The Brethren Read online

  Salah-ed-din, Commander of the Faithful, the king Strong to Aid,Sovereign of the East, sat at night in his palace at Damascus andbrooded on the wonderful ways of God, by Whom he had been liftedto his high estate. He remembered how, when he was but small inthe eyes of men, Nour-ed-din, king of Syria, forced him toaccompany his uncle, Shirkuh, to Egypt, whither he went, "likeone driven to his death," and how, against his own will, there herose to greatness. He thought of his father, the wise Ayoub, andthe brethren with whom he was brought up, all of them dead nowsave one; and of his sisters, whom he had cherished. Most of alldid he think of her, Zobeide, who had been stolen away by theknight whom she loved even to the loss of her own soul--yes, bythe English friend of his youth, his father's prisoner, SirAndrew D'Arcy, who, led astray by passion, had done him and hishouse this grievous wrong. He had sworn, he remembered, that hewould bring her back even from England, and already had plannedto kill her husband and capture her when he learned her death.She had left a child, or so his spies told him, who, if she stilllived, must be a woman now--his own niece, though half of nobleEnglish blood.

  Then his mind wandered from this old, half-forgotten story to thewoe and blood in which his days were set, and to the last greatstruggle between the followers of the prophets Jesus and Mahomet,that Jihad [Holy War] for which he made ready--and he sighed. Forhe was a merciful man, who loved not slaughter, although hisfierce faith drove him from war to war.

  Salah-ed-din slept and dreamed of peace. In his dream a maidenstood before him. Presently, when she lifted her veil, he sawthat she was beautiful, with features like his own, but fairer,and knew her surely for the daughter of his sister who had fledwith the English knight. Now he wondered why she visited himthus, and in his vision prayed Allah to make the matter clear.Then of a sudden he saw this same woman standing before him on aSyrian plain, and on either side of her a countless host ofSaracens and Franks, of whom thousands and tens of thousands wereappointed to death. Lo! he, Salah-ed-din, charged at the head ofhis squadrons, scimitar aloft, but she held up her hand andstayed him.

  "What do you hear, my niece?" he asked.

  "I am come to save the lives of men through you," she answered;"therefore was I born of your blood, and therefore I am sent toyou. Put up your sword, King, and spare them."

  "Say, maiden, what ransom do you bring to buy this multitude fromdoom? What ransom, and what gift?"

  "The ransom of my own blood freely offered, and Heaven's gift ofpeace to your sinful soul, O King." And with that outstretchedhand she drew down his keen-edged scimitar until it rested on herbreast.

  Salah-ed-din awoke, and marvelled on his dream, but said nothingof it to any man. The next night it returned to him, and thememory of it went with him all the day that followed, but still hesaid nothing.

  When on the third night he dreamed it yet again, even morevividly, then he was sure that this thing was from God, andsummoned his holy Imauns and his Diviners, and took counsel withthem. These, after they had listened, prayed and consulted,spoke thus:

  "O Sultan, Allah has warned you in shadows that the woman, yourniece, who dwells far away in England, shall by her ownnobleness and sacrifice, in some time to come, save you fromshedding a sea of blood, and bring rest upon the land. We chargeyou, therefore, draw this lady to your court, and keep her everby your side, since if she escape you, her peace goes with her."

  Salah-ed-din said that this interpretation was wise and true, forthus also he had read his dream. Then he summoned a certainfalse knight who bore the Cross upon his breast, but in secrethad accepted the Koran, a Frankish spy of his, who came from thatcountry where dwelt the maiden, his niece, and from him learnedabout her, her father, and her home. With him and another spywho passed as a Christian palmer, by the aid of Prince Hassan,one of the greatest and most trusted of his Emirs, he made acunning plan for the capture of the maiden if she would not comewillingly, and for her bearing away to Syria.

  Moreover--that in the eyes of all men her dignity might be worthyof her high blood and fate--by his decree he created her, theniece whom he had never seen, Princess of Baalbec, with greatpossessions--a rule that her grandfather, Ayoub, and her uncle,Izzeddin, had held before her. Also he purchased a stout galleyof war, manning it with proved sailors and with chosenmen-at-arms, under the command of the Prince Hassan, and wrote aletter to the English lord, Sir Andrew D'Arcy, and to hisdaughter, and prepared a royal gift of jewels, and sent them tothe lady, his niece, far away in England, and with it the Patentof her rank. Her he commanded this company to win by peace, orforce, or fraud, as best they might, but that without her notone of them should dare to look upon his face again. And withthese he sent the two Frankish spies, who knew the place wherethe lady lived, one of whom, the false knight, was a skilledmariner and the captain of the ship.

  These things did Yusuf Salah-ed-din, and waited patiently till itshould please God to accomplish the vision with which God hadfilled his soul in sleep.