The Holy Sail (36 page)

‘So your mistress doesn't want me to talk to her! Fine. She will want to talk to me soon enough. Women are all the same. Now go and get her.'

Farah left the room, trying not to say anything else. She felt her heart was about to jump out of her chest. She closed the door behind her, leaned against it and began to weep.

A few minutes later, Farah trudged back to the room. She was shaking, and tried as best as she could to steady her limbs. She closed the door with a click that the emir heard. He was lying on the bed.

‘At last, Halima! You've resisted me for too long. Come to your new lover!'

Moths swarmed around the lantern outside, undeterred as ever by the sight of the dead insects on the ground beneath, burned by the flame. The frogs seemed to croak louder, as though purposely trying to cover up the misdeeds of the night. A young tortoise moved slowly towards a nearby stream. It fell in and made a splash, causing the insects to stop singing, if only for a few moments.

Shortly before dawn, when it was still dark outside, Farah
tried to rouse the emir. She shook him repeatedly but he would only mutter unintelligibly and then return to snoring. Farah kept trying until he opened his eyes and sobered up; he knew that he had to leave. Farah did not let down her guard until she saw the door close behind him, and heard the sound of the horse's hooves fade away.

The sun rose, and bathed Halima's face as she slept on the roof of the house. Initially she had been unable to fall asleep. She could not stop thinking about Farah, and she was tormented with guilt. But she had finally drifted off late in the night.

A swarm of flies buzzed over her face and woke her up. She sat up abruptly, as though awaking from a disturbing nightmare. Halima tried to organise her thoughts: what had happened the night before?

Halima darted to Farah's room. The maid was still in bed, under the covers. Farah shivered from the cold. Her skin had turned pale blue, and she had black bags around her eyes.

Halima pulled back the cover. She saw a pool of blood covering half of Farah's body. She had slit her wrists with the same dagger that the emir had returned to her. The bloodstained dagger was by her side. Halima grabbed the dagger, quickly examined its blade, and then threw it away.

‘No! What have you done, Farah?'

Halima shook Farah, trying to revive her. She heard her slur something.

She put her ear closer to Farah's mouth and heard her falter, ‘W-w-we finally got the dagger, H-H-Halima. Please forgive me! I didn't want to put you in that position. That
bastard J-J-Jawhar betrayed me. I tried to defend your honour with mine.'

Farah licked her lips and asked for a drink of water. Before Halima stood up to fetch water, Farah grabbed her hand as though pleading with her to stay.

Farah quivered and let out one last exhale. Her body froze, her wide-open eyes staring at the ceiling.

All the servants in the house heard Halima's ear-piercing scream, as she began to cry inconsolably. ‘Don't leave me by myself, Farah! Don't leave me! They have killed you . . . Damn them, I swear to God I will avenge you!'

The servants did not understand whom she meant. Wailing in front of the dead never meant much anyway, they thought.

The sun beat down on the farmstead. The frogs and insects fell silent. Halima's loud sobs could be heard sporadically.

The mood was different at Emir Nasser's
majlis
. Nasser and Jawhar, who was eager to get his reward, were celebrating.

‘How was your night, my lord?'

‘Not great, but not too bad. Next time will definitely be better. She cried all night, and didn't want to talk to me. Things will change once she gets used to me.'

Jawhar's expression turned into a sinister smile. ‘Where is the gift you promised me? I want my freedom, Your Highness. Haven't I served you faithfully all these years?'

‘You will get what you want, Jawhar, don't rush it. But first, there is something else I need you to do.'

‘What do you want me to do, my lord?'

‘I want you to spread word that I slept with Halima last night. I want everyone in Bahrain to know. I want her to come begging me to marry her and save her reputation. Now go!'

–
 
31
 
–

Yemen

At the foot of a mountain east of Aden, a shepherd hurled stones at several sheep that had started to stray. He repeated this a few times, but the stubborn sheep paid him no attention and stayed away from the herd. In the distance, the sea stretched out to infinity. He noticed a few dark silhouettes moving on the horizon. He focused his gaze, trying to make out their shapes, and realised it was an armada sailing from the east. The shepherd held his hand over his eyes to shield them from the glaring sun. He was able to see red dots on their sails, which a few minutes later crystallised into clear red crosses.

The shepherd left his herd and dashed to the village. He explained what he had seen to an elderly man there, who ran back with him to a spot where the entire sea was visible. The man circled his eyes with his hands and looked out to sea. His face changed. He then hurried back to the village, and a few minutes later, a group of men were on their way to the shore. There, they took a small oared boat and set off to warn Emir Murjan in Aden.

The coxswains knew they were in a race against the Portuguese fleet and had to reach the city before the Portuguese did. If they managed to alert Aden in time, it might just be able to prepare for this floating death before it arrived. The posse took the shepherd with them; being
young, he would be able to run and reach the emir's palace the quickest.

The men rowed as fast as they could, their elder urging them to go quicker and not to stop. Beads of sweat formed on the exposed parts of their bodies, and the elder was now chanting battle songs while the others joined in chorus. The cityscape began to emerge in the distance.

The villagers finally reached the coast. The young man jumped off the boat and sprinted towards the palace of Emir Murjan near the city wall. All but one of the guards failed to notice him. The guard hit him with a thin cane on his back, trying to stop him from barging in on the emir and his guests, but he failed. The shepherd writhed in pain but kept going.

The young man entered the emir's
majlis
, gasping for air. He reached behind his back and rubbed the place where the cane had hit him. The guard appeared behind him carrying a long stick, making a whipping motion in a last-ditch attempt to stop the young man who had not complied with his orders.

‘Your Highness! Your Highness!'

‘What do you want, boy? What happened?'

The shepherd, still panting, said, ‘The Portuguese armada is coming. You have only a few hours to prepare. We spotted the ships from our village and came to warn you as fast as we could.'

Emir Murjan had been expecting the Portuguese. It was now a frequent occurrence for mutilated corpses and burnt ships to wash up on their shore. The tales of torture and suffering inflicted by the Portuguese that the survivors carried with them made people in Aden wary and
apprehensive. In the past few months, the Adenis put piles of firewood on the mountaintops surrounding the port and along the coast, to serve as warning beacons.

After the Battle of Diu, Albuquerque knew that he would not be able to maintain the upper hand unless he prevented Mamluk ships from reaching India. To achieve this, he had to take Aden, whatever the cost. The city was at the entrance to the Red Sea, and conquering it would ensure his control over the maritime route from Suez to India, and stop Mamluk galleys from participating in any future battles in the Arabian Sea.

The Portuguese conquistador prepared the largest armada in the history of the Portuguese navy. Albuquerque assembled 1,700 sailors and soldiers, and 800 Malabars whom he crammed into twenty vessels of various sorts and sizes. He told his men that the goal was to occupy Aden, but withheld further details of his plan to maintain secrecy. He told his officers that the plan would change the course of history.

When Albuquerque's fleet reached the coast in the evening, the Yemeni defenders were ready for him. They lit a series of fires on the hilltops to illuminate the coast, almost turning the night into day, and preventing the attackers from slipping in under cover of darkness.

Preachers in the city's mosques urged people to be patient and to help fortify and defend the city. A warlike spirit of
jihad
was kindled quickly among the populace, as the imams and scholars took up arms and were seen sermonising to people while leaning on their swords and spears.

On the following day, as Albuquerque was about to order one of his ships to sail close to the shore to scout the area and test the city's defences, a Yemeni bunder boat
^*
carrying gifts paddled towards the flagship. One of the men on board requested an audience with Albuquerque.

The deckhands on board the
São Gabriel
dropped ropes, which the men on the boat used to tie the gifts for the sailors to pull up. They repeated the process several times until everything on the small boat had been transferred to the Portuguese ship. The Yemeni messenger then climbed up and found Albuquerque waiting for him, standing in front of the pile of gifts randomly thrown about on the deck. Albuquerque ignored the messenger's greeting.

The messenger greeted him again, only to be ignored a second time. Albuquerque's reptilian eyes were fixated on the messenger, who now felt nervous.

Albuquerque broke his silence. ‘Hear me well, messenger. I want you to take your gifts back where you came from. I will not accept any tributes from your leader until all my demands are met.'

The Yemeni did not move, waiting for Albuquerque to lay out his terms. ‘Your emir must open the city gates, sign the terms of surrender and submit to the king of Portugal. Our forces shall then parade in the city streets and our flag shall fly over the emir's palace.' Albuquerque gave him a rare smile before he continued. ‘If he refuses, then we will obliterate the city and extinguish every living soul inside.'

The messenger returned to Emir Murjan with Albuquerque's demands. The emir realised that war was inevitable, but he wanted to buy himself more time to finish preparing the battlements and fortifications, and to
mobilise his men. He asked Albuquerque for more time to consult the city elders and leaders, but the conquistador refused and gave the emir just a few hours to comply.

Albuquerque gave instructions for all sambuks and dhows moored in the harbour to be commandeered and brought close to the armada, meaning to use them to transport soldiers to the coast when needed.

After the ultimatum expired, Albuquerque sent three columns that attacked along three axes, but the small ships he had seized from the port to carry his soldiers were forced to stop short of the coast as the sea had receded. The soldiers had to disembark with their armour, weapons and gear, and swim the distance to the beach, while water leaked into their gunpowder sacks.

The first column made it to the main gate and engaged the defenders there. They could not breach the gate, however, as the Yemenis had built a solid wall behind it. The Portuguese climbed the siege ladders they had brought with them, using their harquebuses to strike anyone in their way. They ascended to the top of the wall and hoisted the Portuguese flag there, and shouted cries of victory to let the other soldiers know they had succeeded in their mission.

The second column led by Albuquerque marched to the right of the main gate. This detachment comprised Albuquerque's elite soldiers. As they tried to scale the wall together at the same time, the siege ladders broke under the weight of their bodies, armour and weapons. Some soldiers tried to bring more ladders from the first column, but they also broke as the attackers climbed them.

The third column was supposed to use the ladders left behind by the first two once they were successfully over the walls, but there were none left. In the end, they remained at the bottom of the wall, unable to take part in the fighting at the top and on the other side.

The first column began to climb down the other side of the wall, but the Yemeni defenders put up a fierce resistance, forcing the attackers to climb back up. The officer leading the column ordered his retreating soldiers to attack again, raising a cross that was in his hand to encourage them and boost their morale. The soldiers made one battle cry and charged down, pushing the Yemenis back. The Portuguese were able to seize a few homes near the wall, sending terror into the hearts of the Yemenis, some of whom fled away from the wall.

The emir saw the large number of defenders deserting the battle. He wanted to order them to retreat, as he felt the weapons they had were no match for those of the attackers. There were many casualties in the ranks of his army and morale had collapsed, with the city on the verge of falling to Albuquerque. One of the sheikhs by his side urged him to ride his horse and lead the counter-attack, warning him that certain defeat was the only alternative.

The other Portuguese columns had breached parts of the wall and slipped in, and were now supporting the first column. It seemed that the battle was going in their favour until Emir Murjan appeared in the ranks of the defenders
on the back of a grey horse. The emir raised his sword, pressing his soldiers to follow his lead to defend their city and their honour.

A fierce battle ensued between the two sides, in which all sorts of weapons were used. The attackers and the defenders fought tooth and nail at close quarters, until the Portuguese were pushed back to the wall, trapped between the Yemenis and the battlement. Some of them were able to climb and jump off, but many Portuguese soldiers died that way or fractured their limbs. The Yemenis climbed the wall behind them, carrying bundles of firewood that they set on fire and threw on the Portuguese, many of whom were immolated.

When Albuquerque saw that his forces were routed and were too exhausted to attack again, he ordered them to retreat. The survivors who could walk used the dhows in the port to return to the armada, but many wounded Portuguese soldiers were left behind to die.