1| Heartless Prince Of Hudaan

H E A R T L E S S  P R I N C E

O F  H U D A A AN

Do you ever get the feeling that this life isn't yours?

That you have no control?

That everyone around you is living, that everyone around you is happy and you're just breathing.

Hoping.

Watching.

Waiting.

But for what?

-Tayyab Bin Zubair

She  could hear her own heart pounding fast against her chest. It was so fast; it made her think that it'll almost stop. Placing a hand on her rapidly beating heart, she sprinted as quietly as she could through the Qasba. The city and it's people were immersed in the yearly fair.

Just a few more steps and you'll be free from boundaries.

She kept on repeating it like a mantra.

Her friends Anbar, Afsheen and Maahnoor had helped her sneak out. Her plans faltered when she heard the footsteps of Bashir Noor, a scary old man who lived alone in the southern end of the Qasba. His eyes were drawn and sunken, as though a weight tugged at them from within. He stepped out of his tent looking around skeptically. She immediately hid herself behind one of the tents closest to her. Her heart was almost in her throat now and sweat trickled down her forehead.

Please don't let him see me.

Please.

Please ya Rab!

She knew that it was a matter of time before Abba woke up and began to search for her but she was willing to take the first risk of her life for herself, for him.

She wanted to be a part of the yearly Milaan tonight. All she had heard were stories of the magnificent fair since childhood, how the people in the capital enjoyed the various performances of talented people from all the seven kingdoms. The Caravan had entered the day before yesterday and Hayat along with her friends had watched it go through the gates of Hud Souq and then through the city gates with great fascination.

Acrobats, clowns, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, tightrope walkers, jugglers and other artists who perform stunts all gathered today. Hayat had only seen the glamour from her Qasba, The top of the Ferris wheel that was visible from the entrance of her tent. She had argued with Ahmar, her fiancé and he had opposed to the mere idea of her sneaking into the capital.

Just like that, her childhood dream of visiting the fair was going to remain a dream but then Ahmar had asked her to meet him near the southern end, he had promised her that he would take her to the Milaan and what more could she have wished for.

A while later, Bashir Noor stalked back into his tent and she breathed a sigh of relief. If the elders ever came to know of her little adventure, she was likely grounded for eternity. Abduction of young beautiful girls from the village was a very common occurrence. Rumor has it, they were taken to the palace or the city to be sold to the highest bidder and the most beautiful one's were kept for the Shahzada.

Hayat had never set a foot outside the boundaries set by her parents and her fiancé. They were all very protective of her.

The climate of the kingdom of Hudaan was always unpredictable, just like its people.

It would not be a welcoming dawn, She looked above and thought. The sky told this story, with its sad halo of silver beckoning from beyond the horizon.

She looked around attentively before moving behind one tent to another. The Qasba contained about four hundred tents. Everyone must have been fast asleep by now because none of them could be a part of the fair, as the people of the Qasba were not invited to set a foot in the capital.

She looked ahead towards the clearing and ran for it. As soon as she was out of the Qasba, a deep sense of terror struck her. While she was crossing the village, light from the blazing torches from every tent still guided her way but since she was no longer protected by the boundaries of her people, danger was inevitable.

She was alone.

She tried her best to avoid the sable darkness of the Belgrad forest on her left as she lit the torch given to her by Anbar.

The foundation of the Kingdom of Hudaan was as such that Al Qasr, the palace was at the center of the  Kingdom surrounded by the capital, home to elites and the privileged one's. After it was the Hud Souq, the market place of the Kingdom and also a trade hub. The last fold of the Kingdom comprises of the Qasba and the dangerous Belgrad Forest, which was home to the rebels, the outcasts of the Kingdom whom the royal King had exiled. They were blood thirsty and wanted nothing but revenge. The rebels never let go of a single chance to harm the Kingdom.

She had heard of the vicious stories, the menacing things that could happen in these forests and yet she found herself looking for Ahmar.

She could now see the fence that separated her kingdom from the Belgrad forest. The silence of the woods ahead had her shuddering with fear.

Fear! It had always been Hayat's trusted companion ever since she could remember, she was always just too scared to do anything out of the box.

He had asked her to wait by the clearing but now that she looked around for him, she could see no one. She refused to look at the woods though, for she was scared of seeing something she didn't want to see.

Where was he?

She paced for about half a minute until her gaze lingered over to the wet ground. Kneeling down, she carefully studied the footprints imprinted on it. Maybe he wanted her to follow him. She was absolutely sure that nobody else would come to this part of the kingdom because this place was forbidden. For some odd reason the people of her kingdom always warned each other regarding the southern border.

She began to follow his footprints. She had no idea where she was going but she could trust him with her life and it was the only thing that she was most certain of.

After walking into a completely unknown path for about twenty minutes, realisation began to dawn upon her that she might as well get completely lost. She was following the never-ending footprints of a man she wasn't even sure was her fiancé.

"Aaaaaaaggghhhhh!" The sudden bawling of a man had her jump back immediately. "Who's there?" Terrified, she looked around in all directions, trying to mask away her fear and look a little brave. She could see no one. A gasp escaped her before she could stop it. Her heart careened about in her chest and she felt her knees start to give. She fisted the sides of her off white kaftan. Her first instinct was to run and she was about to do just that.

"Yaaaa Rab!" The same voice cried out even more loudly but this time it made her stop. The voice was so full of pain that it made her forget her fears. This is none of my business, I should leave. She turned around to run away from that agonizing voice when she heard him the third time. "Why ya Rab? Whyyy?" There was an instant pull that she felt and she couldn't even deny it. She wanted to help.

She took careful steps towards a broken bridge ahead, trying not to make a single noise. The sudden gust of wind had her shivering from cold but that didn't hinder her plan. The bridge had led to an another opening. She wasn't sure why she was doing what she was doing but she had never felt any more courageous in her entire life.

She walked until her eyes witnessed something beyond her imagination.

The death cliff! It was the end of her kingdom. She had only heard stories of it but never knew that it was so easy to reach it.

The beauty that her eyes beheld was mesmerizing. All that she could see was the end of her kingdom and the beginning of the vast expanse of the ocean. Huge waves crashing against the rocks below.

The wind was extremely cold here.

Everything was beautiful until her gaze ceased at the man who was crouching on his knees at the very end of the cliff.

"Aaaaaaaaggggghhhh!" She instantly recognised the voice. It was him. He was the one who had been wailing.

"Ya-Arhaamar-Raahimeen."

"Ya-Arhaamar-Raahimeen."

"Ya-Arhaamar-Raahimeen." He shouted thrice, crying hysterically. He was chanting the sacred Arabic verses. Hayat didn’t know what it meant since she never had the chance to learn, to read or write Arabic even though almost everyone in Hudaan at least knew how to speak Arbi .

She placed her torch on the ground and began to walk slowly and steadily towards him when he got up on his foot abruptly and sniffed a couple of times. Hayat paused. She could only see his back. He was one of the tallest man she had ever seen and he seemed very masculine in his built as well.

She knew he was crying. His heavy breath and loud whimpers gave that away.

What is he up to? She couldn't quite fathom.

But when she saw him raising a foot into the air, it didn't take another second for her to realise that he was about to jump and before she could even frame a sentence, words had already spilled out of her treacherous mouth.

"Excuse me. Huh! Sir." Her words had startled him for he turned around abruptly. He held out both of his fisted hands into the air as if he was ready for an attack.

"Hey! I am not here to hurt you." Hayat answered almost immediately, holding her hands up in the air trying to take a few steps towards him, hoping he'd not notice.

It was funny how he was about to jump and kill himself while on the other hand he was scared of anyone attacking him.

"Who are you? How did you find me?" The husky voice of the man made her think of him as some highly authoritative person. He seemed to have been all set for a combat where as Hayat didn't even know how to kill a bug. "I am just a nobody. I am harmless. I heard you crying and I followed your voice. Believe me. I just wanted to umm talk to you before you took your last jump." She spoke breathlessly.

After scrutinizing her for about two minutes, the man calmed down and turned towards the ocean again, ignoring her existence completely. When there came no response, Hayat moved towards him closing the seven to eight steps gap between them. She tried not to look down into the ocean, now that she stood right beside him. It could be so easy for him to push her right into the ocean and nobody would even know about it but for some unknown damn reason she stood beside him firmly. Ever so slowly all her fears began to fade into a strange sort of calm.

Now that she was close enough, she could carefully observe his face. Hayat's breath was gone before she could catch it. The linen of his white qamis was so finely spun that it reflected a faint sheen from the moonlight. It's light gave light to the carved hollows of his features. Her mouth fell agape as she perceived his sharp jaw, chin, and cheekbones. On either side of his straight nose were two blazing hazel eyes. It was such a shame that a man blessed with such looks wanted to kill himself.

His dark brows were actually graceful, but currently furrowed in a frown. He had a very attractive face. He looked deeply distressed though. The light bags under his eyes were a proof of his sleepless nights. Part of her wished she could tell him things to make him feel alright. The other very small part of her brain said that she should get a hold of herself.

"Thanks for believing me." She let out a shaky sigh but he didn't respond. His eyes were rooted towards the ocean, most probably calculating the distance between the cliff and the ocean. She wasn't quite sure about how he'd been able to look right down the cliff without being scared for his life.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" No response, he rather shifted a step away from her.

"If you don't tell me how am I going to help you?"

"I don't need your help. Go away." he snarled making her jump back instantly.

"Look I don't know what happened but everything is going to be alright. Okay?" She spoke again.

"Didn't I tell you to go away? Don't you know who I am?" He rebuked and even though deep down she was scared for her life right now, she decided not to give that away.

"Giving up on your life is no option. No problem is permanent. So stop looking for permanent solutions to temporary problems. You were calling out to God. Don't you know that he knows what's best for his creation?" The sudden change in his posture had her thinking whether he was about to punch her or even better, push her off the cliff.

When he didn't put up a fight again, she continued. "You were not created for no reason. You serve a purpose in this world and I don't believe your purpose is over as yet. So just trust ALLAH, he can mend broken hearts and shattered souls. He is the Al-Jabbar."

His muscles grew tense and a taut band of muscle flexed in his forearm. He seemed to have been thinking about something profusely.

She watched the pale light of early morning plush back the darkness with slow, careful deliberation. Dawn was about to break.

"Maybe you asked for a drop and Allah wrote for you the ocean." She spoke carefully, Making sure that the message was crystal clear.

"How long?" He exhaled with unremitting care.

"What?" she was puzzled.

"How long will it take for Allah to give me the ocean?" He asked meeting her eyes. It was as if he froze in time. Hayat watched his face shatter. The eyes of molten hazel faded to dull memory, faded to ruin. His raw anguish seared her soul and robbed her of breath.

"When the time is right, the things that belong to you will reach you." She answered ever so lightly.

Silence befell them as they kept on staring at each other for what seemed like forever, as if they were in some kind of a trance. And ever so slowly he began to lean in. Every nerve in her body was aware of what was happening. She wanted to stop but she was bewitched. She wanted to move back but it seemed impossible.

She loved someone else.

Ya rab! She was getting married within a few hours.

This is a sin.

This was wrong on so many levels but for some strange reason all sane thoughts failed to make sense at the moment.

Her heart was beating erratically and so was his.

Her eyes had instantly shut close and she had almost braced herself for the impact of his lips on hers. She had almost given into the trap.

Almost!

"Hayatt!" she heard some distant voice calling out to her.

"Hayatttt!"

"Ahmar!" Her eyes flew open and panic struck every nerve. All of a sudden they were both out of their trance. The man in front of her looked at her as if he'd seen a ghost. He took several steps back and looked at her with disdain as if she was untouchable, as if she murdered his cat. She felt bile rising in her throat. What was she thinking?

"I.. I.." Words died upon her lips, no matter how hard she wanted to give an explanation, more to herself than to him.

"Hayattt!" the voice grew louder and she began to look around searching for him, searching for her fiancé, whom she was supposed to meet tonight, hoping he had seen nothing, hoping he'd not seen her giving into the temptation of an another man.

By the time she turned back to look at the man in front of her, he had already mounted his horse, which had appeared out of nowhere.

He met her clueless gaze for the last time before he disappeared. His mantle was a rich brown that enhanced the hazel of his eyes, making them appear even more intense, even more fluid, even more illusory.

Before she could say a thing, he was gone. "Where the hell have you been?" As if on cue, Ahmar appeared out of nowhere, panting. She looked at him gobsmacked. Her head couldn't process all that had happened within a few minutes.

"I.. Uhh. I." She tried to form words again but failed miserably.

"Are you all right?" Ahmar asked her out of concern and it made her feel even more guilty. The cold winds weren't successful in numbing the pain in her heart. She couldn't even meet his gaze. She knew he was enraged because of her lack of reply.

"What were you even doing at this part of the kingdom? Do you have any idea how risky this is? If anybody saw you and reported it to the palace, you'll get punished or worse thrown into the Zindaan prison." She shuddered by the mere thought of it but refused to say a word. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't aware that entering this part of the kingdom was a crime.

As a tear rolled down her cheeks, a dejected sigh escaped Ahmar's mouth. "I am sorry for being so rude to you. It's just that I don't want to lose you. We are getting married today. I don't want anything to go wrong. We all know the stories about how powerful and ruthless our prince is. I don't want you to fall into any trouble. I just care for you." He spoke as politely to her as possible. This time she did nod her head in understanding.

He was right. If anyone reported her to the palace, their cruel emir might imprison her for the smallest of crime. He was a heartless man. Everyone in the kingdom of Hudaan knew it. Her mind lingered back to the man she had met today. He did wear an expensive qamis.

What if he lived in Al-Qasr?

What if he reported her to the prince?

She would be doomed. She didn't even want to see the milaan anymore. All she wanted to do was sleep on her cozy quilt but she couldn't stop thinking about the sin she was about to commit. She couldn't stop thinking about him even though she came back earlier than planned.

Well what she wasn't aware of was that the man she had saved today, that the man whom she had almost kissed today was the heartless prince of Hudaan himself .

Milaan is the name of the fair.

Al Qasr is the name of the royal palace.

Zindaan is the name of the prison of the kingdom.

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