VALOR OF THE FOUR CATS

  "He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious."

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

After being silent for a while, continued the story.

"I gave them the go-ahead as I focused on repelling the forces at the front while keeping an eye occasionally on their position.

Knowing that four men were disadvantaged against thirty. They chose to hold their ground and covered themselves and the Cardinals in the middle with their Shields."

"As expected, the bandits at the back started by shooting their poisonous and barbed arrows. They are deadly when they pierce someone, cutting through thin armour and very hard to pull out of the skin without ruinous consequences."

"I have seen firsthand, the ruinous consequences you are talking about." Yosef agreed with him.

Commander Gallo Francis went on to say, "without any fear, they endured the barrage of arrows while adjusting their Shields to match the angles of the incoming arrows. Which I tell you is no mean feat! Shifting the shield to protect against a hail of arrows from thirty shooters, some coming in high, others coming in low or at chest level while staying collected despite the crying and pleading coming from the Cardinals in the center, some had even fainted and fallen off their horses, others were on the ground pleading with us to surrender as they were convinced there was no fighting out of this alive. Twelve against fifty, those were some really bad odds."

"Well, my four defenders at the back despite their age proved their hearts of steel by not panicking."

By now, Yosef was deeply interested in the flow of the story. He desisted from commenting to disrupt the flow.

"When the attackers saw that the arrows were not achieving the required results, they decided to go at it the brute force way. Attack en mass with their lances drawn at the defenders, this was done by the leading force of four lancers. While the other twenty-six bandits brandished their scimitars and shouted, "Allah Akbar" while coming from behind their lancers.

We expected them to retreat from the mounted bandit lancers. Since no matter how sturdy your shield is, you cannot defend against a mounted lancer while standing still. First of all, the velocity of the charge increases the force behind the lance and weight. Have you ever seen two mounted lancers squaring off? I can assure you it is not a pretty sight to the knight on the receiving side.

The four surprised us by dropping their Shields as the mounted lancers drew close.

Having defended so well from the onslaught of arrows, here they were surrendering to the enemy. Felt like rushing back to go and kill them myself before the enemy, this was disgraceful to the honor of Knight Templars. We never Surrender irrespective of the odds against us on the battlefield.

The approaching lancers were all so delighted, to see these four throw their shields in resignation. This made them spur on their horses, to quickly approach and finish off these meek lambs. You could see the grin on their faces as they praised Allah.

Next, the four cats distanced themselves from each other and waited for the incoming lancers. When the mounted lancers drew close they ran towards them and leaped onto the horses of the lancers with the ease of Olympian gymnastics despite their heavy armour. As if with one mind, they caught and twisted the lances from the riders. The force of the charge sent the attackers off-balance, falling off their horses while the four cats stepped on the backs of the horses before leaping off. 

At the speed they were riding at, there was no way any of them could survive that fall and stand up to fight. They crushed into the ground heavily, rising dust and denting their formerly shiny and intact armour. Blood flowed from their noses, ears, and mouths. They must have suffered serious internal injuries.

Having felled the four mounted lancers, the four cats were on their feet with their clubs and maces swinging overhead rushing to meet the remaining twenty-six horsemen.

The clash was horrifying, with pinpoint precision and horrifying brutality. Four helmets were caved in despite the attackers trying to defend themselves, by holding their scimitars as shields in front of them. Too bad they had not carried shields due to their mobile nature. The four knights did not stop there, they collaborated and continued their clash with the remaining riders.

Nimbly, they shifted amongst the incensed bandits who wanted to take revenge on their eight fallen comrades.

With outstanding teamwork, like a pack of wolves, the four cats could gang up on three riders, incapacitating the horses and rider in one fell swoop before moving on to the next.

What was initially a victory cry from the Muslim bandits turned into a scream of agony as they fell off their horses, bleeding and dying.

Within a space of ten minutes, the odds had shifted drastically, four knights we were worried about had killed or grievously wounded thirty mounted horsemen at the back. This shifted the tide of the battle and gave us the morale to defeat the bandits at the front.

When the other attacking riders at the front saw what had befallen their comrades at the back. The few surviving bandits decided to retreat.

***

Midnight in Jaffa, at Father Absalom's manor.

Abu Bin Zayyid dressed in his dark Assassin's Order attire had returned to collect more

information about the Knight Templar and his mission in the Holy Land. 

Having failed to get any information the previous day, he had contacted his spies within the circle of the Knight Templars from the County of Jaffa. All of them were not aware of the posting of any knight by the names of Yosef, or under the personal service of Master of County, Balian of Ibelin.

Based on the way the butler of the Count had received this knight and the absence of

any supporting official information about his arrival or posting in Jaffa. Abu Bin Zayyid's conclusion was pointing toward this being a highly secretive mission. This was no ordinary knight if none of his sources knew about his mission or existence.

Unlike last time when he was just quietly investigating, today he was to be proactive

and if necessary, was going to stir the hornets' nest.

Quietly and stealthily. Abu Bin Zayyid moved about the compound of the manor, listening to any sound that was of significance. All the while leaning in the shadows. Like last time, there were insect sounds in the backyard. He filtered out the insects' sounds while listening out for human or artificially generated sounds, be they low or high. He heard the snoring of

some of the inhabitants of the manor as they slept off, others were unconsciously farting in their sleep or mumbling some intelligent words.

He crept to the window of the Knight Templar Yosef. For a while, Abu Bin Zayyid started observing the environment outside and inside with his keen sense of hearing, sight, smell, and spiritual intuition.

All of them relayed to him a message he could not believe. That there was no occupant behind the closed window of this room. All this was too much for Abu Bin Zayyid to bear, he decided to pull out his dagger and pry one side of the closed window open. These wooden windows and their wooden latches were no challenge to him. Within a space of a few minutes, Abu Bin Zayyid had the window opened. All this had been done with as little noise as possible. Slowly and quietly, he pulled the window open before lifting himself and climbing inside.

Inside the room. Even without light, Abu could tell that the room had been emptied of the little belongings of the Knight Yosef.

'Oooohhh nooo, I was late. This infidel has already left, it was stupid of me to think that he could stay around for long,' Abu Bin Zayyid mumbled in his head.

Anger and disappointment burned in his chest. Abu felt like killing someone to appease this anger, there was no way he could suffer alone. Some infidel was going to bear the brunt of his disappointment. 

Remembering the layout of the room from his earlier exploration. Abu Bin Zayyid moved to the door in the dark, after pushing back the window. He reminded himself to use this route on his way out of the manor.

Abu Bin Zayyid crept to the bedroom housing the female slaves. These misguided Christians loved to call them maids as if it could dignify their lowly position. Theirs was the first room he investigated last time, and he also knew that most maids were well informed about the affairs of the houses they served in. They could be good sources of information or gossip.

The thought of torturing a maid or maids for information aroused Abu Bin Zayyid and he had to adjust the bulge in his robe. At such a time he thought the elder who came up with this tight type of uniform was impotent or didn't care for the sexual health of their members.

Within no time, Abu Bin Zayyid approached the room with maids in it. 

They were sound asleep on their floor mattress. Having entered the room before, he crossed to stand in the corner of the door as he adjusted his excited breathing so that he blended in the shadows. At the same time, Abu Bin Zayyid was savoring the sweet sensation of having two helpless females in his reach. He thought of a hundred ways he could length their suffering while taking pleasure from it. He had not yet laid hands on them but the anxiety was killing him.

After a while, Abu Bin Zayyid's patience wore out and he had to make a move. 

There were two maids ready for his enjoyment, but to be safe and enjoy he decided to handle one female slave at a time. 

He put his hand into one of the small side pockets on his sash containing a lethal poison that could put someone in a coma for days until they died if not administered with the antidote. 

Abu Bin Zayyid also had a powder poison for a deep sleep but that was no fun for a qualified Member of Assassin's Order. He had to dance on the edge of death or put his victims on the brink of death to enjoy it. With one hand carefully picking the coma poison, the other hand adjusted Abu's tremendous bulge inside his robe.

The excitement and thrill of what he was about to do had driven him horny.

He knelt on the mattress, next to the nearest female slave. He poured a little bit of the poison on a small cloth and extended the cloth to cover her nostrils and mouth. 

At first, when she unconsciously realized that she was not breathing properly. The maid tried to pry off his strong and steel-like hand from her nostrils and mouth. But it was too late, by then she had taken in several breaths of the poison. And that was enough for this poison to send one into death's coma. 

Abu had used a deadly and ancient poison whose recipe was only known to the senior

Hidden Ones, no one knew its true name except for the nickname they had given

it, 'Qublat Alshaytan' or Satan's poison.

Abu Bin Zayyid never doubted the poisons from the Assassin Order, they had always worked for him and his brothers faithful. Without checking on this female slave's condition, he knew she was out until he gave her the antidote. 

He put back his poisoned cloth before he made a mistake. During his earlier days of being trained in Masyaf, he heard stories of some members who while on a mission had accidentally poisoned themselves to death handling the poisons in their sash pockets. He vowed to never be that stupid, once a poison has done its job. He could put it away.

He pushed away the poisoned maid who was now in a coma to leave the mattress and be on the floor. He approached the other, now alone on the mattress. She was still in deep sleep.

  Abu Bin Zayyid could not see her face, but from the sound of her breath, the motions of her covered chest rising up and down with each breath she took. Plus the warmth radiating from her skin, he could not miss observing this. 

  Abu Bin Zayyid felt close to her, and he knew the best ways she could suffer. End up spilling her secrets.

His work was just getting started.