Emissary (Book 1)

Massacre

I was sitting with Peter and the rest of our squad around a small fire. The sun had just risen over the horizon but it was a little chilly on that early spring day. We were sitting in silence waiting for master Badr's orders. Everyone knew what had happened outside the gates of Dimyata but I was under strict orders not to mention any more details. We had just lost Corporal Ali, our group leader and my friend. I was devastated and we were leaderless.

"Master Badr wants you to go to his tent," one of the master's guards came to get me. I thought he wanted more information about the city's defenses only I was so very wrong.

"Come over here Corporal John," the master beckoned me to approach. He was standing with a few of his seasoned commanders. Even though this was one of Badr's military expeditions however it had started out as a training exercise for the young men in his school. He wanted to give us some battle and command experience only it was about to deteriorate into an all out war campaign. The commanders which were present in the tent had only been there to guide us in our training exercise and now we needed all the help we could get.

"Malek. I want you to ride as fast as possible to Jerusalem and then on to my men at Acre and tell them to send as many soldiers as they could spare as soon as possible," Badr told one of his commanders.

"But Sir wouldn't it be faster to ask the governor of Alexandria or the Caliph in Cairo for help?" commander Malek asked.

"The Caliph has his hands full. I don't think he can spare anyone. As for the governor of Alexandria, I think he is a weasel and a traitor. Hell I think he might even be in on this in the first place," Badr explained and I just felt my stomach fall. We were doomed. Help from Acre or Jerusalem wouldn't possibly arrive on time and if what the master said about the governor of Alexandria is correct then we were all dead.

"So Corporal John. You said you saw ten galleys in the harbor. What about the Seljuks? How many do you estimate there are in the city? Where are they stationed? What kind of armor do they carry? How many guards are at the gates? How high is the walls of the city? Can we climb them?..." He kept asking me all kind of questions and I answered them all as best as I could. I was trained to observe such things and I knew what I was talking about. He was the one who trained us after all.

"Ok Maleh. Go now, and tell them what you just heard," Badr finally ordered his commander who ran out of the tent and on to his mission.

"Let us see here," Badr started to explain what he was planning to do and I thought he was crazy, "we will send a few men to enter the city. They will wait until late at night then they will override the guards to open the gate. Corporal John will enter the city stealthily with the rest of his men. They will spread into several groups and proceed to where the Seljuks are quartered and they will try to eliminate as many as they could." Yep he was definitely crazy.

"You mean kill them all while they are asleep?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes Corporal," Badr said, "that is what you have been trained for isn't it?"

"But sir," another one of Badr's commanders interjected, "sir the odds are overwhelmingly high. Maybe ten to one. Hell some of your boys have never even experienced battle not to mention anything like this. This is insane." Thank God and I thought I was the only one who believed the master's plan was crazy.

"Yes it is," Badr said, "if I had any of your normal soldiers with me right now I would not have dreamt of anything like this," he explained, "but those boys you just described have been trained to do this. I have all the confidence in them. Isn't this right Corporal?"

What could I have said? He was insane all right. He was sending us to commit a massacre and he knew that many of us would not even come out of this alive. But he was our master and commander and we were committed to his cause, "we will do as you command," I said.