Father caught me strolling in the castle in the night.
Because I stole his katara from his room. He came to look for it and found me playing with it in the arcading. In my defense, I said I was going to put it back from I took it. Which should have made sense, It was not like I intended to steal it, I had plenty of daggers and kanjars, cousin Jim took me to one of the weapon trader he knew, I had bought quite a lot of exotic foreign daggers from there, daggers suited me. 'Because you are so colossal?' Jim said that when he had learned about me my fascination with daggers. He was always sarcastic.
"That is not an excuse! Do not speak out of your place!" Father screamed with anger.
"How about I do not speak to you at all?" I replied. I could see his face fuming with rage in the lantern light. He left, slamming the door, resulting in a tremor on the large mirror on the adjacent wall to tremor. To be very honest, he deserved that disrespectful behavior. I was not proud of it.
He thought of me as an imbecile. He did not like us very much, rarely spent time with me. I did not feel sad about it anymore. He was barely home. But Feroze felt devastated, she was a little child who missed her father, and he never talked to her, that bothered me a lot. What did my sister do deserve a treatment like that? He had been like this since mother died. I understood that he missed her. But how was that our fault? Could he not see that her death wounded us as well?
Moments later, as I looked through the window, I saw a foggy depressing night from the south tower of the castle. I could always see the coastline, where the city ended with the largest port I had ever seen. The wretched smog had cloaked everything, I could see no further from the gardens, only some torches above the castle walls.
Strangely, I saw my father down at the garden, came out of the keep and walking, over the brick-lanes, towards the arched gatehouse that leads to the outer baileys of the castle. Where could he be going to? It was not that I was concerned where my father went and what he did, his absence in my life had helped me grow out of it, that was my thought.
Do not get me wrong, purely out of curiosity, I decided to follow him through the fog.
I hurriedly crawled on my knees across the bed, on the other side there was my trunk full of daggers, my priced collections, I hurriedly picked a kanjar and a katara, resting on top of the trunk, and strapped them on my waist. I could not waste any time or I will lose his sight in the fog.
While doing these, a question became apparent in my mind, how do I reach him? Can not use the staircase, It will take forever. I could dash through the allures of the inner wall quickly, inner walls of the castle not usually guarded, ironically. This is better than walking through a wide-open garden, I thought.
I took the woven shawl from the chair before I left the room. Walked up to the arcading, tall, had geometric patterns all over it. I did not think twice to climb one of the pillars, and took me seconds to reach up to arch and with the help of the little jump, I grabbed the riser of the roof, and climbed up the roof of the arcading, while holding on to the balusters.
Father was still in front of the arch gatehouse, as I took a glance and focused on the task at hand, I ran up to the tower to grab the riser of the blind arcading on the tower, from there, carefully moved leftward until there was a wall directly under me, I tried not to look down, because the towers of Ahmarkilla is tall, unusually tall. I moved quickly as my fingers were becoming numb, the fog already made the stones slightly slippery. While I was running through the allures, father already had giddied up his horse and passed the arch gate, so I hurried, panting, fingers completely numb at this point.
I ran along the allure, through the roof of the bridge, that connected inner and outer wall towers, which was right next to the gate. I looked below to check. He just went outside the gate. I wish I had a rope.
Hearing voices coming from the wall tower, I looked at the Gap between the pillar of the gate and the wall tower beside the gate, I leaped aiming for the pillar, then hopped back and forth with the wall tower and the pillar to reach the ground.
On the last hop, unfortunately, I slipped as I stepped on wet moss on the wall, making me slamming on the ground on my back. I did not want to get caught. So I pressed mouth with my hand to not make any sound, my back and shoulder was screaming painfully. The wall towers had rooms inside it, Sepoys were inside, drinking. They could not hear my groan as I had controlled it, but they could hear my thudding on the ground, and they did.
By the time the drunken sepoys had opened the window, and shouted, "Who is there?" and another one of them said, "Maybe it's a cat, leave it." I stood up and slouched my way across the road by the wall, and went up to the road that starts from the gate of Ahmarkilla.
I could not see any farther, but I was sure I could hear the hoofbeats of his horse, trotting in the mud. So, he was moving straight, I thought. I picked up my pace, as I thought I might lose him if he moves anymore faster. The pain on my back was still there, a tolerable at this point. The slippery mud was a problem, if I tried to run on this mud, I might break bones, this time.
The thick fog irritated me. I kept following his hoofbeats, could not see him at this point, but the hoofbeats were still clear, as if he was just several buildings ahead. I wondered what could he be up to. He despised us, but other than that he was a normal capable royalty. A high ranked politician in the council. The only way I could know is if I kept following him. I realized I was wearing a leather sandal. The cold mud and pebbles were stuck inside the sandals, all over my feet. The cold from the fog and the mud, it was chilly.
It suddenly smelled like spices. I looked around, surprised. I was so focused on following the hoofbeats, I did not realize I crossed municipal district, and entered straight to the spice market. Of course, the shops were close, but even at nighttime, I could smell the strong flavors that was stored inside every shops, Fresh spices were emanating a fragrance that was minty yet giving a burning sensation in my nose.
The hoofbeats were gradually fainting. So I had started running, keeping a balance on my foot so I would not slip again on the mud. The fog was gradually thickening. Outrageous! I thought. Within moments, I had reached the gate of Pundran Court, where the Sultanates High Council sessions took place every month. I came here once, when I was little with my father. I was panting, from the running. As I focused on the hoofbeats, it was gone. I could hear father talking with someone, on the large plaza, beyond this court. The plaza is a huge open place that ends up in the district of Moinottgat. I stood there, catching my breath, and tried to listen to the conversation. I went behind the pillars at the of the Court, to take cover, just in case. I could see the entire plaza, even the nine roads of the city, connected to this plaza. It was like a bowl of fog, thickened like white clouds.
As I focused to listen to their conversation, I realized everything was suddenly quiet. Extraordinarily silent. the kind of silence that plunges your chest with eeriness, right before someone stabs you on the back.
What could have happened? Where did they go? I thought. I started to doubt my trust in the sound of the muffling hoofbeats. I peaked from behind the pillar, there was nothing but fog. As if the whole idea of following my father betrayed me. Where the hell did he go? He could not have vanished in thin air.
I mustered courage, and started taking steps slowly towards the plaza. I reached the back of my waist, looking for the hilt of my kanjar with my hand. I grabbed it tightly. Slowly I walked into the fog, and It had cloaked me with its eerie mist.
Heart was pounding, I was sweating under my shawl, limbs were growing heavier and heavier. With each step I took, my legs were becoming more and more numb. I was trying to look around but my body was betraying, freezing as I move further inside. I heard multiple horses neighing, chainmail crisping and sepoys shouting, I was sure it was coming from the Moinottgat. The presence of people gave me courage, I advanced my steps toward Moinottgat from the plaza. At this point I was shaken, part of me was begging me to go back home.
Slowly, I entered the small alleys of Moinottgat, there were small sheds everywhere, cloaked in fog, the place smelled like worst kind of sweats, the air was noisome, I could still hear occasional jeering of people in front. My heart was pounding in the fear of the unknown.
A sudden gust of foul-smelling air blasted across the alley, it stopped right behind as it passed me. It made me want to vomit as I could not help but smell the stench. It smelled like pus, blood, and rotten flesh. My legs could not move as if they grew roots in the depths of the soil. I shuddered, I wanted to move but I could not. I could feel something was behind me. I desperately wanted to look back. My body, again, was betraying me, I never felt like this before.
It is nothing. I hoped.
Hopes are deceitful.
I turned back with all the courage I had left in me, then I ran. I ran like mad, breathing sharp and frantically, everything else blurred around me, I ran through the alley, across the plaza, towards the castle. My knees were heavy and my legs were probably blistered, could not tell. It was numb. I was running out of breath but I kept running. Ironically, I came back to the plaza from the other end.
I could not explain how.
I ran again and again, even though I knew I could not run anymore. I hoped to reach the castle. I could not think of anything else. I just yearned to go home.
Hope is cruel.
After countless tries, I had given up, I could not get out of this endless loop of paths. I cried, got down on my knees, vomited on the ground, out of breath, panting. Everything was a blur, head was spinning. I felt a wet greasy touch on my shoulder.
"Hyob-pleh-ru-oy-deen." something hissed, I could not understand the words. It felt like dragging and clawing on the wall with your nails. It had that same foul stench again, from earlier. Mist-beings? Is it trying to kill me?
I wish I had fainted. I did not. I started crawling without thinking. Crawled as far away as I possibly could my body was numb, heavy as a rock. I turned back and hold my kanjar up aimed at that thing.
Nothing I could see but fog, the wretched thick fog. Conflicted and scared of the unknown, I stood up, shaking, hold my kanjar and katara up, I looked around, I could not find it, nor did I know if it was real.
I saw a small dog, which had a face of a donkey, I saw large human-like eyes, those two bloody piercing eyes, looking at me, smiling with malice, the entire presence of this creature reeked of malice.
"Pleh-ru-oy-nakh." It shrieked. The sound of its voice felt like my skin was being peeled off. I could not believe what I was seeing, It was just standing there, abruptly, yet so terrifying. I walked towards it and swung my kanjar with my hand, and it had dematerialized before the moment of contact, making me stumble.
A hand of pitch blackness materialized from the fog and brushed me across the plaza. I fell hard. probably breaking on of my ribs. I writhed on the ground in pain, shock, and fear. This is how I die. I thought.
I hope someone looks after Feroze. I wish I could see her one last time.
Choking on blood, I tried to stand up again, my body was screaming pain.
It now had materialized in front of me. It was big, twice my size. Before I could do anything, It grabbed my face and lifted me. I was crying, thinking about death, throwing & swinging my hands and legs aimlessly.
Useless.
It said something again, I could not hear through the pulsating pain. Its nails had punctured my skin, and started bleeding, I could feel the strength. It could kill me in an instant if it wanted to, could crack my skull open. This is how facing death feels like.
I screamed in pain as my whole body became numb. Frozen. Lifeless. I felt like dying.
Honestly, Death would have been mercy.
When I screamed, it plunged its hand into my mouth with a sudden thrust, as it grabs my tongue from the deep. I felt like it was pulling out my tongue, like taking out my soul from the body. I tried to scream but could not, could not breathe, I could feel the grease on its hand, the stink, as it slithered down my mouth, as I choked on my vomit and blood. I wish I was dead or fainted, I had to experience all of that, consciously. Nightmares, even the worst ones, have mercy.
After moments that felt like an eternity, the hand dematerialized, and the creature with it.
As I was falling to the ground, screaming, I heard it was speaking again, faintly, this time, not the screeching voice with I could not understood, instead, I heard my own voice.
"The barter is complete."
I could not understand what it meant. I did not care. I wished it to end. I heard the clink-clanks of armors again, maybe the sepoys are here. As I fell, smacking into the ground from above, I saw the sky, and the fog slowly clearing out. Although my vision was smudged, I saw silhouettes of men around me, horrified to see my state, hurriedly took me to Ahmarkilla.