I pushed open the door to my home. It was cold and empty. A wave of nausea hit me. The grief that I was bottling up was trying to express itself in strange ways. This nausea had to be one of them. I tried to distract myself from the urge to throw up and opened the trunk. Here in a pouch lay all my life's savings. Before I suffered from another health issue I quickly bolted the door and the left the place I used to call home. Now it was no more than four walls with a roof on top. A home is made with the love of it's inhabitants, without that it is just mud and stones. I made my way to the blacksmith in the market. He was busy pounding iron.

"Assalamualaikum. Do you have gauntlets?"

He grunted in response.

"I want to buy them"

Another grunt. What a grumpy fellow. I stood waiting my patience running out. Finally he put aside his hammer and got up. The gauntlets he showed me had no covering on fingers.

"I need the ones that have covering on fingers as well"

He removed one such gauntlet without even responding.

"I need more"

He pulled 9 more.

"I need more"

He gave me a suspicious glance. "I only have so many"

"Then hurry up and make 10 more by tonight. Team up with other blacksmiths if you like but make sure they are ready. If you do not succeed then we might lose the the war. Take your payment"

I handed him gold coins and the sight of them pleased him. "They will be ready".

I left the place with the 10 gauntlets I had bought. The environment in the city was tense as people contemplated the upcoming war. The families of men who were soldiers in the army were proud and disheartened at the same time. Some people were comparing Shehenshah's reign with his fathers telling they preferred the father's rule as there were no wars. While a few wise men knew this war could end Mir Jafar forever and were happy about it. I pulled Saira and Zakwan with me from Dayima's home on the way.

"Saeed where are we going?", asked Saira still adjusting her veil as she hurried to keep up with my pace. Zakwan ran along us.

"We are going to help in the war"

This earned a war cry from Zakwan who was jumping now and Saira stopped in shock. I had no time to stop and explain so I kept walking briskly. Seeing I wasn't going to stop Saira ran to catch up.

"Saeed! You know I am not a warrior", she complained.

"You don't have to be a warrior to do the job I am assigning you. It's really simple".

By now we have reached Hakeem Hamid's Apothecary. I turned to Zakwan. "Gather as many kids as you can". He ran away at top speed as I and Saira entered inside.

"Assalamualaikum Saeed. What brings you here?". Hakeem Hamid was clearly not expecting me to be up and about so soon after Maa's death. In fact Dayima had tried to pull me back from the door way as I had attempted to leave with Hammad Chachu yesterday. I had to fight my way out.

"Walaikumassalam. I am here to ask for your help. It could bring us victory in the war"

"I am ready to do anything", said Hakeem Hamid as Saira sat on a stool. I placed the gauntlets on the workbench before outlining my plan to them.

"Our army hasn't trained well in a long time. They lack organization and ability to work as a team. Each soldier is a good warrior, no doubt. But strength alone will get us nowhere as the size of enemy's army is three times that of ours. So we need to use something that will injure many soldiers at once and incapacitate them enough not to continue. For this I propose we use the simmi vahash". I indicate to the plant which is still on the workbench though it has dried and shrivelled up. Saira and Hakeem Hamid gave me an eager look.

"How do we use it?", asked Saira.

"We pound the plant and make lots of juice. Then we soak large sheets of cloth into the extract and dry them. Tomorrow we will fire these clothes from the cannons in such a way that they cover the enemy soldiers. Like Hakeem Hamid has researched, 90% of the soldiers will be sure to develop rashes, blebs, burning and itching in seconds"

"Excellent!" Hakeem Hamid slapped the table. "That might work well. Though the rashes will heal in a few weeks they will give the soldiers quite a scare. Either they will run away from the battlefield or surrender. But this job will require a lot of hardwork and man power".

"People will be ready to help if they know its for the victory of the war", added Saira.

"First we need to collect the plant. Plenty of it. Put on these gauntlets". I handed it over to them.

"I already have mine", said Hakeem Hamid refusing.

I had 8 gauntlets left. "We can take 8 more adults with us".

"I'll gather them". Hakeem Hamid went out and returned with Jamal and his friends and a few neighbours. I handed them the gauntlets as Hakeem Hamid explained them what to do.

"Do not let spare skin come in contact with any part of the plant. Be very careful", he warned.

There was loud shouting from outside. "Zakwan must have returned with the kids. I had better explain them what to do while you people go ahead to the jungle. I'll join you soon".

I went towards the throng of kids on the street. Some of them were shouting, while others were fighting and playing.

"Children, do you know there is a war tomorrow?"

"Yes!" They all shouted momentarily giving up whatever they were doing.

"Would you like that our kingdom wins?"

"Yes!"

"Will you help our kingdom win?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Now I want all of you to visit every house in the kingdom and gather big pieces of cloth from them. Like bedsheets and curtains. We will poison these clothes and use them in the war. That will help us win"

"Yay!"
"We will help you"
"How many clothes should we bring?'
"Can we go now?"

They crowded around me with their questions.

"Get as many clothes as you can and keep them on this table. You can go right now"

As the children ran away in different directions I went to the jungle. Everyone else had already arrived and were busy pulling plants and storing them in big baskets.

"If we had more gauntlets then we could use the help of more people", said Hakeem Hamid.

"I have ordered for more. They will be ready by tonight. We can include more people for pounding the plant, soaking the clothes and drying them".

By evening we had 50 baskets of simmi vahash. Each basket was of a different shape but big in size, which we had borrowed from different people. Jamal went to get the rest of the gauntlets as we all finished our salah and asked Allah for his help. Meanwhile, the kids had returned with abundant clothes and were rewarded with a jalebi each.

"Thank you for helping little warriors", I said as they all left.

"Here, he gave me 15 gauntlets. He said he made extra as they might be useful for the soldiers". Jamal placed them in front us.

Hakeem Hamid was impressed. "Pretty quick I must say".

"He had 4 blacksmiths working with him and charged double than usual, so there is really no surprise", said Jamal.

"Saeed, did you spend all your savings behind this?", asked Hakeem Hamid.

"I still have a few coins left". I jingled the pouch. He smiled and muttered something under his breath which sounded like a Malika need not be worried on squandering her life savings.

"Hey! That's for my kingdom", I retorted. Hakeem Hamid nudged me. "Shhhh.. Do you want everyone to know you are already a Malika?". I shook my head as Shehenshah came to my mind. He seems to have taken a permanent residence there. I still couldn't digest the fact he was my husband now. It felt like a pleasant dream from which I could wake up any moment.

With the extra gauntlets there were more helping hands. We had taken up all of Hakeem Hamid's backyard. People were extremely careful as they were well aware of what this plant was capable of. We continued pounding and soaking through the night.

************************************

"This is your son, Rehan"

Madiha hugged him. How she had waited for this day.

"How are you Rehan?", she asked.

"Good! So, you are my new Maa?"

She laughed at his innocence. Little did the child know she was his only mother. Mir Jafar had abducted him when he was a few months old. How he managed to survive and get raised by the woman in front of her was something she was about to find out.

"How did you come about my child?", she asked Ayesha as they sat conversing in the living room. Her husband, Mahmood Hassan was out at the palace busy preparing for war.

"I had given birth to a child about the same time as Rehan was born. He died of pneumonia. When Rehan was brought to Mir Jafar's home, his second wife couldn't tolerate the thought of Mir Jafar killing the child. She had also heard of the untimely death of my little son. It was she who came up with a plan to exchange the children so Mir Jafar ends up killing the already dead child and I could raise Rehan in his place"

"Alhamdulillah! May Allah bless Mir Jafar's second wife. I can see my son playing before my eyes today because of her help. My husband will be extremely happy to meet him"

Ayesha had to talk about the most uncomfortable thing now. Though she wanted to avoid the topic she knew she couldn't evade it forever. "Ummm.... I was wondering if.. we both could stay at one place so none of us will have to part with Rehan".

Madiha was more than happy to agree. "Even I was thinking along the same lines".

"For now we can stay at the harem till the war is over. Even Mahmood Hassan is at the palace, you will be safe there". Madiha happily went with them. She could stay anywhere as long as her son was around. Each time she looked at his innocent smiling face her happiness knew no bounds. She hadn't allowed the boy to get off her arms and showered him with kisses time and again.

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A/N

I had planned of finishing the battle in this chapter, unfortunately I couldn't. Nor could I do research on a topic for my Islamic reminder. Too busy with college stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Lots of love
Dr Mystic