The door to Andre's office bursts open as the guards drag a kicking and snarling Abdul.
Andre, finding the whole scene amusing, remarks, "how is it that one little boy can outsmart a bunch of supposedly fine Portuguese soldiers?"
Before any of the guards can answer, Andre motions for their dismissal. The guards though they are hesitant to leave the boy alone with Andre, but do so nevertheless.
Andre and Abdul are alone in the office.
"Would you like to take a seat?" Andre offers Abdul.
Abdul declines.
"How about something to eat or drink?" Andre asks.
Abdul declines, again.
Andre pours himself a cup of wine before he sits down on the lounge chair. Abdul is surveying the room, trying to find an escape route.
Andre notices this. "You could try to escape, but then you would be captured soon enough, and who knows what my men might do to you?"
Abdul turns to face Andre, his posture proud. He looks Andre in the eye.
"How old are you, little one?" Andre asks.
"I am 10."
Andre acknowledges this, "I find it even more amusing though that even at 10 years of age, you have more spunk in you than 20 of my men. You surely didn't get that from your dead and useless father, that is for sure."
Abdul snarls at this, "you have no right to talk about my father, not after what you and your men did to him, my mother and the islanders, you devil."
Andre lets that comment slide away.
He begins to tell Abdul of how he came to existence, starting with his Portuguese father and Maldivian mother, a story that no one really knew about.
"You my dear boy, you are very important for my plan. You will be the first person, tomorrow evening, to take a vow of loyalty to me and to renounce Islam. All the people in Male would have to do the same thing, for their lives to be spared. They would all have to drink wine as a symbol of their loyalty to Portugal. For those that do not, they and their family will be put to death. All mosques will be burnt. That way, the Regent in Goa would no longer question who was really in charge."
Abdul is horrified at hearing this, saying, "my uncles would not let this slide."
"Oh, we shall see, my little one. We shall see."
Again, no one notices that behind one of the paintings, a shadow passes.
YOU ARE READING
Freeing Maldives - A Hero in Time
AdventureBased on the novel written by Royston Ellis, my interpretation tells the tale of how a mourning Englishman gets swept back in time to a period when the Portuguese had invaded the nation of Maldives, culminating in the historic guerilla battle, that...
