Chapter 5

He and Ella had gone out hunting today, there was a huge and dense forest on the border of Daruj which was known to be where the hunters often became the victims themselves. They will return with half a lion cub. After three or four hours of investigation, they finally found the lion's den. The lion did not know where it was and the tigress was busy sunbathing with her three cubs. They both climbed a thick tree about twenty, twenty two paces away

"Come on Ella... Let's see whose arrow hits the target today" he said to Ella while putting the arrow in the bow, Ella also straightened his bow while shaking his head, but before either of them hit the target. Even as the arrow came out of the bow, the whole forest resounded with the thunderous roar of the lion

" what happened..?" Ella had whispered

"We think someone has their sights set on the tiger," he said slowly lowering his bow, before they both knew anything, a horseman appeared from the northern side of the forest...a galloping horse. Running and right behind him, the king of the forest appeared... Roaring loudly, an arrow was stuck in the lion's back, the lioness also stood up roaring. He came, from whichever side he tried to leave the forest, a pair of lions would block his way.

"What do you think...what happened..." Ella asked

"Whatever happened in our opinion was done unintentionally. If the arrow had been fired with the intention of hunting, it would have stuck in the lion's neck, not in the back... The horse rider is indeed very brave, but it is also a challenge. After a while his horse will get tired and we don't think he will win against a pair of lions running on his legs."

"That means the lions have to be killed," said Ella

"No...the horseman must be saved" he whispered

"What should I do..." Aibuck asked, the two of them dismounting from the tree, their horses tied a short distance away.

"We have to wait for the rider's horse to get tired, if it is wise, it will jump after the horse falls, at that very moment we will help him and you will find a way out of the forest, as soon as we can." It would be better to leave this forest to survive, Ebak nodded and got on his horse and exactly half an hour later the rider had jumped off the horse, the pair of lions badly mauled the horse. But he swooped down, he had pulled the horseman behind him in a few moments while galloping, and in a few moments he came out of the forest, running his horse behind Ella's horse. Pull the reins of the horse, Ella had also stopped his horse, the horseman sitting behind him got down with a halter, he was hiding his face with a black cloth.

"We just want to know why a girl was practicing archery clumsily in such a dangerous forest...?" He was finally the commander of the army of Druj

"We're not clumsy..." As the girl pulled the veil from her face, Aibuck's eyes widened

"Well...then your arrow stuck in the tiger's back instead of its neck" He folded both his hands across his chest and smiled.

"We didn't shoot an arrow at the tiger on purpose, we were just practicing shooting three arrows at once, one of them somehow hit the tiger's back" The girl was out of breath but she Wasn't scared at all

"You get to shoot one arrow. You practice shooting three arrows at once... Before he could finish speaking, the girl's arrow flew past his ear and into the trunk of the tree behind him.

"Excuse me... there was probably a small feather stuck in your hair" the girl said hanging her bow on her shoulder, he just looked at her, he had seen so much beauty before, he had seen so much pride before. But I had not seen such bravery before

"Who are you...?" he asked

"Indeed, you have saved my life, but first, will you tell me who you are?" The girl's eyes were fearless

"It's the army of Druj..." He didn't let Ella finish his speech

"We are a soldier of Druj's army and this is our friend," he said, pointing to Ella.

"We live on the tops of Ras Malan, we have no brothers, so our mother often asks us to fetch wood from the forest, but we are not interested in cutting wood, we go back to practice our archery. Let's go," said the girl

"So your mother doesn't say anything to you when you come back empty-handed?" he asked

"Eating mother's bush is easier than chopping wood," the girl had said, and he laughed heartily

"So you think that by practicing like this you will be able to shoot three arrows at once" she asked

"Yes, of course... even the general of Druj's army shoots three arrows at the same time" he was shocked after hearing the girl's words.

"Who...?" He asked curiously

"Darin Abbas Shah" was dripping with envy and jealousy from both the girl's tone and words

"Perhaps someone has told you wrong, our generals shoot five arrows at a time, not three" Aebak, standing behind him, laughed.

"We know...when three arrows come at once, I will start practicing five after that," the girl exclaimed.

"what is your name...?" he asked

"Neerja..." said the girl

"Go Neerja...your mother will be waiting for you" he says turning back to his horse

"Listen...!" Neerja called out to him

"I must know the name of the Daruj soldier who saved my life," he said

Saying "Arsh..." he mounted the horse

"Thank you...for saving my life" he called out, Darien smilingly put his horse on his heel and in no time they were out of Neerja's sight.