Chapter 10.
By the 5th and final day of the conference the delegates had worked themselves up considerably.
Behind the scenes the Russians and Chinese had still not settled their differences. The battle for Afghanistan still continued. Neither side really cared much about the so-called ‘insurgents.’ They were more interested in intimidating the other than they were in defeating the Afghans.
Publicly they focused their rhetoric on uniting to defeat the ‘forces of imperialism,’ blaming ‘the west’ for all the world’s perceived ills.
The Arabs were becoming more difficult for Abdullah to control. Though none of the Arab states was really disappointed that the Syrian king had been assassinated, many were using the incident to bolster their claim that Abdullah had not been persuasive enough to bring the Syrians ‘into the fold,’ and had therefore elected to ‘eliminate’ the obstacle.
From the sidelines Ahmadih watched all these days as his Prince began gradually to reveal himself to his father’s enemies. For days Mujah walked among them, currying their favor. At night he met with them, out of sight and out of earshot, always returning a bit more detached, a bit more condescending.
“How dare he prostrate himself before these vermin?!” Ahmadih thought to himself. “My king is not yet cold in his grave and already his son sullies his name! I have sworn loyalty to a coward who lacks the conviction to stand for his beliefs.”
The conflict grew within him as moment by moment he saw his beliefs, his very moral fabric being demeaned, shredded by the man he had sworn fealty to. It grated him to hold his tongue, to continue serving someone he no longer respected.
Still the conflict raged. Gone was the young prince he had respected in his childhood. Gone was the man he had learned to love . . . replaced by a vile, self-serving ingrate with no self-respect; who was only interested in his own gratification.
Gone also was Ahmadih’s father, whom he had loved and respected and admired, who had devoted his life to serving a just master, only to be cut down by that master’s reprobate off-spring.
“Where is his loyalty? Where is the honor which he owes to his father and to his people? And now he becomes so brazen as to curry favor with Abdullah, that serpent who weaves this evil within the people of my world. This cannot stand!”