Nomads

Chapter 3, Pt 5- Black is a Cold Colour

In the afternoon, when the fog had dispersed, they took the horses out of a stroll in the city. Alsaqr and Nader rode through the streets of the city on the horsebacks. Alsaqr was looking at the small shops, and the local people as they shivered and walked. Wrapped in heavy woolen clothing to protect themselves from the cold. Alsaqr observed the market and the people. He observed how different people carried themselves, and behaved. He observed beggars and merchants, thieves hiding and royal soldiers patrolling. All of that was valuable knowledge to him. He would know how to approach and talk with the locals; he would understand their reactions better.

He admired the mountains around, looking over the city, the snow-covered ground and the liveliness of the city,

“Nader, stay awake in the night.” Alsaqr said as they rode on the horsebacks, heading towards the outskirts of the city, “you will see what she actually does. Do not let her know that you are awake.”

“Yes.” Nader said, contemplating his past actions and what he might encounter in the night.

They came by the foot of a mountain where Alsaqr spotted strange purple flowers with green stems, that were poking above the snow. Beautifully standing, as if the snow was like fertile soil to them. The petals were oddly shaped in a wavy manner, and joined together with an odd yellow center.

Alsaqr got down from his horse and bent down on his knees to inspect the strange flowers closely.

“Nader, what are these flowers? They do not seem to be dying in the snow at all.” Alsaqr asked, still looking at them.

“I don’t know. Strange.” Nader said still sitting on the horse.

Alsaqr admired the strangeness of them for a while. He loved it how a few flowers had strangely bloomed in the snow when everything else was dying.

He plucked a flower and kept it in a small leather bag that he was carrying.

“So, how did you know all this?” Nader asked as they rode back towards his house.

“Oh, I have always been fascinated by the unseen ever since I was a kid. I researched it on my own, there have also been many instances of possessions in my own bloodline. I feel drawn to them somehow. Maybe that is the reason it doesn’t want me here. I learned basic exorcism from scholars too, but I do not know how much it can help.” Alsaqr said and an anxious silence grew over them. None of them said a word throughout their way back as they were both busy thinking about the night.

---

The night had shaded Kabul with a raging snowstorm. Loud and cold winds blew as if howling as they raced the streets. Alsaqr laid impatiently on his bed, as he heard the storm rage outside his window. He constantly shifted anxiously, waiting for Ruqayyah to come.

He looked at the ceiling, his anxiety growing with the passage of every moment, moments felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours to him. He waited and waited but the heaviness of sleep grew upon him, he was deep asleep soon.

“What did you think?”, he heard a voice whisper in his ear and a sharp chill ran down his spine. He opened his eyes and saw Ruqayyah standing next to him with the same menacing smile spread across her face.

“Am I foolish?” she whispered and grinned, tilting her head.

Alsaqr watched at her in horror and started to chant the prayer, suddenly she disappeared and he woke up with a start and realized he had been dreaming.

“It may have been too late, Nader.” Alsaqr said after Nader had explained to him that Ruqayyah had been sound asleep the whole night. They were sitting in the stable, comforting the horses from the unbearable cold outside. “The Djinn was able to show me a dream, that it knew that you were pretending to sleep. I noticed something about her body. Ruqayyah’s hands were covered in cuts and her neck was bruised as if deeply cut by a knife.”

“Wha… What does it mean?” Nader asked, shocked.

“I think the Djinn is trying to show me that he is about to take her away to his world. He is soon about to kill her; I don’t know when. But it is too late for us now.” Alsaqr said.

“Are you serious?!” Nader exclaimed in horror and he was about to say something when they heard a loud bang from the house followed by a shrill, blood-curdling scream.

They both got up and rushed to the house without speaking a word to each other.

When they reached the house, they entered Nader’s room and stood there speechless at the sight they were seeing.

An almirah was lying on the floor with holy texts burning on top it, probably the source of the loud noise. Ruqayyah stood there with a menacing grin on her face, a grin that Nader had never seen on her face. She held a knife in her right hand and her left hand had several deep cuts from which a black colour liquid was oozing out, her eyes had gone completely black. The beautiful dull-green iris in the middle of a white eyeball was gone. All they could see in her eyes was pitch-black darkness.

“Oh, Ruqayyah! What have I done to you!” Nader cried as he fell to his knees in tears, looking at her.

Her grin faded away and she walked up to him with a look of pity on her face.

“Oh Nader, you ruined my life.” She whispered as she stood near him.

He held his head low, not looking at her out of guilt. “But you did the right thing.”, she whispered and the menacing grin was back on her face.

Alsaqr knew what was about to happen, he dashed towards Nader but Ruqayyah sent him flying away into a corner of the room with a single hand.

She grabbed Nader’s head with one hand and his shoulder with the other. She pulled it hard as Nader screamed in horror, and Alsaqr watched in terror. She took the hand that was on his shoulder and pierced straight into Nader’s neck with her sharp fingertips. Her whole palm went through, she laughed and screamed as she dropped Nader’s lifeless body and black blood oozed out of it instead of red blood.

She walked up to Alsaqr, he had no strength left to dodge, he was frozen there in fear. She stood in front of it and tilted her head. “Hope you enjoyed that, Prince.” She said with the same grin.

She tilted her head back and let out a painful scream, it sounded like many screams coming through the same one scream, shrill screams and low-pitched growls alike. She had been possessed by multiple demonic Djinns. The veins in her neck appeared loud and clear as she screamed. Suddenly the scream stopped and there was a soft laugh as she dropped to the ground in front of him. Her eyes still black and wide open, black blood dripping from her mouth as her corpse laid there lifeless. Alsaqr immediately found his strength to stand he said a word of quick prayer as he trembled, her eyes gradually turned green, but she was gone for good. Both of them laid there lifeless. Alsaqr quickly took packed his backpack, took his sword and dashed out of his room. He saw the servants staring at the corpses horrified, he told them to call the priest but they turned the blame of murder on him. He knew that making them understand would be of no use, what he had just witnessed would be beyond the comprehension of any man. HE tried hard convincing them but one of them ran away to call the royal guards. He locked his room from inside and escaped through the window out into the stables.

He hid under the hay of the horses, and waited there anxious that he would get caught, he heard all the commotion outside, it felt like the whole city of Kabul had arrived there. He waited there till the night, when the commotion seemed to have gotten over. He felt like that was the longest time he of his life that he had waited for sundown. He was grateful that the soldiers had not found him in the hay, and that in the commotion, the servants had forgotten to feed the hay to the horses. He sneaked out of the hay when he saw that no one was in the compound, he fed the Nangchen horse some hay. He covered his face with a woolen shawl and got on the horse’s back and made it out of the yard and out of the city into the dark snowy light.