(Thanks for reading my stories and for your ratings and comments.
All characters are over 18 years old and this story is solely a figment of my imagination.
My language is Spanish, I apologize for any grammatical errors I may make when translating the stories into English).
The End of the Year Trip 19 - The Revolt
We do not leave Mykonos until almost ten in the morning, and it is already starting to get dark when we begin to fly over the sky of Kanaan with the helicopter, and immediately we realize that the situation in these fifteen days that we have been away, not only has not improved, but seems to have worsened.
Although the City seems quiet, the Old City is illuminated with several small fires, and from the helicopter we can perfectly appreciate the disturbances that are taking place.
As we approach the palace, Yaiza, who remains seated next to me rather nervously, lets out a scream when she sees the remains of an attack on the golden domes of the palace. The damage does not seem too serious, but that fact, together with the dozen anti-aircraft batteries deployed on the roofs, shows how far the situation has gone.
The helicopter, instead of landing in the courtyard of the palace, its usual landing zone, although very close to the houses, lands on the adjacent beach, farther away from them. Omar and Vincent are waiting for us there, dressed in military clothes, with Noemi, Rania and two slave girls at their side. I look at my classmate and see that she is trying to show a forced smile as if to reassure us.
As soon as we get off the helicopter, the two palace slave girls take care of our companions, except for Selene and Bashira who remain with us.
"I see you bring two new acquisitions;" Omar tells me referring to Martha and Emily, "They don't come at the best time, although we will take care to give them a good welcome."
"Warn Lady Stephanie and Lady Nabila, we need to talk to her;" I say to Omar, "And from what I see you also have much to tell me."
"Too many things have happened;" Omar answers me, "The main one is that Sheikh Hafid has been killed and the tribes are at war with each other."
I am breathless for a few seconds when I hear the news, it is only a fortnight since I met the old man, but with his death, and despite knowing that in a way Rania, Nabila or Yaiza are part of my family, I lose an important part of my life.
Upon hearing the news Selene approaches me and grabs my hand, a few meters away from us Rania tries to comfort Bashira who broken by the news has begun to cry.
We enter the palace in silence, and head to a room where I have never been, before entering Omar talks to Rania who is still hugging Bashira.
Rania listens attentively, and finally shakes her head, gestures to Noemi and approaches Selene grabbing her hand.
"Let's leave them alone with their business;" Rania says to Selene.
Selene gives me a soft kiss on the lips and walks away along with the other girls, the rest of us enter the room and I feel uneasy at what I see.
The room is filled with maps of the Emirate, a huge table with a relief map sits in the center of the room, surrounding it are a dozen people, some of whom I am seeing for the first time.
Lady Stephanie is standing next to Lady Nabila, and they are the only two women in the room, Paul is next to her dressed in his military uniform, next to him is another man in uniform also British looking. Victor and Dianye are in front of the Regent with two men in Emirate uniform next to them.
What surprises me most is to find Ambassador Connors in the room and next to him a man I know from my visits to Saudi Arabia, Prince Fahil bin Salman, brother and right-hand man of the current King and father of Prince Abdulah.
The two remaining men are tribesmen, and as soon as they see me, they approach me and kneel at my feet.
"Welcome Sheikh Jacob;" they greet me in unison, reminding me that after the death of my great-grandfather I am the leader of the Tribe of the Sands, the most powerful and numerous of the eight tribes.
"They are two of Sheikh Hafid's sons;" Omar says to my side.
"Stand up and please call me Jake or Mr. Francis;" I tell them, "Later we will talk alone."
"Sorry for the welcome;" Lady Stephanie tells us, "But I am glad to see you;" she adds looking at me and signaling Yaiza to stand beside her.
"We will tell you what has happened and then you tell us everything you have found out;" she tells us, "And you can tell everything, the people present in this room are aware of everything and are in full confidence of me and Caleb."
"Two days ago, they attacked the palace with rockets;" Omar begins to explain, "The damage was not too serious, at the same time three of the tribes attacked the rest killing Sheikh Hafid and several other people, in the Old City a revolt broke out led by several radical Imams and supported by armed foreigners."
"They tried to attack the mines to control them or disrupt production, but my father had already foreseen this and had deployed a hundred of his mercenaries who repulsed the attack easily;" Vincent comments.
"Where is Bungami?" I ask Vincent concerned about the Nubian giant's condition after the wounds received against Ntomi just two weeks ago."
"He is leading the loyal tribes in the desert;" he replies to me, "Though your arrival will tip the balance."
I look at Vincent quizzically at his words, waiting for someone to clarify that for me, and it is one of the tribesmen who does.
