Emissary (Book 1)

School

Master Badr came back a few months later. However this time he brought with him a large entourage. They numbered more than fifty people; men, women as well as young boys and girls of different ages and ethnicities. Badr also brought food and horses to replenish his stables. Jaafar and I were relieved that Badr didn't ask about the two that died. The stables were now full of horses and I was busy all night helping the stable master take care of all the new animals.

Again the first thing Badr did was visit his harem and spend the first night in the arms of his slave girls. However he didn't retire before giving his instructions to the estate manager on how to arrange quarters for all the new people. The females who came with the master were shown to the main house where as the males were shown to the new quarters that had been recently constructed a few hundred yards north of the main estate.

These new quarters had been under construction months earlier but nobody knew the reason why until that day. Many thought that Badr was building a mosque however the new building didn't align to the east in the direction of Mecca, the holy city where Muslims pray. Besides who builds a large mosque out of no where. Badr's estate was secluded way north on the furthest side of the city and very few people lived in the area. However the layout of that new building complex resembled a miniature grand Mosque without the minarets. It consisted of a large main hall connected on either sides by several smaller rooms built consecutively one next to the other. These rooms formed two parallel rows on either sides of the main hall. And finally a high wall with a wooden gate closed off the complex to the outside. The main hall, the rooms and the walls all surrounded a large square area and in the middle of the square stood a small running fountain. The building complex was almost a small fort disguised as a mosque but it turned out to be something else entirely.

The next morning Jaafar told me that I would be going to stay with the young boys in the new compound. I was a little sad to leave the stable master but he assured me that he wasn't going away and that I will continue to see him around the estate. But I never did see him again. I took what little I had and walked over to the new building complex. I introduced myself to the guard at the gate and was led to one of the large rooms that looked over the square. The room housed nine boys of different ages and I was to be the tenth. They showed me where I was to sleep and said that we should wait for new instructions from the master. This was to be my living quarters where I would be sleeping, eating, reading, writing and spending hours with my new friends for years to come.

"You have been chosen to become my new loyal Mamluk soldiers in the service of the armies of the Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate. In the coming days you will be learning new ways to fight and win. You will learn to win at all costs. I do not want to train just plain soldiers that I can send to fight and die. I have plenty of those. I want to train men who will become special soldiers and commanders maybe generals in a new army that we are planning to oversee. The time has come when our Ismaili way of life prevails and we finally defeat our enemies using all the means we have under our disposal," master Badr explained after he gathered all his men and women young and old, in the large main hall. The men he brought turned out to be our instructors and the women were also his special teachers. Everyone was present to hear his speech and we were all moved by his commitment and strength especially myself. I knew then that God had meant for me to be here and to train under this man. He was to become my master and commander. A man to which I would ever give my allegiance to him, his family and his cause. Up to this day I do not know why I was thus committed. Maybe I found in him the father figure that I never knew and I would always try to appease him in what ever venture he undertook and there were plenty of those to come.

"This is Chief Daii (missionary) Mustafa Ibn Qays. He will be your commander while you are in this school. I will be dividing my time between Acre and here. When I am away you will listen and obey every word he says and follow his explicit instructions. He will assign you to your duties and set your training schedules. You will have many Daiis, teachers and instructors. You will do as they say. I do not tolerate failure, insolence or disobedience. There is no quitting this school except if you die and many of you will. But hear this, God has showed us a way and it is for us here to fulfill his wishes or the world will perish with us. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"