Golden Storms | #Wattys2020

7. A R R I V A L

A/N: JazakAllah khair to those who have given me the encouragement to keep writing this book ❤️ just a short chapter but I swear the next one is gonna be a blast. please remember to VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE if you enjoy!

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I have never wanted to die more than here and now. The sun is beating down on our backs like it is tying to punish us for the bloody trail we have left behind. The miles yet to come seem to be just as bleak and depressing as the hundreds past. I find no glory or victory in our work. It is just work.

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What had felt like an eternity away was gaining stead on the town faster than could be anticipated. Time seemed to slip through their fingers as they hastened to flee. Many kissed their doors and hung their keys around their necks, promising they would return.

The councillors were the last to leave, aside from those who refused to. At the end of the day a man values his life and the lives of his family members above all. Even Zakariyya, who had scoffed at Ustad's suggestions, belittled his help, took heed of one piece of advice: leave Taghrid. Ride away as far as you can. Seek haven in a mighty city, for the smaller towns will not stand a chance.

When the day arrived for the councillors to leave, Ishtar found herself walking the corners of her home once more. She had never appreciated it enough, she wandered from room to room. Here she and her sisters had been born and raised, taught, scolded, loved. In the very hall Inaya had been recently married. Falaq gazed at the empty hall, now dull with the lack of candles and flowers. Dust was already swirling in the filtered sunlight forcing its way inside. She imagined the place when she had last danced with Falaq. There, in the centre, her feet had hit the ground to a beat alongside the heels of her best friend. Their anklets had chimed with joy as they moved. Petals from the flowers woven into Ishtar's hair had fluttered around them the faster they moved. It seemed to be the last time Ishtar had seen Falaq truly laugh.

Where was Falaq? Would she not even bid her best friend goodbye?

"Oh Allah, the only one who can preserve that which I ask for, preserve this place for when I return" Ishtar prayed, eyes gazing up at the ceiling, imagining the brilliant light Allah (s.w.t) had instructed His believers to imagine Him as. She knew He had heard. She felt somewhat more able to turn around and join the rest of her family outside.

"Ishtar, darling" her mother engulfed her in her arms and kissed her head, "do not be disheartened, we will soon return."

Ishtar said nothing, snuggling into her mother's embrace further while Inaya joined them.

They held each other for a few moments until Zakariyya's muttering caused Ishtar to lift her head.

"Who told that girl we were leaving?"

Ishtar broke away and spun around, heart thumping wildly. There, standing just outside the gates of her estate stood Batal – and atop him, Falaq, and right beside her, almost melding into the night sky, Amaan.

Ishtar tried to smile, but tears rolled down her cheeks instead.

Her friend had changed. She was still dressed in her old robes that were much expired their age of use. Her golden eyes seemed to shine impossibly in the night sky, fixated on her best friend. She was no longer the Falaq who had stood by Ishtar's side in the good and the bad and listened to her woes and fears. This Falaq had the face of someone who knew they had an impossible task ahead of them, who knew they had to let every bondage go. Yet somehow....somehow she had come for Ishtar.

Without paying heed to her father's disapproving glare, Ishtar lifted her skirts and ran to her best friend who gracefully dismounted her steed and returned a gentle embrace.