Not a good time

The next day, there was another meeting at the Sacred Temple of Thali. Today all the members and a secret guest had come.

"I hope you have prepared for everything today." Said Malik. "Today I brought with me a special guest who had volunteered to help."

"Please welcome Bandar." Said Malik in a proud voice as if Bandar was his own son.

"Hello everyone, thank you for having me here." Said Bandar to the audience. He then sat down on a chair quietly.

Suddenly a man had barged in and said loudly "O ruler, the enemy. They have one of our people as a hostage. They said if we attack them they will kill her. And did I mention? She's pregnant."

"Malik and the others rushed out and saw the enemy ruler. The hostage was almost 7 months pregnant.

"Leave her." Said Malik in an angry yet calm voice.

"That's not exactly your decision." Said one of the people from the other tribe.

"Let her go, take me. I'm the one you want." Said Malik. Bandar was shook by his words and said " Are you going mad or something? How can you turn yourself in?"

"I have to." Said Malik with no expression.

Bandar got angry and said " Think about the others. If you go, who's going to tell us everything? Who will protect us?"

While Bandar was talking, the enemy left the woman alone and Malik ran towards the the ruler and turned himself in.

"Bandar, you are in charge. Do what is right." Shouted Malik from afar as he was being taken away..

The entire tribe was looking at Bandar, while he himself looked terrified and confused.

"Uh." Said Bandar in a very very confused voice and gave a dumb look to the others.

He then processed everything that had just happened at the speed of light and said " The meeting, it's still on. Members please follow me to the Sacred Temple of Thali."

The members followed him while discussing what had just happened amongst themselves.

"So, you all probably don't trust me. But I have no choice. Please give all your maps to me right now and I will look them over. Tomorrow you can explain." Said Bandar in a little shy, soft voice.

The audience handed their charts to Bandar, still looking confused.

"All of you can now leave. Thank you for coming." Said Bandar after collecting all the charts.

Now that he was in charge, he called Malik's top servant, who was temporarily his. "I want a meeting . Everyone should be there. I want it at 3 pm sharp." Said Bandar in a voice sharper than a knife.

"Yes, I will go right now to inform the people." Said the top servant. "Our people." Corrected Bandar.

As the top servant left to inform their people Bandar thought to himself " Why did he leave me in charge? Out of all the people." Bandar was staring at a wall while thinking about it.

"Now, I have to be confident. Not a scared rat in a corner. Or a buffalo that is helpless."

He drank some water and opened one of the charts and reviewed it.