||- Dark Queen III -||

She is broken because she believed...
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She was Asfia, still at heart; a daughter of a poor farmer from one of the villages, one among a brood of many starving children. And he was Altaaf; the boy who had saved her from being whipped by their strict master at the village school, the boy who taught her how to skip a rock to the other side of a stream and the boy who got thrashed by the guards of the village headman for trying to thwart them when they came to take her away. He was Altaaf, her Altaaf; although she was no longer Asfia but Afreen the diva of Chandranagara court.

Oh, how foolish she had been?

The wind whipped her hair against her cheeks, until they turned rosy and raw. The dusty air bit her in the eyes, drawing tears that blinded her view. Betrayal, burned in her lungs, making her airless as she raced the mare she was riding as fast she could towards the giant shadow of the Chandranagara fortress in the western horizon. Afreen was no fool, but perhaps Asfia had always been. This was the punishment for not burring her once and proper as she should have done.

The mare was tired and old. She would have been considerate any other day, but when she had been freshly cut open for placing her trust in wrong people, for being sympathetic for a change - Afreen could do nothing else but urge it to go faster and faster, until she could run away from her own conscious.

She had already known. Once it was confirmed that Kashi's fate was arranged by the exiled queen Gayatri, she had guessed what she might find if she looked for Altaaf. There was no way in which the witch would have known Meghdyuth and Kashi was the same person. Even Noor Banu who was Kashi's self-proclaimed best friend did not know that. No one, apart from Satyavan and Afreen had known that. There was no way Gayatri could hatch a plan to attack Kashi while she was being Meghdyuth unless, one of them betray her.

And Afreen had been the traitor, without intending to.

Because she had been foolish enough to trust her childhood best friend, trust her heart instead of her brain. She had forgotten momentarily that she was no one's friend anymore. People did not think twice before betraying her trust. For a moment she had been Asfia, who had found Altaaf after twelve years. Kashi had saved him almost a month ago from being punished for a petty offense like most of the outer villages did. He had been far too injured to be sent his way. Healing him was something she would have done even if Kashi had not requested her to. She had been foolish enough to think that he had not changed at all, that he was genuine in everything he told her about his hard life until they met. She thought he was sincere in saying that he wanted to thank Meghdyuth for whatever he did for him. She had laughed when he speculated that Meghdyuth was a good match for her. It had slipped from her then, that Meghdyuth was in fact a woman not a man. She did not think much of sharing this bit of information that would be worthless in the hands of a farmer's boy. But of cause, how was she to know that Altaaf was no more a farmer's boy than she was a farmer's girl.

"So this was where you were keeping the spy," Satyavan spat, his eyes burning with their usual cocktail of disgust and distaste. "Tell me Afreen, what the witch promised you in return - must be something big for you to betray a friend like that - oh - perhaps you have no problem there - seeing how fickle you are from the start!"

For once she had nothing to retort with and instead she chose to run, but of cause as always fate had to hinder her path.

The exhausted mare tripped over her own feet and fell, taking Afreen along with her. She would have rolled onto the heated sand, possibly crushed under the weight of the old mare and ended up with a broken leg if not for the last person she would have imagined being her saviour.

It happened too fast for her to get a clear visual in her head, other than a whirl of dust and confusion. One moment she had been falling then the next she was in the arms of her arch nemesis. Still breathing hard Satyavan glared at her, as if it was all her fault that he had to exhaust himself to save her from a horse riding accident. He did not slow down for her to catch her breath or make sense of his sudden change of motives, but galloped towards the fortress as fast as he could.

The sun was already sinking, red against the mauve of the western sky and Afreen still did not worry if her absence from the chambers had been noticed by the others. While sneaking out her original intention had been to take a few moments to reconfirm a worst truth she had already guessed - but confronting Satyavaan who had also came following the same trail and their bitter argument had made her priorities change. She was still burning in betrayal to care for anything else.

"Let go!" She shrieked, struggling against his grip around her waist, mentally cursing everything from his strong arms to whatever sudden morality that urged him to save her against his best judgement. Satyavan did nothing but glare at her once more, at which if it could, her struggle only intensified. Afreen was in no mood to listen to any more venom he would be certain to sprout, she was better off stranded on the desert. "Let GO!" She repeated, louder.

"If I do, you'll die." Satyavan said curtly, staring straight ahead as they neared the fortress.

"Let me then, that's exactly what traitors deserve right?" Her statement was accompanied by a mirthless laughter and Satya clenched his jaw.

"Kashi Bai will decide that, you cannot die until you put her right. I will not let you die!"

They slowed down as they crossed the first gate to the fortress and entered the alleyway shaded with flags. Afreen ducked her head, letting the wind blow the sides of her purdah as they rode past the market place. His words hung over her like some divine judgement. Kashi - Kashi has the right to punish her shortcoming, her lack of tact. Afreen did not even have the choice to punish herself anymore.

"Then let me rephrase that," she said as they parted at the stables, Afreen having offered no gratitude for saving her or Satyavaan having offered no apology for his cruel words. "You can deliver my death once it is decided."

For a fragment of a second, perhaps a trick of light, Afreen thought she saw something flicker in his eyes. But the next moment it was the same bitter loathing flashing back at her.

"Consider it the repayment for saving me. Khuda hafiz* Satyavan Miyyan!"

**

She wondered why David McLane would bring no translator to their so called session, as Afreen entered her greeting chamber. It was the first time she was seeing the man the Mirza wanted dead so badly and Afreen thought the reputation that proceeded the man did him no justice. There was something in the way he held himself, as if he was at the same time both the puppet and the puppeteer. There was something closed off and observant about his posture, a tilt of dark humour to his lips, and a sharpness of a kingmaker in his stormy eyes.

Before she realized they had been staring at each other for longer than it was socially acceptable and raised her hand in a graceful salam* she was thinking how similar yet contrasting this man was to the other man who wanted him dead; the Nawab of Chandranagara. Although Afreen had dropped her gaze immediately after her greeting, David McLane stared at her a while longer. His eyebrows knotted and lips pursed. She briefly amused herself by imagining the man could see past her façade to the troubled soul within and then laughed at the silliness of her own thought. No man cared enough to see past a courtesan's smile not even their former best friends.

Afreen had always prided herself on the ability she had to shut down her emotions as soon as she entered these chambers. Here she was simply a part of the grandeur of the Chandranagara fortress. A laughing, smiling, embodiment of all that is graceful and entertaining... Her scars, pain and fear had no place in the mehfil. Even at that moment, when the scars of the freshest betrayal still bled on her psyche, Satyavan's bitter words still clawing at her conscious she could maintain her most dazzling expression without the tiniest of hesitation.

"Gobind," he said suddenly, calling that little man who trailed behind them everywhere. When he spoke again the man translated for her benefit and the crease remained on his forehead.

"You're not her."

"I don't know what you mean," she cooed back, in her sweetest voice, at the same time her mind reeling. Did he mean Kashi bai? Was this man, somehow a part of the fate that had befallen her?

"The girl from the mehfil," he clarified for her, taking a step closer. "The girl with the dark eyes -"

Was this meeting supposed to be a painting session or something else entirely? Afreen let her mind calculate, apart from both of them and the little man Gobind, McLane had required the rest of them to leave the chambers so that they would not tempt with his concentration. His concentration or his opportunity - to reveal a secret? Or perhaps to dig deeper?

"How are the two of you connected?" He asked again.

Afreen managed to flash him the emptiest and brightest of all her smiles.

"I still don't understand what you mean, Mr. McLane sir," she told him, making herself comfortable on one of the plush seats in the chamber. She looked up at him to find him smirking briefly, before sitting down himself.

"Very well then, perhaps I was mistaken." He conceded too easily and started to take out his brushes. "You know something very interested happened to me this morning. I found a secret tunnel from the outer chandranagara to the inner fortress, supposed to be used by the rebel who calls himself Meghdyuth."

Afreen's anklets chimed as she made an involuntary movement as if to stand up.

"I think the light is brilliant here Gobind," he continued brightly. "I have a very artistic angle of the lady's eyes - yes, I was saying -"

"You found a tunnel," Afreen repeated a little breathlessly.

"Oh right you are. The Nawabzada was too excited that he did not even thank me properly before rushing out to find out where it led. I know I should not take offense on that since he has been gracious enough to grant me this opportunity to - dear lady are you off to somewhere?" His tone changed sharply, as he called after Afreen who had unconsciously almost ran out of the room.

She stilled on her tracks, biting her lips, before managing another beaming smile.

"I forgot to put on my pearls, I'm sure their effect would be pleasant on the painting -"

Without even waiting for David to acknowledge her excuse Afreen turned to rush out and froze again when David spoke, this time not with Gobind translating for him, but he himself, in their local tongue.

"I have the cursed arrow - in case you're wondering."

"You -" she turned around, to find him standing, arms folded and eyes hard. It was no longer the gentle painter who entered the room, but someone else, most probably the puppeteer she sensed inside him before.

"David McLane, pleased to make your acquaintance," he gave her a mock bow. Afreen approached him, her eyes burning with determination. He held that gaze of hers, his cold eyes remained unchanged.

"I demand you to hand me that arrow."

"But dear lady, you're in no position to make such demands, unless of cause, you're willing to bargain with me on that."

A harsh laugh was her only reaction as she wondered why this man sounded so confident. Perhaps he knew everything about the arrow and its consequences. Or perhaps, he already knew enough of her secrets to cause some real damage if she chooses to expose his own that she had just discovered.

"If you're wondering that you have something on me that would interest the Nawab, think again, to expose myself to you like this, wouldn't I have something much, much bigger on you - or that pretty eyed friend of yours?"

Still Afreen did not reply. David admired her ability to maintain that serene expression as he knew, his words wracked havoc on her peace of mind. For the first time he was shooting in dark, without seeing any real effect of his words reflected on her expression, he continued to spin his web of words.

"If she does not wake up soon, her secret will be out. Nawabzada is following her trail."

"He is chasing a man -"she said for the first time, still managing to sound mild and sweet, not at all distressed.

"But how can you explain a woman with a wounded shoulder - a wound if I might add, caused from an arrow?"

"His search will never lead him to her still. It won't. It can't. He will not go there."

David smiled to himself.

"It is your choice. But surely, you don't want her to pass away in her sleep, do you? You do want the arrow." His voice turned softer as he reached the end of his statement. His eyes remained on her, as he circled her, drawing closer to her as Afreen drew closer to her conclusion.

"What do you want in return?"

"My muse."

"Excuse me?"

"You will bring her to me for the next session..."

He was playing such a risky game of life and death simply to make a painting? Afreen almost huffed at the realization before stopping herself. It could not be. Was not she always taught, nothing was what it seemed. He was not asking to paint Kashi Bai, he was asking to meet her. McLane, wanted Kashi bai, for some greater purpose than some silly painting.

"Fine," she told him curtly. "But I would need the arrow first." Of cause, once Kashi bai wakes up, she would never have to keep her word.

"Of cause, but be warned, if you don't honour your word, the Nawab would know the identity of the Meghdyuth he so wishes to execute."

This time, Afreen could not help it as her lips twisted into a mocking grin.

"How are you to reveal a truth you are unaware yourself?"

"Unaware? Are you sure? Let's just say we will schedule our next session sometime after the sunset. Candlelight, will suit your friend's complexion more, wouldn't you agree, my dear lady?"

"How did you -" Afreen gasped.

"She meets me, or dies, the choice is yours Afreen."

**

||Glossary||

*Khuda hafiz - God bless
*Salam - means salute but here used to denote a formal way of greeting.

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A bit early, but tomorrow's gonna be a busy day for me, so updating now.

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