Roksolana dodged the sword waving itself at her. Before she could balance herself, another sword slashed her arm. She had forgotten that Asleem used two swords in fighting. When she looked at the cut he had made, she noticed it was a very light cut. It was like he hadn't wanted to hurt her more than he needed to.
"Told you I wouldn't go easy on you," Asleem told her.And then, it was a matter of dodging and attacking for both of them. About 20 minutes into the fight, Roksolana realized she wouldn't be able to defeat the man. Nevertheless, she wasn't willing to give in to him that easily. She saw an opening and slashed his arm. Asleem looked surprised that she was able to get a cut on him, she smiled. He threw a sword at her and she waved it away with her swords. He was in her face before she knew it and stamping her hard on her foot, she fell. She felt the cold steel of the blade on her neck and knew she had lost."You cheated," Roksolana told him."You mean I did good planning? Sometimes, being the best is not a guarantee of winning. You need a strategy, Roksolana." He told her, holding out his hand for her. She shook it away and got up on her own, which made him smile at her.After Asleem had been crowned the winner, they all moved to the shooting ground. Roksolana could hear gasps all around her when two ladies stepped forward as contestants. Roksolana smiled and wondered in her mind how much more surprise the men were in before the competition ended.One of the ladies came sixth while the other came third. Roksolana could see it was a huge achievement for them as they kept smiling. It was gradually becoming the age of revolution. Who knows? Maybe ladies could hold high positions in the future or even become Sultans.Next, they were at the seaside for boat racing and fish hunting. Four more ladies joined in the competition. And that was when the men began to murmur. Roksolana could understand that they felt apprehensive about being beaten at what they have done their entire lives by some women who never had formal training. However, they had training. Roksolana had trained them all for a year at every chance they could get."Women aren't allowed to participate in anything. All they are good for is cleaning the house and bearing children. Roksolana, we have tolerated your errors enough." Janissary Abdulaziz spoke up."The Sultan gave his permission to allow the women to take part in the competitions. Are you questioning his authority?" Roksolana asked the man, who swallowed loudly.Roksolana smiled to herself. Her words had the impacts she wanted them to. Everyone present there knew that questioning the Sultan was counted as treason, and it was an unforgivable crime no matter your bloodlines or position. You can earn a death sentence for it if care is not taken. From there on, no one else so much as breaths or even made his disagreement known.The ladies did excellently in the race. One of them came first, while her husband was second, another woman came third. The other two were ahead of their competitors in the fish hunt. Roksolana and the others were surprised when the husband of the woman who came first hugged her."You did very well. My efforts and your late-night practice paid off." The man told his wife, smiling.Roksolana grinned at the scene unfolding in their presence. Here was a man who didn't follow the rules and was showing affection for his wife in public. If Roksolana was to guess, she would say the man had trained his wife personally too. The age of change she envisioned wasn't so far away again.They all moved back to the Hall of Fame for the celebration that follows the competitions, where Roksolana would dance to entertain the people. She was excited knowing that this year, she wouldn't be doing it alone.As the women wearing flowing gowns and their nikobs surrounded her, she felt alive more than she ever had. The light tapping of the drums propelled her to move her hips gracefully to the beats. Hands below their hips swayed lightly, the women circled her round and round. Roksolana danced to the music of the drum which had picked up by now using her hands as gestures, her legs moving in the direction she wanted her body to take. Everyone cheered for them, encouraging them to do more.By the time the dance was over, half of the men were drunk. Roksolana moved to her father's side and sat down beside Abaan who looked like he already had too much to eat but was still not willing to stop."Abu. You promised to let me know who you chose for me." She accused her father."And I did. Didn't you find out today?" Her father countered."From the man himself. Not from you, Abu." She countered back."So, you don't like him? I'll cancel the marriage then." The Sultan informed her."No, no, no. Don't cancel it, Abu." She said with a bit of enthusiasm.The truth was she preferred marrying Asleem compared to going out of her tribe to a foreign land. Here, she was given the freedom to choose her path. That was a lot compared to how the Islamic religion worked. She was thankful her father had chosen a friend as her husband, instead of a total stranger."You see Roksolana, I have something to tell you..." Her father was cut off by the sound of something chiming loudly.Everyone stood up and was alerted immediately. It was the sound of the war gong. If they were to go by that sound, then they were under attack. The fear was confirmed to be true when a soldier with an arrow stuck to his chest came in looking half dead."Attack...." He didn't finish the statement before collapsing and life was snuffed out of him. But the message had been passed.They had been preparing for an attack ever since they made the sultanate their home, but not for the sudden attack when half of the men were wasted already."Ishmael, move the women and the children to the safe house we arranged. Let ten soldiers guard them. Muhammad, escort Roksolana and Abaan to the seaside where the emergency boat is located. Toyeeb, gather the men for battles. Quadri, get me my weapon." The Sultan barked out commands which everyone scurried to obey."Muhammad, take Abaan away. Make sure you guard him with your life. I'm staying here to fight with my Abu," Roksolana told the young man who looked at the Sultan for approval. The Sultan nodded his head in affirmation. Muhammad took Abaan by the arm and led him out. The men were already moving out to the battleground. Asleem rushed in the door, clothed in his battle attire. There were a few soldiers with him."You have to leave Sultan. You too, Roksolana. It's not safe here, we've already lost ha
"Drag them all out," Sodeeq commanded his army. "Remember to put the men separately in the cargoes. Put the women in groups of the twenties each in separate ships also. And make sure to take away any form of weapons, down to pins from the women. And remember that stubborn woman stays in the same cabin with our Sultan." He finished barking out orders, dragging an unconscious Jamal with him.The Wadai' as they were called had come raiding this small tribe of the sultanate because one of the people from the sultanate had managed to convince Jamal that their Sultan Selim had something important that might interest the young Sultan.Thinking they were going to get treasures like gold, silver, weapons among other things, Sultan Jamal had set off to the unknown. Sodeeq had tried to warn his best friend that there was possibly nothing on the other sultanate they didn't already have on their land, but Jamal had proved stubborn. Even stubborn to the point of insisting on leading the
Jamal woke up feeling a hot searing pain rising from his left arm and right stomach. His whole body felt like something heavy had been placed on it. He opened his eyes to find someone resting on him. Who had dared to do that, despite knowing that he hated being touched? "Get up this instance, if you still want to live." He commanded the person.When Jamal didn't get any response from the person holding him tightly, he rolled the person to the floor roughly. He was surprised to find a knife firmly holding itself in his arm, he yanked it out and threw it across the floor. That was when his eyes fell on the person he had handled roughly.Looking at Roksolana on the floor, the fresh injury on his arm, and the knife on the floor, Jamal was able to connect the whole picture. She had attempted to end his life again. Jamal realized that something must have happened to make her fall unconscious and fail in her new mission.Grunting, he got up and got medicines and bandag
It was almost nighttime when Jamal spotted a moving figure along the rail of the ship while he was discussing with his shipmaster. He didn't give it much thought until he noticed the dark pony hair shaking itself as the figure moved. He would recognize that hair anywhere. Knowing that Roksolana had somehow cut herself loose and was trying to escape made Jamal angry. He handed over the piece of paper in his hand to the man beside him and ran as fast as he could over to the woman who was responsible for his pains.Roksolana moved as stealthily as she could. She had woken up to an empty room and was bonded. She had deemed herself lucky when she saw her knife with a bloodstain on it a few feet away from her. With little effort, she had cut herself free, pocketed the knife, and dashed out from the room. She had been disappointed to find herself on a moving ship, which she knew nothing about the location it was headed to.As she moved quietly along the rails, she prayed no one w
"Sultan."Jamal turned to find Sodeeq standing behind him, spotting a black eye and looking worried. Jamal realized that Roksolana must have gifted his best friend with the look. He tried to contain his laughter, but couldn't. The woman was a fierce tiger. His woman was a fighter."I'm not sure what is funny, but your lady had refused to eat even a bite since three days ago," Sodeeq explained.Jamal rushed out of the bed, straight out of the room. If she hadn't had any food for three days, she would be trying to kill herself. Was that how much she hated him? He flung the door open as soon as he got to her side. What he saw made his heart sink. Roksolana was lying on the floor, looking vulnerable.Roksolana felt weak after starving herself for three days. Her heart continued to mourn the death of her family and tribesmen after she couldn't summon tears anymore. She missed the meadows at her home. She missed seeing little children run around. She missed seeing wome
Roksolana watched at the fading figure of the man's body and sighed. Understanding that from the little time she had been with the man, he would make true his threat if she wasn't out by his allocated time or if she injured the maids. It's not like she would do that anyway. She wasn't about to let out her anger on innocent women who might be victims of their circumstances just as she was. She undressed and got into the bathing pot. She was surprised to find the water warm and relaxing.She didn't fail to notice that the maids were afraid of coming near her, judging by the distance they were from her. She decided to relieve their fear."I won't hurt you. I just said that out of anger."The two women moved to her immediately and began to help her. They shared companionship in silence for a few minutes, until one of the women broke the silence."You are lucky to get the attention of the Sultan." She told Roksolana."What Sultan?" Roksolana asked."She mean
Roksolana felt bored being left alone all by herself for two days. Ever since the incident between her and the general had happened, he had stayed clear of her. His assistant, Sodeeq had suddenly gone missing from her presence too. Even Ayeshat hadn't come around to check up on her. As a matter of fact, no one had bothered to ask her if she was hungry or wanted to eat. They hadn't even brought a plate of food for her to even think about rejecting. She was so famished right now, she wouldn't mind eating even a human.Roksolana felt uneasy about it all. It felt like this was a calm before a storm. She didn't know why, but she felt like Jamal was up to something. What it was she didn't know, but she knew it had to be bad. Judging by her experience of him, she knew he must have given the order for no one to come near her or even act as if she existed.Was he still angry at her about the incident? After walking away from him and calming down, Roksolana had realized that she had
Jamal simply looked at her, before choosing to ignore her again. Roksolana was surprised by his actions. He had done it twice in thirty minutes and it was getting on her nerves. What was with him and the treatment he was giving her? Jamal readjusted his clothing at the sleeve, pretending that he hadn't heard what Roksolana said. He was boiling with anger. He had arrived at his sultanate only to find the shore empty, devoid of any security. His brain had immediately told him that they could have easily been besieged if it was an army from another sultanate that found that weakness against them. Turning to the second in command, he spoke. "Why was the shoreline not guided?"The man trembled as he answered, "I left people here for security. I didn't realize that they slacked off, Sultan.""You didn't realize?" Jamal barked in anger. The other man fell to his knee immediately.Roksolana became afraid of the man she was looking at. This was no longer the man sh