back in Khanville the minister of health and minister of economy had already arrived with an adequate amount of troops, propaganda pamphlets were made about Ashhad and his friends, and through the hundreds of troops present in the town, the pamphlets were distributed in the populace, among them was brother Ahad though his gallant and proud attitude had now faded away and all that was left was a humble and earnest man who wanted nothing but solitude, whilst walking through the market a soldier came to Ahad, handed him a pamphlet and then moved on as Ahad read what was written on it he felt as if the ground beneath his feet got slipped, the pamphlet read,
" Dear townsfolk of Ortania, our glorious Kingdom is in need of your assistance, recently a rebellious separatist group has risen into prominence and we fear that their intentions are anything but nice, which is why we are requesting your help, the following names have been convicted of being involved in this group :-
- Mohammad Ashhad Khan
- Humzah Asad
- Hussnain Zafar
- Aaron Smith
- Alyne Herzl
- Syed Zulqarnain Abbas
- Aliza Ahmed
- Mohammad Nizaam Naqvi "
Along with the names vivid descriptions of each member were also given, the pamphlet ended with the following note :-
" If you see these people anywhere either inform our soldiers or any available minister and if necessary any violent action against these individuals shall not be considered a crime, stay safe and help us make Ortania a better place.
Regards
Government of Ortania "
Ahad could not believe what he had just read, Zulqarnain his trusted and idolized mentor had became a rebel, this was not possible as Ahad looked up at the sky and prayed
Ahad : Lord please help my teacher, if he has gone astray than bring him on the right path but, if he is righteous than may this government be punished for lying to us, Amen.
back in the forest Ashhad now united with his friends was searching for their friends Aaron and Alyne, though they had taken several twists and turns in their path, they still had no clue as to where the two were, Ashhad and Zulqarnain were in front while Hussnain Humzah and Nizaam were in middle and Aliza and Kainaat were walking on the back, Zulqarnain came close to Ashhad and said
Zulqarnain : hey Ashhad.
Ashhad : yeah.
Zulqarnain : I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior earlier.
Ashhad : it's Ok.
Zulqarnain : I was upset about Aliza, I can't bare to see a tear in her eye.
Ashhad : I can understand, no brother could ever see her sister in distress.
Zulqarnain : exactly I can never ....
Zulqarnain realized what Ashhad had said and became quiet and said
Zulqarnain : how ... how did you ...
Ashhad : only a brother would be this worried for a crying girl, had you been a stranger you would've ignored it just like the rest of us.
Zulqarnain became silent for a few seconds before saying
Zulqarnain : don't tell Aliza that I'm her brother.
Ashhad : that doesn't seem like something a person could forget.
Zulqarnain : she doesn't know I'm her brother ... not anymore atleast.
Ashhad : has she forgotten it?
Zulqarnain : maybe regardless, I don't want you to tell her or anyone about our relation, got it?
Ashhad : if you say so.
the two continued walking behind them Hussnain, Humzah and Nizaam were walking along when Hussnain said
Hussnain : walking in this forest is harder than I expected.
hearing this Zulqarnain remarked
Zulqarnain : oh yeah be careful while walking from now on, our citizenships have been revoked.
Humzah : how do you know?
Zulqarnain : check your inbox.
Humzah, Hussnain, Nizaam and Aliza checked their inbox and sure enough their citizenships had been revoked, as Nizaam said in annoyance
Nizaam : damn we are not that dangerous that Sufiyan had to revoke our citizenships or our we?
Zulqarnain : he fears that if the news of him being a power hungry tyrant reaches the populace, they'll depose him.
Humzah : in that case we should inform the people of Ortania.
Nizaam : yeah right, as if they'll listen to some lowly factionless instead of their ruler.
Ashhad : let's just try and find Aaron and Alyne for now, we'll discuss our next move later.
they kept looking until it started to turn evening time, Kainaat's horse was starting to tire seeing this she said
Kainaat : hey guys.
everyone stopped and looked back at her as she said
Kainaat : guys my horse is getting tired, what do you say we sleep at my place tonight and continue this search tomorrow?
Ashhad : very well, guys go with Kainaat and get some rest, I'll keep looking for Alyne and Aaron alone.
Humzah : aren't you tired?
Ashhad : Aaron and Alyne are out their alone and potentially in great danger, I cannot sleep until they return home safely.
Zulqarnain : Ashhad listen man I understand ....
but just then Ashhad felt as if his hearing senses went of the charts, he could once again hear all the sounds of the forests and that was when he heard Dean, Skull crusher and the mercenaries
their conversation went something like this
Skull crusher : I can't believe that those rascals overpowered us.
Dean : that girl came out of nowhere, her interference costed us an easy victory over those separatists.
Skull crusher : oh well, defeated or not we have one of their man or should I say one of their woman with us.
Dean : yeah as long as we have even one of their members we have a big advantage.
Ashhad's senses returned to normal as Zulqarnain completed his sentence by saying
Zulqarnain : I hope you'll cooperate.
Ashhad completely ignored Zulqarnain and ran straight in the direction from where the voice came as Zulqarnain shouted
Zulqarnain : hey .... hey Ashhad where are you going!
Ashhad kept running and reached Dean and Skull crusher, he hid in the nearby bushes to hear what they were saying, their conversation continued
Skull crusher : this girl shall be a valuable bargaining chip, we can trade her for a more powerful member of their group.
Dean : heck we can even use her as bait in an ambush.
Ashhad rolled his eyes over to Alyne who was lying tied up, a cloth was shoved in her mouth so she couldn't scream, surrounding her were the 11 brothers ready to attack her at Dean's order, Ashhad turned around and saw Zulqarnain and the rest coming his way he silently made his way to his friends and said in a lower pitch tone
Ashhad : I found Alyne, she has been captured by the mercenaries and Skull crusher.
hearing this the group followed Ashhad and then they all saw what Ashhad saw, upon seeing this Ashhad asked
Ashhad : what do you propose?
Humzah : though this may seem like a bad occasion to say this but I'm glad that Alyne is still alive.
Hussnain : yeah but she is still restrained.
Nizaam : lets not forget that Aaron is still missing.
Zulqarnain : freeing Alyne seems like a more a favorable option to me.
Kainaat : would you keep it down, I'm trying to hear what they're talking about.
Skull crusher and Dean continued their conversation
Dean : so where are you gonna take her?
Skull crusher : 2 of the 4 ministers are already in Khanville, I plan to take this bitch there and keep her hostage, those separatists will come looking for her eventually and when they do I'll show them hell.
Dean : and where will you be staying?
Skull crusher : the military camp of Khanville.
hearing this Ashhad said
Ashhad : I think we should ...
Zulqarnain : shhhh.
Ashhad became quite as Dean said
Dean : well in that case I think you should leave staying here is a waste of time.
Skull crusher : absolutely, by the way I would really appreciate if you came over to the palace and meet our Great King Sufiyan the magnificent.
Dean : I'll think about it.
Skull crusher than lifted Alyne on her shoulder, she struggled a little bit but eventually gave up finally Dean came to Skull crusher all the brothers stood up as Dean said
Dean : farewell friend.
Skull crusher : you to friend.
as the two turned and were leaving Skull crusher turned around and said
Skull crusher : oh Dean.
Dean turned around as Skull crusher took out in his hand a satchel and said
Skull crusher : this has 10000 emeralds in it, take it as a token of my appreciation.
Dean : I can't take this.
Skull crusher : why not?
Dean : the job is still incomplete, I cannot take even a single emerald from you until those rebels have been defeated.
Skull crusher : very well.
Dean : I promise you brother I will take my reward only when I bring you the decapitated head of Ashhad Khan.
Ashhad gulped upon hearing this as Skull crusher said with a smile
Skull crusher : it'll be a fine trade.
the two smiled, shook their hands and then parted ways.