Chapter 16

Under a new moon, I watched the first landing boats filled with Demons slip into the water and head for a small beach the captain had pointed out just before the sun set. The rest of our fleet was still a little farther offshore so the ships wouldn’t be seen. They would meet us later at a small port a short ride south of here. It had docks where we could unload the horses, wagons, and cannons. Once the Demons secured the beach here, their horses were herded overboard to swim ashore. I had felt relieved when King Edward was satisfied with what he had already witnessed of our tactics and sailed from Malaga back to London. He would stop in New Aragon and drop off the concubines I had collected from the two palaces, as well as the plunder and the engineers. In New Aragon, they would be put aboard a smaller ship bound for Rouen. Several ships usually left each day, headed upriver.

Once we secured the town, a small, shielded fire near the docks was our signal to the remainder of the fleet and the first part of that fleet headed for port. Ships transporting just soldiers anchored slightly offshore and rowed the men ashore while the docks were busy with wagons, cannons, and horses, although a lot of the horses swam ashore. Well before dawn, we finished unloading and were ready to ride. One of Rolt’s men rode up to let us know that the Demons had been busy last night. Explosives had been buried near three of the city gates, the guards on the walls had been killed or captured, several fires had been set in the city, and the Demons had wailed much of the night, terrorizing the inhabitants of the city and the soldiers therein.

A few braver groups of Marinid troops came out to see what the racket was only to be captured. One who died was returned to the city on his horse, claw marks covering much of his upper body and face like the guards killed on the walls of the city. The Demon’s major accomplishment though, was the death of the Marinid Emir in his bed. The troops Rolt and Oquendo had captured trying to get ashore at Malaga had told us that there were nearly 20,000 troops still in Tetouan, waiting impatiently for the troop transports to return.

With our troops now covering all exits from the city, the Demons began their wailing again, this time just as the sun rose and I rode towards the southern gate of the city. I stopped about four hundred yards away, an easy shot for me, and made several offensive gestures to the thousands of troops that suddenly lined the walls. “Open your gates and surrender,” I shouted in hastily learned Arabic. I hoped I didn’t butcher the pronunciation too badly. “If you are afraid to fight me, just send me your women,” I yelled, again making vulgar gestures.

I have no idea what they were shouting back at me, but I fired several arrows at the wall, toppling some of their troops. They fired back, the closest of their arrows falling a hundred or more yards short. Next, I picked a target in a tower beyond the city walls. Their jeering stopped when my target fell from the window of the tower. Thrusting my bow into the air three times, seemingly in celebration, I signaled Cheng to light the fuses for the south gate.

I continued to keep the soldiers on the walls busy dodging my arrows, if they could, until the barely visible smoke trail was almost to the gates. My next arrow hit the wooden gates, penetrating so that several inches of the shaft penetrated the gate, and I thrust my bow into the air again.

The ensuing explosion toppled part of the wall on one side of the gate and blew the gate off the other side. The soldiers on the wall started shouting and pointing emphatically behind me when they looked back at me. I didn’t need to look behind me. When the gates blew, Chen would have ignited the smoke powder so our archers and cannons could get into place unseen. I was there to shout a warning if the Marinids charged out from the city before the smoke cleared.

The commotion atop the walls increased once the wind blew away the smoke and my troops and cannons to the south of the city became visible. Anuk rode over in the regal Marinid clothing he had appropriated from the Palace in Granada. Climbing down from his horse, he knelt next to me and presented their Emir’s sword to me, the one taken when the Demons killed him the previous night, and the Sultan’s sword taken in Granada. “Send out a slave to get your dead Emir’s sword and the sword of the dead Sultan of Granada,” he shouted to the city. “Then surrender to your new Sultan or die trying foolishly to avenge the death of your old one,” he goaded.

We had to wait for quite a while before a black slave built much like the ones Al-Nasr sent me exited the city and approached nervously. “Approach,” I said in my best regal tone and using some of the tiny amount of Arabic the ten women, two wives, and an amused Anuk had been able to teach me. Bowing with almost every step, he approached and Anuk gave him the swords to take to the city for verification. “You may go,” I told him and he backed away for a good fifty feet before turning and sprinting barefoot through the hot sand and dust all the way back to the destroyed gate.

Not long after, a lone figure approached on horseback, stopping and dismounting a ways away before walking forward, bowing every few feet as he approached. I had no idea what he was saying, but he got into a heated discussion with Anuk. Anuk turned to me. “He wants your promise that they won’t be fed to the wild animals they keep hearing, and that you won’t slaughter the civilians,” he said grinning but making sure the man couldn’t see him.

Nodding to the man, I instructed Anuk to tell him that my Demons don’t eat people; they only kill soldiers when I tell them to. I also promised that I didn’t kill anyone unless they fought me, and I wouldn’t seriously disrupt their way of life. They would even be allowed to continue practicing their religion. The emissary was both pleased and surprised, asking a couple more questions of Anuk before handing me the Sultan’s sword, the Emir’s sword, and his own, and then bowing subserviently.

I had Anuk find out from him where else troops were garrisoned, and if they would surrender or fight. Each city had a small garrison that would surrender, and there were many troops in the south to protect it from raids by Berbers and Bedouins, and to protect what was left of the lucrative overland trade route that helped enrich the coffers of the government, as well as the merchants. The rest were at the city of Tlemcen in the east, laying siege to the Abdalwadid capital as they tried to take control of the Abdalwadid territory in addition to retaking the Iberian Peninsula.

Finding out it would be a three-week march through the desert heat and the mountains, I elected to sail there, or at least as close as we could get. Most of my troops, and a sizeable number of the surrendered Marinid troops, went to consolidate control of the rest of Marinid territory. I gave instructions to have architects, engineers, and craftsmen who could build cities and elegant palaces sent to Rouen, along with their families, all books they came across, and the wealth of the former Sultan and his Emirs.

I also wanted a detailed account of each city, what they imported, what they produced to trade, what animals and crops they raised, and how many people were in the city. Rouen would begin sending plows, sturdy horses, and a few cattle to Fes to see if it helped increase their agricultural output. I also intended to send a couple of farmers who had learned to use row agriculture instead of just broadcasting the seeds by hand to improve yields.

With 15,000 of my troops, 5,000 of the Marinid cavalry and four cannons, we set sail. Commander Lftit, who had just surrendered the town to us, went with us to command the surprised Marinid cavalry, and to help convince their troops to disengage from the siege. The former Sultan’s chief Vizier also came with us to bring me up to speed on the territory I had just captured. My troops and the Marinid troops remaining behind were split into four groups. One would make a circuit of the peninsula to the north and then go east. The other three would go southwest down the coast, southeast to Sijilmasa and environs, and directly south to Marrakesh and everything else in that direction. The cannons were sent back to Malaga so as not to slow the expeditions down.

Captain Lftit and Anuk spent a lot of time talking during the five-day boat and horseback trip to Tlemcen. Lftit was surprised with my tolerance of other religions and the fact that I only attacked when someone attacked an ally or me. He was especially impressed with our black powder, cannons, and the range and speed of our longbows, as well as the fact that so many of our primary forces were equipped with expensive Damascus steel swords.

With Lftit doing the talking, the besieging troops were quickly convinced, and even eager, to break the siege and return home. As they were leaving, Anuk and I rode toward the city, stopping out of range of their archers. “Tell Sultan Abu Said Uthman that the new Marinid Sultan sent his troops home and has no desire to fight the Abdalwadid,” Anuk called out to the men on the walls. To the cheers of hundreds of their soldiers, we headed back to oversee the troops as they prepared to leave.

One of them pointed out two riders leaving the city headed in our direction so Anuk and I headed to meet them. “It’s the Sultan’s Vizier,” Anuk said as we neared them. Instead of being grateful that I’d called off the siege, their Vizier tore into us. I could see Anuk getting angrier and angrier. Finally, Anuk managed to get a word in and explained that the Sultan insisted on us paying him for any damage done during the siege.

“Tell him that that I have no intention of paying anything,” I instructed.

“I already did. He insists that their Sultan will attack and take many of your cities if you don’t pay him,” Anuk said angrily. Anuk’s eyes widened when I asked him to tell me how to say something in Arabic. He leaned over and whispered it to me so the Vizier couldn’t hear.

My eyes flashing angrily, I told the Vizier, “I will send you a hundred swine for your Sultan to mate with.” The already-scowling Vizier whipped his knife out and threw it at me. I breathed again when it barely punctured the paper armor and then fell harmlessly to the ground. Seeing the failure of the Vizier, his bodyguard tried the same thing with the same results. I called Anuk back when he drew his sword and started to chase after them. He would have been in range of their archers before he could catch either of the riders. I had my bow strung and dropped both riders well before they were out of my range.

The gate of the city suddenly erupted with riders like an anthill that had been disturbed. “Go,” I ordered Anuk who refused and readied his crossbow. I was pretty worried by the time I was down to my last few arrows. Over forty of their riders had gone down already, each replaced by three others.

Just as I drew my next-to-last arrow, a cloud of arrows fell into the charging cavalry followed quickly by a second, and then a third. The thunder of thousands of hooves behind me announced the arrival of reinforcements as the newly acquired Marinid cavalry rushed past me and put themselves between the city and me in case there was another charge.

My archers rode right behind them and released several more volleys of arrows into the city. With no archers left alive on the walls, several of the Demons rode up and scaled the walls, followed quickly by over a hundred more. The lone cannon we had brought roared to life, lobbing an iron ball deep inside the city while two of the Demons set charges and blew a gate open.

“That was a serious insult,” Anuk said as we watched one of the Demons on the wall pulling up a pack containing several grenades while another retrieved a lit punk.

“So was his demand,” I replied. The explosions from the grenades quickly joined the roar of the cannon and then one of the Demons signaled the cavalry into the city, which halted the cannon. This time it looked like ants scurrying back into the anthill as the Marinid cavalry charged eagerly into the city through the demolished gate, as well as a second gate the Demons had opened.

Not long after, the archers entered the city and finally, Rolt motioned for me to enter the city. Aside from cheering Marinid troops everywhere, the city was very subdued. Enemy troops were dead or guarded in clusters throughout the city. Anuk made the announcement for our troops to take all prisoners outside the gates where I could talk to everyone at once, and that nobody was to be hurt unless they tried to fight. Anuk asked several groups whom the highest-ranking officer was and was directed to him. The officer led us to the Sultan and his sons who were hiding in the palace. Once we found them, I had them tied up and taken out with the remaining troops.

In front of his captured troops, both the Sultan and his sons reluctantly renounced any claim to the title of Sultan, conferring the title on me. I picked the fifty nearest Abdalwadid soldiers and charged them with keeping the two young men safe as long as they kept their word and didn’t try to regain the title of Sultan. They were rushed to a ship that would be returning to Rouen with looted valuables, books, and the top engineers. Twenty of my men were assigned to take the Sultan to my ship and guard him. His highest-ranking viziers came with me.

For the next several days we sorted out the population of the city sending half of them to Granada to begin preparing ground for more sugar cane, olive trees, citrus trees (my wives are exceptionally fond of oranges), and grapes for wine which my wives are also fond of. Those crops had a ready market and brought a good price. Pease would be very happy when he heard the news and happier still when he began selling the highly profitable crops.

The remainder of the population, mostly craftsmen and merchants, would eventually go to Rouen. However, for now, they began tearing the city apart and hauling the stone to the nearby river. There, it was floated on shallow draft barges to the port of Rachgoun, then loaded aboard the waiting ships we’d captured to transport it to Malaga for expanding the port facilities there, or on to New Aragon, Rouen, Ronne, or York. Only the mosque was to be left undamaged. Some of the stone going to Rouen would undoubtedly be used to build a mosque there since we would have so many Muslims. I wondered if I’d be able to hear the Pope screaming all the way from Rome.

“You and my Uncle are neighbors now,” Anuk laughed. That was the first time that I realized how much territory I had just acquired.

“Do you think he would be interested in buying part of it?” I asked. Anuk gasped at the thought of voluntarily giving up territory. “My troops would be spread too thin to control such a large area. I would rather have a smaller area I can protect than a larger one I will have to fight for constantly and will eventually lose,” I explained.

It was my turn to gasp at the cartloads of valuables taken from the palace while Anuk asked one of the Sultan’s minor advisers to bring us maps of their lands. I chose what appeared to be a major port, Bizerte, the northernmost port, and the closest port to Rome. According to the maps, the mountains reached the sea just east of the port forming a natural physical boundary. Anuk almost fell off the stool he was sitting on when I asked if he thought his Uncle would mind if I let him be my Emir in the territory I was keeping. “He will be as surprised as I am but he won’t mind. In fact, I believe it will make him very happy and proud,” he answered.

“Perhaps I could govern the Marinid territory and my brother, Farad, could govern the Abdalwadid territory. Fes is too far from the Abdalwadid territory, and this is the only big city close to both territories. You could set up a second capital here,” he suggested, pointing at the port city of Algiers. At least he was diplomatic in pointing out my screw-up of ordering the city torn down before fully understanding everything about the area.

Once I was sure the demolition of the city was well underway, I sent 40,000 of the combined Marinid/Abdalwadid/Rouennaise troops east to consolidate the rest of the territory in that direction. Twenty thousand more boarded our ships and we headed east to the city Anuk had chosen as the second capital.

Three weeks and two skirmishes later, all the territory I wanted to sell to Anuk’s uncle was ours. For now. After a quick trip by sea around the peninsula to Bizerte, I saw our flag flying over the port. Sending the Abdalwadid Sultan and the treasure confiscated from Algiers and Bizerte to Rouen on another ship, Anuk and I headed for Cairo.

A week later, I was definitely glad that Anuk was with me. The Mameluk troops in Alexandria were not happy to see an armed Christian soldier on a ship landing in their port and swarmed the ship. Anuk told them to back off, explaining that I was a friend of the Sultan and was here to discuss business with him.

They still insisted on sending a contingent of troops with us as the small ship we transferred to wended its way up the Nile to Cairo. Even after my travels through England, France, Holland, Denmark, Castile, and North Africa, and with all the new things I’d seen, I was awed by the river and the fertile land spreading farther than I could see. Anuk explained that the river was still receding from its annual flood and soon the fields would be planted again when they had dried enough. The huge lizard-like animals swimming and floating in the water or lying on the shore were mind-boggling. Anuk warned me that they were extremely dangerous, and one of them could attack suddenly along the shore without warning, dragging large prey and even adults into the water.

Sentries on horseback galloped for the palace when they saw our ship approaching Cairo. Anuk explained how riders from Alexandria would have already told the Sultan of our pending arrival and the sentries were watching for our ship to let him know we were arriving. Yet another rider called out to the ship as we got closer, giving us instructions as to where we were to dock. Suddenly the men rowing and tending the sails doubled their efforts. “I think you have impressed my uncle. He never leaves the palace to greet guests; they are expected to go to him, and then he makes them wait. He will meet us at the docks,” Anuk explained excitedly.

“Just what is the proper way for an outsider to greet a Sultan?” I asked.

“Since you are a Sultan yourself you greet him by name and shake his hand.”

“But I’m not really a Sultan,” I protested.

“Not only are you a Sultan, but you are a very powerful Sultan. By coming to meet you, my uncle is acknowledging to his troops, Viziers, and to his people just how powerful you are,” he explained.

The crowd at the docks, easily a few thousand people, although standing back a respectable distance, was huge for this early in the morning. People even stood along the riverbank for the last few miles as we approached. A large pavilion stood near where we docked, and the Sultan came to greet us as we debarked. I motioned for Anuk to go first to make the introductions but he was swept aside by his uncle, barely able to bow as the Sultan rushed by to shake my hand. “Sultan Michael Miller, it is an honor to finally meet the man I have heard so much about,” he said in English that was easily good enough for me to understand. I was impressed.

“Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad, I am likewise happy to meet the man I have heard so much about from so many people,” I replied.

When I motioned to Anuk, he produced the swords of the two Sultans we had defeated. “I bring you a gift of the swords of the Marinid Sultan and the Abdalwadid Sultan,” I said graciously. There was a gasp from everyone near enough to hear and the undercurrent of whispering got louder as they whispered my words repeatedly to those far enough away that they hadn’t heard.

“You defeated both armies?” the Sultan gasped.

“I did and have come to ask your permission to let Anuk be Emir of Maghreb al-Aqsa (Morocco), and his brother to be Emir of Ifriqiya,” I answered, getting another round of even louder gasps from the crowd which had been inching forward to hear better.

“I am not opposed to your request, but some might wonder where their loyalties would lie,” he commented thoughtfully.

“I have no doubt that Anuk will fulfill his duties faithfully, and will warn his brother of the consequences should he ever oppose me,” I answered.

“It took less than half an afternoon for his troops to storm and capture Tlemcen,” Anuk commented somberly. “Fewer than twenty of his men were injured, mostly the Marinid cavalry when they first rode into the city. The city is now being taken apart one stone at a time. When they finish, only the mosque will remain,” he added.

“Why would you leave just the mosque?” the Sultan asked, curious.

“It was not involved in the attack, and I have no desire to offend anyone by desecrating a holy place. If it had been involved in the fighting, I would have torn it down first like I did some of the Catholic churches in France which were involved in battles against me,” I explained.

“Sultan Mike has come to discuss a deal with you,” Anuk interjected, hoping to discuss a more pleasant subject.

“A deal?” the Sultan asked, perking up. I unrolled the much-marked-upon map I brought from Tlemcen. Pointing to the peninsula where Bizerte was located, I explained the area I wanted to divest myself of, and why, and admitted that I had no idea if any of my territory lay to the south of the coastal mountains, but he was welcome to that territory as well until reaching the frontiers of Maghreb al-Aqsa. Everything from Bizerte to Al-Nasir’s territory was included.