“Over there, not so many miles at a small place called Ain al-Siliyin, the water comes out of the ground and is very hot. We sometimes bathe there. The local people say it is healing. When you and your companion have recovered sufficiently, we shall pay it a visit. They keep bees there and we harvest their hives, for the village belongs to the master. See those large jars over there? They are for our honey, which is much in demand in Al-Qahirah.”
As they rode back to the buildings of the estate Malek talked a lot about the land and it became clear to Talon that he loved what he did and liked to share his love. Talon was content to listen and learn all he could about the man and the estates and the lord in question, Abbas. He wondered if he had not heard that name before, but frustratingly he could not recall it, so he dismissed the concern and turned his attention to Malek’s tour and companionship.
“You should know that the attack on our party was no accident, Suleiman.” Malek said in his gruff tone as they rode slowly along a track between cane stands.
“Allah alone knows what would have happened to our young Lord and our Mistresses had you not helped us. My lord will be very inclined to reward you for what you did that day. On the other hand, he might be inclined to cut my head off for allowing us to get into that mess.”
“Who would want to attack your master’s family, Malek?” Talon asked.
“My master is close to the Sultan, Salah Ed Din, may Allah protect him.. He holds the position of honorary Captain of the body guard. The courtiers at the palace are a venomous crowd, so there is a lot of jealousy He has one really bad enemy who is named Bahir and who is as mad as a hornet because my master took his wife from under Bahir’s nose. They have been enemies since they were boys, but this made things worse, especially as Bahir’s request to marry Khalidah was turned down not once, but twice. I suspect the attack is his work.”
They arrived back just in time for evening prayers and Talon joined the row of murmuring men after completing his ablutions. He let his mind dwell upon the time honored obeisance to God.
After prayers, Malek, as though sensing that Talon was desperate to see his friend, beckoned to him and they walked towards a mud walled structure that ran alongside the main building. Entering the cool dark interior, Talon noted that the dirt floor was swept clean and the window shutters opened to let in the evening breeze. He saw Max lying on a pallet in one corner. Placed nearby on the floor was a jug of water and an earthenware bowl holding some bread and soup.
His eyes filling with tears of emotion, Talon forgot that Malek was present. He hurried to kneel at the bedside, to stare down at Max lying against a rolled cushion, asleep. Talon was shocked at the sight of his companion. Max, already thin from their previous hardships, had lost even more weight and looked pale and gaunt. There were bandages swathed around his chest and left shoulder. His light brown hair had been trimmed, however, and he looked clean. It was evident that he had been well cared for. He was only covered with a linen sheet up to his chest.
“Max,” Talon whispered anxiously. He glanced behind him, feeling awkward at his display of emotions, but Malek had slipped away, leaving the two friends alone.
A full breath brought Max slowly out of a deep sleep and he peered blearily upwards and then focused on Talon, who was leaning over him. He gave a weak smile. “Ah Talon,” he murmured. “God be praised. You live.”
Talon glanced hurriedly behind him again, but there was no need to worry. Bending down so that he was close to Max’s ear, Talon whispered, “I thought you were dead, my dear friend.”
“And I you, Talon. I could not understand anything they said, so I assumed that you were either dead or taken prisoner and that I was alone.” There were tears in Max’s eyes as he looked up at Talon.
“Hush, my friend,” murmured Talon, almost choking with emotion. “Now listen, and listen for our lives.”
Max looked alarmed but he concentrated on what Talon said next.
“My name is Suleiman and I am a rich merchant’s son from Anatolia. You are my bodyguard and a Christian. I shall pretend I am a Moslem. It will not be hard, as I was taught to be one. Do you hear me, Max?” He asked with some concern, for Max’s eyes had closed briefly.
“Yes, Suleiman, I have heard. So… my name is Max?” His lips twitched in a tiny smile.
Talon grinned. “Yes, it is, unless you have a better one? But I do not want to lie more than I have to. They are treating us like heroes and with much kindness because we helped save them from disaster, but it is best that they do not know we are Franks heading for the Holy Land.”
They could only talk a few more minutes, as it became clear that Max was growing very tired. Talon helped him drink some water from the jug nearby and offered him a spoonful of the lentil stew, but Max turned it away. Talon left him with the assurance that he would be back the next day and they would talk some more.
Leaving Max to rest, Talon walked slowly out into the evening light and saw Malek waiting for him with another man who had his right arm in a sling.
“Suleiman, this is Bilal, my brother,” Malek said.
“I came to see you as I heard you were back on your feet. Allah be praised that both you and your companion are alive, and we can return your deeds by caring for you,” Bilal said.
If anything he was stockier than Malek himself, and a little fleshier around his jowls, although it was clear he was a strong man. His hair was cut short and stuck out in a short bush around his head. His dark eyes regarded Talon with interest.
Bilal was unreserved with his praise. “You two came at just the right moment, like a pair of fiends. Thanks be to Allah for sending you.”
“I thank you, Oustez, for your concern, but anyone would have done the same. We could not look on and do nothing,” Talon replied.
“Ah, my friend, there are those who would have. Allah sent you,” Bilal said with feeling.
Malek enjoined him to eat with them this early evening. They settled down near the stables on a patch of grass under a huge sycamore tree on cushions the servants had brought. The servants arrived with trays from the kitchen and put them down on a central rug. Malek offered him boiled cabbage and lotus seeds to start the meal.
They were joined by another man, much older than either of the brothers, who limped over leaning on a stick. He was helped to sit on a cushion by a solicitous Bilal, who obviously had great respect for the old man.
He was introduced as Khaldun ibn Mahmud Majd al Din, an old friend of the family and now retired, having been a close friend of Abbas’s father when he had been alive. Malek and his brother called him Abu in an affectionate manner, which meant Father.
“I am asked to do little these days,” Khaldun said, with a gap toothed smile. “Nor do I teach the young Kazim, because he is too energetic for me.”
Malek chuckled at that and said, “The last person our Lady employed for the thankless task left a month ago. Only the Prophet knows, as I do not, where we are to find another around here to teach the young lord his numbers, reading and calligraphy…and his manners. He is falling behind in all four, not that he cares. Unfortunately, there are not that many scholars in these parts, nor do they want to move outside of Al Qahirah where most of them prefer to live.”
“Ah! You are offering our new young friend the cabbage and lotus, brother,” Bilal broke in. Turning to Talon he added, “This is a sign that he holds you in high regard, Suleiman. He will not even do that for me, his own brother.” They laughed at this.
“We welcome a guest with our best food, Suleiman,” Malek said, with a nod to Talon.
While they ate in comfortable silence, the servants brought spicy and scented foods that Talon had not tasted for a long time, and some never before.
Malek explained that the boiled cabbage was something Egyptians loved and they would always start a meal with it. This was wrapped around some paste that Talon savoured with pleasure. “That is the liver of one of those birds over there. Tastes good, does it not?” Bilal asked. H
e pointed at one of the large fat birds that waddled about near to the stables. We feed them much grain so they get fat and then…we eat them!” He laughed.
There was a plethora of other vegetables and fruits for Talon to choose from. He ate radishes, endives, and herb-encrusted morsels of pigeon meat that had been fried in expensive olive oil and heavily flavored with garlic, sesame seeds and onions.
There were several kinds of fish to choose from. Sun-dried and pungent, salted heavily, or even fresh, these fish were full of bones but very tasty. Malek kept urging him to eat, telling him, “These are fish from the lake and are good to eat. You look half starved, Suleiman, and must eat to regain your strength.”
After the meal, Malek waved one of the hovering slaves over and ordered coffee. A brass coffee pot was brought. It had a long beak of a spout and the hot, black liquid was poured from a height to enhance its flavor. They drank it piping hot from tiny glazed earthenware cups.
Malek leaned back against one of the carpeted cushions and gave an appreciative belch of comfort before wiping his lips with a linen cloth. Then he looked over at Talon.
“I need to solve a small mystery, Suleiman. You must tell us how you and your companion came to be in the place where you were at that time. You say he is a Christian, but you are of the faith?”
Talon gave an inward sigh; it was time.
“I am a merchant, or rather the son of a merchant from Anatolia, who converted to Islam when the Turkish tribes came to the region now known as Rum. He has interests all over the Byzantium Empire and in Syria, including Al Iskandrȋyah.”
There were murmurs of interest as the others watched him and listened intently. He continued, “I had been visiting Iskandrȋyah for the first time without my father when I was cheated out of my goods by some evil men on the outskirts of your fair city. My companion and I were chased for days because they thought we had a lot of money, which at one time I did have, but I lost most of that to them when we were attacked that day near the city. Despite our cries for help, no one came to our aid and they were too many, so we had to take flight. I was trying to reach a place where we could cross the great river but we were too far south of Al Qahirah. Now, I do not even know where I am.”
“You are not so far south of Al Qahirah as you might think, my friend; this area called the Fayoum is south, only two days of hard riding from the city, if that was where you wanted to go,” Khaldun said reflectively. “But tell me my young warrior… because that is what I think you are, how could you lose your own caravan and then be such lions when we were attacked?” His white-bearded face was thoughtful, his old faded eyes watchful.
“We were betrayed and surprised, Oustez. I lost more than one companion at that time and I mourn them deeply. I would not have thought that Egypt was so dangerous for a mere merchant hoping to sell goods,” Talon said, looking him in the eye.
“What were you bringing to this country that we do not have already?” Bilal asked somewhat skeptically. “This is Egypt, after all,” he added with a grin.
“We traded…nothing special, other than pelts and silver from the far north. I can buy those in Constantinople,” Talon lied. He hoped that neither Malek nor his brother, nor Khaldun for that matter, had ever been there.
“Then there were carpets from eastern Anatolia, gems from Syria and filigree gold work from Damascus. The craftsmen there are without peer. I also trade in silk from… ”
“Stop! I think I have understood what you were doing, Suleiman,” Malek said with a laugh, “but where were you planning to go after you had been to Al Qahirah?”
“I was going to change some chits of paper for more gold with the bankers of the city. I have credit for more from the Jewish people in Constantinople and Damascus, but I will now have to find a way to prove that I am who I say I am when the time comes, as they don’t give gold to just anyone who asks for it,” Talon said with a rueful smile. “After that, I was going to take a ship back to Cyprus and do some more trading,” he finished, hoping he had evaded the question sufficiently for the time being.
“You might find it very hard to find gold in that city anymore,” Malek said skeptically.
“Why do you say this?” asked Talon, surprised.
Khaldun sucked on a date seed and chuckled. “Malek is right. Our Sultan, may Allah protect him always, is often at war. He needs money all the time to finance his battles and to pay off his Turkish mercenaries. Rumor has it he too is going to the Jews for gold. Not only that, Nur Ed Din, his distant uncle, wants to be paid back for the money he invested in the invasion of Egypt. It was a lot − around two hundred thousand dinars, if rumor is correct. Our Sultan spends money faster than anyone can provide it. But he will surely have the first pick through what is left in the souk of Al Qahirah.”
Malek shifted the conversation back to Talon. “You seem to me to be an unlikely merchant, Suleiman, but if that is what you say you are − then I shall go along with it.” He smiled and then enquired, “What about your companion? He does not speak our language like you do. In fact, we do not know what language he speaks; when he was in a fever he babbled in some strange tongues that none of us understood.” He smiled drily at Talon, and so did Bilal. Khaldun smiled as well, but he looked thoughtful.
“My companion is from the Christian lands far to the west of here,” Talon said, hurriedly. “He grew up in a high mountainous region, but came to Constantinople and met my father when young, and stayed with him. He acts as my bodyguard now. No, he does not speak the Arabic tongue and is slow to learn any of the other ones that we have encountered. I know the rudiments of his tongue and we communicate well enough. He is a brave and honest man who has saved my life on more than one occasion,” Talon stated firmly.
“It is true enough; he was a terrifying sight when you charged in among our enemies,” Bilal remarked.
“It seems that despite the continual fighting that goes on between the Christians and Moslem peoples that trade between us continues. For that I am glad,” said Khaldun with a smile. Talon relaxed a little.
“We are in your debt and that is the truth. I hope you will stay a while and enjoy our hospitality. Our master is fighting in the south with his cavalry but will soon be home, Insha’ Allah,” Malek summed up the sentiments of them all.
“Can you write and do calligraphy? Do you know the numbers, Suleiman? If you are truly a merchant’s son you would know these things,” Khaldun asked abruptly.
“I can write in the tongue we speak together − even though the dialect here is sometimes difficult to follow—Persian, some Latin, and Greek, Oustez. I was taught the numbers and know them well enough,” Talon responded.
“Then, Malek, please bring some paper and a quill. I would see what our young guest is capable of,” Khaldun said.
Talon realized that he was being tested, but had no qualms about the writing or the numbers; he felt he could acquit himself.
The thick paper was delivered, along with some ink and a large quill with a wide nib. He borrowed a knife from Bilal and trimmed it more carefully till he was satisfied that it was just so, then he eagerly began to use the lessons learnt in the past to demonstrate his knowledge in both the Arabic and the Christian languages. Khaldun looked on with growing approval and even complemented him on some of the more difficult calligraphy for the letters that he wrote down. Then he asked Talon to demonstrate his skill at numbers, which he was also able to do both orally and in writing.
At the end of the demonstration the old man nodded to himself, as though satisfied that he had learned what he needed to from the encounter, and said, “You had good teachers, Suleiman. Did you learn of the Astronomy and the medicine as well?”
“Jo, Oustez, I did learn of both but would not call myself a good student of either.”
“That is a good answer, Suleiman. Humility in the study of sciences is to be respected more than showing off the ability,” Khaldun said approvingly. “Now it is dusk and I must seek my bed, as my old eyes are tired.”
He was helped to his feet by Malek, who then called over a boy from the stables to help the old man off to his quarters.
“Peace be with you, Abu,” Malek said respectfully.
“Peace be with you all,” the old man said as he hobbled off with the aid of the boy.
After he had gone, there was a high buzzing sound and something dark swooped low over their seating place. Talon started and Malek chuckled. “We have bats here that like fruit. That one was investigating our meal.”
Talon looked around and noticed that indeed, there were several bats swooping and gliding in the darkening sky above them, further adding to the mystery of the evening quiet.
He went to bed that night trying to think of how he might be able to leave with Max, as soon as possible.
* * * * *
As days passed and Max continued to heal, Talon sought out the old man, who was gratified to have such an eager listener, for Talon made it clear he liked to spend time with him. Khaldun had travelled extensively, mostly down the Red sea and to the Jeddah, but also to Yemen and up the coast to Oman, and he had taken part in a Hajj. From the moment Khaldun revealed his pilgrimage to Mecca, Talon began to call him by the respectful title of Hajji. Khaldun appeared to enjoy the respect bestowed upon him and warmed towards Talon, sharing much information about the country he lived in and its history.
Talon took the opportunity to ask the burning question that had stayed with him since he had first seen the man-made mountains to the north.
Khaldun had laughed at that. “Indeed, you might well think of them as man-made mountains, Suleiman. They were constructed in the dim mists of long gone ages. It is thought they might be tombs of great kings; we Egyptians call our kings Pharaohs. You will see much of their history depicted on rocks and walls in this country, but especially the area of Giza.”
“Hajji, there was also an enormous head sticking half out of the desert sand. It is hard to tell if it is a man or a mystical animal. What is that?”
Assassination in Al Qahira Page 10