Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

As Jamal and his entourage marched on to the locations, fear was already radiating on the Sultan’s face. Beads of sweat had already adorned his forehead, showing that he was not just afraid internally but also externally. For all that he cared about, the general could have killed Roksolana by now, and yet, they were still walking instead of racing to the location. If he hadn’t killed her yet, the man could be molesting her or beating her up to punish her.

He couldn’t understand what exactly was the grudge between the general and his woman. Where it was, it had to be a lot for the general to have kidnapped Roksolana and held her captive. Or maybe Asleem was right in his observations and words and the generous was truly an enemy instead of the best friend Jamal thought that he was. But why would the general be trying to kill him? What could he have done to the general to warranty him trying to get rid of him numerous times?

And then, that hatred had to transfer over to the woman he loved? To the only woman Jamal had ever been able to love all his life? What does the general expect him to do if anything happened to his Dawn? Jamal was sure that no matter what was expected of him, he would not be able to do it. Except it involved dying so that he could cross over to meet her in Al-Janah. Any other thing apart from that single option, the Sultan was sure that he would fail at it woefully.

Now, he understood how his father felt when his mother died in the fire and Jamal felt sorry for calling his father a weakling who could not move on after the death of his wife. Now he was in that shoe that his father was in many years ago, and even though he hadn’t seen or heard about the death of his beloved, he already felt like dying. Just thinking about how she would be feeling now and the horrible things that the general could be doing to her right at the moment made him feel like he was going to lose the last of his breath at any time.

“This is where we split, Sultan,” Asleem said to him. Hearing the voice of the other man brought Jamal back to the present and he looked at Asleem.

“Send one of your guards over and let me know how it goes,” the Suitcase told the other man who nodded.

“Let’s go,” Asleem commanded his men.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Asleem moved on to the harem of the royal concubines. As they went, the people of the sultanate watched them in curiosity and he knew that they were wondering why they were moving around. He knew that he shouldn’t be helping the sultanate that had destroyed his people but as he said earlier, he wanted to help Roksolana because of the feelings he had for her. By the time they got to the harem, the princess had already explained what was going on to the other women, so they did not panic when Asleem told them what they were there for.

He assigned five men to keep the harem women safe and he went with the rest to Lady Miriam’s quarter. While he didn’t know why the general had marked the place, Asleem was sure that they would find something with the lady. When he opened the door to the quarter, an awful stench filled his nostril and he covered his nose against the smell. From the corner of his eyes, he saw his men for the same thing and they went in. When they got to where the stench was coming from, Asleem saw the lifeless body of Lady Miriam on the bed.

“Subuanallai!” he said and bent to check the body.

From all indications, he was sure the woman had been dead for close to a day or two. He sighed and signaled to his men to search the house. They all dispensed and Asleem took the time to cover up the dead body of Lady Miriam. Some of his men returned from their search and shook their heads to tell him that they had found nothing.

“General, I found a small shed house at the back of the house,” one of his men told him.

“Let’s go check it out,” he commanded them and they all went out.

When they got out to the place, Asleem positioned the men well around the house. When they were settled, Asleem listened to see if he would hear anything but no sound came out. He shrugged as he thought that there was no other option than to rush into the shed house and that was what he did. When he got inside, he opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He closed his eyes and opened them again but he still wasn’t sure he was seeing the right thing.

All his life, after the death of his brother many years ago, Sodeeq had done nothing but missed his only brother at every little chance he had. He missed how they would go running around the house. How they would go to the building with Jamal’s mother and her son to play. He missed how his father would tuck them to bed and he and his brother would stand up and run around their room in the middle of the night.

After his brother had died in the fire outbreak, he never stopped missing his brother and blaming himself for the death of his brother. His brother had insisted that day that he wasn’t interested in playing at the building that day and just wanted to train with the men but Sodeeq had forced his brother. They had barely played together for an hour when a cloud of smoke had broken out. Their father who was the general then had saved both Jamal and him from dying in the fire. By the time his father had wanted to go back in for the rest of the people, including his brother, the fire had gone up and they had died.

Or do they have thought. Until his brother came back to life suddenly. At first, Sodeeq had been very happy to see the man. When he asked how he had survived, he said he was close to the back door, so he had jumped out of the house to save himself. His brother had warned him not to tell anyone about him yet and Sodeeq had kept mute. But when he had found out that his brother would personate him, Sodeeq began to doubt his brother’s motive.

What had broken the camel’s back for Sodeeq was when his brother had told him to kill the Sultan. Sodeeq had voiced his disapproval and that was the mistake he had made. His brother had clubbed him in the head and had kept him hostage from then on, feeding him only to keep him alive. For the one year he had been here, no one had looked for him. Why would they? Since he and his twin brother looked exactly alike without even a single difference.

And that traitorous woman who called herself Lady Miriam had supported him. She had given him clothing and shelter and helped him stay out of anyone’s suspicion. By the time Sodeeq found out that she knew about everything, his hatred for her had doubled. He wondered if the Sultan and Roksolana were okay since his brother had told him that he was going after them.

He heard footsteps in the shed with him and he looked up. He saw a man clothed in all-black staring at him. Sodeeq was sure he knew the man, he thought as he stared at the man. He saw the man open his mouth to speak and then he closed his mouth back. Sodeeq knew what the man was thinking about, so he spoke to him.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Asleem was astonished at the words he heard. How had the general got tied up? Where was Roksolana then?

“Why are you tied up? Where’s Roksolana?” he asked.

“I know what you’re thinking but that’s not me. Free me, I know where they are,” Sodeeq told him.

“Who is he then?” Asleem asked, confused.

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Sodeeq said without emotion.

Asleem moved closer and began to untie the man. As soon as he was done, he helped the man up.

“Let’s hurry before the madman succeeds in his evil plan,” Sodeeq said and began to move out.

“Let’s go,” Asleem also said and they all moved out.

As they split up and departed from Jamal, he wished that couldn’t call the other man back and tell him to go over to the old building. But since Asleem didn’t know about the place or how to get there, Jamal knew that it was useless to try and get the other men to change paths with him. He looked at the rest of the men with him, sighed audibly at them, and signaled for them to follow him.