Chapter XIV - The Mystic from Murcia
Chapter XIV - The Mystic from Murcia (1191-1207)
With Sicily secure and the Hayyid realm expanding further and further beyond its original Iberian confines, it was important for the Sultan to maintain a sturdy hand over his subjects and personal lands. Thanks to the great prestige Abu-Bakr had garnered throughout his reign, the realm’s subjects were more than happy to sign over more of their personal liberties to keep the realm prospering. A more centralised realm the Hayyid Sultanate was becoming.
But this did not go down well with the newly conquered territories. The Emir of Sicily who had been transplanted into the Hayyid realm against his own will was not about to bow down to some infidel. When news reached Sicily that Abu-Bakr had ordered the Orthodox Emir’s imprisonment, the ruler raised his banners hoping to resist Hayyid domination of his lands.
But when Abu-Bakr’s ships once again turned up on Sicily’s shores, the Emir was quick to bolt. Hoping to escape back Greece, the Sultan’s lieutenants apprehended the traitor before he could jump ashore. A nice, dark and dingy prison cell awaited Kosmos once he was in the custody of the Sultan.
In his place, Abu-Bakr appointed Chrysogonos Dokeianos a local noble of Magna-Graecian descent. Importantly, Chrysogonos was a pious Sunni Muslim. Not only would this new ruler be able to oversee the conversion of the region to Islam, but his cultural background would also endear him to the local population.
With peace now restored foreign affairs once more took centre stage. In the east, the great Cuman-Kipchak confederation had conquered the decaying and divided Kievan Rus. Khan Uzur would soon declare himself King of the Rus, settling his own people within the confines of the realm and abandoning their nomadic ways.
But a matter of great importance was also taking place to the south. A civil war had broken out within the Almoravid Sultanate, greatly weakening the Hayyid’s southern neighbour. Long had Abu-Bakr’s descendants pestered the Almoravids for an alliance to fend off the Christians, but it seemed now the rulers of Marrakesh were intent on making themselves enemies of Córdoba. With their realm now at loggerheads with itself, it was the perfect opportunity for Abu-Bakr to push them out of Iberia. War was declared for control over Seville.
20,000 troops should be more than enough to push the Almoravids out of Iberia. Any army crossing over from the Maghreb would never be able to organise fast enough to defend against the Hayyid defenders. The Hayyid army led by Commander Musa burst into Seville, putting the Almoravid defenders to the sword and placing the city with its rightful rulers.
Abu-Bakr’s attention then turned to more internal matters. A new court physician would be required less the royal family or anyone at court became struck down by a major ailment. After a string of contenders for the position proved themselves inadequate despite their great education from Córdoba’s new university; the Sultan sent word out to the provinces that their ruler was looking for a skilled medicus. News soon came back of a mysterious blind hermit named Balashk who resided somewhere within the hills near Murcia. Stories from local villagers suggested the man was blessed by Allah himself and could cure all sorts of diseases, even bringing one boy back from the brink of death. Other tales however, talked of an evil man, cursed by the Shaitan. There was only one way to settle this matter. Abu-Bakr would interview the man in person. The hermit was uprooted (against his own will) from his hillside shack to the more civilised residences of Córdoba. The Sultan entered into a long discussion with the man about his practices and healing experience. At first, Abu-Bakr was not convinced. The man kept babbling on about “the stars” or other such nonsense, but soon the Sultan’s opinion changed. He wasn’t quite sure why, but it was as though some outside force was compelling him to employ the hermit. Before he knew it, Abu-Bakr had agreed to make Balashk his Court Physician. The Sultan spent the next few days pondering exactly why and how he had agreed to do so.
Another matter of internal concern for Abu-Bakr were the crownlands of the Hayyid Sultanate. Currently, those lands comprised the Emirates of Córdoba and Granada along with the Sheikhdom of Almansa. Yet the Sheikhdom of Calatrava, part of the de jure Córdoban Emirate remained outside of the Sultan’s direct rule. With the growing centralization, the realm now enjoyed Abu-Bakr would be more than capable of controlling the province. With a number of vicious rumours about Sheikh Adfuns swirling around court, Abu-Bakr elects to suggest a fatwa be issued against the Sheikh.
Sure enough, Court Imam Abdul-Aziz was more than happy to grant the Sultan’s request. Calatrava now joined the rest of the crownland provinces.
However, the situation in the rest of Iberia was moving quickly. Rebellions and wars had engulfed almost all of the Christian states but most notably the Kingdom of Navarra had gained independence from Castile and held control over the prized city of Lisbon. The jewel of a city saw trade flow in from both north and south. Ships from as far as Novgorod and Constantinople docked in its ports. The Hayyid realm still hadn’t exactly recovered from the banishment of the Jews, but this could be an opportunity to refill the coffers through taxation on trade.
There was however, the small matter of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. It would take some tricky diplomacy skill for Abu-Bakr to justify his conquest with the agreement still in place, no matter how precarious it may be. But the answer was staring the Sultan in the face. The treaty had been between the Kingdoms of Galicia, León, Castile, Aragon, France, and the Hayyid Sultanate. Navarra was not independent at the time and as such the conquest of its lands did not contravene the agreement. This perspective was not shared with the other rulers who denounced the invasion. But with problems of their own, there was little they could do to resist. To them, the Treaty of the Pyrenees was now nought more than a scrap of paper. Abu-Bakr had proven himself a deceitful and spineless ruler. They would be preparing their arms once their own struggles were over.
As for Abu-Bakr, his forces were already on their way to Lisbon. With Navarra having spent most of its soldiers resisting the Castilians this wouldn't be much of a fight if any. At most, the Navarrese could muster 1,820 troops, nowhere near enough to resist the Hayyids. Lisbon quickly fell, annexed into Abu-Bakr’s domain.
On returning home to the Palace of Córdoba however, Mundir was greeted with a hamper basket. The guards brought it up the Sultan’s room, and as Abu-Bakr removed the cloth covering he was in for quite a surprise…
The Hashshashin! Their mark was undeniable. But why would they do this? Who ordered them to kill one of the realm’s foremost vassals? And why deliver the head to me, Mundir thought to himself. There was only one possible answer. This was a message. And he was next. The only question was who put them up to this?
Rumours of the assassins operating in Andalusia had been rife for some time. You heard things, disappearances, shadows, whispers of figures listening in from hay bales or rooftops. But there was never any evidence of their presence. Until now. The Hashshashin had revealed themselves to Abu-Bakr, this meant they were confident. Did the Christians contract them, as revenge for breaking the treaty? No, the assassins don’t work with Christians, do they? The work of a vassal, a pretender? Abu-Bakr could never be sure. His paranoia had begun to grow.
Several days later during an afternoon stroll in the palace gardens with one of his courtiers Farida, Abu-Bakr was about to take a dance with death. It all happened so fast. First, it was a glint of sunlight in the distance and Farida fell down clutching her throat. The guards quickly pulled the Sultan to one side, but by then the robed figure had made off, clambering over the palace walls.
After that incident Abu-Bakr barely left the palace, an armed escort was within his presence at every waking hour. But soon the Sultan fell ill. A neverending tiredness seemed to grip his body and later a fever. Poison was his first thought. But no, that’s not the assassin’s style he thought. They only use the blade.
Upon consulting with Court Physician Balashk the mystic believed Abu-Bakr to be suffering from rabies. “But I haven’t been out or near animals in months, how could it be rabies?!?” The Sultan exclaimed. The mystic relented. The stars he said.
“The stars spoke my Lord. They speak the truth.”
The blind man said he knew what he had to do. He only needed the Sultan’s permission. With assassins eyeing his every move and insidious eyes all-around court Abu-Bakr was sure his condition was life-threatening. As far as the Sultan was concerned, whatever Balashk had to do, he should do it.
Three days later as night fell over Córdoba Abu-Bakr was summoned to the mystic’s chamber. The room was caked in the oozing black of night, with a tiny flickering candle providing the only light. Not even the moon shone through the open window. An eerie silence fell over the room as Balashk entered, he gestured towards a rickety chair positioned in the middle of the room and the Sultan sat. The mystic proceeded to take a small bottle of black oil from a nearby table and proceeded to coat Abu-Bakr’s nails with the substance.
“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” Asked the Sultan.
“The stars. They speak,” replied the mystic. “All will be well. We shall cleanse the sin away. Now close your eyes.”
As Abu-Bakr’s eyes closed it was as though the world around him froze. A chilling cold crept up his spine and he was left with nought but the sounds of footsteps on the rickety floorboards. He tried to open his eyes again, but it was as though there was a force stopping him.
He soon felt a faint heat near his hand, growing stronger. Soon it became unbearable. Sweat poured from Abu-Bakr’s brow as he let out a wail of pain.
“LET ME OUT OF HERE!”
“Do not fret, my Lord. By the wisdom of Allah, you shall be cleansed!”
With Sicily secure and the Hayyid realm expanding further and further beyond its original Iberian confines, it was important for the Sultan to maintain a sturdy hand over his subjects and personal lands. Thanks to the great prestige Abu-Bakr had garnered throughout his reign, the realm’s subjects were more than happy to sign over more of their personal liberties to keep the realm prospering. A more centralised realm the Hayyid Sultanate was becoming.
But this did not go down well with the newly conquered territories. The Emir of Sicily who had been transplanted into the Hayyid realm against his own will was not about to bow down to some infidel. When news reached Sicily that Abu-Bakr had ordered the Orthodox Emir’s imprisonment, the ruler raised his banners hoping to resist Hayyid domination of his lands.
But when Abu-Bakr’s ships once again turned up on Sicily’s shores, the Emir was quick to bolt. Hoping to escape back Greece, the Sultan’s lieutenants apprehended the traitor before he could jump ashore. A nice, dark and dingy prison cell awaited Kosmos once he was in the custody of the Sultan.
In his place, Abu-Bakr appointed Chrysogonos Dokeianos a local noble of Magna-Graecian descent. Importantly, Chrysogonos was a pious Sunni Muslim. Not only would this new ruler be able to oversee the conversion of the region to Islam, but his cultural background would also endear him to the local population.
With peace now restored foreign affairs once more took centre stage. In the east, the great Cuman-Kipchak confederation had conquered the decaying and divided Kievan Rus. Khan Uzur would soon declare himself King of the Rus, settling his own people within the confines of the realm and abandoning their nomadic ways.
But a matter of great importance was also taking place to the south. A civil war had broken out within the Almoravid Sultanate, greatly weakening the Hayyid’s southern neighbour. Long had Abu-Bakr’s descendants pestered the Almoravids for an alliance to fend off the Christians, but it seemed now the rulers of Marrakesh were intent on making themselves enemies of Córdoba. With their realm now at loggerheads with itself, it was the perfect opportunity for Abu-Bakr to push them out of Iberia. War was declared for control over Seville.
20,000 troops should be more than enough to push the Almoravids out of Iberia. Any army crossing over from the Maghreb would never be able to organise fast enough to defend against the Hayyid defenders. The Hayyid army led by Commander Musa burst into Seville, putting the Almoravid defenders to the sword and placing the city with its rightful rulers.
Abu-Bakr’s attention then turned to more internal matters. A new court physician would be required less the royal family or anyone at court became struck down by a major ailment. After a string of contenders for the position proved themselves inadequate despite their great education from Córdoba’s new university; the Sultan sent word out to the provinces that their ruler was looking for a skilled medicus. News soon came back of a mysterious blind hermit named Balashk who resided somewhere within the hills near Murcia. Stories from local villagers suggested the man was blessed by Allah himself and could cure all sorts of diseases, even bringing one boy back from the brink of death. Other tales however, talked of an evil man, cursed by the Shaitan. There was only one way to settle this matter. Abu-Bakr would interview the man in person. The hermit was uprooted (against his own will) from his hillside shack to the more civilised residences of Córdoba. The Sultan entered into a long discussion with the man about his practices and healing experience. At first, Abu-Bakr was not convinced. The man kept babbling on about “the stars” or other such nonsense, but soon the Sultan’s opinion changed. He wasn’t quite sure why, but it was as though some outside force was compelling him to employ the hermit. Before he knew it, Abu-Bakr had agreed to make Balashk his Court Physician. The Sultan spent the next few days pondering exactly why and how he had agreed to do so.
Another matter of internal concern for Abu-Bakr were the crownlands of the Hayyid Sultanate. Currently, those lands comprised the Emirates of Córdoba and Granada along with the Sheikhdom of Almansa. Yet the Sheikhdom of Calatrava, part of the de jure Córdoban Emirate remained outside of the Sultan’s direct rule. With the growing centralization, the realm now enjoyed Abu-Bakr would be more than capable of controlling the province. With a number of vicious rumours about Sheikh Adfuns swirling around court, Abu-Bakr elects to suggest a fatwa be issued against the Sheikh.
Sure enough, Court Imam Abdul-Aziz was more than happy to grant the Sultan’s request. Calatrava now joined the rest of the crownland provinces.
However, the situation in the rest of Iberia was moving quickly. Rebellions and wars had engulfed almost all of the Christian states but most notably the Kingdom of Navarra had gained independence from Castile and held control over the prized city of Lisbon. The jewel of a city saw trade flow in from both north and south. Ships from as far as Novgorod and Constantinople docked in its ports. The Hayyid realm still hadn’t exactly recovered from the banishment of the Jews, but this could be an opportunity to refill the coffers through taxation on trade.
There was however, the small matter of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. It would take some tricky diplomacy skill for Abu-Bakr to justify his conquest with the agreement still in place, no matter how precarious it may be. But the answer was staring the Sultan in the face. The treaty had been between the Kingdoms of Galicia, León, Castile, Aragon, France, and the Hayyid Sultanate. Navarra was not independent at the time and as such the conquest of its lands did not contravene the agreement. This perspective was not shared with the other rulers who denounced the invasion. But with problems of their own, there was little they could do to resist. To them, the Treaty of the Pyrenees was now nought more than a scrap of paper. Abu-Bakr had proven himself a deceitful and spineless ruler. They would be preparing their arms once their own struggles were over.
As for Abu-Bakr, his forces were already on their way to Lisbon. With Navarra having spent most of its soldiers resisting the Castilians this wouldn't be much of a fight if any. At most, the Navarrese could muster 1,820 troops, nowhere near enough to resist the Hayyids. Lisbon quickly fell, annexed into Abu-Bakr’s domain.
On returning home to the Palace of Córdoba however, Mundir was greeted with a hamper basket. The guards brought it up the Sultan’s room, and as Abu-Bakr removed the cloth covering he was in for quite a surprise…
The Hashshashin! Their mark was undeniable. But why would they do this? Who ordered them to kill one of the realm’s foremost vassals? And why deliver the head to me, Mundir thought to himself. There was only one possible answer. This was a message. And he was next. The only question was who put them up to this?
Rumours of the assassins operating in Andalusia had been rife for some time. You heard things, disappearances, shadows, whispers of figures listening in from hay bales or rooftops. But there was never any evidence of their presence. Until now. The Hashshashin had revealed themselves to Abu-Bakr, this meant they were confident. Did the Christians contract them, as revenge for breaking the treaty? No, the assassins don’t work with Christians, do they? The work of a vassal, a pretender? Abu-Bakr could never be sure. His paranoia had begun to grow.
Several days later during an afternoon stroll in the palace gardens with one of his courtiers Farida, Abu-Bakr was about to take a dance with death. It all happened so fast. First, it was a glint of sunlight in the distance and Farida fell down clutching her throat. The guards quickly pulled the Sultan to one side, but by then the robed figure had made off, clambering over the palace walls.
After that incident Abu-Bakr barely left the palace, an armed escort was within his presence at every waking hour. But soon the Sultan fell ill. A neverending tiredness seemed to grip his body and later a fever. Poison was his first thought. But no, that’s not the assassin’s style he thought. They only use the blade.
Upon consulting with Court Physician Balashk the mystic believed Abu-Bakr to be suffering from rabies. “But I haven’t been out or near animals in months, how could it be rabies?!?” The Sultan exclaimed. The mystic relented. The stars he said.
“The stars spoke my Lord. They speak the truth.”
The blind man said he knew what he had to do. He only needed the Sultan’s permission. With assassins eyeing his every move and insidious eyes all-around court Abu-Bakr was sure his condition was life-threatening. As far as the Sultan was concerned, whatever Balashk had to do, he should do it.
Three days later as night fell over Córdoba Abu-Bakr was summoned to the mystic’s chamber. The room was caked in the oozing black of night, with a tiny flickering candle providing the only light. Not even the moon shone through the open window. An eerie silence fell over the room as Balashk entered, he gestured towards a rickety chair positioned in the middle of the room and the Sultan sat. The mystic proceeded to take a small bottle of black oil from a nearby table and proceeded to coat Abu-Bakr’s nails with the substance.
“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” Asked the Sultan.
“The stars. They speak,” replied the mystic. “All will be well. We shall cleanse the sin away. Now close your eyes.”
As Abu-Bakr’s eyes closed it was as though the world around him froze. A chilling cold crept up his spine and he was left with nought but the sounds of footsteps on the rickety floorboards. He tried to open his eyes again, but it was as though there was a force stopping him.
He soon felt a faint heat near his hand, growing stronger. Soon it became unbearable. Sweat poured from Abu-Bakr’s brow as he let out a wail of pain.
“LET ME OUT OF HERE!”
“Do not fret, my Lord. By the wisdom of Allah, you shall be cleansed!”
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