They were successful in breaking the lock, but the door only opened an inch before hitting against something. "There's a bookshelf wedged against it!" Shakeel yelled in frustration as the two desperately attempted to push through.
Freeing herself from her sister in law's hold, Zukhruf ran to the narrow glass panel on the side of the doors. Without thinking, she smashed her fist into the glass.
"Zukhruf!" Deena screamed behind her.
Zukhruf didn't listen, forcing her hand through the glass, prying it away with her hand. And then she looked in.
Her father had two black rods sticking out of his torso, and their was a sword piercing his neck still being held by the assailant who was now trying to pull it out, but it appeared to be stuck.
"BABA!!!" She screamed.
The assailant snapped his head to look at her. He wore dark grey, almost black garments and his head and face were wrapped in a black cloth. Only his eyes were visible and she just caught a glimpse of them before quickly, he drove his sword out of the Governor's neck with one final pull, earning another gurgling sound.
And with that, their was a loud thud. Her brothers had succeeded in pushing down the shelf that blocked the door.
Zukhruf tore her hand out of the glass, running sideways and pushing past her brothers into the room. She stepped on top of the fallen bookshelf, running over it's length towards her father. Seeing her, the assailant turned around and scrammed.
Zukhruf didn't care, stretching her arms forward just in time to drive them under her father's from behind, preventing him from falling.
Behind her, her brothers dashed into the room. "Get him!" Shakeel roared, running after him followed by Raheel. The assailant ran into the balcony and her brothers followed behind him, disappearing into the balcony.
"Baba!" Zarnab screamed, her knees giving in under her father's weight. The end of one of the rods pushed against the side of her stomach, but she didn't care. His sword clanked as it hit the ground, laying loosely in his hand as his grip on it loosened. He seemed to have fought till the very end.
"Baba!" She held her father's face with one of her hands, shaking it. The blood pooling out of his throat through his mouth made her hands wet within second. "Baba! Baba!" She could tell he was struggling to keep his eyes open.
"SOMEONE CALL THE PHYSICIAN!" Zukhruf screamed. Deena and Sania who stood frozen at the doors heeded immediately, running to get help.
Zukhruf looked down to find her father looking up at her. Despite the obvious pain he was in, he did not allow fear or pain to show in his eyes. His eyes were filled with the same tenderness they always had for his favorite child. She sobbed, barely able to breathe, cupping her father's face with both hands. Her hot tears dropped down onto the Governor's face. "Baba, Baba hold on. Just hold on a while.."
He raised his left arm to touch her face. His hand was quivering. She let out a breath as it touched her cheek. "My baby..." He croaked, earning another gush of blood out of his mouth before his hand fell and his body went limp.
Zukhruf's jaw dropped. "Baba?" No response. She shook her head vigorously. "No, no wait." She shook him. "Wait please! Baba don't do this to me! Baba? BABA!!!!" She hugged his head as she screamed and wailed. She let out a long shrill howl as her father's cold body pressed against hers.
"No please! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME! NO!!!!"
Alas, nothing could be done. The Governor was already gone by the time the physician arrived. He attempted to revive the Prince but to no avail.
As far as the assailant was concerned, he had disappeared into the night. Shakeel and Raheel searched both inside and outside the castle for ohours along with hundreds of soldiers but to no avail. In the end, they returned home empty handed though the search was still ongoing.
Saiqah Begum had been at the mosque in the weekly Quran meetings that were held by the female nobility of the city. She had returned home to her husband's corpse being taken away for stitching and ghusl. She was inconsolable, obviously. Her husband of thirty two years was gone.
Zukhruf did not know what happened during the hours in between but at some point, she was taken away by the maids to be washed. She still had her father's blood on her. She saw it getting mixed with water and foam from the soap as the maids scrubbed her body. Then she was drenched in water, dried and put in black mourning garments.
Now she sat beside her unresponsive mother in the grand hall who couldn't move for the life of her. Saiqah Begum was almost lying down on the couch, a tasbih in her hand that she hadn't prayed anything on. Her head rested to her side against the headboard of the sofa. They were surrounded by female attendees who had come to pray for the deceased governor.
Noblewomen would enter the hall and walk upto Saiqah Begum to tell her about just how sorry they were. She didn't respond. She probably wasn't even listening. The attendees were instead hosted by Zarnab's sisters in law.
Famina sat at a distance from them, crying into her handkerchief. Beside her, a noblewoman was carassing her shoulder while another geld her arm.
All Zukhruf felt was cold. She felt as if she were made of stone. She felt cold and alone. She wanted to run to her father. She wanted him to hold her in his warm embrace. The same father whose murder se had witnessed the night before.
She touched her cheek, the same place her father had touched the night before.
Just then Shakeel walked in. He looked... defeated. He looked between his lother and Zarnab, neither of who looked up at him.
Then he spoke, "It's time."