The Sultan of Monte Cristo: First Sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo Read online

ON THE THIRD WATCH, DANTES AWAKES IN A COLD SWEAT. He is so troubled by the nightmare that he is unable to fall back to sleep, so he eases his arm out from under the sleeping Haydee and slips from the room. Once he is assured she has not heard him leave her side, he moves to the helm and gazes out over the placid ocean, pondering his frightening dream.

  Satan had appeared to him, having the hair and forehead of Fernand, the eyes and nose of Danglars, and the mouth and chin of Villefort, but with the fangs of a vampire. Satan's voice combined all three of his traitors' voices as one voice. The eerie sound still echoes in his ears. In the nightmare, Dantes found himself back in prison, digging for his freedom, but instead of meeting prisoner number twenty-seven and seeing Abbe Faria's face, Satan awaited his arrival. Startled, Dantes asked, “Where is Le Abbe?”

  “Dead,” said the vampire.

  “Why are you here?” asked Dantes.

  “To prevent your escape!” exclaimed Satan.

  Dantes was petrified, even in the haze of the dream. Satan, seeing his victim frozen in fear, slowly moved his fangs toward Dantes’ jugular vein. Realizing that he had already escaped from his prison, Dantes regained speech, saying, “Why prevent my escape?”

  “I must thwart you from destroying my most productive servants in Paris, and punish you for using my name for your own purposes, and without paying true homage to me.”

  “How did I use your name?” asked Dantes. He felt his mouth growing dry with fear, and fought to hide the trembling in his limbs.

  “When you told Danglars that ‘Satan showed you all the kingdoms of the world, as he does all men,’ you lied that you had asked ‘to be Providence’ and then quoted me as saying that I could only ‘grant that you be the right hand of Providence.’ I make such an offer to only my most devoted servants, and I have now brought you back in time to punish you for your insolence and hubris.”

  Dantes responded, “I said those words only as part of my plan to strike fear into that devil who threw me into years of hellish torment. As for using your name, I didn't believe you existed, so I had no intention of insulting you. You must pardon me.”

  At that Satan asked, “Have you not read the book of Job, where I made a wager with God that if God withheld His protection, then Job would curse God?”

  “Yes, Le Abbe told me to ‘apply that story to my life to better understand,’ but I only thought of your satanic majesty as an allegorical figure.”

  “Now that you have used my name in vain, all bets are off. God loses this wager, and your soul belongs to me for eternal torment.”

  At that, Satan lunged toward Dantes’ neck, his fangs growing longer, and Dantes felt the evil creature’s breath on his skin, before he jolted awake in the cold sweat that had brought him to the helm.

  It had felt so real, but now that Dantes is out in the salty night air, he begins to grow calm. He ponders his past, feeling grateful for the present and wondering what his future will bring. Does he want to become the Sultan of Monte Cristo and, ergo, Sultan of Albania, or should he return to the carefree life of his youthful self and start his life anew with Haydee?

  Looking up at the dazzling, star-studded night sky, Dantes realizes that Job didn’t take revenge on anyone; and Joseph, who was sold into slavery by ten of his brothers, but whose story Dantes had willfully ignored, still managed to turn the other cheek. Didn’t Joseph have as much reason for revenge? Dantes thinks to himself, “Didn't Joseph rise to wealth and power only after, and probably as a result of, his slavery and imprisonment? Am I not a modern Joseph on my way to rule Albania as Sultan? None of this would have been possible without the sad chain of events that first led to my imprisonment, yet was transformed into glory. Perhaps I was the right hand of God in the way I exacted my revenge.”

  Opening the Bible randomly, Dantes lets his eyes fall to a verse that strikes him with lightning force: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” Thinking out loud, he questions himself, “Joseph forgave his brothers and blessed them, so why did I not do the same? Who shall I be in this new phase of my life?” Then he remembers the slim volumes Haydee keeps in the room she occupied as a maiden, before she joined him in his bed; he collects them and sits down to read, hoping to find the same solace and wisdom she has possessed.

  Dantes is so deeply absorbed in the tome that he almost misses the black hulk on the horizon; it is the most notorious pirate ship in Mediterranean history, the Black Stygian Iblis, whose captain, Medusalocks, causes panic and spreads frenzy in any crew struck, or brave enough to attack. Captain Medusalocks’ handle and infamy is partly due to the thick groves of ebony dreadlocks protruding from his head and face, flowing to his chest. Standing seven feet tall and weighing 400 pounds, he has the appearance of a giant. His presence is made all the more fearful by his fierce black eyes and the five-foot sword that hangs off of the leather belt that cinches his thick black robes.

  Though Dantes is normally prepared for any adventure, even he is reluctant and ill-equipped to defeat an adversary so terrifying.

  Dantes is a man of infinite resources, however, and there are few situations from which he cannot artfully extricate himself. During an expedition to the Amazon, he had learned the art of paralyzing or killing his enemies with poisonous darts. He had brought the materials back, as well as the memories, and he knows now why he had felt compelled to do so — there is always an occasion for every skill learned. Dantes calls Ali, his mute Nubian slave, to prepare to use his collection of deadly darts in the upcoming clash with the nefarious captain.

  “Ali, do you remember how to use these blow darts?” Dantes asks, running his fingers over the shiny, slim bits of wood as they rest in their plush case.

  Ali indicates “Yes,” by stuffing an imaginary dart into an imaginary mouthpiece and imitating a blow.

  “Very good,” says Dantes. “When Haydee shows herself on deck and distracts the Gorgonic giant with her beauty, I will somehow draw Medusalocks to our ship. Once I have done so, aim for his neck as I lunge at him with my sword. Use the paralyzing dart. If I am defeated, use the poisonous darts. Hide where you can’t be seen, killing each pirate as he attempts to row or swim to our vessel. I will inform the rest of the crew to set sail for Albania, should I fall.

  “If the worst happens, and I am among you no longer, then use these papers, carry out re-establishing the Pasha Sultanate, and install Haydee as Sultana.” Ali nods his head, tears welling up in his eyes. Though he cannot express his thoughts in words, he takes Dantes’ hand in a strong shake, reaffirming their bond.

  Before the Black Iblis draws near enough to make its demands of surrender, Dantes disguises himself as an Imam and preemptively yells out to the crew of the Black Iblis, “Tell your cowardly captain that Sultan Sinbad Zahfan al Jihad Ghaffar bin Taqwa din Nushur Buri al Mahdee demands a duel on the deck of his yacht. Winner takes all. Your prize, although your hopes of winning are pathetically slim, will be this yacht and its treasures, including the genie from the tales of the One Thousand and One Nights.

  “If you lose, however, the magnificent Sultan Sinbad will become the commander-in-chief, adding the Black Iblis and its crew of criminals to his Albanian war-fleet.

  “If your captain is not a coward, he will accept this challenge and be on our deck in one hour with the weapon of his choice; and Sultan Sinbad will be prepared, ready to use the same weapon, whether it is sword, pistol, or dagger. Your captain has five minutes to confirm his choice of weapon.”

  The pirates of the Iblis crew erupt into hysterical laughter with this strange pronouncement, and their merriment lasts until the fearsome captain emerges drunk, demanding, “Who is this Sultan Sinbad who wants to give me his life, yacht, and treasures?”

  Dantes goes below and quickly removes his first disguise, replacing it with a woven wig of black dreadlocks and a set of obsidian robes, designed to hide the stilts that make him appear seven and a half feet tall.

  As Dantes emerges taller than Captain Medusalocks, the Iblis crew gasps.

&
nbsp; “So, coward, will it be sword, pistol or dagger?” shouts Dantes.

  Captain Medusalocks looks at his crew, realizing if he declines the duel, he will indeed be seen as a coward. Apprehensively he shouts back, “I will bring my sword, but why have I never heard of you before on the wild seas?”

  “I am the hand of divine Providence. Allah the Great raised me up in order to defeat Satan, and to subdue your jinns to His will. Allah showed you to me in my dream last night, as the phantom of Satan. Your skull will become my navy’s masthead to terrify any who dare attack my fleet.”

  After that brash speech, Dantes goes back down below the deck, leaving Medusalocks scratching his head. Haydee, who has been awakened by the noise, is now awaiting him to ask what is happening above deck. She pulls her robes tightly over her young, lithe body. Trembling, she asks, “What have you done?”

  “My love,” Dantes explains quickly, “if I had not shown my own courage in challenging the dreaded Captain Medusalocks to a duel, the Iblis would by now be pillaging our ship. Fighting them would have been futile — they are too mighty in number and much too fierce in warcraft. But have faith, my sweet Sultana; the name I have given them is the key to our future together as rulers of Albania. ‘Zahfan’ means battle plan, which we just made; ‘Jihad’ means holy war, which we just declared; ‘Ghaffar’ means ‘Forgiver,’ which I want to learn to be; ‘Taqwa’ means fear of Allah; which I wish to instill; ‘din’ means justice, which I intend to execute; ‘Nushur’ means resurrection, due to my death as Dantes; ‘Buri’ means liberator, as I intend to liberate your people with your blessing; ‘al Mahdee’ sums up these names.”

  Haydee interjects, “But my Liberator, what inspired this? Our vessel is swift — surely we could have just fled to safety.”

  Dantes answers, “You confessed that you are a Muslim, just before you slept last night; so, unable to sleep myself after a terrible nightmare, I studied the Koran to make myself your worthy servant, husband and Sultan of Albania. The text of that holy book has inspired me to be brave and worthy of you, as well as to gain glory in Allah’s eyes.”

  “Allah has answered my prayers,” Haydee says. “Do you love me enough to defeat that monster?”

  “With the taste of Eden still on my lips, I am not ready to die. Far beyond that, my greatest purpose is to protect you and to keep you happy. I will not accept death as the outcome of this battle.”

  “If you fail, I will throw myself overboard, so that I can join you in paradise,” Haydee says.

  “My love,” says Dantes, “though I seem dead, don't believe. Remember, Dantes died, as did Valentine; but death did not yet give its final sting. Always have hope and wait for me. Promise me that.”

  “This is too much to promise, if I believe you dead. I have just found happiness in your arms — I cannot bear to be separated from them in this life.” Her voice is filled with emotion, and Dantes’s heart swells in return; he knows he has finally found the woman he dreamed of, one who will eternally be loyal and true.

  Knowing that Haydee’s life is determined by the success of the upcoming duel, Dantes prays, “God of Heaven, give me the strength to protect Haydee and deliver Medusalocks subdued into my hands.” He then hefts his sickle-shaped, lightweight sword and returns to the deck to face the infamous Mediterranean pirate, Captain Medusalocks.

  Medusalocks charges immediately, but Dantes dodges the first attack easily; the additional height granted him by the stilts make striding across the wooden slats of the deck effortless. As he ducks behind the helm, he throws his voice across the deck, making it sound as if anguished screams and the hissing of a hundred snakes is coming from Medusalocks’s beard. The jinnish pirates stop their jeering in shock, and Medusalocks pauses and looks down, seeking the source of the noise. Taking advantage of the distraction and darting forward, Dantes cuts off half of Medusalocks’ beard and throws it in the air with a yell of victory.

  Recovering quickly and slamming his long sword into Dantes’ thigh, Captain Medusalocks recoils when he realizes he hasn’t cut living flesh. “Who is this Sultan Sinbad?” he mutters to himself. “A creature of myth?” But upon regaining his courage, Medusalocks strikes Sinbad’s thigh once again. Dantes feels his stilt crack and stumbles back, trying to regain his balance.

  Haydee enters the scene in her genie attire, veiled and swathed in silk, strumming and singing the same song she had composed and sung to Dantes, before they had both been consumed with lust. Her appearance distracts the Gorgonic pirate just as Dantes had predicted, giving the Count time to recover and thrust his sword toward the giant’s chest. Ali aims true at the perfect moment, and the blow dart strikes in the same instant that Dantes’ blade leaves a thin slice across Medusalocks’s chest. The giant reaches for his neck and moments later crumples to the ground.

  Both the crew of jinns and the crew of the yacht cry out with joy, singing:

  “We give thanks to Allah the Greatest

  For sending us Sinbad the Bravest

  Triumphant is our liberator by Justice

  Because he defeated Satan’s Injustice”

  According to Greek lore, blood extracted from a Gorgon can be used to raise the dead and kill; so Sinbad bleeds two vials from the giant pirate, who is rumored to be an actual member of the ancient family of Gorgons. Dantes knows he can use that rumor and Medusalocks’ blood in the future to play on the crew’s superstitions. Dantes puts the vials of blood on dry ice, one of his recent inventions.

  As the effects of the tranquilizer begin to wear off, Dantes places his foot on Captain Medusalocks’s chest and presses the point of his sword to the pirate’s throat.

  His men quickly tie the giant's hands and, with great effort, move him into the brig of the Iblis, where four pirates are stationed to guard him in shifts night and day.

  Book II Count III:

  ADMIRAL JARRE OF THE FRENCH NAVY