Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
The Sahr Conflict
Topic Started: Sep 28 2015, 11:55 PM (49 Views)
Sahrid Caliphate
Member Avatar

Northern Sahr
134 Miles South of the Emirate of Sidr


As Ahmad ibn Tafi, lieutenant of the Sahrid Army, rode through the Murbarian Desert under the cover of night, he could smell the distinctive scent of his country, of his very culture, on the air. Gasoline mixed with myrrh. The gasoline, he knew came from his own vehicle, a desert APC, stripped of the proud emblems of the Caliphate, left entirely bare and anonymous. The myrrh, however, was more of a mystery. Though the mosques of his home city, Vazhnabad, were frequently perfumed with the incense, Ahmad had not smelled it for some time. He had become accustomed to the smells of military camps, and his prayer rug—which doubled as his sleeping roll and shooting pad—had come to smell of gunpowder. Ahmad welcomed the fragrant smell of myrrh, knowing that it heralded the end of his journey, the City of El Abazir.

Lieutenant Ahmad stood from his seat in the back of the APC and made his way toward the front. His men nodded as he passed, though Ahmad paid them little mind. He wished to see out the window of the vehicle, to welcome the sight of El Abazir.

When Ahmad had reached the cab, he welcomed the sight of lights in the near distance, drawing ever closer. Soon, he was close enough to get a better view of the city, little more than a small collection of mud brick buildings hunched next to an oasis. Certainly far from the great city that some of the Murbars in Sidr had described it as, and nothing compared to the wonders of Vazhnabad, where even the slums were covered with a façade of glazed Islamic tilework. But nonetheless he was overjoyed to see it. He and his men had been driving for over four hours now, and longed to get out and stretch their legs.

Ahmad’s driver, Sergeant Fulani, brought the APC to a halt about one hundred meters from the city, in the shade of the palm groves surrounding the oasis. They were far from the first in the convoy to arrive. In all, 20 APCs and 10 Khalid tanks had gathered next to this watering hole, where the enlisted soldiers milled about, preparing firewatch rosters, covering their vehicles with camouflage, and setting up tents under the watch of the stars.

Ahmad took a deep breath as he exited the vehicle. The clear desert air suited him, as did the smells of tobacco and coffee that the enlisted men were enjoying. The smell of myrrh was now overpowering, which caused Ahmad to wonder as he issued a quiet order to Sergeant Fulani to tend to the men. Fulani nodded, and Ahmad made his way to the largest tent in the new makeshift base, the tent of the Battalion Commander himself. There, Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud al-Farah briefed them personally.

“Gentlemen, I’m glad you could join me for this key leader engagement mission. Tonight, the prominent tribal sheikhs of the Hau’ka Murbars have gathered here to meet with us regarding a request made to them by Emir Muhammad al-Zariq of Sidr. Tonight, we receive their answer. I won’t lie to you, the only reason that I’ve brought you and your men is to demonstrate our strength and commitment to the sheikhs. As such, you have no tasks other than to demonstrate politeness to our Muslim brothers. Rybians and Murbars share ties of blood and alliance, as we have since the most ancient of times, and I won’t have you lot ruining it. Make sure to show them the respect and deference that their titles warrant. Limit your interaction with them to mingling; I will be doing the negotiating.”

“Murbars,” Ahmad’s direct superior, Captain Assad, muttered under his breath. Ahmad made note of it. Despite the ties of blood and alliance between the Rybians and Murbars, there could be no mistaking that they were different peoples.

As the Battalion Commander finished his speech, the officers formed into a platoon and marched into the city. They passed through throngs of onlookers in silence, all toward the largest building in El Abazir, the Khilafah Mosque.

Inside the mud brick mosque, strewn about the tiled interior, the sheikhs of the so called “Northern Alliance” sat on colorful cotton pillows, smoking from stained glass hookahs. A great cheer rose up from among the Murbars, and the sons of these sheikhs, acting as servers and listening in on the discussions in order to learn the art of politics, showed the officers to their own pillows, interspersed with the sheikhs. Ahmad was seated on a yellow cushion, at a purple hookah with two sheikhs, from the tribes of Ghali and Begag. The two pressed him with coffee and chai tea, and lectured him at great length about their former rivalry with one another over a prized camel from pedigree stock. This tension seemed to be behind them, though, and the two sheikhs laughed with one another, arm in arm.

At length, Ahmad took a puff from the hookah. It was a pleasant blend of lemongrass and a faint hint of… no, Ahmad thought, it couldn’t be.

Nonetheless, he asked the Sheikh of the Ghali, “My lord, this hookah. It seems to taste a bit of-”

“Myrrh, lieutenant,” the Sheikh of the Begag finished for him.

“Yes, my friend,” the Sheikh of the Ghali laughed. “Myrrh is a fragrant incense, and also an embalming agent. Do not fret. Only one drop has been placed in the water.”

Ahmad put down his hookah pipe. “Why?” he asked, perplexed.

“You see, lieutenant,” the Sheikh of the Begag picked up, “we have all shared tea now. That makes brothers of us in life. Now that you have shared a taste of death with us, our brotherhood is sealed. Our people and yours shall be brothers, both in this world and the next.”

Ahmad was speechless. The sheikhs merely chuckled and jabbed at one another, but over their jibes, Ahmad could clearly hear the booming, jolly voice of the most powerful sheikh, who had been sitting with Lieutenant Colonel Farah.

“By Allah, yes my friend. We have received this Emir’s message, and we have unanimously decided. We shall join you in your struggle against the kuffar that infest Sahr!”
Edited by Sahrid Caliphate, Sep 28 2015, 11:57 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · International Incidents · Next Topic »
Add Reply