The Final Battle (4)

So who was this fellow looking around in all directions? I'm sure you could all guess—it was Saladin's second son, Uthman.

After al-Afdal, the eldest son who had always suppressed him, lost his life in a rebellion, Uthman could not exactly be said to have become beside himself with joy, but he was rather pleased with himself. He was now Sultan Saladin's eldest surviving son. Though he had several rivals of comparable strength, he always felt that his radiance was enough to scatter the dark clouds and catch his father's eye. Unfortunately, the way he embellished himself could not influence anyone else. Saladin knew perfectly well how dull-witted and frivolous this second son was. He had not even entrusted the left wing to his son, instead giving it to a minister he trusted.

This minister was also a man of courage and wisdom. When he received Sultan Saladin's order to send a force around the rear and strike at Cesar's weak point, he cautiously dispatched only that Bedouin and the warriors under his command—one of the twenty emirs. The decision was not wrong, and he had already given his instructions: they were to catch the enemy unprepared. If the enemy had made preparations, or even showed signs of counterattacking, they were to withdraw to the left wing and hold fast to its defensive line.

Such probing attacks were common enough on the battlefield. He simply had not expected the Bedouin leader to mistake Lorenz for Leander. Cesar's eldest son was truly too tempting a prize. The moment that Bedouin leader shouted for the first time, the minister's original hopes all came to nothing. More and more men surged in that direction, scrambling to be first, even brawling with their comrades, all for the sake of that merit.

They failed to