Nasir turned, puzzled, but his question was stillborn, as Kerim, said, “Look! Down there!” Nasir did so and saw a tall, striking man riding under a large green banner. “It's ibn Saud!”
“Ya Allah! ibn Saud himself is here?” gasped Nasir, even as he heard the name shouted from the throats of the ecstatic townspeople.
“So it would seem,” replied the young officer, as he also listened to the growing roar from below. “That he's here himself means that we are in an even more impossible situation than I thought!” He turned as a dusty soldier hurried up to him and, giving him a half-hearted salute, handed him a message.
“I'm summoned to a briefing,” he said, quickly scanning the document.
“Briefing? That must mean your commanders are planning a counter-attack, or at least a proper defence of the fort!” Nasir said jubilantly. He suddenly felt optimism for the first time since their arrival in the town, scant hours before.
“My friend, don't be too sure,” the young officer cautioned. “I think. our revered Captain is right. We're not wanted in al Hasa and, more importantly I suspect, we no longer wish to be here. Or at least we no longer wish to be here enough to fight for it, like our forefathers did,” he added, bitterness souring both his stomach and his words. “I'd be surprised if the briefing wasn't merely to discuss our terms of surrender!” He hurried away, leaving a very worried group behind him. Nasir quietly began discussing with the others what should be done if the young officer's pessimism turned out to be correct.
They didn't have long to wait. A grim-faced Kerim was back within the hour. “We have a fight on our hands, it seems!” he said loudly, a little too loudly for Nasir to be fooled. He wasn't surprised when, a few seconds later, the young officer took his arm and moved him slightly away from the others.
Chapter 26
“It appears I was right,” he began.
“You're surrendering! But if you abandon al Hofuf, you won't be able to hold al Hasa. You'd be giving it all to ibn Saud!” Nasir said, stunned. “That would bring him right up to our borders! So much for our alliance!” he spat bitterly”.
“No. Surrender has not been formally decided upon; as yet. My commanders are waiting on events in the morning, before deciding.” Kerim smiled ironically before adding, “But I think any assault of any size by the al Saud will decide matters quickly. It seems we have no stomach for a fight; this fight anyway. I'm sorry, my friend.”
“Merciful Allah! I must warn Fouad! If ibn Saud sweeps through al Hasa, all we have is the al Rashid and they grow weaker by the year!”
“Can you not ally to the British, like Kuwait and the Trucial States?” asked his friend, in surprise.
“Treaty changes take time and should you surrender tonight, you leave us with not enough of that!” Nasir flashed. “I suspect also that the British believe we're too closely linked to you Ottoman for them to trust or want us enough,” he added bluntly and with some little bitterness. His mind worked swiftly to assess what options he and his men had. Pitifully few, was his first reaction.
“It will not end well for us here with you, if – when – you surrender and ibn Saud discovers our presence,” he said grimly, after a brief pause.
“You will be covered by the terms of any surrender. You'll not come to any harm,” protested Kerim, surprised.
Nasir shook his head, “We may not, but ibn Saud has been known to kill even when an honourable capture has been made. Ask the widows of Ubayd ibn Hamoud al Rashid,” he added harshly. Seeing his new friend’s puzzlement, he went on, “One of their battles with ibn Saud had gone against the al Rashid and Ubayd was captured. When he was brought before him, ibn Saud, instead of treating him with honour, pulled out his scimitar. Then after slashing and hacking at him – a defenceless man, remember – inflicting massive wounds all over his body, he then hacked off his head! So, you see my friend, why we'd rather not test what would be ibn Saud's reaction were he to discover our presence!”
“There need be no problem,” Kerim responded quickly. “We will disguise you as one of us, give you all uniforms; perhaps shave you a little! There's little difference in our colouring so you would pass easily.”
Nasir considered for a few moments, but then shook his head. “I thank you Kerim, but no.” We already have a means of escape arranged once we're out of the town. Even if ibn Saud keeps to his word, the terms would almost certainly demand that all weapons be left in the Fort, and, as you will have no further use for these fine rifles, I have a mind to take a few with us. They and their bullets will be of great use to us in Narash in the days to come,” he ended grimly. “You can join us, if you wish,” he added suddenly.
“Thank you. No, I believe ibn Saud will not want to inflame our government further, so we will be quite safe under his terms of surrender. However shameful those terms may turn out to be,” he added bitterly, as shame flooded his lean features. “Besides, I couldn't leave my men. But let us set about helping you to leave the fort unseen,” he said briskly.
“That will be difficult, if not impossible, with the tight grip he has on the town. We're surrounded, are we not?” Nasir queried, worriedly.
“Yes, but there are always weak spots in any stranglehold, so come, gather up your rifles, stuff your robes with bullets and let's make haste,” laughed Kerim, his spirits buoyed by the chance to outwit their joint enemy, in however small a way. “But best move casually, so as few as possible are alerted to our plan. You heard how popular the attack is with the townsfolk. You can be sure, also, that ibn Saud is certain to have spies and sympathisers inside the fort and inside our own forces,” he said, as he led them down the steps for the final time. They skirted the edge of the fort's small square, now crowded with cheering, happy troops who had obviously heard that they'd not be fighting a battle after all. They then they moved into a far corner, deep in shadow. Once away from the flickering brightness of the torches in the square itself, they were all but invisible in the deepening shadows around it.
Kerim stopped beside what looked like a pile of rubble, mud brick and dust, lying in a forgotten pile near the wall. “This blocks off an old waterway. Behind here the tunnel still exists. When all this,” he kicked the pile of bricks, “is cleared, it will let you out under the fort's walls. Not outside the town unfortunately, the rest was sealed up long ago. It will only take you to a point just off the square.”
“That will be enough,” said Nasir, after a moment’s thought, as he and his men started quickly but quietly moving the obstacles to their freedom. “We will look and act as our brother Arabs once outside. We will seem as just a few more of ibn Saud's bandits.”
“As long as we resist our natural urge to slit a few of their throats,” growled Mamduh, the strongest of Nasir's men, as he easily lifted the biggest pieces of rubble as though they were sacks of chicken feathers.
“And you are not seen leaving the waterway,” cautioned Kerim. Now, I must leave you my friends. I have a part to play in our glorious defence of al Hofuf – for as long as it lasts that is!” he added sardonically.
“Thank you, Kerim, for your help. Should we survive and we ever meet again, I shall have a debt to pay,” Nasir said, putting down the bricks he was moving and standing to embrace the young Turk.
“No debt,” Kerim said lightly, “I admire bravery and worry that ibn Saud grows too powerful.”
“On that we are agreed! I hope no ill befalls you in the next few hours,” he added sombrely, as Kerim turned to go.
“Insh' Allah, Insh' Allah,” shrugged the soldier with a fatalism not entirely assumed and, moving quickly, went back to the battlements to be with his men.
Nasir returned to the task of clearing the debris. Neither man knew that a lifelong bond had been formed between them and that, when they did meet again, years later, it would be during some of the most momentous and historic days imaginable, even by the standards of that turbulent region.
Within a few minutes Nasir and his band had cleared enough of the rubbl
e to crawl through the dried up waterway. They suffered more than a few frightening minutes when Mamoud's big frame got firmly lodged in the narrow passageway. At first, although Nasir, who was ahead, pulled and those behind pushed, all were hampered by the tight space and he couldn't be moved. They had no light, but had they done so they would have seen a sight few ever had – the big man showing fear. Very much a man of the wide open desert spaces, he felt hemmed in in the town. For him to be in such a tight space as the narrow tunnel and be unable to move threatened to overwhelm him. Eventually, though, an extra shove from behind did the trick and he shot forward, knocking Nasir over as he fell on top of him. Despite the seriousness of their position, Nasir's smothered oath started the others briefly laughing; a welcome release of the tension they were all under.
They quickly reached the end of the short tunnel and Nasir cautiously peered over the lip of the shallow depression. It was, fortunately, in as deep a shadow as the entrance had been, so, with a short gap between each man, they quickly climbed out, into a narrow alleyway and quickly rubbed the worst of the dust off themselves. They met no one as they moved slowly and cautiously down the little side street. Every window they passed was boarded up and no lights showed through any chink in the boarding. It seemed that some, at least, of the citizens of Hofuf had obviously taken the wise decision to keep their heads well down, whilst those with more power than they decided their futures. The group took a deep collective breath as Nasir lead them out from the darkness of the empty alleyway into the packed, brightly lit and crowded square.
Quickly adopting the same air of stunned jubilation as the rest of the square's occupants, they moved as casually as they could toward the road leading to the western gates; the ones, they discovered later, which ibn Saud's men had managed to open.
“A great day, a great day! Ibn Saud is unstoppable! Praise be to Allah!” Nasir's party suddenly found their way barred by several townspeople who, judging by their state of intoxication and the odour of their breath, seemed happy enough to ignore at least one of the tenets of the Prophet. “By the look of you, you were with him in his glorious conquest of the accursed Ottoman! We spit on them! Here, drink with us and celebrate your great victory!” So saying, the group's leader, a scruffy looking man with small, shifty eyes, thrust a wineskin at them.
“No. Our thanks, friend, but we must stay clear-headed, as ibn Saud has ordered, until the town is truly ours,” said Nasir, thinking quickly.
“A small one will not reduce your usefulness to the Lord Abdul Aziz,” urged the stranger, “so drink!” Seeing their hesitation, his tone changed. “Or am I wrong! Are you friends of the Ottoman?” he added jeeringly, making an obscene gesture which almost had Nasir's knife at his throat.
“Desist stranger; not all men need the drink forbidden by our Prophet, may Allah bless his name, to celebrate a victory given by Allah himself!” interjected a man leading another group. “Away, before I slit your throat, so however much you take in your mouth it will never reach your belly!”
The group of townsmen may have been drunk, but their wits had not entirely deserted them. They looked blearily at the newcomers and realised very quickly how near they were to a sudden death. They melted away as though they'd never been there, and Nasir turned to thank his benefactor.
“Your thanks are unnecessary,” the leader said. “One day, men such as he will cease to be an affront to Allah, or they themselves will cease to be!” So saying, he turned and the newcomers left as a body.
Nasir watched them go with a silent prayer of thanks. He'd recognised, by their distinctive facial beards, that their benefactors were Ikhwan. That their lives would be in jeopardy if ibn Saud discovered their identity, was a probability; if the Ikhwan did, it was an absolute certainty. The Wahhabists had never been friends to their house from the time of the fierce battles fought between their mutual ancestors generations before. Though already great, this enmity had reached new heights ever since Fouad had unleashed the War Queen on them almost ten years before. So fierce was their faith, and so absolute had been Fouad's perceived insult to that faith, that neither he, nor any of his line, would ever now be safe if they were captured by the fanatics.
Moving casually but purposefully, they reached the gate. There they found tribesmen were coming in and out in a fairly unchecked way, now the town, at least, was theirs. The two small groups that Nasir had divided them into, therefore had little difficulty in leaving its walls. They moved quickly, but carefully, and cut through the rich palm groves which surrounded the township. Their spirits suddenly felt considerably lighter as they looked forward to soon reaching the comparative safety of Youseff's home. Without the horses provided by the merchant, however, their journey to his village took considerably longer than the previous day's had been and it wasn't until just before dawn that they reached his house.
When they did, they got a shock, as no light was burning as agreed, and all the window's were shuttered, the high wooden gates firmly closed against them. Their shock quickly turned to relief, however, as they saw one of the gates open silently and they swiftly moved inside as it was speedily shut behind them.
“I thought........,”started Nasir, as the corpulent form of the trader emerged from the shadow of the courtyard's large olive tree.
“Yes, the light,” said Youseff, cutting across him “We've had small bands of men moving round the village. I thought it wisest, therefore, not to show any light or do anything unusual. Ibrahim was on the roof watching the road from the town for you. But you moved well. He saw nothing of you until you were outside the gate!” he ended almost accusingly, as he sourly noted the absence of his horses.
“It is as well we were; it's less likely that anyone followed us here – to your house;” Nasir added pointedly. “But enough talk; ibn Saud has taken the town and ….......”
“I know,” responded the little merchant worriedly.
“How can you know! It happened only short hours ago!
“Information is my business, Lord Nasir! You don't prosper and stay alive if you don't have the right information in time to use it. Preferably before others have it,” he added, his podgy features wreathed in a smug smile. “Prosper modestly, that is,” he added hastily. The last thing he wanted, well, second to last; ibn Saud finding out about his duplicity, topped any list, but just behind that, was his earnest desire to conceal his true worth from his very aggressive-looking visitors. This was particularly so as, cautious and far-sighted as ever, he intended to lessen the cost to himself should ibn Saud indeed discover he'd helped his Narashi enemies.
“I have food and water ready for you and then I imagine you wish to be away very soon?” he queried hopefully, as he saw the dawn was already breaking.
“Indeed, yes.” Nasir smiled sardonically, well aware of his host's wish to see their backs. “It appears that our Ottoman allies may well surrender to ibn Saud and we want to be as near home as we can, should that happen,” he added.
“I doubt you'll have long left al Hasa before they do surrender,” Youseff, responded matter of factly.
“You sound certain! What do you know?” Nasir asked, startled at the little merchant's reading, which matched his own but couldn't be based on the same first-hand information.
“I know only that the Ottoman are weary and that al Hasa doesn't want them. Both think they can do without the other. I believe both are wrong, as both will one day discover, but......” he shrugged his shoulders resignedly. “Which, Lord Nasir,” he continued, “is why I have a favour to ask of you.”
“Indeed?” queried the young Narashi cautiously.
“Should ibn Saud discover I have aided you, I and mine could be in danger, so to lessen any risk, I would ask you take something back with you on your journey. The items are of no worldly value,” he added hurriedly “except in terms of what they mean to me. On that scale they are inestimable,” he ended with what he hoped was a suitably sentimental smile. “They mean much here,” he added touching his heart
theatrically.
“You would have us take your family?” asked Nasir, confused.
“My fam...?” responded the merchant, equally confused. “Oh I see! No, but a natural misunderstanding, Lord Nasir, a natural misunderstanding! No, I could not bear to be parted from my dear ones,” he continued regaining his flow. “I meant one or two mementoes, family trifles, which I would not wish to lose, should ibn Saud discover my help to you,” he ended pointedly.
“Very well, we will transport your mementoes,” Nasir agreed grudgingly, “though only if they cause us no delay,” he added, well aware of the speed they must make on the homeward journey.
“You have my grateful thanks, Lord Nasir, my grateful thanks,” beamed the little merchant, delighted to get a good portion of his wealth out of an area he was increasingly feeling had no further use for him. It was even better that it would be travelling under a strong guard which was costing him nothing! Ay, Allah surely looks down upon the righteous, he thought happily, though Nasir's next words put a severe dent in his rapture.
“But, be warned, Ali ben Youseff, should they delay us, we will drop them by the wayside.”
The thought of his 'worthless mementoes' being dumped, almost brought on a seizure in the podgy trader. “I will of course, provide extra men who can carry them – and act as rowers in your boat!” he almost yelped, annoyed that his profit margin had just narrowed considerably.
“Very well,” Nasir nodded his agreement, after a pause which was as much to worry Youseff as due to any indecision. “But we leave in two hours!”
And so they did and, despite the unexpected weight of ben Youseff's 'trifles', were able to travel swiftly with the extra camels provided by him. As a result, they reached the isolated spot where the boat had been beached a little sunset the same day. Their cautious approach showed nothing out of the ordinary and they moved quickly to the piles of seaweed and debris hiding the boat. They wasted little time in unloading the pack animals, and quickly loaded everything and everybody aboard. Within minutes of their arrival they were pulling out into the gulf. Their spirits rose with each stroke of the heavy oars as they pulled rapidly away from a land that, to all intents and purposes, was now the territory of their bitterest enemy.
Swords of Arabia: Warlord Page 21