Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

Jamal shouted at the men replacing the furniture to hurry up. He was angry and their sluggishness wasn’t making him better. Sodeeq had had some of the men replace the damaged floorboards already and the maids had cleaned up the room.

Sodeeq had asked him severally what had happened to him, but Jamal had refused to tell the man that a woman had damaged his home to such an extent. He knew his friend would laugh at him and his predicament. When Sodeeq wouldn’t let go of the matter, he had told the man to go and that he would take over the furniture changing.

Jamal had also warned all the guards on duty the previous night including the two guards he had punished not to mention anything about the incident to anyone. He had even gone as far as threatening to kill anyone who said anything. Jamal was still barking orders at the men working when a guard had stormed in, telling him about how Lady Miriam was whipping the woman he had tied to the sun punishment board.

Jamal hadn’t bothered to allow the guard who came to report to him to finish before he stood up and rushed out the door. He was halfway through the road leading to where Roksolana was when he paused. If Lady Miriam was having her whipped and he rushed to the scene to stop the assault, it would only make Lady Miriam much angrier than she already was. And that would only make Roksolana suffer more than she already was. It was better he didn’t interfere with it. Slowly, he turned back to his house and sat on one of the new chairs he had just put in. He wondered why Lady Miriam had punished Roksolana without his permission.

Jamal stared at the dinner meals the maids had arranged on the dining table about three hours ago and sighed. He had asked one of his guards to secretly check on Roksolana to see how badly she had been hurt, but the man was yet to be back. If he judged the time correctly, the guard had been gone for too long. He couldn’t take it anymore. Not knowing what was going on with Roksolana was making him angry and troubled. He stood up from his sitting position and walked out of the house. He heard footsteps following him behind and knew that his guards were following him at a safe distance.

Roksolana shook her head to clear away the dizziness she was feeling. It was the middle of the night and the temperature had gone from hot to cold to extremely cold. She felt like she was freezing and if she dared to close her eyes, she would never wake up again because she would be frozen forever. She clanged her teeth together, inhaling and exhaling hard to keep her breath warm. Even the guards guarding her had left her alone when they couldn’t take the cold anymore, which is another reason she can’t fall asleep. If she was right about her theory earlier, the killer would be coming for her again this night especially when everyone on the Wadai’ sultanate knew that she was already weak.

Roksolana panicked when she saw two figures emerge from the bush by her right. Were those the killers? She strained her eyes in the dark, but couldn’t see their faces. She saw the dark figures bending down and frowned. Those couldn’t be the killers unless they were discussing the strategies they would use on her.

She relaxed when the light flickered on and she saw it was only the guards. They had apparently gone to get some woods to get some fire to warm. As they placed their hands close to the fire, they moaned loudly. Roksolana wished they would untie her for just a few seconds and let her feel the warmth of the fire too. But, none of them had even turned to see if she was still there, talk more of asking her if she was cold.

“Bastards.” She said softly.

As if her voice had summoned them, they looked at her at the same time. One of them shrugged and looked away immediately, but the other one kept staring at her with sympathy in his eyes.

“Should we give her something to eat?” The sympathetic one asked.

“The Sultan said that we weren’t allowed to go near her. So, no, we can’t give her anything.” The cruel one answered.

“What about water? She would be thirsty. Besides, she’s just a woman.” That was the sympathetic one again.

“A woman who can fight. Didn’t you hear about how she defeated five guards in a day? Go near her and see if she won’t kill you.” The cruel one talked.

Roksolana felt like killing him right there. Why would he spread rumors about her without evidence?

“But…” The sympathetic man tried again but was cut off by the other man.

“Look, it’s not like I don’t want to help her too. But, she got punished by our Sultan. Lady Miriam flogged her openly. This means that she offended the two powerful people in our sultanate. We can’t afford to offend them because of her.” The cruel one said.

Roksolana saw reasons in what the man said. She would have thought the same way too if she was in his shoes. Roksolana felt colder and coughed. The cough got followed up by a sneeze. She saw the kind man standing up with a bottle of water in his hand.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“I don’t care about who she offended, I’m giving her water to drink. Have you forgotten that she saved our lives that day?” He told the other man.

So, they were among the armies that day? Roksolana thought. She saw the other man calm down immediately and he didn’t bother to stop the sympathetic one. By this time, she was already losing consciousness. She shook her head to clear the forge gathering there. As she looked up, she saw a man dressed in black knocked out the man she thought was cruel. She saw the black man move stealthily towards the sympathetic man who was coming towards her with the man. She opened her mouth to warn the guard.

“Behind you,” Roksolana warned. But her voice wasn’t loud and the man didn’t hear.