CHAPTER 4
QILA MUBARAK
DIWAN-E-AAM OF MALIK ALTUNIA
Zaroon gestured the man to go. Altunia stood frozen on spot. There was a pregnant pause between the two.
Finally Zaroon broke the silence, "Mirza Aitgen ek baat bilkul theek kehta tha, jab tum bagawat aur jung kar hii rahe ho, toh tumhe hii Dilli ke takht pe nasheen ho jaana tha, kam se kam..." He stopped speaking as Altunia threw a bloodshot glare towards him.
"Humein Dilli nahi sirf Dilli ki Razia Sultan chahiye thi" he spoke through gritted teeth.
"Arrey humein yeh baat maloom hai Mirza, magar kam se kam Dilli mehfooz haathon mein toh rehti." Said Zaroon quite irritated now.
"Tum pagal ho gaye ho kya Zaroon ? Aisa karte toh Mohtarma hum par wapas bharosa kar hii nahi paati. Saari hadhein tod deti, bhaag jaati, magar hamare paas phir kabhie nahi aati. Pata nahi sirf hamare maamle mein unka dimaag teda kyun chalta hai. Dilli ke saath kya hoga isse humein farak nahi padhta magar ab, ab hamari aakhri umeed humse chinn gayi hai." Said Altunia with a face that registered his defeat in the battle of love.
"Tum kya karne wale thay Mirza ? Majboor karte Razia Sultan ko apne paas aane ke liye kyun ki Dilli tumhare isharon par naach rahi thi ?" said Zaroon to Altunia's surprise as though he just read his mind.
Altunia gave him the did I have any option look.
"Tum poore ke poore deewane hii ho Mirza" Zaroon shook his head, half amused, half confounded. "Ab ? Ab unhe kya kahoge ? Kaise manaoge ? Aur Atigen ka kya karna hai ab ?"
"Nahi khabardaar ! Razia tak yeh khabar nahi pohonchni chahiye. Sabko bata do jaakar, jab tak hamara hukum na ho unko yeh baat koi nahi batayega." He warned gravely.
"Aur rahi baat Atigen ki, uss dagabaaz ko uski saza khud hii mil jayegi, Moiz ne sirf uska istemaal kiya hai, usko maut bhi wohi de dega." He spoke out with a heavy heart, reminiscing the good times of their friendship.
"Jaao khade kya ho ? Jaldi jaao sabko khabar jaldi do ki Razia ke saamne jo apni zubaan kholega uspar Malik Altunia ka keher toot padega" he told Zaroon.
Zaroon left. Altunia was wrapped in his thoughts. How exactly was he going to convince her now ? His entire hope depended upon the fact that she would come to him because he would have reasoned with the Turks to at least let her rule on behalf of Yasir. But turns out that the Turks already had a plan of their own and used Altunia like a pawn in their game.
He banged his fists on the wall, considering the alternative of how different could things be had he ascended the throne just for the time being and tried to win her back. How could a bunch of nobles whom he had outsmarted so many times just fool him like that ?
Atigen ...he thought desperately. That was one of his biggest mistakes ever. Trusting someone with all the information about his plans. Nothing would go wrong when he would work alone. Friendship blinded him. So did love. Kinships like these weakened him.
He remembered how he would refuse to tell his own soulmate about his political plans to help her strengthen her rule because of various reasons, her vulnerability, her ability to trust blindly, her belief in transformations and second chances, her poor judgement of people's intentions, her disapproval about the way he gets things done, most of all the fear of someone finding out about the information she shares with him and torturing it out of her.
Aap jaanke kya karegi ? Aap meethe aam khayiye. Ghutliyan kyun gin rahi hai ? Woh hamara kaam hai. Flashes of his refusal to open up came in front of him.
A big part of him wanted to hide this fact from her until she gets married to him. Her family members were on their way here, so there is no way they could know about this just yet. The other part of him wanted to tell her the truth and then face her wrath and force the marriage on her by keeping a sword on her neck, but that would be in vain because she wouldn't give in by a mere sword.
He buried his face in his hands, wondering how he was going to look into her eye directly now.
Three days later-----
Room of Malik Altunia's Royal Consort
It was probably the night of the crescent moon marking the end of the holy month. It was sunset time. Razia was sitting on the edge of her bed lost in her thoughts.
She felt much better, she had managed to regain her strength back. But something was odd. Altunia had not come to visit her for three days. They had not seen each other, not spoken to each other, at least not directly. She would be informed of his messages like she could go to the mosque if she liked, take walks in the gardens, spend time with the birds and pets in the fort, demand to eat whatever she desired, demand to ask for anything she likes. In short, she could enjoy any privilege that the wife of Malik Altunia is supposed to have but under the constant surveillance of Altunia's guards and baandhis he had appointed for her.
She felt strangely lonely for some reason. She didn't like these baandhis, or let's just say they were new to her, she missed Fatima and her baandhis in Delhi, hence she spoke very less to these ones. The only person who was with her from her old life over here was Altunia. True, from the time she arrived here she never had a civilized conversation with him, yet he remained the only person here on whom she could properly throw her anger at.
"Hone wali Begum Sahiba !" her baandhis entered the room breaking her trance. "Agar aaj chaand raat hui, toh uske liye Subedaar Sahab ne yeh joda aur gehne bheje hai. Unka humkum hai ki aapko yehi pehnaya jaaye jashn ke liye."
Razia glanced at the white lehenga with exquisite blue embroidery with a heavy dupatta.
One of the baandhi's giggled, "Humein lagta hai Subedar Sahab aapko chaand se bhi zyada khoobsurat dekhna chahte hai...aur"
"Accha ? Subedar Sahab yeh, Subedar Sahab woh." Razia cut her off, full of spite. "Hai kahan yeh tum sab ke Subedar Sahab urf Malik Altunia ? Do din se dekh rahi hoon humein bas farmaan hii mil rahe hai, khud toh aake bolne ki himmat nahi kar rahe hai. Aakhir ho kya gaya unhe ab ? Ab unhe fikar nahi hai ? Hum bhaag gaye toh ?" The desperation and restlessness was evident on her face.
"Nahi nahi Hone wali Begum Sahiba, aapke khaas sipahiyon ke alawa, unhone toh iss Qile ke har ek insaan ko aagah kar diya hai aap par sakht nazar rakhne ke liye. Khaadim se leke sipahi ko, Bawarchi se leke maali ko, sabko hukum hai aap par har waqt aatey jaate nazar rakha jaaye. Aur yeh hii nahi, kitni baar toh woh khud aap par nazar rakhtey thay, subah aapke uthne se pehle, jab aap baagh mein tehelti thi, khelti thi, jab aap soti thi raat ko, jab aap hamam mein..." the baandhi stopped and giggled along with the rest.
Razia made a long hawh!' shape with her lips along with wide eyes. "Hamam mein ?? Unhe toh hum...Aur tumhe yeh sab kaise pata ? Tumne dekha unko ?" she couldn't help but ask, the note of jealousy evident in her tone.
"Nahi humne nahi dekha, magar unki deewangi ke charche qile mein chaaron taraf se ho rahi hai." she replied.
"Sabko unki deewangi ke charche sunayi de rahe hai ek hum hii hai jo kuch nahi jaante." Razia said quite irritated.
The baandhis giggled further "Hum samajh sakte hai, aap unke deedar ke liye tadap rahi hai, aapke itne saare sawaal, aapko unki yaad..."
"Khabardaar !" Razia roared angrily "Tum sabki itni himmat ? Humse iss tarah baat kar rahi ho ? Apni aukaad mein raho, hum Malik Altunia ki hone wali Begum..." she stopped suddenly..."Yeh hum kya bol rahe hai...Arrghh tum sab jaao yahan se...bas jaao."
"Arrey arrey chehre par zara muskaan layiye aaj toh aap dono ke deedar hone hii hai, aaj jashn hai, hum aapko tayar kar..." The bandhi was once again cut off in between.
"Hum khud tayar ho jayenge..matlab hum nahi aayenge jashn ke liye" she roared correcting herself hastily. "Tum sab jaati ho ki nahi." She marched towards them in anger.
The baandhis laughed and scurried off, leaving the trays of clothes and jewelry behind. One of them turned back and said "Begum Sahiba, aap unke ishq mein malang ho chuki hai, aap maane ya nahi maane" And ran off making Razia fume even more.
"Kitni batameez hai Mirza ki baandhiyan !" she spoke to herself through gritted teeth. "Dilli mein hamari baandhiyan toh..." she reminisced her times with them, with Fatima. The conversation, the fun times was almost exactly as how she had one right now, but this hatred-for-no-reason towards them was solely because they were his baandhis.
She sighed taking Fatima's name and once again sat on the bed.
"Hamari saheli humein itni shiddat se yaad karey, aur hum unke paas na aaye ?" Fatima entered the room, beaming at her.
Razia looked up and stood up with relief, beaming back "Fatima tum ?" She hurried forwards and hugged her tight. "Tum yahan kaise ? Kab aayi ?"
The two friends dragged each other to the bed and sat down.
"Humein Mirza ne bulaya, sirf humein hii nahi, Walida-e-Sultana, Shezadi Shazia aur Yasir ko bhi" Fatima said.
"Nanijaan bhi yahan hai ?" Razia asked surprised but beaming all the more.
"Nahi woh sab abhi tak nahi aaye, hum pehle hii nikal gaye thay, who sab bas pohonchtay hii honge. Humein Zaroon ne pehle se hii bula liya tha phir Mirza ka bhi paighaam aaya aur..."
"Uss gaddar Zaroon se tum abhi bhi raabta rakh rahi ho, humne mana kiya tha na, woh Mirza ka..." Razia was annoyed, but Fatima cut her off in between.
"Arrey aap kab samjhegi Mirza ke pyaar ko ? Dekhiye hum maante hai Mirza ne bohot sakht faisle liye hai aapke maamle mein, magar woh gaddar nahi hai. Yeh baat toh aap bhi jaanti hai." she tried to reason with her.
"Haan tum toh unke hii taraf se bologi na, tum hamari dost ho ya unki ?" said Razia angrily.
Fatima sighed, "Arrey hamari pyaari Sultan, aapne ek baar bhi Mirza se baat karne ki koshish ki ? Ya jhagde mein hii saara waqt zaya kar diya. Agar aap baat kar leti toh aap ..."
"Baaton ki baat karti ho ?" Razia cut her off, "Arrey teen dino se humse nazrein tak mila nahi paa rahe hai woh, kya pata qile mein hai bhi yaa nahi, yaa phir Dilli jaane ki tayari kar rahe honge, apne takht par nasheen hone ke liye. She finished full of spite.
"Toh aap chali jaati unke paas. Har kahani ke do hissey hotey hai Sultan, ek woh jo aap sochti hai, aur ek woh jo sach hai." And then Fatima smiled, "Aur woh yahin hai Qile mein, abhi abhi neeche unse milkar hum aaye hai. Khairaat dene ki tayari ho rahi hai, kyunki..."
"Accha woh neeche hai ?" she ran towards her balcony. Fatima went after her. She stood there and stared at him, narrowing her eyes, watching him give instructions to the guards and servants with trays in their hands.
She felt a sudden gush of emotional turmoil. She was relieved to lay his eyes on him but also angry for all kinds of reasons and felt betrayed and she chose to focus on that more and lashed out from the top.
"Yun khairaat baatne se, aapke gunah kam nahi ho jayenge Subedaar Sahab." She yelled. Fatima smacked her head. Everyone turned around, or turned their heads upwards in her direction, stunned. Everyone except Altunia. He just stood there, numb, not making any move, not turning around.
This irked her more. She continued her blames and taunts "Aap abhi tak yahan kyun hai ? Jayiye na, Dilli jayiye, apne takht pe nasheen hone ke liye, hamari baandhiyon ko bhi apne giraft mein le lijiye, ek hum akele kaafi nahi hai Malik Ithtiyar ud-din Altunia ki rakhel banne ke liye."
"Arrey chup ho jayiye aap yeh kya bakke jaa rahi hai ?" Fatima tried to calm her down but it was too late, Altunia had turned around, his green eyes now mixed with red and spitting fire. His teeth were gritted in anger and he looked at her. They shot daggers with their eyes towards each other for a few seconds when suddenly Altunia marched to go inside, no doubt coming to her.
"Ya Allah yeh aapne kya kar diya ?" Fatima exclaimed, "Hamari puri baat toh sun leti aap, hum keh rahe thay ki khairaat aapke liye baant rahe thay, kyunki aapne teen dino se roza jo nahi rakha hai, uski bharpayi karne ke liye, aur aaj chaand raat bhi hai, mauka bhi khushiyan baantne ka hai, magar aap, aapne toh..." She stopped talking as they heard Altunia's roar -
"TAKHLIYA, iss kamre ke aas-paas bhi koi nahi aayega jab tak hum na kahey." His footsteps came closer. Fatima got scared.
"Hum jaa rahe hai" she tried to run off but Razia caught her.
As much as she tried to hide it always, Altunia's wrath scared her like anything. She had seen a glimpse of how merciless he can be when he's angry, and she definitely didn't want to think what he planned to do with her now. Feeling helpless she clutched Fatima's arm "Nahi ruko, ab bata rahi ho humein, hum toh..."
"Na na Sultan agar hum aapko bata dete tab bhi aap aisa hii sulook karti Malik ke saath, ab chodiye humein." Fatima jerked her hands free and ran off while saying "Aapke mehboob hai aap hii sambhaliye unko ab."
Razia tried to run after her but was blocked before she could even reach the doors by a tall, muscular Altunia, his eyes emitting the fire, authenticating her worst fears that now, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't escape.
PRECAP - Let ur imaginations go a little wild 😉 but next update wont come until some of you dont comment on the previous chapter and this one too😳😛
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