- "Of glasses being half full and half empty. Nobody seems to realize that it's just a glass of water. Furthermore, when you gulp it down it disappears"

- "So, these are the things that keep you awake at night"?

- "No, it's mostly the sound of your snoring..."

Bam, the burly old man thrashed the half grinning scrawny lad across the face.

"who's a wisecrack now, you fool" blurted the old man drunkenly.

"Stop it you two." Said Joseph.

"Or what" The voice coming out almost as a struggle now.

"Or the captain will create a scene, AGAIN." Joseph replied angrily.

As, Albert, the old man slowly returning to reality from his drunken stupor let go off Azim. He took a note of the wide-eyed crewmates on the deck. Their seafarer's gaze, tired after an entire morning's hard work fixated on him. Meanwhile Azim, fresh off of Albert's haggling, went off to the far side of the hall, towards the meal table. Took a plate and filled it with the day's serving of salted cod and biscuits, a far-cry from the food he was used to growing up, but hey it won't be a tale worth telling if it was all rosy and all. After all, the three men here each different from the other in all ways imaginable got intertwined with each other in a slew of circumstances as inconceivable as moon being sighted during a warm summer day, as astonishing as bigfoot coming out of wherever he lives and visiting the local village for a day with the commoners and as shocking as God coming out of the sky and announcing to everyone, "hey folks, have a nice day."

Speaking of rights and wrongs Albert Finn, like many Englishmen left his homeland in search of god and gold. In the year 1836 he landed in British India, sighting his previous experiences working for the navy he got a job in a merchant's ship but with a meagre salary. Dissatisfied with himself he left the job just after a month.

Dazed, confused and disappointed at himself for all 35 years of his existence, he wandered along the Bazaars and streets of Chittagong. The people as mysterious to him as books are to an ignorant. Their food, their choices and their ways of life bewilders him like the writings of a book does to the unread. In this sea of unknowns, far from home, he found his solace in a tavern right off the coast. One night while drinking, he overheard a few other Englishmen talk about taking care of a family of farmers who couldn't pay their taxes. He joined in on the discussion and somehow these men gave away the address to him. On the day these soldiers wanted to collect the tax, he went to the farm. Their he found out that the soldiers visited the place before him. An injured man lay there holding in his arms his dead wife. By his side there was his little boy, bruised just like his father. The poor farmer upon seeing the Englishman rushed up from his bed, took a meat cleaver and charged Albert. Albert, moved sideways, disarmed the farmer and killed him with the farmer's own meat cleaver. The last action turned out to be completely unnecessary. After all the now dead farmer moments before Albert's arrival lost all he held dear to him by people who looked exactly like Albert. Albert now, still with a jolt of adrenaline in him searched the house. Going through everything the two tax collectors went through before him, turning the already dismantled bed, unhinging the already destroyed locks off wooden trunks. Meanwhile the little boy almost astonishingly pointed him towards a little corner of the house, where an innocuous brick lay. Moving it Albert found a tiny little hole in the ground. Looking into it he saw a shiny object. He took it out of the hole. He cleaned the dirt off it. Then it stuck to him. He just laid his hands on a rough uncut diamond. The farmer must have found it in his fields and spent his last days hiding it. Which must have resulted in him not working his fields and before he could find a way to sell it, the tax collectors appeared followed by his death.

Somehow, Albert took pity on the boy. After all it was this little kid who led him to discover his ticket to Freedom. He took the little boy with him and went up to his lodge. Bought the little person some food from the market on the way. After eating a little bit, the boy and him tried talking. The conversation that ensued wasn't spectacular. The boy grew up to his age knowing that Whites like Albert were spawns of devil and their language was forbidden. Despite that he took to heart a few phrases here and there. After all, these people were everywhere. Also knowing a word or two helped him so far. Albert trying to get to know the little boy pointed at himself said "I am Albert." The little boy imitating Albert's actions replied "Azim"

This is where these two got to know each other. With each interaction they got to know each other's language and soon Albert decided to go to England to sell the diamond. Why not here and get a few quick bucks one might turn to think. It's because he wanted to show it off to his estranged wife who left him for another man. He wanted to show it off to her before he became rich. As fate would have it he took Azim on the trip back home. He booked a place to stay in London. There, after all this time he opened the secret casing in his luggage. To his utter embarrassment he realized that he forgot to pack the one thing that he needed to pack. The empty casing there reminded him of what his wife used to tell him- "an utter embarrassment"

A combination of words not unheard off, neither spectacular. But it wounded him when she said it. It felt a little better when he beat her. But, turning his fury to Azim's skin didn't solace his soul nor did it hide his incompetence.

Hurt, embarrassed, and determined to bring the diamond back he thought of going. But he wasn't the only one who was hurt.

Azim clapped back at him saying "you killed my parents and promised me a better life here, now you beat me"

Taken aback at all the words this little fellow said he tried to defend himself saying, "you should have checked the place"

Azim said, "You never showed me where you kept the diamond"

"this was an accident" Albert replied

"All of these are accidents, you said you killing my father was an accident, you told me you would turn all these sorrows away. You said that my father died there for a reason and that reason was you finding the diamond and helping me. I haven't seen any helping so far."

Albert realizing the little boy isn't so little anymore and speaks remarkably well, calms him down. Saying these are little missteps on the way to complete freedom. Convinces the kid that they should go back in search for the diamond again.

Azim says, "you fool, you lived in a lodging. They have rented out the place to someone else by now. Even the cleaning lady might have taken it"

Albert begins, "listen kid, anyone may have taken it. But if we go early and find out who was there after us, we can find out about the diamond. We can also look at your father's fields and see if there more diamonds underground"

"You could always go to Africa" Azim said

"I have to make her pay" Albert said.

Fast forward a week, the two were on their way back via a ship. Albert managed to get them two cheap wickets with lodgings in the lower deck. These two managed to get along till today, when Albert courtesy of a wine bottle he managed to steal from the upper deck got himself to another of those episodes in which he quite can't figure out if the people around him are humans or objects. Mortified, he tried to take it out on Azim. The ensuing episode that followed annoyed everyone.

Joseph however wasn't any stranger to abuse. As far back as his memories go, he could picture faded memories of his father coming home drunk and thrashing everyone starting from his mother down to the last child. All 5 of them. One day as his father went out for his drink, he thought of running away from home. After all he knew pretty well what would follow. Hours went by but his father didn't return home. He felt a little good about it. A little later though there returned some men in foreign uniform. One of them spoke his language but in a very different accent. These men took him and his brothers and sisters as slaves. His two sisters were sent to the Ottoman harem, he was sent to be a slave soldier at the janissary core, apparently it was a huge honor to be there. A few years later the core was disbanded, and he lost his job. Stripped of identity, purpose and any one to call his own he left to find meaning and purpose in life. As a child he learned worshipping the cross of jesus and as he grew up in his adopted family in the Ottoman Empire, he learned to follow another drastically different way of life. However, his birth father's beatings and the ruckus that he used to create at home left Joseph a deeply unsettled man. "They come out of the graves" his mother used to tell him he could remember. She of course was describing Vampires. The undead who used to roam around at night and suck blood of people. People who could only be killed by silver bullets, Holy water, and garlic. At least this was what mother told him. His family was poor, they couldn't afford guns much less silver bullets.

He took his fear of the undead from his home to his new place of stay. After completing his training as one last homage to his now dead mother, he coated a bullet in silver and carried it everywhere.

Now looking at Azim it became painfully clear that this boy is in a place Joseph himself was in many many years ago.

"1 more day" announced one of the crewmates from the upper deck. Signaling that there was one last day in this voyage.

Joseph decided to talk to the little boy. He went forward and extended his hand to the child. Asking his name.

"Azim" said the child.

"Hakim" said Joseph, introducing himself with his given name by his adopted family. After all this is what he called himself now.

"Where are you going?" he asked Azim.

"nowhere you should be worried about". Said Albert from behind the child's back.

"I mean no harm" said Joseph.

"Then mind your own business" Albert replied.

Joseph decided to step away.

The next day as the ship reached the harbor, Albert seemed really happy. Unaware of the previous day's scenes he created. He took Azim out to one of the Bazaars right after getting off the ship. He bought him some sweetened candies. Azim chewed on them halfheartedly.

"we are back little one" said Albert enthusiastically.

"You sure you can pull this off" Azim asked Albert a little concerningly.

Albert tried staying calm now. He tried to focus on the task in his hand. Trying to rationalize his plans of actions. The diamond, the lodging he left, the people working there and the maid who must have cleaned the room. These things ringed in his ears one by one. The maid may have taken the diamonds and got off to another land. The maid couldn't have taken it, she gave it to the owners. The owner must have taken it back to England. If so, then should I go back home and look for him? If so, then at the very least I should go to England with an address.

Meanwhile, Joseph wandered along the city. The cobbled pavements reminded him of his time back in Constantinople, colorful city, people with assorted hats and beards haggling over things. But here the white skinned guards in imperial uniform really looked out of place. When they passed along a vendor, the people around them stopped haggling and looked at them. Their movements literally put on hold what people does on a regular basis and turn all the gazing attention towards them. It's like when a predator stalks around the forest in search of preys and the preys keep doing what they are doing, and the predator singles out it's target. If the herd of preys notice the predator however, then the dynamics off their regular movements change. They act dreadfully and they run. Only here the said predators don't need to stalk around, they can wander on open grounds and the preys can only stare at their life's end. They can't run.

Joseph reminded himself of why he was here. He's here he told himself because of what he believes is his journey to discover himself as a person. Taken away from his parents as child and given a new identity that he was convinced would wash away his sorrows of losing everyone he ever knew and then bringing himself up again only to lose it all over again. Life he thought to himself was an endless loop of sorrows and miseries each succeeding the other, taking turns so that one doesn't get tired of one of these feeling. A brief moment of sorrow followed and by and overwhelming sense of misery to reverting back to sorrowfulness. It's almost as if he missed being sad when he was in misery. There were brief moments of blissfulness spread across, like little specks of stars glittered across a partially cloudy sky. Only here the stars don't illuminate the nighttime sky rather gets covered by the clouds of sorrow and rain down misery. Leaving only a fleeting feeling of hope and a future of happiness that will never exist.

Fretful, weary, and sad he walked along a road and while doing so he came close to an establishment. It was a lodging and a bell boy there told him there were three categories of rooms in the lodging. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class.

On the lower floor of the lodge Joseph met Albert and Azim. They exchanged brief pleasantries and went their separate ways.

Albert on reaching the room, the same room he had booked beforehand realized that a lot of things in it changed. The sheets were different, and the curtains were changed. Most importantly it bore no semblance to the room in which he misplaced the diamond before. Albert flipped over the sheets over and over again. Azim wondered why people does such things. As if flipping through the same bed would reveal the diamond out of thin air.

"it's not there you old fool. It's not there. People took it away from you the moment it YOU forgot to put in in your suitcase. You are as useless as they come. You…..."

As Azim was venting his frustration. Both Albert and Azim started hearing a huge commotion coming from the outside. They left their room and saw that people have surrounded Joseph. Many of them shouting at him angrily. Albert said, "what's going on?"

"How should I know" Azim said, still angry at Albert.

"You saw him at the ship, didn't you?" Albert asked Azim.

"He told me his name was Hakim. Never met a man that looked him but had a name like somebody like me." Azim said.

Azim and Albert went near the commotion.

"there's only 1 man with a silver bullet in his self and there's no way a local man committed the murder." Said the police chief. A small diminutive man whose face couldn't be made clear from across the hallway.

"I have told you enough times, I have made this silver bullet as a homage to my mother. It's the only thing that reminds me of where I came from." Joseph said

"Say that to the dead British couple. This is a colony and the lives of our people are highly precious here. Murdering vagabonds like you have no place here. You vagrants and your weird ways of life have no place in a sophisticated society like ours." Lectured the police chief.

"Sophisticated. That's a nice word". Azim thought to himself. He wondered if it had anything to do with farmer giving away whatever they made to the tax collectors. People dying so that a few funny uniformed people could collect "tax" and ensure "peace." That's sophisticated.

"Say something" ordered the police chief. Azim got startled. Lost his thought bubble and started paying attention to what the people were saying.

Almost all of it had to do with accusations. Ungodly, no due process for Vagrants. God looks down upon your kind. Murderer. All these chants by cronies of the police chief filled the air.

"Must have something to do with sophistication" thought Azim.

Meanwhile Albert pulled him aside. Looking unusually pragmatic he said to Azim. "I don't think he did it."

"duh, he just came to this place. What possible motive could this man have to kill someone he doesn't know" Azim replied to Albert.

Albert a bit stunned by the child's ingenuity thought how this kid could stay with him after taking such beatings from him on a daily basis.

While Azim wondered how could a man as inept as Albert could string together a few dots logically and come to a rational conclusion.

"A murder has taken place. Dark forces have been set afoot in our lands by this man". Said the police chief pointing to Joseph.

"People like him have always wandered the world. In search of vile and mischief and ruining the lives of those around them and then go unpunished for their sins, blending away with the shadows of night depriving the world of good hardworking people by taking their life. These are the spawns of Satan." The police chief said all these words to the gathered crowd around him. The crowd meanwhile glued to every word this little man had to say. There was an interpreter with him who translated his words to the locals.

The police chief continued, "this man not only killed a man, but also stole a jewel that belonged to the couple. They were good hard-working British lords who came in this good country to create jobs for the locals and introduce them to the civilized way of life. And in return this is what they get."

Albert's eyes lit up. Azim's jaw dropped. They stared at each other in utter disbelief.

Somehow the diamond reached the hands of this now dead couple. Someone had an eye on those diamonds and had them killed. In the midst of all these the police chief was involved.

Azim showing a bit restraint told Albert, "what if our diamonds and their diamonds are different and have nothing to do with each other?"

"we can always look for the maid and ask her if she had seen it. We have to disguise ourselves first obviously" Said Albert.

"you don't seem too much like a drunk now" replied Azim.

"don't push it boy, said Albert" Both of them had a laugh. Albert went back to the room. Shaved off his beard. Styled his hair a bit differently and came back to Azim.

"yeah it could work" Azim told Albert about his new disguise. These two went downstairs where the reception area was. A big wooden counter behind which stood 3 men dressed in bellboy uniforms. Albert went ahead and asked one of the boys about the address of their employees.

The bellboy replied that they don't give away their employee addresses. It was forbidden to do so under the orders of the Police chief.

Albert now surprised by the fishiness of the police chief went back to Azim. He told him what happened. Azim said that these people must be hiding something which was crucial. There has to be a record somewhere. An establishment this big needs to have a record that journalizes their employees addresses. A British colonial institution that aims to be reputable to their own people generally provide their own kind such information. Now, Albert and Azim theorized, that they will sneak off of their rooms and go downstairs near the counter. Search the shelves behind the counter and try to get relevant information. Whatever they do sitting inside their rooms and planning won't be of help. This was what these two decided.

At night Albert sneaked off his room. Went downstairs in his disguise. He oversaw some people bickering away near the lodging gate. As his eyes adjusted to nighttime darkness, he recognized a few of those faces. 2 of them were bellboys he saw earlier in the day. Albert sneaked ahead a few arched walls and crouched beside a column opposite the gate. The wall in a way hid him from the bellboys but was close enough so that he could hear.

"well one man asked about employee addresses" said one of them to another person whose face Albert did not recognize.

"local or our British" said the unknown man. His face was somehow hidden from the chin up. "British" said the bell boy.

"probably someone new here looking for a maid or something" said the unknown man. His face still covered in shadow but his voice unmistakably clear.

"what if someone asks someone of the dead maid now. I am really scared of people around here these days" said one of the bellboys a little shakily.

"you know nothing is always the answer" the unknown man said. This time he bought himself a little closer. That's a face Albert thought he would never have to see again. It's the man his wife left him for. Now, he has the diamonds that Albert thought was his. Angered, he left the place and went back to his room.

"For the last time. I don't have any more silver bullets. I don't think the one I carried with me even works. How many times do I have to tell you my story?" Cried out joseph in pain. His hands tied behind his back and his torso was attached to a beam fitted in the chair he was sitting. His legs were also tied with wires. As a result, when the guards beat him, the jerking motion cut through his skin in his legs and when he tried to wither it cut a little more.

"Tell us Hakim. Where did you get these bullets and why did you kill off those people" said one of the guards torturing him. Joseph despite having the chance to go back to his given name chose to tell the guards his adopted name.

"Bullet, you deaf pig, bullet. I have only one bullet. I told you why I only have one. I was raised a Christian you know. The lord whose cross you're wearing had mercy on people and treated them fairly. What part of this is fair? Screamed Joseph.

The guards all stopped for a little bit. Looked at each other. Then they broke off into laughter. "you hear this guy; he thinks he can blurt out a few teachings of our lord and we will let him go." Said one of them.

"these are some the devil worshippers tactics you know", said another one

"yeah, they parrot off a few biblical lines here and there and trick people in their devious ways. Told the third guard.

"hey, you spawn of Satan. If you were such a god-fearing man. Then why did you leave the teachings of your savior and got into the religion of the enemy. You know your ancestors fought against them in the crusades." This came from the officer in charge of the interrogation. This man was tasked to find out how did this man commit the murders. Apparently, the police chief said to him that he himself found overwhelming evidence that this man was a cunning criminal mastermind sent here by enemies of the state to start a war so that they could take over this colony.

Yet so far, his interrogation hadn't yielded any results. "must be the training he had before his corps was disbanded. He must have defected to the Dutch or the French and then they sent him here to spy on us" the chief thought to himself while rubbing away the blood in his knuckles while he thought of all these possible scenarios in his head

"what kind of a spy murders people with silver bullets. It's not discreet" the officer in charge asked one of his cronies "the devilish ones, I guess" replied the crony. "you do know even Satan was a bit discreet, right? He tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit" the officer to his crony overlooking at Joseph. "I don't know, sir" said his crony

"Something doesn't add up here" Remarked the officer.

"You wouldn't believe whom I just saw." Said Albert to Azim while panting to catch his breath.

"what" said Azim.

"I can't quite remember his name. John, Jacob, or something along these lines. He is the man that wench left me for." Albert told Azim. His voice gradually steeping into anger.

"I am not even a grown man and I know people's names when I meet them. At what point does this strike to you that maybe you are the problem? You didn't provide for your wife, you forgot to put the diamonds in the suitcase, and you forgot the name of the man for whom your wife left you" Azim went off on a angry rant

"The mere fact that a man so incredibly dumb and inept like you managed to stay alive so far in his life wonders me. Azim said

"The only time your brain functioned properly was when you killed my father. That too was possible because he was injured". Azim said these while on the verge of being in tears.

"look kid" Albert started speaking with a smooth voice, "I am not the smartest man on earth, I make terrible mistakes and I am sorry to drag you into messes that I created. But you know what if your father didn't attack me, I wouldn't have attacked him and if I didn't bring you in with me you would have been working the fields now without any pay."

At this the tension rose in the room a little bit. Azim looked at Albert with a sign of disrespect. "what kind of a man is he?" Azim thought to himself.

"if you promise not to drink till you find the diamonds, I am with you" Said Azim.

"done" Replied Albert.

"you owe me half of whatever that diamond brings you" Azim told Albert then.

"why is that" Albert replied.

"because that day back in my house, you wouldn't have found a nickel if it weren't for me." Replied Azim.

Then these two went for a heated argument. It was a surprise really that Albert didn't resort to hitting Azim like he used to do. He realized that at the end of the day he needed Azim more than anyone else in the world. The diamond, his revenge against his estranged wife and that damn man whose name he forgot over several bottles of alcohol are everything that stood against him because of all the bad decisions he took. His carelessness culminated over into one giant heap of mess that his life is now. Despite all these the only one on his side is a boy whose father he killed. Ironically the only time his brain seemed to function well.

After the argument between the two seceded. Azim came up with a plan of following the bell boys at night. The lodge had a gentlemen's bar where they sat down to eavesdrop on anything they could find. Sometime passed without either of them managing to get anything of value from the passing conversation.

Azim then said to Albert. "Sneak out again tonight, and see if the man comes here again"

"what man? The wife stealer? Asked Albert.

"yes, the one and only" replied Azim.

"try figuring out where he goes at night. Follow the man and you will get to the diamonds. There was a monkey which used to come near our home when I was a little boy. Whenever it came something disappeared. At first, we tried locking things. Then it started stealing clothes off the clothesline outside. One day I decided to follow it ever so slowly. It jumped off of trees and I walked barefoot in the grounds. Sometime later I reached a little corner of the forest and voila, everything was there. Right by the side of a tree behind a rock." Explained Azim.

"now, are you ready to follow him." Asked Azim

"that's all we could do now, isn't it?" Replied Albert.

That night. Albert took on his disguise again. Came down the stairs and noticed that the usual bell boys were talking with the same man. Albert tried the same maneuver he tried the other night to get closer. But today he got caught. Plain and simple.

The stranger came forward to him and gasped with sheer disbelief, "mine, mine what do we have here?"

Albert being the fool as always tried jumping off to him and the bellboys held him down. The man then knocked him out unconscious. The bell boys then dragged him off to a horse carriage waiting for him outside.

Azim meanwhile not trusting Albert to get the job done, decided to leave the room a little later than Albert saw the unfold from the safety of the second-floor stairs. The curve of the spiraling staircase provided just enough cover for him to stay out of sight.

"Now what" gasped Azim.

"once a fool always a fool. This guy should be made of the kingdom of stupidity." He thought to himself.

Sitting by the staircase alone and in the dark Azim struggled to come up with plans with what to do now. He thought if he took a little money then probably, he could bribe someone to tell him something. He quickly got up to his feet and went into the room to fetch some money.

Meanwhile, Albert now bound and gagged in the back of the carriage slowly regained his consciousness.

"Remember me, little boy" said the man almost mockingly at Albert.

"I am Ronald" the one your wife left you for.

Albert thought to himself that maybe be he was a fool after all. He thought this man's name was Jason or something. Then he realized it was a trifle thing to consider when you are bound and gagged on the back of a carriage.

The carriage stopped at a large mansion. There were guards who greeted Ronald. Calling him Sahib and what not. He commanded to some of the servant's present there to take Albert to the waiting room. He was duly taken there. It had seats all across it. There were sited some serious looking men. Albert recognized the police chief there.

In fact, the chief was the first to question him. He asked "so you where the one who asked about the employee records here. You see several gentlemen ask us of this issue here. After all why not. We have a reputation to maintain, no matter how far off we are from our homeland. We try to provide the best service. But once someone left a diamond in the room, we had to be careful. If word reached out to the government officials, they would have claimed this piece. So, we had to find the man. Now, comes the important part" the chief told Albert.

"you tell us where you got the diamond and then say that you worked for Mr. Wright, the dead man and his dead wife. They were noted government officials who were supposed to look into the minerals of this region. Anyways, I am deviating from my point here. You will say that you saw that Vagrant kill off these two wonderful human beings with a gun. And jump off the window. Understood"? The police chief laid all these out to him flatly.

"After that we will give you a commission and for your wonderful services and if things work out you might have a job with us" With this the chief finished off

Ronald came in the room now and immediately said, "you don't have any choices left now, you useless bum" "what about the child?", said Ronald. "He will be taken care off." Said a man within the crowd. "that's not good for me" said Albert. "Neither is leaving behind a diamond in a lodging but here we are. Ronald said cheekily.

"Fine" Albert said. As if finally giving himself up and accepting of what he had done to himself.

It was morning now and the sun shone bright on Azim as he waded through the busy streets to get to the jail. He thought that Albert must be on the jail. Since that's were the foreigners generally took people they didn't like. It was that or they killed him right where they saw them.

Azim's hope was now to bribe someone to help Albert escape prison. He went near to the jail and noticed one of the jail's sweepers. They had the distinctive covers the foreigners made the cleaners wear when they worked on government property. He went to her and asked her how she was. The lady smiled at him and him and said she was fine. He conversed for a little while and got to know that while cleaning the cells she didn't see Albert even though Azim described Albert perfectly. But she saw the Vagrant there. Lying almost halfway to death having been beaten badly. Azim now a little dazed thought to himself that at some point or another Albert was taken to the jail. There the Vagrant must have seen him. But, how do you get to someone inside a jail?

Meanwhile now Joseph. Lay awake in his jail cell almost waiting for it all to be over. He thought to himself that if there was a god over his head, he must have forsaken him. It was familiar thought he got used to. Back in the Ottoman military any failures were attributed to god having forsaken them. His mother used to say God has forsaken us when his father came home drunk and beat them. He had heard people of two different kinds worshipping the same god say that he has forsaken them on any of their failures. Now, who says the two religions are dissimilar, the thought bought a smile to his face for a little while. The guard outside saw the smirk across his face. Young and inexperienced the silly guard did not realize Joseph was unchained in his cell now went in to beat joseph by himself. Joseph could not believe his luck. A fully armed, inexperienced guard in his cell and no one around for that matter. Joseph threw a few punches at the guard disarming him and broke his neck with his bare arms. After that he took the sword of the guard and the musket. There were 5 bullets in the pouch. He flung the Musket on his shoulder and sneaked passed the cells. There was inmate in the first cell who alerted a guard when he saw Joseph. 3 guards came running to Joseph, he killed them one by one. Leaving the Jail practically empty.

By then it was almost High noon. Azim was still roaming around the streets in and around the jail. Trying to find out ways of getting to Albert. There he saw the carriage that took Albert away. Without thinking much, he decided to follow it. All this while Joseph sneaked out of a side door of the police station. He was dressed in an imperial guard uniform and he decided to get out of there as soon as possible. This land was no longer safe for him. All he now needed was some money and he was good to go away from here for good.

Albert, now in the carriage got a seat among the other passengers. He guided them through to the old farmer's house. He pointed to them the place he found the diamond. Recounted the story of the attack of the peasant farmer and the little boy Azim.

The police chief, Reynold and Albert got down off the carriage. They went in to inspect the now abandoned hut. Opening the door, they saw a few rats hiding on about.

Then, they inspected the grounds and while doing so the officer who interrogated Joseph the day rode in his horse towards the chief.

He came in said that their prisoner escaped the jail by killing a few guards. The police chief now found the right way to frame Joseph and thus end this chapter once and for all. Satisfied with how things turned out. He ordered the immediate search of the man. The officer having got his orders left.

He then took Albert to the side and said, "look innocent men have died for the things that happened here in this house" pointing towards the peasant's hut. It all ends now, when you say that the vagrant jumped off and killed Mr. Wright and his wife. You will say he did so with a silver bullet, which you saw him load into the gun and tried to stop.

"It was you people who killed Mr. Wright" isn't it??

"questions like that will get you killed, boy" said the chief sternly.

"Once we get the vagrant devil you will say all these things that we have taught you so far and then we will reward you." the chief patted Albert on the back as he said those words.

Meanwhile Azim lay low a little away behind the bushes having overheard their conversation now. He decided to save both Hakim (Joseph was Hakim to him) and Albert. How would he do it though was the biggest question here.

Joseph now took to an off-road trail to stay hidden till dusk. He was quite in his approach. But as fate would have it, the officer with a group of men noticed him from a distant. He had issued an order to his guards to stay in groups of two or more. Figuring that Joseph would be alone somewhere. He duly noticed him and charged towards him. A fight broke out. He lost two men to gunshots but managed to get the man in the end.

He was bought forward to the chief. Ronald was there and so was the local judge. All sited in the courtyard behind the jail. Albert read from a pre prepared statement saying all the lies that he was supposed to say about Azim. He was duly hanged a few days later.

Meanwhile, Albert as a reward for his "services" was given the duty to dig the grounds besides Azim's old house. For the first time in his life he felt a little validated. Long gone was his need for revenge against Ronald. It didn't even bother him that Ronald regularly insulted him about this issue. To him there was no higher honor than leading a few men. Even if was as menial as digging up a ground. "We will find diamonds here he told himself. A farmer did it long before me. That diamond bought me wealth and honor and will bring wealth again" He told himself these unaware of the fact that he had been digging the same ground for over a year without any results. It didn't even bother him to look for Azim. Someone he actually cared about. Ronald was also under investigation at this time by the Crown for money embezzlement. The chief of police relinquished his duties and Albert was on borrowed time. After all he helped to propagate a lie that killed a man and a woman and framed Joseph which killed him as well. All for a shiny piece of object. As Albert was commanding a few local diggers to dig along the sides, a familiar voice called him from the back. It was Azim. He had grown up quite a bit now.

After all this time he said to him, "where were you? I missed you a lot. It fills my heart seeing you now little kid".

"I can't fill your heart with anything, it's already filled poison isn't it? Said Azim

"Now little one", Albert began "there are things which you got to do that are ugly. But in the end, it brings results" …..

Azim didn't even let him finish what he was trying to say. He took a knife out and put it in Albert. He bought himself near to him and said "now you may have a fair fight with my father man to man on equal footing in the afterlife"