Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 11⛈

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu•

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The air was thick with the silence and the tension, as the woman cackled loudly. She watched the faces of everyone and began to laugh some more. Amiza gulped as she saw the woman talk about Adara's future. The only family she had got now was Adara and losing her to the sea was not an option. She would never allow Adara to step out of this island if there was even a slight chance of the woman being truthful.

Rushi was horror struck. Her hand had slackened on Adara's wrist as she tried to free them. The woman's words had affected all of them emotionally. Rushi looked at the woman in anger and wanted to hit her and cause her pain like she had caused them all. Adara had entered their lives and somehow burrowed into their hearts.

The warriors had taken their weapons out and were pointing them at the woman in frustration. They had noted how her words had affected the girls and they didn't want anyone to cause the girls pain, yet none of their reactions were more extreme than Adara's.

The woman was the soothsayer of the island and was generally shunned. Her words were like fire, in which people didn't want to burn. Her tongue was called as an evil tongue and where she went whispers of shayateen followed. She had eyes that shone maliciously and a smile that appeared when she saw the pain her words brought to the people. She stayed at the other side of the island and only when the wind whispered to her, did she appeared amidst the crowd. Whoever saw her, turned the other way to escape notice. Her words always turned out to be true.

She looked at Adara and grinned. Adara was the only one in the whole group who had remained blank and her reaction wasn't satisfying for the woman. The market place had gone silent to watch them. They wanted to see what the young girl, whose hand the woman had grasped, would do.

Adara finally chuckled sweetly at the woman and then freed her hands, only to grasp the woman's hands in her own. The people who were around her were startled to see her chuckle. Some thought she had gone mad with grief, while the others looked at her with pity. Amiza and Rushi wanted to shake her into her senses. Adara bent to the woman's height which was quite short.

"Audhu billahi min ashaytaan nirrajeem (I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytaan the cursed one)." She whispered. The woman jerked back in shock and tried to snatch her hand away from the girl, who had put fear in her heart, for the first time. Adara smiled before chuckling again. "I don't believe you. My unknown future lies in the hands of my all knowing Allah and I don't fear the words of shayateen. I am in the protection of the Creator of Iblees himself. And as far as my hands telling you about my future goes, I promise you whenever I fear your words, I'll raise these same hands to the heavens and pray. And I know that the Writer of everybody's fates, will change the fate itself for me because I believe that He loves me that much. But to you, I can just warn you. Don't heed to the whispers of the shayateen. Do not  follow his footsteps for he is the accursed one. He will lead you astray and then to your eternal damnation, before washing his hands off you. Bow down to your Rabb and He will forgive you. Now I have to leave. But we will meet again some day if Allah wills." Adara let her hand go and turned towards the next shop, leaving the whole market place and the woman herself in a shocked silence. None of them notice a hooded figure slink away from the crowd.

•••••

They had rested at the island for two whole days. It was the first time in this whole journey that they had made port for more than a day or half. They had then accumulated the needed things as Anazirah was just a moon away and there wasn't any more islands between Anazirah and this one. They had repaired their ship too.