His Queen

Chapter 6

Queen Banafsha’s POV

The battle was intense, swords collided and guttural screams filled the air, my soldiers fought bravely against the soldiers of Atrabad, Jawhar was fighting just a little distance away from me, he cut down anyone who dared to face him, my soldiers were doing the same, I felt if we continued to fight like this, then maybe, just maybe we had a chance of winning this battle.

I looked around the battlefield, searching for my target, the arrogant king of Atrabad, he was on the other of the battlefield, I watched as his sword slashed through a soldier of mine, then another and another,

Anger filled my heart and I thought of killing him right now to put an end to all this war and bloodshed, then claim justice and victory for Marwa.

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in the side of my stomach, the pain was so intense, I fell off my horse and landed roughly on the floor, making the pain only more intense, my eyes quickly darted down to my stomach where an arrow was sticking out from my armor, anger filled my heart as I pulled out the arrow and threw it on the floor, blood spilled out from the wound, I tore a piece of cloth from my gown and quickly wrapped it around the wound to stop the bleeding.

I looked around and so no one in particular, everyone was busy fighting with each other, I had lost sight of the king of Atrabad, the only person within my line of sight was the man that had stood beside the king before the commencement of battle, he was no doubt the General of the Army,

I watched as he finished off the soldier he was fighting with, without thinking, I lunged for him, he must have heard me coming because he quickly turned around and held his sword up, a loud “Clang” filled the air,

When he saw who his attacker was, a small smile pulled at the corner of his lips,

“Greetings your majesty, it is an honor to finally meet you” he said and gave me a little bow of his head,

He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a face that was not considered as too handsome, he stood there with an arrogant smile on his face, I was beginning to dislike the men of Atrabad already, they were all so arrogant.

“Save your pleasantries general, this is not the place or time for it, this is where you meet your doom” I said and attacked,

He fought with great skill and precision but so did I, I countered all his attacks and attacked him with powerful strikes, he fought well and that was something I acknowledged, I was able to recognize a good fighter anywhere I saw one.

I raised Saiful Azman and delivered a solid blow aimed at the general’s shoulder, I brought the sword down with enough force to split a log of wood, the sword came crashing down against the general’s sword, the blow must have been unexpected because his grip on his sword weakened momentarily, I took advantage of this moment of weakness and pressed my sword against his, his sword pressed against his shoulder and the next second, the dark blue shirt he wore under his armor became moist with blood,

A frown crossed his face and he pushed against my sword sending me a few distance away from him, he stood ready to attack then his eyes fell on my bleeding stomach, I noticed he was suddenly distracted and he looked unsure of what to do,

I was never one to waste an opportunity when it presented itself, before he could recover from the fact that he had been fighting an injured woman, I jumped up into the air, I used one of the nearby horses as support to go even higher in the air, I raised my sword and brought the hilt of Saiful Azman down very hard on his head,

The general crumpled to the floor beneath my feet unconscious, a smile crossed my face, I had won this round, I looked around and saw my target standing a few distance from me and the unconscious general,

This was the first time I had seen him this close, he was tall, very tall, I could tell he was almost the same height with Jawhar, he looked regal and his eyes watched me with a level of curiosity other than that he had no other expression on his face, he just stood there watching me waiting to see what I will do next,

And I didn’t give him the chance to think about what I will do for too long, I attacked.

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King Humair’s POV

I had finally reached queen Ifza on the battlefield and I was surprised to see Nihal unconscious by her feet, if the situation was any different, I might have laughed, the proud general Jaan, unconscious at the feet of a woman, if we ended up surviving this ordeal, I will never let him live down the humiliation, I will bring it up on any chance I got.

I looked up at queen Ifza, she was watching me with those dark eyes of hers, she stood proud, even with the veil on her face, I could she had a very arrogant expression on her face, her eyes were so dark, it was lined with kohl, they were really the eyes of a woman.

I looked at her closely and then I noticed the blood stains on her golden armor, she had cloth tied around her stomach, she was injured and judging from how moist the cloth was, I could tell she was still bleeding, I hadn’t want to fight her from the beginning and this just gave me good reason not to fight her, it was bad enough that I had to fight a woman but fighting an injured woman was something that was completely unacceptable.

Before I could think of how best to salvage the situation, she attacked, I was quick to defend myself against her attack, she stepped back panting, I realized she was getting weaker, her eyes were beginning to look drowsy and sleepy, her stance was weak and sloppy,

She couldn’t keep this up for too long, she would grow too weak very soon she had to stop now but with the little I knew about her, I knew she wouldn’t stop, just as I had thought, she attacked again and I once again defended myself against her attack.

I constantly glanced down to her stomach where her injury was, she was bleeding and by now her battle attire was stained with blood, her face was covered by the black veil she used in shielding her face, the only thing visible to me were her eyes, eyes that were so black they reminded me of the night,

She attacked again and once more, I defended myself against her attack but made no move to attack her as well, she was a woman no matter how skilled she was and I will never fight a woman, I had my dignity to consider as well, she attacked once more, I simply stepped aside, her attacks were getting flimsy and she was getting angry,

“Why don’t you attack me? Fight me like you would any opponent” Queen Ifza said

I could sense she was weaker from her voice, the initial arrogance with which she spoke had reduced considerably, I didn’t want to hurt her,

“Stop this madness Queen Ifza, you are injured, your people are outnumbered, this is not a battle you can win” I said to her,

“Be quiet!” she said and attacked once more and again, I defended it easily

I was getting tired of this fight, many people were dying while she refused to let go of her pride and accept defeat, the sooner this battle ended, the better it will be for both sides, with that single thought in mind, I attacked,

At first she seemed to be caught off guard, she hadn’t expected my attack but she managed to defend herself, without giving her a moment of pause I attacked again, she succeeded in defending the first three attacks, I needed to end this now and fast, I raised my sword and brought it down with such force, our swords collided and a loud “Clang” was heard, her sword broke into two parts, I could see the shock register on her face when the sword broke, I raised my sword to her neck,

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BANAFSHA’S POV

“You have lost Queen Ifza, surrender now and your people can live” king Humair said to me,

I looked down at the broken sword in my hand, Saiful Azman was broken, my father’s sword was broken, I felt a feeling of loss deep in my heart, I looked around, the battle field was covered in blood and bodies, the bodies of my people, I had led them to their deaths, I looked at Jawhar, he was bleeding from his head, I could the shock in his eyes when he broken sword in my hand,

I lowered my head, I had lost and I must accept defeat to save my people

“I will surrender, you can take me as your prisoner or kill me if you wish but I ask only thing of you, let my people go” I said

“I give you my word Queen Ifza” King Humair said

I exhaled, I would rather die than kneel but for my people, I could do anything, slowly I lowered myself to the ground, my entire body shook with anger as my knees touched the rough ground, i turned to look at Jawhar, I could see the pain in his eyes, with a look of resignation on his face, he also threw his sword to the ground and knelt down, my soldiers followed suite and also knelt down, the look on their face broke my heart to pieces and made my blood boil, the sound of the battle horn sounded throughout the battle field, the battle was over and we had lost, I had lost.

King Humair stepped forward, he used the tip of his sword to take off the veil from my face, I raised my head angrily to look at him, I could see the shock as it registered on his face, had he expected something else? For now, I couldn’t care much for what he was thinking, I had just led my people to destruction and possibly s*****y.

The feeling of loss overcame me once more, I had failed my people.

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HUMAIR’S POV

“The battle is over your Majesty, Victory is ours” Nihal said to me, I hadn’t even realized he had woke up from his unconscious state, he had a thin line of blood running down the side of his face,

I was still in shock at the beauty of the woman before me, I had expected a woman with a scared face or frightful ugliness, why else will she keep her face hidden from the world? But before me was a woman of great beauty, her lips were as a red as blood and those eyes that looked like deadly flames burned within them, she lowered her head once more and I couldn’t see her face once more, there was something about this woman I found intriguing, very intriguing indeed.

I turned to Nihal and placed my hand on his shoulder “You fought well today my friend”

He nodded his head and said “As did you, your majesty”

I smiled and walked away leaving queen Ifza and her people kneeling on the battle field, Nihal was following close behind me, and my soldiers chanted the words “Victory is ours!”

The battle was over.