Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 81🎆

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu•

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Thuraiz and Yuvaan sat in the cave which Thuraiz had occupied months ago when he had sent out his men to bring back Adara. The same cave on the shores of Ghazdaan had now become their home of two days.

Yuvaan had reached Thuraiz a month ago and he had then spoken to Thuraiz in detail about Adara and Amiza. He was furious at the sisters' escape and hd spoken at length to Thuraiz about bringing them back. The problem was Adara was nowhere to be found and Amiza had still not grown tired of her life without Adara.

"Why don't we try and abduct Amiza? May be Adara will somehow come to rescue her. Even if that's not the case, at least we will have Amiza back." Yuvaan said. Thuraiz narrowed his eyes but nodded.

"The suggestion is good." Thuraiz told him. "We have to take some steps regarding this whole thing soon. It's been more than a year now and the institution isn't going to wait any longer for us. We have to hasten up. The past months passed by helplessly because I had no way to find Adara and Amiza I never tried to search. But now we will send our men out for Amiza. Maybe Adara will be pulled due to it." Yuvaan nodded.

"We will use the same way that you had used before. We will offer sacrifices in return for their strength and speed in our men."

"Well then let's do that tonight and by tomorrow... They can depart." Thuraiz declared with a finality as he took out Amiza's gown which he had taken from home. They would need it for their sorcery.

*****

Muntaha occupied a chair at the stone table and watched the woman who sat before him unblinkingly. She saw him with pained eyes, trying to invoke his mercy and his soft spot. But she didn't understand yet that the men who had captured her had iron chains around their hearts. They didn't melt by some misplaced tears. Their hearts were in the control of Rabbe Zuljalalah and they had to complete a very important task.

Zuhayr sat beside Muntaha along with some other men and a couple of women, whose mahram were all present in that room. Aidh bin Kaab sat along with some other companions on the other side of the room. Some people stood guarding outside and two women stood behind Fihane, who was still trying to influence Muntaha.

Zuhayr understood the fire in Fihane's eyes quite well. He frowned at her and turned towards his nephew, who had not even blinked his eyes once or turned away from her provocations. Before he could put a stop to this though, he heard his nephew speak.

"Fihane... we are still waiting for you to answer our question. Do you want to be placed a captive in an unknown cave in those mountains?" Muntaha questioned icily. "Believe me, we have chains shorter than the last ones we put you in. If you stay quiet for some more moments, I will make sure you do not see people ever again." Muntaha leaned back in his chair. Fihane shivered as the chill from his eyes slithered through her spine and settled like a heavy cloud in her heart, gripping it in it's claws and squeezing it tightly.

"I have told your people everything."

"I want to hear from you though. Each and every word shall be from your own mouth. So start..." Muntaha ordered. Fihane swallowed.

"I... I am from Azfahan..." Fihane began slowly. The words she was speaking seemed to cause her pain. Her hands were trembling as she fisted them and her her eyes skittered in the far and vast corners of the room, as if they were searching for something. Muntaha was silent, yet his eyes took in every detail about her. "Azfahan is not just valuable to the crown for it's sea trade. The crown needs it for another thing. For the women and the intoxicants that is provided from here. Every month there are two ships from the country of Tardees that arrives here. They are full of plants that are then grown in the hills of Azfahan. These plants are then processed into intoxicants. This place also provides the crown with the alcohol. But the most important to the crown is the cultivation of women." Fihane shuddered. Muntaha frowned at her state. She was a woman of confidence and he had seen it in Zarabeel. Yet, as she spoke, she had this slight fear in the way she fidgeted.