Captain Amadou's Log: Year 711 of the Hegira
Entry the First
Allah's mercy be upon us, for we have been cast away on a shore far from our Mali. The Mighty Baobab is no more, her grand wooden frame scattered like the bones of a monster upon the black sands. We, her crew, remain—twelve women, steadfast as the stars, and three men, including myself, as lost as the moon in Allah's daylight.
We had set upon a strong galleon, ripe with plunder, under the cover of night. Yet as dawn broke, so did the skies. A storm, fierce as any djinn's wrath, seized us up with a fury that spoke of Allah's displeasure. It roared and raged, tossing us across the vast sea's expanse until a new land rose to meet us, not with open arms, but with the indifferent embrace of wild, untamed rainforests.
Here we are, then, survivors of a watery ordeal, marooned in a place where the air hums with the songs of birds no eyes have laid on and the trees stand tall as minarets. The women, bless them, have begun to make shelters from the wreckage. The men, with hearts still beating the drum of adventure, venture into the thickets, seeking food, fresh water, and perhaps a sign of hope.
As night falls, I take up this quill—not as a captain dictating orders, but as a man humbled by the vastness of creation. We are no longer pirates; we are castaways, forging a new path in a world that does not know our names.
May Allah guide our hands and hearts. We shall not despair; for as long as we breathe, we carry the spirit of Mali within us, and with it, the will to endure.
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Diary of Jelani Amadou
Historical FictionA Mali pirate, Jelani Amadou, got caught in a horrid storm, and was carried all the way to modern day Brazil (lots of plot armor, that's how) him and his crew must figure out how to survive in this new land. They must deal with disease, wildlife, na...
