They had been preparing for an attack ever since they made the sultanate their home, but not for the sudden attack when half of the men were wasted already.
"Ishmael, move the women and the children to the safe house we arranged. Let ten soldiers guard them. Muhammad, escort Roksolana and Abaan to the seaside where the emergency boat is located. Toyeeb, gather the men for battles. Quadri, get me my weapon." The Sultan barked out commands which everyone scurried to obey."Muhammad, take Abaan away. Make sure you guard him with your life. I'm staying here to fight with my Abu," Roksolana told the young man who looked at the Sultan for approval. The Sultan nodded his head in affirmation.Muhammad took Abaan by the arm and led him out. The men were already moving out to the battleground. Asleem rushed in the door, clothed in his battle attire. There were a few soldiers with him."You have to leave Sultan. You too, Roksolana. It's not safe here, we've already lost half of our men." Asleem told them."I think it's too late for that." A voice said from the doorway.Roksolana looked at the owner of the voice. He was a very handsome man to look at, but she wasn't impressed. The man was here to destroy her tribe, her sultanate. She'll make sure he suffered a terrible death because of that. The man chuckled as if he could hear her thoughts.Asleem and his armies stood protectively in front of the Selim family. Their swords held out to stop any bypasser."Leave. Now," Asleem yelled, just before attacking."These are my people, Roksolana. I have to protect them. We'll buy you some time to leave." Her father told her, just before he joined the battle.Roksolana watched as her father and Asleem fought vigorously against the intruders, but it was clear that they were outnumbered. Most of the soldiers were down too. Without hesitation, Roksolana joined the combat, taking down two opponents in rapid succession."Roksolana. I told you to leave." Her father shouted."I'm not leaving you, Abu. I must protect you as my Sultan." She told him, taking down a man who wanted to attack her father from behind."Listen to your father, my lady," Asleem said."Then, what is the essence of learning combat skills and swordsmanship if I can't even use it to protect the people I love?" She asked.Aamil Jamal watched the battle before him with surprise. It was the first time in all his 26 years of existence to see a Muslim woman wearing male attire. Not just that, her head wasn't covered. And, she can fight too and that too, excellently. What sort of Sultan ruled these people for their women to do as they wished?He was still lost in this thought when the gleaming of a sword caught his attention, he quickly moved out of the way of the sword. He was surprised to see it was the woman who was challenging him. His fury grew and he drew his sword."How dare you fight a mere woman point sword at me?" He asked, enraged.But Roksolana wasn't interested in answering questions and attacked him. Jamal blocked her moves effectively. Each time one of them attacked, the other would block the moves. Jamal hadn't expected the woman to be that good. Whoever had taught her, had taught her well.Roksolana soon studied his sword pattern and noticed a flaw that wasn't obvious. But she had been trained by a man who had taught her to always watch out for flaws. The man she was battling with would leave himself open on a side while attacking from an angle. Roksolana moved her sword up like she was going to attack his neck, Jamal moved to block her attacks. She withdrew at the last minute and drove the sword into his left side stomach instead.Jamal looked shocked at the strategy she had used. Worse, she smiled at him and pushed the sword even deeper. Jamal held the sword and kicked Roksolana away with his leg with as much strength as he could manage. The Sultan moved closer to defend his daughter, while Asleem moved to kill Jamal."Stop or he dies." A voice appeared while holding a knife to Abaan's throat. Asleem froze."Drop your weapons." The man holding Abaan commanded. Asleem and the Sultan quickly dropped their weapons, and the soldiers took them away from their reach. They tied all three of them with ropes.Jamal grunted as he forced the sword out of his side and threw it to the floor. He sat on one of the seats, holding pressure on his injury. An injury inflicted on him by a mere woman. He hissed at her as he remembered. Roksolana simply grinned.The man holding Abaan proceeded to tie him too, but Jamal stopped the man."Leave him. He's just a child.""The boy's a warrior." The man informed Jamal and finished tying him. He dumped him with the rest.Jamal looked at the man who was the sultan of the sultanate he had attacked."Why are children and women warriors in your sultanate?" He asked him."Because my Abu is not as backward as the rest of you men who think women are nothing," Roksolana answered instead."Shut up, woman. It is not your place to talk," Jamal cautioned her."Untie me and see if it is my place or not," Roksolana said, eyeing the wound Jamal was still putting pressure on.Jamal's face tightened out of anger. He quickly schooled his face when he saw Roksolana watching him intently with a smile on. Did the woman ever stop smiling? He beckoned to his right-hand man, Sodeeq."Search the entire area for what we came here for." He instructed the man, who belled out commands to the armies.For thirty minutes, nobody spoke. Jamal just kept the pressure on his injury. Roksolana hurdled closer to her brother who rested his head on her chest. Asleem looked disappointed at himself for being captured. While the Sultan looked angry he had failed his people.Roksolana caught the stare of her father and looked at him fully. She noticed that he was trying to say something to her, but she couldn't comprehend what he was saying. The Sultan fixed his eyes on her necklace and mouthed the words again."We couldn't find anything, Jamal," Sodeeq told him."Nothing at all? Not even among the documents?" Jamal asked.Sodeeq shook his head negatively. Gesturing with his head towards the captives, he asked Jamal, "what do we do with them?"Jamal moved towards the people in question. He lowered himself to Roksolana's position, stared at her intently, before replying."Kill them all."Roksolana stared back at him without emotion. She didn't even flinch when she knew she was dying. This made Jamal even angrier than he already was."I changed my mind. Do not kill this one, I want her alive. But kill everyone else," Jamal said to his soldiers.At this, Roksolana's eyes grew daggers which she threw at the man crouching low in front of her. She looked at her father and saw the fight was already out of him. Abaan was already sweating all over. Asleem was trying to look strong but she could tell he was a bit afraid too."How dare you touch my family? Don't you dare touch them. I'll gouge out your eyes and them to the eagles." Jamal simply smiled at her threat. "Kill me instead. But let them go, please."It was Jamal's turn to chuckle. Finally, something broke her spirit, and wiped the smile off her beautiful face."Barakallahu feekum roksolana." Her father told her, before closing his eyes."Abu, no!" she cried."Knock her out." He commanded one of his soldiers."I'm going to kill you," Roksolana muttered, just before the light faded into darkness and she lost consciousness."Wait," Jamal stopped his men who had their swords drawn already. "Don't kill them.""But, Jamal. We can't let them live," Sodeeq told him."The Sultan has what we need. The young boy and the general are good fighters that can be useful for the army," Jamal explained."But...," Sodeeq started."Are you questioning my authority?" Jamal asked."No, Sultan. I dare not." The man in question answered."You are a Sultan? What kind of Sultan went to the battlefield himself?" The captured Sultan asked.Jamal looked at Sultan Selim straight in the eyes before asking, "What kind of Sultan doesn't care about his life and risked it to fight with his people?". This made Roksolana's father keep quiet."Put the men in the cargoes of the ship separately and put the lady in my room," Jamal instructed.Sodeeq narrowed his eyes but simply replied yes Sultan, which made Jamal smile. Sodeeq was his best friend, and he loathed when Jamal went all out on him using his authority as Sultan."What about the women and the children?" One of his men asked."Separate them into different ships and make sure our men are with them at all times. Take away any weapon on any of them. We don't know how many of them can fight," Jamal said, eyeing the unconscious Roksolana."Yes Sultan," Sodeeq said in a mocking tone."Good. Sodeeq, I'm leaving you in charge of everything from now on.""Yes, Sul..." Sodeeq was cut short as Jamal slowly collapsed to the floor. Sodeeq grabbed him before he could hit the floor. "Jamal... Jamal... " He called but Jamal was already unconscious."Drag them all out," Sodeeq commanded his army. "Remember to put the men separately in the cargoes. Put the women in groups of the twenties each in separate ships also. And make sure to take away any form of weapons, down to pins from the women. And remember that stubborn woman stays in the same cabin with our Sultan." He finished barking out orders, dragging an unconscious Jamal with him.The Wadai' as they were called had come raiding this small tribe of the sultanate because one of the people from the sultanate had managed to convince Jamal that their Sultan Selim had something important that might interest the young Sultan.Thinking they were going to get treasures like gold, silver, weapons among other things, Sultan Jamal had set off to the unknown. Sodeeq had tried to warn his best friend that there was possibly nothing on the other sultanate they didn't already have on their land, but Jamal had proved stubborn. Even stubborn to the point of insisting on leading the
Jamal woke up feeling a hot searing pain rising from his left arm and right stomach. His whole body felt like something heavy had been placed on it. He opened his eyes to find someone resting on him. Who had dared to do that, despite knowing that he hated being touched? "Get up this instance, if you still want to live." He commanded the person.When Jamal didn't get any response from the person holding him tightly, he rolled the person to the floor roughly. He was surprised to find a knife firmly holding itself in his arm, he yanked it out and threw it across the floor. That was when his eyes fell on the person he had handled roughly.Looking at Roksolana on the floor, the fresh injury on his arm, and the knife on the floor, Jamal was able to connect the whole picture. She had attempted to end his life again. Jamal realized that something must have happened to make her fall unconscious and fail in her new mission.Grunting, he got up and got medicines and bandag
It was almost nighttime when Jamal spotted a moving figure along the rail of the ship while he was discussing with his shipmaster. He didn't give it much thought until he noticed the dark pony hair shaking itself as the figure moved. He would recognize that hair anywhere. Knowing that Roksolana had somehow cut herself loose and was trying to escape made Jamal angry. He handed over the piece of paper in his hand to the man beside him and ran as fast as he could over to the woman who was responsible for his pains.Roksolana moved as stealthily as she could. She had woken up to an empty room and was bonded. She had deemed herself lucky when she saw her knife with a bloodstain on it a few feet away from her. With little effort, she had cut herself free, pocketed the knife, and dashed out from the room. She had been disappointed to find herself on a moving ship, which she knew nothing about the location it was headed to.As she moved quietly along the rails, she prayed no one w
"Sultan."Jamal turned to find Sodeeq standing behind him, spotting a black eye and looking worried. Jamal realized that Roksolana must have gifted his best friend with the look. He tried to contain his laughter, but couldn't. The woman was a fierce tiger. His woman was a fighter."I'm not sure what is funny, but your lady had refused to eat even a bite since three days ago," Sodeeq explained.Jamal rushed out of the bed, straight out of the room. If she hadn't had any food for three days, she would be trying to kill herself. Was that how much she hated him? He flung the door open as soon as he got to her side. What he saw made his heart sink. Roksolana was lying on the floor, looking vulnerable.Roksolana felt weak after starving herself for three days. Her heart continued to mourn the death of her family and tribesmen after she couldn't summon tears anymore. She missed the meadows at her home. She missed seeing little children run around. She missed seeing wome
Roksolana watched at the fading figure of the man's body and sighed. Understanding that from the little time she had been with the man, he would make true his threat if she wasn't out by his allocated time or if she injured the maids. It's not like she would do that anyway. She wasn't about to let out her anger on innocent women who might be victims of their circumstances just as she was. She undressed and got into the bathing pot. She was surprised to find the water warm and relaxing.She didn't fail to notice that the maids were afraid of coming near her, judging by the distance they were from her. She decided to relieve their fear."I won't hurt you. I just said that out of anger."The two women moved to her immediately and began to help her. They shared companionship in silence for a few minutes, until one of the women broke the silence."You are lucky to get the attention of the Sultan." She told Roksolana."What Sultan?" Roksolana asked."She mean
Roksolana felt bored being left alone all by herself for two days. Ever since the incident between her and the general had happened, he had stayed clear of her. His assistant, Sodeeq had suddenly gone missing from her presence too. Even Ayeshat hadn't come around to check up on her. As a matter of fact, no one had bothered to ask her if she was hungry or wanted to eat. They hadn't even brought a plate of food for her to even think about rejecting. She was so famished right now, she wouldn't mind eating even a human.Roksolana felt uneasy about it all. It felt like this was a calm before a storm. She didn't know why, but she felt like Jamal was up to something. What it was she didn't know, but she knew it had to be bad. Judging by her experience of him, she knew he must have given the order for no one to come near her or even act as if she existed.Was he still angry at her about the incident? After walking away from him and calming down, Roksolana had realized that she had
Jamal simply looked at her, before choosing to ignore her again. Roksolana was surprised by his actions. He had done it twice in thirty minutes and it was getting on her nerves. What was with him and the treatment he was giving her? Jamal readjusted his clothing at the sleeve, pretending that he hadn't heard what Roksolana said. He was boiling with anger. He had arrived at his sultanate only to find the shore empty, devoid of any security. His brain had immediately told him that they could have easily been besieged if it was an army from another sultanate that found that weakness against them. Turning to the second in command, he spoke. "Why was the shoreline not guided?"The man trembled as he answered, "I left people here for security. I didn't realize that they slacked off, Sultan.""You didn't realize?" Jamal barked in anger. The other man fell to his knee immediately.Roksolana became afraid of the man she was looking at. This was no longer the man sh
Jamal watched as she was dragged off, her knees scraping the floor and her voice still pleading for the men he had already ordered their death. He wondered what type of woman she was not to care about her own life. Any other woman would be on her knees pleading and groveling for her life. Jamal knew flogging a woman thirty times is like offering death to the woman the hard way. If the flogging doesn't kill her, her body would be marred for life. And a woman's beauty is in the spotlessness of her body."Sultan, stop them. She's just a woman and thirty strokes of the cane would kill her," Sodeeq pleaded to Jamal."Choose then. Your men staying alive or her not getting flogged," Jamal offered Sodeeq.Sodeeq's eyes widened at what the words implied. The sultan just gave him a chance to make a choice and that had never happened before. It was a pick one, leave one choice. If Roksolana got flogged, his men's lives would be spared. But if he chose Roksolana instead, he