"Father!" Salah yelled
Salah was the one who found Khanchla. When he saw his father soaked in blood, his face became paler and paler. Khanchla was covered in blood, both dry and new oozing blood was coming out of Khanchla, he was bleeding at every corner of his body.
"Salah, my son," Khanchla said with a growing smile on his face
Even in such a state, Khanchla managed to form a smile on his face when he saw his eldest son. With trembling hands, Salah rushed to his father's side, his eyes welled with tears, and his heart pounded in his chest as he saw his father in such a state.
"Father! What happened to you?!"
"Salah, where is your brother?"
Khanchla, even with his heavy injuries, smiled at Salah. Khanchla didn't want to appear weak in front of his oldest son, he knew that he would one day be killed in battle, piracy wasn't an easy job. Still, he thanked Allah that he could still see his sons on his deathbed.
"Ali is trying to find you right now. Me, Ali, and Ismail split up to find you" Salah replied
"Haha-cough, go on Salah, find them and bring them here"
"I told them we would be meeting at the same spot in 30 minutes, I can stay here for a bit Father"
"Is that so"
Khanchla found solace in the genuine concern of his lifelong friend, Ismail. Their friendship had its roots deeply embedded in their shared history, stemming from childhood where they grew up together. Both their fathers were seasoned pirates, living lives that danced on the high seas, and as fate would have it, their parents' were neighbors, so they would, almost every day, play outside.
From the earliest of days, the dreams of emulating their adventurous fathers kindled in the hearts of Khanchla and Ismail. While Khanchla took the path of a pirate, Ismail diverged because of his sick mother. He remained on the island to tend to his ailing mother's needs. Ismail also extended his caring hand to assist Khanchla's wife with her children. When she died, Ismail took the two kids in his care.
With Ismail's mother passing, he dedicated himself to taking care of children with no parents. The prospect of marriage dimmed into obscurity. Instead of marriage and starting his own family, Ismail had transformed into a selfless guardian, offering a semblance of family and warmth to those who had lost it.
Remembering his past with Ismail, Khanchla couldn't help but ask Salah about his dreams.
"Say Salah, what do you want to be? I know you don't want to be like me, haha... You even told me to stop being a Pirate"
"Father... I don't know, I don't want to be a person that steals from the innocent, I don't want to be a person that kills the innocent, I also don't want to go on losing battles..."
"Haa, true to your name, it makes me feel like your mother knew what kind of person you were gonna be when you grew up."
"But Salah, what makes you say that we fight losing battles?" Khanchla continued"
"Father, I know you guys have a big fleet, but compared to major powers like the Aragon, you're like ants swimming in the vast sea"
Salah wasn't wrong, the pirate group that Khanchla was in only had 3 ships, combined, the pirate group was only in the 200. While the Aragon fleet had 20 ships, carrying around 5,000 trained sailors.
"Why not become a general of Tunis? I saved up a lot in the past year, I can pay for schoo-Cough" said Khanchla
Khanchla time was closing in on him, yet he kept persisting, he wanted to see his youngest son and his best friend
"Father! Please, enough talking and rest. I will go and meet up with Uncle and Ali, please wait here and rest"
.
.
.
A few minutes later, at the place where Salah and the others were supposed to meet.
"Ali, Uncle!" Salah yelled out
When Salah gave the two a wave, the two went to his side and asked him. Salah saw the growing worry on their face so he didn't waste any time and asked them to follow him
"Brother, where is father? Have you found him yet?" Said Ali-Zalil
"Yes I have, follow me" Salah replied
"How is he?" Ismail asked
"He's in terrible shape, there's no doctor to help right now, and there are too many people that are more injured than Father"
"Then we must hurry!" yelled Ali-Zalil
The three nodded at each other and ran towards where Khanchla was laying down
.
.
.
"FATHER!" Ali-Zalil roared when he saw his pale father
Khanchla's condition was getting worse and worse, he was losing too much blood, even with Salah's help and some help from the doctors, he was still losing far too much blood. The doctors only helped out with covering Khanchla with bandages as they needed to help the most critical.
"My sons!"
Even with the ever-growing pale skin that covered Khanchla's face, he still smiled at his two sons, his smile brought light to the dimmed room full of growning people.
With a giant leap, Ali-Zalil embraced his injured father, crying in his father's hug.
"You won't go, right? You won't go away, right? The three of us made a promise back then. You said to me and Salah that you would always stay with us for 2 weeks whenever you come back! You said that a man must never break his own promise! So you won't leave us, right?" Ali-Zalil shouted
When Zalil looked up at his father's face, he only saw a bright smile. When Zalil saw this, his face became pale, paler than his father who was losing blood. He knew that without an answer, his father, his Idol, would leave him and his brother.
"Little Ali-" Khanchla muttered, but before he finished, Ali-Zalil shouted
"Answer me! Please!"
Ali-Zalil heart was heavy, he didn't want to lose his father, he felt like it was his fault again because he was too weak. He always felt that the death of his mother was his fault, because if he wasn't born, his mother, who Salah and his father loved very much, wouldn't have died.
"Brother..."
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