Continued from Chapter 11 - Part II
| Dramatis Personae |
Nabati:
Mun'at Ha'Qadri: General of the Nabati army, tasked with uniting the tribes of Arabia and subduing the Saba' confederations that control Arabia Felix.
Shullai Ha'Maleki: Prince of the Nabati, riding south under Mun'at's command.
Ravîv'êl Bikrum: Crown Prince of the Nabati. Currently governing the conquered settlement of Dedan.
Malka Qênu: King of the Nabati, and leader of the united tribes.
Rana'in: Elder warrior and long-time friend of Mun'at.
Khalil: Raider under Mun'at's command, usually tasked with leading the cavalry and light skirmishers.
Haza'el: Captain of the Nabati.
Wayyuq: A spy and pathfinder in the service of the Nabati, but not of their tribe.
Sabeans (Saba'):
Mubsamat: Queen of the Saba' with ambitions to end the tribal rivalries that plague her people.
Tharin: Captain of Mubsamat's guard, tasked with contacting the approaching Nabati on Mubsamat's behalf and bringing them over to her cause.
Zaadi Il'Bayyin: Often referred to as "Lord of the Northpass", Zaadi is a Qayl (higher official) of the Saba', and the ringleader of a group of nobles arrayed against Mubsamat.
Halik Il'Yakif: Landowner and noble of the Saba' who initially followed Zaadi's plans but has since been turned by Mubsamat.
Far'am Rafshan: Half-Qatabani exile who was in league with Zaadi Il'Bayyin, until Zaadi killed him.
Karab: Son of the Athtar Yazi' clan and great leader of the Hashidi warriors of the northern plateau. He is also in league with Zaadi against Mubsamat.
Hasan: Deceased brother of Karab.
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Chapter 11
By Darkest Night
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(Part III)
Zaadi's numbers had been bled in the brief war with Far'am's half-Qatabani tribes, yet even so, between his own remaining men and Karab's Hashidi warriors, he still commanded over eight hundred soldiers, each of them tried and tested. The false queen, Mubsamat, had five times that number, the Nabati as many again, but Zaadi no longer feared their strength, for his enemies relied on the combined wills of dozens of clans, hundreds of families, and all it would take is a single quarrel to unravel that fragile confederation. The queen and the Nabati simply believed too much that the peoples of Arabia could be so easily united, and Zaadi would gladly show them the magnitude of that lie. And all he needed in order to do so was to move his soldiers unseen across the plain. Then victory might yet be his.
Once night had fully descended, the blackness shrouding their movements, Zaadi led his men from their valley of hiding. They crept forward slowly, methodically, and with utmost care. Every scrap of metal upon them had been rubbed with soot mixed in oil, and anything which might rattle or break the still had been wrapped in felt; they were pools of shadow and silence moving through the dark. Shortly after beginning, one of them stumbled over a loose smooth stone, his suddenly heavy steps seeming to ring out in declaration of their presence, but a half-drawn blade and look from Karab ensured the mistake would not be repeated. After that, there was nothing at all to betray their movement through the night.
At first, Zaadi guided them toward the distant mound of lights with purpose, choosing a straight course over the broken land without deviation. However, before long he was forced to wend this way and that to avoid the thousand torches and fires that were scattered before them. With each passing minute they moved deeper and deeper into the maze of shadow and light, Zaadi's keen eyes somehow managing to always find a stretch of darkness through which they might pass unnoticed, until finally their progress was halted.
Zaadi held up a hand, the motion nearly invisible in the dark, yet his warriors somehow saw and obeyed, their long line bunching slightly as each man took a final step before stopping. In the inky blackness it was near impossible to mark one from the next, but after a short time Karab managed to find Zaadi. The younger Hashidi captain crept up to his lord's side, leaned in, and whispered so lowly that even Zaadi could only just make out the words.
"What do you see?" he asked in breathy tones.
Zaadi slowly shook his head, before raising his chin and sniffing the air. Carried on the night winds were many smells, the rich earthy scents of well-watered fields, the heavy aromas of the more distant orchards, but over it all lay the dull reek of wool and old sweat. Straining his ears, Zaadi also thought he heard the low snuffling sounds of dumb beasts dreaming their simple dreams, and a nod from Karab confirmed his fears; there was a shepherd nearby, his flock about him.
In the cloying gloom Zaadi could hardly make out Karab's features, but the brooding silence told him his captain was just as deep in thought as he, both men furiously searching for a solution to their problem. They had crossed half the distance to their goal already, and they could no longer turn back. The uneven ground gave some measure of cover, but not near enough for Zaadi's company, and they would need to be hidden before dawn's light betrayed their actions. Yet the fires and torches scattered around them left few avenues of darkness over which they might tread. They would have to pass the shepherd and his flock, and do so without him calling out in alarm or learning of their presence there.
With a glance at the stars above, Zaadi judged the night to already be half expended. He turned to Karab, and with his lips nearly brushing the younger man's ear he whispered, "There is not time to go around. We must move forward, and soon, or we die here come dawn..." His voice trailed away, leaving unspoken the question of how to move a small army past a herd of sheep and goats unnoticed.
"Kill the shepherd?" Karab answered after only a moment's thought.
A heavy silence followed as Zaadi considered the idea. He had had the same notion already, but for all its merits in simplicity, it was too fraught with risks. Zaadi shook his head, the motion lost in the night, before adding, "The flock would bolt, and someone would notice. We cannot use violence."
"Then what?" Karab answered. "We cannot kill him or sneak past him, and if any of us are found out, then we are done for. But I see no other alternatives."
Karab's tone was dour, heavy with doom, but in his words Zaadi saw the shape of an idea. A smile cracked his lips, his white teeth shining alone in the pools of black that masked his face. "I forgot you never were a shepherd, Karab."
"What?"
"I was just a boy when last I tended any flocks," Zaadi continued quietly, "but I remember those days still, and I tell you there is one thing no shepherd will ever gladly do, and that is meet strangers by night."
"I do not understand."
"I will explain Karab, but before I do, find three men whom you trust, well-blooded soldiers with nothing to prove."
Karab did as was asked, silently padding back through the ranks, only to return a few minutes later with three other men behind him. Zaadi could only just make out the shape of each, and could hardly see their faces, but from their steady breathing and solid bearing he judged them to be the sort he needed. At a whisper from Zaadi the small troop leaned in toward one another, and he quickly relayed his plan. A few murmured questions followed, and then the five of them set off in the direction of the shepherd.
The small band loped along quietly, no sound passing between them, until they were only two score paces from the boy and his flock, when one of Karab's chosen men whispered, "I see him."
He had made as if to speak covertly, yet the hiss of his words snapped through the night air with sharpness. In answer, Zaadi shushed him with urgency.
"What? I didn't say a thing." responded another of the men.
"Shut up, the both of you!" Zaadi snapped, his voice rising ever so slightly in volume, a trace of anger putting heat into his tone.
After that, not one of them dared to speak another word, and a wave of restless sounds from the goats and sheep led Zaadi and the others to instinctively hold their breath. A long moment of perfect still stretched, and in that heavy silence Zaadi could hear the blood pounding through his ears, the sound seeming loud enough to him to wake half the world. He counted away the seconds, and as the soft melodies of sleep again began to rise from the flock ahead he judged the time to be right.
"Are you ready?" Zaadi whispered, keeping his voice as low as he could while still speaking loud enough for the other four men to hear.
"Ready." came the reply from Karab and each of the three others, and the men began to fan out in a wide arc around one side of the flock. Their eyes flicked from the animals ahead to one another, judging their distances carefully to ensure that nothing might slip past them once they made their final move. Zaadi's plan was a good one, and it seemed to have no chance of failing, when suddenly Karab sneezed.
He did his best to muffle the sound, but in the close quiet of night it rang out like a thunderclap. In an instant the goats were bleating in fear at the men who had managed to come so impossibly close, the animal's cries given urgency by their terror. Zaadi knew then that there was no way to calm the beasts, and he turned to his right, to where he judged Karab to be. "You fool!" he shouted, all thought of secrecy banished by the panicking flock. "How will we get them now?!"
"We can still take half the flock and more." Karab answered defensively.
"The boy will see us. Would you have him know our faces?" Zaadi snapped back.
"Kill the boy then." chimed in one of Karab's men to the left.
"I will not kill a boy over a goat." answered Karab, after which he spat an insult. The slight was followed by a dozen quick footsteps in the dark, and then a closed fist. The blow caught Karab above his eye, but as he fell to the ground he swung a leg, knocking his attacker down beside him. They could not see one another, but they grappled and rolled in the dust, spewing curses and lashing out with knees and elbows whenever they thought they might do some hurt. An instant later Zaadi was on them both. He could not make out their faces, but it did not matter. He cuffed left and right, reached down around the shoulders of one, and threw him off the other, creating a brief moment of peace while the men were separated. And then, as suddenly as their composure had cracked, the group of five men was again calm. They took long breaths, quieting their lungs and hearts, and as silence enfolded them they could each just make out the sounds of many cloven feet already far distant, and steadily growing quieter.
A smile spread over Zaadi's face. "And that is how you despatch a shepherd, Karab." he said playfully.
Karab grunted in answer, adding, "But he knows we were here."
"He knows some fools came in the night to take his flock, but were too ill-prepared to kill a boy with a stick." Zaadi corrected. "He does not know that we were here." Zaadi glanced at the sky. "But we must get back and move the men quickly, or soon enough the shepherd and everyone else will know we are here."
Without waiting to see if the others followed, Zaadi turned back toward his hidden force, his legs taking the distance in bounding strides. The night was still dark, but already the first ghost light of dawn had begun its silent glide over the earth. In such gloom it was near impossible to make out any feature of the land, but Zaadi remembered his way well, guiding Karab and the others to their waiting comrades with assurance. They regained the ranks of the hiding army soon enough, Zaadi whistling a call at their approach to prevent a scout's arrow taking him through the throat, and as soon as he was amongst them he once again looked at the sky.
Zaadi cursed to himself silently. They had still not reached their goal, and the dark would be with them for only a short time more. They would again be forced to hide through the long day, waiting for the cover of shade. Yet they were no longer on the fringes of the plain, protected by distance and the freedom of open land at their backs. He had led them far into the lion's den, and somehow, in the very midst of their enemies, they would have to find a space beyond prying eyes. It seemed a fool's errand, but it was their only choice.
Choking down the uncertainty rising in his breast, Zaadi gave the signal to move, the order being whispered back through the ranks of his waiting warriors, and as one they rose to continue their march.
Not one of them knew the safest way forward, nor where they might while away the coming day unseen, and in the knowledge of that ignorance Zaadi spread a wide arc of scouts before him. They moved silently, and in that they made themselves as ghosts, but each minute the gray on the eastern horizon shifted ever more toward the rose hues of dawn. Day was breaking, and still they walked.
Zaadi's eyes flickered from the menace of the brightening sky to the marching ranks of his men, and he whistled a rising call. In answer, they sped their feet, trotting lightly over the uneven plain. They were moving far more quickly than they had in the dead hours of the night, desperation and creeping doom speeding them toward their goal, yet still they could not hope to reach it before the sun would rise. And still they had found nowhere to hide themselves.
A spell of panic swept through Zaadi then. Day would come. They would be found. And when that happened, they would die. Every last one of them would perish. They would fight long and well, he knew that, but in the end they would be overcome, the sheer weight of their enemy crushing them to dust. The only hope they had ever had lay in secrecy and cleverly concealed deceit, but the dawn would show the lie he had sought to spin, and truth would destroy him. Zaadi knew that. He took a deep breath and put on a cold face. Knowledge of his own certain destruction would not make him embrace it, not ever.
The eastern sky was blooming more and more with the soft brightness of a Levantine rose, and Zaadi finally determined to forsake all remaining caution. He raised a hand, halting the men behind him, and he turned to face them. Each looked back at him, a cold determination lighting their eyes from behind, and Zaadi took a deep breath. He would shout rage and defiance into them, and they would make their final stand, riding the crest of dawn against their enemies. They would all die, but they could still cut a tale bloody and deep enough to mark them in the history of their people. Zaadi opened his mouth to speak, yet just as the first words were forming in his mind, a scout's keening whistle cut the morning air. Zaadi turned to the call's source, and saw one of his men frantically pointing over the plain. Following the man's gestures, Zaadi swept his gaze onto a low dark smudge some few hundred paces from them. It was a farmstead surrounded by outbuildings, the whole of it only just betrayed by the growing light of day.
Relief washed over Zaadi like summer rain, and at a gesture his force began bolting toward the huddle of clay structures. They had found a hiding place, and they would live to fight another day. More than that, they would live to strike down the false queen's power. Zaadi would see her strength broken, and he might lead the Saba' in shattering the northmen who had come at her call. The upland plateau could be made clean again, and its might spread over Arabia. Zaadi would have it all.
Continue to Chapter 11 - Part IV
Re: Written in Sand (Nabataean AAR for EBII)[updated: Jan 15]
Originally Posted by Kilo11
) Two years ago I started using a beerapp called Beers to keep track of my consumption of beers. I've got almost 250 different beers atm (and there are a lot of beers I've had before I started using the app that I haven't drunk again since) If you haven't already had the Rochefort 10 (make sure it's the 10, the 8 is good but nowhere near as good as the 10) it really is one of the best Belgian beers out there (in my humble opinion of course).
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), but all of us love the craft and try to find time to do it more. We just do the best we can, and hopefully stick with it to the end of a tale! 
, I demand you to publish that book.
That is the best of compliments! I won't say anything more about your comment, cause I don't want to taint any future reading, but I love that you care about them!
)
