Assassins of Kantara

by James Boschert

  The man glanced back at Reza, sending him a malevolent glare as he took off towards the neighboring house. He was still looking back at Reza when an arrow took him full in the side and knocked him over. He crashed to the surface of the roof with a cry of agony, sprawling forward onto his face. In one leap Reza was on him with the point of his sword on his back. There was no need, however, for with a shudder the assassin went limp. Reza kicked him over onto his back and stared down at him. The man, not much more than a youth, was dead.

  “I know this one,” he said to Talon, who had wasted no time in joining him. “He came from Qual’a Bozi, not far from Isfahan.”

  “Let’s inspect the rest of the house, then we leave,” Talon said.

  They arrived back at their house later that afternoon to find the others already busy trying to clean up the mess.

  It took some time to tidy up the house and the yard. Yosef brought Dar’an back from the ship, along with some crew members led by Tarif and Waqqas. They were shocked by what they saw, but after a brief explanation from Reza, who swore them to silence, they helped to lay out the bodies in two rows down in the cellar, the assassins in one row and the servants in another. All in all it had been a massacre, and there was much anger at the indifference displayed by the killers towards the innocent servants.

  “It will be some time before news of any kind finds its way back to the Master,” Talon told his family. “Reza and I checked their lair very carefully. There seem to be no others from what we can tell, and we are going to send a message which should reach the Master some time next month, by which time we must not be found here. A message does need to go back.”

  “My brother tried to capture us and intended to deal with us most horribly,” Rav’an said. Her voice was ice cold and her face reflected her feelings. “He is no brother of mine after this.”

  “Reza, you know what to do, so I shall leave it to you,” Talon said. “Delay as long as you can, while we plan where we can go,” he went on. “I need to prepare the ship. Waqqas, come with me. We have to find the rest of the crew.”

  Bird in a cage

  Set free

  Soaring in the sky…

  —Tirupathi Chanduppatla

  Chapter 3

  A Voyage to Somewhere

  Later that night when they were in the upstairs rooms drinking tea, they talked about their options.

  “I want to go back to China,” Rav’an said. “We will never be safe here, now that he knows.”

  “I agree,” Jannat said firmly. “I liked China, and Hsü would welcome us with open arms.”

  Reza looked thoughtful, “While I agree that China is a good option, I wonder if that is not the first place he will think of next? Remember, there are thousands of Persian and Arab people living in Guangzhou. It would take time, but eventually one of his men could arrive and we would be none the wiser. Then it would begin all over again. Talon, what do you think?”

  Talon looked ill at ease. Finally, he he met Rav’an’s eyes and said, “Some years ago, when I was in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, I made a promise to a King.”

  “To a King!” she exclaimed.

  “What kind of promise, Papa?” piped up Rostam, from next to his mother.

  “That I would return to tell him if my mission had been successful,” Talon told them, looking even more uncomfortable.

  “What mission?” demanded Jannat.

  “A promise to Rav’an that I would find her.”

  They all stared at him.

  “You told a King that?” Rav’an asked him, sounding pleased. Her eyes were full of tears and a smile trembled at the corners of her mouth.

  “Well, er, yes, I did,” Talon said, looking embarrassed.

  “You certainly took your time about it!” Reza laughed. “She was a married woman when you finally decided to come and get her.”

  Rav’an glared, half amused, at Reza, while Jannat snickered and slapped his arm. “But he did come back, Reza! You are so cruel. You both came. Where would Rav’an and I both be had you not? So don’t tease our brother here.”

  Reza winked at her, and Rav’an smiled at them with affection. He couldn’t help it; his adoration for Jannat always gave him away.

  “What did the King say, Talon?” she asked.

  “He told me to come back as soon as I could, and to tell him whether I had succeeded or not.”

  Rav’an put her chin in her hand and pretended to consider the matter. “I think you did. But now you want to go and tell him so? Would it not be a perilous journey? Would he even be alive when you got there? It has been many years, my Prince.”

  “We could sail up the Red sea all the way to a place called Elat. Then it would be a few weeks, perhaps less, to Jerusalem, and on to a city known as Acre, where I have many friends. As for the King, it is true he was very ill when I left. Leprosy. But I do admire him. Despite his terrible impairment he is a true King.”

  There was an apprehensive look on all faces at this. Everyone knew how fearsome was that disease. No one knew any cures for leprosy.

  “I have a destination in mind that is not part of the Kingdom,” Talon said to reassure them. “We could disappear there and no one the wiser. I will have discharged a pressing obligation, and we can have a new life, under a different name if necessary.”

  “It’s about honor then, Talon?” Jannat asked.

  “Yes, it’s about his honor, my Jannat,” Reza said with a hint of resignation in his tone. “We are doomed to follow this man and his honor about.”

  He grinned and ducked a swipe at his head from Talon, who gave a rueful laugh. “It is true, but we can also disappear in a direction that might not be obvious.”

  “Will we be able to play Chogan where we are going, Papa?” Rostam asked.

  “Hmm, it’s possible,” Talon replied with a smile.

  The next day was a busy one. Dar’an was sent off to inform the doctor and Fariba about the situation. They lived in the compound attached to the Caliph’s palace. It was not long before both appeared at the gates to the villa, which were now guarded by men from the ship with Yosef in charge.

  A full scale conference was held after the embraces and tears of concern were over and Fariba had settled down with Rostam sitting close.

  “Imagine my horror when Yosef told us the news!” Fariba said, wiping her eyes.

  Doctor Haddad nodded agreement, his gray beard bobbing up and down. “They are evil men, my children. I am amazed at how you managed to get free and deal with them.”

  “Talon and Reza are exceptional at this kind of thing,” Fariba said comfortably. She reached for Rostam and gave the boy a fierce hug. “I don’t know what we would have done had they succeeded.”

  “You should have seen Rav’an and Jannat, Auntie,” Reza said proudly. ‘They stayed calm and helped us put an end to their captors. But the point is, Auntie, we have been found. If they had succeeded in taking us, there is no telling whether they would have come after you. That is part of my fear, that the Master wants to hurt all of us.”

  Haddad looked at Fariba, whose eyes had widened. “What do you think we should do, Talon?” she asked.

  Before he could reply, Doctor Haddad interjected. “The Sultan can protect us, my children. We did him a great service during the Cholera epidemic. I even saved his youngest son’s life!”

  “He cannot protect us, Uncle. We were lucky this time. Very lucky, and we have to leave; but before we do I want to lay a false trail,” said Talon.

  “What sort of trail?” Reza asked him.

  “We can put it about that we have gone to India, after first visiting the island of Lamu to pick up some African cargo. It is the time of the Monsoons again, and we are seafaring traders, after all; why would we not go off again to trade?”

  “I hope the cholera is over down there, as that is where it came from. Poor Imaran did not survive because of it, and Boulos was lucky he didn’t succumb,” Haddad said, with a concerned glance at Talon from under his th
ick white eyebrows.

  Haddad was referring to the two brothers of Allam Al Mardini who had sailed with Talon and his friends down to the island of Pate and Lamu on the African coast. They had bought slaves who had been infected by the Cholera, which had raged across Lamu. Subsequently, Imaran had died, along with most of his crew and all the slaves on his ship. Boulos had limped home to Muscat, only to discover that other ships had brought the disease with them to the city and people were sick and dying everywhere.

  Talon and his ship had returned from China to find the population severely depleted from the epidemic, but Doctor Haddad held in very high esteem by the Caliph and his palace Vizier because he had saved many lives with his quick understanding of the situation. He had insisted upon measures to bring the spread of the disease under control, and he had nursed many afflicted people back to health, including the Caliph’s son.

  The aged man looked around at his family with deep affection and sighed. “I am too old to be going anywhere these days, Talon. I shall stay and pray to God that he spare me for my work here, which is important.” He sent a look of appeal to Fariba, who looked back with love in her eyes. “If you stay, my husband, then I shall too. My place is by your side.

  “Children!” she said sharply, as they all began to raise their voices in protest. “It is not the good doctor nor myself who face danger, it is you, and while I weep to think that you will leave us again for who knows where, you must seek safety from this vengeful man wherever you can. We are both too old to be voyaging all over the place or to start again, so we will stay and rely upon God’s mercy and the protection of the Caliph, who values the Doctor. It is not open for discussion, my darling,” she said to Rav’an, who was becoming tearful. Fariba placed a thin hand on her arm to comfort her.

  “I lament the fact that we have to leave without informing our good friend Allam,” Reza said, “but we cannot compromise him with any knowledge of our whereabouts. So it is agreed: the story we must put out is that we have gone to India after having been to Africa? India is a big place, and I do not think the Master has influence there.”

  “Reza has a task to perform before we leave,” Talon stated. “Dar’an and Yosef will assist him.”

  A large jar appeared at the gates of the castle Qual’a Bozi, almost six weeks from the date that Talon and his extended family disappeared without a trace from Muscat. The merchant ship which Reza commissioned to transport the jar had run into a storm and the captain had put into port for safety, thereby delaying the delivery by yet another week. The container arrived on a donkey that had been led up the path by a frightened drover who knew the reputation of the inmates but not the contents of the cargo, which was very heavy. Firuz, now the leader of the pack in the castle, read a message that accompanied the jar before unsealing it.

  The message read:

  “You have failed. This will happen to all who you send against us. Our magic is powerful. Follow us if you dare.”

  With a look of growing alarm and puzzlement on his dark, angular features, he ordered the jar opened. Even he stood back in horror as its contents were revealed.

  The task that Reza had insisted upon carrying out had been a gristly one. With the help of Dar’an and Yosef he had taken the heads of all the assassins and placed them in a large earthenware jar full of vinegar. This was heavily sealed with wax and covered in thick hessian padding, which was strapped closed to ensure there was no tampering.

  Firus swallowed hard. He most certainly didn’t want to be the deliverer of this news to the Master, but some luckless messenger had to be sent.

  The tearful goodbyes had been said and the passengers were all aboard, having arrived under cover of darkness. They left in the early morning just as the first streaks of dawn appeared in eastern sky, while the city still slept.

  They had abandoned much in the villa before they sealed it. Doctor Haddad had said that he would be visiting the deserted villa when they had gone. A fire might be the right thing to do he declared to Talon and Reza but would delay that event as long as he could. The crew, all trusted men who in turn trusted Talon implicitly, went to work to set sail and the steersmen guided the ship past the small island at the mouth of the harbor. No one challenged them. There were very few loiterers staring out to sea at that time of day other than a few fishing men who had risen late and were quite disinterested in the ship as they hurriedly prepared their own boats for departure.

  Talon stood on the afterdeck and oversaw their departure, Rav’an and Jannat, along with their two maids Salmeh and Afari, stayed below out of sight. Talon was robed like an Omani and wore his usual loose headgear with a cloth wrapped around his lower face. His men were dressed likewise, to ensure that no one recognized them as they left.

  Reza, Yosef and Dar’an were in the bows watching for any unusual signs of interest in their departure as they cleared the island, while Rostam took his place next to Talon. He was proud of his status of Navigator and intended to make his father even more proud before they were done.

  Just in case anyone might be observing their ship, they tacked off to the East by Northeast. Before many hours had passed they were alone at sea. Once they were well over the horizon, Talon ordered a change of course and they headed South by Southwest, their destination the entrance to the Red Sea. They would not be stopping at Aden nor any other port unless it was on the African side until they came to Elat. They had a ship full of food and would only need to put in for water from time to time.

  It was an uneventful journey through the straights of Yemen. Talon, with the assistance of Rostam, kept the ship as close to the center of the long sea as they could. Most dhows sailed within sight of land and certainly did not sail at night, but that had its perils too. Sand shoals and reefs were a constant danger when sailing close to the shore, even many miles out. They could encounter other vessels, and so could only sail during the day when they could see ahead of them.

  Staying out of sight of land in deeper waters, they avoided maritime traffic of the pilgrim kind, as well as the possibility of pirates. They had little fear of anyone being bold enough to take on a ship of this size; more importantly, however, they wanted no word of their passage to get back to Muscat.

  The days were searingly hot, which forced them to seek shade wherever they could or remain in the cabin; but the nights were cool, which allowed them to relax on deck, rest, and discuss the future. Reza also spent time with the boys working on their training.

  After two weeks of fair winds they found themselves at the entrances to two long channels, one of which went North-west, while the other appeared to go in a North-easterly direction. Talon ordered the ship to sail up the latter, and within four more days they sighted Elat, an unprepossessing harbor with many fishing boats but few of the larger sea-going vessels that one came across in Muscat. The port, once a very important harbor, was located on the edge of the desert, but most of that desert led up north towards hostile Christian lands. Moslem traders now favored the Egyptian side.

  The unloading took several frustrating days, but eventually everything was off the ship and in a warehouse, where it would wait until Talon could hire a caravan of camels or join one. His preference was to hire his own camels, which would mean he and his party would be in charge of their destiny to a larger extent. Some caravan owners were not above sending out a message to the Beduin, informing them of a fat caravan on its way north. A share of the plunder went to the informer.

  It took many tiresome days to bargain for animals and prepare the caravan, find reliable men, and obtain enough food for a three-week-long journey across the eastern Sinai desert. Eventually, however, all was prepared, and one evening Talon and his family stood on the shore watching the ship slip away into the night. Waqqas was taking her back to the port of Muscat with a story that would keep the Mardini family from asking too many questions. The ship would be a gift to the family, which would please Imaran, who had declared that he liked it very much. Inwardly Talon sighed; he knew Imaran wo
uld convert it quickly enough into a slave ship. But it was essential that, as far as the people of Oman were concerned, Talon and his extended family had fled to India and disappeared, perhaps even to China.

  I am that wastrel called Kalandar,

  I have no home, no country and no lair,

  By day I wander aimless o’er the earth,

  And when night falls , my pillow is a stone.

  —Baba Tahir

  Chapter 4

  A Close Encounter

  Three weeks later, Talon and Reza sat their horses and stared northwards towards a rising plume of dust. They were both dressed like Beduin, with voluminous over-cloaks of coarse, dark brown cotton, almost the color of the sun-blasted rocks around them; small, ragged turbans on their heads; and shemaghs half covering their faces. Yosef, Dar’an and Rostam were similarly dressed, as were the men guiding their twenty or so camels. The women were veiled completely, so that one could not even see their eyes behind the fine coverings.

  “They are coming to investigate,” Talon said, his voice slightly muffled by the shemagh. He glanced up at the nearby rugged mountains and the huge fortress of Kerak squatting on one of the steeper foothills and overlooking the road about two leagues ahead of them. It loomed over the roadway with a menacing aspect, the perfect defense against any army of invaders. It had gained a reputation that reached as far south as Elat as a haven of bandits who plundered caravans, led by a man Talon had formerly come to know as Lord Raynald de Châtillon. Caravans were looted, their women violated and then sometimes mutilated, while ransoms were demanded for any noble prisoners who were not killed outright.

  “There is no way we could have slipped by at night. They appear to be too alert, and then we would have been at a disadvantage in the dark. Better this way,” he said to Reza.

  “I hope you are right, Brother,” Reza replied, sounding doubtful. “So the knights of this castle have taken to banditry?”