"It so happened that Rabia travelled with the band. They all were going to the capital and hence it was easier to travel with them rather than alone.
Rabia loved travelling with them. They walked all day and at night laid under the starry skies.
But something niggled Rabia, she shared a tent with Sanah and often when she stirred in her sleep,she would find Sanah missing.
This didn't seem suspicious as much as when she caught the group whispering. Rabia felt a bad feeling. That day she had heard Fatim say to Sanah, something about meeting at the same place and same time.
That night, Rabia acted as if she had fallen into deep slumber. After a while, she heard Sanah rustling. Rabia was careful not to move and keep her breath steady.
She heard Sanah leave the tent. Rabia waited for a bit and peeked out of the tent. Sanah had long left. She walked out and checked the boys' tent too. All the tents were empty.
Rabia stood still and smelled the air. The air smelled of smoke. She looked around and saw smoke from the tress a bit far away. She walked in the direction of the smoke.
She found the four surrounding a camp fire deep in discussion. She couldn't hear them as they were whispering. Doubt settled in her mind.
Rabia had made her mind to listen in to their conversations but not today. She noted the path to the place and made a mind to return to it later.
***
There was a brief silence between them. Dilruba found her eyes heavy and she couldn't keep them open anymore.
As she was swinging between consciousness, she felt a flutter of warmth of her cheek and in her hair she stirred to lean closer to it and it was gone before she knew.
The morning sun shined through the curtains when Dilruba woke up. Her chest felt heavy as if a brick was settled in it. She felt no motivation to wake up.
She curled up in a ball. She wanted to sob, she wanted to scream but she had no energy to do so.
The doors opened and she peeked out of her covers. The servants had set the table and before she could talk to them, they left.
The food smelled divine but she was in no state to get up from her bed and eat. The bed chained her body and soul. Soon sleep found her again and she surrendered.
***
She had stirred a couple of times awake throughout the day and then at dusk, she was wide awake.
Her door opened and she found him entering her chambers. She slumped back on the bed. His footsteps evhoed the chambers and the bed dipped.
"You need to eat."
She didn't deny that his presence was comforting. She sighed and sat up from the bed and found herself walking to the table. The maids had brought in her dinner. It was cold but it still looked delicious.
She sat in the low mattress and dug in the food. She found her hunger come back in full force.
While she ate, she saw him pace the room. "You're giving me a headache. Please settle down, your majesty." He heeded her and sat in front of her. He leaned back on the pillows, playing with the ring on his finger.
She didn't know whether she was asnine but as she observed him unabashedly, her thoughts took a sinful turn as she took note of his nimble fingers, the mass of his limbs sprawled out, his chest taunt around the tunic.
She poured herself some wine and gulped it as if to quench the fire. She pushed her plate away and washed her hands as she settled on the couch. A position higher than him. Commoners couldn't seat themselves higher than royals. But she cared not for such traditions when she was so close to death.
Still she peered at him and he didn't seem to mind. "Are you not in the mood for story telling, dear Sherezaade?"
"That is not my name. You should address me by my name."
He shook his head, "You don't name the goat you select for butchering."
She looked away from him. She was to die. Her chest burned and tears stung her eyes. She wanted to blame hima nd curse him out.
"I am aware of how ruthless it sounded."
She sighed. She was tired of thinking about death even though it was her inevitable fate. "Why don't we change things a bit today?"
He looked at her quizzically, and waited for her to explain.
"Why don't we switch roles for tonight? You should entertain me, your majesty!"
Instead of anger, amusement danced in his eyes. "And if I don't satisfy you, what then?"
"Then I shall punish you." She slumped on her diwan facing the ceiling as his voice spun a story.
"It so happened that in a mighty and prosperous kingdom there lived a strong and brave king. He kept his kingdom safe and secure and spread his borders far and wide. His ministers were loyal and faithful to him. But he had an impulsive temperament. The ministers decided that marriage would prove to be a solution.
The king got married to a gentle and kind lady. They had two children, a princess and a prince. The queen died while giving birth to the prince and the king found himself getting sicker and sicker every year that passed.
The prince had to be trained in the ways of the court the moment he walked and talked as enemies threatened their border.
The prince was merely 8 years old when he was declared king after his father passed away. He was sent out to the battleships. The ministers who were loyal and faithful grew greedy. They fooled the child king and piled on gokd and silver.
The child king had only one confidant and that was his sister, the princess. She was an apt ruler who ruled the lands while the prince fought the wars and she was the only one who treated him as the child he was.
The princess was of marriageable age, her long line of suitors dwindled as she grew older. She rejected them all for the sake of her brother who was still young.
An ambassador from a foreign land visited the kingdom. The princess and him fell in love.
The princess accepted his proposal as her brother was nearly 15 and he was old enough to manage on his own.
After a grand wedding, the princess bid adieu to the kingdom. A year had passed and on a stormy night, a woman had knocked on the palace doors. The poor thing was half dead.
The child king realised it was his sister. Her face was bloody and bandages were wrapped haphazardly.
The child king couldn't contain his anger. He declared war against that country and it was gruesome. The king of that kingdom had begged him to stop but he was hot blooded and young and in grief.
The war raged on for days and the child king was only satisfied after the common people of the kingdom begged him.
The ambassador had had an affair with a local village girl and the whole kingdom blamed the girl and her family for the situation.
The child king only stopped his onslaught as news reached him of how his anger had made the common people burn down the house of the girl killing her and the whole family.
He had stopped because the cruelty had shocked him and he blamed himself for instigating the mob to act as such.
When the war had ended and a treaty was signed, he came back. Everyone looked at him with fearful eyes. He was the child king no more, his cruelty and viciousness earned him the title of 'The mad king'."
***
The silence stretched between them. She did not know what he thought. But she knew her soul burned.
Her ears rushed with blood shutting all sound out. She could hear it loud and clear. The screams. The screams of her family as the house burned. Her mother had managed to throw her out of the window.
What could a 13 year old know of love? That is what she wanted to scream at the mob. She remembered it clear as day, the day she met the ambassador at court. It was naive love for her.
When the war started, her father an eminent minister had been removed from court. That was not the end. It started with the whispers and glares.
Their sevants had left them. As the war progressed, they spat at them and called her a whore.
Soon enough the peope were blood thirsty. They thought that their death could solve it.
She remembered waking up surrounded by smoke. Her mother had woken her up and threw her outside the only window where the mob hadn't surrounded them.
She struggled against the thorny bushes as she watched the house crumble under the fire. With no escape, she ran.
She walked for months. Begging for scraps. The streets were merciless. She walked to a new kingdom which had a mad king.
"Whore. Whore." The label taunted her and soon she made it her identity. It was the only way for a lone woman like her to survive.
And years later, she had a house to rival the richest lords in the kingdom, she wasn't a cheap whore anymore.
She never regretted taking up her profession and even in this moment she didn't.
"Did my story satisfy you?"
She hated him. She hated him not because she was a whore. She hated him for the death of her whole family.
She smiled at him. "What if I say no, your majesty?"
Dilruba had almost given up hope and submitted to her fate thinking that fate brought her in the palace towardd her death. But she realised that was not the case.
"I am at your mercy, Sherezaade."
She realised that fate had brought her for her to avenge the death of her family.
"I am asking for 3 wishes that you cannot refuse but have to grant."
"You speak the tongue of jinns now. I will grant any wish of yours that is in my hands to grant. I cannot grant you life or your freedom, Sherezaade."
She nodded agreeing to him. She promised herself that she would not rest until she buried him six feet under.
***
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