Swords of Justice
Chapter 18: (The Wrath)
Night had fallen, and Crown Prince Mustafa of the state of Fawza was taking supper with King Hussein. They exchanged small talk until Prince Mustafa asked:
"I think your daughter, the princess, is indeed late. I hope nothing has happened to her."
King Hussein froze, surprised and at a loss for words. Minister Taher intervened and said:
"We received a message saying Princess Hasnaa will stay at the doctor's house tonight."
Prince Mustafa: "Isn't that dangerous for her? Do you want me to send some of my men?"
Minister Taher: "No need for that. She is already guarded by our strongest men."
Prince Mustafa: "No — I insist (I want to know what happened to her)," he muttered to himself.
Minister Taher: "Don't worry, Crown Prince of Fawza. God willing, tomorrow morning she'll be here among us (in our dreams, of course)," he thought to himself.
Prince Mustafa to himself: "Fine. I'll be frank with them…" Then he addressed the others: "I'm uneasy like this. I don't want an objection — I want my future wife to be safe."
Taher turned to King Hussein, who still didn't know what to say. Noting this, Prince Mustafa looked at Taher and said:
"Very well. If you insist, we have no objection."
The prince smiled and said, "Okay. I'll send two of my men — have them take her to the doctor's address."
Minister Taher: "Alright. Follow me."
Two of Prince Mustafa's men rose. The prince smiled because he suspected they were hiding something.
Minister Taher, accompanied by the two of Mustafa's men, left the hall. He ordered a soldier to take them where they needed to go and they left the palace.
Taher muttered to himself: "She ought to be dead by now."
Halfway there, the two men of Prince Mustafa followed the rider who had been ordered by Taher to deliver them to the princess. The rider suddenly quickened his pace until he was sprinting. The two troopers asked what was happening; he shouted back:
"Why are we rushing?!"
But he kept ahead of them as if being chased by them. They didn't understand and wanted to catch up; what began as pursuit became a chase.
They arrived at a fortress with a watchtower guarded by two sentries from the Kingdom of Darhomsan. They were startled when one of the kingdom's soldiers came galloping and behind him two soldiers from the Kingdom of Fawza pursued.
The rider screamed for help: "They want to kill me! They want to kill me!"
The watchmen of the tower raised their bows and aimed at the two troopers of Fawza. Without hesitation, they fired and brought them down.
One of the two remained alive, gasping his last breaths with an arrow piercing his chest. The rider who had been meant to take them to Princess Hasnaa stepped forward and said to him:
"Sorry. Don't take it personally. I'm a soldier carrying out orders." Then he finished him with his sword.
The two tower sentries approached and asked him what had happened.
He lied: he said they had wanted to kill him for no reason.
They believed him, and so he had carried out Minister Taher's orders when Taher had said: "Get rid of them and make it look like an accident or a misunderstanding."
Meanwhile, Hamza and Jalal were about to eat dinner in a bandit village with Fateh and Muawiyah, while the princess was at the Lady's house trying to win her favor. As they sat eating outdoors, Qasim entered saying:
"The dinner smells good."
Muawiyah turned smiling: "So you're back, Qasim. Thanks to you we made new friends."
Qasim looked at Hamza and returned the look. "Indeed. But I want to repay the princess for her kindness with this…"
He threw down the corpse of the assassin he had just killed; everyone was shocked. Princess Hasnaa and the Lady came out and asked, "Who is this?"
Qasim sat, picked up a piece of meat and bit into it, then said: "He was targeting you, Princess. I heard him say he wanted to kill you and kill Hamza."
Jalal: "Didn't you ask him who sent him?"
Qasim: "It happened fast. I killed him in an instant."
Jalal, angry: "You fool — you should have questioned him first!"
Princess Hasnaa interrupted: "Never mind, Jalal. This proves Taher sent him, and that confirms it — we must get rid of him." She smiled to herself: "Qasim killing that assassin shows he'll become a warrior for our kingdom."
Qasim: "I don't know whether this is good or bad news. I'll start with the bad: there's still another watching you. The good: you can catch him and question him."
Hamza rose from his seat and said, "Alright, everyone, I have a plan we'll run tomorrow. For now, you must be all ears."
He began to explain the plan.
The other assassin was surprised that his brother hadn't signaled the attack yet. He went to check on him but only found scattered blood. He climbed a tree, raised his spyglass, and looked toward the village. He saw his twin brother dead, lying there.
He felt a violent rage but restrained himself — he knew he couldn't take them on alone. He wrote a letter detailing everything that had happened, summoned his crow, and ordered it to deliver the message to their headquarters.
The crow flew to the place where their elder commander sat, carrying the letter. The commander, thinking the mission had succeeded, read it and was stunned to find that two of his men had been killed. He went stealthily to the palace and slipped into Minister Taher's room, sitting in the dark to wait for him.
Minister Taher realized his assassin had come and hurried to his chamber, pleased, and shut the door behind him. He asked:
"So… was the job done? Did you do it?"
The elder assassin: "Are you mocking me? Why didn't you tell me she had a formidable fighter with her?"
Minister Taher, surprised: "You mean Jalal?"
The elder assassin stood: "No — Hamza bin Ali, the mighty warrior who never loses, killed two of my brothers."
Taher, enraged: "You mean you failed them?!"
The elder assassin: "Don't feign anger, you fool. I'm the one keeping my composure here."
Taher laughed: "Keeping your composure! You do this for money, right? I won't pay you a single coin until you finish your task, killer."
The assassin slammed his fist against the wall and said: "Listen to me, Minister. I will finish the job for my brothers who were killed. But mark my words: if you don't pay me many times over what you promised, your head will be next on the list."
Then he disappeared. Taher breathed a sigh of relief, then grew furious and said:
"Damn that princess. Why does she always refuse to die? Never mind — tomorrow will be a harsh day for the king and for the whole kingdom."
To be continued...