A Slave who became Emperor Chapter 70

Mirza kept on traveling . . he crossed the Sindhu river . . he was nearing the Hindu Kush mountains . . the peaks of mountains were covered in snow . . the temperatures were dropping and travelling in this climate was nothing but suicide . .

Mirza asked for shelter at a nomadic caravan and rested for two whole days . . he then gave his horse to the clan leader and requested for a camel . . the horse was a very superior breed . . so the clan Lord accepted and gave him a good camel . .

The climate improved, so Mirza started his journey again . . he relentlessly travelled for weeks . . he entered Afghan lands . . he rested for a week in a small inn . . he got his camel well fed and watered . .

He resumed his onward journey . . he entered Iran . . it was a journey that could not be accomplished alone . . only packs of people could make it across countries . . but since Mirza had a loyal heart bound to Zaffar . . he kept himself motivated and reached the Shah's palace . .

At the entrance, Mirza was stopped . . he said to the guards 'I am Mirza, Mir Al Zaffar's general . . I have an important message to the Shah . . ' the guards asked him to wait . . they went in and came back, they said, 'come in . . '

The palace was magnificent, the way in which it was done was extravagant . . the Shah surrounded himself with beauty and riches . . even the maids here were considered to be rare beauties . . Mirza passed through several rooms before he entered a chamber . .

Mirza was asked to kneel . . he did so without any hesitation . . this was expected . . he was not the general of the Shah . . he was under Zaffar . . he was nothing in front of the Shah . . he knelt and waited . .

The Shah came in, he looked at Mirza and said, 'Zaffar got captured? ' Mirza said, 'your majesty . . yes . . ' Shah snorted and said, 'ambition is good . . but one needs to know their limitations . . he was a bandit leader . . . wanting to take on a whole country was foolish . . it was good that my men came back . . my general understood the war better than all of you . . ' Mirza's heart trembled . . the Shah addressed everything in a go . . there was no way he could have asked for his help . . he still had a great Trump card . . the treasure . . if he wanted to invoke the Shah's pity . . it would have been a fruitless effort . .

Mirza let the Shah complete . . then he said, 'your majesty . . I request you to take pity on your servant Zaffar, while fighting them we came across some information related to a valuable treasure . . ' Shah said, 'what treasure? ' Zaffar handed him over the scroll . . the Shah read it and looked at him with mockery . . he said, 'how do I know that this is not a ruse to draw me in and use my forces to release Zaffar . . ' Mirza said, 'your majesty, your servant doesn't dare to . . this is written in ancient Persian language . . you can ask your historians to check how authentic it is . . . ' Shah said, 'very well . . we will make the necessary investigation . . then we will talk further . . till then you will remain here . . ' he mockingly added, 'as a guest . . ' and slyly smiled . .

Chapter end