NOVEL~*Hiding behind a Stranger*~THREAD 54 - CHAP 59 - Page 116

Originally posted by: binduprasad41

Good morning, everyone!

Originally posted by: karkuzhali

Part IV The Thunderstorm

Chapter 15.

She visits the Hell

Khalil's dungeon..

[Journey Continues]

Originally posted by: Heeralicious

Thank you thank you soo much 🤗 Means alot! Yes, and whatever new I learn myself.. specially regarding such stuff, i make sure I am able to educate atleast one person about it.. may not be in full theoretical details.. but just the gist of it.. 😊 spreading awareness is so important nowadays

Originally posted by: roseraja1915

Chellam, Cookie, Vathsykka, Rose

Congrats, Baisas 👏and thank you, Lashy Sahiba.🤗

Originally posted by: Testmytest

Azeez did the same thing when he told Heera to come to Sahib's chamber when he was badly hurt from a mission. Azeez knew he might get punished after that but he didn't care. At that time he thought bringing Heera to tend to his shoulder wound was the best thing to do even though AMK had told him not to!!

Originally posted by: karkuzhali

Hiding Behind

A

STRANGER

A Historical Romance by Lashy

(Abridged)

Part IV The Thunderstorm

Chapter 15.

She visits the Hell

Dungeons

n..

'

[Journey Continues]

Originally posted by: binduprasad41

Good morning, everyone!

Originally posted by: lashy

The mystery behind Farooq Sahib's death

Breadcrumbs

Crumb 1) Farooq had Akbar mutilated to please Khalil

1) It was the day of the 'flogging' - the day Shehzaade was going to have Akbar punished. The mania of the lonely Prince had been successfully fanned in such a manner that he wouldn't be tempted go 'light' on his best man whatsoever.

If it all went to plan, the outcome of the flogging would render Ustaad a weaker opponent!

'THAT should be good enough to bring my secret pact with that rotten man to an end!' Surely, the risk he'd undertaken just now was a solid repayment for that brute's help earlier, in dredging up information about the safe-house, against Akbar! 'A SOLID repayment! Hopefully it'd get him to stop sending his thuggish friends after me again'

Crumb 2) Zayaan was the Ustaad's spy in the dungeons

As his young friend at the dungeons had cautioned, the brute had become fat and unfit.

He was the one who told Akbar about what FS did to the Ustaad,to get the thuggish friends off his back!

Crumb 3) Shehzaade has no idea where Farooq Sahib is. Nor do his spies.

'Where is Farooq Sahib?'

'Farooq Sahib? I... I... I am not sure...'

'Are my network of spies SLEEPING?'

Crumb 4) FS was found amidst clothes being packed.

'Found dead? In his own Haveli? Amidst trunks and clothes he was packing to leave?

Farooq Sahib had stayed under the radar to keep away from the Shehzaade for a while, as he'd planned earlier. And a few days later, during the height of the duel-frenzy, slipped off to his summer house to pack up and leave (possibly for Mecca again), as is obvious from a later fact, that his house was scattered with trunk of packed clothes.

Crumb 5) Their brooklet conversation

'Whoever might have done such a thing to him... or HAD such a thing done to him...'

Indicative of the fact that Heera suspects someone HAD something done to him, before looking at her husband - a.k.a she suspects her husband was involved in this assassination. Because she now knows too well, that the Ustaad is NOT the type to leave loose ends. Happened once with her messengers, and they all suffered for it - he will not let such a villain to wreak havoc in their lives again.

Which is why Heera later goes on to add - quietly assuring him - that even though she's a kind-hearted healer, she cannot complain that FS was killed. (I.e. she does not disapprove of her husband's actions to silence the Satan, if that were the case)

Crumb 6) Their grins put the discussion to an end.

The husband and wife shared a grin - hers a knowing grin, and his a telling one.

A grin where she says 'I know what you might've been upto, and why'

His grin where he replies - 'Yes... you know now'

Out of decorum, they don't discuss the macabre details in public. But it is true that the Men of Ustaad, under the instruction of Akbar himself, had Farooq Sahib silenced, while leaving no loose ends.

How they might've done it -

1) Akbar's spy network are vastly better at collecting information. They would've had the resources to find out where FS was, even if the Shehzaade's spies didn't.

2) After the duel, while leaving the capital, Akbar would've quietly instructed one of his men - one of his 'faster' riders (not the 'famous faces like Azeez/Ibrahim/Sayyid' so they're not spotted missing by any of Shehzaade's spies) - to finish off this one last assignment. Because once their group leave the Capital state, it'd be difficult for any of them to return again because of the Shehzaade's conditions.

3) Thus, one of his men rides off to the summer house, while the rest of the group is simultaneously leaving; and poisons Farooq Sahib.

4) As for - what when the Shehzaade finds out.

Well, as instructed by his Ustaad, he must've left clues behind showing that it was 'Khalil's thuggish friends' who were responsible for it.😉 So if anyone would be caught for the murder - it would be Khalil's friends!

Two birds with one stone, or is that three, Akbar style? 😉