Chapter 12

The last battle

Part 1

Owais searched every nook and corner of Belgarath for Kaidan, but it was like he had disappeared into thin air. He was infuriated when he found out that the ‘ Belgarathian Redemption Army' had fooled him by leaving false trails of Kaidan for his men to follow to the next village Bayadar. His relationship with captain Eugene also got worsen with the blacksmith's disappearance. They both knew that their greed has come to halt and it was the endgame for both of them.

When the whole village searched for him, Kaidan was enjoying his stay at Col. Barnes's house. At first, they didn’t get along well, but as time passed, they both found a friend in each other and agreed that both of them were worthy of each others respect. Kaidan gradually become the one and only native friend col. Barnes had in Belgarath. A few weeks later, the three legates thoroughly prepared the investigation report and sent it to the local police station as well as to Minister Alan along with Kaidan's recorded confession. The local police has to be involved since the accused was a native. Minister Alan issued a warrant to suspend captain Eugene temporarily and conduct a thorough investigation regarding the illegal transactions. Captain Eugene was sent back to his country till further notice with a red mark on his military service record and all the wealth he had gained illegally was confiscated. It was all done secretly that Owais had no idea of Captain Eugene’s arrest and suspension since both of them had lost contact with each other since their last argument. Owais still put his faith in captain Eugene waiting for him to contact him, but when there was no news of captain Eugene, Owais knew that something was wrong.

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Owais was in his study when he heard commotions outside his house. The voice of Abir shouting at someone echoed through the courtyard.

‘Master is not in the house right now.’ Abir said clenching his teeth at Sherif Shafer who stood their undaunted like a rock.

‘ That’s our job to confirm. Boys, search this place and find Owais and bring everything that seems unusual to me, right now. ‘

Sheriff Shafer commanded his men.

Within minutes, his men racked the entire house for Owais who was hiding in his study. A familiar feeling filled Owais's heart. Fear, the fear of disrespect, shame and judgement. He had experienced all those in his earlier life as a butcher. Those days he was being shamed and looked down by people because of his profession and for being a poor man’s son. Those fears were coming back to him and he was terrified of going back to those days. The whole village was assembled in front of Owais’s house to see him getting arrested by the police. Everyone was shocked and surprised at the same time, because they had never imagined Owais’s getting arrested and their miseries would come to an end this soon. The police dragged a handcuffed Owais and his two two henchmen Abir and Sinan who were his accomplice along the crowd and slowly Owais raised his head to look at them.

Everyone had a satisfied, content smirk on their face and that’s when he realized how much they had hated him and how much wrong he had done to them. Instead of being guilty and regretful, Owais felt angry at them because his wicked mind believed that as their village chief he had done so much for them and they had to pity him for that. But seeing the look on their face, he completely felt betrayed and his last ounce of hope of getting kindness from his villagers vanished. His mind was so consumed with anger so that he completely forgot about Rabia who was at the house, alone. Abir was the one who took care of her, but since he was arrested, there was no one to take care of her and was left in the bed with no servants to attend her. People had forgot about her and those who remembered her cursed her for being the daughter of an evil man.

Belgarathians may love peace, but they were merciless and unforgiving and that poor soul had to pay the price of her father’s sins. Since she was paralysed with no one to attend and feed her, she was found in a critical stage by the police after a few weeks when they came to confiscate Owais's property, and moved her to the hospital. She was not lucky enough to make it out of there and died at the hospital and the news spread like wildfire. Everybody pittied her after her death, but nobody cared when she was alive. Owais was allowed to attend Rabia's funeral but he didn’t came but instead Abir came in behalf of him. Owais was furious and angry, but he never regretted anything he had done and thought that col. Barnes was the reason for his doom. Owais was excluded from the crime of assassination attempt of col. Barnes as Lacer had confessed of committing it all by himself due to his loyalty to his master and the members of the ‘ Belgarathian Redemption Army’ who got arrested with him were later released. At the end, Owais and his men, Abir and Sinan were sentenced for seven years in prison and later reduced it for three years and a huge amount of fine after the trails for making the weapon deals with a foreigner which was considered petty treason in their country and Lacer was sentenced for thirty years in prison for attempted murder.

Everybody thought that it was the end of Owais but for him, it was only the beginning. He kept waiting patiently for three years in the prison for his vengeance against col. Barnes. After the court trails in US, captain Eugene was permanently excluded from the military for the charges of illegal weapon transaction, human trafficking and prostitution. His subordinates alpha and beta were also suspended from the forces for not reporting his superior to the officials and aiding him in his crimes. Everything was put back to it’s place with the arrest of Owais and Captain Eugene. Minister Alan then temporarily appointed col. Barnes as the chief commanding officer of the US Delta forces in Belgarath and for almost one year, he took the role of a soldier again and remained there. Col. Barnes was the first and the last Legate whom the US government had appointed in Belgarath along with Dr. Amir and Professor Lee.

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The Sharia's were suspiciously quiet for the past few years as they no longer attacked Belgarath. People began forgetting about the terrorist attack for a while as everything was back to normal after Owais's arrest. The Sharia's had known the US military power from the last battles and they knew it was foolish to attack Belgarath without a proper plan and enough ammunition. They remained silent as they were busy fortifying enough ammunition and funds to destroy Belgarath and to once again declare their claim over the Bukhara desert.

‘ Is everything ready? ‘ Omar Divit, the Sharia’s great leader asked in his soft voice. His voice was like the silence that came before a storm.

‘ Yes, great leader. Everything is ready.’ Guzman, Omar’s right hand said.

‘Good, then Belgarath will be our first trophy’. Omar Divit said closing his eyes.

‘ Yes, master. Bukhara desert and Belgarath will be ours to rule. ‘ Guzman assured his master.

‘ For a peaceful world, then. ‘ Omar chanted the Sharia’s motto as a prayer.

‘ For a peaceful world, master’. Guzman repeated after him. He watched his master gliding elegantly out of the room with a rosary in his frail hands.

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Taimoor Ali ran to the Defence Minister Asylkhan's cabin with a pounding heart as soon as he received the new information. He bust open the cabin’s door to see a startled Asylkhan smoking a cigarette, with a frown on his face. Seeing the pale face of the intelligence director, the minister put out his cigarette in his ashtray.

‘ What is it?’. Asylkhan asked.

‘ The Sharia’s are going to attack Belgarath, three days from now.’ Taimoor Ali said panting. Asylkhan’s frown dissolved hearing the news and an upset expression decorated his face.

‘Are you sure? ‘. Asylkhan asked again.

‘ Yes, we are sure. They are well equipped this time.’

Taimoor Ali said concerned.

'How’s that possible? Where did they get all the money and weapons for that? ‘ Asylkhan asked.

‘ Foreign help, minister. We had totally failed in preventing them from getting money and weapons from other terrorists organization. They are being globally funded now. Every time we tries to catch them, we lose them by an inch. My men had tried to trace them, but we failed at that too. ‘ Taimoor Ali said hanging his head. The room became so silent that the sound of the Defence minister clenching his teeth was heard.

‘ It means that our plans and tactics are getting leaked, isn’t it? What about the investigation to find the mole in the intelligence wing ? Is there any leads? ‘ Asylkhan asked and Taimoor Ali shook his head like a kid.

The intelligence director was totally helpless and the minister knew it too.

‘ Hear me out, director. This is our chance to get that traitor in our department. Make two plans A and B for the counter attack that’s going to happen in three days. I am giving you the liberty to make the strategy for the attack since I believe in your tactics. Make two plans and let the whole intelligence wing know that we are going with the plan A, but secretly proceed with plan B. Chose your men carefully to execute the mission and watch them closely to see if the plan A gets leaked. Maybe then, we will be able to catch the mole. Inform the commander in chief of the US forces about this and ask for their cooperation. Be careful, our government is not in a position to afford any mistakes. So proceed with caution. ‘ Asylkhan said .

‘ Yes, minister. ‘ Taimoor Ali replied and was about to leave the room when Asylkhan spoke again.

‘ One more thing, Taimoor. Call Major Ibrahim and his men back to Belgarath from the North. We need him at the West border. I cannot trust the foreigners and put the fate of my land in their hands alone. We need our men with them.’ Asylkhan said.

‘But the refugee crisis is still .. ‘ Taimoor Ali was unable to finish as the minister interfered.

‘ I know that the Northern border is still compromised. But this is necessary as it’s the matter of our pride, director. At all costs, we need to win this battle against the Sharia’s and make them regret messing with our country. Don’t worry, I will take the whole responsibility of this.’ Asylkhan assured the director.

‘Yes minister. I will inform col. Barnes of the US Delta Force and Major Ibrahim of the situation. ‘ Taimoor Ali said and left the room in hurry.

Asylkhan lit another cigarette and inhaled the smoke to calm his nerves. His mind was in chaos because he too knew that withdrawing soldiers from the North was a risky idea and it scared him, but what scared him the most was loosing his country’s west border to the terrorists and the fear of redrawing it’s map without it’s west border.