Chapter Twenty-Eight: Fault Lines

Hayah and Rabbeh got down to work immediately, training their men vigorously for the enormous task ahead. Rabbeh used his authority and charm while Hayah taught the men new tactics. Under their command, they had an army of over eight thousand able-bodied men, with half of that number serving as cavalrymen. They also had lots of artillery.

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They spent the next six months planning and plotting, and training their men intensely. But gradually, Hayah came to the sober realization and acceptance that joining forces with Rabbeh meant fighting dirty by every means necessary - different from his own principles for war - as long as victory was guaranteed, Rabbeh was satisfied. Plans were already at an advanced stage for their first major offensive as a single force. He was also disturbed by the incessant bickerings from the little upstart, Abdou.

The young man had never hidden his dislike for Hayah, which was mutual. Both of them were tasked with training the army, but Abdou was fond of complicating what should have been an easy task, for Hayah. Keeping his overall objective in mind, and not wanting to become offensive to Rabbeh, Hayah swallowed his enormous pride and tried severally to reach out to the young man but each time he did, he kept encountering a brick wall.

Abdou’s mistrust had led him into planting many snitches around Hayah to report back to him on anything he could pin on him to make his father send him away. He was afraid, Hayah was going to take over command from him. From the tender age of eighteen, Rabbeh had given his son the command of his army such that the young man had become intoxicated with the power and privileges of such a lofty position. Now feeling insecure and threatened by Hayah’s superior military knowledge and royal heritage, he was suddenly jittery and became an unnecessary obstacle to the overall objective. To Rabbeh’s credit, he treated Hayah with respect, love and he sincerely believed his son could learn a thing or two from the man. But the reality of the situation was not lost on Abdou who also knew his father was a man of ambition and was most likely going to place results above everything else, ready to demote his own son in favour of Hayah if need be. Even worse, he feared that this man would not only replace him, but might go after his father as well.

After all, the man was just as ambitious as his father. Abdou swore not to let that happen. So he monitored Hayah’s every move and kept making things difficult for him as much as he could.

Whenever Hayah gave a command to Rabbeh’s men, Abdou would go behind him and give a conflicting one. Since the men were accustomed to following his orders before Hayah came along, they obeyed him – as the last order - against Hayah’s command, making it difficult for Hayah’s strategies to have the desired impact he wanted. Hayah observed what was happening and detested it. He hesitated to report the matter to his father for fear of being labeled weak and petty. So he tried to reason with him, again.

Hayah invited Abdou that evening to his own tent for a private dinner of lamb stew and boiled yam, with cheese on the side. “Look, my young sir. This thing you are doing is very dangerous. We are at war and it is imperative that the soldiers have a single line of command to follow. I know you were their commander for a long time and I respect that. But your father gave me this time because he wanted my new strategies, specifically. If you keep interfering, it may cost us our lives.”

“So you are saying that I am not competent enough to know strategy?”

“No, my son. That is not what I meant.”

“Then what do you mean exactly, that I will cost us our lives?”

“I mean we have to co-operate on this. There cannot be two kings in a kingdom. If we don’t give the army a unified order, then there would be trouble or even a mutiny. The rank and file will perceive weakness and may likely act upon it. I suggest we discuss strategies together so that we can agree on what order to give, per time. That would make things easier I believe.” The boy seemed to relax, so Hayah proceeded to tell him what he wanted. The discussion was cordial for a while and eventually, they reached an understanding. Hayah silently thanked God in his heart.

For a while, Abdou seemed to have relented and began to work in peace with Hayah. They discussed strategy and trained the men, jointly. Everything seemed to be working fine. Then one day, while simulating a war drill between two warring factions, Hayah strategized his men to attack once all the soldiers from the opposing unit have advanced into a particular field where they would be encircled using the tactics the Habe had used against his men in the battle at the foot of the Mandara Mountains. Hayah’s unit of eight hundred soldiers were to fend off the ‘attack’ then encircle the ‘enemy’ while Rabbeh’s five thousand men were to ‘attack’ as the ‘aggressors’ to hedge the ‘enemy’ in.

But unknown to him, Abdou felt it was a stupid strategy and gave his men a counter order to concentrate their attack at the frontlines only, without hesistation, as soon as ‘enemy soldiers’ appeared before them, because he was convinced that by dividing them into four units, it would weaken them and make it easier for the enemy to finish them off. He reasoned that it was far better to concentrate his resources in one strong arrowhead to attack the enemy head on. So his men followed his orders to the letter, the drill exercise was an unmitigated disaster with several men injured. Hayah had had enough.

“What is wrong with you, young man!” Hayah confronted him. “Are you mad? You almost killed my men!”

“I do not answer to you, old man!” Abdou snapped.

“Don’t test me, boy!”

“What are you going to do, old man?” He drew his sword.

“Enough!” Rabbeh snapped at both of them.

“Father he…”

“Shut up!” Rabbeh cut him short. “You, listen to me. This man is a General and a very good one for that matter. I invited him here to join us to help me achieve my objectives and I have the utmost confidence in him. If you disrespect him, it is me you have disrespected. Henceforth, If he asks you to jump, jump. Have I made myself clear?

“Yes Father.” Abdou felt defeated.

“Good. Let’s get back to work.” Rabbeh said and for the first time, Hayah breathed a sigh of relief.

From that moment on, Abdou approached Hayah with caution. He realized that being Rabbeh’s son was not enough to get an upper hand over Hayah, militarily at least. To deal the man a crushing blow, he needed to be smart about it. He was bent on finding a weakness he could somehow use to drive a wedge between Hayah and his father. He couldn’t stand the sight of the man. It was driving him crazy. He recruited snitches with new instructions to report on the man. Sooner or later, even the mythical Hayah will fall.

Nonetheless, spying on him in the battlefield wasn’t producing the desired results. Hayah was the most disciplined and principled man he had ever met. He was so focused on the task ahead that he never allowed anything negative to distract him. Abdou realized that as far as military matters went, he would never have anything incriminating enough to rope the man in. There must be something enticing enough to make the man let down his guard. Could it be in the bedroom? The thought pleased him. And he smiled a mischievous smile.

He approached his sister with his plans and asked her to help him to spy on Hayah.

“What? You want me to spy on my husband? No I will not!”

“It will be to your own advantage too, believe me. You are sharing him with two other women and they both have a longer history with him, than you. You are at a disadvantage. Do not think, that because he is in alliance with father, he would love you more. Everyone knows that Fantah is the one he truly loves and he doesn’t hesistate to show it. You need to find your own bargaining chip and use it to turn his affection towards you. Like it or not, you are in a race that you can’t afford to lose.”

“I don’t know, brother, it just doesn’t feel right.”

“Very well then, do nothing. Just sit there and let him treat you like an option while a common concubine is placed above you.”

That stung her. It hurt that Hayah already had two other women in his life before her, but to be below a concubine was something she wasn’t going to accept. Blinded by jealousy, she was determined to do all it takes to have him all to herself.

Since he had children with Talatu, there wasn’t much she could do there; it would not even be wise to come between them. But

Fantah was just a concubine and not that important even though, Hayah loved her to pieces. She set out to unearth any ugly information she could use to drive a wedge between them. That would be a nice small victory for her, for a start.

So she decided to help her brother with his agenda along with her own. She also recruited snitches from the many servant girls of both women. The girls were instructed to listen in on every conversation between them and Hayah and report back to her. She paid

extra attention to Fantah’s tent because that was where she believed that Hayah would be the most relaxed. “When a man is in love, he is a complete fool.” And it was obvious, to even an untrained eye, Fantah was her husband’s Achilles’ heel.

When Fantah and Talatu met with Hauwa for the first time, they didn’t know what to expect of each other, which doesn’t mean each of them didn’t have their own agendas.

Fantah introduced herself to Hauwa, whom she perceived was a bit cold, which wasn’t entirely unexpected. Hauwa had gotten the gist about how Hayah loves Fantah and places her above his wife. One reason why she disliked Fantah. At first, she pretended to be friendly but eventually her true colors began to show. So Fantah decided it was best to avoid her.

Talatu on the other hand decided to endear herself to Hauwa in order to form an alliance with her against Fantah. She was sure that Hayah would never love Hauwa more than Fantah, no way. At that point, she had mastered the power game more than her naive co-wives and knew how to use it to her advantage. It was more or less a case of ‘the enemy of my enemy’ thing. But to her surprise Hauwa was not willing to co-operate.

“I know your type.” Hauwa told her. “You are not here to be my friend. You just want an ally in your quest for vengeance.

Well, I am not that person. If you feel you are a princess, guess what? You are not in your kingdom any more. You are in my father’s camp. It will be better to behave yourself and watch your step or you will face my wrath.” After that, Talatu never visited her again.

Over the next few weeks they observed how she took charge of everything, bending everyone to her will. She was a real spoiled brat who was unusually close to her brother for comfort.

Though, both Talatu and Fantah resented Hauwa, they were careful not to step on her massive ego. They were all married, after all, to a man whose current accommodation was wholly due to her father’s benevolence. Maybe if the tables had turned differently, they might have been able to forget their bitter past and suspicion of each other to gang up against her. But, presently, that wasn’t an option. And that suited Hauwa perfectly.

[End of Chapter Twenty-Eight]

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