Sinbad's funeral was a few days later. It was a royal funeral for him since he was the king. All of Sindria was grieving after the news of his death. He was the greatest king they had ever known. Everyone, especially the eight generals, felt like a part of them died with Sin. It was impossible to describe the way they were all feeling. For years they had all felt immortal, now that had proved not to be the case. Now that they were watching his funeral, they knew that no one could truly be immortal.
It was a silent funeral. Some people were crying, but most people were in a state of disbelief. The people of Sindria would probably be in the same state for weeks following the funeral. All of the people came and put a flower on his body. At the end of the day, the generals pushed his body off to sea in a boat. He always loved the sea more than anything so they thought it was the best way to send him off. After the small boat drifted off far enough, some Sindria palace guards shot flaming arrows at the boat. Everyone watched in silence as the boat caught on fire and slowly burned. They couldn't believe that it would be the last time they would see their king.
The silent day slowly evolved into a silent evening. Even though it was nighttime, there was no nighttime drinking and partying. The people of Sindria were too busy mourning to even think about having fun. For the generals, drinking would never be the same without Sinbad.
It was now long past midnight. However, none of the generals felt like sleeping. They all, excluding Jafar, sat in silence in a palace lounge. Not one of them dared to speak. Even Sharrkon and Yamuraiha were not arguing for once. It was deathly silent. Many of them wanted to say something but they could not find the courage to do so.
Sharrkon was the one to finally break the silence.
"What are we gonna do now?" he questioned.
"I honestly do not know," Yamuraiha answered.
"What are we supposed to do without him?" Pisti asked. She sounded like she was on the verge of crying. In fact, they all were but they were just good at hiding it.
"It will be hard without him. We should probably find someone to be king though, or maybe not a king, just someone to run the country so it doesn't fall into chaos," Drakon said.
"Well, out of all of us, Jafar would be the best one to run the country. He practically ran the country already before this happened," Sharrkon suggested.
"I agree," said Yamuraiha, who was probably agreeing with Sharrkon for the very first time.
"Me too," said Pisti.
Masrur, Hinahoho, Drakon, and Spartos just nodded in agreement.
"It's settled then, Jafar will lead the country from now on, if he agrees to it," Yamuraiha said. "Now we just have to find him and ask him."
"That might be hard to do. Where did he go anyway?" Sharrkon asked.
"I have a feeling that he hasn't moved from where we last saw him," Yamuraiha answered.
After the funeral was over, Jafar had stayed by the shore where they pushed the boat off while they went back inside the palace. Yamuraiha figured that he probably hadn't moved from that spot. Sure enough, as the generals walked over there, they saw him. He was still in the same place except now he was sitting on the ground instead of standing.
The other seven generals walked up behind him, careful not to surprise him. Ever since he had that nightmare, he had been frightened easily. They had no clue as to what scared him so much but they knew it had to be something about Sinbad. They hoped that they could finally get him to talk to them. He hadn't said a single word since Sin's death.
Careful not to scare him, Yamuraiha put her hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly and looked up at her.
"Hey, Jafar. How are you doing?"
"Alright," he responded.
He spoke! All of the generals thought as they rejoiced internally.
"We were thinking . . . and well . . . we thought that maybe . . . well . . . that maybe you should take over for Sinbad and run the country," she said hesitantly.
He didn't respond for some time and they were beginning to think that he wouldn't respond at all. However, finally he said, "Okay. If you think that is the right thing to do. As long as it is what's best for Sindria, I'll do it."
"Thank you so much. I'm sure that it is what Sinbad would have wanted. He trusted you more than anyone else."
Yamuraiha regretted saying that as soon as she saw the look on Jafar's face after the words left her mouth. He wore the same terrified expression as when he woke up from the nightmare.
When Jafar heard her say that he instantly remembered his nightmare. "Why did you do this to me? Why did you let me die? You could have saved me but instead you let me to die. What is wrong with you? I thought you were supposed to protect me. You are a general of Sindria! You were supposed to protect your king! You apparently weren't a good enough general to save me. I saved you! But you! You just let me die!" Sin trusted him but he felt like he had let him die. What kind of an adviser am I? It's all my fault. It's all my fault! It's all my fault. It's all my fault. I should have died. I should have died. I should die. I should die. I should d-
"I'm sorry Jafar. I didn't mean to upset you. But, we still need you. This country would fall into chaos without you."
What she said made Jafar snap out of it. He realized that without him, Sindria would probably be a disaster. He couldn't let Sin down again by letting his country fall to ruin.
"It's okay. I'll help you all run the country. I can't do it by myself."
"Great! We really need you."
The generals were all relieved that Jafar seemed more like his old self.
"How about we head back inside. It is already very late,"
"Sure," Jafar replied. He still wasn't completely back to his old self. I mean, who wouldn't be different after going through what he had been through in the past few days?
It was probably past 2 a.m. by the time they were finally able to get some sleep. They had all had a very long day.
In another part of the world
Where am I? What happened? Why does my head hurt so much? Why can't I remember how I got here? This doesn't seem like my room. My room shouldn't be swaying like this.
"Wake up! Rise and shine princess, or should I say . . . king," a familiar voice said.
Sinbad bolted up quickly when he realized that he was definitely not in his room in the palace.
He scanned his surroundings and figured out that the room was swaying because he was on a ship. He also noticed that someone was watching him. Sin knew that the voice he heard before sounded familiar but he couldn't see who it was because of the darkness.
"I know you're there, who are you?"
"Aw, I'm sad. I thought you would recognize me."
"Judar! What did you do? Where are you taking me?"
"What? You just assume that this is all my fault? How do you know that I'm not a prisoner here too," Judar said while tearing up slightly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I just figured-"
"HA! You fell for it again! First in Sindria and now here! You trust me way too much Sinbad," Judar said as he was rolling on the floor laughing. Sinbad wasn't as amused. He knew that Judar just liked to play with and manipulate people but he always fell for his lies anyway. He was just too trusting of people. He was the type of person who always tried to see the best in people. Even though Jafar was an assassin, Sinbad trusted him as a friend all those years ago. Even though he had tried to kill him, Sinbad still asked Jafar to become one of his advisers. He knew now that he couldn't trust Judar like he trusted most people.
"Haha very funny. Now tell me truthfully Judar, why am I here and where are you taking me?"
"I'm sure you'll figure out why you're here later. Someone will probably tell you once we reach the Kou Empire. I'm sure prince Kouen will love to explain everything to you then. But for now, enjoy the trip," and with that, Judar left Sinbad alone in the darkness below the deck of a ship, a ship heading towards the Kou Empire.
To be continued
I really appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, or opinions about this story. Thank you for reading.
-Mizaya Z.