Till Fate Tie Us Together...

Chapter 12: Replacement

           Three years back when he was nineteen, he had returned from an mission. "There's this new concubine called Nadiya, very pretty and innocent but very very expensive. Next time you leave can you leave me extra budget?" His doppelgänger asked him. He looked at the man as if he had a death wish.

         "No. Now get out, I wish to rest." He ordered. His doppelgänger left after slipping into women's clothes. The advantage of attire that women wore was the veil. The veil protected their identities, he entered his chambers with a veil over his head and everyone thought that he was just an eunuch who had come to have a good time with the prince and then the doppelgänger left after giving him a brief review. It was a foolproof switch.

           But he never took the fool's words seriously when he had actually stumbled into the area she was practicing with her friends. Their ghoongro chimes was enough to put him in a trance but as he kept on looking at her through the lattice, he then came to know why she was expensive.

       Her skin was pale and creamy, her hair a stark contrast to her skin, black like an moonless night sky. Her eyes complemented her hair perfectly, shining and shimmering like a deep lake. She wasn't wearing a duppata over her bosom, and that was when his eyes fell to the mole on the cleavage. Something stirred inside him as he stared shamelessly at her. It had been too long since a woman had enticed him as such. There was one who was the exact opposite of this concubine. Dark, sultry and proud she was.

        It was high time since he thought, he should forget about Ada. She was now engaged to his brother after all. He thought about claiming her that evening but he was summoned. He tried to postpone it but he was summoned by none other than his mentor.

        ***

   
     He pulled the reins of the horse and jumped down from it. He dusted his clothes off and unloaded his fur cloak from the horse's back and dropped it to the ground with a thud. Whistling a tune, he collected whatever grass he could find at the foot of the mountain. A chill breeze blew making the tiny strands on his neck stand up.

          He rubbed the mare's face as she made moony eyes at him. "There, there.... I have laid enough food for you, I will be back by nightfall. Be a good girl!" He pampered her. She whinnied in return.

        He threw the fur cloak over his head and grabbed his hiking tools. The only reason why any of  his brothers and him were good at hiking was because of The Mountain Fortress. By brothers, he did not mean Jellal, he meant the Brotherhood of the Moon.  The Brotherhood, was divided into three levels of hierarchy: The Masters, The Teachers, The Brothers.

      The Masters were a council of eight men or more specifically, Kings. Eight powerful Kings who ruled the East. Each kingdom with substantial power to disrupt the peace of the East. But that was not the goal, the goal was to create peace within the eight kingdoms. It all seemed like a joke to Salim. Peace, bull crap! He thought. The Eight masters had their own teachers and then their own assassins. It was all a big game of tit for tat. But no one could point fingers. It would truly end in a war if they did.

        He climbed and hiked up all day, resting for a while. The chilly weather was in contrast with his body temperature which he found he was wet with perspiration. He urged and motivated himself to climb atop the mountain and he did. He rested his palm on the flat surface of the mountain top and pulled himself up. He laid there in exhaustion. The sun glimmered in the sky casting yellow hues all over. He basked in the perfect embrace of its warmth and the chilly breeze.

      "You're finally here!" He heard someone say. She stood over him casting a shadow over him blocking the sunlight.

     He knew who it was. He was planning on meeting her here. She lent her hand as her face flashed in a mocking smile. He took her hand, not because he was too weak to get up on his own but because he could touch her only at scare times.