The boats continued down the river and we soon realised we were travelling away from our destination. The people did not want to see “The Great Healer” Tanith go, nor did they like the look in Madolf’s eyes when it was suggested we stay. Madolf’s look of violence through vacant expression (he is still on his Hookah) won the day and we disembarked.
We have lost a couple of days, due to all the excitement however we are putting that behind us and trudging on towards Tripoli. On the second day we see a small cloud of dust moving towards us, there is nowhere for us to go as it is just open plain.
“It may be nothing, nomads or travelers” Said Septimus hopefully
“Maybe” I agreed but we put down our equipment and readied ourselves just in case. Madolf carefully packed away his Hookah, this action had a finality about it which was quite disconcerting.
The dust cloud drew closer and closer, and Spetimus was, as always, wrong as we made out the distinctive cross of the crusaders on the ten knights riding towards us.
“Can’t be right all of the time” said Septimus ever the optimist “Ready?” we all sounded our readiness in head nods and grunts.
We stood before the Knights and if we had looked normal, not in disguise by some magic they may have been a bit more cautious, but before them they saw. Madolf looking like an unassuming tailor in socks and sandals, the type of stitching his smooth soft hands could create could only be marveled at. Tanith is sporting mutton chops with his kelat (a caftan if you like) covering his armor he looks like your typical trader. Wolfgar is similarly attired but is much younger looking and has a handsome face but this is offset by his roundness. In some cruel irony probably highly amusing to the Cardinal Septimus looks the most dangerous with a scar covering the length of his face, his arms are pure muscle and he has this look, you know the look, the one that says if you come over here it maybe the last thing you ever do. Even when Septimus has his hands on his hips it looks more menacing than mincing. I, myself am slightly smaller than the others and seemed to have aged twenty years, I am either, their father, honored elder gentleman, or servant to this group. That was probably the plan to make us look like a small group of traders, with a servant and bodyguard.
“That was some eyesight back their Bob”
“Thanks Barry, I aim to please”
“Yeah good work Bob, let’s take care of this bunch of losers, and head back” said Basil
“How do you want to go about this then Brian?” asked Ben
“Right then, Bob, Barry, Basil, Ben and Bruce, move slightly to the right. Myself, Brett, Brock, Brady and James”
“No need to put so much emphasis on my name” complained James
“It’s a bit hard to be the band of B’s if one of us is called James” said Brian
“Not my fault, Brendon got ill”
“No but, I did ask for William at least he is a Bill, still works see”
“Yeah but you got me so”
“Yeah we got you .so the rest of us will ride straight through them, then you come in and mop up. Plan?”
“Plan” they say in unison.
“I thought it may have been a small army, but this is going to be easy, a bunch of merchants”
“Yeah and look at that one, his got socks and sandals on”
“He deserves to die just for that fashion faux pas” The band of B’s and James laugh at this
“Extra rations if you can lope his head off and it lands so he can see his mistake” said Brain and spurred his horse on
The riders spurred their horses on
“Right ten riders, ten horses, five of us so we need half of the horses got that Madolf “
“Yup”
“You sure”
“Yeah I got it, you want half the horses”
“No we want all the horses, but half will do”
“Little closer, little closer, little bit more, now!” Septimus cast his magic and an illusionary fire sprang from the earth, the sound smell and heat felt real enough, and would have fooled me it was so real.
The horses reared in fear as the riders fought to keep control of their mounts, four of the riders braved it through the fire and instantly wished they hadn’t. Wolfgar let fly with an arrow killing a rider out right, Tanith moved up and Madolf charged at them. Drawing forth his great sword he swung cleaving the head off the rider and the horse in one fluid motion. The poor unfortunate who was greeted by this fate was Brian, who had previously said about taking Madolf’s head and it landing so he could see the fashion faux pas was now having the ignominious image before his eyes.
The Crusaders were not prepared for this; they had not encountered anything like this in the way of resistance or brutality since they left Europe. Brian now dead, and the tailor now looking like a butcher with a wicked grin on his face. The old man moved quicker than the look of his frame should allow, ran straight the flames smashing Basil off his horse and breaking his neck with the force and severity of the attack, then in the same fluid movement swung up onto the back of the horse and in perfect English.
“HA HA HA, I got your horse!!!” laughing manically and riding back through the flames, which seemed to diminish when he got near them and rise back up after he passed through.
Incensed Bruce rode after the old man, the other horses were not fancying going through the fire, which seemed to roar and grow with a mind of its own. The tailor (Madolf) cleaved another head off rider and horse and was being reprimanded by the one with the mutton chops about needing the horses, they weren’t considering the possibility of the crusaders winning this fight. The one who looked like he could actually fight stood back waving and shouting encouragement to his friends and disparaging remarks to the crusaders. James did not like the look of this at all when the tailor ran through the flames and attacked Bob, Barry and Ben. James seeing sense and the better part of living to fight another day galloped off. When James got back to the main group no one would believe his tale, until they arrived and found the bodies and heads.
“Best bit of fun we’ve had in a while” said Madolf in between whistling.
“You alright Madolf?”
“Couldn’t be better, that was invigorating”
“These translating things work a little too well”
“At least we got horses now”
“That should make things easier”
“ I’ve been thinking about this for a while now” said Madolf breaking the conversation a somber mood took over us and we all stayed quiet, it seemed one of those moments. “I’m cooking tonight” I think of all the things he could have said we were not expecting that.
“Really there is no need, we have it, and I don’t mind I actually enjoy….”
“Thank you Kyrias but it was not a question. I am cooking tonight” and he rode off whilst we all looked at one another panic stricken.
“I’ll talk to him” Septimus rode after him and shortly rejoined us “Nope there is only one thing for it”
“What’s that Septimus” asked Wolfgar.
“Tonight we go hungry” We camped and Madolf busied himself about cooking. We waited nervously but the smell was incredible, and in no time I like Septimus was salivating.
“Starters , Flat bread and Hummus”
“Bread, Hummus?”
“That dead geezer in that Castle had some Hummus but wouldn’t give us any” a round of agreement of the memory.
“Ohh, that’s nice”
“When did you get the bread, Madolf?”
“I made it” much coughing can be heard
“When?”
“Just”
Madolf goes back to cooking a quick discussion breaks out and it is agreed the smell is phenomenal and the bread and Hummus taste great.
“So whats for dinner Madolf?”
“Meerkat surprise”
“Is that as hard to make as badger surprise?”
“No its simples”
A short while later our bellies are full, and we are relaxing by the fire, Septimus is picking his teeth with a bone.
“That was fantastic Madolf, when did you learn to cook like that”
“I’ve always been able to cook like that”
“But that Badger surprise was so unbelievably…”
“Bad, terrible, gut wrenching, stomach wrecking…” said Madolf
“Yes”
“We were out of provisions, there was no food to forage or hunt for and all we had to face was starvation, whilst knowingly walking further away from food. So I made the badger surprise, and it did its job, you actually felt like starving was an option, a better option than eating. So you were less hungry because you made a decision” he continued. We sat there open mouthed, everything he had just said made perfect sense and it all slotted into place.
“You know Madolf, you are probably the smartest of us” said Septimus and clapped him on his back.
“All this time you let us think you were that bad a cooking” I said
“Yup, I never knew if I would need to do it again, but here in this land of plenty, well….” Amazed we passed the night.
We rode into Tripoli, and set about the task of gathering information. It took Septimus, Wolfgar and I six weeks to discover nothing. The best lead we got was a journal of Old Hailim who encountered a princess of the Bedouin people who could answer any question. We were told we would never be able to find the Bedouin they had something in common with a man called “Chuck Norris” you don’t find them they find you. So we set about trying to find Old Hailim.
Septimus was sad to be leaving Tripoli and I must admit I felt at home there and could quite easily live there. We travelled through other towns and cities staying a few weeks in each searching for any clues to the incantation and the artifact. But we failed to find much; the closest we came was an old Roman town that was amazingly preserved and a mural depicting the Gods banishing the Titans, but no clue to how they achieved it.
After months of travelling we entered the city of Damascus, where we managed to track down Old Hailim.
He spoke of his adventures that Septimus had read about, but said he was too old and frail to guide us but his grandson Young Hailim would be more than happy to take us into the desert.
We gathered supplies and equipment to stay in the desert for an extended period, exchanged our horses for camels and set off.
Arriving at an oasis Young Hailim said we are to set camp, the tents are not what we are used to. What we are used to is sleeping under the stars with a blanket over us. Young Hailim put his tent up in a matter of minutes and went to fetch water for us all. Tanith erected his tent quickly and stood back to admire his work.
“Very good of you Tanith, thanks very much” said Septimus walking in, Tanith stood there open mouthed, Madolf had his tent up and went to help Wolfgar with his and Tanith helped me as I managed to get myself stuck in the ropes. Once finished we set about erecting Tanith’s new tent.
We are looking forward to dinner as Madolf is cooking again.
