NOVEL~*Hiding behind a Stranger*~Thread 10 - Chapter 15 - UPD 11th SEP - Page 82

Originally posted by: Sandhya.A

The Changed Equations!

Shehzade:

He is as smart and capable as our AMK! He values Ustaad as much for his skills as for his lifestyle that assures him loyalty. AMK cannot be tempted by any of the 3Ws! He doesn't yield to temptation and is extremely loyal! Shehzaade knows AMK right from his childhood and has contributed a great deal to make him what he is. And he doesn't forget to remind him that whenever he finds it essential! AMK is precious to him, but not indispensable! The moment he learns of AMK's zest to protect Heera, he wouldn't hesitate to do what Voldemort did to Snape! To him NOTHING matters more than power!

Again a one-line wonder, the bolded is👏... AMK is very precious to Shehzaade.. but not more precious than his own ambitions and thirst for power! Which is what makes this very complicated...

Khalil:

A man who learnt only warfare from Ustad without one moral bone in his body! He is like Adham Khan who gloats on his war-skills and stoops to any level to achieve what he wants! Now that his ego has suffered a triple blow, first by Durga who fooled him with a fake farmaan, and then by Shehzaade who asked him to step down from an assignment, and lastly by UAMK who was always the better soldier, more trusted, and who was given the chance to win where he lost. He would make finding the farmaan his first priority and raising himself in the eyes of Shehzaade. What I fears is what he would do when he finds that AMK is protecting Heera and withholding information from Shehzaade. - Perhaps everything in his powers to excpose him, to grab his coveted closeness with the prince, and achieve what he has always wanted to do - defeat AMK. AMK is in as much danger form Khalil as Heera!😔

I would think Khalil is more intelligent than Adham Khan, if he has been able to work his way up the ladder AND impress a man like the Shehzaade🤔... true, we only known him by his one brutal act here.. and he's projected in a singular negative light .. but I would think he'd have to be more cunning to survive in the company of people like Shehzaade/AMK...

but the rest is spot on👏⭐️...

Firstly, having to bow (To the Ustaad) to a man who's about the same age as you and probably comes from humbler backgrounds is humiliating by itself for a ego-maniac like Khalil. To top it, I can only imagine the competitiveness between these two and how many times AMK might have been proved right in the past! Plus, as Shehzaade said... Khalil or any other soldier cannot be AMK even if they wanted to!

Khalil will do far more to AMK than he'd ever want to do against Heera... and his enmity with Heera would be if he knew of the fact that she's important to AMK

Mahender:

So this scum did go cahoots with Khalil and reveal the palace passages, to help Khalil gain entry and find the farmaan! But I wonder how that would help HIM! Wasn't marrying Durga and producing the farmaan himself and getting a bargain a better option!

I replied to this part, ille? 😳

Heera:

My poor princess in distress! She is in for a double shock too! First when she realises that her would-have been Jijasa, the perfect Mahender Kunwarsa, was a rascal of the first order, the one actually responsible for her jiji's death! He was the Peter Pettigrew!😡 And then, her first love, (surely she would have fallen in love with AMK before she realise that he was UAMK) was the person assigned the task of retrieving the farmaan and that he has been hanging around her for that sole purpose! What a blow it would be for the girl! Would she believe if AMK revealed his changing intentions! Mahender would surely turn her against AMK! He might even misguide her that Khalil attacked Parnagarh and murdered Durga on AMK's orders! 😡 What emotional turbulence she is going to go through! 😭And Gauri is going to say 'I told you so' even if not in as many words!😕

Heera's future is ... no doubt about it... both Heera and AMK's... its a slippery slope..

Heera thinks the ride is fun... not doing much to stop the slide down, since at the moment everything else is so bleak, and this is the only distraction she has...

If only the poor partially-blind 16 year old could recognise that this wasn't a fairground ride she was sliding down...

That it was a crevice, she was slipping down...

And AMK is trying his best to hold on, without sliding, probably every now and again trying to pull her up to safety too... but his hand is giving way... one finger, after another...

Hope there's a river to cushion their drop when they both fall down...

And then the final farmaan hunt from the urn! With everyone hovering around her! Lashy I'm waiting in all eagerness for the next 45 chapters for the action, drama and heartburns to unfold and the triumph of goodness and love amongst it all.👍🏼

Loool heartburn... let's not forget the chai and the samosas and the aloo poori thats just as dangerous for it.. thanks dear.. thanks a lot!😆😳

AMK:

Finally to the trumpcard of the chapter - UAMK.

He is as adept at playing mental games, as Ganjifa! And with such high stakes! He is walking on tight rope across the mountains! One slip, he falls to death! The conversation between UAMK and the Shehzade was a humdinger of a scene where every word was measured, by BOTH the parties. No tussle is interesting until it is between equals. And both of them were masters of the game. The first breach of loyalty - hiding of information about the scrolls...that seem unimportant to the FFM as of now, the protectiveness, that is bound to grow...

Thank you... and so well said dear😳... what a tough scene it was to write... I am glad it had the effect it had...

Every word of anguish and self reproach in the last chapter is justified. How each line appears valid:

'What have you been doing?' it seemed to ask 'Don't you realise that the ground you're treading on, is extremely risky? One step more, and you'll fall... worse, you'll pull her down with you. The Sahiba doesn't know the truth... that's why she's breaking out into fits of innocent giggles... and inviting you to a luncheon... but YOU are aware of the truth, aren't you? Then, why are you indulging her smiles...'

... so, what are you trying to prove, Akbar Khan? And, to WHOM?'

'Ridiculous!' his conscience jolted him out of the lull 'It IS your fault... you shouldn't have allowed it get to this... because it's YOUR decision to adopt a lifestyle so dangerous, that it has no place for women in it... and, why are you bridging gaps now... that too, with THIS Sahiba, out of all ladies! What would you gain by knocking on this door now? Is it to find out if she holds the cure for this never-ending pain of yours? Even if she has the secret remedy, you'll never live to enjoy it... you'll die and get her killed too! So muster that adamant determination of yours... don't let your wall of resistance show cracks... you need to show discipline... fight temptation, now more than ever!'

PERFECT👏👏👏

What appeared as a rant of frustrated love till the day before yesterday, now has assumed such a different hue! UAMK, Chief intelligence Officer of the Shehzaade, will now face the biggest battle, not just of his mind and heart, but of his loyalties! The man who picked him up from the dust and hoisted him to such heights, versus, a woman who made him feel human for the first time! Duty versus humanism. Loyalty versus love. The poor man is stuck! And I feel more pity for him now than the hungry boy fed by chachajaan!

Going back to the adjectives I used at the start because I've run out of what to say - gorgeous, entertaining, superlative, sublime, breathtaking, eloquent, intelligent, descriptive, observant

I'll just squish you into a big bear hug for this!