Central town of Dhadar, Night of 11th April 1557
Dhadar, a semi-arid plateau region, is characterized by stretches of dry woodlands and thorny bushes scattered across its vast arid landscape. Riverine forests, though sparse, thrive along the banks of the nearby river, creating a contrast to the otherwise barren terrain. Unlike the more centralized settlents of Sibi, Dhadar’s population is spread out in small, pocketed villages.
These settlents often erge from cleared patches of forest or are located near forested areas, forming a patchwork of communities clustered around the river, taking advantage of its natural barrier of forest for protection and river for sustenance.
Over ti, the villages of the Dhadar region ca together to form a centralized town in the heart of the forest. This settlent beca one of the central hubs in the patchwork of villages, surrounded by dense woodlands and situated near the river.
Tonight, this town is alive with celebration as a major festival unfolds. Sana Khan, the daughter of Rustam Khan, the chief of a nearby village, is marrying Hasil Shah, the son of hrab Shah, the town’s chief.
Inside the town square, in an open space, the stage is being set with a wooden platform for the marriage of the couple. The ground was covered with thick rugs and blankets, inviting guests to sit in circles as they shared in the joyous occasion. Flickering clay lamps dotted the area, their warm light illuminating the faces of the gathered crowd.
The bride and groom had been on the stage with the Kaji conducting their nikah, and their marriage was done.
Hasil Shah was excited about his first marriage. Earlier, he had been opposed to marriage. At the age of 17, he wanted to travel to Sindh in the Pakistan Sultanate and join the army, as his friends of his age did the sa. But his father, hrab Shah, was worried for his son and the future of the town, as with his absence, the title would fall to his next potential subordinate.
So he arranged a marriage with the daughter of Rustam Khan, with whom they had a dispute over sharing water from upstream. Hasil Shah’s mind changed when he saw his would-be wife for the first ti.
He fell in love at first ’eting,’ as she was cloaked in purdah and her face was hidden, and they had little ti to talk. But her voice and attitude of self-introduction touched his heart. Even though her face was hidden, her eyes and body lining along those fabrics made him believe that she was bound to be beautiful.
Now, in front of him, she sat with her family, and her eyes were on the ground in shyness. She wore a beautiful embroidered salwar kaez with jewelry in Persian attire, and she looked no less than a noble from Persia, as per their legends. Fortunately for him, the purdah was removed, and he finally got to look at her face, which for him was no less than the moon.
"Look at this guy, cant even wait to pounce."
"Lucky bastard! going to beco a man tonight."
"Don’t ignore us buddy.."
As he kept staring at her while his friends joked, all he cared about was for her to look at him once since now they were married, but that never happened, perhaps because of tradition. But a faint smile fluttered in his heart as it kept acknowledging him that she knew he was staring at her.
"Co, brother! We have beco relatives," Rustam Khan said, opening his arms wide.
"The pleasure is ours, Rustam. With this union, our people will share a new bond," Town Chief hrab Shah replied as he stepped forward.
The atmosphere was celebratory as hrab Shah hugged his new relative and daughter-in-law’s father, Rustam Khan, with vigor. His subordinates and the nearby guests all approached them to congratulate.
But this peaceful scenery was disrupted as wounded Hafeez ca, creating commotion among the gathering.
Rustam face paled and his celebratory mood shattered. Hafeez was one of his village guard he known and seeing him in that spot ans the village is in danger.
He rushed to him and inquired," Hafeez who did this to you? what happened?"
"Chief Rustam ," he gasped, leaning heavily against a nearby pillar. "Our village... is being burnt! The cowardly Mughals attacked us without warning. They struck like a storm with numbers exceeding thousand, and we were unprepared!"
Rustam’s face paled, he couldn’t belief how this loss happened. "What do you an? How could they attack without any reason?"
"Their is no ti to explain," Hafeez reasoned, his voice trembling. "They killed everyone while I barely survived. we need to evacuate fast as they are engaged with the other villages."
hrab, standing nearby, placed a reassuring hand on the trembling Rustam. "Brother, control yourself. Not everything is lost. Think about your daughter and family. Now we are together." His words soothed Rustam’s raging heart.
However, the situation was grim for the surrounding area as the people received the news.
"How can this happen?"
"We are dood. We are next."
Many townsfolk, who were guests, broke into cries upon hearing the news of the attack and the loss of their loved ones and hos. Soon, despair gripped the hearts of the townspeople, for they realized they shared the sa fate; it was only a matter of ti before the Mughals reached them.
Hasil’s friends were panicked.
"Didn’t Rashid join the Mughal ranks?"
"Will he also fight us?"
They couldn’t believe they would be betrayed by the Mughals, whom many of them had dread of joining, including Hasil. He looked at Sana, who stared at him with panic-stricken eyes, yet remained firmly held by her mother.
A wave of determination surged through him as he declared, "We will fight. We need to defend what is ours."
His friends nodded as the gravity of the situation sank in.
The commotion soon spread like wildfire. It was shocking to the public that they were under attack but with the effort of town’s guard the situation was normalised and a eting in secluded space took place to decide the next course of action.
The elders of the town gathered around, voicing their concerns. "We cannot survive in the vast desert without this region. Where will we go on such short notice, especially with won and children?"
"Staying here won’t help. We could ask for assistance from Sibi or, at worst, flee to Machh," another elder chid in.
"But with so many people, it would be hard to protect ourselves. We would be vulnerable without the cover of the forest," another added.
"Even if we go sowhere, what will happen to our tribe’s future? No one will take in so many," one more suggested.
hrab Shah concluded, "We will not abandon our ho; we will escape to survive. We’ll cross the river and regroup at Machh to seek their assistance. For now, we must retreat to the high ground where we can hide and defend ourselves."
After discussing their dire situation, they got to know that only few settlents are left since the Mughals attacked from other direction as well. They began counting their numbers. The town had 400 guards, all skilled in archery and so in close combat. With Rustam and his guests, they could increase that number to 500.
Soon, representatives from nearby three more small settlents gathered, bringing their total to 1,200 able-bodied militia, in which 700 were skilled soldiers with proficient in the mastery of archery. It beca the last stand of what remained of Dhadar.
They decided to move to the nearby forested hills, which they regarded as high ground. Fortunately, these hills were like a forested fortress, ho to so outposts and well-known hiding places where they had fought many defensive battles against other tribes. However, this ti, the scale of the enemy was overwhelmingly threatening. Still, they clung to this flicker of hope.
An hour later,
Fauzdar Farhan arrived with his thousand soldiers, having sacked two villages along the way. As he approached the settlent, he realized that bringing cannons would be difficult, so he ordered his n to attack with torches, which delayed their advance significantly. He had left the cannons with his comrade, Fauzdar Tausif , who was advancing from the western flank with a complete blockade.
Farhan was taken aback when he encountered Fauzdar Amin and his unit standing idly outside the settlent. They were assigned to attack from the eastern side and should have already razed the town. Instead, the scene before him was unnervingly peaceful.
"Brother, why is the town still intact? Are you waiting for cannons, or do you need my help?" Farhan inquired, puzzled.
"It’s good to see you; I indeed need so help here," Amin admitted.
"The situation has beco critical, follow ," He added gesturing for Farhan to follow him to a location. He led him to the periter of the town, where remnants of skirmishes remained with corpses telling the tale of their last struggles.
Furrowing his brow, Farhan surveyed the area. Across the entrance, bodies lay dead with their throat slit.
Amin pointed toward the nearby hills. "These bastards fled up there while so of these mad lunatics stayed behind to get so ti. This was the last prisoner we held, and we tortured him to get this clue."
Sweat began to bead on Farhan’s forehead as the weight of the situation sank in. "Then it will be hard to complete this mission before nightfall. What will we answer to our Subedar?" he muttered, concern etched on his face.
"The delay is inevitable, but with your arrival, I’m certain we can make it work sohow." Amin added with a cruel smirk, "Let’s turn this into a night hunting contest."
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