Arthur

Eventide

Chapters 8-10

The next morning found Eventide up early. He had slept well but wanted some fresh air without the usual numbers of guards around him. It was a time to think.

Eventide saw a group of young teens practicing in the early morning mistiness. There was a feeling in the air of freshness even though the ground was covered with the faint swirling tendrils from the surrounding moor.

Eventide walked towards the group of teens and immediately saw Gerard in line with the others. Staying back a little; he watched as the teens went through their practice. To Eventide's eye they were shooting at a great distance and the target was barely visible in the mist.

All the teens seemed to be having a friendly rivalry as they threw riballed remarks at the boys who missed or did not perform as well as the others. It was noticeable that Gerard was treated as one of them and not the future holder of the black bow.

After a few minutes; Gerard turned and saw Eventide standing back watching them; he immediately went to a knee and bowed, soon to be followed by the other teens as they saw their Prince standing alone and watching. Eventide called to Gerard.

"Gerard, there's no need for you to bow to me; we are friends and nothing has changed."

"My Liege, when we first met we did not know of your station; it would be most disrespectful for me to treat you as any other than My Lord and Liege."

"Oh bosh; stand up and come and tell me about your stay with the Emir and where is Marchant; I fully expected to see him here with you; and you can tell your friends to carry on with their practice and stop bowing all the time."

"Yes My Liege."

Gerard turned and told the others to continue as he went to stand with Eventide and watch.

"So my friend, where is your brother?"

"The Emir asked him to stay and train a full regiment of archers. Marchant is now Captain of the Royal Archers and has one thousand men under him."

"Where will they get enough long bows for that many?"

"The Emir asked Marchant to train bow makers in a special armoury; with the right wood not available in those lands; Marchant found another type to make them with.

The Emir has spent a fortune on importing a special cane from the Far East and Marchant is using it to make the bows with. It was difficult for him to find the right glue for the lathes of cane but they are far more flexible and stronger than even the Yew we use. I have trained some smiths to make the metal tips for the bows and now I am home to make the more improved metal for ours."

As the morning light grew stronger; Eventide saw the mists lifting quickly as he and Gerard watched the teens practicing. As they watched; both boys heard the sound of a number of horses coming towards the camp.

Through the mist they saw a number of moors runners guiding what appeared to be a small group of outsiders; at their head was the small figure of Robin holding a red banner with a gold arrow surrounded by what appeared to a rolled parchment. Behind Robin rode six of the King's own guard.

On seeing their prince at the practice range; the guides turned towards where he stood. The six runners took a knee and bowed as Robin pulled his horse to a halt close by; one of the runners looked up at Eventide.

"My Liege; the King sends a messenger for you."

Eventide nodded and smiled up at Robin.

"Now I recognise the banner. It is the banner of a Royal Messenger; have you been promoted Robin?"

"No Your Highness; the King has said this message is too important to give to someone that does not know you; he has asked me to relay it by mouth as he did not want any written words to be found."

"What's this Highness business Robin; we are old friends and have stood side by side in battle."

"Never the less, Your Highness, it is not my place to belittle your title as true Prince of the old ones; the King was most insistent that I follow protocol."

"Rubbish, come on then Robin and you too Gerard, let's go inside and see if we have anything to eat yet; these early mornings have made me hungry."

The morning fare was not as fine as what had been served in the Palace at Sufaria, but Eventide had little qualms about hungrily starting his first meal of the day; he still could remember the thin times as a pot boy.

Once their fast was broken; Robin began to relate the King's message. Once he had finished he handed a rolled scroll in a heavy leather tube to Eventide; it was to verify what he had just been told although not all of the conversation was on the scroll.

Eventide began to unroll the scroll and read it just as they were joined by Kendrik and Bodan.

"Good morning My Liege," both men said as they sat at the rough wooden table and began to fill their bowls with the hot oatmeal.

"We have much to discuss this morning; I am hoping you can both give me your council when I need it."

"We are at your command, My Liege," Kendrik replied through a mouthful of the oatmeal.

"As you can see we have the King's messenger with us; he has brought news that is good for us all but, it will need some men of the Moors to go with me to the King's castle, if they would."

"Tell us what you need and it will be done, My Liege" Bodan said.

"The King has asked for one hundred long bowmen of the moors to take a commission in his army; they will be trainers and then officers of his new archers, He said he was very impressed with the showing at the Squire's Melee and would like to have a special archers regiment. It appears that the Emir has talked with him. The King has said he wants five thousand bowmen. He will supply the men needed to make the bows but under the instruction of the Moors Runners. Next he has said if we can do this he will return to the Iceni people the lands that were taken from them in the war with Wessex. Those lands are to be then known as free lands and will be from the eastern border of Dummonia to Gwent and then north to Powys and then onto the lands of Gwynedd which borders the old lands of Mercia. These lands will be ours in perpetuity although he asks that they be known by the new Saxon name of Cornwall and Walesa. The boundary is to be at the old battle site of the Tamar River and Wessex. What do you advise?"

"Is that written in the scroll, My Liege?"

"Yes, it even has a hand drawn map of that area with all the details as stated."

"Then if that is your command then it shall be done. There will be one hundred bowmen ready for when you return to the King's lands."

"Now what do we do about protecting our people. I did think about a council of five with one Regent to watch over them and make decisions for when I am not here."

"That sounds good; did you have anyone in mind for Regent and how do we select the right council members?"

"I would ask you, Kendrik; to take the place of Regent in my absence and that Bodan be one of the Councillors when the time for meetings comes. I know that Bodan has duties with my Father, but I am sure he would be allowed to come for important meetings. The other members I would suggest come from each of the four corners of the land and will leave it to you both to select honest men. I will be sending gold to you for the advancement of the people and will need men who have only the interest of the people at heart and not their own wealth."

"We shall only select the best and most honest of men My Liege," Kendrik replied "But where will you get gold and how will the people pay their tithe to you?"

"This also I have thought over; I have more gold than I could ever need. Each quarter I will send one chest to you and it is to be used for improvements to the lives of our people. There will be no tithe unless there are those that wish to work on building a small manor for my use when I come here. For those who would work to this end I will pay ten coppers per month and they are to give me twenty hours of time per month free of payment; that will be their tithe to the crown."

"That is more than generous My Liege; your Manor will be ready when you need it."

"I plan to return to Sufaria shortly; I have business there that cannot wait. The King has warned me that the Franks and the Church are trying to start another Crusade in the Holy Land. He is doing his best to stay out of it but that will mean they will also look across the water to his lands; that is why he wants a Regiment of archers formed."

"Tell the King that, if the need arises and as long as his word stays true to the freeing of our old lands; then the men of the Reaches and Moors will stand alongside his armies should he need them to repel any invaders. On this you have our word, My Liege."

"Thank you Kendrik; I will pass on your words to the King. Robin! I will give you a message to carry back to the King to tell him what we have decided; let him know I will follow in five days."

Robin nodded his head as he listened to what was discussed; it seemed that his Hero was as adept at council as he had proven to be on the battle field. Eventide himself was still wondering how he was able to make decisions that could impact a whole race of ancient people.

After the meeting was closed and Robin was on his way with the message; Eventide asked Kendrik about the things he had said and the decisions he had made; he found it hard to understand how he could know certain things were the right thing to do and others were not. He had never had much training apart from the little he had got under the tutelage of Freeman.

"My Liege, you are the blood descendant of a long line of Kings; the decisions you make are almost a part of your make up; it is a part of you. As long as you continue to put the needs of the people first, you cannot make a mistake. You have made good decisions today and will continue to do so; it's in your blood," Kendrik told him.

"Can you tell me about these borders? Looking at the King's map there seems to be a lot of land; I did not know there was so much in the hands of the People."

"It goes way back many generations. There was a time when the Iceni were the strongest tribe of Britannia. When the Romans came here we held most of the land up to the border of the Picts. After the invasion by the Romans and the death of Queen Boadicea; the tribes split and there was a lot of infighting. At the end, when the Romans were leaving and the Saxons were taking over; most of the land was held by the Mercian's. The Iceni were pushed back to a small piece of land in the east coastal region and only those who were here in the west held the borders. With the Saxon taking most of the land; those in the east travelled here and joined their brothers of Britannia in Dummonia and the Reaches and moors of Walesa where we are today. Once the Saxons had power over the people; their leaders in Wessex wanted to tame our lands; this led to the battle that we lost at the Tamar River; that became the new border. The king has now confirmed for us that our lands, under his rule; will remain ours."

"If the King were to change his mind or others were to try to take what is rightfully ours; then I will stand at your side Kendrik, and we will defend what is ours."

"Then there is only one more thing to take care of My Prince."

Kendrik took the torc and opened it enough to place around Eventide's neck before closing it close enough so it could not fall off; much to Eventide's surprise; Kendrik then reached inside his cloak and produced a thin band of roughly formed gold. With a steady hand, Kendrik placed the thin band on Eventide's head.

"This My Liege is the crown of the Iceni; it is said it was wrought by the hand of the first King long before the arrival of the Romans; it is now yours by right and all who live in the Reaches and Moors will know it as your right to ascension."

Eventide could not think of anything to say; while the thin band looked light and was very old, it still seemed to weigh heavy on his head; he knew he now had the responsibility of every man, woman and child of the Western lands; the fact he had just passed his fourteenth summer did not make it any easier.

Over the next five days, the four extra men for the council of Regents was selected; each had to swear an oath to care for the people and have men go to help the King if called upon. There was feasting each evening as the people continued to gather to see their returned Prince.

Eventide saw that most of those who had come to see him were poorly clothed and many showed signs of hunger; to this end, Eventide called for as much help for them as could be found; he also left orders for Kendrik to use the first consignment of gold for the people's needs. His Manor house could wait for another time as he planned to be in Sufaria for another year and would return in time for the next Squire's melee.

The travel back to the King's castle seemed faster this time; with him went the one hundred volunteer bowmen. Eventide was amazed that the moor runners could keep pace with the trotting pace he set. The runners carried only a small amount of food for the journey, their bows and a single quiver of arrows; their steady pace swallowed the miles with what seemed little effort.

As Eventide's small army approached the large castle of the King; he could not believe his eyes. Along each side of the roadway and up to the huge gates, stood many squires on each side leaving a passageway through the centre. Each Squire held the banner of his Knight and, as Eventide's small army passed them; they lowered the banner in salute.

At the gates inside the castle stood a contingent of the King's personal guards all standing at attention as he entered. Robin stood with the King's banner waiting for Eventide; close to Robin stood a number of grooms waiting to handle the few horses; it was Shaun once again that took control of Shaitan; the horses of the six brotherhood were taken by the young grooms.

Robin bowed low, even though he had a shy smile on his face as Eventide walked up to him; the brotherhood close by and the one hundred archers now standing to each side of the smaller group in a guard position.

""My Lord, the King asks that you join him in the great hall; he would also like those archers with you to attend as well."

"Thank you Robin; lead the way if you would."

Robin held the banner high as he lead the group into the main castle keep; after walking through a number of long passages; the group came to a large set of closed wooden doors.

Standing outside the doors were six fully armoured guards and waiting in front of the guards was an elderly man with a staff; the old man was dressed in his finest clothes as was expected in the King's court.

It was easily seen that the old man could not quite reconcile the list of titles he was expected to give and the youth of the boy that stood before him, but the King had told the man that this was to be a full court occasion and his guest was to be given all honours in the great hall.

The old man turned and stamped the staff on the stone floor; from inside the great hall, Eventide heard the sound of many horns blaring as the great doors opened to reveal those waiting inside.

The old man stepped inside and, in a voice that belied his age; called out to all the people waiting there. Eventide could now see what must have been every Knight of the land standing along each side of the great hall. At the far end sat the King; beside him stood the figure of his father, now looking much better than the last time Eventide had seen him.

Around the dais of the King stood the many members of the court; each was standing with bowed heads as the old man began to introduce the roughly clothed and dishevelled young boy to the court. The six guards of the brotherhood now had an extra banner to carry and it was quickly noticed by those who had seen the other banners that Eventide used.

This banner was striped in green and red; at the centre was a gold braided Unicorn head. The banner looked to be old and a little the less for wear; it was obvious that it had a long a torrid history; the old man made the introductions.

"My Liege, Lords and Knights of the realm: My Lord Prince Eventide Carliegh, heir to the crown of the Western Reaches, Baronet of Lancaster and Flanders, Kahlif of Wadhi Sufaria of the Holy Land and defender of the King's banner and the People of the Kingdom."

The old man bowed low and stepped to the side as Eventide led his group inside the great hall. When he got to the bottom of the dais steps; Eventide bowed after going to one knee as did those with him except for the six brotherhood who salaamed instead.

"Rise Prince Eventide; we are grateful that you would come to our summons. Are these the men of the moors that would teach our archers?"

"Yes your Highness; these men have all volunteered to form and train your new archers; I also have the word of the Regent of the Western Reaches Kendrik; that should your highness find himself in need of men for the defence of his lands or crown; they will come to stand with you as long as their new borders are respected by all."

"And you Prince Eventide; would you come to my aide in time of need?"

"Without question, Your Highness; although I would also come to the aide of the people should they find it necessary to call on me."

"We can ask for no more loyalty than you have already shown; I would ask you to join me up here and take the other throne; it is the place of a noble of the land and is now your's by right of ascension to the crown of the Iceni."

Eventide took his place on the slightly smaller throne beside the King; he felt a little discomfort as he was still dressed in the fashion of the Reaches; goat skin jacket, thick green wool shirt and the heavy seal skin boots; he had not had time to change but the King did not seem to notice or preferred not to. Only the ancient torc and the thin band of gold on his head showed any sign of his new station in life.

The King stood and looked out on the large gathering in the great hall.

"Lords and Knights of the realm; we all now recognise the veracity of the claimant to the crown of the Iceni; all those present will also acknowledge the right of Prince Eventide Carliegh as the lawful heir to the crown; see that it is written in the records. Now I will ask you all to leave us except for the bowmen of the Western Reaches; we have much to discuss and there is little time left."

The King sat back down and then smiled at Eventide as the courtiers, Lords and Knights left the great hall. The King looked down at the hundred archers.

"Archers of the Western Reaches; our thanks for your appearance here today. I know that in the past there has been bad blood between the crown and the men of the Reaches. I want you to know that those days are passed and our decision to return to you your old lands is to be a symbol of those new times. I have heard much about the power of your bows and would ask each of you to improve my own archers. Anything you need to do this then you need just ask. I have in mind an army of archers numbering five thousand. My archer army now has three thousand; they are yours to retrain and teach; you will all be given the rank of Captain. Your word will be law for the archers; we will not interfere in how you train them. For the present we have little time; it has come to our notice that there are plans afoot to invade the Holy Land once again and retake Jerusalem by the army of the church; they have been joined by the Teutonic and Frankish Knights. If this be true we are going to have trouble on our hands as they will know that I will not join a crusade for the church; they may well try to invade our lands. At most I would say we have six months to prepare; can you do this in that time?"

One of the runners stepped forward; he was a man of middle age and his forearms showed the power of his bow; they were wreathed in muscles like steel bands; the man bowed and then said.

"Your Highness; I am Gryfed of the northern lands of the Reaches; the men have chosen me to speak for them. What you ask can be done and will be done in your name; however, there is the problem of authority; your archers may not like us taking charge over them and, for the newcomers we would like to select those of younger years; they will take instruction faster."

"Your words are true Gryfed of the North; to that end I have a royal warrant that you can use; any man that refuses to serve under your orders will be sent from my archers and placed as common rank and file in my infantry; they will also be told that they will stand in the front rank in all battles; I can assure you that it is not a place they will want to be. Take those you want; we have sent word to the people that we are in need of young archers; select those who show promise and train them ready."

"Thank you Your Highness; our Regent Kendrik has told us to call on the people of the Reaches should they be needed to protect your lands so we have more than enough should trouble arise."

"We will send our thanks to the Regent; now here is your warrant; if you wish to rest first; barracks have been set aside for you." The King held out a rolled scroll for Gryfed to take.

After taking the warrant, Gryfed said his thanks and then added.

"Your Highness; we would much rather go to the barracks of your archers and start right away; we can rest later but it is important they know that it is time to change."

"A good idea Captain Gryfed; do as you must; the archers of the realm are now in your sole hands and the hands of your fellow archers; I will not interfere in any decisions you make nor will any other if they want to keep their heads on their shoulders."

Gryfed bowed and turned to leave the great hall; the others quickly following behind him; they had work to do and they did not want to waste any time.

After the men had left and the great hall was almost empty; the King turned to Eventide;

"Now what of your plans, young Prince of the Iceni?"

"I would spend a little time with my father Sire but then I must head to Sufaria. If the church is going to try to take Jerusalem then they will have to pass through Sufaria. The Emir has given the responsibility of defending the Wadhi to my brother and I. I cannot let him down and I would not see my brother put in a position to fight alone."

"Good thoughts young Prince; but what happens if we are forced to take sides and fight with the church; would you draw your sword against your own people?"

"I honestly do not know Your Highness; I can only hope that situation never arises."

"So do I young Prince; so do I."

It was not long after that all the parties left the great hall. Eventide went with Freeman to their own quarters; his brothers walking just behind them. Eventide knew he had no more than two or three days before he would have to leave for Sufaria. Eventide had received a message from Mahmud that one of his ships would be waiting on the coast to take him home in two days; it would wait there until Eventide appeared.

Most of the next two days were spent with Freeman as Eventide tried to learn as much as he could about tactics normally used by the European Knights; what surprised the young teen was how easy he found it to understand what Freeman described to him and how to use those facts to his advantage.

The intense training of his mind and ability to see a battle plan through Freeman's tutelage; gave Eventide some interesting insights into possible ways to beat what he knew would be large army manoeuvres. Eventide did not know how many soldiers he could call on if it came to a major battle and so he worked on ways to prevent any frontal confrontation and still hurt an enemy.

Freeman had vast knowledge of the ways of the battles involving many Knights and vast numbers of ordinary soldiers. One thing that became obvious to eventide; was the fact of division between Knights and ordinary soldiers.

The most interesting fact was that most ordinary soldiers were very superstitious; added to that, the fact of the hold the church held over their faith gave Eventide something else to work on. His thoughts went to the old story teller Omar Khayyam.

The day finally arrived when he had to leave; with a final hug and the suggestion of tears in his eyes; Eventide turned to Shaitan and mounted; with his six guards and Shaun following; eventide headed for the coast where the boat would be waiting. He did not know if he would ever see his homeland, or his father, again.

Once again the trip was fast and non-stop; the Captain had his orders from the Emir and was not about to alter one word of his instructions; even if his crew men fell dead from the strain.

Fifteen days later and very tired from the constant travel; Eventide finally saw the towering walls of Sufaria. All his thoughts were now on a hot bath and a long time in his bed. For the last few months he had noticed changes in his body. Most nights he now had yearnings that he could not fulfil; he would have to talk to his brother about it; Mahmud was far more worldly than Eventide and would surely have the answers he needed.

That night; as he lay on a couch with food and drink being brought by the servants for his selection; Eventide yawned widely; Mahmud noticing his brother's weary face, called a halt to the dinner and laughingly sent him to his bed; Eventide was only too glad to do as he was told by the smiling teen. Tomorrow would be a busy day as he tried to catch up on everything that had happened in the gateway to the east in the time he had been in England.

The next few days turned out to be interesting as Eventide sat with Mahmud during the time spent listening to the needs of the people and merchants of Sufaria. During the evenings; they and the brothers sat around and talked about the possibility of an invasion by the European Knights and how they might be able to counteract their attempts to take back the city of Jerusalem; after first passing through Sufaria and what that might mean for the boys.

When the news came it was not good. From the far Northern border, five members of the Emir's troops rode into Sufaria; two of them suffering from light wounds; their story would change the activities of Sufaria for some time to come.

The five riders were immediately shown into the halls of the palace and taken before the two Kahlifs. Their report was one of total massacre of innocent people on the border with the territory of the Ottomans.

The numbers they were talking about told the two Kahlifs that this was indeed a full invasion of the Christian Knights and their allies from the church.

As soon as the report was received and the five riders were sent to rest or have their wounds attended to; the two Kahlifs sat down to work out what should be done. The numbers quoted by the soldiers were far too many for the detachments in Sufaria; the first thing to do was to notify the Emir and give him time to raise and army to defend his lands.

The call to arms went throughout the city as messages were sent by pigeon to the capital. The two Kahlifs now had to find a way to get more solid information on the advancing enemy. The distance involved gave the boys some time to work on their strategy but they could not delay forever.

Three days after the first pigeon had been sent; the Emir's troops began to arrive at the city gates; Sufaria would be the first large city to meet the invaders and the Emir needed more time to organise a large enough army to combat the attackers huge numbers. It would be up to Eventide and Mahmud to delay the approaching army for as long as they could. The loss of Sufaria was not an option.

The first to arrive at the gates of Sufaria were a contingent of five hundred camel mounted Bedou. After being introduced to the two young Kahlifs, the riders were given the dangerous job of finding and watching the enemy; they were not to attack but shadow the invaders and report as often as they could to the two Kahlifs.

The cameleers were split into groups of ten and sent on their way with everything they would need to survive for a long period of watching.

The next to arrive were two thousand cavalry; they were all mounted on the finest of the desert horses and their arms were the finest that could be made in the armouries of the Emir.

These cavalry would be made ready to take the field if the invaders came close to Sufaria and sent out scouts; it would be the responsibility of the cavalry to make sure none escaped to report back to the main army.

Two days later the next troops arrived; much to Eventide's surprise, he recognised the fancily dressed captain at the head of the nine hundred bowmen as they rode through the gate. Eventide immediately sent a message for Marchant to join him in the great hall.

Eventide and Mahmud waited for Marchant to arrive; when their friend walked into the hall, he immediately went to one knee and bowed his head; those officers with him looked on with interest as Marchant spoke.

"My Liege, I am at your disposal as are my bowmen."

Eventide looked at Marchant and the smiled.

"How did you know?"

"My Liege, I received a message not five days ago by Dhow from our homeland; my brother told me of your new station."

"Stand up Marchant, you are an old friend and we are going to need all our friends around us for some time."

Marchant stood and bowed again.

"As you command, My Liege."

"Oh stop that Marchant; now tell us why you have come?"

"The Emir has sent us to help you to hold Sufaria; I have left one hundred of my best men behind to train others. The Emir said he would raise an army of thirty thousand and would need new archers but we also need to help you hold Sufaria at all costs."

"Good, now we have a small chance; are there any others coming?"

"Yes the Emir has sent two thousand foot soldiers, they should be here in three or four days; what do you want us to do, My Liege?"

"Oh come on Marchant; stop that or I will be forced to call you captain all the time; new titles should not get in the way of old friendships; come we have much to talk over and plan."

Eventide, Mahmud and Marchant left the large hall and went through to a smaller room where they had set up a war room. On a large table was laid out a sand map of the region from the Ottoman border to Sufaria; while it was to truly to scale, it was sufficient for their needs for a broad plan.

Mahmud sent word for the Commander of the Cavalry and Cameleers, the Captain of the household guards along with the commander of the local Militia and the three senior Bedou to come to the war room; there would be only the commander of the foot soldiers to bring up to date once they arrived.

The planning and tactics were discussed late into the night. Some plans did not seem to work and others needed revision but all agreed that what they were doing could change warfare in the desert for years to come. The older commanders were the hardest to convince as Eventide introduced them to new ways and never before though of tactics; had he not been one of the Kahlifs he may not have been able to convince the oldest of the commanders; Mahmud's stance on the rightness of Eventide's final plan convinced even the old war dog that it was a good overall plan.

It was in the early hours of the morning before the group broke up to go to their beds and rest; they had not stopped for food or rest but servants had kept a continuous procession of food and drink for the men to take as they planned.

It was just before midday when the first camel rider appeared; he had ridden non-stop to bring the first news of the invaders and a better account of the numbers involved.

The two Kahlifs and the small number of commanders met the rider in the great hall of the palace where he gave his report.

"Highness, the army is moving slowly; their numbers make it impossible for fast movement. We have estimated there are some sixty thousand Knights and soldiers. Their baggage train extends some ten miles behind them and they are making about ten miles per day. They have small groups of scouts out in advance of the main body; most number about fifty to one hundred in number. In their baggage train they have many carts filled with large heavy timbers; why? We do not know as yet. We are planning to try to take some prisoners from the scouts so you can question them more closely."

Mahmud was the first to ask questions of the messenger.

"Which road do they take?"

"As yet they are still on the main road just over the border; they have not yet shown any indication which of the three roads they will take, Highness."

"Thank you; go and get some rest and we will have a message for you to take back in the morning."

The man bowed and left with one of the servants to show him where to rest and eat; Mahmud turned to Eventide.

"Well brother, it looks as though we have plenty of time before they arrive here; what does that mind of yours think we should plan for?"

"Well if Freeman is right; and I have no reason to think otherwise, then they will be split in their priorities; we need to make them use the road we can best use to delay them on."

"So how do we do that?"

"We play on their base desires; Father told me all Knights have certain traits, once you know of these you have the advantage; we use their individual desires to delay their travel."

"Which means what, exactly?"

"The Teutonic Knights and the Templars will want gold and riches; if I am right they will try to convince the others to take the road through Persia and cut the great Eastern road for the caravans. Now the Frankish Knights are more aligned with the church so they will want to get to Jerusalem before anything else; they will join with the Knights of the Cross and want to take the river road even though it is a little longer. What we want them to do is take the middle road that leads into the desert; while it is shorter and the most direct; there is also the matter of lack of water. For such a large army this would be their main concern so they will not want to take that route; we must convince them they have no other option."

"Yes we looked at that last night, but how can we do it; their numbers are far too large for us to force them and we have months before the Emir can raise his army. If our plans do not work they will be at our gates in less than two months. I know we can hold them at the walls but they will only need siege engines and we will be hard pressed."

Eventide suddenly got a look on his face as though something had suddenly lit up in his head.

"The carts with the large timbers; they are transporting their own siege engines; they know there is not enough timber for them to build them here so are carrying them in their baggage train; we need to destroy the train, especially those carts."

"And how are we going to do that with so few numbers, Highness?" Asked one of the commanders.

"We use our smaller numbers more wisely, Commander; we hit them and run before they can organise to counter attack. Our main concern at this point is to stop those carts and to force the army to go through the desert where the lack of water will weaken them. I know what I am about to suggest goes against everything that the Bedou and all desert people believe in but; as a final solution we may have to poison all the wells between them and Sufaria. We will not do that unless there is no other way to stop them."

"But Highness; if you order that it may well destroy wells that are the very life blood of the desert peoples," the Cavalry Commander said.

"As I said; it will only be a tactic of last resort, but this army cannot reach Sufaria and especially those siege engines. Now let's look at how we can change the road to what we want them to take. We should all go to the war room and look at the lay of the land between them and Sufaria or Jerusalem."

The group left the hall and went into the smaller room where the sand map lay undisturbed from the night before. All of the men looked at the lay of the land; there were a number of opportunities for them to delay the army of Knights and push them towards their chosen desert wastes.

"Well from what we have here," said Mahmud. "We can slow them at this Wadhi before they can break through to the caravan road. They will have to pass down this Wadhi before they can break through to raid the caravans; if we can get enough people there, we can collapse the sides of the Wadhi and make it impassable for some time; they will not want to waste time if they are after Jerusalem and the Knights of the Cross will want to force the others to Jerusalem if they know that the Wadhi through to the caravans is blocked."

The others all nodded and began to look to the river roads; it was more open and passed through very few wadhi's where a trap could be laid. It was finally the Commander of the Cameleers that found a solution.

"Highness; I have travelled this road before when on patrol. Here they are following the Euphrates; when they penetrate further, they will be between the Euphrates and the Tigris; if they are forced to stop at Qa'im then they will have to turn more inland."

"And how will we do that, Commander?"

"At Qa'im there are vast areas of marsh; with the use of the people we can make it almost impassable by flooding the surrounding land. Most of this land was recovered by the farmers using channels and banks to dry the land; if we break them open the land will re-flood and the army will have to turn inland to continue. This will also pull them away from Jerusalem and into the desert. Those are the two main roads and they will be left with only the one we want them to use and that one is the road to Rutba; it will eventually lead them into the great desert and well south of Jerusalem."

Mahmud looked at Eventide for his agreement. Eventide went over both of the plans and finally looked up and smiled.

"It sounds like what we want; can you get word to the people to start on that and the blocking of the Wadhi; once they are into the desert we will start our harassing attacks and try to destroy those siege engines before they get here."

There was a sudden flurry of people as they each went to take care of their part of the plan to make the army of Knights do as they wanted them too.

For more than a week, reports from the following cameleers continued to come in. If what was being heard was fully correct, then the army of Knights was having trouble finding enough water for their massive numbers. Eventide was told that many desert people were hiding or disguising many of the wells to make them harder to find.

The blocking of the Wadhi was going well and the effort that would be needed for the army to pass through would discourage them from even trying. Eventide hoped their scouts would see the pointlessness of attempting to do so.

The flooding of the old marshes of the Euphrates had been accomplished far easier than he thought it would be. From dawn to dusk, the Euphrates farmers had destroyed ditches and banks that had stood for eons; the rich farmland of the basin was now under water as planned. There was now only one direction for the army to take. Eventide and Mahmud began to ready their small forces to harass the enemy.

All the plans and ideas had been sent to the Emir for his opinion; apart from sending twenty cartographers to rebuild the sand map to a size that would cover a large floor space; he changed nothing his two young Kahlifs had devised.

The Emir had passed on that his new army was building quickly but would still not be available to help them for some time to come. They would have to do the best they could until he had his numbers to fight a major battle with a good chance of winning.

The twenty cartographers were a surprise for Eventide; only two of them looked like courtiers; the rest were from all of the desert tribes; moist had been enemies at one time or another but had now come together to fight a common enemy.

The sand map had been moved from the smaller room at the rear of the palace and now took centre stage in the great hall; it now covered more than ten paces on one side and twenty paces on the other. The construction of the land was done by all members and Eventide was amazed to see a lifelike map of the desert lands grow from the bags of loose sand resting on the floor.

Small rocks were used wherever needed but the details were a marvel for eventide to see. While the map developed, Eventide and Mahmud could see their plan of battle become more viable. What was even more surprising for the two teens was the co-operation of all the different tribes involved in the map making. One time enemies had a single thought and that was to see the invaders sent from their lands; what would happen once the threat ended was any ones guess.

As the time passed and the reports continued to flow in. The two Kahlifs finalised their plans and readied their small army; that there were going to be losses was undeniable but they hoped to keep those to a minimum by using their hit and run tactics; only the destruction of the carts with the siege engines was paramount.

The last report had told of the Knights turning off at Qa'im and avoiding the marshes; they were now set on their course to Rutba and the great desert that awaited them.

Some reports told of dissension amongst the Knights and that the ordinary soldiers were not happy nor were they prepared for what was ahead of them; the two young Kahlifs hoped to make that even worse for the army.

Most of the cameleers had been called back to Sufaria; only a small number were left out there to scout and report as the huge army wound its way through the sands and small wadhi's; the road they followed was little more than a beaten sandy track but it was the only way forward for the invaders.

It was time for the two teens to go and look for themselves; accompanied by a contingent of one hundred Bedou and Cavalry; they set out for the last known location of the Christian army. Being able to travel fast and light; the group caught up with the slow moving army in only four days; it would take the army another two weeks of travel to reach Sufaria as they were burdened down with the baggage train and could only move at the walking pace of their foot soldiers.

The group spent a day and a night following and watching the massive trail of men at arms. It was noticeable that the Knights did not like to begin to move until mid morning and would stop to erect their camp in mid afternoon and their baggage train would finally enter the camp even later in the day; often just as the sun was sinking into the west.

The watching group stayed concealed among the towering dunes or rough rocks as they shadowed the army; it was easily noticeable that the army was only making about eight miles a day; far slower than the two Kahlifs thought they would be.

Eventide and Mahmud had seen enough and turned their small force for Sufaria; they were a few miles from the still encamped army when things changed suddenly.

They had been moving at a trot along the sandy road to the city when one of the outer guards called a warning. Turning to see what was afoot; Eventide saw a contingent of about fifty cavalry from the army readying for a charge from the top of a nearby dune; how they had come so close was never to be revealed but the teens knew they had a fight on their hands.

Without thought; Eventide took one column of the guards while Mahmud took the other; at a yelled order, both boys turned; one to the left and the other to the right and led their columns to meet the attackers.

As the two columns divided, they spread further and further apart; at their centre rode the twenty camels and the lighter horse were now two files spreading outward.

As the cavalry of the attackers galloped towards the divided line by forming a double formation to give them more strength when they met those below who; by the look of it were trying to flee; the two lines of horse began to create a curving formation.

For the attackers it came as a shock as the two charging lines of Saracen horsemen curved first outward and then came back towards them; the confusion to the attackers became their undoing.

The attacking cavalry was soon to see the error of their ways; their sudden charge had left their flanks open and they were now faced with twenty bawling and mouth frothing camels charging directly at them while the two lines of horsemen were now starting to surround their flanks.

Before the attackers could react; they found themselves surrounded and with nowhere to run or escape; what caused even more disruption was the enemy shouting loudly as they charged into their ranks; the words were unknown to the attackers and they had little time before they were being struck down from all sides.

The flashing scimitars and long lances of both the cameleers and horsemen left the attackers with little time to think; all they had now was to get out of this mess in one piece; it was not to be. Had it not been for Eventide and Mahmud calling for prisoners; there would have been none to survive the viciousness of the desert dwellers.

Eventide had been surprised at the reactions of Shaitan; the black horse seemed to be born for battle. In the thick of the fight; Shaitan had even reared and used his sharp hoofs as weapons; his teeth were used to try to take bights from the attackers mounts; Eventide would make sure his black horse would get a special treat on their return to the city.

The battle was short and sharp; Mahmud sustained a light gash on his right thigh but kept fighting; Eventide seemed blessed and, apart from some torn clothing, came out of the fight without a scratch. The losses to the attackers were far more and, although the Kahlif's forces had lost ten men and had some fifteen wounded, the attackers lost more than thirty; which was more than 2/3's of their number.

Of those captured once the attackers surrendered; seven were not expected to survive the travel back to Sufaria; of the remaining; they would spend the rest of their lives either as slaves or, their heads would decorate the great walls of the city as a reminder to those who would attack the Emir's lands.

The soldiers were stripped of all weapons and armour; their hands were tied and a rope placed around their necks; if one fell, they would all fall; or carry the man with them.

It took less than an hour to round up the horses of the soldiers; their weapons were taken and bundled up behind the camels for transport back to the city; the small group was quickly on their way towards their home.

Somehow the word of the small but volatile battle had already reached the gates of Sufaria; the people, who had lived with the fear of the approaching Christians; could now take some relief that their Kahlif were well prepared to fight; even as young as they were.

As the small patrol entered the city, the cries of joy could be heard far and wide; the surviving captives; which now only numbered twelve; were spat on and reviled by the crowd although none were actually physically abused as was normal for Infidel captives.

The captives were taken to the palace dungeons; Mahmud asked Salud and Ishmael to take care of the questioning; if anyone could get answers it was those two; what would happen to the captives after their questioning would rely on how they answered; it would turn out that only four survived the ordeal; they would soon be in chains and sold at the Emir's discretion.

Once the questioning had been completed, the two Kahlifs had a better idea of what they would be facing. Their first taste of real battle had proven they could fight and that their knowledge; which was handed down from far wiser heads; had been sound; they were now ready to start their hit and run attacks on the large army and its baggage train.

For their first attack on the army; they chose a narrow defile that passed between two huge dunes; there was no way around as on the other side of the dunes were large patches of sinking sand; once trapped there was very little chance of getting out.

The boys sent for Marchant and told him what they wanted; he was to take all nine hundred archers and line both sides of the dunes; their horses were to be kept close for a fast escape. They would then wait until the van of the army was well into the defile before opening fire.

At the first sign of a counter attack, they were to mount up and pull back fast. Once they had pulled back, they were to wait for a while then return and hit the army again; they had to try to hit as many soldiers or Knights as they could each time.

At the completion of the second attack; Marchant was ordered to withdraw right back to the city and let some of the other forces take up the hit and run attacks.

The idea was to delay the army as much as possible while still keeping them on the roadway; with luck the baggage train would not get to the defile before the following day; it was then they would hit them with fire arrows. The arrows would be tipped with a cotton cloth that could soak up moister; the moister would come from the same black substance they had used in the carts at the Melee.

No one had a name for the substance but it could be found in small pools oozing from the sands in certain areas. It was foul smelling and could be used for little but, once alight it would burn for a long time; it was ideal for fire arrows and should catch to the very dry timbers on the carts.

To stop the archers from being harried by the main army or its cavalry; the horsemen and cameleers would alternate attacks at the head of the army. The frontal attacks would once again have to be fast and furious and spread out along the entire column; it was to keep the army always nervous about when and where the next attack was to come from.

For more than a week the attacks continued; there were losses to the Kahlif's small army but far less than those suffered by the invaders. The pace of advance slowed even further as the attacks took their toll. By the end of that first week; the army had lost over half its baggage train to the fire arrows and had now had slowed to keep the baggage train close for defence.

There was one thing that did not go well for the two young Kahlifs. The continual attacks had slowed the approaching army but not stopped them. The huge numbers just kept forcing their way forward and were now less than five or six days away from Sufaria.

The two young Kahlifs now decided that they had only one priority; the total destruction of the carts carrying the siege machines; without them the city could withstand a siege for years; with them the army could breach the walls in less than a year. Every effort was made to ready the city for a siege; food and water were stored and kept under guard.

The caravans had stopped arriving; the word had long ago gone out to let them know the city may come under siege. There was little the Kahlifs could do but continue to harry the army and attempt to totally destroy their heavy weapons of siege.

The direction of travel by the army would leave them only the western wall to attack; with the rear; or eastern gate protected by the towering side of the Wadhi; the boys could concentrate their defence on the one wall; they had to hold it until the Emir could reinforce them with fresh troops.

Each evening; after any new plans had been made; the sand map was wiped clean and rebuilt to cover the invading armies advance. Each time the map was cleaned; scribes would write down everything that had happened for that day. Eventide marvelled at the dedication of the twenty cartographers as they worked tirelessly each night to ready the new days map in full detail.

The continuous harassment of the spread out enemy took its toll; although the losses were not huge against the sheer numbers of the Christians; it was enough to cause damage and doubt amongst the oncoming army; it also meant they had to spread out their guards to cover a wider area and so left gaps for the harassers to take advantage of.

There was little doubt now that the massive army would reach the walls of Sufaria; everything was being done to fill the warehouses with needed food and the inner wells protected for the water supply.

Every smith in the city worked on amassing weapons stocks and Eventide set carpenters to work to reinforce the huge gates; the wooden gates were the weakest part of the great wall. Along the top of the high wall were placed huge tubs of oil and fire wood was stacked close-by to heat the tubs when they were needed.

Everything that could be done to prepare for a siege had been done; now, with the army only days away from the gates; Eventide and Mahmud wanted to make one last attack on the moving mass of soldiery; it would be something for them to remember when they had to stay inside the walls.

The plans for the last open attack were similar to the last one; Marchant had used his bowmen well and now the army was down to only three siege machine carts. There had also been a large loss of food and other needs for the large army by the fire arrows.

The invaders would now have to travel through a shallow valley with high dunes on each side. Just past where the valley opened out onto the wide plains before the city there was a Wadhi to the right; the boys planned to make use of that Wadhi and what it concealed.

With no heavy cavalry they could not attack the heavily armoured Knights and troops of the army; they would have to use the terrain and cunning to help them as they had done for all their attacks on the long spread out column.

The baggage train was now defended by a large number of foot troops as well as lighter cavalry; only the archers that Marchant led could be used for this final attack before retiring to the city to endure the siege.

The two Kahlifs showed Marchant what they wanted him to do; he was to place four hundred archers on each side of the valley with fire arrows as well as extra normal arrows. Once the fire arrows had been used up, they would try to kill as many of the supporting troops as they could before retiring back to the city.

One hundred cameleers armed with Persian bows which they normally used from camel back; were to position themselves across the track leading out of the valley; when they saw the first of the heavy Knights; which always travelled at the head of the army as the main strike force; the cameleers were to fire as fast and as often as they could at the lead Knights.

At a distance that was to keep them safe; they would continue to fire until the Knights charged them; they would then retreat as fast as they could but stay just outside the Knights' range, if the Knights slowed; the cameleers were to start shooting again and draw the Knights on.

It sounded like an unequal task as the small number of camel archers would be far outnumbered by the two thousand or so mounted and armoured Knights. There was one thing in their favour; the army of the invaders was desperately short of water and this had affected both the soldiers and the stock; forcing them to fight would tire them further.

Once the cameleers had the Knights chasing them; they would lead them close to the entrance of the right hand Wadhi; deep inside the Wadhi would be four hundred of their light cavalry. While there was no way the lighter cavalry could win against heavy Knights; they were not expected to; they were a decoy to bring the Knights into the Wadhi where the secret of the land would await them. When the Knights found the trouble they had gotten into; the light cavalry would also retreat back to the city.

The plan was gone over many times so that all the forces understood what they had to do and when to do it; none of them would survive a frontal assault by the much large numbers; they would need every man back at the city for the siege.

It took Eventide some time to convince Mahmud to let him lead the light Cavalry; the only part of the plan that could lead to failure was the need for the charging Knights to take notice of the cavalry waiting to attack them in the Wadhi; if they failed to see Eventide's riders, the plan could fail; to this end, Eventide took three trumpeters with him.

The next morning found the large army travelling through the shallow valley; even after a nights rest the army looked tired. The heat and constant travel as well as the ever present fear of attack had taken its toll on the soldiers and Knights but now they knew they were almost within sight of the great city of Wadhi Sufaria; a jewel in the lands of the Emir and the only fortifications capable of stopping them from taking everything from the Emir and opening the road to Jerusalem.

With the knowledge that they were so close it seemed that the army gained a new strength; their travel through the valley felt easier and the thought of the riches that awaited them only went to spur them on further. There was also the knowledge that the two Kahlifs that protected the city were only young teens and had little or no experience in warfare on such a large scale.

It was almost mid afternoon when the first Knights at the head of the army saw the small group of cameleers waiting for them at the exit of the valley. The camels were ranked across the exit and made no attempt to advance or fight. The senior Knight in the lead gave the order to advance at a trot; as he did so the Knights saw the cameleers begin to fire their bows at the advancing mass of armoured Knights and horses; at the time it seemed futile to the Knights.

The arrows could never have penetrated the heavy armour that covered Knights and horses yet the camel archers fired time and time again at the advance.

The lead Knights passed the opening to a Wadhi on the right; they were now almost at the point of calling for a full charge at the gallop; as the lead Knight was about to call for the charge; a number of trumpets sounded loudly from the depth of the Wadhi; turning his head he immediately began to slow his war horse.

Ignoring the now retreating archers; the lead Knight waved his arm to the right and began to turn his horse in that direction; the last thing they wanted was to outflanked by hidden troops. The mass of the Knights and mounted men following him also slowed and looked to the right; coming to a halt at what they saw, the Knights began to reorganise themselves for the new threat.

What the leader saw was a troop of light cavalry lined up in ranks across the width of the Wadhi; their light lances were held at the ready and, at the head was a small figure dressed in fancy white robes. It could only be one of the young Kahlifs. He was mounted on a jet black horse and had three trumpeters at his side.

The lead Knight called for three wedge formations across the entry into the Wadhi; there was little doubt they would ride right over their lighter opponents and hardly even slow down as they hit the ranks.

The Knights' charge began at a walk which quickly became a trot; it took only a few seconds later and the call for a full charge echoed in the silent Wadhi; the light cavalry made no attempt to run or to charge; they sat their horse and waited for the heavy Knights to come to them.

As the mass of armoured Knights galloped down the wide Wadhi; their cries and shouts could be heard all the way back to the long column still wending its way through the shallow valley; it was the signal for the hidden archers to show themselves and start the attack on the baggage train and the foot soldiers left to guard it.

While a rain of fire tipped arrows soured over and into the long column in the valley; the Knights saw they had little more than two hundred paces to meet the stupid light cavalry; what they thought they could do against heavily armoured Knights, the charging troops had no idea. Was this a last desperate attempt to save their city that the young Kahlif would throw all their light cavalry into such a folly? The Knights charged onward.

Eventide and his cavalry watched as the Knights grew closer and still they did not move; the sight of such power and might of the many charging Knights would have unnerved any soldier, but Eventide and his light cavalry showed little fear; they had a plan and meant to stand by it and that meant drawing the Knights to them.

At less than a hundred paces; the Knights began to get into difficulties; the three wedge formations were now at full charge; their heavy steel tipped lances were lowered and only waiting to taste the blood of the stupid light cavalry; the young leader at their head obviously did not know the power of armoured Knights.

The first warning the Knights got was also too late for them to do anything about; as the three wedges crossed the hundred paces mark; the front lines seemed to just fall down; they were soon ridden over by the fast charging followers; the Wadhi became a charnel house as more and more Knights found they could not stop in time to evade the sinking sands that spread across the entire Wadhi.

Eventide and his cavalry watched impassively as Knight after Knight ran into and then began to sink in the clutching sands. Horse screamed and Knights yelled as the sucking sand pulled them deeper and deeper into its grasp.

How many fell to the sinking sands, Eventide had no idea but the full power of the charge had forced those in front to be pushed or trampled by those behind who could not see what had happed. Eventide lifted his hand and called for his cavalry to retreat back to the city.

Turning their horses, they made their way back down the Wadhi to the rear exit leaving the mass of unhorsed and dying Knights to work their own may out of the mess. In his estimation; Eventide thought the invaders had lost well over two hundred Knights to the sand trap; there had been a good reason why no one ever travelled through that Wadhi.

As they rode through the gates of the city; Eventide looked up at the high walls; in every spare place he could see not only the troops of the city; but ordinary citizens who had taken up arms to help defend their homes; some were as young as Eventide had been when he was found by Freeman but all looked ready to fight.

It was not long after that Marchant returned with his archers to report on their attack. Marchant estimated they had killed almost a hundred foot soldiers as well as one more of the carts carrying the siege engines; there were also a large number of provision carts sent up in flames.

It was good that now the city only faced the two remaining siege engines. When he had finished his report; Marchant asked if he could make a suggestion about their resistance. Both Eventide and Mahmud agreed willingly and sat with Marchant while they all ate.

Marchant told them his plan for defence.

"My Liege, I have been thinking for some time on a way to make our defences more sturdy and I think I have come up with a way to surprise the enemy."

"That's good Marchant; what did you come up with?"

"I think if we can get enough carpenters and smiths to work non-stop we can produce some special bows; if they can be made and we have a way to get up to the top of the Wadhi above us; then we can fire at the enemy camp with impunity. They still have at least two siege engines. I know they will take some time to penetrate our walls with so few engines but, if we can harry them from the top of the Wadhi, it will make it that much more difficult."

"Sounds good; what do you plan on doing?"

"I will have to find timber within the city for the bows; the shafts can be made of metal; we will then have to find a way up the sides of the Wadhi then carry all of the equipment up there. I have just over eight hundred archers left, most will stay down here to protect the walls but I will need at least fifty for this new scheme to work?"

"You have them, you can go ahead and organise whatever you need; if anyone in the city complains just tell them the order comes from us," Mahmud replied.

Marchant nodded his thanks and quickly swallowed the last of his food before leaving the table to go and get started on his new plan.

Eventide smiled at Mahmud.

"It looks like we will be a harder nut to crack than those Christians think we will be."

"Never a truer word spoken Brother; if memory serves me right, there used to be a narrow goat track leading up the Wadhi sides; it can be got to from the eastern gate. The enemy will never be able to get around there unless they travel through the middle of the devils cauldron for thirty days and they would not survive that in their condition; even if they knew about the track.

The two young Kahlifs left the table and went to walk the towering walls of the city. As they stood above the main gates and looked out into the vastness before them they saw the first clouds of dust and sand kicked up by the enemy army as they finally broke out onto the plains before the city and moved towards them.

The enemy would not come too close to the city walls but would camp a little distance away for protection. The two boys could only marvel at the numbers facing them. The enemy had been strung out over a long distance during their approach to the city; this was the first time that the boys really got to see the numbers they were facing as the enemy built in number rapidly as more and more broke out into the open plains.

The numbers they had killed along the way seemed insignificant to the two young Kahlifs as the enemy army built quickly and there still seemed to be no end to them; even as the first dimness of the approaching night clouded their vision.

The boys waited up on the parapets as the darkness enveloped the plains below. The enemy was now getting fires lit and the sheer number seemed to light up the plain like a new sunrise and the numbers were still growing as the night progressed; the city was in for a long fight if the numbers were any indication.

Each day the boys sent pigeon messages to the Emir on their progress and plans for each day; now they were in a state of siege the pigeons would be even more important. The Emir had now formed a large part of his army to come to the rescue of the city but they would still be weeks away before they could fully take the field against such overwhelming numbers of the enemy.

For the next three days there was no attempt by the enemy to attack the city; it seemed they were readying their camp and building their siege engines. Both Eventide and Mahmud felt bad about the one thing they had no control over. Just behind the lines of the enemy camp was a deep fissure that held a small rivulet; it would be enough to supply the enemy with water for some time to come and, while it did not affect the city supply, it meant the enemy would not suffer from the thirst the defenders hoped would weaken them.

The rivulet had been overlooked at the time of making preparations for their defence; they could only hope it would not be a deciding factor when the real fighting started.

Eventide and Mahmud spent the early hours of each morning high up on the parapets watching the massive army down below on the open plains.

It was noticeable to both boys that the encampment was now huge and spread over the whole width of the plains. Each morning they would look out on the number of camp fires and marvel at the sheer numbers of soldiers lined up against them and the city

The smoke from the morning fires created a light misty covering over the encampment which was soon blown away by the light breeze that swept across the plains in the morning. There was little they could do until they saw the form of attack that would be used by the assembled army.

Eventide had shown Mahmud and the various officers of the defending forces; the knowledge he had gained from his father's library. Their plan of defence relied heavily on previous campaigns he had read about; there was, of course; a certain amount of freedom to make the final plan effective if the attackers changed their well known ways.

The two Kahlifs had heard little from Marchant over the last five days. He had secluded himself away with a number of special tradesmen and was working to design an effective long range bow to be hopefully used from the protected tops of the Wadhi rim.

The walls were now guarded by one tenth of the troops available to the city; there was a mixture of both Militia, city guards and those sent by the Emir; even the guards of the two Kahlifs took their turn high up on the walls. The call to arms for the whole city would be a single long blast from the trumpets when the first attack started.

The two boys did not waste the time they had; now that the sand camp was static, they used the time differently. The cartographers still worked each night but this time it was to fill in the details of the encampment outside the walls.

As soon as it got dark at night; three or four of the Hashin would leave the city through a secret passageway under the walls. The Hashin would then go out as close to the encampment as they could safely go and then take note in detail of everything they saw.

Had the enemy known how detailed the maps that were held and developed in the city; they may have thought twice about attacking the high walls. As it was, the two boys saw the major weakness of the enemy; their need for water and a lot of it.

Their plan for the water carriers was given to the Hashin brothers but not until the attack was started and the enemy felt it too late to retreat. The two boys needed to hold the army here as long as they could and yet still defend the city and not let it fall.

Day by day the sand map became more detailed; the towering cliffs of the Wadhi were made by collecting clay from all the pottery works in the city and, with the help of those same potters; the towering cliffs became a reality. Small figures were carved by woodworkers and painted to represent the different types of soldiery; it was as though a man was flying like a bird above the enemy encampment in its detail and accuracy.

Patterns of movement were taken for everything the enemy did in its day to day preparations; nothing was overlooked that might be used to save the city. The two Kahlifs watched and planned; making changes as something new was recorded.

The two boys were often seen by the people of the city as they walked around and spoke to everyone to keep up the moral of the city. It was good for the two boys to see most people still going about their daily activities even though a sword of destruction hung over the heads.

The day finally arrived when the enemy made its first moves. The boys had watched carefully as the two siege engines were assembled. They were a strange looking machine; a long thick beam was suspended between two uprights of wooden bracing; it was fixed to a large flat bed wagon with wooden wheels. At one end was a heavy weight that looked to be made from both wood and metal; at the other end was a type of round cup on one and on the other was what appeared to be a large sling.

This was the first time either had seen a Trebuchet or a catapult; it would not be long before they also saw its use. As well as the two machines, there was also something that looked like a large long hut on wheels with a heavy log slung below a thick canopy of interlaced shields. Both boys knew this to be a battering ram and was meant for the gates once the Trebuchet and catapult had done their work. Mahmud called for more reinforcing on the main gate.

The walls were no mean feat. At their base they were ten metres thick and narrowed to five metres at the top of the wall; where the gate stood on the outer wall; there was a narrow tunnel that led into the city; this also was protected by a steel portcullis that could be dropped if unwanted visitors tried to enter deeper. Along the side of the tunnel were small narrow slots for bowmen to fire down into the passageway and yet remain out of sight of invaders.

Even if, or when the enemy broke through; they would still be slowed by the narrow passageway and limited to the number of men that could be sent though at any one time and the hidden archers could take a huge toll before the enemy could break through the portcullis; if it was even possible.

The two Kahlifs watched as the finished Trebuchet and catapult were wheeled to within 500 paces of the wall. The land around the entrance to the city wall was also now filled with earthworks that protected the soldiers from any archers that might be able to shoot at those distances.

Heavy wooden siege shields were set up in front of the earthworks as added protection along with row upon row of heavy sharp stakes; the enemy was setting in for a long siege.

Mahmud received a message by pigeon on the morning before the first shots were fired from the siege engines; it had been sent by the Emir who of course was being kept up to date with the building of the siege. Mahmud called for Eventide as he read the message.

When Eventide joined Mahmud in the great hall where the sand map now spread over half the hall; Mahmud told him of the message.

"Brother, it would seem we have some unexpected allies. The Emir has just let us know that one thousand Taureg have crossed the Devil's Cauldron and are coming to help us. They have set aside their old enmities with us to help in defeating the Infidels; of course what they will do after the battle is anyone's guess; but for now at least they are ready to fight on our side against this army of Christians."

"That's good news; how long before they arrive?"

"Within the next few days; they have been told to come through the Eastern gate; how we can use them is another matter; they are desert people and do not like to be tied down in a city; we will have to find them battles outside in the open spaces where they are the most effective."

"Then we have many targets for them; the Christians will have to keep a supply line for the food and animal fodder; our brothers can take care of the water supplies and the Taureg can attack the supply trains behind the enemy lines."

"That sounds just the type of fight the Taureg would like; if we tell them they can keep all and any plunder they find, it will serve their purpose even further."

"Then that's our plan for them."

The two boys smiled; the unexpected help from one of the most dangerous desert tribes could only bode well for their own defence of the city.

The next morning was to be the first day of the attack by the siege engines; the large rocks hurled by the machines bounced and rolled along the ground well outside the walls of the city. The two boys watched with interest as the machines spent most of the day finding the right distance and then having to work to narrow down their angles to aim for the heavy wooden gates.

Against the thick walls; the single Trebuchet would have little success; had there been far more of them to survive the fire arrow attacks, then the walls would also be in danger.

As it was the gate was the only place for the machines to be used in such small numbers; the city settled down for the long bombardment of rocks. They were to find out at night, that the catapult also had a fire ball that was flung by the one with the cup shape; these were flung high in the night sky in an attempt to fly over the walls and set fire to the city on the inside.

On the first night of the fire balls it was totally unexpected; none of the spies had even seen anything to do with fire or any preparation for them; the boys began to organise the people into fire fighting groups. Water carts were set around the city for easy access in case of homes or shops being hit with the fire balls.

Most of the buildings in the old city were made of stone or fired brick; they would not burn but the contents could easily set large fires if not controlled; the boys worked hard to make sure that did not happen.

It was almost dark before the first large rock hit the gates; it had bounced first on the soft sand outside the walls and had lost a lot of its power. The gates barely moved and the sound was nothing more than a dull thud as it hit; there were to be many more to come but the great gates held against them all.

When the Taureg arrived at the Eastern gates, the two young Kahlifs met them dressed as Kahlif. Mahmud had told Eventide it would be more politic than dressing as Bedou. The four chiefs of the Taureg had surprised looks on their faces when they saw the small figure of an Infidel dressed as a Kahlif.

Nothing was said directly but the looks of suspicion did not go unnoticed by either boys. The Taureg were let into the city for food and water; the four chiefs were escorted to the great hall for their meeting with the two boys and to find out what they would be doing.

At the first sight of the huge sand map; the four chiefs looked at the two youngsters with a new respect; they had to acknowledge that the two young Kahlifs had put a lot of work and thought into their preparations for the defence of the great city of Wadhi Sufaria.

After looking over the sand map and talking about what they could do to repel the invaders; the four chiefs were treated to a feast along with drink and the inevitable hookah; the discussions continued late into the night.

Outside the palace they could hear the thuds of the fire balls; most landed in the wide streets but a few hit a house or shop but were quickly doused as the people were ready and the fires did not get a chance to take full hold.

When the discussions were finished and the four chiefs had been told that all plunder would belong to them; they were shown to rooms put aside for them; in the morning they would leave with their men and begin their raids far behind the lines of the Infidels.

The Taureg would again leave by the Eastern gate and ride nonstop back through the desert and around the Wadhi until they came out far behind the enemy army; it was hoped the rear attacks would draw more soldiers from the army to protect the supply trains.

It was the second day of the main siege when Marchant arrived in the great hall; with him he carried a small model; after placing it on the table to the side of the sand map; he smiled at the two Kahlifs.

"I think this might do it."

The two boys looked at the small model; it was an unusual looking bow. Mounted on a flat deck with four wheels; the bow was fixed to a square looking block. Down the centre of the block or body of the bow was a deep furrow; the bow was mounted on the top and the string was lying on the block. At the rear was a windlass with a rope and hook to pull back the bow. It looked like a cross with the bow at the top and the body was the upright of the cross. Eventide was the first to speak.

"Where did you come up with the idea and does it work?"

"I took the idea from the Christians cross that they have mounted on a cart outside the Knights' tents; the big one they travelled with. The cart underneath will make it easier to take from one place to the other. We have made ten of them so far and the shafts are being produced by many of the smiths in the city. The bow is reinforced with a metal lathe at the centre; it will give the bow flexibility and power."

"What are you going to call it?" Mahmud asked with interest.

"I don't know; perhaps we should call it after the Christian cross that they are so fond of."

Eventide got a glint in his eye as he saw the inference to the Christian cross.

"That's a good idea; we'll call it a cross bow."

The boys all laughed at the ridiculous name but it seemed to fit the occasion.

"How good is it; and will it have enough range to make a difference and how will you get a full sized one up on the escarpment?"

"We don't know yet what the range is but we did fire one shaft at a target inside the city and it went right through the solid wood without barely losing power; it left a very big hole in the stone wall behind the target. We are going to use as many of the small donkeys that are ridden around the city. The people tell me they are very sure footed and can carry far more than you would think from such a small animal."

"When will you be ready to begin using them?"

"We want to take the first ten up tomorrow morning; the rest will follow if we are successful with those."

"Sounds good; you go ahead and do what you think is right; if nothing else it should scare the enemy."

The next morning, there was a lot of interest from the cities people as they saw Marchant along with a column of loaded donkeys and attendant archers; leave by the Eastern gate. No one apart from those involved knew about the new bows and what they were to be used for.

The bows and other equipment had been broken down to a size the small donkey's could carry; once on top of the Wadhi they would be re-assembled and set for use along the front rim. It had been discussed the night before by the three boys that the shafts may be better off being made from both wood and steel.

The main shaft would now be made from wood and only the tip was to be metal; it would save resources in the city and produce far more useable arrows; or, as Marchant liked to call them; bolts.

Each day the two boys took turns patrolling the parapets; they spent time talking to the guards on duty and asking their opinion on some of the activities of the enemy; it all went to help form a defensive plan.

After the first day of bombardment by the two machines; it was noticed that only the single Trebuchet was used during the day and only the catapult was used at night; it could only mean they were limited with what they could use as projectiles.

On the fourth day of the small bombardment; the two boys received a message from the Eastern gate. A very young Taureg boy was asking to see the two Kahlifs. He was quickly admitted and taken to see the two boys who were waiting for him near the sand map.

Eventide was surprised to see that the boy could not be more than ten years old and yet he carried himself like all the Taureg; he was a warrior and he let everyone know it by his demeanour.

The boy bowed and salaamed to the two young Kahlifs. After being returned the young boy began to relay his message.

"My Father has sent me to warn you and also ask your advice. The Infidels have a new supply train coming; in it they have twenty carts loaded with thick timbers. My Father does not know what they are and would ask what must be done. There is also a very heavy guard of armoured soldiers and Knights with the carts. Do you wish him to attack them or continue on with attacking the softer supplies in other carts?"

The two boys thanked the boy and started to put their heads together; that the twenty carts held replacement siege engines there was little doubt, but what could they do about it. If they asked the Taureg to attack they could lose many men to the armoured guards and this would defeat the purpose of limiting the food and fodder supplies.

Mahmud called for food and water for the boy and had him shown to a room to rest while they worked on the new problem. The only thing they could do was to send one of the Hashin to look over the carts and try to find out what type of machine they carried.

The Taureg were not set up for fire attacks but the extra machines could also be the undoing of the cities defensive wall; it would be a fine balance between success and failure. The final decision was made with regret; they would have to let the carts through and save as many of the Taureg as they could to stay and attack the supply carts. They could not send their allies into certain death with only a small hope of destroying the machines.

That night the young boy left on his camel accompanied by Ishmael on one of Mahmud's finest war camels. The two would travel non-stop to catch up with the main Taureg force and Ishmael would look over the twenty carts; as yet the carts would not reach the city siege for another ten or more days. As they could only move slowly; there was still time to find a solution.

The morning after the two messengers had left; a young man led the file of donkeys back into the city from above; they would be used again to carry supplies and any new bows back up to Marchant and his archers; it was also the signal that Marchant was ready to fully test the new contraptions.

A system of signals had been arranged with Marchant; both for the tests and for when they were used in combat. A white flag was for a test with the metal bolts; a red flag was for the new wooden bolts with the steel tips. A green flag was to signal that Marchant was going to try for the siege engines with fire bolts and a black flag was for troops.

Both boys were up on the parapets when they saw the white flag being waved; they answered with one of their own. Marchant was going to fire only one bow at a time to see the range and accuracy of the new bows; if they were successful then they would look at how best to use them.

Far out on the plain, the boys could see the enemy hard at work making new barricades and trenches; they were being dug fifty paces closer to the walls; it appeared as though the enemy had not changed its plans from old.

It was a tactic used when laying siege to a fortified position; the trenches and barricades would creep closer and closer until they were within striking distance. The siege barricades would then protect the enemy archers while they fired at the guards high up on the walls. The boys hoped the new cross bows would be an effective counter stroke; that the enemy could manufacture long ladders to mount the walls there was little doubt.

Slowly the enemy plan of attack became more set; it was as though they also were following the old tried and true ways that Eventide had read about; he now knew he had a definite advantage by being prepared from Freeman's library.

After they answered the white flag; the boys watched high up on top of the Wadhi wall; it did not take long before they saw the black bolt fly from the high cliffs; the power surprised those watching as the metal bolt flew straight and true towards the enemy lines.

When it hit the ground with a fine spurt of sand flying high in the morning stillness; those watching almost cheered; the heavy steel bolt was no more than twenty or so paces short of the rear most barricade; with practice and using the lighter wooden bolts; there was a good chance of reaching the two machines in the rear; it was a good sign.

Down on the plains there was little notice taken by the enemy; only the few close to where the bolt landed seemed surprised at the sudden appearance of such a large weapon in their midst. The single metal bolt was soon ignored as no others appeared and the enemy workers went back to their task of creating a new trench and barricade.

It took a little while for Marchant to signal he was ready to fire one of the new wooden bolts; he had needed the time to reset the angle of the heavy cross bow and find the right elevation for distance; his years as a Reaches bowman now came into play.

Some little time later; the two boys watched as the red flag was waved up on the cliff top; as soon as they answered; they watched the new wooden bolt fly towards the enemy lines. It took everything they had not to cheer as they saw the single bolt fly just past the Catapult; had they been amongst the enemy lines they would have heard the dismay from the troops manning the catapult as the large wooden bolt flew past them and buried itself into the soft sand behind their machine.

Mahmud had one of the guards wave the black flag to let Marchant know not to fire anymore until the time was right; they had all the answers they needed for now and did not want to warn the enemy too soon of what they had in mind.

Since the start of the bombardment by the Trebuchet; the guards had been timing how long it took to reload the machine; they also took note of every shot and where it landed. It soon became obvious the Trebuchet was not very accurate as each rock would weigh differently from the other and the shape also made it twist or turn different from the one previous.

There was little doubt that a large number would be dangerous but; if there were only a few then it was a case of hit and miss; the new cross bow was another matter; once Marchant had his settings from one cross bow; he could set all the others to the same; it gave them greater accuracy and could now hopefully inflict far more damage than the siege machines.

One part of the plan was for the approaching barricades to be left untouched until they were well within striking distance of the long bows; it was decided to let the enemy approach to three hundred paces before they would take action; the longer they delayed, the more work the enemy had to do and it would all make them have to use supplies and water to keep the workers healthy and it would run their supplies low.

At three hundred paces; the enemy bowmen would still be short of an effective range for the Persian bows but the long bow could almost pick them off at will without reply. From now on it was a waiting game but the time would not be wasted; they still had the new carts to worry about and find a plan to disable or destroy them.

Seven days later; when Ishmael reappeared at the Eastern gate with his report; there had been another thirty cross bows made and transported up to Marchant's post on the high cliffs; the supply of the newer and lighter wooden bolts was now a lot larger and each day the stock pile grew.

Ishmael reported that the carts were carrying what looked like fifteen new Trebuchet and five more catapults; they would now be only three or four days away; add a few days for them to be assembled and they could look at being under bombardment in less than ten days. It was time to get Marchant ready to use his new weapon.

They all knew the walls could still withstand a long pounding, even with the new Trebuchets being employed; but it could not last forever; they would need to damage or destroy as many as they could whenever the opportunity arose; it would be up to Marchant and his archers to cause that destruction if possible.

Later on that night; the report from their three brothers that went out each night to watch the camp gave them a little hope. It seemed the continual attacks by the Taureg were starting to have an effect on the moral of the enemy. Food was being rationed and the animals were being fed only in the evenings as fodder was not getting through.

The three brothers also reported that a number of troops had left the camp in what appeared to be a guarding action for the supply trains. The next good news was that the brothers had now seen enough of the water train to the small defile to have a good pattern of their actions. This was the sort of fighting the brothers fully understood; it would be their job to harass the water column each day; the more damage they could do to the water carts the better off they would all be and the worse off the enemy would be.

It was Marchant that saw the first of the new siege machine carts arrive in the enemy camp; from his high vantage point he had been able to see them before those below in the city; the two boys decided it was time to take action and begin a few small attacks of their own; they had had enough of waiting and watching; it was time to take offensive action.

The water carts left the encampment each morning just as the sun was rising; the trip to the defile took less than half an hour and the filling of the many carts took the best part of four hours; it was usually midday before they began the trip back to camp.

The biggest danger was the closeness of the main camp; any attack on the carts would have to be a quick hit and run then retreat. It was decided to hit the carts as they stopped at the defile to fill the wooden casks that they used as water tanks.

The casks were large and unwieldy but, if they could be damaged or better yet; destroyed, then it would make for a better result and cause more problems for the enemy; it would also cause them to use more men to guard the carts on any future foray to the defile; there was one thing left that they could do when it became too dangerous to attack the carts.

In one of the warehouses in the city was a large supply of salt blocks; it had been decided that, when it was no longer feasible to attack the carts they would load the pool with salt; with such a high concentration of salt it would make it undrinkable until the new water could dissolve enough of the salt to make it safe once again.

The use of the salt was to be the final solution to the water needs of the enemy; until then they would repeat their attacks until forced to use that solution. One of the court mathematicians had worked out that it would take at least ten days for the water to become drinkable.

Ten days in the desert without water was almost a death sentence and only a very strict rationing would save the enemy army; their weakness would be exploited in any way the two Kahlifs could think of.

The timing of the first attack on the water carts was set for the same morning that the new siege engines started to be used; it would be the signal for an all out attack on the carts; the hope was that all the enemy would be more interested in watching the results of the extra machines and not watching the carts.

The enemy seemed to be unaware that the carts could be a target; they were safely behind the lines and none of the defenders could break out of the city without being seen by the army camped around it. The enemy strategists could not have been aware of the true potential of the city and its long history as the gateway to the Emir's lands.

The city had been built many, many, years ago with one purpose; to hold the gateway to the eastern lands of the caravans and all the trade they produced for the wealth of the desert lands.

The first barrage from the sixteen Trebuchet was something entirely different from just one single one. The Trebuchet fired one after another but the large rocks seemed to all be in the air at the same time. While the number was threatening, their inaccuracy took away some of the fear that those watching on top of the walls as the rocks flew towards them.

All the rocks hit the walls but did little damage; the range of five hundred paces took a lot off their ability to do damage at that range. The six catapults were now dragged forward to the first line of the trenches; they were not used but saved for the night attacks; unknown to the catapult soldiers; they were now well within the range of Marchant's new cross bows.

It was planned to not use the bows until the enemy thought they were safe enough to also move the Trebuchet closer giving the defenders a better chance of hitting them with the heavy bolts. Marchant's bows would be kept secret until the last moment.

The third line of trenches was also now underway; the heavy wooden siege shields were already in place and only the earthworks needed to be completed. The soldiers would be well within the range of the far more powerful long bows of the defenders, but they were allowed to work and think they were safe at three hundred paces.

The distance was extreme for the Persian bows but well within the range of the long bow; the enemy would not know what had hit them when they came under such a heavy attack from eight hundred long bowmen.

As they watched the third barrage of rocks fly their way; Mahmud nudged Eventide and pointed towards the rear of the enemy camp; it did not take much to notice the thick plume of black smoke rising high into the still air; the brothers had had some success; how much, they would not know until their brothers returned to the city; that would not be until the darkness of night let them sneak through the enemy lines and use the hidden entrance into the city; until then they would disappear into the desert and wait out the day.

The continual bombardment by the Trebuchet was still doing little damage to the thick strong walls of the city; even the enemy did not think it would make any difference for quite some time to come; all they could do was continue day after day and hope the final reward would come and the gates would either fall or open due to starvation. It was a normal type of siege and could last as long as food and water held out.

There was little doubt by the defenders that, at some stage; the enemy would try to force the walls with ladders or some other form of assault that the enemy hoped would succeed.

The losses to the attackers were always high when a frontal assault was done in this way but it had been a form of attack used over years and no one had thought of any other way.

Most of the tactics of the defenders; relied on Eventide's long hours of reading the books and scrolls in Freeman's library; so far that information had been correct and he had little doubt that it would remain that way. His own strategies were unheard of and that; he hoped; would give them the advantage over the huge numbers of the enemy out on the plains.

After five days of bombardment; the enemy decided to get more power into their Trebuchets and catapults. It was early in the morning on the tenth day that the two Kahlifs watched as the siege machines were pushed by hand and rolled to the trench line that marked the four hundred paces limit. Unknown to the enemy; they were now well within the range of Marchant's new bows.

Marchant had not fired a single bolt at the enemy after the first test shot of the metal bolt and the second ranging shot of the modified wooden bolt; it was hoped that the enemy would have forgotten all about them; the movement of the machines was a signal that they had not even thought about the strange arrows; it was time for the next surprise.

During the long days of the bombardment; the small donkeys had worked tirelessly going back and forth to the top of the Wadhi. Each load was carefully packed and Marchant now had fifty of the new devices lined up along the rim.

Next to each strange bow as a large pile of wooden bolts each with a metal tip and, around the shaft just behind the metal tip was a thick band of course cloth. Every cloth wrap was covered in the thick black tar from the oozing sands.

It was the catapults that caused the most damage; at night it was a veritable fire storm as the huge round balls of fire flew over the walls and crashed in a spectacular shower of sparks and fire into the town. It was fortunate that the catapults did not have the range to reach the main palaces and it was here that the two Kahlifs sent those of the city that were most vulnerable.

The men, boys and militia of the city stayed to fight any fires that broke out as a result of the fire balls. Now that the machines had been moved to well within the range of the new bows; it was time to hit back; Eventide sent the message to Marchant.

'Begin the counter attack'

The first target of the bows would to the catapults; every one of the new cross bows was to be aimed at destroying the catapults and then turn on the Trebuchets.

The two boys and most of the soldiery of the city were up on top of the walls to watch the first attack of the new bows. Marchant had decided to leave it until late in the day before firing his first bolts; by then the sun would be low in the sky and right in the eyes of the enemy if they tried to look up at the cliff top.

Everyone on the top of the wall watched as slight movement was spied on top of the cliff; until this time the bows had been kept well back from the rim so the enemy could not see what was going on.

Marchant rolled his bows to the very edge and, those below watched as an archer on each bow carried a fire brand to the front and lit the tar soaked cloth; when all bolts were alight and the thick black smoke was spiralling up into the late afternoon sky; Marchant gave one last look at the array of huge siege machines far out and below him on the wide plain.

The watchers on the walls barely heard the loud call from the cliff top as Marchant gave the order to fire. It was like some celebration spectacle when the watchers saw the fifty bolts take to the air with a trail of black smoke behind them and a flicker of red flame under the smoke.

The bolts flew far faster than the watchers thought they would; it took everyone by surprise how quickly the bolts suddenly began to slam into the ground around the six catapults but, not all of them missed. There were enough bolts in the air and Marchant's talents with a bow and how to sight them was enough to have more than twenty of the fire bolts slam into and stay fast on the six wooden catapults.

The enemy had no chance to save their six catapults as they had not even thought it was possible for the defenders to attack them; that and the lack of water to put out the fires meant they could only watch in dismay as the six wooden engines caught and then began to burn unhindered.

The loud roar from the mass of defenders at the top of the wall echoed over the plains as the six engines burnt stronger and stronger until they were a furious tower of flames.

While this was going on; Eventide watched as the enemy began to understand that the catapults were not the only thing in range of this new weapon. Loud yells and orders echoed over the suddenly silent plains as the enemy began to organise the withdrawal of their remaining machines; Marchant had no intention of letting them get away or at least stopping and destroying as many as he could hit.

After the first feeling or euphoria at seeing the six catapults burst into flames and begin to burn like funeral pyres; Marchant called for reloads. The enemy had not even got their Trebuchets rolling when the next fifty fire bolts began to land amongst them.

Enemy soldiers were trying to douse the flames as best they could with hands full of sand and flapping clothes or coats; little did they know that the black tar made it almost impossible to kill the fire once it had taken hold; their efforts were useless against the foul smelling tar.

Four Trebuchet were hit and in flames after the second barrage. The panic out on the plains was easy to see as more fire bolts flew through the air towards the machines as the enemy soldiers tried desperately to get them moving away from the deadly attack from the evening sky.

There was chaos and disorder in the enemy ranks as they tried desperately to bring up horse to pull the remaining Trebuchet out of the line of fire from the new weapons; even as they struggled with horses that did not want to be close to the towering fires of the catapults; three Trebuchet were hit by the next volley of bolts.

While it was possible to put out one or two of the fire bolts; the sheer number of accurately fired bolts that hit each Trebuchet made it impossible to stop the fires. Marchant had his archers all firing at only two or three targets at the same time; this way he could score many hits on one target with a higher likely-hood of their destruction. His plan worked well and; when the last of the Trebuchet were underway; there were only nine of them moving and not in flames.

The cheers from the high walls rang out over the darkening plains as they watched the retreating machines; some still showed the marks of a hit on their singed frames; Marchant's idea had been a total success; the Trebuchet were now pulled well back out of what they hoped was the range of the new weapon.

The Trebuchet could still fire their heavy rocks at the walls but the extra distance now made it harder for them to do heavy damage; what few knew was that the new cross bows had more in them and the expertise of Marchant as a bowman would make the difference in the days to come.

As had been agreed by the parties involved with the new weapon; Marchant would now once again dismantle thirty of the new bows and have them transported back to the city; the others would stay up on the cliffs to continue with other targets.

Those dismantled would be then set up on the walls of the city to counter any attacks from the enemy; they all knew that the enemy would eventually have to try to attack the walls with ladders and battering rams; it was then the new bows would come into their own.

Above the main gate on the wall; the large metal pots of oil stood waiting; the fires under them were kept burning at just enough temperature to make it easy to increase the heat once an attack started. It was expected that the destruction of the catapults and the ineffectiveness of the Trebuchet would spur the Christians to attack the walls sooner rather than later.

When the members of the brotherhood returned to the city via the hidden passageway; the news they carried told of a complete success. The carts had not been guarded; the enemy had no reason to even think that they would be attacked so far behind their lines. The destruction of the water carts had been total, not a single cart escaped and only a handful of the drivers had got away to report back to the enemy camp.

The plan was for the enemy to be left alone for a while until they thought it was only a one off attack; once the two Kahlifs thought the enemy were again a little lax; they would send out another attack on the water carts.

Reports till came in from the Taureg about their successes on the supply train; they also noted for the Kahlif that the number of guards had increased dramatically on the supply trains. It took only a change in tactics for the Taureg to still have a dramatic effect on supplies.

It had now been a month since the beginning of the siege; without the catapults to fire their dangerous fire balls into the city; things had improved; the Trebuchet now had an even harder task to damage the great walls; the increased distance made for less effective damage and accuracy.

It had come to a stalemate; those inside the walls still had the use of the Eastern gate to have supplies brought into the city and water would never be a problem as they had long developed deep wells within the walls; it was the enemy that was under the most pressure to keep their supplies coming.

It was only two days after the last of the cross bows had been set up on the walls when the guards sent a report to the two Kahlifs.

"My Lords," the soldier said as he knelt in the great hall. "The enemy is massing behind the siege shields; what are your orders?"

Mahmud answered the soldier with short sharp orders.

"Have the trumpets sounded; call all archers to the wall and have the oil pots heated to their fullest. Send a message to Captain Marchant; he will be needed on the walls and have all other forces formed up ready to repel the attackers. The reserves are to form up below the walls and close to the gate."

The soldier bowed and left at a run; the time had arrived for the first attempt at breaching their walls and the two boys were not about to let that happen; their plans for close combat in the defence of the city were now ready to be set in motion.

At one end of the wall, Marchant had had a tall pole set up; at the top was a round block and a rope ran from top to bottom. On a table set up below the pole sat two long banners; a soldier stood beside the table waiting for Marchant's orders. The two Kahlifs now found out why he had asked for it to be stood there.

"So Marchant; why the pole?"

"It is so I can tell the archers up on the cliff what I want, My Liege."

"How so?"

"The green banner is for fire bolts; the red is for no fire; we will use them against the siege shields and to disrupt the movements of the foot soldiers."

The two boys looked out on the plain; the numbers of the gathering enemy almost made them gasp. Row upon row of armed men were gathering behind the heavy siege shields. Mounted Knights were riding back and forth as they formed their men into large phalanx; the dust in the air was slightly obscuring the mass of men at arms as they formed up.

The reflection of the bright sun on the thousands of shields could be seen from afar. Behind the first phalanx was the large machine with the shields covering the top; it was the heavy battering ram that would attack the main gates once the soldiers began to mount the long ladders to the top of the walls.

For a little while it seemed that the whole plain was holding its breath; there was little noise from the massed ranks of the enemy and the defenders on the wall stood silently; it was as though they had all agreed to have a moments silence before the killing began.

It was as though an agreed signal had been given as to when the fighting would start and Marchant was the means of that signal. In the silent stillness of that midmorning day; the soft sound of the thin rope running through the roller at the top of the pole appeared to be that signal.

As the red banner ran up the pole to signal those bows up on the cliff to use plain bolts; the soft squeaking of the wooden block seemed to echo over the silent plain as if it was a trumpet; the squeak of the block seemed to be the signal for the enemy to start yelling and calling their battle cries.

Before the massed ranks could move; the sound of powerful bows filled the morning air and the sight of the heavy bolts were seen speeding towards the line of heavy siege shields. The bolts were the signal for all hell to break loose. From the top of the wall came Marchant's order for the long bowmen to fire.

It was as though an anger had been released as the fresh morning air filled with the hum of nearly eight hundred bows all firing in unison; it was the first of many as the sky became filled with the flying death.

The long arrows fell in a torrent into the massed ranks of the waiting foot soldiers; their lighter armour seemed to make no difference or afford any security as the ranks below the wall began to thin as holes appeared in the ranks. The arrows became like a cloud in the sky as the archers fired as fast as they were able to pull another shaft from the large baskets by their sides.

Screams of pain and suffering echoed over the sands as the first scent of fresh blood wafted towards the defenders high up on the walls. The enemy had little to reply with; their catapults were now ashes and not there to be brought into play but would have been ineffectual against the massed fire of nearly eight hundred well drilled archers.

High above the plains, the new cross bows took toll on the siege shields, many were split and almost useless for hiding the waiting foot soldiers; the heavy bolts were like a lightning bolt as they began to pass right through the thick shields and skewer those soldiers hiding behind them.

The defenders on top of the wall watched as there came a lull in the bows from the Wadhi rim; minutes later they began again; Marchant had run up the black flag; the fire bolts were now on their way towards the battering ram while others were raised even further and fired at the far off Trebuchets.

On the parapet the heavy cross bows began to also fire at the remaining siege shields with fire bolts. With the massed bolts aimed at the shields; it was not long before they were all ablaze. The Trebuchet were a little luckier because of their distance but even the threat of the bows was enough for them to be hitched to waiting horses and dragged far away and out of range; it also meant the Trebuchet could no longer range the walls.

Marchant used his archers to perfection as the heavy cross bows returned to normal bolts and targeted the soldiers; the siege shields were turning out to be almost ineffective against this new weapon as more men fell mortally wounded.

The enemy ordered their own bowmen to fire but the distance for the shorter Persian bows was just too much to be effective; their next decision became almost a slaughter as the enemy urged their bowmen forward to get within range; even with soldiers carrying heavy shields to protect the enemy archers, it was still a slaughter. The moment they stepped out from the shields to fire; the massed archers on the wall took them down.

No one on the wall could tell if the next orders of the enemy were from frustration, desperation, foolhardiness or plain ignorance but the result was not good for the enemy.

To those on the wall watching; it appeared as though ten thousand foot soldiers erupted from the plains. On one arm they carried their shields high to protect them from the rain of death falling from the sky; in the other hand they carried long ladders in the hope of laying them on the wall to mount to the parapets and engage the defenders hand to hand.

Amongst the racing mass of soldiery, the defenders saw the strange battering ram being pushed by more than a hundred men that were protected by the mass of metal shields fitted on top of the machine.

The heavy cross bows on the wall changed angle and tried to stop the ram from reaching the gates but the metal shields made it difficult to penetrate. The enemy did suffer losses but not enough to slow the progress of the ram; Eventide ordered the fires of the oil pots above the gate to be increased; it was not long before they were starting to bubble.

Marchant's long bowmen lowered their aim to fire at the advancing horde; even with their shields high; the enemy suffered great losses and yet they came on; it seemed in sheer desperation knowing that once close to the walls the bowmen would find it harder to fire at them and their own archers would be well within range to fire upward.

The enemy officers urged their men forward; many were killed or wounded but they kept coming; their only hope was to reach the walls and try to fight their way upward; Eventide called for all the pots to be brought to full heat and long poles were made ready to push the ladders off the wall.

Below them the air became thick with dust and the smell of death; that strange, strong smell of blood now permeated every breath a man took and the screams of the wounded filled the defenders ears with a sound like screeching birds of prey.

The dust rose around the attackers as they tried to get close to the walls to use their ladders; the sheer numbers made it possible for many to reach their objective; even the slow moving battering ram was now close enough that it would soon start its attempt to destroy the great gates.

The defenders took a deep breath; the time was at hand to see if all their preparations had been worth it. Marchant's bowmen were now having to lean over the parapet to fire down into the enemy below; it was the most dangerous time as the enemy bowmen could now return fire; Marchant called his men back to continue firing at those reinforcements following behind the main thrust.

The long ladders took thirty men to carry; many fell but their places were soon taken by others as they pushed forward. Mahmud called to his light cavalry to prepare; when the chance arose; they would be let through the gates to attack the foot soldiers near the gate and then retreat back inside; it would be a desperate chance and only used as a last resort if those on the wall were being pushed too hard.

The ladders began to fall against the wall and the foot soldiers took to the climb. The walls were high and the climb was difficult while under continuous fire from the archers above. Before the first soldiers could reach the top of the ladder; Eventide gave the order for the oil pots to be tipped. The rain of boiling oil fell in a torrent on those below; even those waiting for their turn to climb did not escape as the hot liquid rained down on them.

Burned men fell from the ladders and yet it was not yet over; with a loud shout, Eventide ordered fire brands to be thrown down into the hot oil. All along the wall became a raging fire filled with the screams of the dying and the thick smell of burning flesh; ;those ladders that were not fired, were pushed off the wall with the long poles and the men on them fell to their deaths on top of those waiting below.

The battering ram had reached the gates and, as soon as the first blow was struck on the gates; Eventide ordered the oil pots above the gates to be tipped and then set fire to once the ram was doused in the hot oil; those underneath the protection of the heavy shields did not escape the oil or the fire; a few ran but were cut down by archers as the ram sat alone like a grave marker and burnt like a beacon.

The enemy began to run in retreat leaving behind so many dead and wounded that below the high walls looked like a charnel house. The defenders had not got off without their own losses; Marchant was to find he had lost nearly a hundred archers but the losses to those waiting to repel the foot soldiers had fared better as they had not got to the hand to hand fighting and were able to stay out of sight of most of the enemy archers. None of the enemy breached the wall; their first defence had been a huge success.

Out on the plain the retreat continued and Eventide ordered his men to let them go; there had been enough death on this morning. The retreating enemy were helping stragglers and wounded as they pulled back to their lines. The Knights on their great war horses could only watch as their first attack on the walls became a rout; it was obvious that their way forward was going to be far more difficult than they first thought. It was hard for them to think that only two young teens could have put up such a defence in the face of staggering odds.

Eventide called for water and food for those who would stay on guard when most of the others began to descend to take sustenance in a cooler place and away from the heavy smell of death that rose from below the wall.

Eventide was just about to leave the wall and join Mahmud for his own refreshment when one of the guards called for him and pointed out onto the plain.

Eventide turned to look in the direction of the pointing guard; far out on the plain was a single rider holding a white flag as he rode towards the smudged walls surrounded by the dead. Eventide called for the guards to hold their fire and let the rider come closer.

Once he was below the walls; Eventide saw he was an officer of the Templars; after checking that no enemy archers were waiting to ambush him; Eventide leaned out and asked the rider what he wanted; the rider; although he had a look of anger on his face; asked if the defenders would agree to a meeting to discuss a temporary truce so that the enemy could recover their dead and wounded.

Eventide thought for a few seconds and then called back that the one of the Kahlifs would meet with officers of the enemy to make a short truce in one hour; the rider acknowledge the reply and agreed that in one hour, Knights would come forward to talk; he then turned his horse and rode back to the enemy lines while Eventide left the wall to talk with Mahmud while he ate and drank.

It was decided that Eventide would meet the men below the walls and Mahmud would watch closely from above; they would form up their men on the walls in case it was some kind of trap; neither boy trusted the Templars and the rest were also not to be trusted.

When the time was up; Mahmud went to the top of the wall and looked out at a small canvas covering set on four posts about fifty paces from the main gate. Behind the small semi tent sat ten Knights on horseback and a man in black robes; behind them were twenty mounted men who looked like officers.

Below Mahmud and inside the gate; Eventide sat on Shaitan with another fifty cavalry in two ranks behind him as his escort. Eventide was now dressed in his best Kahlif's clothes; the gold thread on the white cloth shimmered in the sunshine as he moved. At his signal, the gates were opened and Eventide led his men through and towards the waiting Knights.

When he got close enough; Eventide saw that the Knights had set their swords upright in the sand outside the semi tent and were standing waiting for him to arrive; there seemed no intent to cause a problem with the truce talks; after all, it was their men that lay around the walls.

Eventide rode through the carnage and towards the waiting men; once he was close enough he stopped and dismounted while his own guard took up station close enough to cause a rescue if things turned bad.

Eventide walked towards the tent and; as he stepped into the shade the Knights stepped forward behind the man in black. A small table and two stools had been placed under the covering and the man in black sat on the stool on his side of the table while Eventide took the other; the Knights stayed standing behind the man in black.

It was plain to see that the man in black did not quite believe what he saw in front of him; the look of suspicion on the man's face at seeing such a young boy sitting opposite him was hard to reconcile with the slaughter of the morning; it was almost as though he thought this was a joke by the Kahlifs to belittle him. The man was the first to speak.

"I am Bishop Ferranti of the holy order of Jesuits and the representative of the Holy Roman Church; who am I addressing?"

"I am Eventide, Kahlif of Wadhi Sufaria. What is it you wish?"

"You are the Kahlif? How could this be so; you are only a boy; is this some joke to belittle the followers of the true church?"

"No, I am one of the Kahlifs. Now enough of this; what is it you want from us?"

Eventide saw some of the Knights place their hands where their swords would have been had they not placed them outside the tent; Eventide smiled at some of the Knights and then turned back to the Bishop.

After a little splutter of disbelief, the Bishop looked hard at the young teen; he still found it difficult to think of this boy as being one of the master minds of the defence of the city. The Bishop's voice was still sceptical but he had no one else to talk to about the truce; he decided to continue and hope for the best but he was not pleased and Eventide could pick that up from his voice.

"We, the army of the Holy Church would ask for a truce so we can collect our dead and wounded and treat them with the respect that fallen soldiers deserve without any attempt at attack by the city."

"If we agreed to a truce it would not be us that broke it. I have discussed this with my brother Kahlif and we have decided to allow you to do as you wish but; any breach of the truce will bring a heavy price down on your heads. We will desist from firing upon any man who is working below the wall until dark falls; after that then any soldier approaching these walls will be seen as an attack. I suggest you clear the dead below the walls first."

"Are you trying to dictate terms with me young man?"

"Those are the terms; if you wish I can withdraw them and we can let the dead rot in the sun or be eaten by the desert animals; it means nothing to us; they are your dead not ours."

The Bishop was surprised by the determined and somewhat callous sound of the boy's voice; it was true; they needed this truce more than the defenders; he would have to agree although he didn't like a bit of it.

"Very good, we will retire and have our men come forward to collect the dead and wounded; if there is nothing else."

"One thing more; make sure the men you send are unarmed; any sign of a weapon and we will consider the truce ended; also you may want to think about a full retreat and return to your own lands; this is the lands of the Emir Saed Ben Haman; your losses will only grow if you stay."

"Mark my words young man; you cannot stand against the Holy Church; we will take Sufaria and then Jerusalem; it is God's will."

Eventide stood up and then smiled at the Bishop.

"Then I hope your god and church have a good supply of men for they will need them; leave these lands now and you will live; stay and there is only certain death; this I will swear on my honour."

"Honour! What would a young boy who has turned his back on his own people to live among these Saracens know about honour?"

Eventide looked at the Bishop and then smiled as he took a small roll of parchment from his robe. He had prepared it earlier just in case this very situation came up; he was glad that he had thought of it now.

Without a word, Eventide gave the small roll of parchment to the bishop and then turned and left the tent without another word; once mounted on Shaitan he led his men back through the gates; everyone watching could see a wide smile on his lips as the gates were closed and barred.

Down on the plain, the bishop looked in bewilderment at the small roll of parchment; before he could unroll it to read; his Knights called for him to retire so their men could reclaim the dead; the Bishop put the parchment in his own robe and turned to where his horse awaited him. There would be time later to see what the boy had written.

Mahmud had arranged for the physicians to look over the wounded and also prepare the dead for burial while he waited for Eventide's return; once both boys were together again; Eventide related to his brother all that had transpired at the meeting; he also told him about the scroll; both boys laughed when Eventide told Mahmud about the Bishop's attitude and the resulting parchment.

In the enemy camp there was a sense of defeat but the Knights would not let it set in and ordered the men out to reclaim their dead and wounded; it would be a long day for them under the hot sun and threat from high on the walls they had tried to take and lost.

In the Bishop's tent, a gathering of Knights stood around the Bishop's table as he unrolled the small parchment; after looking over the document he looked up at the surrounding Knights; his face told them something was not good as a bead of sweat that was not from the heat of the day, appeared on the man's forehead.

"What is it My Lord Bishop?" one of the Knights asked.

The Bishop threw the parchment down on the table and let the closest Knight read it. This was not the sort of trouble they wanted while most of the army was in the Holy Land.

The parchment read:

To His Holiness the Pope.

Sir, your army has invaded the lands of the Emir Saed Ben Haman; it is my duty to defend these lands as a Kahlif of Wadhi Sufaria. Should your army continue to fight and not retreat to their own lands then there will never be peace between our people. If this be so then your army will face total destruction in the desert. From this day forward, our one duty will be to see the destruction of all your armies.

I ask once more for the sake of your men at arms; call the retreat.

I am,

Shaitan Bin Izurak, Kahlif of Wadhi Sufaria

Prince Eventide Carliegh of the Royal Blood of the Iceni bound by oath to His Highness the King of England

Baronet Eventide Tremaine; Son and heir of Baron Freeman Tremaine of Lancaster and Flanders.

Eventide had felt guilty about using all those titles but he wanted to let them know who they were fighting and what may happen. If it caused them to retreat without further bloodshed; then his efforts and dislike for all the titles would have paid off. He could only wait and see; the more of his men he could save the better.

The Knights looked at the titles and felt a shiver run up their backs. If even half the boy's claims were true then they could soon find themselves having to face the might of the English armies as well as those of the Emir. It was time to decide who they owed allegiance to. If they were to be the cause of a war with the English at the same time as fighting the Saracens; there could be a lot to lose. They would have to contact His Holiness for further instructions. The city would have to wait for the Popes decision on the matter.

Eventide and Mahmud were on the top of the walls watching the last of the enemy dead be carried away. They had seen the same work being carried out all through the night and now; during the early morning; they watched the last of the bodies disappear towards the far off pyres that burned to one side of the enemy encampment.

As they watched, a gate guard from the Eastern gate arrived with a message.

"My Kahlif, the Taureg have returned in force and ask to meet with you."

"Show their headman to the great hall and find food and drink for his men," Mahmud told the guard. The two boys left the wall and returned to the great hall to wait for their visitor. Even Mahmud was intrigued as to why the whole Taureg army would come back now; they had been a real force out on the wild sands.

The boys sat and waited on their chairs; it was not long before the Captain of the guard arrived with the four elder Taureg; one of them stepped forward and salaamed.

"Kahlif; I am Achmed Ben Sou and am the spokesman for our people. We have come to tell you that we must return to our homes. The time of the Khamsin is close and we wish to take our men and goods back before it strikes. We give you this promise that in sixty days we will return to help you drive the Infidels from our lands. As proof of my word, I will leave the one thing that I prize above all else as proof of our intention to return; I will leave my eldest son in your care."

Mahmud took up the reply; he was far more used to dealing with the Taureg than Eventide.

"Achmed Ben Sou; I am well aware that our peoples have not always been at peace; but what you and your men have done to slow the caravans of the Infidels tells me more than old enmities. As a sign of our trust in you and your men; we would not ask you to leave a son who is so valuable to your family. To show good intentions on our side; we will accept your word as spokesman that you and your men will return to help repel the Infidels when the Khamsin is over."

"That is very generous of the Kahlif; even though you are Bedou you show great trust in us and our word. We will return to help you fight the Infidels in sixty days; that is my word and the word of all Taureg."

The four Taureg salaamed and left the hall. Eventide turned to Mahmud and asked him.

"What is this fifty you were talking about?"

"Fifty? Oh yes, the Khamsin. While the word means fifty it also means the time of great sand storms. They last for fifty days on and off so hence the name. They are a terrible storm of hot wind and driving sand. Should you be caught out when it starts it can scour the very skin and meat off a man and leave only bones. I had forgotten the month and should have thought of it; if nothing else we will have the weather on our side for some time to come. I wonder if our enemies out on the plain know what is coming."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Oh yes my brother; if the Infidels do not take cover they will lose many men and horses to the Khamsin. It may be that the great winds do us a favour; we will have to wait and see."

Mahmud took over for the next few days as he set about readying the city for the first of the Khamsin. Out on the plains it was plainly obvious the enemy were again readying for another attempt on the walls.

The spies from the city had reported that more enemy troops were arriving daily and the army was now as great as it was at the beginning; there seemed no end to their reinforcements. The city got ready for another attack. The Trebuchet had been moved as close as they could get without being torn apart by the cross bows and their fire bolts.

Each day that new troops arrived to bolster the enemy numbers, so did more siege machines; the bombardments now continued day and night as those inside the walls took shelter from the rain of large rocks; it was fortunate the enemy had not returned to bringing up more catapults to throw the fire balls.

On the tenth day of the bombardment; the morning dawned still and silent; there was a feeling in the air that Eventide could not put his finger on; whether it was the total silence or the stillness; the city and plains felt eerie until a sudden hot blast of morning air swept over the eastern walls.

Eventide turned to the East as he felt the heated wind, what he saw made his mouth drop open and his heart quicken. The worry over the massed ranks of the enemy getting ready to charge the walls was forgotten as he looked to the East; even the cries and yells of the charging enemy could not pull his eyes away from the vision.

All around him Eventide could hear the men firing arrows and preparing for the ladder assault; the oil pots were at full heat and ready to be tipped as soon as the enemy soldiers hit the wall but Eventide's eyes were elsewhere; had it not been for one of the soldiers throwing up his shield to protect Eventide; the boy would have been skewered and yet he could not take his eyes off the red wall that was approaching the city at great speed; far faster than anything he had seen before.

Mahmud turned as he heard the roar from behind; without further thought; Mahmud called out as loud as he could to his troops.

"Khamsin, Khamsin; tip the pots and take cover below; forget the enemy, they will not survive to climb the walls."

Eventide could still not get the picture of the roiling mass of windswept sand that was higher than the very walls of the Wadhi from his mind; the roar of the wind now filled his ears and the first hot blast of sand drove him below the walls. The thousands of enemy soldiers attempting to take the wall was forgotten as he ran for cover.

Day turned to night as the full force of the massive sand wall hit the city; every man, woman and child had a covering over their mouth and nose as they ran for shelter in any building they could reach before the door closed.

Outside the walls the terrible sand storm hit the enemy troops who had seen the men run from the walls as they neared; their cries and yells of victory were soon blown away by the hot wind and sand filled air as their victory cries turned to ones of choking fear and desperation.

Ten thousand men had attacked the walls; less than a thousand made it back to the camp; most by sheer luck as they ran with the wind; many of them lost their sight as the terrible scouring sands blinded them.

In the encampment; the Knights and soldiers left there saw the huge storm coming and, those that could; took what cover they could in the short time they had available to them before the Khamsin hit with the force of a giant battering ram.

Tents were destroyed; animals ran wildly away to find cover where ever they could; banners were torn to shreds and nothing was left but waving strands. Paint was scoured from every surface whether metal or wood. The screams of hurt and dying men filled the air with their cries but it was hopeless; the Khamsin did not have favourites and the screams could not be heard above the roar of the wind; even the crashing of the Trebuchet as they were knocked over was not heard; many being broken as their towering size and weight crashed to the ground only to be scoured by the blasting sands.

Food and water supplies were destroyed or buried under the weight of the sand that was blowing through the plains; carts overturned or crashed into each other as the wind built until it deafened every man who could still make sense of anything. For those that survived it was to be talked about in hushed whispers many years later, as the most terrifying four hours they had ever experienced.

None of the enemy knew that this was just the first of many that were to come out of the southern desert although they did learn to prepare as best they could sometime later. Sixty thousand Christian soldiers and Knights had gathered to take Sufaria and; in one single sand storm they were cut to less than forty thousand; they had also lost nearly every cart with their food and water supplies. The tops of only three tents could be seen above the loose sand; the rest having been destroyed or totally buried.

It would be some time before the enemy would realise they had very few animals left; the city had been given a reprieve as it would take the enemy at least a month to recover from the beating they had taken at the hands of the Khamsin, but they did not have a month before the next one arrived.

Inside the city; once the sand storm had passed; everyone went about the business of clearing the streets of the mass of sand blown in by the wind; this was a yearly event and they knew just what had to be done. Eventide was worried for the men up on the top of the Wadhi and their large cross bows; had they had time to take cover or had they all been lost? It was Marchant that took some men with him to try for the small goat track and find his men.

Below the walls there was little to see of the attempt to win the city. Here and there were the remains of weapons, most half buried in the sand. Also partially buried were more bodies than could be counted; odd arms or legs stuck up out of the soft sand as well as a head here and there with blank staring eyes with faces that had been scoured to the bone by the sand.

Other indications of the fury of the Khamsin were the multiple piles of sand that indicated more buried bodies; for the first time, Eventide began to realise the power and finality of such sand storms.

A few days later the defenders could see more enemy soldiers arriving in the distance; there also seemed to be a lot of activity around the far off camp site. A few days later, the boys on top of the wall could see the beginnings of stone walls being built around the perimeter of the camp; the enemy had learned a lesson and were trying to prepare for the next storm.

The city had more than a few days of peace as the enemy tried to protect itself from any further storms; for the city people it was a time to make further preparations to solidify their defences. There had been a suggestion to leave the city in force and attack he enemy camp while they were disabled by the storms.

Eventide had talked against it; their numbers were too few to attack and any losses would eventually weaken the defence of the walls; Mahmud had finally agreed although it did not stop some of the brotherhood from going out to seek a little revenge on some of the weaker guard posts at night.

Marchant had returned to say they had not lost a single man from the top of the Wadhi although they had lost four cross bows; the men had had time to take cover and also tie down most of their machines; they were once again ready to defend the city from above.

Five days passed before the next indication of a coming storm. Out on the plain the enemy also took more notice of their surroundings and made preparations for what was coming; this time there would not be such a high loss of life when the storm hit.

While a number of Trebuchet had been destroyed by the first storm; the enemy soon had replacements and were once again trying to break down the tall strong walls; the long range made it more difficult for them to achieve it but they continued to try.

After the second storm had passed it was easy to see there was far less damage or loss of life; the enemy had learned its first lesson in desert living; it was to do them little good.

Over the next six weeks, nine more storms raged over the desert; the enemy had managed to build stone walls high enough to limit damage to their siege engines as there was no way to protect them once the storm hit, even though they tried many times to tie them down.

The fifty days of storms passed and the enemy was now ready to take the city. Out on the plains there was an army of seventy thousand; the Trebuchet had been pounding the walls at every chance but had failed to break through the solid stone ramparts; it was now time for troops to try to take the walls.

The first attack came early in the morning; the trenches now reached to no more than one hundred paces from the walls. Marchant's bowmen went into action and the defenders watched as the enemy ranks were cut to pieces as the long bows took a terrible toll, yet the enemy numbers did not slow.

Once the oil pots had been used it was then up to the pike men to push the ladders away and still the enemy came on like a swarm of angry ants.

The Trebuchet had been moved closer and the new cross bows began to range in on them and took a heavy toll of the siege machines before they could begin firing.

The fighting below the wall was now fierce and it soon became evident that the fighting would soon be hand to hand as more and more ladders were placed and enemy troops were well on the way to making the heights.

Eventide readied the mounted troops to charge through the gates as soon as needed; Mahmud controlled the defence of the wall and prepared his soldiers which also included almost every man and boy of the city to defend the walls; the order was given that no Infidel was to leave the walls alive.

High on the palace roof a black flag of Jihad was flown and the brotherhood also prepared to take their own revenge as they all slipped through the secret passage in the wall and made for the enemy camp.

The stench of battle soon filled the air as enemy bodies burnt under the hot oil fired by the arrows of Marchant's archers; others died as they tried to climb the tall ladders in the hope of entering the city; bowmen from the enemy fired their own arrows until they made even the desert sun dim in their volume.

The cries of the wounded and dying filled every man's ears as the slaughter continued unabated into the afternoon. Some made it to the top of the walls and were met by well armed defenders and were cut down as fast as they appeared over the wall.

At a prearranged signal from Mahmud; those holding the main gate suddenly pulled aside the huge timbers that held them closed. Eventide was at their head as he charged out surrounded by his six brothers and followed by two thousand horse and camel cavalry and right into the middle of the massed foot soldiers.

If he were asked at a later time what he remembered about the charge and fight; he would have to say that, after charging through the gate; everything became a blur of flashing swords and stabbing lances with the screams and yells of men fighting to the last.

The smell of blood and dust filled their nostrils and the crash of weapons on shields mixed with the sound of snapping bones as men fell under the hooves of the horses.

Having broken through the foot soldiers; the cavalry then turned and came back at the troops from behind to again cause mayhem in the enemy ranks.

As they fought, Eventide kept an ear out for the agreed signal; as soon as he heard the high trumpet note, Eventide called for his cavalry to return to the city and close the gates; the enemy Knights had been sighted coming to the aid of the foot soldiers and were after Eventide's cavalry; they could not afford to be caught out in the open against heavy Knights.

The cavalry returned to the city and the great gates closed with some difficulty as they had to push back those foot soldiers that had got through during the cavalry charge.

With the gates closed and secure; Eventide went to find Mahmud who was still fighting up on the wall. The heavy smell of blood inside the city told Eventide they had not had it easy during his charge; they had managed to ease the pressure on the walls but there was still work to be done.

The end came most unexpectedly; loud calls from out on the plain soon had the attackers pulling back; the wall had been held, but at a cost. Eventide could not think of why the enemy had pulled back when they were in sight of getting the walls and entering the city; there could only be one reason for the sudden retreat.

When he reached the top of the wall he could see only carnage; ignoring his own two wounds; he went in search of Mahmud; he found his brother stooped over three young boys who lay together in death; around the trio were ten dead enemy soldiers.

Eventide could hear the sobs from Mahmud as he looked down at the three boys; all around there was death and blood but they had held the wall.

"What happened to them?" Eventide asked his brother; whom he also noticed was bleeding from a gash in one arm.

"They got cut off when the enemy came over the wall but they stood back to back and took as many enemy as they could with them; we tried to get to them but the fighting was just too heavy to break through. Their names will be written in the book of the dead and they shall be held up as heroes; their families will be richly rewarded for their loss. The boys showed no fear, even though they knew they were about to die in defence of our city."

"We need to make sure they are honoured as all the dead should be. How do you fare? You are bleeding and need to see a physician.

Mahmud looked at his brother and gave him a small smile.

"So are you; come let's go together while the walls are cleared."

Mahmud gave orders for the enemy dead to be pitched over the wall and for their own to be given respect and taken to a place where they could be cared for and readied for burial.

When the two boys got back to the palace; they were surprised to see the members of the brotherhood waiting for them; they had returned from the plains and looked as though their mission had been a success. A physician was called to attend the boy's wounds while they got all the reports from the battle.

They were happy to learn that the brotherhood had managed to fully salt the water pond at the outlet in the fissure; it would take more than ten weeks for the water to wash all the heavy salt blocks from the reservoir; the enemy would now be in trouble as their water would have to be rationed at a bare minimum; there would also be deaths from the thirst.

The salting had been a last resort to weaken the enemy; it was not as bad as a total poisoning and would eventually clear but, by then it was hoped the enemy army would be in dire straits.

The mass attack had caused many deaths and injuries on the defenders but they had held the city; the losses to the enemy was estimated to be higher than ten to one but, the enemy army had far more troops available to them than the limited number in the city.

While they could still hold the walls; the two Kahlifs hoped that the Emir was closer to helping them with reinforcements; two more mass attacks like the last one and the safety of the city would be in doubt.

Marchant had lost two hundred more archers and was now down to only five hundred plus the fifty high up on the wall; their best defence turned out to be the new cross bows; they were devastating in close combat and could kill five or six men with one bolt; the enemy siege shields were also torn to splinters when they were hit.

Below the walls the enemy dead were stacked up like cord wood and the heavy smell of blood and the detritus that went along with it; it would not be long before the stench of the dead would create a miasma of bad air throughout the city.

Mahmud called for more oil to fill the many pots on the wall; they would then pour it over the dead and set fire to them; at least that way the smell would only last as long as the burning bodies lasted in the intense heat and then would clear the air somewhat.

As the time of the Khamsin passed; the arrival of the Taureg brought some relief. The two Kahlifs were thankful to see more than three thousand of the desert raiders arrive at the eastern gate; they now had a mobile force that could do real damage to the long drawn out supply trains of the enemy.

As soon as the Taureg arrived; Mahmud asked for Achmed Ben Sou to see them in the great hall. When the man arrived with his now ten headmen; Mahmud got down to the task of setting out their plan.

"Achmed Ben Sou; we are very pleased to see your return; it was never in doubt you would hold to your word and we both thank you for that. As you can see we had a hard time of it in your absence but we have held the walls; we would ask if you would continue with your previous plan. The effects on the enemy were very noticeable and we would have no hesitation in agreeing to the same conditions of the last time; if that was to your satisfaction."

"Thank you Kahlif; it would indeed be suitable for all of us. If you both wish it we now have the numbers to attack the carts with the siege weapons if you would like us to do this?"

"It would indeed be a great help if you would attempt it, but we call for care as the enemy is using heavy Knights in some of their supply trains; I will leave it up to your own judgement. Is there anything we can do for you and your men?"

"We will fill our goat skins and then be on our way; we have many young men who want to test their skills in battle. I will send messengers when I can with our reports. May Allah watch over your city and bring victory over the Infidels."

"Thank you Achmed Ben Sou; you and your men's names will be written in the book of Sufaria as valued allies and saviours of the city."

The older man salaamed and left with his other chiefs; it was now up to the defenders of the city to hold the walls and keep the enemy from the gates; not an easy task after the last mass attack.

Two days later and a messenger arrived at the Eastern gate with an urgent message for Shaitan Bin Izurak. Eventide had the messenger shown to the palace immediately.

Eventide called for Mahmud as the messenger walked into the great hall; in his hand he carried a thick rolled parchment with the seal of Lancaster holding it closed; it was a message from his father.

Once Mahmud had joined him; Eventide opened the roll of parchment and read it out for his brother; it was not what they expected.

My son,

The valiant defence of your city has made it to us and the King is mightily pleased that you held it so well and proved your worth as a commander of his ally the Emir.

Your missive to the Pope has had unexpected results; far from obeying your request for him to remove his troops; he formed a great army and attempted to invade your homeland with the use of Knights and foot soldiers from Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Aquitaine and many others; he also used many Knights from the Spanish lands as well as his own.

An army of fifty thousand men attempted to land on the beaches of Hythe but we had been forewarned and were prepared for them. As they landed from their ships, the King's new archers appeared on the high cliffs above the beaches; I was impressed to also see more than two thousand men of the Reaches also appear to aid the archers; their effect was devastating and the Knights of England had a lighter battle than had we not had the archers.

The king's army caused the enemy to lose more than 2/3rds of their number without getting past the cliffs and they had no option but to retreat in haste and despair; we are sure they will not venture our way again.

The valiant defence and toll you have been taking on the army of the crusade is no doubt the cause of their lacking enough numbers to push through with their plans. The King has asked me to pass on to you this news.

On your return to England he will present you with the title, banner and coat of arms as a full Knight and you will carry title as the Defender and Knight of the King's Banner; I know you will be happy to have even more titles to use and how much you enjoy them to be placed on your head.

My son, hold your ground and use that head of yours as you would, there are reinforcements on the way and should be with you in ten days.

Your Father Freeman.

Eventide rolled up the parchment and looked at Mahmud; the look on his face said it all.

"That's all I need brother, more titles; will it never end?"

"Not for you Brother, now I like the sound of reinforcements; it appears the Emir has his army ready; we have to hold now; it would not do for a newly made Knight to fail his King."

"Don't you even go there Brother; another word about titles and I will go and join the enemy."

The two boys laughed as they looked over the sand map laid out on the floor; it had been kept up as each day passed and now looked as though someone had drawn a detailed picture of every rock or grain of sand outside the walls.

The young men of the brotherhood still went out each night to spy on the enemy encampment; their reports each morning that the lack of drinkable water had begun to take its toll on the enemy troops, were good to hear. That the enemy would mount another attack there was no doubt; they were now getting to a situation where it would be a case of do or die to take the city. The two boys were sure that by now they would be aware of the renewed attacks on their supply trains.

It was fully twelve days when they saw the enemy massing for another attempt on the walls; the reports from their night time spies told them the enemy was in dire need of water and the only water fresh enough for drinking was inside the city.

It was two hours before the middle of the day when the trumpets on the wall called the men to arms. The two boys took their places as before; Mahmud on the wall and Eventide at the gate with the remains of their cavalry.

On the wall, Mahmud looked around; he was surprised to see that nearly half his men and boys carried bandages from previous wounds yet they stood ready once more to repel the enemy; he was heartened by the look of fierce determination on all the faces.

The Trebuchet were still firing their heavy rocks at the walls and Marchant's cross bows took toll; the Trebuchet had been moved even closer this time to try to break through; there were many places where the wall was showing signs of damage but not enough to bring them down as yet.

As Eventide sat waiting for his chance to attack outside the gate with his cavalry; he heard a call from Mahmud to come and look on top of the wall. Eventide dismounted and ran for the steps leading up to where Mahmud waited for him. Once there, Eventide saw what concerned Mahmud.

They were now down to only three pots of oil and they had been placed above the gates but out on the plains was where the real problem lay.

It looked as though the enemy was going to throw every man they had at the walls; there were also four battering rams waiting to pound at the gates; the three pots would not stop them all.

The massed heavy armoured Knights were also now closer to the rear lines of foot soldiers; there was no way that Eventide's light cavalry would be able to attack outside without the chance of losing every man; new plans had to be made and made quickly.

The two boys got their heads together and quickly came up with a plan hoping it was enough. The portcullis would be dropped and locked tight; thirty archers of the camel cavalry would dismount and take their place behind the thick stone walls of the passage and fire into any enemy that made it through the gates. The rest of the cavalry would now take a place on the walls and fight from there.

As the final plan was put into action; a voice called from the ground; turning to look down, both boys got a surprise. The man calling them looked like a shop keeper; in his hands he carried a farmers scythe; behind him it looked as though every man, woman and child of the city that was not already on the walls; was armed in some form and ready to fight to defend the city. Mahmud called for the man to come up.

The man arrived a little breathless but had a very determined look on his face.

"My lords; the people wish to join the fight to defend the city; if it will be of help we will hold the gate while you use your trained men to hold the wall."

"Do you know there will be deaths for all of you if the enemy breaks through the portcullis?"

"If they break through, My Lord, then we will be dead anyhow; we have all agreed to fight and try to save our city."

"Then you are welcome; hold your people at the ready but do not advance on the gate unless they break through; the portcullis is strong and should hold them unless they can get a ram through the passage."

The man salaamed and left to organise his rag tag army of citizens while the two boys looked out at the massive army coming towards them; the heavy thud of the cross bows told the two the enemy was now at five hundred paces and closing.

At four hundred paces, the order was given for the remaining five hundred archers to open fire. Although their numbers were now halved; the long bowmen took a great toll without answer from the enemy bowmen; they were still out of range for their smaller bows.

The Trebuchet continued to fire at the gates as fire bolts from the cross bows high up on the cliff began to take its own toll of the heavy machines. The cross bows on the wall were now targeting the heavy siege shields and the enemy troops were falling like chaff under a scythe.

The enemy knights were now within range but their heavy armour partially protected them from the cloud of arrows filling the sky; while they did have losses from the long bowmen; their heavy armour protected far more than those who fell; it would have been suicide to attack outside the walls with the armoured Knights so close to the foot soldiers.

After only a few minutes the plain was littered with the dead and dying but they came on as though it was nothing. The enemy was now only two hundred paces from the walls and their bowmen could now reply to those above; Marchant's archers were now taking casualties as the torrent of arrows flew over the walls.

The enemy archers far outnumbered those on the wall; while their bows were smaller; their volume made up for the lack of range. The boy's troops came forward with their shields to try to protect their archers from the fire below; it proved to save many lives but still their archers were being whittled down and Eventide called for them to pull back from the parapet as the enemy was now too close for effective fire.

The men up on the wall now waited for the inevitable; it had come to the stage of hand to hand fighting as the first ladders were heard to hit the stone wall; above the gate the first two pots were tipped down onto the gathering troops and the shielded ram; the fire that was raised by the oil would keep the gate safe for a little while longer and the enemy would have to clear the ground before bringing up another ram.

Eventide watched the approaching enemy; it seemed that every thirty men carried one of the long ladders used to breach the walls; if any fell, other men would pick it up and race towards the foreboding wall before them.

It appeared the enemy was making this a final all out assault as it looked as though every man in the enemy camp was now racing towards them.

The siege had now been going on for the better part of six months; there had been small skirmishes and larger fights; they had endured three other attempts on the wall but this one looked as though it was all or nothing.

The long ladders began to land on the wall and the pike-men pushed them off only to see more take their place. The first ram was now under a sea of fire and yet, the next was already trying to push through to pound the gate; it appeared to be rolled over the bodies of those already fallen; the enemy was now desperate.

As the last pot of oil poured onto the heads of those pushing the ram; the first enemy climbed over the top of the wall; it was now hand to hand and a sense of desperation was on both sides.

Mahmud took defence to the right as Eventide took all those he could call to the left; the battle for Wadhi Sufaria was now really on.

Like Mahmud; Eventide had changed his clothes to that of the Hashin; his face was covered by the black scarf and he carried a smaller round metal shield along with his scimitar; his six brothers close by his side as they began to try to repel the climbers.

The battle for the walls was torrid and nasty; every weapon or dirty trick was used to stay alive. They had given little as far as space on the wall but the enemy was still pressing hard even as they were thrown from the high walls, others took their place. It was an unending fight to the death for the defenders while the attackers were relatively fresh from their climb and battle.

The gate was now under threat as the third ram started to pound on the thick wooden barricade to their entrance into the city. Out on the plain; the Knights were pressing their men to fight harder as they pushed them forward; the smell of death was now forgotten as was the cries of the wounded and dying as the defenders strived to hold the wall.

Both the young Kahlifs and their men were now hard pressed as more and more of the enemy made it over the wall; every soldier in the city was now up on top of the walls except for those archers waiting for the gate to give so they could fire into any who made in into the passage that was barred by the portcullis.

Eventide had no idea how long they had been fighting but the sun was now past meridian; both he and Mahmud had sustained minor wounds but they went unnoticed in the furore of battle and the desperation of holding on to the city.

None of the defenders saw the gates burst open under the barrage from the ram; fortunately the portcullis held and both hidden archers and city folk fought to defend it; the battle below the wall was to be just as vicious as the one on top.

Relief came in the most unexpected way. Far out on the plains, the first indication of something not being right was the sign of heavy black smoke coming from the far off enemy camp; in the middle of the hectic and dangerous battle; Eventide noticed a sudden increase in arrows falling down onto the enemy ranks.

A quick glance to the top of the cliffs gave Eventide a moment to smile. Lining the top of the cliff were now more than two thousand archers wearing the colours of the Emir; the rain of arrows from the new archers soon began to take a heavy toll on those below the walls.

Taking a moment from the close battle; Eventide glanced out onto the plains just in time to see a sight that made him tighten his grip on the scimitar and turn back to the battle with a renewed vigour.

Far behind the enemy ranks and thundering across the flat plain were thousands of heavy mounted Knights; at their head flew the banner of Lancaster along with many others of the English Knights. Alongside of them rode rank after rank of lighter camel and horse cavalry in an all out charge at the rear of the enemy; help had arrived just in time.

A single call to Mahmud and the other defenders caused them to look out on the plain; what they all now saw seemed to suddenly make every defender grow in strength; those of the enemy that had gained the parapets had no idea why the defenders seemed to suddenly grow stronger instead of weaker.

Mahmud then received a message from the Eastern gate; the Emir's foot soldiers were less than an hour away and would be here soon.

With their renewed hope; the defenders attacked with everything they had; below them the enemy felt the first rattling charge of heavy English Knights as they rode into the rear of the enemy ranks and caught the enemy Knights unprepared; they had been so focussed on the fight for the wall they had not seen the approaching danger behind them.

The true slaughter began as the heavy English Knights tore into the rear of the unprepared Crusaders; the lighter cameleers and horsemen by passed the heavy Knights and set upon the footmen with a savagery that had never been seen before by any soldier.

High on the walls the fight was now swinging to the defenders as they found a new hope and strength; with less and less reinforcements coming up the ladders; the defenders moved forward and began to push the attackers back to the very edge of the parapets; unfortunately for Eventide he did not see it.

Turning just as he heard a loud yell from a badly wounded Ishmael; Eventide felt a sharp pain on his head and blackness took him out of the fight; he was not to see the final result of the valiant stand of the defenders.

There was a strange fuzziness in Eventide's head as he tried to open his eyes. His thoughts were jumbled as he heard faint mumblings far off and everything he saw was like through a mist. Slowly things began to clear as he heard a soft groan from someone; it took a moment before he realised it was his voice.

Eventide tried to lift his head as those in the room became clearer; everyone there he recognised except for a very young boy with a nasty gash in his cheek that was roughly stitched closed. Mahmud stood behind the boy with one hand on his shoulder.

The first voice he heard was the familiar deep tone of Freeman; it was soon followed by the clipped and precise voice of the Emir.

"How do you feel, my son?"

"Father! What happened?"

"Ishmael sacrificed his own life to save you from a soldiers cut at your head; he took the slash and pushed you away but the soldier managed to hit you with the hilt of his sword. He was about to kill you with another thrust when this young boy jumped in front; he took your dagger and killed the soldier but got a bad slash for his valour, You owe him your life my son."

Eventide looked at the young boy; he could not have been more than ten or eleven summers yet he had stepped forward to defend his fallen Kahlif with his life. Eventide swore then and there that the boy would be well rewarded for his heroism. Eventide looked at the boy and asked.

"Where are your parents; I would like to thank them for raising such a brave and courageous son?"

The boy bowed his head and, in a soft whisper replied.

"They are both dead, my Kahlif, they fell defending the gate, now I have no one."

"Then you will join my house; I would not see such a brave boy left to his own devices. Brother; will you see he has anything he needs until I can get back on my feet; give him a room close to my own. Were there any others lost in the fight for the walls that should be here?"

"Both Ishmael and Mohammad were lost in the last few minutes; they will be given a true burial according to the laws of the Hashin."

"How many did we lose?"

"Too many; there were two thousand lost and three thousand wounded; also we lost some seven hundred of the city folk who held the gate. Marchant is badly wounded but should make a full recovery but the damage to his left arm may make it difficult for him to hold a bow again. The Emir has promised him his place for life if he wished so he can continue to train more archers; he will also be given his own palace in Damascus as a part of his reward."

Eventide could almost feel a tear fall from his eye as he heard the number lost in the many battles; especially the last and final battle.

"Father, how did you make it here with your Knights?"

"I am here on the King's orders and at the request of the Emir. When we won the battle at Hythe, the King sent me immediately here to aid the Emir as he is one of the King's most valued allies. The fact you were here also made it easier for me to hurry. I am very proud of you for what you have done; I knew that day in the tavern that you were special and now you have proven it once again. Now my son, it is time for you to rest; tomorrow will be time to talk more, so now just rest."

Eventide was suddenly hit with a tiredness he didn't realise was there. He did not argue with his father's advice but lay back and let his eyes close once again; now the city was safe he could take the time to heal; he had seen the bloody bandage on Mahmud and hoped his very special brother would also take the same advice and rest.

It was late in the evening when Eventide felt better and was able to leave his bed; his head still throbbed but he no longer felt as though his stomach was going to turn inside out. The dizzy feeling had left him and he slowly rose from the bed to empty his bladder; four servants and two slaves waited for him with a hot bath.

As he sank into the hot water a feeling of renewal came over him now that he was able to rid himself of the grimy clothes and the hot water began to flush away the grime and smell of battle.

Once he finished washing and the slaves had dried him off; he let one of the servants replace the old bandage around his head and the other two that were on wounds he did not even know he had during the battle. One was a shallow slice across his ribs and the other was the older one in his upper arm.

Eventide was not surprised to see that the older men were still seated at the table in the great hall. Around them were many men who had been responsible for the defence of the city as well as many English Knights; a quick glance told Eventide the celebrations had been going on for some time. It was the Emir, Saed Ben Haman that was the first to see Eventide enter the great hall.

The Emir's voice was loud as he saw Eventide.

"Welcome Kahlif, defender of the city; come and take your place of honour beside your brother Kahlif; it is time we recognised your great feat and showered you with gifts and praise as is befitting one who held our city."

Blushing wildly, Eventide made his way to the main table and tried to ignore the cheers and calls of everyone in the hall; as he sat down beside Mahmud, he asked.

"Where is the young boy?"

"His name is Faisal; he is in his bed; the hour is late. Did you want to see him?"

"No, tomorrow will be soon enough, I just had a thought when I was bathing but now I have the time to ask your advice and that of my father before a final decision."

"A wise choice my brother; never make decisions on an empty stomach; come eat and drink; we have done our duty and it is a time to celebrate."

Eventide did not know if it was the wine or his injuries that caused him to stagger as he made his way to bed in the early hours of the morning; all he knew was that he was ready for sleep and fell onto the bed without removing his clothes. To find himself naked in bed when he awoke in the late hours of the next morning was a surprise but he put it aside as he felt his head spin and his stomach start to rebel as he moved to rise.

When next he opened his eyes it was to see the young boy sitting by his bedside waiting for him to open his eyes; the boy's name was some time in coming to his mind as he tried to clear way the fog.

"Uhm… Faisal, is that right?"

"Yes my Lord; what do you wish for me to do?"

"Could you call the servants to ready a bath for me?"

"Yes my Lord."

"Have you eaten and washed yet?"

"I have eaten with the servants my Lord."

"The servants? Well that's going to change just as soon as I have bathed and changed."

The boy ran out of the room and then returned quickly with a number of servants who immediately set about getting hot water for his bath; he needed to clear his head; it had been a bad idea to celebrate so soon after his injuries; it was another lesson learned.

After his bath and a change of clothes; Eventide went to look for his father; there was important business to do and no time to waste.

Eventide found his father sitting with the Emir as the two old friends were discussing the defence of the city; they were the only two in the large hall as Eventide entered.

It took little time to get the agreements he was hoping for and the rest of the time was spent in working on what honours there should be for all the defenders and who should be marked for special attention.

Eventide was also happy to learn that; after he had been knocked out; the enemy had been totally routed and; while many escaped, many were also captured amongst them many Knights who would be put up for ransom; the ordinary soldiers would be enslaved after being put to work restoring parts of the city while in chains.

After the meeting, Eventide returned to his palace; once there he called for all his servants and slaves to be assembled in the main hall.

When all were assembled; Eventide looked them over with a critical eye; with very few words, Eventide selected two of the Moorish slaves and one servant; they were told that their duties were now only to the welfare of Faisal and his words were to be obeyed as those of Eventide. Eventide almost smiled at the shocked look on the boy's face; he wondered what the look would be later in the evening when the truth was revealed for all.

The scene was now set for the great feast for their victory; at this time the Emir would present honours and rewards for all those who fought to hold the city; it would also be the time that Eventide would reveal his plan for a certain young, parentless boy.

The true celebration of victory could not take place inside the walls; there were just too many people for that. The Emir had given orders for the celebrations to be taken outside the walls where every man, woman, child and soldier could gather as one force.

When Eventide rode Shaitan through the battered gates, he could not believe his eyes; while he had seen the beginning of the charge of the reinforcements; he had not seen the full effect or numbers as he had been struck down at the crucial stage.

As Eventide rode through the gates; a loud roar of cheering went up from the masses assembled outside.

"SHAITAN… SHAITAN!" Echoed out over the desert plain as he rode towards the huge black tent set up in the middle of the mass of tents of the army.

Beside Eventide rode Shaun; now with a new coloured banner; all the others were carried by members of the brotherhood; the absence of Ishmael and Mohammad weighed heavily on his shoulders.

Eventide dismounted in front of the large tent and was guided to the place of honour beside Mahmud. Eventide could not even guess at the numbers gathered out on the plain but there appeared to be men from every Saracen tribe that roamed the desert.

Under the huge canopy that had been set up for the Emir and his friends; Eventide saw that even the most feared Taureg had been given a special place at the Emir's side. No sooner had Eventide sat beside his brother Mahmud than a trumpet sounded and a sudden hush came over the thousands gathered to celebrate.

The Emir rose and strode to the front of the canopy where he could be seen by all; in a voice that seemed to gather power from the very sands of the desert; the Emir began his speech.

"Men and women of the desert; we have all fought many battles; both with each other and the Infidels. Some we have won and some, we have lost but; here, we have fought the most important of all for we have turned back the Infidels at the very gates of Wadhi Sufaria; the gateway to the Eastern trade routes. There has never been a more important place than this in our history. I am here to offer rewards to those who stood and fought and those who came to our aid when it was truly needed. While there are many rewards to be given to every man, woman or child that stood against the Infidels and the men and boys of every tribe that came here with the army; none are more important than those that should go to the ones who held the city for six months without help or aid."

The Emir paused to sip from a cup before continuing.

"I would call for Achmed Ben Sou of the Taureg to come before me."

The tall middle aged Taureg stood and came to the front of the canopy to stand before the Emir; from the thousands of Taureg gathered out on the plain came the high pitched ululation that was common with the men of the desert.

"Achmed Ben Sou; I know that there has been many generations of dissention between our people and that sometimes the personal feuds have taken lives that would be better used to further our tribes. I now decree that no Bedou will from this day forward; lift a weapon against the Taureg. The bounty you have gained from the raids on the Infidel caravans are yours by right of conquest. As spokesman for the Taureg; I would offer you the title of Kahlif of the Taureg and hold a place in the court for you should you wish to fill it."

Achmed Ben Sou salaamed and returned to his place under the canopy while the Emir continued.

"For the people of Wadhi Sufaria; without your valiant defence of the gate we would surely have been lost; as reward for your efforts and for the losses you suffered; I decree that you shall not have to pay tithe or taxes for two years so that you may rebuild your city. Those who died shall have their names written into the book of the dead of Wadhi Sufaria and read out as heroes on each day that commemorates the battle each year. Further I decree that each family member that stood at the gate should be given ten gold pieces to help rebuild your homes."

Again the Emir took a sip from his cup before continuing. As he called the officers of the defenders to come forward; he presented them with promotions and gold coins. After all was done and he had taken another sip from his cup; the Emir looked around before calling for the next rewardee.

"I would ask Faisal Hadan to step forward."

There was a sudden hush as everyone watched the young boy walk from the back of the crowd. Faisal salaamed to the Emir; it did not go unnoticed by those close by that the boy had a deep but healing slash on his young cheek.

"Let it be written, that Faisal Hadan is now to be known as the Hero of Wadhi Sufaria. At the risk of his own life he stood alone over the body of Shaitan Bin Izurak with nothing more than a dagger to protect his fallen Kahlif. Even after taking a cut from the enemy's sword he still stood and took the life of the attacker. Faisal also lost every member of his family as they helped defend the gates. As a reward for all he has sacrificed I award him one hundred gold coins and his family home is to be restored and his family business is to be free of all taxes and tithes for the remainder of his life."

There was a total silence as everyone watched the young boy stand with tears falling from his eyes; the Emir grasped the boy's shoulder to try to help ease the pain of his loss before continuing.

"There is one other thing but for this we will have to wait for Shaitan Ben Izurak to state."

The Emir steered Faisal to a place under the canopy with all the more important men that sat there. The Emir then called for the next men he wanted to reward.

"Kahlif Mahmud Sal-A-Hadin and Kahlif Shaitan Bin Izurak, I would ask you to come forward."

The two boys stood from their place and went to stand before the Emir.

"There is little I can reward you with that you do not already have; saying that I can only ask you what you would want for your defence of Sufaria. In all our history there was never a braver defence shown by any man or city. For six months you held the Infidels at bay and allowed us to form a new army to come to your aid. Even though you had little reinforcements you never stopped in your duty and your feat will be written into the history of Wadhi Sufaria. I would ask you to name your reward."

Mahmud was the first to answer.

"Your Highness; I ask only that you give my brother, Shaitan Bin Izurak and his request your full support; that would be my reward for doing my duty."

"Shaitan Bin Izurak; what do you ask?"

"Your Highness, I would ask that the Hero of Wadhi Sufaria; Faisal Hadan; be allowed to consider my offer of becoming my brother. I have talked with my father and he has agreed that Faisal would be welcomed into our home as an equal and; if he agrees he would be given the titles and name under the Lancaster banner. For myself I ask nothing as I was doing my duty as Kahlif of Wadhi Sufaria."

"Faisal Hadan; do you wish to take that which is offered to you and become the true brother of Shaitan Bin Izurak?"

Everyone watched as the young boy broke out in tears; Eventide rushed to his side and hugged him close; as far as he was concerned; the boy had lost everything and Eventide felt he deserved the chance of a new family; Faisal whispered something to Eventide and then returned the hug. Eventide turned to the Emir.

"Your Highness; Faisal Hadan; Hero of Sufaria, agrees to become my brother in name and title."

"By my decree; Faisal Hadan is now brother to Shaitan Bin Izurak and all that entails. There is now only one more reward that should be offered. To our valiant allies; the Knights of England and our ally the King; I present to you all, Ten chests of gold to be divided up among you all as a token of our thanks for your valued reply to our request for aid. That will be all, let us celebrate until the sun rises."

A loud cheer rang out over the plains as the celebrations began in earnest. The next morning the plains looked like a battle field with drunken men sleeping out in the open like so much cord wood; all that was missing was the heavy smell of blood to make it real.

The heat of the rising sun soon got men moving from their celebration stupor; it was going to be a long slow day for most of them as they tried to get over their head aches and the night of sleeping on the sand in their drunkenness.

Eventide awoke to another body in his bed; trying not to move his head to fast as it still felt tender from the night before; he glanced down at the body. A smile came over him as he saw Faisal cuddled up to him still fast asleep.

The red gash of his wound looked better and gave the small boy a fearsome look but Eventide knew that the new brother was just a small boy with no one else to watch over him. For the first time in his life, Eventide had a brother and the feeling of family began to take on a new meaning.

***

Two months later found Eventide and his new brother riding towards the castle of Tremaine in Lancaster. For Faisal it was the first time to travel out of his homeland; everything he saw brought questions and Eventide was only too glad to answer every one with patience and in detail.

The coldness of England and the almost continual rain had Faisal marvel at so much rain falling non-stop; it was a marvel he would never have seen at home. It was eventually the cold that almost made him change his mind; while the desert could be cold at night; this was the kind that he could not have imagined in his wildest dreams.

It was no surprise to eventide that Faisal decided to spend a lot of time huddled close to a roaring fire when given the opportunity.

The two boys would stay in England for another year and one more Squires Melee before they would once again travel back to the desert for Eventide's duty to Sufaria. It was the agreed time that Eventide would spend one year with Freeman and one year as Kahlif and that Faisal would go everywhere with him as a little brother should.

Freeman organised for Faisal to learn the English language as well as other lessons. After some discussion with Eventide; Freeman told Faisal that when Freeman passed away; Eventide would take over the lands of Lancaster and Faisal would be given his holdings in Flanders. The young boy could not believe what he was hearing but his wonder was soon put to rest as his new big brother nodded in agreement.

It now seemed that all was good in the world with a new little brother and his first real battle won; Eventide felt he was finally home. There were now only new adventures to be had but he was sure that with the new family and his many friends; all would be well.

The End