Assassination in Al Qahira

by James Boschert

  At this moment, the door crashed open and Panhsj charged in with his sword held ready in front of him, intent upon killing anything that opposed him. His eyes took in the room and widened when he saw the form of the snake, still writhing in the corner.

  “Suleiman, in Allah’s name, what has happened? Why the blood, and why is your sword out? What are you doing?” He only saw Talon leaning over Abbas his sword dripping blood on the end of the bed.

  “Thank God you are here, Panhsj, but it might be too late. Chisisi put a snake on our master. There!” He pointed to the head and then motioned at the now still shape in the corner.

  Panhsj gasped, his black eyes fearful. “Did it have time to strike?” His voice quavered.

  Talon leaned over Abbas, and held his trembling hand. He knew it was too late. Abbas stared up at him, his eyes pleading, but he was racked with agony and unable to talk. His mouth filled with foam and he gasped for air but his eyes remained on Talon’s face for those dreadful few moments between lucidity and death. The room became still as Talon continued to hold Abbas’s hand, but it was growing cool already. Panhsj fell to his knees with a great cry. This brought Bilal into the room and what he saw made him too fall on his knees.

  “Who has done this terrible thing?” Bilal cried, dropping his sword and beating his chest, tears coursing down his cheeks, his grief overwhelming him.

  Talon came to his senses then. “Cannot you guess, Bilal?” he said. His voice was like ice.

  Bilal scrambled to his feet, his face suffused with rage. He snatched up his sword that lay on the carpet.

  “I shall kill him. Bring him in here!” he shouted towards the door.

  Two of the guards, who had encountered Chisisi running for his life, came through the door, their eyes wide with fear, knowing they themselves were dead men for having neglected their duty. They held tight to the arms of the wailing figure of Chisisi. The behemoth fell to his knees in front of Bilal, who had raised his sword to strike, quite forgetting that he was in his master’s bed chamber.

  “No Bilal! Do not kill him. We have to find out why he did this!” Talon shouted. “There is much we need to know before he is executed, he did not act alone in this treason. He was with Donkor a few minutes earlier.”

  Now Panhsj recovered enough to join Talon. His rage was terrible to see. His black tattooed features were distorted with grief and anger to the point where Chisisi fell forward in terror and started to drool, there was a patch of moisture on the front of his clothing where he had wet himself.

  The noise had drawn others to the doorway, including Khalidah, who hurried in, not knowing the fate that had taken the life of her husband. She was shocked to see the men standing in her room with swords drawn and her eyes flew to Abbas lying on the bed. She saw immediately that he was dead, and her eyes took in the horror of the fangs and eyes of the gaping snake head at the end of his bed. With a wrenching cry, she threw herself on Abbas’ body, her tears running freely onto his face as she clutched at him.

  “What has happened? In Allah’s name, what has happened?” she cried, her eyes roaming wildly over the stricken faces that surrounded her.

  Bilal recovered his composure and nodded in agreement to Talon for what he had said regarding Chisisi. Then he went to Khalidah and touched her on her shoulder in an oddly familiar manner.

  “My Lady,” he said gently. She did not respond, and with an agonized look at the other two, he shook her with more force.

  She turned and looked up at him, not comprehending. Her veil fell away, revealing swollen eyes and a face streaked with tears.

  Bilal took a deep breath. “My Lady, Suleiman discovered the treachery, but he was too late to save our master. May Allah now cherish his soul, but we have to find out why and who ordered this foul deed. It must be done quickly, as we do not know how much time we have. We will leave you now to your grief.”

  Khalidah did not really comprehend, but she nodded and turned back to her husband’s body, staring down at it and plucking distractedly at the material of the bed near his shoulder.

  Bilal was visibly touched, but he pulled himself together and shouted, “You there, get out of the way, we are coming out with a prisoner. Guards!”

  He then seized Chisisi by the neck and, despite the man’s weight, almost lifted him up onto his feet with his left hand.

  “Take him to the back of the gardens by the stables, we will find out everything we need to, then finish him.”

  Several more soldiers arrived and they unceremoniously shoved the wailing women servants and concubines out of the way. Talon was glad that neither the children nor Abbas’s mother had arrived, although it was only a matter of time, as the noise was now considerable.

  “Find the other two, Donkor and Jahi at once, and bring them to the stables. Tie them and do not on your lives let them escape!” Bilal roared.

  Although he felt revolted by its menacing shape, Talon forced himself to pick up the head. He first found a strip of cloth to protect his fingers from poison before doing so. He held up the grisly object to observe it more closely and asked Panhsj. “What is this that could kill so quickly, Panhsj?”

  “I do not know, Suleiman. I do not know its Arab name. Perhaps Bilal can tell us.”

  Talon held it for Bilal to see. He stared down at the head lying on the cloth as though he was seeing something grossly evil. The serpent was the color of dirty sand, with two seeming horns that sprouted just above and behind the glazed dead eyes. Its jaw was wide and its head formed like a scaly triangle with a blunt nose at the point.

  “It is a horned viper, and deadly. Our master never had a chance. Only one strike was needed. Ah, God, in all your mercy, why?” Bilal groaned, his head flung back beseeching God for understanding.

  Bilal saw to it that Abbas’s eyes were shut, and his hands lay across his chest. Then he knelt before Khalidah. “Please accept my sorrow at the loss of our great Master, may Allah have mercy on him, and you, my Lady.” He dashed tears from his own eyes as he spoke.

  He stood to leave, followed by Talon and the others, when they heard a loud commotion from outside of the building. There were screams and yells mingled with the clash of steel, and the sound was drawing closer by the minute. Talon understood what had happened before his companions. “Donkor has let the enemy inside our compound; we are betrayed.”

  Panhsj and Bilal stared at him, uncomprehending.

  “I saw Donkor leaving to go towards the gates, while I was following Chisisi to the Master’s room, but I thought nothing of it at the time. He must have killed the gate guards and let the enemy inside.”

  “They are after our Lady, and the children. They know about the killing we have just seen,” Bilal groaned in anguish.

  Endless steps are taken

  The light seems unreachable

  Hope has escaped

  But faith remains unfailing

  Together they defy the unknown

  Trudging in darkness unafraid

  — Lady Lyn Rosete

  Chapter 17

  Tunnels

  Bilal whirled around, his eyes darting to Panhsj, to Talon, to Chisisi. He was wild with rage and uncertainty as he tried to decipher the situation.

  “Do not let him go!” He shouted, pointing at Chisisi. He rushed to the head of the stairs, Talon and Panhsj on his heels. They stood there a brief moment, their senses riveted by the yells and screams coming from the courtyard and the gardens. Bilal glanced about, taking note of the few men available at his command, and he realized that the rest of his contingency were leaderless and fighting for their lives outside in the gardens; and by the sounds he was hearing he feared the forces against them to be overwhelming.

  “Who would do this?” he raged, but then he answered his own question. “Bahir and his scum, without doubt. May Allah curse them all for their treachery.”

  Furious, he swung around and glared down the stairs, anticipating an attack within the building; as he did, there was a crash and the door
to the entrance sagged open. The fighting men boiled into the ground floor. The battle was now inside the house.

  “Suleiman, Panhsj, find the children and take my Lady away from here,” Bilal said in a tight, controlled tone. “You must escape. If they take the children, or my Lady, I do not wish to contemplate the consequences. Now go, and find a way out. I shall defend your backs from here.”

  “I shall stay with you!” Panhsj shouted. He had recovered his wits and in his anguish felt invincible and wanted to fight anything and anyone who came to him.

  “No! You and Suleiman are their only hope. Go quickly. I should have listened to you, Suleiman. You were right; our enemies are here to destroy us. I will stay here and hold them off for as long as I can.”

  “Allah protect.” Talon gripped Bilal’s arm, knowing there was little chance he would ever see him alive again. He quickly turned to Panhsj. “There is a way down the back for the servants.”

  “Go safely, Suleiman. Leave Al-Qahirah. Take them back to Fayoum!” Bilal shouted with a fierce look that settled on Chisisi.

  “One last thing to do,” he grated.

  Chisisi, who had perhaps begun to feel more hopeful for his life when the mob entered the building, suddenly realized that it was about to end. With a shriek, he struggled with his captors and was able to shake them off. He lumbered towards the stairs in a vain attempt to get away, but Talon tripped him so that he fell on hands and knees in front of Bilal, whose sword was already raised to strike. With a huge downward swing, he sliced down on Chisisi’s exposed neck. The man’s severed head jumped away from his body to bounce down the steps, where it landed at the feet of the first of the enemy about to climb the stairs. Chisisi’s prostrate body twitched, much as the snake’s had done, and spouted blood from the severed neck, which splashing down the stairs.

  “This is what awaits you up here, you dog turds!” Bilal shouted, brandishing his bloody sword at the men now clustered below.

  Talon wished he had his bow with him. He could have done great damage, but he had left it in his room and now there was no time.

  “Allah protect you, Bilal!” Panhsj shouted as they ran with two guards to find the children and lady. They charged through a panic stricken cluster of women, their wails adding to the din of the battle below and to the war cries of Bilal and his men.

  Talon and Panhsj found Kazim and Jasmine huddled with their mother at the entrance to the bedroom where the body of Abbas lay.

  “My lady, you must come with us; we must leave immediately. I shall explain later, but you and the children are in great danger,” Talon said in an urgent tone. “We must leave!”

  Khalidah stared at him for a short moment; she was still numb from her husband’s death, but then she heeded the urgency in his voice. She nodded, grasped Kazim by the hand and pushed Jasmine in front of her.

  Ignoring the wails and shrieks of terror from the other women, they hurried down the corridor to the place where Talon knew there was a narrow stairway that led down to the kitchens. He had found it in his silent wandering of the house some time ago. He led the way down the dark stairwell with his sword held ahead of him. He prayed that they would not encounter the enemy waiting for them in the darkness at the bottom. Khalidah and the children followed close behind, Panhsj taking up the rear with Bilal’s two men on his heels. He listened to the now distant clash of steel on steel and the shouts, as Bilal and his men fought for their lives and those of Abbas’s family. He knew they had very little time left.

  He reached the last step and strained his ears, but there were no sounds from the kitchen; he eased the heavy linen curtain aside and edged into the room. The cooks and other servants had all fled. He wondered briefly if Lamya had escaped with them. He hoped so.

  The cooks had left in such a hurry that there was a pot of soup boiling over on the large cooking fire, the liquid hissing and sputtering in the flames. But Talon had no thought for the aroma of chicken stew. His focus was on the urgency of their escape. He led the way across the tiled floor past the ovens and cooking items, ducking under braids of onions and other dried plants and herbs. They headed towards the back of the kitchen where he knew of a corridor that led behind the servants’ quarters. He hoped too that they could get over the peripheral wall; to linger in the compound would be fatal. But his hopes were almost dashed when he encountered Jahi, one of Chisisi’s henchmen.

  The man was facing the wall, adjusting his clothing in such a way that suggested he had been relieving himself, and he did not see Talon until it was too late. Talon snatched out his knife and hurled it at a distance of fifteen feet. The blade flipped once and buried itself in his throat. The man stiffened and clutched at his neck with both hands, his eyes wide with shock, and then he fell over backwards with a strangled gargle to crash onto the floor. His body convulsed once then became limp, and he died with his eyes wide open.

  Talon strode over and removed his knife from the man’s neck, wiping the blood on the robe of the corpse before putting it away. He took an oil lamp off a ledge and turned to encourage Khalidah and the children to keep going, barely noticing the shock on their faces. They were frozen with fear and Panhsj had to give Khalidah a gentle push. “He had no choice, my Lady,” he said. “That man was a traitor to your husband. He deserved to die. Now we must follow Suleiman. Please, we must hurry.”

  The urgency in his voice brought them back to reality. They stepped over the corpse one by one, each trying not to look down at the body. Talon had to admire Khalidah’s composure. Although she was pale and her eyes were wide with shock, it was clear to him that she understood that their lives depended upon fully co-operating; but Jasmine was mewling and trembling, while Kazim was as white as a ghost. They just did not comprehend what was happening around them.

  Urged on by Panhsj, who chivvied them forward, they crept out of the building and into the darkness along the narrow pathway at the back of the kitchens and soon reached the outside wall, which they hugged for a short distance, until they came to a mound of debris and rubbish piled against the wall; its height here was only about nine feet.

  Talon stopped. Even from this far away at the back of the gardens they could hear the shouting and screams with the faint clash of steel in the distance. Bahir and his men were still giving a good account of themselves, it seemed. Talon clambered onto the pile of rubbish, hoping it would hold, and motioned for Panhsj to come close. He cupped his hands in front of himself, having squared his weight, and Panhsj placed one foot in them and leaped up to scramble onto the top of the wall. The man’s weight drove Talon almost down to his knees. No sooner there, Panhsj seated himself firmly and leaned down, holding out his hand.

  Talon motioned to Khalidah to take Panhsj’s hand while he offered to lift her up. Compared to Panhsj, she was as light as a feather. The children went next, then the guards. Talon scrambled up to join them. While they were on the wide top, Panhsj stared back towards the house. There was an ominous reddish glow coming from the building. Some of the light reflected off his ebony skin, so that even in the darkness, Talon could see his face set in grim lines.

  It was an easy matter to lower everyone down the other side, and then Talon and Panhsj jumped as quietly as they could to land and roll, coming silently to their feet in the dusty street. Again they listened intently, but no sound came to warn them that they had been observed. Talon glanced at Khalidah and the children; Jasmine and Kazim were as quiet as mice. They were subdued, but seemed in control of themselves.

  “I have friends who might be able to help us, but we must hurry and get away from here,” he whispered to Khalidah and Panhsj. “It is about a mile. We cannot be discovered on the streets or they will hunt us down, so we must move quickly.”

  Khalidah nodded and grasped Kazim by the hand. Panhsj took up the rear, while the two men stayed close to Khalidah and to Jasmine, who appeared to be close to collapse. The group scurried from shadow to dark shadow, always keeping watch for pursuit.

  Talon led the way
at fast pace towards the souk. Even though he was alert for the slightest sign of danger, his mind was working furiously.

  He was puzzled and angry, wondering why they had had no warning. Mukhwana had promised that he would at the very least warn him. Talon wondered what had happened to the boy Kantor. Could the enemy men have killed him as they came to the palace? By now he felt sure that Kantor would have tried if at all possible to warn him. All the same, he meant to demand an explanation. In the meantime, however, they needed to disappear, and Mukhwana was the only person in Cairo who could hide them and with whom he thought they might be reasonably safe. He prayed that he was not leading Khalidah into a trap.

  The street they were hurrying along led to a larger intersection which was some distance from the main entrance of the palace. It was quiet at this hour, for which Talon was grateful. He did not want curious people to remember them passing this way. In Cairo there were always eyes somewhere watching.

  Apart from the occasional muffled exclamation, as one or another of the party stumbled, they made little noise. Kazim sniffled and Jasmine tripped once, losing a sandal, but one of the guards retrieved it and they hurried on.

  It seemed like an eternity before they came to the dark and imposing entrance of the souk. There were few people about, as most of the shops were now closed. A few remaining merchants who were on their way home and some late night revelers paid little attention to the small group walking at a quick pace towards the dark, poorly lit opening that led into the depths of the souk. In any case, one look at Panhsj and even a man well into his drink would sober up and hurry off in the other direction.

  Talon tried to remember the way to the caverns buried deep inside the guts of the souk. He found what he was looking for quickly enough, and made the others wait while he set about stealing an oil lamp to light their way. There were oil lamps aplenty placed in niches along the walls of the main street, but most of them were burnt out and would not be replenished until the next day. He helped himself to a couple that appeared to be well filled with palm oil and returned to his party.