Princess of the dawn

Chapter 44

Agra

Jalal came back from talking to his ministers. The fort's fortifications were in poor condition and he had ordered repairs to be made. He dropped onto a stool and poured himself a mug of water. As he did so, his eyes fell on the arrow that he had left lying on the small table. He took it and turned it back and forth. Suddenly he paused. Now he knew why he always had a strange feeling when looking at the arrow! The pattern of the notches between the feathers! Each of his Archery units had a different pattern! The pattern was that of Adham Khan's unity! He stared at the arrow in shock. Adham!

"Guard! Bring Abdul here." he yelled.

"Ji, huzoor!" The guard bowed and hurried away

"Salaam Jalal! Whats wrong?" he asked when he saw Jalal's angry expression.

"Salaam Abdul, look at the arrow!" He held out the arrow. "What do you notice about him?"

"Mmhh, that's a Mughal arrow. But we already know that."

"Take a close look at him!"

"What are you getting at? I can't see anything special about it." Abdul was at a loss.

"Look at the pattern between the feathers!"

"What about it?"

"Every archery unit has a different pattern! That is the pattern of Adham's unity!"

Abdul stared at him in shock! "You think...?"

"Ji! Adham was there with some of his men on the hunt! Back then it was just an aimed arrow shot in the shoulder. The question is, is he behind this or was one of his men bribed by others? And how far will they go? Will they continue or was it just a one-time incident? And why did they do it? We've never been best friends. He's always been jealous of me. What drives him or someone else?"

"That's a good question! Are you going to confront him?"

"No! We, you and I, will keep an eye on him. I will also instruct Fadhil to keep an eye on him at all times. Maybe we can find out his motivations or whether someone else is behind it." he sighed. "Again treason in our own ranks! Khan Baba, now maybe Adham. What's next?"

"We'll find out, Jalal! His duties in Hatkant keep him busy and he is rarely in town. It will be easy to watch him when he is in Agra."

"Mhh. I will assign Fadhil to smuggle a soldier into Adham's unit, who will keep an eye on him during his duties in Hatkant and can ask around among his men."

"Very well. So he is under observation there too! By the way... did you get a message from Amer? Is the Raja coming to Bakshi's wedding with his family?" Abdul asked curiously.

"Yes, he confirmed the invitation!" Jalal's face began to shine. "But I didn't expect anything else!" He said with a smug grin. "He wouldn't go as far as to insult me by rejecting it! Amer is unable to withstand our anger!"

"You have thought everything through carefully!"

"Surely! I look forward to welcoming the Raja and his family!" He placed particular emphasis on the word family and grinned widely.

Abdul laughed! "You don't happen to mean a certain Rajkumari in particular?"

"How did you come up with that?" Jalal asked with an innocent look. Both burst out laughing loudly.

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Every day new guests arrived for Bakshi's wedding. Jalal was waiting impatiently for a particular guest. As soon as the Raja and his entourage were announced, he rushed over to greet the guests with his mother.