Roksna woke up and felt someone beside her, she became afraid. As she opened her mouth to shout, she felt a hand sp her mouth shut. The figure moved over her, holding her in ce with his body. She hit the person in the face and heard him grunt as he moved away from her immediately.


    Roksna moved up quickly and gave the person three rapid punches in the face. One on the cheek, the other on the forehead, and thest one on the nose. The man let out a soft yelp. Roksna was about to hit the man again when he spoke.


    “It’s me, mydy.”


    The man spoke so softly Roksna almost didn’t hear him. She was sure either her ears had heard the wrong voice or her mind was ying another dirty trick on her. There was no way the voice could belong to who she was thinking about.


    “Roksna. It is I, Asleem.” The voice spoke again.


    He grabbed Roksna’s hand and took her outside. The full moon bathed them in its glory. Roksna looked at the man d in ck and whimpered. Sure that she was imagining Asleem’s presence, she touched his face feeling his solid body under her touch. She pped him lightly on the cheek to be sure she still wasn’t dreaming.


    “It’s me, Roksna. I’m sorry I camete.”


    Roksna broke into tears. She held Asleem tightly, afraid he would disappear from her again if she let go. She felt Asleem’s hand wrapping around her and wept some more, muttering gibberish into his chest. Her mind registered Asleem’s voice whispering some things to her but she couldn’t make anything out of it.


    When she calmed down, Asleem exined how he hade to the sun punishment ground to rescue her but couldn’t because the Sultan had chosen to check on her that period. He also exined why he couldn’t rescue her at the Sultan’s house because of his heavy guards. When he was done, Roksna hugged him again feeling happy.


    “What about my Abu and Abaan?” Roksna asked him, her hope rising.


    “I’m sorry, mydy,” Asleem answered, shaking his head negatively.


    Asleem let her know what he had been doing since their captivity about two months ago. He had been looking for the Dar S tribesmen and gathering them together slowly.


    He had mapped out the Wadai’ndscape and studied thend until he knew the routes ahead. He had also nned escape routes and prepared everything they needed to make it out of the sultanate safely. The only thing that had kept them was Roksna and that was why Asleem had chosen this perfect time to rescue her. He grabbed Roksna’s hand and made to move, but she pulled away from him.


    “We need to leave,” Asleem told her.N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    “No. I can’t. I need to avenge my family,” Roksna told him. “You can leave with the rest, but I’m staying here.”


    After a lot of hesitation, Asleem finally gave up on forcing her to leave and agreed to help her out. Roksna made him understand that she needed to do it on her own. All she needed him to do was to help him get some male attire that wouldn’t give her identity away and him staying out of trouble.


    Roksna heard someone’s footstepsing from the room and stilled until the footsteps stopped. She and Asleem agreed to meet just where they were tomorrow night at an appointed time. She watched as Asleem walked away and went in after he had disappeared from her sights. As shey on the pallet, she felt d knowing that her childhood friend was alive and well.