The Tale of SAHABABAD

The diminishing rays of the setting sun went pass the mirror and fell on her exhausted face, lingering on her forehead for a while and brightening her puffy-red eyes as a sharp whimper slipped through her lips, followed by a deep scoff. The handcuffs were sharp as a blade, almost pierced into her soft skin; considering, it wasn't entirely a fault either that it wasn't made for the delicate skin of a woman of the age, twenty-three; and that it was handcrafted for a captive who has committed some heinous crime and was waiting for the capital punishment imposed upon him by the LAW of the city. A LAW made by him. She wiggled in the back seat of the car that was crossing the speed limit, headless to any rule or warning embedded on the boards placed alongside the highway, to somehow get rid of it, only to end up feeling all the more irritated and restless. She peeped out of the black tint glasses of the car, only to come face to face with large land surrounded by desert. The vast pool of sand, it was the only sight in her view. The sand was flying with the wind, enjoying the leisure for ages; as if mocking her, giggling at her misery and enjoying her sorrows. It was free of anxiety, uncertainty and fear. A blessing, she had lost with time. A blessing, she had before she had met him. Oh, how she cursed that moment when his eyes had fallen upon her! If only it was in her hands, she would have erased that minute from her life, from his life. If only she could. She turned her head in the opposite direction, unable to withstand the imaginary mockery of the sand anymore. She wanted to scream, to cry, and to yell at the universe to let it know how vulnerable and helpless she was feeling being tied up and getting kidnapped by some strangers. She wanted to lose consciousness in the back seat of that black SUV, so she hadn't had to endure that humiliation any further, but she couldn't. However, it didn't matter how clever and cunning she might be, it had total irrelevancy for the time being that she was a black-belt in taekwondo and had won the state-level championship of fencing a couple of times. For then, she was just an ordinary girl from Central-Asia, pursuing Masters in Arts in Archaeology who had visited this 'hell' in a student exchange program of cultural literacy organized by the embassies of both the countries, only to fall in a trap, his trap. She was scared for her life, dignity and future. It was uncertain, a word she despised the most out of all the things. OH, how much she loathed him for doing this to her! If only she hadn't taken part in this program, if only she hadn't taken the rumours of rituals of the land too lightly, if only she had simply denied taking part in that stupid exam, if only she hadn't mocked him for enacting this sort of rules...nothing sort-of that had happened. She would have never fallen into this trap 'they' had set up to keep their power in check and to maintain dominance over the people of the land. ———— The 'hell', she was in, was known as Sahababad, an independent provincial, located at the South-eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the coast of the Persian Gulf which was barely two hundred and eighty miles away from Dubai, the capital of the Emirate of Dubai; with the population of merely two-crore and eighty lakhs people as permanent residents. Sahababad was one of the presidential towns ruled over by the Al Said dynasty, the former sultanate of the region and the most influential house of the land. The presence of Al Said dynasty on the land was said to be immemorial and that it was known to be there since rising of the time. It was a town where the LAW was a synonym of POWER where the words were chosen by the people of the crown— and that simply meant whoever had the power could create the law, change the law, manipulate the law and in-slave the residents. It was all about having the upper hand over the people, in the matters and affairs. The level, someone had to stoop on never mattered. They were ready to adopt any cheap tactic as long as it ensured retention of power in their hands. The rules of humanity were given deaf ears by those in power, so where the women's ear-piercing screams of denial. For outsiders, it was a common city with a democratic republic and government with five years regime with a constitutional monarchy in the hands of the crown. A city where elections used to take place fairly after completion of the respective tenure and the law was enacted following the constitutional procedure. The directive policies of the state were said to be enumerated by the Prince for each tenure that was drafted to serve the people of the nation, but only the natives knew that the authorities that were supposed to be in charge of the land were only a rubber-stamp of 'those' in power. Sahababad was his. He was the protector of the land and their saviour. He was the crown prince of Sahababad and third son of the king in line to rule the Sultanate. He was the only light in the darkness of the city that had inflamed a hope in the hearts of many who knew how dangerous and devilish the royal family was, still, clanged to him as their life depended on him who was somewhat true, yet he remained the cruellest and heartless in the eyes of many. For the natives, he was a replica of a living Satan on the earth resembling the traits inherited from his father who finds pleasure in tortures of others. The ruler of Sahababad and the leader of 'Azazela', a local mafia, popularly named by the natives, for the fact that the premises recognized as ‘the royal house and headquarters’ of the city lacked any sort of greenery. He was Sheikh Iblis bin Al Said. The royal prince of Al Said dynasty. A man full of craziness, with the hunger of power in his eyes; he was recognized as a man possessed by Satan who wanted to conquer the world of evils. The hunger had turned into starvation over-time when he was honoured with the title of the Crown Prince of Sahababad, a province of the Royal Crown that was ruling the state having sixteen presidential towns within its Jurisdiction. After the crowning, He had become accustomed to having his way into everything. He was the person who hadn't heard a 'no' for an answer in his life of thirty years- perhaps that was a reason that he was so keen upon conquering her. He was sure; His feelings weren’t of love, it was far from lust. He, himself, didn't know what it was that was making him go crazy over her, compelling him to have her, but it was somewhere near love, hanging on the edge of lust. It was...an obsession. She was his obsession who he desperately wanted to control to give relief to his bruised esteem. Perhaps that was the reason he had contravened the clauses of the LAW, he had drafted, passed, enacted and commenced. He had neglected his principles, the cries of ministers of the council of external affairs and advisers of legal matters. He violated the norms laid down by the Federation of Alliances and Marriage Ceremony, A confederation he had established to keep his power in check and set the benchmark for the people who had any slightest urge to rebel. He did not give a single head to any rational thoughts of his best friend. Something he had never done in his life. It was unacceptable and sounded ridiculous to his ears that he had put everything at stake just for an ordinary girl so that he could have her. What was wrong with him? He shook his head and tried to read the map which was far more important at the moment than a foreigner who must be fighting with his men, whom he had to send to take her. Was she safe? Is she crying? Is she hurt? Are they polite or they are using ordinary tactics? His brain irritated him. He wanted to punch any sturdy object at sight, just so he could take his mind off of her but remained composed. ‘Your Royal Highness, what are you thinking?' Abner, his executive officer and third in command asked. He was a young man of the age twenty-one, with dark hairs and amber eyes. His eyelashes were long and complemented the colour of his eyes while his fair complexion made him a man with good looks. He was a handsome young man, but his well-built muscles, tall height and keen observation easily disguised the tender age. 'Huh?' Iblis gave him a blank look, completely waving off the fact that he was caught off guard. 'I am asking, what were you thinking? You are on the same point from the past half an hour. You are not looking like...yourself.' Abner said, searching for an appropriate word. He observed Iblis keenly on which he received an irritated look. 'What? I am reading, Okay?' Iblis yelled irritated when Abner threw him a knowing look. 'You were thinking about Her Royal Highness? Right? Oh, don't worry Your Royal Highness. Suri, Your Excellency has gone to take Her Royal Highness himself. She will be here soon. Relax!' Abner wiggled his eyebrows at Iblis which earned him a smack on the back of his head. Although Iblis and Abner were professionally connected, yet they shared a personal relationship as well. Abner was a son to Iblis who he, although wasn't related to biological but had risen into a grown-up man with sharp brain and intelligence. He had taught him the art of leadership under his guidance. He had trained him to make wise and calculating judgements after making appropriate analysis and to scare people instead of fearing anything. He had converted a mouse into a roaring lion. And thus at the age of twenty-one, Abner was ready to take over the position of Iblis in Azazela as and when the later decides to step off. 'I don't care about any foreigner. I don't know why Suri bothered to waste his time on taking her when any of our men could have...I don't even know who she is.' Iblis muttered and went back to reading. His words sounded harsh to his ears, but it was true. He didn't know anything about her except for the fact that she was a foreigner who had come there to solve some business and that she didn't belong to their land. ———— She stole glances of the two men at the front, trying hard to scream which were muffled by the white cloth for gag stuff down her throat. Her struggle only increased the ache around her wrists, making the man sitting on the shotgun glance at her with a boring look. 'Don't try so hard, Her Royal Highness! You will only end up hurting yourself. Iblis, Your Royal Highness will roar like a lion, seeing you in this state. It was his specific instruction to not hurt you. A mark may cost a life, don't forget that. Please, be careful!' Suri, the second in rank after Iblis in Azazela, a senior government minister, head of the council of ministers in the crown and his best friend since childhood, smirked through the rear-view while shaking his head at her state dejectedly. 'You have done it to yourself. Azazela has never been the one to harm innocents. We take special cautions towards our guests, but you, you have to behave all rowdy. Iblis would have left you unharmed if you so didn't challenge his authority. You have written your fate with your hands, now take responsibility for the consequences.' Suri hissed venomously. He placed his hands on his thighs in circular motion whereas with his other hand he played with his cell phone. 'Iblis didn't know we had added the slip of his name in the jar. It was for fun. Nothing serious! He never intended to keep you here, knowing you don't belong here, in our land and our religion, but you, you had to mock the rules. You had to challenge the law, now it is you who will bear the results.' He added, blankly. 'Speed up! We are getting late.' He said as he checked his cell phone. The man in driver's seat shook his head nevertheless never bothered commenting, knowing well about the position and authority of Suri in Sahababad. He glanced at her through rear-view and couldn't refrain himself from commenting. 'Yes, Her Royal Highness, Your Royal Highness had created m******e the last time we went to him, empty-handed, but this time.' Abdullah took the gun from the dashboard and flaunted it in front of her without taking his eyes off the road. 'We have come fully prepared. There isn't any chance for you to escape. There isn't any slight chance of mistake, unlike the previous time.' he blinked a couple of times and focused back on the road. Honking occasionally when needed, Abdullah sped up even more as the two men shared some information in Arabic. She wasn't someone to compete with local gangs, goons, people of authority with high-tech machine guns in their hands and sharp blades hidden beneath the base of their shoes. She wasn't capable of defending herself from a man belonging to a powerful mafia and the Royal crown. She was as vulnerable and helpless as any other girl in her shoes might be. She was scared and had every reason to be, after all, she was at his mercy. She was innocent, intelligent, independent, gorgeous, and confident with the wittiness of a clever fox and strength of a warrior, but was equally coy, timid, faint-hearted and novel with the depth of the power of a woman in grief and distress. She was Yodhya, the unfortunate woman, he was adamant upon making his. She had stepped in Sahababad with a dream to make a change, to learn something new and to explore the hidden treasures, but what was left for her to dig in was her lost soul that was trembling with fear. Fear of the future, the uncertainty. Fear of his action. It was so much she could take in; so much for her to witness her world falling apart into two shreds where a part of it was full of pity, almost begged for mercy while the other one had gripped a sword and had determination pouring out of its eyes, ready to raise a cry of battle. After all, she had something special written in her destiny, something the God had decided for her, for something, He had sent her. Among all the other women present on the earth; only she was chosen to be his, to endure his obsession overpower and indeed, the fate was determined to make her a Yodhya in all the sense one could decipher. She closed her eyes shut and let the tears of misery fall on her cheeks. 'Leave me' she wanted to say, but it was muffled by the gag and only the sound of faint gurgling escaped her mouth, head already spinning. The medicine was already making an impact on her body, she fathomed since it was becoming harder for her to keep her eyes open with each passing second. As the car took a right with a screeching sound. Multiple vehicles of the same kind followed after and a few led the way. She didn't know where she was and where they were taking her to. She didn't know where her fate was taking her and she wasn't keen upon knowing it too. For then she just wanted to provide some peace to her mind, head already throbbing with so much thinking. The dots of blackness appeared again and she lost consciousness. Something she had been praying for. ————