While they are resting on the way, Mask Man starts to suspect that Qasim is lying. So he asks Qasim, "How many children do you have? And what's your name?"
Qasim replies, "My name is Akbar, and I have three children—two daughters and one son."
Mask Man looks at him with slight surprise and says, "What's your age? You don't look old enough to have three kids."
Qasim responds, "Yes, I got married early. It was love. I spoke to her father, and he said if I truly loved his daughter, I should marry her within a few days—and I agreed."
Mask Man says, "Wow, you're pretty clever."
Qasim thinks to himself, What kind of story am I even making up?
Then Mask Man asks, "What are your daughters' ages?"
Qasim pauses in thought and says to himself, If I lie more now, I'll get caught.
So, he distracts Mask Man by saying, "We've been walking since morning. The horses need food and rest. They're not human, but they too deserve a break."
Mask Man says, "Yes, I know. Just a little more walking and we'll reach a place where we can rest and give the horses a break too."
They continue the journey. The horses' hooves make sounds in the desert sand. A strong wind blows—but it's scorching hot.
Sweat starts dripping due to the heat, and they begin to feel hungry.
Hashim asks, "How much further?"
Mask Man replies, "Almost there. But does anyone feel hungry?"
Both of them reply, "Absolutely, we're hungry and thirsty."
Mask Man says, "Alright, do you see that cave ahead? We'll rest there."
Then he adds, "We both have our supplies—food and water—but you, Akbar, didn't have any belongings. What will you eat? We'll give you water at least."
Qasim is just about to say something when Mask Man says, "You're lucky. We found food, water, weapons, dinars—lots of stuff in the bandits' belongings. Akbar, you can take something from that."
Qasim says, "Alright."
They reach a cave, tie their horses nearby so they can rest and eat too.
Then the three of them eat together and relax.
Hashim starts eating very quickly.
Qasim says, "Take it easy, are you really that hungry?"
He replies, "Yes, I can't bear hunger."
Mask Man eats his food at a distance so that no one can see his face.
This gives Qasim a chance to eat in peace too.
After eating, they sit for a while and rest.
Hashim leans against a wall and falls asleep quickly.
After a short while, Mask Man comes and wakes him up, saying,
"Get up, man. We have to continue the journey. We must finish the path tonight. There's a lot of danger. Anything could happen to us at night.
We need to get through this route as soon as possible and be ready to head towards Kabul."
The three of them come out of the cave, take their horses, and start walking again.
Mask Man says, "If we complete our journey today, as I had planned, then we'll reach Kabul by tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll waste another day."
They walk a little further. Qasim says, "Trap behind, be careful."
Mask man says, "Where?"
He says, "Look on the left side, it looks unusual. This only happens in a trap, or I saw Abdullah doing this, he also made a trap like this, and there was a similar strange thing on the ground.
But this looks old, maybe those same thieves laid it."
Mask man says, "Yes, I think the same."
They avoid that trap and start their journey.
After every little while, there were traps. They walk carefully, avoiding them.
While traveling, evening starts to fall.
Hashim says, "Before night falls, we have to find some cave-like place where we can rest at night."
Mask man replies, "Leave that to me, I know. We have to walk one more hour and then we'll find a place to rest, and our today's journey will also be complete."
For the next hour, no one speaks.
Silent. Everyone is tired.
They just want to reach that place.
At last, they reach there.
They tie the horse safely at one spot and also take their belongings inside.
Mask man.
Qasim says, "We can leave the luggage on the horse, who will come at night to steal it?"
He replies, "Not about stealing. I need support, so I need this bag."
Qasim had solved 30 percent of the mission.
He thinks, "I know you won't let me see your face, so I also won't let you see mine."
Hashim had already gone to sleep.
Mask man also lies down at a distance.
But he knows Qasim will come near him to see his face.
Same thing Qasim was thinking.
So both go to see each other's face…
And both fall asleep.
Morning comes.
Hashim wakes both at Fajr time and says, "Friends, it's time for prayer."
All three do wudu and offer prayer.
Then they have breakfast.
Qasim and Mask man decide that,
"We should start our journey now, it's still morning so it's not too hot.
If we delay, it will get hot, and .
We have to reach Kabul before night."
They start the journey.
And by evening, they reach Kabul.
But on the way, there were so many traps that a normal person would've definitely gotten caught.
But they travel carefully.
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Written By
Sabir Ali
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