"So, this is where you're hiding?"
Fiza's voice sent dread through Uzayr. He took a deep sigh and shut his eyes tight preparing to face her wrath. She'd sent many messengers, calls but he refused them all. Today he had to face her. Fiza made her way in from the rain, and placed the pots of food on the side stool. Inside the stables, it stunk of manure and earthy stench which was Uzayr's natural scent . Uzayr washed his hands and ran the cold water over his face and beard.
"I have been worried out of my mind!" With her hands on her hips, she was in no mood for softly approach.
"Go home Fiza! This is not a place for a woman." He stroked the horse's coat.
"No! Today I want answers!" Her hands pumped into fists, her heart pounding with anger and love.
"No! You don't want to listen to what I have come to know! It will shake your world!"
Her heart hit the ground. She rushed towards him and grabbed his bare arm.
"Tell me! Tell me! She shook him!"
For the past week Uzayr had been investigating his father's death. He asked everyone he knew and trusted. All roads led him back to his grandfather 0Choudhary Dilawar-Baksh.
"Go! Check in his room. Locked in his wardrobe is your father's amulet and land deeds."
The man was right. Uzayr's father demanded Dilawar-Baksh to give him his right, a large piece of land near his mansion. Dilawar-Baksh refused and called his son in law a greedy son of a bitch. After that heated argument, Uzayr's father's body was found dumped in the river. Now, Uzayr armed with the information was contemplating his next step. Uzayr brushed Fiza away tending to the horse's need as it brayed. Fiza forced Uzayr to look at her and grabbed his vest pulling a tear.
"Talk to me Uzayr, soon my grandfather will marry me off to another man!"
Uzayr glared at her and grit his teeth. "That's if he stays alive!"
Fiza gasped reading the fire in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Leave!"
"Tell me!" She screamed.
The horses neighed in discomfort.
Uzayr grabbed her arm and dragged her to the far end of the stables. He pushed her against the wall and pinned her shoulders back. Looking down at her moist face, he took a deep breath.
"Your beloved baba killed my father. He sent his men to kill him because he wanted the land near his house and then dumped his body."
She shook her head and pressed her hands against her ears. The two men she loved the most now enemies.
"Believe what you will." He stepped back . "It's the truth! I have the evidence."
Fiza shook her head.
"I told you Fiza- once I find out who killed my father- I will take off his head."
She lifted her hands and pressed them against his chest. "No Uzayr. You are wrong. Who told you this? It's lies."
"I'll kill him." He grit his teeth.
"No you won't!" She pushed him back. "You will have to kill me first." She stared him out.
"He will pay for making my mum a widow and taking back our haveli!"
"Lies! Lies! Lies! She screamed upsetting the horses in the stables.
"You know how brutal he is!"
"Look at you convoluted in these lies, hate, betrayal revenge- you don't care about me do you? All your promises – were all lies."
"Do you think I will rest whilst my father's killer roams the earth!"
Something changed between them. She saw a man with revenge burning in his eyes. She stepped back. Her body froze and she couldn't near him.
"You are not the Uzayr I loved. You are a beast on a quest for murder. Then to hell with you." She pushed her hair back and took a deep breath. Making her way out of the stables she stopped and looked back at his sunken figure.
"You listen to me Uzayr Sultani. My baba will chose my husband. I will marry than man."
Uzayr fisted his hands.
"He will then take me by my hand to his bedroom."
His eyes shot up staring at her. She better shut her mouth.
"As his bride, he will undress me."
He marched towards her, swinging his arms, stamping his feet.
"He will be the first and last man that sees my body naked."
"Shut up!" He roared.
"He will kiss every part of my part and I will be thinking of you-"
Uzayr powered his hand and smacked Fiza on her cheek, she flung to the ground holding her cheek.
"How dare you say this in front of me? Do you have no shame?!" He raised his arm up into a fist.
Sitting on the muddy ground, Fiza cackled with laughter. He loved her- the power of the slap was proof.
"If you hurt my baba, I promise you will never see me again." Tears bled down her cheeks.
Conflicted with anger and love, Uzayr roared in rage and marched out of the stables leaving Fiza in a mess on the ground nursing her bruised cheek. Would Uzayr kill her baba? Or would her love prove stronger?
***
It was late afternoon when Jahanzaib entered the Sang e Mar Mar haveli dressed like a common servant in grey salwar Kameez. The guards failed to recognise him without his royal turban. Once inside, the haveli was cold, eerie empty. No conversation. No laughter. Where was Baba? He wanted to see baba, ask forgiveness for abdicating.
Jahanzaib called the maid over. "Where is everyone?"
"Choudhary Sahah Nawaz is out on the fields, Choudhary Dilawar gone to the darbar-no one home. Fiza Bibi is at home." The maid looked downcast.
"The poor girl is very upset." The maid told Jahanzaib of the ultimatum of her marriage. But where was Uzayr?
Making his way to Fiza's bedroom, Jahanzaib gently knocked the door. No answer. He knocked again and gently opened the door. Inside a cold draft hit face. The balcony muslin drapes flew in the air like a white ghost. There was Fiza, liyng on her bed, her hair open, draped off the bed, arms wide staring up at the ceiling. She lay still. Almost dead. Jahanzaib called out to her. No answer.
"Fiza. It's me."
Who is this? Fiza couldn't recognise the voice. She sat up and dried her tears. Jahanzaib was heartbroken when he saw her, her hands plain, no orange mehndi adorning her hands, no bangles. Her pale face swollen as she was crying for hours.
"What happened?"
She hugged her knees to her chest.
"Where is everyone?" He stood outside her bed. Why was she in mourning? Then it hit Fiza. Her eyes widened. She jumped off the bed and grabbed his shirt.
"You have to help him! You must stop him." She looked up at his wild countenance, unkempt for many weeks.
"Who?" Jahanzaib's voice was softer, like a cure.
"Uzayr! He's gone mad! She tugged his shirt. "He wants to kill baba! He will kill baba and I will die." She sobbed into her hands leaving Jahanzaib confused.
Once Fiza collected herself, she explained to Jahanzaib calmly about his investigation.
"He says he has evidence." She sobbed. "My baba would never kill his own son in law."
Jahanzaib cradled Fiza, with his arm around her shoulder. Baba was possible of anything, he didn't trust him. For Fiza's sake he hoped that Dilawar-Baksh didn't kill his son in law. Uzayr was on a war path.
"I'm here Fiza. I'll speak to him."
"You promise." Her bloodshot eyes looked at him with hope. The only hope she had in her life. She couldn't tell baba.
"Save him. Save my Uzayr." She sobbed. "If baba finds out his plan, he will kill him and I can't live without Uzayr." She sobbed uncontrollably.
He shook his head terrified for Fiza. She faced the devastating reality of losing her love or her grandfather. Who could he save?