fanqie novel
Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Aazadi
Mink’s P.O.V
I wasn't dead. Not yet. But it sure felt like it.
When is a person supposed to die? I don't know. I'm not literate. Women aren't supposed to be.
At least that's what he says.
Is it when your heart stops beating? I don't know. Because mine stopped the moment I saw my partners set on fire in front of my eyes.
My mother had been different. She'd cared for me. Fed me. Brushed my head. Told me I was special. That the Goddess of Wolves had created me to destroy all those who torment us.
"Jala dena sabko! Kisi ko mat chorna!" (Burn them all. Don't leave anyone alive!). She'd screamed at me as the fire turned her fair skin black, made it bubble out blood. "In rakshaso main se koi bhi jeene layak na hain!" (None of these demons deserve to live).
I hadn't answered. I couldn't. But he'd laughed. Laughed so hard. While my mother...my father....were burnt to death. Their screams kept on echoing through my mind even now, days later.
A sound of bells. Property © NôvelDrama.Org.
It was coming closer slowly. Something was being dragged through the sand, something heavy and familiar.
I peeked from behind the tent where I was hiding till now. A khanjaar (a knife) was held tightly in my hand, a man's white kurta (a top for men) hung from my thin body, my white hair hung loose over
my face. My entire body was covered in white sand and dirt; even the white kurta I wore was covered in dirt. I'd prepared myself such so that no one can distinguish between the sand and me. No one can see what's coming.
The noise came closer. Stopped in front of his door.
"Malik!" (Leader) One of them called.
I peeked further, but remained in the shadows so no one could see me. No one knows I escaped. All were sleeping. Deep sleep.
I saw two of his men. Big. Black. Holding a girl by each arm in a brown dress. Blood flowing from her stomach. A trail of blood on the sand behind her. Her face hidden behind hair.
"Kya hain?" (What is it?) Came a gruff, slurry voice as the door banged open. His voice.
Rafael.
The leader of our pack. The strongest warrior of them all. Someone who thinks himself to be God. He's the reason every woman in the village is a slave. He says they are birthing organs. And those who can’t birth anymore will have to die. He killed my mother because my father kept me and her hidden. And now I know he’ll kill her too. But I’ll kill them all.
“Malik, she just gave birth to a choodi (girl)! Should we kill her too?” One of the men asked him.
“What’s the need? She’s dying anyway. Throw her out on the sands, she’ll be buried under it by morning.” I held on to my Khanjaar tightly as Rafael’s slurred voice echoed through the quite village.
“Yes Malik!” The men echoed and dragged the women away while Rafael came out of his tent, hara (green) bottle in hand and wearing only a loin cloth. I hid my face behind the tent and used my ears
to listen to his moving. I wasn’t wolf yet, but I could hear better and see better and smell better than anyone in my pack, even the men.
I listened Rafael moving around, but then his feet turned towards me. I keep my body close to the ground and start walking like a snake on the sand and used my hands to mix the sand in front of me so it covers the marks my body makes. I heard Rafael turn the corner as I hid behind the tent. He stayed for some time and then moved back in, throwing the hara (green) bottle on the ground. It was nearly full.
I waited in that position for hours, I don’t know how many. But then everything grew very quiet, except for the sound of night owls. That was when I stood up. I was about to walk the other way when a light coming from the front of the tent caught me. I walk towards it slowly, not making any sounds on my feet and I found the bottle that Rafael had left on the ground. I pick it up and smell it and instantly, it remembers me of the smell of the water Rafael poured over my mother and father before burning them.
I take it with me and pour some on the tent I’ve been hiding behind. It was big bottle, so I pour on more tents. When bottle water is no more, I keep it on the ground carefully and take out more that I stole from my prison. This water is blue and they use it to burn fire. So I pour over tents and then take two rocks in my hand. Just like mother taught me to I hit them together and throw them on the water and it catches fire. Suddenly, a wind blows through the desert, strong wind. A storm is coming! Good.
I turn around and walk towards the fence of our village. The fire spreads behind me. And then screams. Just like my mother and father…they scream.
But then I hear the women scream and they keep chanting aazadi (freedom)! The men scream like women. Scared. This time, I laugh. I laugh so hard that I cry.
And then I run. I run as fast as I can. Run long and late, until all I can see is sand. White as my hair, all around me. And there are no more screams.
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N.B: The language and sentence structure in this chapter may seem absurd but that is because at the time, Mink is uneducated like all other women in Mouri who had been denied even the basic of education. This is why even her thoughts are in the uneducated language that is the only thing she currently knows. The language and sentences will change after a couple chapters when she has finally educated herself.