Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 31🥣

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu my dearest readers.

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"That's not how you do it. You nock your arrow facing it downwards and then lift it up to take aim." Jasim explained as he slowly nocked an arrow and lifted up his own bow. Rushi nodded and copied him. He righted her posture here and there, turned her a little sideways and backed away. She inhaled deeply and straightened herself before slowly releasing the arrow. The air grew thick with anticipation for the split second the arrow was airborne and then with a thud the arrow fell short of its target. Rushi exhaled in disappointment and lowered her bow, with her lips strutted out in distaste. She turned towards Jasim to see him nodding his head in deep thought.

"What are you nodding at?" Rushi frowned. He smiled in reply.

"Try again! I am sure you will be fine. This is not the first time you are doing this anyways." Jasim replied to her.

"I feel nervous when you stand before me!" Rushi told him and he laughed wholeheaetedly embarrassing Rushi.

"Will that be your excuse if you ever need to shoot someone and miss? That you got nervous because they are watching you?" Jasim asked. She bit her lip as she turned crimson. He shook his head and gestured for her to continue. She sighed as she nocked another arrow.

It had been some days since Rushi and Jasim met. He was training her in his free time and she had gotten exceptionally better than she was before. He was tutoring her on all the fighting techniques that he as a warrior was taught. Sometimes Shaiz accompanied her and sat watching them spar. Sometimes she came alone. Their training place was just outside the forest and was visible from her home.

They had started talking and Rushi now knew who he truly was. How his dream was to become a great warrior and to protect and defend his people. She had come to know that he had been meeting Muslim traders and learning the new deen. But she didn't reveal to him about herself and that she had accepted Islam.

They had progressed from being a teacher and student to fast friends who could trust each other more than others. She knew each member of his family and what their role in his life was. He knew how much she loved her own and that there was some tension between her family and the eldest daughter due to some reason she wasn't yet ready to reveal. He understood and didn't pry. They had become that one moment in each other's life where they could truly relax. A respite, if you wanted to call it.

Rushi wished her life had come to a standstill then. But life like always had passed on like a flowing river, pulling her along. What had happened later was something that horrified her even after so many years. She took a shuddering breath and closed her eyes to encage her tears within them, but the stubborn tears still escaped in a pair before she could erect the all strong dam. She hastily wiped them away and mentally straightened her shoulders to watch the twinkling stars wink at her ruthlessly, not taking to heart the pain she was blanketed in. She swallowed her grief and huffed at their cheerful countenance.

Busy in hiding her grief, she actually missed the pair of sharp eyes that followed her movements and became a witness to her weak moment. A spark of interest was lit inside them. Rushi had sheathed herself in her iron shield once more but the crack was now visible to the pair of eyes that refused to move away from her haunted face.

Today she saw one of her closest friends, one of her sisters writhing in pain. It had freshened up her painful memories. Amiza wasn't just Sidra's sister for her now. She was a comrade, a companion. She had lost all of the people that were important to her. She couldn't lose Amiza too. She exhaled all her grief and took a shuddering breath as she took her vow of protecting her own with her life if need arose. She was going to protect Amiza from everything from that very moment.