Chapter 276: Country Road~ Take Me Home~

After hearing the answers for the first two questions, the Mamluk Sultan hand gestured towards Abdullah and whispered before his ears. "Abdullah, tell me, are you a part of this coup tonight?"

Abdullah is choked with his pre prepared words bending his back there not knowing what to say. "Just be honest Abdullah, I need an honest answer."

Never in his life has Abdullah found a question so hard to answer. He opened his mouth with a great difficulty and answered. "Yes, your highness.. But I did this…"

"Say no more, I don't want to listen to your excuses." The Mamluk Sultan looks like he has got even more tired closing his eyes again and leaned back on to the dusty grass patch beneath letting the wild howling freezing wind of the night blow through his wrinkled face freely. "I don't want to hear… Now get lost before I open my eyes."

Abdullah stepped a step back, bowed deeply towards the Mamluk Sultan, and turned back walking towards his mount with out looking again. The Amir e Akhur of the Sultan Hussein quickly caught up and talked to Abdullah for the first time of the night. "Congratulations, Master Abdullah, you have succeeded in your diplomatic missions… Here is the mutual friendship pact that the scribe have prepared earlier on from the Sultan's own words, now it just requires your stamp." 

Abdullah stopped in his tracks in the stable and scrutinized the brown goat leather script under a dim light reading through the terms and clause stated briefly: 

The Mamluk Sultanate and the State of Rumelia under Antonius De'Ricci shall form a mutually beneficial relationship of friendship, the Mamluks shall send a reinforcement cavalry group consisting of a hundred elite Mamluks leading five hundred Circassian mounted archers and five hundred slave cavalries, together with another thousand Arabia horses including fifty uncircumcised male breeding horses to help to improve the genes of the horses in Antonius' army, and from now onwards the Rumelian carrying certificates granted by the Sultan shall be free to purchase horses from the Mamluks at a price more expensive than other Arab traders.

After that, the Rumelian shall be responsible to stop raiding of any flags carrying Mamluk banners, assist the Mamluk forces in naval joint missions when required, lay siege to the Ottoman holdings in Cicilia and the Christian kingdom of Cyprus under the Lusignan kings. Antonius shall also be subjected to pay an amount of  'appreciation fees' each year to the Mamluks in return for the faithful support.

Seeing this life saving treaty Abdullah made no further hesitations and stamped on to the paper with his signature.

Hussein smiled and rolled the paper back, watched as Abdullah got on to the horse holding a copy of the treaty, and reminded. "Master Abdullah, all the things as stated on this treaty shall be assembled together in Damietta in around seven days time, together with the other reinforcements sent by the bey of Levant. I do hope that you have gathered enough convoys and ships to transport these horses back to Rumelia, they require a lot of ships."

Abdullah frowned on the horse. "But I only brought one ship with me this time, and I need to get back to Thessaloniki first and take the ships over here first, can you be generous once more helping me this time?"

"Well, I can help you, but…" Hussein rolled his eyes with a cunning giggle and replied. "I do know a few cargo transporting tenants that operates on the seas. I do admit that I have some associations with them, of course, and they have been relatively malnourished recently due to a large cargo ship blocking the water ways, so they need some other business… I can recommend you to them at a relatively cheaper price, what do you think?"

Hussein rubbed his hands. Abdullah knew that this is a hand gesture asking for more money, he sighed and nodded heavily agreeing to this. "Fine, I shall rent these ships since it is recommended by you, Master Hussein, but I will only be able to pay them once I reached back to Thessaloniki."

"Sure, sure!" Catching such a big client Hussein hastily bowed and waved fare well to Abdullah, as the later started his horse and rode back to the Cairo Citadel, leaving the encampment of the Mamluk Sultan and the other nobles behind until they disappeared in his sight when he could not resist himself from looking back a while later. He knows that this is probably the last time that he sees the Mamluk Sultan, and also the last time he sees this land in a peaceful state. Lets just hope that the Sultan will be able to keep himself alive in the internal conflicts and unrests that follows.

Abdullah got back to his room in the Sultan's palace and immediately started packing his stuff preparing to leave this place as soon as possible, when his followers knew the information about their master's diplomatic success, they could no longer control themselves and started hugging in joy cheering for this rejoiceful moment, for they can finally leave this god damn place after so many days of night mares with so many scares fearing that their head might be suddenly chopped off one day.

Though in the middle of the celebration, only one man still sat there on the stool burying his face deep in to his knees. This man is non other than our dear master Fahim, who has burnt the last bit of brain cells begging to The Divine five times every single day feeling that he is more faithful to his God more than ever before. However, when he finally heard the news that they are now clear to go, he don't feel that rejoice like his counterparts, instead his mind is soon turning to be afraid, taken over by another kind of fear.

"Hey, my friend, wake up." Abdullah thought that his friend Fahim is just having a little bit of sleep on the stool and went to his side shaking his body. "We got to go; you need to pack all of your stuff in a short time. I will head to Damietta, and we shall part away in the middle section of the upper Nile River."

"No! no, no." Master Fahim suddenly began to shake his head frantically. "Hell no! You mean you are going back to Rumelia? And I shall be sent back to Alexandria? What if you offended any lord or the Mamluk Sultan making them decide to make an advantage hunting you down, but unable to find you so in the end they turn their blade to me? Will I be persecuted right in the middle of the street by those bunch of northern barbaric merciless Mamluks?"

Abdullah felt like laughing out. "No my friend I do think that you are merely being paranoid, no one is coming here to hunt you down, nor will any one seek advantage with me. You ought to be safe."

"Ought to, ought to." Master Fahim stammered repeating Abdullah's words. "You see, you used the words ought to right? Which means that even you, yourself is unsure whether I shall be persecuted, and now you are going to dump me back to Alexandria, even after screwing so much trouble for me?"

Abdullah got frustrated by this man yelling emotionally before him. "Okay, never mind, what do you want then? Do you need me to write a memo to Master Hussein and the Bey of Iskandriyya, asking them to not persecute you after you get back? Will that help? Oh, I still have some unused coins with me for this trip. You can take them if you want."

"No, what worth does gold have if your life is in danger?" Fahim retorted back. "Let me think… I heard that there are many followers of the True Faith in Rumelia under the rule of your admiral, perhaps I shall join in your admiral's court and guide those lost lambs as a formal rabbi, teaching them the teachings of the Holy Prophet."

"You want to join the services of the admiral?" Abdullah was not expecting this.

"Yes! Of course! Then what other choices do I have? Say no more, I shall go pack my stuff now."

Abdullah looked at his old friend going out of the door and asked his followers. "Is my friend Fahim always like this?"

"No, but he totally toppled our impression on him as a cleric man though."

"Well, that is pretty normal." Abdullah turned around packing his own stuff. "In the end of the day, the servants of God are still just plain normal human beings like you and me."

…

The pack of people went northwards following the river tracks of the Nile, this time in a much faster pace going all the way from Cairo to Damietta in less than seven days, and it is there they met the spectacular sight: thousands of horses galloping in the wet delta land feeding on the green grass patches, with the herds men around them and Mamluk warriors training for battle. Out in the sea's countless sea faring ships, in size of big and small, coming in to the port to load all of these creatures and wagons.

It is now time to go home.