Taj

Taj ran through the crowded streets of Amjad looking for a bit of food for his siblings. Without any money, he darted around the food stands looking for scraps. Taj saw nothing around and stopped running when a merchant clumsily bumped into him.

“I’m so sorry dear boy”, he exclaimed as he threw down his bags to help him up.  

“It’s alright, good sir.” Taj said. The merchant examined him and noticed the poor rags the boy attempted to cover himself in. He flung two coins toward the lad and shouted as he left, “For your family, son!”

Taj smiled thankfully and ran as fast as he could toward the bread vendor who then told him he could buy double what most citizens buy with two coins. He then happily ran off towards his home with two bags full of loaves of bread.

“Mother look what I was given today!” Taj yelled as he ran into his small home. It was small indeed. For there was one room covered by a torn blanket from the streets with a mother and six children inside, Taj being the oldest nearly twenty. He distributed the loaves among his family and told them to savor them as much as possible while he runs out for more food.

As Taj left, he remembered the terrible deed he had done two weeks prior.  

A vendor was selling a various sort of foods, from spices to bread to fruits. Taj saw this from the roof top directly across the stand, and was tempted and needed to feed his family, so he ripped a sheet from the awning underneath him and jumped off the roof in the direction of the vendor. As he jumped he pulled the awning cover under his feet and landed on top of the merchant, who fell unconscious, thus sparing Taj time to gather as much fruit and bread and spices into the sheet as he could before the authorities would be there. Whence he finished, he climbed the ladder to the roof he just vacated and darted across the roofs to the small place where his family slept. Apparently a citizen down below had called for the authorities while Taj was gathering his stolen food, because he saw a group of seven men in higher class attire run through the street below, with their swords on the sides. Somebody down low shouted, “He’s escaped! He went up to the roof tops!” Taj noticed them all swarming all the ladders to climb in search for him. He noticed one had seen him and ran as fast as he could towards the boy. Taj ran and saw ahead of him a ten foot gap between his current roof the one ahead. He did not hesitate, he quickly fastened his heirloom bracelet on the sheet so food would stay in and he tossed it to the other side. After Taj threw the food he almost immediately jumped and cleanly landed on the thin awning on the other side and clenched the roof with his fingers. The police figures attempted to jump the gap, some fell two stories down, others hit the wall and fell, none made it across.

The authorities have been on the search for Taj ever since, and still have not found him. I guess you could say, he is stealthily hidden this time underneath his stolen headwrap. The stolen food had also lasted his family two weeks.

Taj did not run this time, he was not quite in a hurry now to find more food after the bread incident. So he walked among the streets. Scanning his horizon he saw the most beautiful young girl. From where he stood, she looked about sixteen. She was on the bridge overhead, looking lonely as she strode across to her destination. Taj took his chance and climbed up the ladder closest to him and darted across the two roofs that separated him from her.  

The girl’s golden gown lit up the night in the sunset, and she stepped back as Taj ran up to her. He slid to a stop on the smooth stones of the bridge. He was getting nervous now, he wanted to her ask her name.

“What’s your name, your highness?” he said this in regard to her beautiful golden gown, and she blushed.

“Kenzhi”, she told him, giggling. “What is yours?”

“Taj”, he said.

Then they heard screaming.

Taj saw bands of policemen from all over the surrounding streets rushing to the same spot. His home. Terrified and filled with adrenaline, Taj hopped over the railing of the bridge down to the stone-covered street two stories below. With a clean landing he rushed himself towards the spot where policemen were gathering. He soon realized that doing this was a bad idea because they were now retreating and could spot him. Taj climbed a ladder to a rooftop and crawled to the spot over his home. He spotted eight men. One carrying the awning sheet that Taj had stolen, and the other seven each dragging a limp body behind them. They were on their way to the capital. Taj knew that they were going to find a means to capture him, wherever he may be. The king of Amjad did not take these types of things lightly. He liked peace, no matter what he did to achieve it.

Taj spotted the golden girl Kenzhi wandering the streets and ran to her and grabbed her hand, and led her to another rooftop.  

“They killed an entire family, your highness!” Taj was serious at this point. Kenzhi looked disturbed by the terrible news. She looked on for a moment.

“Follow me!” she whispered to him. The girl took off her dress revealing the clothes underneath, clothes a normal girl would not wear, according to a boy. She looked this way to get around certain parts of the city easily. She folded up her dress and set it down remembering its spot, and she stealthily ran across the roofs constantly looking around her for signs of police, Taj trailing her heals. Kenzhi climbed down into a small courtyard surrounded by four walls. In the corner was a piece of cloth, which she removed, revealing a clean hole downwards.  

“Come on! I’ll show you around!” she whispered to him. Kenzhi jumped down about ten feet, avoiding the rope hanging from the corner of the wall, and Taj did as she did. There were corridors everywhere. This was an underground tunnel. She ran down the one on the far left and sat down in the middle of a circular room that broke off at the end. “I’ll explain all of this later!”

“Now, Taj. Tell me why the authorities are out to find you. I could see the look in your eyes when you left, and when you returned you were shaking. I’m sorry they killed your family. I want to know why they did”, she frowned at him concerned. So he told her his story. Kenzhi reached for his hand and squeezed it, a tear fell from her golden lidded eyes.

“I did what I had to do to keep my family alive. Now I don’t know what my duty is”, Taj said, saddened by his loses.  

“You can stay here. Right here, where I sleep. My name is Kenzhi, my parents were killed by the same policemen when I was seven. After that everything changed, I was no longer a child anymore but a refugee. I was recruited by the Rebels of Amjad. Nine years ago when the king was reinstated, I’m sure you remember, he became cruel. King Ghazi sure seems kind on the outside, around the public, but when something he just doesn’t approve of happens, he’s fierce. The rebels have been hiding here ever since recruiting more and more people, little by little, to overrule the king. Taj, I’ve never seen a gentlemen who’s more beautiful and courageous as you.” She squeezed his hand, and he smiled for the first time that hour.

“If I stay here with you, do I have leave soon?” Taj asked, scared.

“Of course not, darling”, Kenzhi whispered.

The fire lamps went out and everything went black. They were here.

30 May 2014