Golden Storms | #Wattys2020

32. B A N D I T S

A/N: I'm so excited to share this chapter with you all! Please remember to VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE! I love this little family we have and how patient some of you have been with my slow updates. It's definitely a work in progress trying to be consistent but I've got a lot in my plate 😭 I'll be quite busy for the next few weeks, so I thought I'd write this chapter to make up for it! Hope you enjoy ❤️

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She is fire, sent to burn through my resolve.
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T H E T R I O
رَجَب
H I J A A Z

Recap: When they reached the camp sight it was nightfall. Unusually there was no fire, just some embers. All their belongings were gone.

"Nuh?" Hud called, his voice dangerous.

Falaq winced when there was no response.

"NUH!" Hud roared.

No response.

Falaq dismounted, ignoring the raging assassin. She could see the dirt had been disrupted with a multitude of hoof prints. There had been a scuffle here.

"Bandits" Hudayfa hissed, coming to the conclusion the same time she did.

The both of them turned their heads to the direction of footprints. They led into the darkness, which held the third member of their trio somewhere in its depths.

"You are staying here-"

"I absolutely will not!"

"I was not requesting you, I was telling you"

"And I am telling you - I am not staying here"

Falaq and Hudayfa glared daggers at each other, energy almost cackling between them. The horses snorted uncomfortably in the charged air, throwing up their heads and whinnying.

"Why-can-you-not-listen-" Hudayfa gritted out, jaw clenched.

"No - you listen to me" Falaq countered angrily, "what do you expect me to do sitting here? I have no weapons, what is to stop another band of bandits from taking me and our supplies?"

"That will not happen"

"How can you be so sure?" She pointed at the forest, "Nuh faced the same fate - and he had weapons"

"This is about the gloves, is it?" Hudayfa growled

"Yes!" Falaq blurted before she could stop herself

Hudayfa pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself. He did not have the time or the patience to entertain the devil of a woman in front of him. At times he admired her fearlessness, but this was not one of those times.

"Fine" he glared at her, "Follow me or do not follow me, I do not care. But get in my way..." he left the threat to her imagination.

Falaq said nothing, but the eye-roll once his back was turned said it all.

They set off in a pointed silence, Hudayfa riding ahead since his masculinity would be in question if - God forbid - Falaq was to take lead, and Falaq following him.