JODHA AKBAR (On Hold)

Chapter 15

Recap: Jalal takes control over the palace . Royal family held as hostages by the Mughal army.

                                                                                      ****

Sunset always gives harmony to the people who admire it. Those people who love nature ,if possible, will fall in love with It again and again. If only I could have jodha beside me thought Jalal. Its been hours that he is waiting for the arrival of his beloved. He knew that she will arrive.

She is never a person who runs away from difficulties, in fact she defeats those situations will her uncanny courage. Hence he knew. That she would come for sure, at least to settle scores with him , if not for the safety of her family . He also knew that information would have reached her. Because more than the people who are loyal to the king of Amer , there are people who respect and adore her, for her courage, for her knowledge, for what she is, so, it is for sure that the latest news of her family being held as hostage would reach her like wildfire and his junglee billi would come raging to protect her family. 

His heart beat started raising indicating her presence. Jalal who stood at the window studded with diamonds and gold, admiring the nature sensed the movement behind him, but never moved an inch. He is soldier who can fight an army single handedly with blind eyes , then how can he have not sense the person behind him, when that person is his beloved begum. He is just waiting for her attack . He started counting the numbers 

10....9...8....7....6....5  

and there comes the attack . A dagger came with a sheer force , piercing through the air around him . And within no time his warrior instincts activated . He just moved a bit left as the dagger came attacking the right , and caught the dagger flat between his palms . Within a flick of moment he caught the hand clutching the dagger and pulled it front .

 That's it 

 What he felt like an eternity came to an end. There stood his jodha, just the way he want, in his arms. He is looking at his Jodha having his fill, who stood there in his arms , her back pressed to the window and her front plastered to his. He just want to stop the time and drown in her eyes which shows pain, anger, innocence and finally unbound and unconditional love for him. he started observing her appearance which he failed to, the before night. she is dressed in the white warrior attire, its the same attire which she wore when they, for the first time practiced the sword fight together in Agra. Her adorable face is covered leaving her eyes. 

That second , the only thought in their mind is how beautiful it would be if the time freezes. Jalal slowly moved his hand towards her face and removed the cloth thereby uncovering her face. Time truly froze for Jalal. She looked paler than before, she did become thinner but those eyes carried the same innocence as before but the only addition being the pain which he has given her. He caressed her cheek cupping her face . Oh how much he missed this feeling of being close to her. He called her in his ever so husky voice filled with longing , pain and mostly love.

"Jodha"

Jodha was just lost in the eyes of her love.oh how much she missed being close to him. She is just losing herself in his eyes .But his voice snapped her out of revive. Hearing his voice calling her out with so much of longing ripped open her raw wounds. The expression in her eyes changed from love to hate, warm to cold and finally pain to anger. anger on him for making her weak, anger on herself for being soo weak and anger on the love in her heart for him which still is burning even after being wounded soo much that too by him.She started planning her attack.

Meanwhile, Jalal was alarmed with the change of her expressions. he knew that was the end of the blissful moment. As he expected she attacked him by snatching the katar which is tucked in his waist belt by looking dead straight in his eyes. He just in time ducked and flipped her in such a way that the katar which was naturally aimed at his neck is on jodha's neck and her back plastered to his front, and her hand which is clutching weapon is caught by Jalal. 

Their heartbeats escalating by every second. Jalal whispered " That was pretty good jodha, but remember that , never ever let the opponent have a whiff of your thoughts, if not that would be the first step towards your doom" 

His words enraged her to umpteenth extent. But her heart and body are in totally different state. When he is uttering those words his breadth is teasing her senses and his lips accidentally touching her ears erupting goosebumps. Diverting herself from all weakening thoughts, She kicked in his abdomen, making him loose his grip over her. She took it as a opportunity and grabbed his sword which is lying on the side table , pointing at him. he could see the victorious glint in her eyes along with unbridled fury. 

In the meantime soldiers heard sounds coming from the shehenshah's chamber and were alert immediately. They rushed in to the chamber immediately and were shocked to see the scene in front of them, Where the king who has the ability to handle the whole army with a single-hand is standing unarmed with a sword, precisely , his sword  pointed at his neck , by a person dressed in warrior attire, whose personality is too thin to be assumed as a warrior. But what amazed them is,that their king is standing there with a smile playing on his lips , which is directed towards his attacker. Soldiers were ready to attack the intruder , but were stopped with a raised palm of their king indicating that the intruder should not be attacked.

Jalal gestured the guard to give him the sword. the soldier bent on his knees and gave his sword to the king. Jalal then dismissed the guards. Guards left the chamber silently dreading what is going to happen here after. 

Jalal rotated the sword indicating that he is ready to fight. Jodha took it as a sign of start and attacked him. He need to admit that her attack was indeed heavy. He was amazed at the attack , because the last time he has fought with her , her skill has improved to an amazing extent. Their swords clang from time to time, giving an impression to the outsiders that inside there was a war going on instead of fight between two people. Jalal was just defending himself , and sometimes attacked her in between. The main motto in his mind regarding this is just to release her of her anger and pain which she has been hiding in her since a long time. And he want to end this mini battle between him and his better half. He just powerfully attacked her and attempting to avoid which she ducked and fell on the ground resulting in falling of her turban , thereby uncovering her face. His thirst has been fulfilled with the glimpse of his beloved. The couple froze in their respective places with their eyes locked on each other.

Meanwhile Amer royal family came there when they were informed by the soldiers that an intruder has attacked their king. But they were shocked to see that the intruder was none other than their beloved daughter. They just froze watching the scene unfolding before their eyes.

Jalal saw the royal family standing in his chamber with astound expression on their faces.

 Shit! this is not the way he wanted the royal family to see their daughter. His plan of confronting Jodha has messed up now. Now he need to wait again to get a suitable opportunity to speak to Jodha. For that he need to take a step which may even damage the relations further. But it is inevitable. 

Taking a deep breadth he stood as a barrier between the royal family and Jodha, his back facing the royal family. He never ever want anyone to see his love so broken and distraught , lest her own family. He just took her hand lifted her from the ground. In the mean time she covered her face and schooled her expressions turning her face stony. His heart pained seeing the pain she is forced to bear. He swore within himself to make her feel loved to an extent where she will forget all her pains. He held her hand and ordered soldiers 

" soldiers take her away and see that she is arrested in the chamber. she will not step out of the chamber".

Her face gave away nothing . This created panic inside him. But he knew that she is not that week to harm herself. Her family let out gasps hearing his orders. But they could do nothing, hence, left silently.

Jodha looked at him for the last time before leaving the chamber. He whispered silently in her heart 

" I love you jaan . I am sorry"

Precap: The confrontation between jodha and her family

Sorry for the late update.

Do vote and comment..

-SRI HARIKA