Imperialist: The Voyage

Chapter Nineteen; Mutiny

Moutassim's men spent the rest of the day fetching supplies of freshwater, coconuts and berries to the longboats, which then put out to the three anchored ships with their burdens. Each trip saw the men praying to either Allah or their ancestors, that they would not encounter the monsters from the deep.

The women in his immediate life spent the day in contrasting roles, on the other hand. While Sahelia was attentive to him and seemed to be going out of her way to make up for deserting her post, Tigrita was intent on giving him the cold shoulder.

"No, no more coconut water," Moutassim said absently, brushing away the third cut open coconut Sahelia brought him in the past hour. His attention had been snatched by a sight he never thought he would see.

His brother Tarik was actually helping a sailor with a box of coconuts as they loaded it onto a longboat for what ought to be the final trip. Their task complete, the two men shook hands and smiled as if they were long time pals.

"On second thought, give me that," Moutassim said, relieving her of the coconut and making a beeline straight to his brother, who stood on the shore watching the boat row away.

"Thirsty?" Moutassim asked as he offered Tarik the coconut. The prince turned around, surprised and then accepted it with a grateful smile.

"Uncharacteristic of you," the Emperor said. "To be working so hard."

"Who would have thought, eh?" Tarik was laughing at him now, his nose ring glinting in the sun. Moutassim chuckled.

They settled into an easy silence, spent staring out at the returning boats and the orange glow of the afternoon sun. But Moutassim's mind was churning, recalling the events before dawn. When his ship sank and he had nearly drowned.

"I have a question," he finally spoke up. "Were you the one who saved me from drowning?"

Tarik was silent for so long that Moutassim thought he would have to repeat himself. But then he spoke.

"Yes."

Moutassim digested that and looked sideways at his brother.

"And were you the one who knocked me out?" Moutassim asked. His brother started, looking up at him. He hastened to assuage his concerns. "You can tell me, I promise you."

"Yes," Tarik said. "But only because you almost dragged both of us underwater."

Some more silence. Then Moutassim grinned.

"Admit it, it felt good right?" the Emperor elbowed his brother, who smiled seemingly despite himself.

"Yes," Tarik admitted. 

Moutassim looked at him again. Studied him. He was so used to arguing and sniping contests with his brother, that he did not know what to do with this new and improved Tarik standing beside him. Something about his brother had changed. Moutassim decided to open the flood gates and ask the question that had bothered him all day.

"Why did you save me? You've never liked me, even though I've always loved you as a brother. With me out of the way, you'd be Emperor. So why save me?"

Tarik shook his head sadly.

"Because during the voyage, during my quiet moments, it occurred to me that you would have never dragged me on this voyage, never left your unprepared wife to govern a whole empire in your absence, if I wasn't the way I was. It hurt, that you had to trust your wife over me. If you could have trusted me, depended on me, you would have left me as Regent."

The young Prince took a deep breath and tossed the empty coconut into the ocean, where it smacked into the water with a satisfying splash. Then he sighed.