Imperialist: The Voyage

Chapter Seven; Wedding Night

Moutassim sat astride Sheikh on the banks of the Abidjan coast, surrounded by the noise of multiple nails being hammered into wood by hundreds of shipbuilders. Before him, dozens of single mast cogs bobbed in the water.

It has been two weeks since his announcement that he wanted to sail on an expedition, during which time his subjects had come together for the common cause of building the fleet... except for Mathus. Hussein had cried that he had no money to contribute.

Against his better judgement, Agamon had contributed five hundred, thousand siestries... enough to buy material to construct fifty ships. Moutassim's own Imperial troops would be retrained and form the main body of sailors. And from the letter he had in his hand, their provisioning needs would soon be taken care of.

King Votrek of Sieberon had written to Moutassim that he would be making a trip to Kalli right after his father's funeral, which was yesterday. It was the customary journey to swear fealty to the Imperial crown, conducted by every Mesigan vassal King upon ascension to their throne. According to Votrek, he would be bringing chest loads of siestries and gold to contribute to the trip.

The reality was that the Emperor was nervous. It would be the first time Moutassim, the youngest ruler in the empire, has ever accepted oaths from a vassal King. And the last time a Sieberon king, Bandhu, had ever stepped foot in Kalli was in 1109. Bandhu's trip ended up almost tearing apart the empire. Moutassim hadn't been born yet, but he'd learned his father's lesson from the secession crisis. Security would be tripled.

"Your majesty, I think now would be the best time to give you this."

Moutassim turned as Agdel rode up on his warhorse and held out an oak box to him. He took the box and opened it. Inside were two black leather arm bracers, with brown trimmings.

"What? Why would I need this? Have you taken up fashion designing, instead of leading my army?"

Agdel smiled.

"Funny. Pick it up." the General said. Moutassim did as instructed and was surprised by how heavy they were.

"They have metal armour underneath?" Moutassim asked. Agdel's smile grew broader.

"Jerk the right one forward." He said.

Moutassim did just that and a steel blade slid out from a slit in the bracer, with such force that were it not for his experience with arms and war, he would have dropped it.

"Don't test it now, but the left side one is set up so that it can shoot shurikens at a target. Like a forearm crossbow. You just have to pull back this lever," he pointed to what Moutassim had thought was a small leather strap at the top of the bracer. "And it does the rest. To reload, you unbutton the flap over the bracer. The right side bracer has no flap."

"Wow," Moutassim was genuinely impressed. To the uninitiated, the bracers looked like nothing more than fashion accessories. "I asked you to develop a prototype of Farouk's gauntlet. But you've outdone yourself."

"I must emphasize," Agdel paused. "That this is not for general warfare purposes. The emphasis is on concealment, so it's just in case of... assassination attempts."

Moutassim replaced the bracers in the box, shut the lid and looked up.

"Assassination attempts?"

"Well..." Agdel shrugged. "You're leaving me behind and going on a trip to God knows where. I won't be there to protect you. I have a right to be concerned."

"There's something you're not telling me," Moutassim's eyes narrowed on the fidgeting General. "If there is a threat to your Emperor's life, you have an obligation to tell me Agdel. You of all people should know that."