TH# 2 JJ FF:'Kingdom of Dreams' : (CH4 to CH5)

Chapter four: The game begins

Part four: The Rising Sun

Jalal's war camp (Inside Jalal's tent):

"That's not answer to my question...are you married?" Jalal turned back weighing the question Jodha had asked. "No..." He said quietly observing her. A feeling of relief washed over Jodha's mind unknowingly. Trying hard not to show her thoughts on her face she shot her next question to him.

"If I were the spy or assassin as you suspected, would you have me killed?"

"Another change of topic?" Jalal thought to himself. Then he decided to answer her. "I still suspect you." He stated as matter of fact, "And you never kill a spy. Either make him your spy or feed him the wrong information so that his master does the needful for you." That answer brought a tense moment between the duo. Jodha's eyes started to spit fire while Jalal's grew cold and unfathomable.

"Leave these things aside..." Thinking that it was his turn to bring up new topic to lighten the atmosphere, he said again. "I wonder why your brave fianc has not yet come to rescue you..."

"I am least interested to be rescued by him." Answered Jodha gritting her teeth at the mention of her would be husband.

"You bet, the amount of hatred you have for him..." Jalal settled down happily, thinking that finally he had hit the raw nerve. "Looks like you would murder him the first time you would see him." He added further just to rile her up.

"Oh, yes I have every plan to be a wicked scheming bride who would want to kill her would be husband." Jodha retorted back.

"I am sure you do." Said Jalal raising his cup of wine in agreement. Somehow he felt very happy to listen to that prospect. "I hope you would spare the old man a painful death."

"Tell me one thing, why you are not married yet?" Jodha asked, trying to push the matter towards him.

"Well, I never had time to think about marriage. I am already engaged though." Jalal answered whole heartedly looking at her, he saw a tinge of jealousy in her eyes.

"To whom?"

"To one of my cousins--Rukaiyya. We were engaged when I was eight, our parents thought this was good alliance for both the families."

"You see, you too are getting married because your family wants." Jodha pointed out to him. "But I wonder even after these many years of engagement why you have not married her?"

"Why do you think I have not married her yet?" He asked back instead of answering her question.

"Maybe because you don't like her?" Jodha tried to guess.

"Wrong guess."

"So you DO like her?" Somehow saying those words felt like a knife twisting in her heart.

"Wrong again, you need to meet someone to like or dislike them. Though Rukaiyya stays in Agra, I have hardly seen her in years." Jalal replied.

"How is that possible?" Jodha asked narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"I never got chance to stay in Agra for a long time..." Said Jalal his eyes looking distant, a grim weary smile graced his lips--a smile which was reflection of what all he went through in the past. Then he looked back at Jodha and continued, "I was sent for training at age of eight. My father, late Shehenshah Humayun died when I was fourteen and my seventeen year old brother was crowned as Shehenshah. Since then we both are fighting wars--against our enemies...against our own." Jalal couldn't believe that finally he was talking with someone about his past. Looking back at his life was something he had never done before.

"Fourteen years, that young?" Jodha said deep in thought. Somehow she could not believe she was talking to same person whose stories she had heard.

"You see, I've spent most of my life fighting to bring peace." He added.

"The only reason there's no peace is because you keep disrupting it with your evil sieges and battles," she informed him darkly.

"Well, that's what you think. We are merely defending and ruling what is ours. We never invaded Amer, even now we are keeping our part of the treaty. It was your father who breached it." Said Jalal and then he added further with his trademark smirk, "And look who is talking about the peace, it doesn't suit a scheming woman like you."

"If I am a scheming woman then you are a liar," Jodha shot back at him. "If Amer soldiers were ordered to attack your troops I would definitely know about it..."

There. That conspicuous sentence caught Jalal's attention. "Just few days before you told me that you do not sit on your father's war councils and now you say that you would know about his plans..." He got up and stood in front of her covering the distance between them in just two strides. "Now...would you care to tell me which of these is true?"

From his look Jodha knew that there was no way to keep on pretending. She closed her eyes taking a deep sigh and then looked up in his eyes. "I am telling the truth now, if there was an attack then I would know about it."

Jalal contemplated her words looking straight in her eyes. "But, we have proofs..." He stated stubbornly.

"What proofs? I don't believe whatever you are saying..."

"Fine, follow me." Jalal said putting his drink aside. "I don't know why I am trying to prove it to you." He sighed walking out of his tent as Jodha quickly followed him outside.

"Where are we going?" She asked trying to keep pace with his long strides.

"To see a prisoner." He informed.

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Jalal's war camp:

Jalal's war camp was not a small place. There were around five thousand men in his troop, the exact details of which Jodha knew now. Two thousand horsemen with those many horses of course. And then around five hundred skilled archers. The remaining half consisted of footmen and the caretakers and squires. So to summarize it all--it was three thousand skilled swords, one thousand and five hundred spears and five hundred bows.

Jodha had seen almost all parts of the camp. The bigger tents of Jalal and his troop commanders were in the middle part, forming a half circle around them were the tents of other soldiers. One side of the camp border was formed by a huge animal pen where all the horses and other animals were kept. To the opposite side was the clearing they used as the practice ground. There was a huge armory nearby, which she saw at the time of sword fighting with Jalal.

She did not get a chance to visit the so called prisons though. They were a little bit away somewhere between the tents of the footmen and lower rank soldiers. It took them a little time to reach their destination as Jodha trotted behind Jalal who seemed to know the exact way through the maze of tents. This part of camp was a bit dis-organized Jodha thought to herself while trying to memorize their path.

When finally they were there, she was terrified looking at the so called portable prisons. They were nothing but tiny cellars of iron bars on wheel. She shuddered even thinking how these people would be living in a place like this.

"Look around carefully this is what is called a prison and prisoners. So you would watch your tongue next time when you call yourself my prisoner. Comforts of my tent would feel heavenly if you spend a single day here." Said Jalal as he stopped in front of one cage.

"Who is that?" Jodha asked joining him.

"Sole survivor from the men who attacked my army few weeks ago, and he is one of the Amer soldiers." Jalal said his voice cold and grave with accusation.

Jodha bent low to examine the person in front of her. He was injured. Tortured may be--to wiggle out the information. But she was looking for something else. The Sigil. Every Amer soldier had a Sigil--The Rising Sun' inscribed on their hand but this one had none. If this man was wearing Amer soldiers' uniform then he ought to have the Sigil carved on his right hand.

"Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityu" She whispered near the injured man's ear. He didn't move or flinch. Nor did he show any sign that he knew those words, which further convinced Jodha that he was not one of Amer soldiers.

Jalal did not miss even a single bit of this small cross-examination so it didn't take him long to understand, that those were the words of greeting to identify their own men. He made a mental note of that, it was of no use however unless he knew what to answer in reply.

"Well, if you would believe me," Said Jodha looking up at Jalal, "He is not one of Amer soldiers. Don't ask me how I know, because it is a military secret that I won't disclose to you. But he looks like a mercenary."

"A mercenary?"

"Yes, people who fight for money with no alliance to any state. Have some mercy and kill him, he is too injured to survive and these people never reveal for whom they are working for so...no use of torturing him further."

"A person who fights for money is loyal only to his purse..." Jalal replied.

She smiled at that, "Am I to think that you did not offer him the gold and the luxuries?" Jalal noticed that now she was speaking in her Jodha--the diplomat tone. "If your theory holds true...maybe he actually doesn't know anything."

Jodha straightened herself and turned towards her companion, "I know the ways of the desert, Shehezade Jalal. So here is a warning for you--in desert men die of thirst and not from the poisoned water...You are treading on a dangerous path." She concluded mysteriously as Jalal listened.

Both of them started walking back lost in thoughts. Jalal started recalling Jodha's riddle about the man in desert.

"He decided to cross the desert ALONE. He had two enemies..."

Was she trying to tell him something? Was she already aware of his plans? Or all this was a mere coincidence?

"The man died in the desert because of thirst..."

The realization dawned on him suddenly and Jalal decided to meet Atgah Sahab. He stopped midway and asked Jodha, "Can I trust that you would go back and stay in my tent while I go and finish some important work?"

"Trust..." Jodha smiled again, she was doing it every now and then today, she noticed. "You do not trust me at all, do you? But let me assure you-- my sister is still in your brother's custody, I won't run away leaving her alone. And who knows it better than you?"

He had to smile at that, he knew her well and she knew him well too.

"I would hope to see you later then..." And Jalal disappeared in the maze of the tents.

Jodha watched Jalal walking away. This was her chance to flee, if only Shivani was with her. If only she knew it before. She decided to walk along the perimeter of the camp trying not to get lost.

Something moved in the woods. A warning bell went off in Jodha's mind. Someone was out there...This time she would believe in her sixth sense, she decided. Because the last time when she ignored it, she got hit in the head and later kidnapped.

"Once is a mistake twice is a choice."

Had she not been unconscious at that time she would have escaped easily along with Shivani. Jodha cursed that black day in her mind.

"Jodha..." A voice called out to her. She turned with alarm. Was that a familiar voice? She would know soon enough.

"Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityu..." She called out her eyes trying to trace the origin of the voice.

"Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyaha..." The voice answered back.

Yes. The right words. When one warrior tells the other that "Death is certain". The other answers back saying "It is a glory to die doing one's duty."

"Raj Singh Bhaisaa..." A smile of relief swept across her face as she watched her brother emerging from the woods.

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Jalal's war camp (Atgah Sahab's tent):

"Shehezade Jalal," Atgah Sahab welcomed Jalal in his tent. "I was about to come to meet you."

"At this time? Is everything fine Atgah Sahab?" Asked Jalal.

"Raja Bharmal's letter..." Atgah Sahab answered handing out the letter to him.

"His riders found out this place?" Jalal frowned.

"No, Shehezade. It was sent to Ajmer castle, from there it came here along with few other letters." Atgah Sahab explained.

Jalal started reading the letter. It said that keeping the Princesses captive was a breach of treaty between Amer and Mughals. Raja Bharmal had demanded that his daughters should be returned to him safely. He also wrote further that he had informed Shehenshah about this and was hopeful that Shehenshah too would want his daughters be released, keeping in mind the financial aids Amer had extended to Mughal Sultanate recently.

Jalal smiled to himself as he finished reading. "A well thought political letter..." He remarked. "It is clear that they are buying time to gather their strength. Raja Bharmal also tells us that he is ready to give us ransom in exchange of his daughters. But..." He stopped in between thinking then he continued, "...at the same time he threatens us to take back his financial aids."

"What do you plan to answer him, Shehezade?" Atgah Sahab asked. "I think Shehenshah will soon interfere in this matter..."

"The answers can wait, Atgah Sahab." Said Jalal lost in his thoughts.

"The man died in the desert because of thirst..."

"We have some other important matters at hand to deal with..." He said further, "We will be marching towards Ajmer fort at dawn." Jalal declared his voice ringing with authority. "Summon Abdul, I have some important tasks for him and for you Atgah Sahab..."

"But Shehezade..."

"We ride out in force tomorrow Atgah Sahab, against every foe who is out there...I don't intend to sit here and watch anymore..." Jalal stated with a finality in his voice.

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Jalal's war camp (In the woods nearby):

"Try to understand Bhaisaa, I can't come with you leaving Shivani behind..." Jodha tried to persuade her brother. "How they would treat her after we have left her like that, she won't be able to handle it all. She is my baby sister...I would never do that to her."

"Jodha, don't worry. We will rescue her too." Said her brother.

"No Bhaisaa, once Shehazada Jalal comes to know that I have escaped, he will never give us another chance. It is better if we lay low for now and wait for opportunity, so that I can sneak Shivani out of here." Jodha tried to convince Raj Singh.

"Sneak out Shivani...and what about you? You are NOT planning to stay here, are you?" Her brother asked suspiciously and when she kept quiet he understood everything clearly. "Jodha...how many times have I told you to stop risking your life like that...is this some child's play for you?"

"Please try to understand, Bhaisaa..." Said the exasperated sister.

Nothing is simple and little is true.

"Now listen to me carefully...I want hundred best marksmen holding the northern pass." Said Jodha looking around warily.

The Northern border of Amer was the only side which was not surrounded by Mughal sultanate. To the east was Mewaat and beyond that the road to Agra, on the west lied the deserted Nagaur Subha and to the south was Ajmer, where they were right now. On the northern side however were the other states of Rajputana. One of which was Bhaanpur where she was to be married.

The northern pass was situated on a trivia among the hills which formed the borders between Nagaur, Amer and Bhaanpur. It was an important strategic position, one had to go through the pass to cross Amer border. The northern pass was full of steep slopes, only five people could walk together if they are to form a column.

Jodha knew that her father was more worried about securing the other three sides where they can see the Mughal forces looming over them, but now after staying here, in their war camp she had started doubting this whole affair. Shehezada Jalal did not seem to hurry the attack, she could not gather all his plans but one thing she was certain now, that he was not here to declare war on Amer.

"Hundred determined archers can hold the pass easily against five thousand, we will have advantage of height and the hills too." Jodha said in a haste, pushing all her thoughts to back of her mind, she had a little time. "Make that hundred and fifty if we can spare that many men, don't leave the north unguarded. Gather all our swords. We need as many swords as we can get."

"You are expecting an attack..." Her brother stated sensing the urgency in her voice.

"Not from Shehezada Jalal..." Jodha declared. "Someone doesn't want peace between Mughals and Amer. We need find out who...send out our eyes everywhere...we need to be more vigilant." Her gaze wandered across the whole camp scanning for some movement, "A storm is brewing and it is coming...coming for all of us." She said in a low whisper.

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That night when Jalal returned back to his tent he found Jodha still awake as if waiting for his arrival.

"We will be breaking our camp tomorrow...Be ready to march at dawn." He told her.

"I knew we will..." she gave him an understanding nod.

They both went to sleep that night, restless...thinking about each other and the things that awaited them beyond the rising sun.

The Game had begun...The one which had no rules. The most treacherous of its kind...

Jodha and Jalal...were they the players? Or they too were the pawns?

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Last part for Chapter 4...😳

Do leave your likes and comments.

Disclaimer😉: Geography in the FF is as fictional as the history...😆

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Credits:

1. Phrase: "Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityu" (Bhagavad Gita: 2.27)

2. Phrase: "Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyaha" (Bhagavad Gita: 3.35)

Meaning: It is a glory to die doing one's duty (This phrase is motto of Madras Regiment of Indian Army)

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And Thank you everyone...🤗

Updated Chapter 4: Part 1...😃