The Medieval Marine - Cauldron Simmering
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 13: The Chase Is On
“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt.
Baghdad, Uqaylid Dynasty. October 1078
Malik arrived in Baghdad 10 days after leaving Isfahan. The trip had taken longer than he wanted because they ran into a dust storm and had to hunker down until it passed. As they began to ride again, a messenger caught up and informed Malik that Luke, Morvarid, and the twins had been sighted in Kashan. However, they escaped before they could be apprehended. The escape happened only an hour after news reached the city. Somehow, Luke discovered that he was being actively hunted and fled.
Malik sent the messenger back with orders to dispatch a group of riders to Kashan, instructing them to chase Luke wherever he went. With the news of Luke’s spotting, Malik knew he was on the right track, heading to Baghdad. After the dust storm, the trip was brutal, but they eventually reached Baghdad. When Malik arrived, he had to meet with the ruler of the Uqaylid Dynasty, Muslim ibn Quraysh, to continue his search for Luke.
Malik wasn’t worried about the meeting since he and Muslim ibn Quraysh were on reasonable terms, given that ibn Quraysh was his vassal. Although Muslim ibn Quraysh was tired of Seljuk interference, he wasn’t about to disrespect the Sultan.
“Greetings My Sultan. To what do we owe the visit?”
“One of my prisoners has escaped and burned most of Isfahan to the ground. He corrupted my sister and murdered the governor of Balkh. I am here to personally direct the search for him. When I capture him, he will be taken back to Isfahan for trial before he is executed.”
“Why take him back?”
“I want the people to see the trial of the man who killed so many of their family members.”
“What does this man look like, and why do you think he would be coming here?”
“He was last seen in Kashan and will be headed west. He was a British general before he was captured in Egypt. The last time I saw him, he told me he was going home.”
“And Baghdad is west of Kashan. What can I do to help.? What does he look like?”
“I need every one of your guards looking for him. He is a large man with light brown hair and blue eyes.”
“The blue eyes should make things easier. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“He is traveling with my sister and her two servants.”
“Guzal and Tuija?”
“You know them?”
“I like redheads.”
“And Tuija is a redhead. So, you know who I am looking for?”
“Yes. What are you going to do with them?”
“Sell them into slavery.”
“If they are captured here, I want the twins.”
“I have no problem with that. How many troops do you have here?”
“250.”
“Not enough.”
“How about we give his description to the people? They have many more eyes than we do, and if they are properly motivated, they will find your prisoner if he steps foot in the city.”
“Would 500 Gold Dinars for his capture be enough?” ibn Quraysh’s eyes bulged.
“Yes, I think so.”
“Then we should get started.”
Malik and Ibn Quraysh began reviewing all the information, including the expected arrival times of trade caravans and the locations of other river crossings. Malik didn’t think Luke would travel with a trade caravan, but they may have seen him. He also didn’t believe Luke would enter Baghdad. Instead, he would cross the Tigris and Euphrates at remote locations, most likely at night. Finding the escaped prisoner would be a tall order, but Malik threw all his attention at it.
After ibn Quraysh left, Malik looked at a map of the region that he nailed to a wall. The area’s rivers, roads, towns, and hills were on the map. Although the map bore little resemblance to reality, Malik knew Luke was somewhere on the map. Tracing the trade route only did so much since the trade route from Kashan had several branches that Luke could take. Maybe he diverted north to Mosul?
At the moment, Malik was wondering where Luke was; Luke was stretched out on a bed in Mosul with Morvarid sucking her juices off his cock while each twin lay on one of his shoulders, Guzal on the left, and Tuija on his right. Both twins were as nude as Morvarid and Luke and had a leg over one of Luke’s legs, their furry crotches tickling his thigh. He was glad all three women had kept their fur, as he loved running his fingers through it. While Tuija’s fur was a shade darker than her red hair, Guzal’s was almost white, and Luke hoped she would begin tanning in Britain. He looked forward to seeing her light hair against bronzed skin.
The trip to Mosul had been long and hot but relatively dull. Luke figured he was expected to follow the trade routes to head west, so instead, he went northwest. After they escaped from the Kashan guards, Luke knew he would need to mix things up and disappear. Disappearing wasn’t tricky since they avoided most towns and slept in their tent. For food, Luke hunted, fished, or traded with local farmers for grain. Morvarid did the actual trading, so very few people would see Luke’s face. To help conceal her beauty, Morvarid would apply dust to her face or use makeup to create fake scars or beauty marks. With her hair covered, nobody recognized her.
While traveling, Luke didn’t hesitate to pause occasionally to appreciate the area’s natural beauty or ancient remains. While speed was critical, Luke knew he would never see this area again, and some of the views were too good to pass up. If only there was more time to sketch some of the more impressive sights. While in Kashan, he had bought some paper and ink. Every evening, Luke wrote about the day’s experiences and thoughts.
Writing forced Luke to confront his thoughts and feelings regarding Morvarid and the twins. Since their spat in Kashan, they had been civil but distant toward each other. To survive and remain free, they had to rely on each other, but they kept their distance personally. Luke didn’t want to be tempted again, while Morvarid wanted to give Luke time to work through his thoughts. Morvarid didn’t know much about men, so she relied on the twins, especially Tuija. Tuija knew Luke the best of the three and strongly advised Morvarid not to push but to let him come to her. It was okay to express her feelings, but then she should step back and give him time to process them.
Night after night, Luke wrote down his thoughts and fears, and to keep anyone from reading them, he used his version of German. During the first several evenings, Luke also wrote down what happened to him during captivity, starting with the charge in Egypt. Many times while writing, Luke cried as emotions that had been stomped down so he wouldn’t crack came to the surface. There, the tears could wash them away, and Luke always felt a little better afterward.
During one sweltering night, Morvarid and the twins were introduced to Luke’s flashbacks. They were three days west of Hamadan when the flashback struck. As they usually slept, Luke slept on the outside, thus allowing him to respond quickly to any threats while Morvarid slept beside him. The twins switched who slept next to Morvarid.
Naturally, Morvarid woke up first when she noticed Luke almost vibrating. As soon as she could focus and sit up, Luke entered the next stage of his flashback and began thrashing violently. Without Morvarid lying beside her, Guzal was in the way of one of Luke’s punches, and she ended up with a black eye. While Luke thrashed and screamed things that made no sense to the women, Morvarid was trying to wake him up without success.
It wasn’t until Tuija threw water into Luke’s face that he sat upright and gasped. It had been the first flashback he had suffered in years, but he didn’t know why. As Luke calmed down, he looked into the frightened eyes of Morvarid, Guzal, and Tuija. They had never been through one of Luke’s flashbacks. He told them that he was going to step outside to take a walk. They should go back to sleep because he would be up the rest of the night.
Unsurprisingly, Morvarid followed Luke out and, after forcing him to sit, sat on his lap and laid her head against his shoulder.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“Flashback from when I was much younger.” Morvarid looked at him, expecting him to continue, but he didn’t.
“And? Luke, tell me because I’m not moving until you do.” Luke sighed.
“You will not understand.”
“Try me.”
“No.”
“Luke, talk to me. I promise not to judge.”
“And you will not believe me.”
“I will.”
“It is not time. Morvarid, while I am beginning to trust you, this secret can destroy the world as you know it if it falls into the wrong hands. Marion knows my secret and, under my guidance, has learned to use it correctly. I can tell you that I have lost many people that I love and have seen too much death long before I ever set foot in Britannia. I promise to tell you before we arrive in Great Britain. Will that work?” She nodded, afraid to speak.
Morvarid had so many questions she didn’t know where to start. She knew Luke was different, but she couldn’t imagine how different. Realizing Luke was suffering, Morvarid’s arms wrapped around his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder. Crying, Morvarid could feel the pain he carried and knew she wouldn’t survive carrying that much pain. Morvarid also silently promised herself that she would never add to them.
Eventually, Morvarid fell asleep, but it was troubled. Her imagination ran wild, imagining what secrets Luke held and what pain he had suffered while not realizing she couldn’t imagine the depths of his pain.
For his part, Luke sat quietly as he rubbed Morvarid’s back to comfort her. His mind was more occupied with determining why he had a flashback. As near as he could figure, the night’s heat triggered it. It was roughly as hot as it had been the night he had been wounded. Since Luke was seated facing east, he watched the sky lighten. As the color slowly shifted from dark purple to red, then to orange, and finally to yellow, Luke knew he would have to tell the women his story, but not at that moment.
Luke moved Morvarid to where she was sitting comfortably with a blanket over her so he could make breakfast. Breakfast consisted of oatmeal with dried berries added for sweetness and flavor. In a separate pan, Luke fried some sausage he had bought from the last Christian community they had passed through. It had been years since Luke had pork, and he was glad to eat it again, although he missed bacon. Now, if he could get a good ham and some mashed potatoes, he would be all set.
The twins crawled out of the tent at the smell of breakfast, and Luke smiled at seeing their sleep tousled hair. It was comforting for Luke to see a woman he loved with their hair messed up from sleep as one could see the real woman instead of the front they put on.
All three women refused to eat the sausage, which was fine with Luke since that meant there was more for him. While he ate, he noticed the twins eyeing the sausage while trying to avoid being noticed by Morvarid. Finally, Luke stood and placed a piece of sausage on the twin’s plates. He stood over them with his arms crossed and stared down at them.
The twins looked up and smiled as they had not had pork products in many years. Without looking at their former mistress, the twins quickly ate the sausage and smiled at Luke. He nodded and returned to his seat to see Morvarid glaring at him.
“What?” Luke asked. “Pork is a large part of the diet in Europe, so the sooner you get used to it, the better.”
Morvarid was trying to leave her past life behind, but life-long habits were deeply ingrained. Then Luke took the last piece of sausage and held it up to Morvarid’s mouth. There were no words, but she knew what he wanted her to do. Luke stared into her eyes without blinking and waited for her to open. Morvarid slowly opened her mouth enough for Luke to put the sausage in. He then used his hand to gently close her mouth. Still looking at Luke, Morvarid chewed and swallowed, although every instinct told her to spit it out.
After Morvarid swallowed, the twins smiled and moved to hug her between them. They knew how hard that had been for Morvarid and were happy that she trusted Luke enough to allow him to feed her forbidden meat.
To keep her mind off her stomach, Luke had Morvarid begin packing to leave. It was time for them to get on the road for the day. As they traveled, Luke told them stories of his life in Britain and how the people had reacted, although he refused to answer any questions regarding his origins. As Luke told his story, Morvarid noticed that many questions she had before they escaped made sense.
As they rode, they would switch horses as needed. While one of the women held the reins, Luke worked on new stirrups. He had the leatherworking tools tied to his belt so he wouldn’t drop them, and they would be available. To the women’s surprise, it didn’t take Luke long to make and install the first set on his saddle when they stopped to water their horses. After he installed them, he had the women try them, and they found how superior Luke’s stirrups were to the ones they had been using.
It took Luke several days to make enough stirrups for everyone, and by the time he was done, Luke was out of leather, and his hands were killing him. To everyone’s surprise, nobody they met on the roads knew who they were or seemed to care. The area was suffering from a drought, and usable water was scarce. After all, this was in the middle of the Medieval Warm Period, and while Europe was more habitable, the Middle East was dryer than usual.
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