Chapter Twenty-Seven: New Threats

Rabbeh received Hayah and his family warmly at Baghirmi. His wife and concubine were both given spacious tents and slaves and all their immediate needs were promptly attended to. Hayah’s conscience was troubled with thoughts of how Rabbeh had acquired all the things he was lavishing on them - it questioned the very essence of his morality. But again, he was also a desperate man left with few moral choices. He was only glad he got his family out of Fombina after coming so close to losing them. Lamido Zubairu had kept his word. He hopes Rabbeh would keep his as well. Considering his options were limited, his life and family were practically at the rebel’s mercy.

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Rabbeh on his part was also glad that Hayah got out of Fombina alive with his family. For his own selfish reasons, he needed him at Bhaghirmi. Hayah was very vital to his plans and he needed him in good health. He only offered to help him leave Balda at that time because he suspected that if Hayah’s family got killed, it would demoralize him, not necessarily because he cared about them, but because he needed Hayah Focused. Now that he met them, he understood the man better.

Talatu was a beautiful woman, despite having two children already. What a lucky man Hayah is, he thought. But it was Fantah that got his attention. She was very beautiful and smart. Otherworldly, both strong and soft at the same time. She reminded him of his late wife, the love of his life, whom he met while still a slave in King Mohammed Ahmed’s palace back in Eastern Sudan. Just like him, she was also a slave. Before then, he had never been mesmerized by any woman enough to fall in love in all his years at the palace, but from the moment he laid his eyes on her, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was sixteen, two years younger than he was, and even though she was concealed by layers of dirt and rags, she was an exquisite beauty, when revealed. Her skin was like cream cheese, her hair long and black as

night and smooth as silk. She had big round eyes that shone like crystals.

The day he saw her, she was doing the dishes beside the Well. He was there to fetch some water for his  master to bath. And there she was; mesmerizing, yet, incredibly shy. He was looking at her with his mouth open probably, one or two flies must have gotten in before he shut it up. He wanted to say something to her, but his throat went dry. No words came out. He had no experience of wooing any girl before then, the only women he knew were those constantly yelling at him and giving him orders. He didn’t  know what to say to her. In fact, he didn’t even understand this thing he was feeling. What’s wrong with him?

“Salaamu alaikum…” He was able to muster, trembling and sweating.

She looked up startled, but when she realized he was just a slave like herself, she relaxed and lowered her gaze down, shyly. “Alaikum Salaam.” She replied.

“I have never seen you before… Are you new around here?”

“Yes. I was brought here yesterday by Ummi.” Ummi was the lady in charge of the slaves at the king’s palace.

“Are you with your parents?”

Her eyes filled with tears. “My parents are dead.”

“Oh, I am so sorry.” He went closer to her, to comfort her, but she stepped back in fear. “My own parents are dead too… anyway, I never got to know who my Father was but my mother died when I was twelve. I have been living here since.” He lied to her about not knowing whom his father was. He knew exactly who he was and it hurt him deeply. His own mother was captured and brought to the palace as a slavegirl just like her and later raped repeatedly by the king. She gave birth to him in the palace but his father never acknowledged him as his son, So he became a slave in his own father’s palace. At that moment someone called out to her and she quickly picked up the dishes, just as she was about to leave, he held her hand - she almost dropped the plates on the ground, in fear. “My name is Rabbeh… what is yours?”

“Binta.” She said, and then hurried off towards the kitchen.

Rabbeh was in love. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him. How could a stranger have this effect on him? She was all he could think of. He couldn’t sleep nor eat. And for the next one week, he kept going to the Well and the kitchen area wishing he could accidentally, meet her there. Every time they met, he would use the opportunity to ask her questions to know more about her. In the space of one week, he had found out that she was from Darfur just like himself and was captured as a little girl. Her parents and siblings were killed during the war and she ended up as spoils of war since she was four years old. Her father was a brave soldier who died in battle. but her mother and siblings were killed during  a guerrilla attack on their home. She was only alive because she hid in a big pot, but was later discovered and taken into slavery. She had been moved from one place to another since then. Until recently, when she was sold to King Mohammed Ahmed.

“So that he can defile her!” Rabbeh thought angrily.

“I am sorry about what happened to you.” He said to her. “I promise, I will protect you.”

“Why?” She asked. “You are only a slave like me. What can you possibly do?”

“I know why you are here. But don’t worry. I promise you, nothing will happen to you.”

She gave him a look that said he must be mad or close to something like it. “Alright then. I have to take these vegetables to the kitchen or else Ummi will be angry. Bye.” She left.

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 Rabbeh was worried. He knew the king had brought her there to rape her like he did with his mother and he was not going to stand idle and let that happen. He started thinking up strategies on how to get her out. The palace was guarded by fifty well-armed soldiers, an escape was near-impossible and if anyone found out what he was up to, the king would have his head on a spike. But he wouldn’t just allow him to destroy the girl’s life. There must be something he can do.

So for the next few days, he planned and plotted. He figured out the guards’ shifts and discovered a loophole he could exploit.  Then he stole some money and jewelry to be used in exchange for what they might need to survive in hiding after their escape. The only thing left was how to convince her to follow him. He wasn’t to wait for long though, it was as if events that followed contrived the situation to his advantage.

That evening, he sneaked into the kitchen to see her, but she was not there. He searched for her everywhere but couldn’t find her.  Only to find out later from a cook he had tipped, that she had been taken to the king. He felt a stab through his heart.

“No!” he thought. “I cannot let that happen. I cannot let him hurt her the way he hurt my mother.” So quickly, he came up with a rescue strategy.

First, he went to the king’s chamber and found it heavily guarded. So he evaded the guards by going through the wooden ceiling. Carefully making his way through the darkness without making any sound - it helped that he was a smallish lad at the time  - losing his way twice in the darkness, he finally made it to the king’s bedroom. Usually, there was always an armed guard stationed at the bedroom’s entrance, fortunately for him, on days when the king wanted to have sex, he sent the guard away.

He peered down from behind the perforated decorations in the ceiling and saw her sitting on the bed. He almost didn’t recognize her. 

She was dressed in transparent silver and green silk material that covered her from head to toe. with her beautiful dark hair  wrapped neatly in a bun and held together with flowers. She was also adorned with sparkling golden jewelry. It was like he was having an epiphany of some sort. She had always been beautiful, but on that night, she looked heavenly. He almost cried for joy, but held back when the thought of what was about to happen to her flashed through his mind. He could not believe that the queen, whom they all called mother could dress her like a sacrificial lamb and hand her over to the king. It was as if she was the one indulging him in order to get favors from him.

“Shhhhh...Binta. Don’t scream, it’s me Rabbeh.” He whispered and she glanced up with fear in her eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“I came to rescue you. Are you alone?” He asked.

“Are you mad? If the king meets you here, he will kill you.”

“Where is he? Is anyone with you?”

“No. I was told to wait here for him.” She had already given up hope.

He quietly lifted one of the wooden ceiling and dropped  to the floor.

“You will get into so much trouble…” She tried to warn him.

“I don’t care. I cannot let him hurt you.”

“He won’t. Ummi told me that he would marry me and I will no longer be a slave.”

“She lied to you. He would only rape you and then discard you…like he did to my mother.” There were tears in his eyes. 

“I am sorry. But what can you do now?”

“come with me.”

“But… he would kill both of us…”

“Do you trust me?” He asked, looking straight into her eyes.

“Yes.”

He went close to her and crouched on all fours, placing his hands firmly on the floor then asked her to climb on his shoulders. Steadily, he lifted her towards the ceiling and held her feet firmly and she climbed into the darkness. Lifting himself quickly, he climbed in after her, carefully returning the wooden beam he had earlier removed back to its place. They moved slowly and silently in the darkness until he started to feel a light breeze caressing his left shoulder. He crawled towards the direction the sensation was coming from to the rear of the palace overlooking the market square. In the estimation of Sarkin Dogarai – head of the palace guards - the muddy and steep slopes at the rear were deemed too dangerous for anyone to attempt entry or exit into the palace by that route and so it was unnecessary for guards to be stationed there.  It was  left unguarded – just perfect for the escaping lovebirds. He then gently lowered her down with considerable pain before dropping down himself. At that moment, he heard the sound of the alarm horn within the palace chime meaning the king had discovered she was missing and a search was in progress.

He took her hand and they ran into the market area which (under the cover of darkness) looked ghostly and creepy. They hid inside one of the stalls as the palace guards ran past them. Shortly afterwards, they got out and ran to the marina where he used some of the money he had stolen to pay for a boat ride to Darfur, 80 miles from the palace. Arriving in Darfur a few days later, they secretly got married and began their married life in a small room rented with part of the money and jewelry he stole; for the next three years. Then she gave birth to their son, Fadr Allah and later, to Hauwa their daughter. When they ran out of money, he enlisted in the army under General Zubair Pasha, a mortal enemy of King Mohammed Ahmed!

Once in the army, he made rapid progress climbing the ranks within a short time to a high rank; unfortunately his young family was struck by misfortune, when Binta fell sick and died of Typhoid fever when their son was ten. He moved his children to the army camp where he raised them as a single parent.

The General was planning a palace coup against King Mohammed Ahmed and Rabbeh was excited and all for it. The General had a large army of five thousand able bodied men all of whom hated the tyranical king and were ready to fight to the death to oust him.

By the time the palace coup was to be executed, Rabbeh was already the second in command to General Zubair and he couldn’t wait to face his evil father in battle. He had dreamt so many times of killing the man with his bare hands. He would reveal his his identity to the king, just before cutting his head off. The thought made him happy.

When the palace coup failed, the renegade Generals launched an all out war against the evil king Mohammed Ahmed and gave a good account of their prowess in battle. But it all came to nothing before a king backed by European colonial forces with better trained soldiers and weapons. With some of the defeated generals captured, Rabbeh swore never to return to captivity again and escaped southwards towards the Lake Chad in the Kanem-Borno region, with his children, and about four hundred loyal soldiers. Looting and terrorising his way through, both for sustenance and as a warning to anyone that might become a future threat against him.

He knew there was a man-hunt for him by the king and the Europeans. so he kept his men battle ready at all times and increased the size of his army by recruiting the men he captured. He usually gave them a choice to join his army and gain immunity for themselves and their families or refuse and be killed with their women raped. The threat always worked. He also used monies and treasures looted from the raided communities to feed and pay his men, buy new military weapons and settle spies. And before long, he was commanding a very formidable force. 

Within just five short years from the day he started his campaign of terror, Rabbeh had enlisted and acquired five thousand men, three thousand firearms, forty-four small pieces of artillery, one thousand horses and miscellaneous items like camels, mules, load-carrying asses, gold, enough provisions and many slave women for the pleasure of his men.

He had attained a level of power to be feared and respected, even by his enemies.

His drive and motivation to achieve everything he had become was first ignited by the love he had for Binta, his late wife. She was a beautiful woman, his reprieve in this jungle of life, the oasis of his heart. But she died too soon and left him a broken man with a heart that turned to stone. And now, this Hayah’s beautiful concubine, Fantah reminded him so much of her that he began to dream again.

Something about her was both gentle and strong at the same time. Was she trapped as Hayah’s concubine? Or just a willing victim? Maybe he should try to rescue her just like he did with Binta. He craved to live and love again. He suspected Hayah might not marry her, in that case, she would be fair game. But he would not take her by brute force. That would make him no different from his father, the king he loathed. Instead, he devised a strategy to win her over. It would take time, but he was sure it would work.

 [End of Chapter Twenty-Seven]

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