Club Meetings
On the morning of 22 July 2022, Lohadek summoned the Club (luFerayn). luFerayn was not a formal organisation, but a clique of Lohadek’s closest allies. Together they coordinated their actions and shared a common goal: to see Abuyin on the throne and reap from that all the benefit it entailed. Prince Lohadek was their leader and a few Princes were among their ranks, but there were also businesspeople, bureaucrats, a general, and a high ranking Magister. Prince Lohadek had assembled this group slowly, carefully and deliberately, inviting people to dinners at Rushmaliya Palace to sus out potential members.
The clique was fairly informal. They avoided meeting, or talking online. They were too busy with operations elsewhere. But they were fiercely loyal to Prince Lohadek and by extension to each other and tried to co-ordinate their actions to the extent it made sense. Occasionally, they had bitter differences and even disputes over policies that they settled in court and in boardrooms. But these jousts in the outside world, were clearly bounded, and calibrated to maintain the long term peace.
They sat around the roundtable, with Prince Lohadek as the chair.
General Yakub Basham asked, “Who else has he told?”
Prince Lohadek answered, “I don’t think anyone else knows. He only told Kujil, and before that I am the only person who knows”.
Hudeyna Nakhmoud responded, “I find that hard to believe given they literally spent months together. What about all those friends that the Gem met and your spies?”
“Correction, the only two people of consequence”, Prince Lohadek said, “I trust my men and who would believe two random citizens of an enemy nation could have any credible claims. There are many myths and conspiracy theories being pedaled that go nowhere”.
“I mean, I suspect that there might be truth to a clandestine cabal gathering once every so often to plan the future of the nation”, Magister Rahdib Mulduk quipped, “But this is a problem not Just politically. The fact that the Tiger is so vulnerable just shows how I’ll equipped for the role of monarchy he is”.
Prince Kujil said, “To think that we should have an impotent and then a sodomite sitting on the Packilvanian throne is a disgrace. How poor the heirs that we have to choose from”.
Prince Lohadek replied, “That’s enough! Don’t disrespect our future Sultans”.
“Oh Lohadek”, Kujil said as he rolled his eyes, “Calm down. These are my honest feelings and thoughts. It’s not about respect or disrespect”.
Hudeyna chimed in, “He wouldn’t be the first sitting monarch of Packilvania to have extracurricular interests”.
“At least”, Kujil replied, “No sitting monarch of Packilvania has betrayed our faith and our laws in this way”.
“You’re right”, Hudeyna said, “They did it in other ways”.
“We’re getting nowhere in a hurry”, Lohadek said.
Yakub replied, “Whether we recognise whatever it is that the Tiger did or did not have with the Gem, we need to be practical. The Tiger is our shot and we should stick with him”.
“How poor our choices”, Kujil exclaimed.
Having sat quietly for most of the discussion, Bukhas Ladiaam, the CEO of the Mosibaba stated, “Maybe there’s no need to wait out the Older Brother’s reign before we have our Tiger on the throne. We can’t trust our Tiger to keep it together until then, so maybe we can expedite things”.
“What are you implying, Bukhas”, Rahdib asked.
“Perhaps, we can jump straight to the Tiger’s reign, which ideally should be short and sweet”, Bukhas said.
Yakub exclaimed, “I didn’t expect to hear that kind of talk from an office boy”.
“I didn’t become the head of the largest bank in the world by being a fool”, Bukhas said.
“We can’t possibly do this”, Rahdib said.
Hudeyna asked, “These ideas are frightening and I am afraid of the dark path this is leading us”.
Prince Lohadek said, “I don’t blame Bukhas, because even though I didn’t admit it, the fact is that I have thought about it many times”.
“A little macabre to think about your relatives murder so often”, Kujil said, “What contrivances do you have planned in that mind for the rest of us?”
“Best not to cross or disappoint me and you won’t have to find out”, Lohadek stated, “The fact is that the Tiger is getting worse and it’s only a matter of time before he causes a crisis that precludes him from the line of succession. We can vote now, and it has to be unanimous. If we all agree to do this, then we are in this together. If one of us disagrees, then we don’t do it. We stop now and never discuss it again”.
He called the vote. People sat quietly, deep in thought. Bukhas’s hand went up, then Rahdib, then Yakub’s, and then Kujil. Lohadek looked at Hudeyna and said, “It’s okay if you don’t want this. We can drop this now, and we won’t proceed without your vote”.
Hudeyna sat in silence for a few moments, she simply nodded, and said, “Let’s do it”.
Lohadek said, “We need to choose who’s going to do it. We will play a game of dice. Whomever fate chooses carries out the plan and the others are kept clean from this”.
They played a game of Packilvanian dice. The final result pointed to Kujil.
He swallowed hard.
Seeing the trepidation, Lohadek said, “You’re a man! Be strong. We will help you but you must take the fall for this”.
“Yes, I understand”, Kujil said.
“We’ll help you”, Yakub said, “This task will need some serious firepower and precision”.