Late Spring 1526

Alexandria

It had been years, since they were both married and had settled down with their wives, that they had the opportunity to travel together as they used to do in their earlier years of their friendship. They had just arrived in Alexandria to empty their ships’ cargo, stay for few days to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine, and pick up spices and other merchandise for England and Scotland.

Patrick and Robin thought they heard a disturbance on the deck of their ship. When Patrick reached the deck, he realized the noise was coming from across the alleyway, through the market. There was a litter with bright yellow and green curtains with gold trims at the very end of each corner, carried by four black slaves. They were heading toward the harbor area. The slaves were shouting to make way to pass through the crowd.  As the litter got closer, Patrick realized that they were walking too close to the edge of the dock where there was a sharp fall into the rough water of the sea beneath.

Without any warning or cause, the litter toppled over. The litter and its passenger dropped the long distance into the deep and wild water beneath.  Patrick saw, as the litter was falling into the water, that the passenger’s body fell through the curtains and hit the water as the litter fell on top of her. The slaves were screaming, but to Patrick’s surprise, no one tried to rescue the woman.  Patrick pictured his first wife, Janet. He remembered the time when he had found her lifeless body floating in the lake, late one morning, only a few months after their wedding.  He could not stand it any longer and dove into the water from the top of his ship.  Robin, who was standing right beside him witnessing the whole incident, hesitated for a moment, and then followed Patrick into the deep water below.

As soon as he surfaced from the rough and very deep water of the bay, Patrick swam as fast as he could toward the floating litter. When he reached the litter, he took a deep breath and went under the water to find the woman who was fighting to free herself from all the excess material which was wrapped around her, preventing her from swimming and saving herself.

In the darkness of the deep water, Patrick saw the bright cloud of the fabric moving as the body inside was fighting to be free.  He wrapped his left arm around the cloud and moved toward the surface.  As soon as he reached the surface, he tried to untangle the woman trapped inside her abaya. Not knowing where her head was, he fought to keep her afloat.  Robin had reached them by then and helped to tear open the fabric and allow the young woman inside to breath.  She seemed unconscious. They swam toward the ship and the men on board dropped the roped steps for them to climb onto the deck.

Patrick, being the stronger of the two, lifted the woman half way up and put her over his shoulder to be able to climb the ladder onto the ship. The pressure on her belly against his shoulder made the young woman cough few times and spit out the excess water.

When aboard the ship, Patrick’s personal servant, Jason, was waiting to assist them.  He opened the door as Patrick carried her into his cabin and laid her down on the bed. He then moved closer and put his head to her chest to listen for a heartbeat.

“Is she dead, Patrick?” Robin asked catching his breath from climbing the ladder too fast.

“Nay, Robin.” Reassured with a steady heartbeat, Patrick announced as he set back to look at his rescued lady.  The water was dripping from all three of them, onto the wooden floor of the Captain’s Cabin.

“Ye should change yer clothes before you catch a chill, Milord.” Jason was a loyal, honest, and caring man.

“Jason, sometimes you sound just like a woman!”  Robin complaint of his bad timing and ignored Jason’s surprised face as he continued, “I wonder who she is, Patrick?”

“We shall find out soon.  Those slaves were watching us, and I am sure the word would reach the master of this young girl soon, and we shall receive a visitor.” Patrick predicted.

Patrick boldly reached over and pushed away her long black hair that was tangled up with her veil on her face and neck to take a better look.

“She is a bonnie lass.” Jason bluntly spoke his mind. “Is she not, sir?” trying to look over Patrick’s shoulder.

“Aye, she is beautiful, Jason.” Patrick replied calmly.

The young girl opened her eyes and looked into Patrick’s sea blue eyes.  She just stared for a few minutes while she found her strength to speak in Arabic, “Are you angle of death, Ezrayel?” Looking around the cabin without moving her head, her gaze returned to Patrick’s and she asked again, “Am I dead?”

Patrick smiled and looked directly into her golden eyes, “Allah all mighty wishes you to live a long life, my lady.” Patrick answered very softly in Arabic.

“Where am I? Who are you?” She grabbed the sides of the bed to move, “You are not an Arab man!” That was a statement, and she continued, fearfully.

“Have you captured me to sell me into slavery? I warn you that you cannot sell a Muslim as a slave.” Her voice was shaking with fear. There had been occasions that slave traders had captured women and no matter how hard any of the women tried to convince her capturer to set her free, she was sold for the highest bet for a major profit.

“No! No my lady! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Patrick Campbell. I am the Captain of this ship, and this is my brother Robin Depacher. We are not slave traders or pirates, I assure you. We saw the accident from the deck of our ship and dove into the water to save you from drowning.” Patrick reassured the young girl as calmly as he could. She drew a breath of relief and grinned from the pain.

“That was not an accident, Patrick Campbell. I shall tell you as soon as I can sit up and have something warm to drink.” She tried to sit up but the abdominal pain was too much for her. She realized that she was hurt during her fall. The shivering and the chill set in.

“Get me something to cover her and warm her up. Bring in some warm water to soak her feet in it. Hurry up lad!” Patrick ordered Jason in English.

In few minutes, she was wrapped up and her feet were soaking in a bucket of very warm water. She was given some wine to drink, but she refused.

“It is forbidden in Islam to drink wine, Capitan Patrick.” She explained.

“I know my lady, but think of it as your medicine. I know that Islam does not have anything against medicine. I have studied the Holy Koran and know the Islamic laws. Therefore, as your physician, I will ask you to drink this.” Patrick offered the cup again.

Reluctantly, she took the cup of wine, hesitantly eyed it for a second, and drank the wine all at once.

Making a face to the taste of the wine as she finished the cup, she said, “I did not know your are a physician as well as a merchant.”

Patrick smiled wide showing his white beautiful teeth, “I am not!” He confessed. In the last few minutes, he had felt much comfortable with her, as he had never been with any female before her.

“So, I have been tricked by a merchant who has saved my life. I cannot get angry with you, can I?” Her tone of voice was cheerful and playful.  Happy to be alive.  Wondering who she was, he decided to ask questions later, giving her some time to rest first.

“I think not, my lady.” He took the cup from her beautiful hand. “We shall leave you now. Please, try to remove your wet clothes and wrap yourself up again and have a rest.” Patrick said as he noticed that the wine was taking the effect on the young beautiful girl.

“Yes, I should rest.” The young woman said as she closed her eyes.

Patrick turned around and left her and Robin and Jason followed immediately. They closed the door slowly behind them.

“I want you to guard her with your life, Jason. I have a feeling that this young girl is from a very important family, and if she is correct that what had happened to her was not an accident, then there might be some attempt of finishing it.   I don’t wish that to happen aboard this ship.  Do you understand, lad?”  Patrick tried to make Jason understand the seriousness of the matter.

“Aye, master. I understand. Ye dunt need to worry yerslf. I will guard this door as if mi life depended on it.” Jason said, understanding the seriousness of the situation as he handed Patrick some dry clothes.

“Come Patrick, you may use my cabin to change your wet clothes.” Robin offered.

When they entered Robin’s cabin, Patrick removed his shirt and trousers and put on the clothes that Jason had given him.  Both men were shivering. Robin offered a cup of wine to Patrick as he started to drink his.

“You were flirting with her Patrick.” Robin said in jest.

“I certainly was not. Don’t you dare to say such a thing to my wife, Anna.”

“You forget so easily my friend. Anna is my sister before she is your wife.” Robin replied still with jest in his voice.

“I, . . . I was not flirting.” Patrick thought for a moment and continued, “Whoever is her master should not know of your thoughts, do you understand me Robin?  In Islamic law, any other man besides husband, father, brothers, or sons and uncles should not see or touch a female. It is against the Islamic law. It is harrum, forbidden.” Patrick said with a very serious and worried face.

“You need not worry about that, I was jesting with you, Patrick.”

“Aye, I know it was just a jest, but we should be careful. When her master arrives, let me tell him that it was I, who had physically touched her to save her life. There would be less complications that way.”

“Aye, I shall do that Patrick.” Robin nodded in agreement knowing since Patrick was more fluent in Arabic and very knowledgeable of the Islamic rules and laws, he could handle the situation much better than he.

After the wine, they rested their tired bodies for a while.  Patrick left for a few minutes just to check on their rescued guest. He found Jason standing at the door and nodded to him as he knocked to enter the captain’s cabin. A very feminine voice answered,

“You may enter.”

Patrick opened the door slowly and entered, leaving the door ajar to avoid making his guest feeling uncomfortable being alone with him in the cabin.

“I see that you have managed to remove your wet clothes. I shall send my servant to the market to purchase a garment for you until these are ready to be worn again.” Patrick was eyeing the beautiful face and wondering whom her master was. The man, who touched and loved this beautiful woman.

“That won’t be necessary Captain. The clothes are almost dry.” She said as she touched the garments reaching out from under the covers.

“I feel much better now. How long have I been here?”

“You have been here since high noon, and now it is almost sunset.”

“And yet, no one has come for me?”

“No, my lady. No one has come.”

“That is very strange. Perhaps they think that I am dead or captured for slavery.” She said, thinking aloud. “Perhaps that is a good thing, Captain Campbell.” Looking up to Patrick’s face, her eyes lit up, “Could you send a message from me to my father?” She asked.

“I shall do my best, but I don’t even know your name, my lady. Who are ‘they’ that you keep on mentioning?” Patrick sat close by her looking into her golden eyes.  He noticed that her dark long lashes made her eyes golden than brown.

“My apologies, Capitan. I have forgotten my manners under the circumstances. My name is Fur’eshte.” Her golden eyes comforted his curiosity.

“That is not an Arabic name, is it?” His deep blue sea eyes eased her pain.

“No, it is not. It is a Persian name. I am named after my grandmother who was a princess of Persia.”

Princess?  His question echoed in his head.

“What does it mean?  Your name I mean.”

“It means Angel.” She answered briefly.

“A very befitting name, my lady.”

Fur’eshte lowered her eyes and blushed then looked at Patrick’s blue eyes and smiled. His eyes comforted and calmed her.  She felt safe with him. Patrick noticed that when she smiled, her whole face smiled as if one had opened a window on a sunny day. It wasn’t only her lips, but also her eyes and cheeks. Remembering Robin’s jest earlier, he tried to change his thoughts and concentrate of what was important.

“I need to inform someone of your whereabouts.  Who should I . . .”  He had not finished his sentence when Fur’eshte interrupted.

“You may wish to inform my father.”

“Who is your father?”

“My father is Sultan Suleyman.”