Seeing Prince Kamran distracted Alisha took the opportunity to escape, "I know I can't escape from these people. But if I don't give it a try, I will regret it."
She crawled down and taking the support of carriage. She stood up for few minutes while Prince Kamran helped up the man and the next thing people knew was that the horse separated from the carriage and she hid behind the horse.
When Prince Kamran realized she wasn't sitting on the carriage. He became furious while people couldn't believe that Alisha untied the horse in few minutes with those injured hands which had stopped bleeding.
Her hands turned black and the wounds looked scarier than before.
Before Prince Kamran could inquire about Alisha, she climbed the horse and the horse seemed to have run faster than before in the direction of the Dugi State border. From where it just had come from.
Seeing Alisha running away Prince Kamran ordered, "go and catch that witch!!!!!"
His entire body shouted so hard he himself fell.
"You were helping your servant now you yourself are on the ground."
"This girl Alisha is a ship wrecker iceberg." Kashif chuckled. The man helped Prince Kamran up who was like a boiling curry wearing his noble brown robe.
He again shouted, "Don't let her run away!!!!"
The Man tried to run but prince Kamran pulled him back, "Not you, you are hurt."
Indeed the man looked very skilled in fighting but he only fell from the carriage and was severely injured.
Unlike Alisha whose, hands and feet had complicated cuts due to the strong rope tied. She also had a mild concussion. But her brain only knew, "Grandfather is waiting for me."
Prince Kamran again shouted, "go grab her."
Prince Kamran pointed his finger at Kashif who was celebrating the escape of Alisha but also worried.
Prince Kamran ordered him, "go get her."
Kashif looked around. "Who is he ordering too?"
"Is it me?"
He pointed his figure towards himself hesitating. Prince Kamran got annoyed, "yeah! You young maa...n"
Kashif put down his hand and said in a shrilled voice, "I am not your servant."
"Send that slave of yours," He said looking at the Man.
Prince Kamran was furious that he called the man 'slave'. The man again wanted to run towards Alisha but Prince Kamran pulled him back, "Let her run, you shouldn't go after her."
"You are hurt."
The Man looked at the shell slim situation and denied, "I am completely fine, we can't let her cross the border."
"Dugi state is not under you for now. It would be difficult to get her." He ran towards the horse of Kashif, which was the only horse in his sight.
It was a rare breed horse. The man went after Alisha who had almost disappeared.
Kashif grew worried with each step taken by the man, "Story of Alisha's life ends here."
"What a pity! I wonder how destructive would the tsunami would be when this iceberg melt."
He thought to himself. "I should head to Suli before my father leaves for middle-east just for this dagger."
He reminded himself and walked towards the empty place where he left his horse.
"where is my horse?" he shouted in horror.
People heard him and thought if he was a crazy person. A man asked, "That man in black robe took the horse in front of your eyes."
"Did you not see? Are you blind?" Kashif was dumbfounded.
A bunch of girls among the onlookers giggled. The handsome nobleman they were admiring turned out to be a blind fool. This didn't decrease the level of his handsomeness but made him look cute.
Kashif had no interest in the opinions of the public. He was boiling in anger, "You crazy noble creature! How dare you take my beloved horse? You lowly donkey thief."
He soon took his words back, "He can't be compared to the donkey. He stole a rare horse."
"An entire village can be bought and all the villagers can be fed for seven years."
Kashif became weepy to lose his childhood best friend. He felt someone gaze and turned his head around to see.
Prince Kamran looked like a hungry wolf throwing out saliva, standing just beside him. Kashif took few steps back.
"What trouble! I should just slip away from here."
"I will find my horseback but not my life."
He ran as fast as he could, keeping a hold on the dagger hidden in his body to avoid losing it. "Comeback! I have accounts to settle with you." rumbled Prince Kamran.
Kashif who was at a safer distance answered, "I rather have a bad debt than to have crippled hands."
The Man tried to rush Kashif's horse. but the horse was as slow as a turtle.it made things hard for the Man. He scolded the horse giving frequent lashes which it was not used to.
"You are a spoiled horse of a spoiled brat. run faster otherwise I will skin you."
Alisha felt dizzy on the horse which still ran as if it was his life in danger. she was on a road surrounded by huge trees which hid the crop fields of farmers.
It would still take hours to reach the border of Dugi State. Some officers of Dugi state who followed Alisha from the border on orders of Danish saw Alisha on the horse.
They had been hiding in the trees, thinking the Carriage would pass from the border. Unknown to the fact the carriage had already reached the Kinma states.
"That lady seems the purple veil. We have been looking for." An officer pointed at Alisha.
The leader asked taking a careful look at her, "how can you say that?"
The officer replied, "Isn't it obvious the horse she is riding is detached from a carriage."
"'Its feet are covered with mud and the lady is wearing a purple veil."
"Look at her messy wavy hair sticking her sweating body." he gave a creepy smile.
"She is a noble lady. What are you thinking? "
"She is a criminal who ran away from the death sentence."
"Higher-ups would pass her punishment on us if we don't take her back." said the leader thwacking the officer.
Alisha saw a blurry image of a man dressed in an imperial robe. The huge turban on his head was decorated with three gems. A big one at the center, two smaller on either side. Six strings of pearls around the turban three on either side attach to the smaller gems indicated the high nobility of man riding horse of noble breed (only used by imperial family).
Before the officer and his leader could come out, they saw the man on the horse as well. The leader stopped his officer.
"Wait.... that person."
The officer who was untying his horse from the tree turned to see, his jaw dropped.
"Isn't he the Prince Tabeed?"
Alisha thought to herself, seeing the man in front of her, "I have exhausted the last drop of my blood."
"Oh almighty! Keep my grandfather safe."
"If I open my eyes again in this world, I shall avenge all the sufferings these cruel people dumped on me."
Her heart was ripped apart from injustice. Does leaving the prize unclaimed was such a big offense that she must bear these sufferings? was it really a crime?
The two men came out and bowed in front of the prince of the first rank (Emperor's son).
"May you live hundreds of years. O, noble prince."
They greeted him together in one tone.
Prince nodded at them, looking puzzled at the situation. Those men came out of nowhere, making Alisha sure that the slimmest chance to escape had no chance to execute.
Her eyes slowly shut down leaving everything to fate. Her breath slowed down, her closing eyes killed the little hope she had.
Prince Tabeed asked, "The abandoned way to Kinma state is glimmering today with such a rare scene. What's up?"
He looked at Alisha whose purple veil was undone. The cloth which tied Alisha's mouth made her lips bruised and swollen, the cut had extended from the side of her lips to covering half of her cheeks.
Her loose flowing cotton dress covered her wounded hands and feet, which turned black due to the bleeding.
Her long untied hair covered her back but the injury on her forehead was clearly visible.
He looked at the officers and asked again, "what's happening here?"
The officer whispered to the leader, "Higher-ups are nothing in front of prince noble's status."
"We have no choice but to vomit all the digested information."
The leader knew that too and was about to speak, "this girl is a cr___" but stopped to give it a second thought as it concerned his promotion.
In a moment of silence, they heard the footsteps of Man's horse. Tabeed scanned him only to find him familiar, "what are you doing here?"
"Weren't you on a secret mission assigned by my duke brother Kamran?" he questioned as soon as the man climbed down and bowed to him gasping, looking extremely exhausted. Tabeed did not give him a chance to take a peaceful breath.
The man tried to answer, "this____ this girl.... this lady...."
Tabeed showed annoyance, "what this lady??"
"This girl???"
"Speak properly...."
"Don't think if you are an important person of my brother, I will treat you like he does."
The man fell on his knees and tried hard to take few breaths in. He looked so much in pain that made his entire body cry.
Just after falling from the carriage, why A skilled warrior is in so much pain?
The man replied respectfully with his head lowered to the ground, "This lady known as the purple veil has brought Prince Kamran into trouble."
"Our budget exceeded other states in the National events because we had to reorganize grand finals for runners-up in secret."
"That was all due to this lady, who disappeared without claiming the titles."
Tabeed furrowed his eyebrows, "it's not that I am smart. It's common sense to grant the title to the second place."
The man explained, "But Grand Princess wanted the competent ones."
"Prince also decided to give a second chance to the runner-up to showcase their talents and leave no regret."
Tabeed smirked, "Was Umrah, my sister-in-law's sister participating from Dugi State?"
The man nodded in horror, "I just exposed Kamran....."
"Did I betray him?"
"Prince Tabeed will surely use this opportunity to take my Kamran down. "
"My feeling not only betrayed me but also killed Kamran's trust." he cried out breaking down into pieces every second.
The leader witnessing the scene was connecting the events, he whispered in the ears of the officer, "This noble lady participated in the national events and won all the local and state-level competition in Dugi."
"But she left them unclaimed for some reason, which made our Duke organize a secret event to choose another lady."
The officer pulled the sleeves of his leader and spoke in a dampening voice, "In which my brother was given twenty beatings for breaking a bowl from the jade tea set."
"I can never forget that. She is really a witch." he was blaming her for something she doesn't know happened.
The leader nodded, "No wonder higher-ups want her so bad."
"Because of her, our honest duke had his reputation tainted for corruptions and abusing his power."
"The emperor had him suspended from office. She deserves death indeed."
The officer agreed, "you are right. She invited her own death."
Tabeed who was thinking literally ten times before reacting to this situation, noticed the two people murmuring to each other.
"What gossip is so crispy that you have to discuss right in Infront of me?"
The two of them immediately shut their mouth.
The man noticed those men, wiping the tears he questioned, "You are officers of Dugi Border, what are you doing here?"
The leader replied, "We were part of the secret investigation as well."
"The imperial secret investigators asked us for help. The officer kept nodding which annoyed the man.
"Hey you, I am feeling dizzy."
"Stop that! No one wants your agreement."
The officer stopped. but, he cursed him inside his heart," he looks like a noble person, but cried so hard on a little scolding by the Prince.
"He dares to show his authority on me."
Tabeed said showing no interest in the situation, "You better clean up this mess. "
"My brother must be anxious right now. Take her back."
Hearing the words of Tabeed, The man was confused, "will he not report Kamran?"
But he wanted to waste not a minute more. He turned to the two people and ordered, "We are out of hands right now since Prince is traveling around disguised."
"You people follow us. "
Send a message to your office that you are serving the prince."
Tabeed gave a careful look at Alisha again, "Alas! A great lady royal ruined in the power struggle."
"My brother went so far to win the favor of his father-in-law, Emperor of Pamil." (Neighboring country.) he sighed.
He saw the three men taking her back to Kinma, "Even the Emperor sleeps with a sword hanging over his head.'
"The more Almighty test, the higher chance of one getting the heaven gets. "
He followed the three men to the Kinma border.
......
"We don't want to attend that banquet, grandmother." cried Fozia, Alisha's cousin.
The most polite and kind-hearted one. Farah, Alisha's youngest sister who is of the same age as Fozia kept on shedding tears.
But, deep down she was excited to go to a banquet hosted by the Grand Prince, "There would be a lot of rare paintings in his house, hanging like a mere decoration."
Humna, another cousin of Alisha rolled her eyes, "It's not a big deal. "
"It's not like you all are the only girls going there."
Zayan and Eiman, the younger brothers of Alisha already had plans to escape from the banquet. They were good at it. Since their uncle often took them to such banquets hosted by high rankers and wealthy merchants to get them familiar with the people they would have to work with one day. But Eiman had no interest in either of the things. His life was only hanging on a thread called Archery.
He was the youngest one among his batchmates whose skills matched with the archery master, who trained them. Zayan was a year younger than Eiman. He had no ambition unlike his brother, who pushed him around to learn swordsmanship and horse-riding. But he was more like a spoiled brat.
Mothers of Sufiya and Rukaiya, Alisha's eldest two disabled sisters were given extra classes separately, like- 'don't go around leaving us' or 'if you feel uncomfortable excuse yourself and go to a quiet place.' they could understand them and it wasn't difficult to obey. Only if they were not purposely targeted.
Junaid, who was disappointed in himself waited for his family to come out from the house, which they were not willing.
"Hurry, we have to arrive at the palace by evening," he shouted. They were four-horse carriages lined up for the Pillar Family.
All the ladies and young daughters came out followed by Zahid and Eiman. The unwillingness could be seen in the eyes of noble young ladies. Zahid and Eiman looked at each other and smiled, A plan was cooking in their mind.
The family started the trip which was not very long. Zahid and Eiman slipped away from the carriage.
"You should keep your mouth shut sister Sufiya." said Zayan and jumping down from the moving carriage.
"You fool forgot; she can't speak." Eiman laughed jumping down from the Sufiya's carriage which was the last one in the line.
Sufiya tried to stop them. she threw her hands, telling them in sign language, "Stop! you will be scolded by Uncle and Grandmother." but they just laughed at her helplessness.
Both the brother put their hands on each other's shoulders and boarded on horses, prepared by them beforehand.
"Where should we go now? We can't go home obviously," said Eiman.
Zayan replied, "you are asking me, older brother. does it means you want an invitation of Poetry session held tonight in Leaf Pavilion?" he laughed at his brother's embarrassment.