Imperialist: The Voyage

Chapter Twenty; Redemption

Moutassim's mind was working overtime, in an effort to figure a way for all of them to walk away unscathed. Particularly his brother, in the most danger as he kneeled in the sand trembling in fear, with a knife pressed against his neck.

"I promise, whatever my brother has done to you, I can fix it. I'm the Emperor..."

Dakati shook his head.

"Its sad, that you only realize you have the power to do good and redeem your family, when your brother's life hangs by a thread," Dakati's words dripped with contempt. "My father wrote to you! Why didn't you do something good with your power then?"

And just like that, the faint memory of a parchment smudged with tears swam before him, before it slipped away. Was it that one? One of the mountains of complaints he had gotten about Tarik?

"You don't remember, Emperor. So I'll refresh your memory. I got my sister a job in the palace as a servant. That was before I was seconded to the navy, when I was in the army. Your brother came into her quarters on the first night and raped my sister..."

"Raped?" Moutassim shook his head vigorously, as his memory cleared. "No! I remember now. Your father did write to me. He never said anything about rape. My brother seduced your sister, yes. But he didn't force her..."

"You have no idea what your brother is capable of doing! He did rape her. But my sister couldn't confide everything to my father. She tried to spare him the details, old as he is. It would have finished him, if he had known what his little girl really went through. But she confided in me."

The silence stretched on. All eyes on the beach were focused on Dakati and Hebron, who still held the captive Tarik between them. Moutassim focused on his brother, whose head hung in shame. As if he felt his brother's gaze on him, Tarik slowly raised his head.

The Prince's eyes were filled with unshed tears, as though he was silently pleading for understanding. But Moutassim looked away at the dark expanse of the ocean, fighting the sour feeling of disgust roiling through his stomach.

"What? No words? No defense of this slime ball you call a brother?"

But Moutassim didn't have any. Torn between love for his brother and disgust at his crimes, the Emperor felt keenly that one wrong word could see his brother being murdered in front of him. And an uncomfortable part of him questioned whether this wouldn't be for the best.

"I'll give you a chance to save your brother's life. If we surrender to you and we all sail back to Mesigan, what will happen to Tarik? We just told you he raped my sister. Will Tarik, heir to your throne and one of the richest men in the empire, face justice?"

Moutassim opened his mouth, about to lie and then closed it again. Another futile attempt to assure them that Tarik would be held accountable was also aborted. Dakati was watching him with a smug look on his face.

And then several things happened almost at once. Tarik suddenly sprang into action, shoving Dakati away and turning around as he smashed his elbow into Hebron's groin. His captor behind him fell flat on his backside in the sand, as Hebron keeled over groaning in pain. Tarik had by now gotten to one knee and launched his body at Dakati, scrambling in the sand for the knife he dropped. But then Dakati spun to meet his former captive and Moutassim looked around for his bracer.

The emperor sprinted to where his bracer lay in the sand and was just pulling it on when Tigrita resumed her shrill screaming. He spun around, in time to see Tarik stagger away from Dakati, the handle of the dagger sticking out from the side of his neck. He was desperately trying to put distance between himself and Dakati, but the captain was having none of it. He slammed Tarik facedown into the sand, wrenching the knife out of the gasping Prince's neck as he straddled him and plunged it into the centre of his back.