"Don't be shy." She said while straight punching the guard in front of her. The guard got pushed backward, after getting back his balance, he charged forward ready to punch her. Paramita jumped sideways catching his lower arm. She twisted it behind his back, grabbed his hair and banged his head five times against the table. The man fell to the floor.
"Stop playing around, guys." She shouted at Ali and Captain Bagas. "Take them down already."
Ali was still fighting off the other man, seeing that she was standing there, he pierced the man's sternum with his four fingers, twisted his hand and banged his head against the wall.
He looked at her then looked at the three guards who fought with her, "You are a very violent and sadistic woman, aren't you?"
Paramita lifted her shoulder. Captain Bagas finally succeeded in leaving the henchman unconscious.
"Come out here niece," They heard Pangeran Bashir shout from the outside, "Come out or I'll shoot this woman, you wouldn't want her blood on your hands would you?"
"Dewi." Ali gasped while heading to the door.
"Wait," Paramita said. "Don't go out there, it's a trap."
"But he's got Dewi and he said that he'll shoot her," he argued. "This is a man who's trying to kill his own niece, what would keep him from shooting her?"
Paramita looked at him with an uneasy look, then smiled ironically. "Okay then, I'm going out, maybe I can swap myself with her if that makes you happy."
"No wait, Mita. That's not what I mean, it's not about her...." Ali tried to explain, but she already ran out the door. He quickly looked at Captain Bagas, and signaled him to circle out the back, before following her out.
"Well, look what we have here, a bonus, the Crown Prince, here to surrender his life for free."
"Bang Ali..." Dewi shouted in happiness seeing him.
"You can't harm him. I've changed my mind," Suddenly Jonathan shouted from behind Pangeran Bashir. "I don't want to get in trouble with my father. . .”
"Shut up! We all have to make sacrifices to achieve our goal. Besides what better way to destroy the throne line by eliminating the successors."
"I won't allow you!" Jonathan insisted.
Pangeran Bashir shot him on the leg. Jonathan fell to the ground holding his injury. Blood was seeping out from between his fingers.
"Uncle Joni." Ali shouted.
"Bring them all to the library." He ordered his men.
They walked up the stairs just as the front door opened and the henchmen walked in with Captain Bagas as prisoner. "We caught him outside Pangeran. There was another guy too, he's dead." They said.
"Lock them all up together!" Pangeran Bashir ordered. "Be careful with that witch niece of mine. Pay extra attention to her, whoever lets her escape will be shot on the spot." He said again.
One of the henchmen who had an encounter with Paramita on the street grabbed her upper arm and dragged her, putting his gun against her waist.
"Don't touch my wife!" Ali growled. He was about to move, when three other men pointed their guns towards his head. Paramita lifted her hand signing to him that she was alright and for him to calm down.
They were pushed inside the library and the door closed locking them in. "I can see you've been here before. Queen of destruction." Ali said to Paramita while looking at the shards of chair on the floor.
Paramita smiled at his attempt to lighten the situation. She walked to Jonathan who was sitting on the chair and took a look at his wound. "The bullet went straight through." She said. "I doubt it hit any arteries, it's not gushing out that much blood." She reached out and on purposely yanked off his tie, to apply a tourniquet on his leg.
"So Uncle Joni Boy, tell me what contract is Pangeran Bashir promising you, in exchange for killing me?" She said pulling the tourniquet hard making him squirm.
"Uncle Joni, is that true?" Ali added, "You were willing to take part in killing my wife to get a contract? Have you gone so low for money?"
"Somebody like you will never understand." He said while grinning in pain, "It's not easy being an underdog, so if I have to do what it takes to succeed, then I'll do what it takes." He suddenly yelped in pain as Paramita tugged the tourniquet
"Are you sure you want to announce that I deserve to die with me just centimeters away from your wound?" She said then poked near the wound with her finger. "Now, you haven't told me what contract it was that he promised you."
"Ah...stop that hurts." He wailed, "The contract was for the construction and management of Trans Wirakarta Toll way."
Paramita looked up at Ali, he nodded at her and she got up and stepped away from Jonathan. "When we get out of here, I'm going to look into Pangeran Bashir's and all the other Princes involvement in government project contracting."
"Bang Ali, I'm happy to see you again." Dewi said softly to him latching on to his arm. "Bang, you don't blame me for what I did, right? I did this because I love you, because I'm angry at her for taking you away from me. Pangeran Bashir said he can help me with my citizenship, I want to get Jothar citizenship so I won't be far from you."
Paramita rolled her eyes up and sighed. "Bang Ali, you never strike me as the type of man who prefers dumb women. Hey lady, Raden Hamza is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he could help you more than that old geezer on your citizenship. Hello, immigration is managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs. I doubt Raden Hamza would refuse to help you. If you were to conspire to kill me, you should have done it for something more significant than just a recommendation letter."
"Enough, Mita! You're crossing the line! Don't joke with your life like that" Ali rebuked. Paramita stared at him with anger, Ali avoided looking at her, feeling uncomfortable he shook Dewi's hand off and walked to the door to observe it. "Captain Bagas." He said, "The hinges of this door are on this side."
Captain Bagas came to the door. "You're right sir, if we can find a sharp metal object to yank it up, we can probably get out of here."
"There nothing on the desk or the cupboard. I can tell you that, I searched there when I was held in here the last time." Paramita said.
They were surprised to see Dewi cry, "Look, under the door!" She pointed. "Smoke!"
"I knew he planned to burn me alive." Paramita mumbled, she looked around the room, trying to find something to prevent the smoke from entering while the men were looking for anything they can use to pry out the hinges. She ran to the curtains and pulled them down hard. The curtain came tumbling down with tube and all. She pushed it against to bottom of the door.
"We're going to die here, it's all because of you!" She said pointing at Paramita, "If you hadn't come into our lives, this would never had happened."
Paramita just looked at her and shook her head.
"Bang, promise me that we will be alright, Bang Ali promise me that you'll save me." Dewi cried while shaking his arm.
Ali just stood there without any reaction. Paramita felt uneasy seeing Dewi holding her husband's arm and he didn't attempt to make her let go of him. "Captain Bagas, why don't you and I try to get us out of here, while this Romeo and Juliet get it on?" She said sarcastically. She picked up a curtain tube and observed the end," Look, this is flat and it looks strong, maybe we can use this." She said.
Captain Bagas nodded, and took one of the tube from her hand. He walked to the door and tried to hack the hinge. "Puteri, I think this would work." He said with excitement.
"Great!" She walked to the door with a tube in her hand. "You work on the top hinge, and I'll do the bottom one." She said while kneeling on the floor.
Ali stared as Paramita kneeled in front of Captain Bagas. "Mita, what are you doing kneeling like that?" With two big strives, he arrived by her side and pulled her up.
"Someone has to take the responsibility and save our lives, you don't seem to have the mind for it." She sassed.
"Give me that!" He said taking the tube from her hand.
"Pangeran, Puteri, I've succeeded in taking out the pin up here. I'll do the other one, I t
hink I found a way to do it faster." He said feeling uncomfortable being in the middle of their argument.
"Go ahead, Captain." Ali said to him.
It took Captain Bagas several minutes, but he succeeded in pulling out the pin that held the hinge. "Pangeran, it's off. Sir, please help me to take out this door."
Ali walked to the door, and held on it, they both pulled the door towards them. Paramita was surprised when she realized how close Dewi was standing near the door. She saw that it was to fall on top of Dewi, Paramita hurriedly ran up to her and pushed her out of the way, in consequence the heavy door hit her arm hard making her fall side wards. She grimaced at the thump she felt.
"Mita." Ali bellowed, approaching her, "Are you okay?" He held out his hand to help her up.
Paramita shook her head while holding her arm, "I'll survive." She said. "Let's get out of here!"
Ali helped her get up anyway and they walked to the door, while Captain Bagas helped Jonathan to walk. The whole first floor of the Palace was covered in flames, there was sound of wood crackling under the fire and black smoke filled the air. "Bang, the stairway is ten steps in front of us." Paramita said to him. She grabbed him by his upper arm, "Bang, do you remember my three million reasons?"
He turned around, "This is not exactly the right time to talk about it."
She smiled, "I think I'm going to make your dream come true."
"What are you talking about? Don't do anything crazy! Mita, I....." She quickly kissed him on the mouth, making the others look away in embarrassment.
"The stairway is ten steps in front of us. Let's go, hurry up." She said.
Ali nodded and repeated for everyone else to hear. "Let's move forward, ten steps ahead."
The walked quickly but cautiously. They reached the stairs and walked down closed together. Seeing the bottom of the steps covered in flames, Dewi screamed in panic, "We're going to die, help us, somebody help us, we're going to burn to death, we're going to die!" She screamed. She felt her body limp and stood against the railing unable to move.
Ali released his arm from Paramita and walked to her, "Dewi, pull yourself together, we have to get out of here!" He said shaking her.
She just stood there crying while shaking her head in fear. "No....no....."
Ali picked her up from the floor and carried her. "Come on, let's go." He said to the others. They walked again heading towards the front door that was almost covered in flames. Paramita looked at him as he walked in front of her with Dewi in his arms, she felt her heart burn.
She stepped backward turned around then sprinted towards the kitchen. Through the crackling and banging of the wood beams falling on the floor she heard Ali calling to her, but she didn't care, she continued to run in a zig-zagging line to avoid the falling objects.
She heard a loud sound of glass shattering on her left-hand side, Paramita turned her head, it was one of the main windows, she ran towards it and jumped out, rolling on the soft grass. She ran as fast as she could to the row of trees.
Paramita hid herself behind a tree then looked at the building to see what had happened to the others. She saw Captain Bagas and Jonathan Tan walking out of the door, followed by Ali still carrying Dewi in his arms. They rushed to the grass. Captain Bagas helped Jonathan to sit, as Ali put Dewi down on the grass.
From the distance, she saw Ali turning around to the burning Palace. Dewi pulled his hand back, Paramita didn't expect to see him push her hard making her slump to the ground. He pointed his finger at her and Jonathan as if he was saying something. Then he ran back inside the blazing building. She stared in terror as his body became surrounded by the flames. Her ears rang with the sound of his voice crying out her name.
* * *
"Bang, you can't go back in there!" Dewi cried while holding on to his arm, "The whole building is on fire, that woman is probably dead by now."
Ali could feel the blood rushing to his head, he abruptly pulled his arm away and pushed her back causing her to fall with a thump on the grass, “This is your fault! The both of you. You tried to harm my wife. I won’t forgive you. I’ll make you pay for this, or don’t call me Ali. Captain Bagas, make sure these two criminals don’t try to escape, once the rest of the Royal Guards arrive, make sure to detain the both of them in the political prisoner’s holding cell at the Sultan’s Palace. They should remain there until my further orders!”
He turned around and ran towards the burning building, Ali covered his face with both arms to protect himself from the flames then rushed inside.
“Mita…!” He called, “Mita where are you?”
He heard a cracking sound directly above his head, he looked up to see a burning wooden beam collapsing from the roof. He jumped forward, rolling himself on the floor to avoid the blazing wood.
He grimaced in pain as he felt a hot metal pole scorching. He pulled his arm away and held it with his other hand.
“Mita……” He called out in despair, he accidentally inhaled a large amount of smoke, causing him to cough uncontrollably. Ali pushed himself up from the floor. Moving forward blindly not able to see clearly through the thick smog.
Ali gasped for air, his lungs were hurting, and his eyes were becoming blurry and teary. He was becoming dizzy, almost collapsing to the floor
“Are you stupid? Why did you run back in, knowing that the building is burning and about to cave in?” A familiar voice said while catching him.
“Mita…” He barely managed to whisper.
“Let’s get out of here.” She said putting his arm around her shoulder to support him.
“Mita, are you alright? Are you hurt?” He refused to walk.
“Of course I’m alright! But you’re not. We can talk later. Help me get you out of here!”
"Mita, if anything were to happen to you, my life wouldn't mean anything anymore...." He muttered
"Stop talking nonsense!" She said leading him towards the broken window that she used to get out and back in again. He was getting heavier for her as he slowly lost consciousness. “Bang, stay awake, stay with me…” She panicked.
She caught sight of the window, avoiding the falling lumber from the roof. Paramita was also beginning to feel her breath getting heavy. She glanced at Ali, she could see his eyes half closed. “If I didn’t love you so much, I would never do this.” She grumbled.
She stopped bowed down, putting her left shoulder under his waist. She flung his right arm around the back of her neck, taking as much air as the dense smoky air would allow her, she stood up flinging him over her shoulder. “I hope nobody will see this.” She said to herself.
She slowly walked to the window, wanting to go faster but wasn’t able to, because of his weight slowing her down. A big lump of wood fell a few centimeters to her right. Paramita tried hard to keep herself from falling down, she found it hard to keep her balance, as Ali’s body on her shoulder was dragging her towards the left. She closed her eyes, concentrated then put out all her strength to rush to the window.
It seemed forever to her when she finally arrived at the opening, there was nothing she wanted more to do than throw him out on the ground to relieve the pressure on her body. But she knew that fall might hurt him. She braced herself, stepping over the window sill.
She arrived on the grass and carefully laid him down, she checked his breathing, it was normal although he was unconscious. The sound of the sirens filled the air around her. She could hear footsteps and voices approaching, Paramita quickly bent over Ali giving him a kiss on his lips. "I love you." She whispered. She stood up, then dashed towards the trees again.
She hid herself behind the tree again, she saw Captain Bagas followed by the other members of the Royal Guard running towards Ali who was still lying on the grass. She saw them shaking his body, and him finally coming to. They helped him get up and walked him to an awaiting ambulance. Paramita exhaled in relief. She ran to the fence that surrounded the property then climbed over it, landing on the ground outside the Palace complex. Pa
ramita looked around her to make sure that the coast was clear, then she ran as fast as she could towards the main street.
Glossary
[1] Puteri is Melayu for Princess
[2] Raden is a title given to noble men
[3] Permaisuri is the title given to the Queen
[4] Batik Prada is when the batik is drawn on silk and is lined with gold ink
[5] Baju Kurung is the traditional loose fitting dress worn by Melayu women
[6] Ananda honorifics to refer to one’s child or a young person with the age to be one’s child
[7] Ayahnda honorifics to refer to one’s father
[8] Wirakarta is the fantasy capital of Jothar
[9] Rumah Makan means restaurant
[10] Padang is an ethnical community of Indonesia, famous for many things including delicious typical “fast” food
[11] Alam Melayu is Melayu Realm
[12] Kakanda honorifics to call older sister or older brother
About the author
Evida Suntoyo is the author of December Sunshine, Puteri: Nuance of Love and Rebound Love.
She has been living in Colombia with her husband and three children for more than 8 years. Living far from her native Country of Indonesia has made her realize that not many people are aware of the Indonesian people and culture except for a very small part of the archipelago which is Bali.
Connect with Evida Suntoyo
Thank you for reading my book, I hope it has inspired you to get to know a little bit more about Indonesia and it’s culture.
If you like my story, please give me a good review, I appreciate it.
Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 Page 32
