Back in Time : Akdha FF - Page 4

Originally posted by: Agents

Guys I am pulling a poll in my profile. Check it out please and choose the one you want. This poll will play a very important role in this fic.

Chapter : 5

Sam sat emotionlessly in front of the mirror in her tent. She sat back and closed her eyes as the maids decorated her for what was coming. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would have to see this day, that she would have to go through this. Just thinking about it sent shivers up her spine like the it had when she was first told what she would have took do for the safety of Malwa.

Flashback :

Sam, along with other royal ladies and some maids, was standing at the main gates, waiting for her father and brothers to arrive. Other was a mixed environment of both happiness and tension. Everyone was happy that the King and the Princes were released. But at the same time they were tensed about one thing. What was the price for letting them go? What did the Mughals want? Sam knew there had to be something. Mughals wouldn't have let them go without taking something. Little did she know that what they wanted would change her life forever.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her father and brothers approaching the gate. She may not have grown up with them. But in the little that she had been here, she had come to care about them. And when she had heard about the being imprisoned, she had become so worried. Now she was relieved that she was okay.

When they arrived at the gates, the Queen did their aarti and brought them inside. The King went to the throne room and told the others to follow him. When everyone went to the throne room, the King told the maids to disperse. But Sam didn't let Lakshmi go. She had a feeling she was going to need her. When everyone was settled, the King turned to them.

"What I am about to say will not be liked by many here." He started. "But this is necessary for the safety of my country and my people. The Mughals have released us and agreed to give protection to our people. But the Mughal Shahenshah has a condition. This condition must be fulfiiled. Or else I have no doubt that he will destroy us."

Everyone was silent as they took this news. Finally, the queen said, "What is his condition?"

At this, the King turned to Sam with a resigned face. Sam was confused only for a minute before the King spoke, " Shahenshah Jalaluddin Muhammad wants to marry you."

Sam took a moment of silence to process what she had heard. And then ...

"NO." She shouted. "No, no, no, no ..." She kept muttering. When the King raised a hand towards her, she jerked it off and shouted, "NO, I can't, I won't. How can I marry him? He is a Mughal. And I am only sixteen. I can't marry him. I won't marry him. I ... I ..." She trailed off, trying to hold in her tears.

"My dear, sixteen is a good age to marry. And we have no other choice." The King said.

"No, no ... I ..." Sam broke off sobbing and leaned towards Lakshmi for support. Lakshmi put an arm around her.

"We have no choice, Meer ... Sam." The king corrected himself at the last moment. "It is about the safety of Malwa. I know I have no right to demand anything from you as you do not consider me your father. And I do not blame you. You have been away from us your whole life. But I request you to do this. Otherwise all the people of Malwa will be condemned to death."

What could Sameera say to that? If she didn't marry, all the citizens of Malwa will be slaughtered. And she couldn't very well leave them all to die. Her conscience wouldn't let her. Her mother had taught her to help people. And refusing this marriage would mean the death of all the people. She had no choice. She had to marry the Mughal Emperor.

Flashback End

That was two days ago. Today, the Mughals were coming to Malwa for 'Mudikhai' ritual. Today she would meet the man she was to marry. God ... This was so messed up. She went from being a typical teenage girl to being a time traveller who would soon be marrying a king. A cruel king who was dubbed a monster by many. She fingered the poison vial in her hand. She would use it, if worst came to worst.

"There ... You are all done." Lakshmi said with a resigned voice. Sam opened her eyes, which were closed the whole time, and looked at herself in the mirror. For a moment she didn't recognise herself. The girl sitting in the mirror was looking ethereal in the navy blue sari with lavish jewellery adorning her body. In a typical teenager moment, she wished they Stacey the Bitch would see this. She would be so green with jealousy.

Sam shook her head to get those useless thoughts out. The Mughals should be arriving soon. She wished she could find some way to cancel this wedding. Like in the Jodhaa Akbar film where Jodhaa had conditions to marr ... Wait, conditions. Now that could work. She could put conditions for marriage. Though it had to be a bit different from the movies seeing that it didn't work out there.

Her line of thought broke when the Queen came inside. She took one look at Sam and smiled sadly.

"You look lovely, my dear." She told Sam. "I wanted to see you like this on your birthday celebration or when you married a rajvanshi prince. Not when ..." She trailed off and wiped the tear that fell down her cheek. And then she smiled again. "Well, now that you have adorned so beautifully ..." She touched the kajal in her eyes and applied it behind Sam's ear. "May this protect you from evil eyes." She said.

Sam just smiled. There was only one evil eye that she had to deal with today. And this additional protection might work for her. She had a plan to stop this marriage from happening.

A maid came and said, "The Mughals have arrived, Your Highness." The queen nodded and turned to Sam, "Are you ready?" She asked,

Sam nodded. "Yes, I am." She knew just what to do.

Jalal's POV :

Jalal had arrived at Malwa the previous day. Today was the 'Mudikhai' ritual. Today he would properly see the girl that had dared rise hand on him. He would love to see the look on her face when she found out exactly why this marriage was taking place.

They arrived at the Malwa Royal Palace in the afternoon. They were welcomed in quite a grand fashion, not unlike the welcome in Amer. Behind him were Adham Khan and Maham Anga. Maham Anga was quite displeased to hear that he was going to marry another Hindu Rajput. But she agreed when she found out the reason, even looking forward to watching the Hindu Begum being tortured.

Jalal did Salem to the King who did Pranam in return. Then they were led to what looked like the throne room of the palace. It was quite fascinating. The architecture was as beautiful as the Mughal architecture. When they arrived at the throne room, the King said, "Shahenshah, please take a seat. Mee ... Sam must be on her way here." Jalal frowned at the change of name of the princess. What a peculiar name! But he thought nothing of it and sat down on the throne like seat reserved for him.

They didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, a group of girls came from inside the palace through the door. Prominent among them however was the girl led by the queen. She was wearing black blouse and skirt with navy blue sari draped over her body. Her face was covered with the veil of the sari. Jalal's hand itched to throw off the veil. But no matter. He would see her face in a few moments.

When the princess was brought close enough to him, Maham Anga came beside him, just like in Amer, and said in his ear, "Jalal, you have to walk a few steps too. The bride can't do all the work." Jalal smiled and walked up to her only two feet distance between them.

"I want to see my bride's face." He said. The queen nodded and reached for the veil. But the princess raised a hand gesturing her to stop. Jalal frowned.

"I am not a child, My Queen. I can lift the veil myself." Her voice was soft but her tone was hard. She spoke with a confidence that was unexpected in girls, especially brides. Jalal smiled. This should be fun.

The princess reached for her veil and lifted it, her downcast eyes slowly rosing along with the veil. When the veil was removed from the face and kept on her head, Jalal could properly see her face. For a moment, Jalal couldn't breathe. He had underestimated her beauty. It was divine. She wasn't just beautiful. She was exquisite. She had a heart shaped face and dark brown eyes slightly tinted with grey. Right now, those eyes were like swirling clouds of storm. She was angry. Good.

"Subhanallah. You are quite the creation of Allah." He said.

The girl didn't respond. Instead, she just kept looking on in confusion. Then she absentmindedly raised a finger at Jalal. "I know you. I mean ... I have seen you somewhere." She began snapping her fingers in an attempt to remember. Well, it would be rude to not remind her now, wouldn't it?

"In the market." He said, startling the princess. "Three weeks ago in the market. You bumped into a man. I was him. I was the one whom you ..." Jalal left the sentence there, wanting to see what her reaction would be. Would she run away like Jodha or would she just accept it like that? But what happened next was definitely not what he expected.

"Slapped." The princess finished, drawing gasps from many in the room. "The man whom I slapped was you, the Mughal Shahenshah?" She asked Jalal. And when he nodded, she huffed out a laughter. "So that's why you want to marry me. To soothe your hurt ego." She laughed and shook her head.

Oh the audacity of this girl! He would take great pleasure in breaking that audacity. Jalal smiled menacingly.

"Yes, and I will marry you,make you mine forever." He said confidently. But the girl surprised him again.

She stopped laughing and said with a smile, "What's the hurry, Shahenshah? Marriages will continue to happen. But before that, we need to talk. Why don't you take a seat?" She gestured towards his seat and then turned to walk towards the seat for her and sat there after turning around, without even waiting for him to do anything.

Everyone was so surprised at her behaviour that no one said anything. Jalal was the first one to compose herself. This girl was more arrogant than Jodha and Ruqaiya combined. And that was saying something. All the more fun breaking her.

He nodded and took a seat. As soon as he did, the princess spoke, "I don't beat around the bush, Shahenshah. So, I'll come straight to the point. I have a condition before the marriage."

Jalal couldn't say he was surprised. "What is it with you Rajvanshi princesses and conditions?" When the princess just smirked, he shook his head and continued, "Fine. What is your condition?"

"Well, my condition is that I won't change myself." When everyone looked confused, she clarified, "Anything about myself, my religion, my behaviour, my personality ... I won't change anything at all. I must remind you that I grew up in a different place, a different world. It may be that you won't like my behaviour, it might be against your pride. But I don't care. I grew up like this and I won't change. The decision is yours now." She finished her talk and leaned back cross legged.

All this time, Jalal's blood was boiling with anger. Oh that girl is so dead. He calmed himself. 'Patience, Jalal.' He told himself. 'You have to deal with this. Remember the whole point of this is revenge.' He wouldn't back out. It will make him look small in front of people. But this condition was different from Jodha's. With Jodha's conditions, he knew what to expect. But this could mean a range of things, things he could not control. He hated not being in control. But this was worth it. He made his decision.

"Your condition is big, princess. But not big enough that the Shahenshah of Hindustan cannot fulfiil it. I agree to your condition." He said expecting to see the same devastated look on her face that Jodha had on her face. But again he was surprised. The princess had a startled look on her face as if she was completely expecting him to refuse, which she probably was. But she regained her composure and made her face completely blank. Her face betrayed no emotion. Like a soldier who suppressed his emotion in the battlefield in order to face the enemy. It was unsettling to see the look on a sixteen year old girl.

The princess nodded emotionlessly. "Well, we should celebrate this, shouldn't we?" Jalal said and clapped his hands. A maid came forward with drinks. Shahenshah took one and handed the other to the princess. "Congratulations, Princess Meera. Anything else you want to say before we have these drinks as celebration of our marriage?"

She hesitated a moment before answering. "Two things, actually. One, you are not the Shahenshah of whole Hindustan. Not yet. Two, my name is not Meera. Its Sameera. But no one has the right to call me Meera or Sameera except my mom and dad, as in my parents who brought me up, who I was with all these years. So you have to call me Sam. I hope you understand, Shahenshah." The last sentence was laced with sarcasm.

Jalal heard it and smiled. Oh, this girl was too much fun. He nodded and raised his glass in toast. And again the princess, Sam surprised him by raising her own glass. She drank it in one go and handed it to the maid.

"Well, I believe our purpose of meeting has been fulfilled. I have to go now. Let's go, Lakshmi." She grabbed one of the girl behind her by hand and went away. The King tried to stop her but Jalal shook his head. Not that she would have stopped anyway. The girl was a wild cat. He expected her to be like Jodha. But she was so different. Oh this was going to be so much fun.

Two days later, Jalal married Sameera following all the rituals and left for Agra.

Meanwhile, in Agra :

Hoshiyar came to the main harem room where Begum Ruqaiya was sitting along with other begums.

"Begum Sahiba, I've got the news that Shahenshah has married another Hindu girl. She is sixteen years old." He said, worried.

But Ruqaiya laughed it off. "What? He got fed up of his new toy so quickly that he is getting another toy? Let him. I am not worried. He will get bored of this one soon enough." She said and went back to the game she was playing without a worry. That was her biggest mistake. If she had worried, then she might have been able to prevent the upcoming storm of her life.