Chapter 4 – Kouen's Plan
It had been a full week since Sindria had given king Sinbad a funeral. Everyone was still grieving. However, working on running the country gave the eight generals something to keep their mind off of their king. Everyone, especially Jafar, was hard at work keeping everything running smoothly. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't that much different running the county without Sinbad. He usually never did any work normally so it was hardly different without him. Besides the fact that Sin was gone, it all seemed pretty normal to most all of the generals.
Jafar, however, was a different story. He was trying to get some work done but he couldn't get any done. Ever since Sin died, he had had the same nightmare every night. It would not go away. Now, even during the day, the ex-assassin couldn't get it out of his head. Sin trusted me but I let him down. He probably doesn't want me as a general anymore. What am I saying, he's dead! I wonder if he thought of me before he died? Did he think that I betrayed him? I don't deserve to be alive now that he's dead. If only whoever killed him had killed me too. Jafar sighed as he was thinking those depressing thoughts. His head was filled with similar thoughts every. single. day. He was making himself sick with the lack of sleep and the stressful thoughts. Not that he would mind if he got sick and died. Some days, he couldn't wait to die and be reunited with Sin in the Rukh. Would Sin even want to be reunited with me? Probably not. He would never want to see me again.
In another part of the world
The ship Sinbad was on had finally reached the Kou Empire. He was glad to get off it. He was sick and tired of Judar's constant joking and teasing. It was constantly 'lord moron' this, and 'idiot king' that. The handcuffs were annoying, but overall, Sinbad was glad to be on dry land. Now that he was in the Kou Empire he could start to plan a way to escape. He still didn't know how they got him or what had happened back home. However, the one thing that he knew for sure was that he couldn't wait to get back. He couldn't wait to see everyone again, especially Jafar. In the week or so that Sin had been gone, he thought about Jafar all the time. Sinbad missed his friend. He could not imagine what he would do if Kouen had hurt any of his generals when he kidnapped him.
Sinbad was brought before Kouen in the Kou Empire's luxurious palace. Judar had told Sinbad that Kouen would tell him what he wanted to know. Sin was anxious to hear what he had to say.
"King Sinbad, so nice to see you again," Kouen said with slight sarcasm.
"Tell me what you did to Sindria. To my generals."
"Impatient now, are we?"
". . ."
"I can tell you that I did not hurt them physically in any way . . . yet."
"What do you mean by 'yet'?! Are they here?" Sinbad said angrily.
"No, they are not here. You were the only one we captured. It doesn't mean that I do not have plans for them though."
"What kind of plans? What do you want me for?"
"I plan to take over Sindria. You were in the way so I got rid of you. You see, they think you are dead. Your precious generals already had your funeral a week ago. Now that they think you are gone, the country is weak enough to overtake. And if they put up much of a fight, you make a wonderful hostage. I would bet that they would willingly give up the country for you."
"They would never! You'll never take over Sindria," Sinbad practically yelled. He could not believe what he was hearing. They think I'm dead? How could he do something like this? They must be panicked. No, I need to have more faith in them. They probably figured out that it was faked and they are looking for me right now. Even if they still think I'm dead, they should be able to take care of the country good enough without me. I believe in them.
"They will not let you take over my country. They're ten times stronger than the Kou Empire will ever be," Sinbad said with renewed confidence.
Kouen just glared at him angrily. He seemed enraged at Sinbad's confidence in his generals. No doubt that Sinbad trusted Jafar the most. Kouen knew that he would have to deal with Jafar first. He knew that the ex-assassin would be tricky to deal with, which made it all the more fun to plan ways to destroy him and the rest of Sindria's generals.
To Be Continued
