HBAS Chat corner - Thread 48

Teaser for chapter 52

'These are account books... of Akbar Khan's business dealings'
His fingertips stalled beside two specific entries, compelling the Shehzaade to have a closer glance at the numbers 'It shows the man has been making plenty through his horse-business. However... he has never cared to reveal any of this to us, has he?'

He paused. A grin pushed through the edges of his wrinkled lips - the glow was ebbing away from that princely profile, bit by bit, into a darker corner.

'Akbar let us believe he is a simple man all through... while he's been secretly stashing money away!!'

An entire stretch passed.

'Well' sighed the Prince at long last, before the prickly silence could sprout anymore thorns 'Farooq Sahib... you speak as if YOU haven't done the same... as if you haven't let us believe you're a simple man all through!'

'Wh... what?' Stammered the old advisor through a smile. Surely, the Prince had to be jesting! 'Huzoor... I don't quite understand'

'Why so surprised?' The Shehzaade pressed on - allowing a little more suspicion to show up in his tone 'You always profess about having no wish for money or power... and yet, you own a glamorous summer house out in the country somewhere, don't you?'

Farooq Sahib shuffled half a step back - his foxy mind suddenly dazed by a web of complaints being thrown at him from nowhere.
Wasn't it the Ustaad whose crimes were under scrutiny? Wasn't it Akbar who was meant to be flogged today and sentenced later? Then, why was HE - the royal advisor - facing accusations now?

Perhaps, the Shehzaade had become guarded after the happenings at the court yesterday. 'H... Huzoor...'

'Anyway...' the Prince ended the short argument with a self-satisfied smirk - seeing how the old man was still fumbling for words. 'Akbar doesn't reveal all those amounts because I believe he needs that money to bribe others for information... uses it to maintain his safe-houses... and to recruit an army of spies'

'An army of spies?'

The daze gradually lifted off. The old advisor had just found another opening. 'Akbar might be using all that money to recruit an army of spies' he mumbled 'Or, he might be using it to build HIS very own armies... who knows?'

A heavy stillness hammered within the pillars of the Prince's chambers.

'Farooq Sahib!' The prince spun around, his teeth almost gnashing against each other. 'I warn you - THINK before you mumble! Armies? Your remarks are beginning to sound absurd!'

'But...' the advisor kept his grey gazes on the floor, as if avoiding the prince's glares 'my remarks cannot be more absurd than what we saw yesterday, can they Huzoor? Trained soldiers daring to stand against you... publicly... in court. This has never happened before!'

'Armies?'

The word was starting to jump around insidethe narrow walls of his mind, pricking at its sides. He used every trick he knew, to hold it still - but it wouldn't work. 'Akbar's own armies?'

Originally posted by: Sandhya.A

Originally posted by: --cute.manasi--

To all the lovely teachers here...