Heaven Can't Wait | Baldwin IV

II - Life

Valentia hugged Safiyaah close to her chest. Juliana now held Ibrahim while simultaneously caring for Aida.

The carts had been loaded and the horses readied. Once the whole family was accounted for, they all stood outside waiting for the next indication from the man of the house.

"Burn it. Burn everything."

Al Mualim's words were instantly obeyed by his men, but questioned by his already disturbed family.

"What?!" They all shouted in unison and rushed to him to protest.

"Get back."

The father pushed them away from the entrance.

"No!" Valentia screamed as she watched torches being lit and thrown to the weakest points of their magnificent old home.

She wished the liquid in her eyes was enough to put the flames out, but it was too late. The poor palm trees were becoming giant torches themselves. Not even the hexagonal fountain could make a stand to them.

Juliana made her way to her husbands side.

"What are you doing? Have you gone mad?"

"This is no longer home." Al Mualim did not say this lightly. It had been called home for generations since their ancestors founded the city sometime in the late 700s. "It will serve as a distraction."

Flames engulfed those generations relentlessly in a matter of seconds.

They could only watch. Tamilla tried to comfort Valentia, though it hurt her just as much, for it had also been the only home she'd known her entire life.

Brígida and Diana, the other maids, helplessly saw their life's work and effort disappear.

"Let's go," the emir commanded.

Guards Jaume, Alexander, Crístobal, and Xavi rounded them all up and helped them onto the wagons one by one.

"I can't believe this..." Ikram murmured, tears spurting uncontrollably.

"Mommy, I'm scared," Meghighda told Fatima, proclaiming aloud what everyone else felt like too.

The horses galloped faster than they ever had before. The clonking of their hooves, at first muffled by the intense blaze, soon echoed all throughout the streets. They'd be easy to detect for the Alsaalihin, but everyone was praying. The Christians' hands so tightly clasped that whitened knuckles looked like bare bone. The Muslims, with their palms directed to the sky, hoping safety would fall from it. But there was now a long journey ahead that they knew nothing about. Not even Al Mualim had it all sorted out. The established plan of action had crumbled as the house surely was.

He and his wife would have traveled alone with Lluna to the Holy Land, where they would have seen her married and accommodated, and then they would have returned with renewed influence. This influence could have been of use with the hajibs, other emirs, and governing officials of the Caliphate to drive Karim away. Yet, now they were not simply seeking reputation, but escaping for their lives... being hunted, and in significantly larger numbers than the original plan.

Only once the density of the city decreased, rows of cypresses lead the way into the wilderness. This mad them a visible target, but it also gave them a sense of liberty. Al Mualim followed the stars. East. All he knew was that they had to go East until they reached the so-called Kingdom of Heaven.

They would need to find a ship, but not in the port of Colla Aeria; Karim would soon have it surrounded, no doubt. As for who would be able to help them all, a merchant would be their best bet. Their only allegiance was to money, and their itineraries distant enough that one of them would be going somewhere near their direction.