The Holy Sail (41 page)

On the Portuguese side, António Correia ordered Attar to lead the Hormuzi fleet and remain at sea, to prevent the Jabrid ships from carrying out a pincer movement and flanking them from behind, but told him to prepare to support Portuguese foot soldiers if needed.

The weather was hot and humid. It was summer, and at this time of the year, temperatures in the region rose dangerously high, especially at midday. The blistering sun, the stifling humidity and the boiling water, sand and air were merciless.

Correia landed with a force of 170 fighters, followed by one of his commanders with fifty men. Before dawn, they snuck up the coast. A number of Portuguese soldiers were able to climb over the parapet after quickly dispatching
the defenders. As the sun began to rise, everyone saw the Portuguese flag flying over one of the towers there. The other Portuguese regiment advanced towards the wall, climbed over it and crossed to the other side after all the Arab defenders had withdrawn.

The muskets the Portuguese soldiers deployed dominated the battle, and many of the defenders were unfamiliar with them. The shots they fired dropped cavalrymen from a long range, and repelled their counter-attacks very effectively. All the tactics the Arabians knew were useless against this weapon.

Suddenly and without warning, Sultan Muqrin's soldiers charged from all directions, trapping the attackers between themselves and the battlements. A large battle followed in which many were slaughtered on both sides. The battle lasted until noon, when temperatures peaked and the fighters started collapsing from dehydration and the unforgiving sun. The two armies retreated back from their positions, pulling with them as many dead and injured from their side as they could.

The Portuguese soldiers decided to remove their armour. By now, these panoplies were the equivalent of ovens, though taking them off exposed them to the defending archers.

Attar had an idea to end the battle swiftly. He disembarked from his ship and went to the coast to find Correia, who by now had realised that the real enemy was the heat and that the battle had to be settled now or abandoned.

Attar's advice was for the skilled archers to train their arrows on the commanders of Sultan Muqrin's army. The vizier explained that the Arabian troops were large in
number and distributed all along the fortifications, which meant that commanding officers were the only way to keep those forces organised and disciplined. If they were to be taken out, however, the Arabian army would fall into disarray.

Attar chose 200 of his best archers, and positioned them behind the infantrymen, between the attackers and the sea. Their mission was to pick off the Arabian officers.

As the sun went down, preparations were also being made on the other side. Oddly, however, the Jabrid commanders did not think much of the men who came down from the ships carrying bows, and thought they were part of the attackers' formations that had to be dealt with on the battlefield.

As the fighting resumed, volley after volley of Hormuzi arrows came down on the defenders, killing many of their commanders. Chaos ensued in their ranks, and the Arabian army could not cope without them.

The sultan was on his horse fighting alongside his men. When he saw the mayhem spreading in the flanks of his army, he rode quickly to investigate. The sultan was suddenly hit with a bullet, which ripped through the upper part of his thigh. Muqrin fell from his horse bleeding profusely. Soldiers took him to a nearby mosque which had been converted into a makeshift hospital. As the sultan disappeared from the battle along with the slain officers, signs of defeat of the Arabian army began to emerge.

Emir Nasser, learning of Sultan Muqrin's injury, raised the white flag and asked for a parley with the Portuguese.

The remaining commanders decided to move Sultan Muqrin across the sea to Al-Uqair, fearing he would fall
into the hands of the attackers. They had not expected Emir Nasser to raise the flag of surrender so quickly. The wounded sultan was placed on a stretcher and rushed to a boat not far from the battlefield, which the sultan had left behind for contingencies.

Emir Nasser initiated negotiations with the Portuguese. The Portuguese demands were for the Arabians to surrender the island, accept raising the cross atop its fort, and accept the governor that the Portuguese would appoint. Emir Nasser wanted to be the governor they appointed.

The sultan's men felt Emir Nasser had decided to surrender without having a mandate to do so and that he was now looking after his own interests and no one else's. Muqrin's loyal men opted to escape the island fearing retribution from the Portuguese, given their notorious reputation for tormenting and mutilating their enemies.

Small boats began to carry off soldiers and families from Bahrain and to Al-Uqair. When Attar learned about this, he ordered his flotilla to circle Bahrain from the south and head off the fugitives.

Attar was enraged and held a deep grudge. He wanted to avenge his daughter's husband and her maid. When he saw a boat trying to escape, he ordered his ships to pursue it and apprehend everyone on board.

The Hormuzi ships circled the Bahraini vessel. It was none other than the boat carrying the wounded sultan. Clashes ensued between the two sides, in which all of the sultan's defenders were killed. Only the boat's three crewmen survived.

Attar stood over the injured sultan. ‘Who are you?'

‘I am Sultan Muqrin bin Zamel of the House of Jabrid.'

Attar frowned in surprise. ‘The sultan of the Jabrids? I did not expect to see you in captivity.'

The sultan was groaning in pain. He was pressing on his thigh, which was bleeding heavily.

Attar looked at the wound. ‘Where is Emir Nasser then?'

‘Aaahh . . . I don't know—'

‘I have a vendetta against him, Sultan Muqrin. He tried to tarnish my daughter's honour!'

The sultan was writhing and moaning after each sentence he uttered. ‘Who is your daughter?'

‘Halima, wife of your vizier, Bin Rahhal. I am
Khawaja
Attar, vizier of the kingdom of Hormuz.'

The sultan recalled Bin Rahhal's victorious return from his mission in Hormuz, and the banter they had exchanged about marrying the vizier's daughter. He was awoken from his memories by a sharp pain that shot down his thigh. The sultan screeched. When the pain abated, he whimpered, ‘Yes, Bin Rahhal was deeply in love with your daughter.'

In a different life, Attar and the sultan could have been good friends. But circumstances put them now in a position where they were enemies. Attar also had something against the sultan, whom he saw as a cause of his daughter's plight.

‘Yes, Sultan Muqrin. He loved her immensely but the horrid man you appointed as emir of Bahrain and as your viceroy murdered him.'

The sultan was not aware of what had happened in Bahrain during his absence. ‘Emir Nasser killed Bin Rahhal?'

‘Correct. My daughter told me.'

The sultan now understood why Halima had tried to talk to him at the port in Al-Uqair, and why she had been so desperate to meet him.

‘This man you appointed has initiated negotiations for his surrender in return for being appointed the governor of Bahrain. He betrayed you in your absence, and has betrayed you again while you lie covered in your own blood.' Attar began to scream in anger, as though he blamed the sultan for all the tragedies that had befallen Halima, Bin Rahhal and Farah. ‘You did not choose your deputy well. You cared only that he was loyal, even if he was a murderer like Emir Nasser. You ignored his insolence and wickedness because all you wanted was someone to protect your throne. You monarchs are all the same. You do not think of your subjects, but only of your interests and your interests alone. Because of you, my daughter lost Farah, and you lost Bin Rahhal, your throne and your kingdom!'

The sultan's eyes froze and he stopped breathing. ‘He is dead, my lord,' a soldier said.

Attar glared at the Hormuzi soldier, then returned his gaze to the sultan, now a lifeless corpse. The deck of the boat was covered in the blood that had gushed from the sultan's wound.

Attar ordered his men to return to Bahrain. The Hormuzi ships approached the coast tugging a small boat behind them. Correia knew that Attar had caught something valuable, and went into the water trying to see who was on the boat. He managed to glimpse a body lying on the deck and spotted Attar.

‘It's Sultan Muqrin, Officer Correia. He was trying to flee to Al-Ahsa,' Attar said.

The Portuguese commander ordered his men to decapitate the body and send the head to Hormuz to be shown to Albuquerque.

The Hormuzi and Portuguese fleets loitered near the Bahraini coast. There was systematic looting on the island, and the soldiers and sailors wreaked havoc in Bahrain.

Days later, a ship from Hormuz came bringing a letter to Correia. It was from Albuquerque, congratulating him on his victory and asking him to change his name to António Correia Da Bahrain, so that his triumph would forever be associated with his family. Albuquerque even suggested that Correia devise a new coat of arms for his family, showing an arm carrying the head of Sultan Muqrin.

Attar knew that it was Emir Nasser who was the cause of Farah's death, and knew it was he who had murdered Bin Rahhal too. There was not much he could do about it, however, as the man was under Correia's protection now.

Attar decided to visit his daughter's home and collect any belongings she may have left behind. He also wanted to visit Farah's grave. He chose a group of bodyguards and rode to the farmstead. He knew exactly where it was; it belonged to the father of King Salghur, who had excluded it from the agreement with the Jabrids.

Attar found the gate to the estate had been pried open, and the place abandoned. Everyone had fled when the invaders overran the island. He dismounted his horse and walked inside, leading the animal behind him by its reins.

The Hormuzi vizier walked between two rows of palm trees towards the house. He gave his horse to one of his men and walked to the grave. Attar read a verse from the Quran over the tomb. He then cleaned it and replaced the wreaths Halima had placed over it before she left for Al-Ahsa.

Attar remembered Farah when she was a little girl. When he bought her from the slaver and brought her home, Halima was overjoyed. The two girls played together and grew up together like sisters. He could not imagine Halima without her. They were like twins, and Attar treated them with almost equal love and affection, though he kept a bit of distance from Farah. After all, she was not of his flesh and blood.

Attar felt a warm tear roll down his cheek. He wiped it gently and then placed the same hand on the grave, as though trying to convey his grief to Farah.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from inside the house.

 

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36
 
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Jeddah, Arabian Peninsula

Carrier pigeons were of little use for conveying detailed information. Hussein learned of the Mamluk defeat in the Battle of Marj Dabiq, but did not know exactly what had happened. And he had no idea what would happen when the Ottoman Sultan Selim entered Cairo.

A torrent of thoughts rushed into Hussein's head. The conflict he felt brought back his insomnia and affected his judgement and behaviour. Everything in his life had become muddled and unclear.

One morning, the
dawadar
entered his quarters to inform him that a merchant who had returned recently from Egypt bore news for him.

‘Let him in without delay.'

The Battle of Marj Dabiq was a historic turning point in the region. Sultan Selim was at the head of the young Ottoman Empire, which was perpetually pushing its borders in an attempt to expand its territory as far as possible. Many were of the view that the Ottoman sultanate was the only Sunni Muslim force able to stand up to the Safavid Empire, which in turn was constantly trying to expand. The flurry of reports about Safavid massacres in Iraq prompted people to look for a new power that could protect them from the Safavids. This meant that the Ottoman victory in Marj Dabiq came as good news for many, even in Egypt. The decisive battle closed the
book on the long reign of the Mamluks that many would not miss. People rarely recalled what was good and right at the beginning of the Mamluk power, but remembered very well the misdeeds of the Mamluks near the end of their reign.

The merchant sat in front of Hussein. He understood immediately that the Mamluk pasha had no patience for flattery, and that he was anxious to hear the news he carried. The man cut straight to the point.

‘I think you are aware, Hussein Pasha, of the animosity between Sultan Selim and Sultan al-Ghawri. Ottoman troops apprehended a Safavid emissary from Shah Ismail. When they searched him they found a letter to Sultan al-Ghawri asking him to join a Portuguese–Safavid alliance against the Ottomans . . .'

Hussein did not want to sit and listen to what he already knew, and to what he suspected was a story fabricated by Sultan Selim to justify an invasion of Egypt. He interrupted the merchant vehemently. ‘Forget these tall tales and tell us about the battle!'

The man organised his thoughts. ‘The Ottoman sultan marched with around half a million soldiers and 350 cannons. When Sultan al-Ghawri learned of this, he wrote to the Mamluk governor in Syria to rally as many men as he could to his banner and meet him in Marj Dabiq. The governor mobilised a large number of fighters from Syria and Mount Lebanon, bringing the total number of soldiers in the Mamluk army to 450,000, armed with eighty cannons. The two armies then met on the battlefield.

‘Shortly after the battle began, the Mamluks flanked the Ottoman army and dealt it a heavy blow that threw it into
disarray and forced it to initially retreat. The Mamluk fought valiantly in that battle, Hussein Pasha.'

Hussein's thoughts took him back to when he was a boy in the Mamluk barracks with his friend Suleiman. They would cry because of the harsh training and would eat under the bedcovers to avoid being spotted by their warden. Those who had been trained in combat from an early age would no doubt show great courage in battle, he thought.