Chapter 11

Dundar bey nearly jumped up and down hearing about this topic. "A-Aygul hatun's marriage?" he asked excitedly. "Yes, I think it is time for us to tie loose ends and bring this matter down from our heads," he said. Dundar bey went up to kiss Alisar's hand, and the two continued chattering about when they would to it, where they would do it, and all of that stuff. But he had another plan in his mind. 

Batur had entered the cave with the surprise of not seeing anyone there. "WHERE IS THIS WOMAN!?!" Batur yelled. Since Hayal's cave was not very far from that cave, she woke up to his yelling, and Kongar did too. "Who was that?" Kongar asked. "Batur Alp, from my tribe. I hate that little dog. He wanted to MARRY ME! I said no because..." Hayal trailed off. "Because what?" he asked. "Well... it's complicated. And I don't think you would want to hear about it." "No I want to," he said, surprising Hayal. "Okay... if you ever want me to stop just tell me, but here we go. Since I was young, I had always wanted to be a warrior and not make the carpets and make food. I was horrible at it anyway, but I know enough to make a living. Anyway, Emine Hatun fell in love with someone and she has been dragging me into love and all the love problems she could find in the world. I have no plans on getting married OR falling in love, but she keeps telling me that I will change my mind, but I know I won't. I was coming to the tribe, right before you guys attacked when they told me that Zohre Hatun set up my marriage with Batur. I stormed up to them with fury and it turned out that Batur was the one who requested my marriage. I tried guessing if it was his own will or Dundar's planning, but with him trying to find me, I feel like I can half guess that it's his own will. And, all those problems aside, who released him?" she said, finally catching her breath. Kongar looked surprised and overwhelmed with all the information and Hayal went to look at one of the three holes in the cave to spy on them. "If we don't stay quiet, we will be caught and you will be dead," she said, poking Kongar. He frowned but understood what she meant. "For your safety, I think that you should leave the cave so that if I ever caught, I won't get into trouble, and neither would you," she said. "The thing is... Balgay thinks that I went after you to capture, but he doesn't know that that's not what I am doing," he explained. Hayal thought to herself for a second and then spoke. "If everyone wants to play a game with us, let them play it. We'll play our own game."

Emine, Selcan, and Hayal were pacing around outside waiting for news from Batur or for Hayal to come back. "Where do you think she went?" Selcan asked. "Either somewhere super far or somewhere well hidden," Halime replied. Emine looked around the tribe carefully when something hit her. "Ana, I know that you may think I am absurd but, Kongar isn't in the tribe either. What if they..." "Don't say crap like that!" Halime said, shutting Emine up pretty quickly. "Even if Hayal was in a bad situation, she can fight herself out of it, right?" Halime asked the question openly. Just then, they saw one of the alps that Batur went with come back. "What happened?" they asked in unison. " We followed her footsteps up to a mountain, but we weren't able to find her. Everyone else has moved from the area to continue looking," he reported. They let him go back to the alps when he started telling them another thing. "Where we were at, there were 2 horses, so we suspected that she was there and with someone," he said. "I KNEW IT! I'm telling you he is there with her!" Emine said. "Emine, calm down. She may be with a friend from another tribe or maybe it is some else's. You need to stop worrying about her so much. She is much older now and can take responsibility. Don't waste your time and work with us. I don't want to see her complain from you again. Is that understood?" Halime said sternly. "Yes, I understand," she replied, quietly.

"Bey'im!" Batur heard a voice from below. "Did you deliver the message, Musa?" Batur asked. Musa nodded. "I also found another cave that is down further on that path. She might be there." Batur nodded and their team started climbing down. They passed the cave where she was actually staying and Hayal let out a sigh of relief. "Hey Hayal? Where does that lead to?" Kongar asked, pointing to a small door that was on the floor of the cave. "How did you find that? I covered it with my stuff! Anyway, I don't know how they are so absurd but that cave that they're talking about is on the Inegol side, DEEP into the Inegol side. They would know better that I wouldn't go to their territory. When you climb down that small door, there are many pathways that are there leading to many different places. I haven't been there but I have always wanted to. The location and access are precisely why I chose this place to stay." He looked around and then looked at her, impressed at her intellect in choice. "I do have to say, you are a smart girl. Now, let's get out of here and explore and before someone finds us." Hayal agreed on that part. She rearranged the accessories a little and she closed the door on top of her, going to explore.

"When will they be back? I am so done waiting for Hayal honestly! And if you still think that he isn't following her then go right ahead and call me out! I'm telling you the truth." Emine kept on fighting Halime and Selcan until she had completely strained her voice. "Emine, we are telling you, HAYAL IS FINE! She doesn't need babysitting or any of that. In fact, if you are so doubtful, go find her yourself!" Halime shouted. "S- so you're telling me to go?" "YES, I'm telling you to go! You have been fighting with both of us for the past 4 hours. I understand that I am your aunt, but you need to cool yourself down. Go and find her yourself if you are so worried. PLEASE!" she finished. Emine nodded her head and packed her stuff. She mounted onto her horse and started to ride away. She stopped at a little hut she saw on the way. It will be a good enough stop. I need the energy to go find her, she thought. Just as she was about to enter, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw Boran alp approaching her. "Emine hatun? What are you doing out here?" he asked. Her heart fluttered. "Halime Ana told me to go find Hayal since I was so stressed out about her," she said. "What are you doing here?" "I am on duty. I saw you here and just came to make sure everything was okay. Now, with your permission, I should get back to my job," he said and slowly started walking away. Emine was really happy. She had just had a good conversation with him. She didn't know what to say or what to feel, she just felt, happy. Then, the anger of Hayal wandering off hit her, and she went to go make herself something. 

Osman, Bala, and his alps were staying at their secret cave. Bala had calmed down from when Alisar had come to see her. She had recovered, but she couldn't get over it. "Osman'im, I still can't get over the fact. WHY would he want to marry me? What does he want? And wasn't he going to marry Aygul soon? Osman, what is this bastard doing?" Bala was spitting out questions at Osman at an uncontrollable rate. "Bala'im. Please, calm down a little. We will find out his plans soon enough. Please, don't stress my angel," he said. The alps shifted uncomfortably and reminded their bey that they were here. "Alps, Balgay and Alisar have parked their camp at our tribe. We will have to stay here from now until who knows when. But we will continue our fight to stop them. We will find them and defeat them. Is that understood?" "As you order bey!" they all shouted at once. They heard footsteps and got their weapons out, then looked to see that it was Gonca Hatun. "Gonca hatun, how is the tribe?" "Not good bey'm. Balgay and Alisar are staying longer and Alisar requested to marry Aygul." "I KNEW IT! He is playing games behind our backs! I'm telling you, this is some plan to marry both of us!" "There's more. Halime ana told Emine to go find Hayal." "What happened to Hayal?" Osman asked. "She left the tribe in the morning. Kongar followed. They sent alps to find her but they couldn't and Emine keeps suspecting that they're together," Gonca explained. "Hayal would never do that. I know she wouldn't do that..." Osman, Bala, and Gonca looked at each other, "... would she?"