Akdha FF- A tale of ice and fire Chap 10: Part I 03/22/2020 - Page 14

ohh jodha on warfield.........😃

jalal is here , can't wait to read further .

& i like this bharmal , got right temperament & attitude .

Superb chapter n jodha on war field n jalal came on time n waiting for nxt update n thnxx for pm me

can't wait for next , plz post soon .

Wonderful story...when will u update it's hard for us to wait...when the story has cliffhanger... waiting for joja meet

Chapter 8 Part-III

Huge number of Sharif’s men ran back to take refuge in the jungle, while few who were too exhausted, gave up all hope, shed their shields and swords in surrender. Soldiers knew they would be charged for treason for their attempt to annex Amer was against the royal decrees laid by their one true king- Jalal’ud’din Mohd. Sharif’ud’din had fled the field, what else they could have expected from that scoundrel of a master, they had. Everybody was aware of their king’s wrath, rebels of Malwa faced. Now, it was their time. Jalal didn’t face much of any resistance. Following Sharif’s men surrender, his cavalry undertook the possessions of the posts, Sharif had held at the outskirts of the forest, periphering the fort of Amer. All the rajput men, along with the two princes that were held captive came under the immediate guard of Jalal’s men. Being too bruised to give any heed, all Bhagwant Das and Sujamal (in their semi-conscious state) could figure out, was that the security and their watch had been tightened. Men had changed at the posts and these looked real soldiers @ guard. The two princes knew that Sharif’ud’din might have received fresh aid, but who had come to his help, was yet to be unveiled. If there was any further depth to which their heart could sink, it did. Only God knew now, with this fresh fleet what havoc the brute was going to inflict on their people, their land?

Bhagwant Das (sighed deeply): We’re doomed..

Sujamal couldn’t muster up the courage to respond…

Back at the frontier jalal’s men stood in line, prepared for whatever command their king was to give. Jalal stood atop the cliff to get a better access of the view of the fort of Amer. Looking at his binoculars, he could make out that a small troop of rajput men stood right afront the gates of fort of Amer. Being too, distant, the view was quite unclear, yet he could see a fleet of around 1500 soldiers, all clad in their rajput armour, stood alert. The batallion seemed to be led by a broad chested tall man, who stood next to his horse on the ground. The signature thick greyish moustache and brows adorned his wrinkled face, that bore one of the keenest and alert pair of eyes, he had come across. The old man was staring right back at Jalal’s fleet trying to assess the situation. That must be the old king of Amer himself, thought Jalal. On further clearing the focus of his binoculars, Jalal could see that right behind the old man, on their respective horses, as if serving as the commanders of the fleet were two young men. One of them had quite a huge broad physique, one that you would expect of a well built Rajput warrior, but the other seemed to be much leaner, and younger. Giving a closer look, Jalal felt that the other commander seemed just like a teen boy, while the other the king and one of the commander stayed still at their places, this young teen was too restless to stay at his spot. Jalal could see that he kept moving afront his batallion striding on his horse, back and forth as if fueling the energy in the small troop of soldiers they had.

Jalal lowered his binoculars.

Mirza (Jalal’s lieutenant): Sharif has fled my king, our men are chasing him. I’m quite sure we’ll get our hands on him before he is too far gone. Most of Sharif’s men have surrendered, for those who have fled, a search party has been sent in the jungle. Are there any orders for the Rajput soldiers and the princes that had been held captive by Sharif’ud’din, my lord?The princes are brutally bruised, my lord. At first glance, the injuries appeared almost fatal to me, God knows how they bore them and are still conscious?

Jalal: I know, we'll find that filth and we do that, he'll beg for death not breath..and these princes are Rajputs, Mirza, too strong for even death to lay her hands upon. Provide them with all the medical aids. I’m yet to figure out how their return and this situation has to be dealt with.

Mirza left with the orders

Bashir: The rajput batallion at the gate of the fort is all ready for the attack. Would you want me to send them a message my lord, that we’re not here for any military engagements, they might be assuming that we’re here as an aid to Sharif’ud’din.

Jalal: Too much damage has already been done, Bashir. They wouldn’t believe us, even if we sent the messenger. Their frontline has fallen and they are at their gates ready to die fighting with their last line of defense. We need something more reassuring other than mere messages, and promises, if we really want them to believe us. Let the day pass, provide all the medical aids you could, to the princes and their men. We shall return them back to Amer, at the first light of dawn, with the decree that Moguls do not intend to threaten the integrity of Rajputana, that we offer friendship and regret for the loss that was incurred upon them by us.

Bashir: What if they attacked us? We’ll have to retaliate. The situation might worsen my lord.

Jalal (pulled his binoculars and refocussed his gaze): I’ve never heard of any Rajput ambush ever, unless instigated. I do not think that the wise king would push the lives of his men in danger, without an eminent threat, and besides, it is almost dusk. I’m sure they would never ever attack during nights, its against the war law, and of all the people I know, Rajputs do have the highest moral grounds.

Jalal could still see the calm persona of the old king and the alert commander through his binoculars. And, Oh! The young teen was still pacing on his horse, Jalal (intrigued) refocussed his binoculars to get a closer look at the boy who was given such a massive responsibility of leading half of the entire troop. Jalal could figure out the two slender swords, that hung his waist but seemed too light to face a combat in battlefield, a whip that made his waist band, short twin spears and quite a modern version of curt bows that adorned his back. Unlike other soldiers, the teen commander’s helmet was too closed to give away any of his facial features.

Jalal couldn’t contain his curiosity, he lowered his binoculars, and tapped his “sultan”signalling him to move ahead a few steps so that he could have a better access of that young impatient teen..It was just a few steps that sultan could take, when suddenly an arrow came flying from across the sky, and stuck in the ground right in front of sultan’s hoofs. The poor stallion startled from the unwelcome attack, gave a huge neigh and retreated, disbalancing Jalal on his back. In an instance the entire Mogul fleet, alarmed by the attack on their king pulled the strings of their bows, ready to answer the onslaught. But Jalal, waved his hand asking his men to calm down, go back at ease, and looked back at the fort.

He could easily make out the displeased look at the face of the old king, who had now turned towards the teen commander, the teen held his bow as if ready for another shot (if Jalal took another step). Listening to the displeasure of his old king at the unwanted attempt of his commander’s aggression, the teen had stepped down from his horse, and now knelt afront the old king, with his head bowed down.

Jalal refocussed his gaze, the face of the teen shone in the last of the rays of the setting sun. The face of the teen commander, painted in the colors of war, gave neither features of recognition nor emotions away. But his glaring pair of sparkling eyes stared back at Jalal, with hatred so deep as if spewing venom even from that distance afar. Something about that stare sent a familiar shiver down Jalal’s spine, a taint of familiarity, yet he couldn’t lay a finger on it. Not able to withstand the hate anymore, Jalal tore his gaze away and stepped back to his troop.

Bashir: Are you alright, my king? I would re-insist, we should send them a messenger that we mean no threat.

Remembering the glaring pair of hate studded eyes, Jalal nodded in disagreement.

Jalal: Not now, Bashir, it would be useless, they have no reasons to believe us. Let us wait for dawn. I shall dictate the decree by then, that would be taken along with the two princes and other rajput men, to the king of Amer, Raja Bharmal.

Ready to retrieve back to his tent, jalal halted, looked back at Hidayat Bashir.

Jalal: I can figure out, that the rajput fleet afront the gates of Amer, is being led by their wise king, Raja Bharmal of Amer, but who are the two commanders, if we’ve both his princes with us here?

Bashir: I’m quite sure my lord, one must be the nephew of the king of Amer- Khangar Singh, but I’ve absolutely no idea who the other young man is. Could be the son of Prince Bhagwant Das, “Maan Singh”, but the boy must be too small, probably not even in his teens. In that case, who this young man could be is a mystery to me too..

Jalal gave a curt nod, and retired to his resting place.

The day was saved, he had stopped the looming doom over Amer-the abode of “his Jodha”. She must be within the fort, safe now. But even the thought of Jodha seemed to not calm him down, he was restless- tomorrow the offering of peace and a hand of friendship was to be forwarded to Amer. The toughest of all task was yet to be done, even if he could get it done, how would he find “Jodha”, what she would feel, once she gets to know that her home, and its honor was threatened by his people, Moguls, indirectly threatened by him? Would the hate in her gaze be of the same intensity as the gaze of that teen commander held.

Sleep, comfort was distant tonight, that Jalal was sure of. Despite trying hard to soothe his mind with the remembrance of kind and compassionate kohled eyes of Jodha, all jalal’s mind could reek off was the vengeful haunting red glare of the teen commander. The gloom spread over. Jalal sighed and sank in the chair, nest to the window, waiting for the first ray of sun to erupt. It was going to be a long and painful night and he was absolutely tired of this awful pain, the cure of which lay in the lands of Rajputana..

Originally posted by: kriya_12

ohh jodha on warfield.........😃

jalal is here , can't wait to read further .

& i like this bharmal , got right temperament & attitude .

Glad

enjoy the fresh update

Originally posted by: kriya_12

thats understandable , its just we'll miss that outburst of his.......😳

I'm sure we'll have lot more outbursts to come

:P

Amazing update buddy

Jalal couldnt see jodha

Update soon

Originally posted by: sm1308

I'm sure we'll have lot more outbursts to come

:P

waiting.........😃

Hi, I just finished reading all the chapters... N I must say the plot is far too interesting to ignore... I haven't seen such beautiful write up since ages on this forum... There are very few writers here who's story n the writing technique is above the world n i would pen u as one among them... The war scenes n the inner turmoil of jalal is so beautifully expressed... I am spell bound...

My one request to you would be to continue the story unlike few writers i have known on this forum have abondoned their FF's... Plz do not resort to that n dishearten your fans ... Take your time n complete the job you have taken up.... Your old fans n new ones will bless you... 🙏 N plz update soonish 😉