by Brian Smith
8
At daybreak Suddene was no more. Smoke rose up in the misty morning air from across the devastated town. From a nearby hill a shepherd looked down at the city saying “Mighty Suddene, happy Suddene, alas the day of thy ruin has come.”
It began to rain.
The shepherd looked at the dark grey sky and shook his head. “Even the angels of Heaven are crying.”
Out at sea was the Saracen fleet. At sunrise the Saracens said their morning prayer and thanked Allah for a great victory. Then the fleet hoisted sails in a fair wind. The Caliph and his men were jubilant. They had suffered almost no losses and they captured one of the richest towns in Christian Europe with all its wealth and thousands of slaves. Indeed, they had taken so many captives that they had barely enough room on the ships.
Prince Horn and the good people of Suddene were stunned by this sudden reversal of fortune. Just one day ago they had set out against Lord Rochefort with the utmost confidence, they had fought hard on the battlefield for their freedom and won. They knew that they lived in one of the richest cities in all Christendom. And now? Reduced to slavery! On their way to servitude in a foreign land with no hope of redemption! For the rest of their lives they would be bound in chains toiling away to make their new masters wealthy, to give their new masters an easy, pleasant life! The very thought was intolerable. There was silence below decks where the captives of Suddene were crammed in. Everyone had the same thought on their minds, yet nobody said a word.
Nobody that is apart from our three heroes Geetu, Edward and Anthony. After the murder of Queen Godhild and their capture by the Saracens the children had somehow managed to stay together. Now they were united in a council of war.
“Terrible as all this is,” Edward said, “we also have to understand that this is our chance.
“What do you mean?” Anthony asked.
Geetu smiled a little. “I think I understand. My dare was to free a thousand slaves. There were no slaves in Suddene and even Lord Rochefort wasn’t that bad so we never had the chance to fulfil the dare, but now we’re surrounded by thousands of slaves. Wherever the Saracens are taking us to we’ll have the chance to fulfil the dare and go back home again.”
“And help these poor people,” Anthony added.
Edward nodded. “I say the dare isn’t fulfilled if we free a thousand slaves. We must help everyone from Suddene to become free again and go back home.”
Geetu nodded. “I agree. I don’t know how I could live in future if I knew that we just freed a thousand and left all the others to slowly rot away.”
The three children looked each other in the eye. Edward held out his right hand, Geetu put her hand on top of his and Anthony did likewise.
“You understand that this will make it much harder?” Edward said.
Geetu and Anthony nodded.
“It was your dare, Geetu,” Anthony said, “so you should do it.”
Geetu took a deep breath.
“One more thing,” Edward said quickly.
“What?” Geetu asked.
“I want to go home after this dare, Geetu. No more surprise dares, please.”
Geetu nodded. “All right,” she said.
The children’s hands clasped each other tightly when Geetu spoke the fateful words “ I dare us three to free all the captives from Suddene!”
Stars whirled around them and then vanished again.
Some of the other captives murmured excitedly.
“What was it?” one said.
“I don’t know,” another one said.
“A sign from God,” a woman said.
The three children were still looking at each other.
“We need a plan,” Geetu said.
When the Saracen fleet neared the shores of North Africa the ships sailed to different ports as they were far too many for one single port. As luck would have it the three children were on a ship that followed the Caliph.
The ships anchored and the Caliph descended victoriously followed by his army. Last came the captives who were led through the town past jeering crowds. Bound together with chains the folk of Suddene felt miserable and dejected as they shuffled past the cheering crowds.
Edward, Anthony and Geetu were chained together. In spite of their plan and the knowledge that they could free themselves by fulfilling the dare they felt terrible. Being enslaved was a horrible experience and the jeering crowds who saw them as pieces of merchandise made the children realize just how vile and evil slavery was.
When the captives reached the town square they were separated.
Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur had the first choice which captives he wanted for his own, the rest were either given to some of his men as a reward or forced into a holding area where they awaited sale in the slave market.
The captives of Suddene being separated
Naturally the Caliph also chose Prince Horn and other leading people from Suddene and as Edward, Anthony and Geetu had been with Queen Hilda at her death they found themselves in the same group. They were taken to a special part of the Caliph’s palace which was used to house political prisoners. Our three heroes were locked up in one room with Prince Horn and his friends Athulf and Fikenhild. The room itself was not unpleasant in spite of the thick walls and barred windows. It was up on the second floor and the windows were large enough to permit plenty of sunlight to enter without making the room unbearably hot. There were some beds, a table with jugs of water and a basket containing dates and various kinds of fruit. There were even enough chairs for everyone to sit on. All this made it clear that they were regarded as special captives who had access to luxuries that slaves could only dream of.
“At least this is better than that ghastly dungeon Rochefort put us in,” Geetu said.
“It’s still a prison,” Edward said, “and we have to get out.”
Prince Horn smiled sadly and shook his head.
“There’s only one way out of here,” he said and sighed. “If we can give the Caliph something he wants, he’ll let us go.”
“But what can we give him?” Anthony asked surprised.
“A ransom,” Athulf said. “We are kept here because the Caliph hopes someone will ransom us.”
“What does that mean?” Anthony asked.
“It means,” Fikenhild said, “that the Caliph will send messages to Europe telling of our capture, and if anyone is willing to pay enough money he’ll let us go free in return.”
Edward was outraged.
“Then the Caliph is just a bandit and a robber and a thief and a murderer. He should be in a dungeon and not we.”
Prince Horn laughed.
“You’d better not tell him that,” he said, “or he might have your head cut off. Anyway, my uncle is the King of Westernesse. I’m sure he’ll ransom me. About you, I’m not sure,” he said and looked at the others sadly. I’ll talk to him, of course, but it all depends on how much the Caliph wants and what my uncle is willing and able to pay.”
“Then we’ll not wait for your uncle,” Geetu said and stamped her foot angrily on the stone floor. “We’ll find a way to get out ourselves.”
“Get out?” Prince Horn looked at her incredulously. “Even if we could get out of this room, what’s the point. There’ll be soldiers everywhere. They would simply capture us or kill us.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Edward said. “We’ll simply ask them to let us out of this room.”
The men laughed and said “You’re joking.”
“No, I’m not,” Edward said. “We’ll tell them that we want to work in the palace. If they want slaves so much they’ll not object to having a few more hands to do the work.”
Everyone looked at Edward in surprise. It was such a simple idea and yet it sounded quite reasonable.
Prince Horn thought for a moment before saying “And why not, indeed. At worst they’ll say ‘no’ and we haven’t lost anything. I’ll ask them next time a guard comes.”
Much to their own surprise the Saracens agreed to let the thre
e children work in the palace. As for Prince Horn and his friends they were kept locked up. The children, who were not seen as a danger, were given various light tasks around the palace. This suited them very well as they had access to different areas of the palace.
