The Ring of Flames: the al-Andalus trilogy, #3 by JOAN FALLON

Author:JOAN FALLON
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: civil war, Moorish Spain, Islamic Spain, Andalusia, al-Andalus, Córdoba, romance, family saga, cultural heritage, seige, war
Publisher: Scott Publishing
Published: 2021-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

The siege of Córdoba

1011 -1013

CHAPTER 22

The rain hadn’t stopped for weeks. It rained all day and all night. The sun seemed to have deserted them because it remained stubbornly hidden behind heavy black clouds day after day. At first the rain soaked into the parched ground, which lapped it up like a thirsty camel, but then it could drink no more and the rain pooled into gigantic puddles and cascaded down the mountain streams and ravines in torrents. It washed the streets of the city clean and blocked the drains and gutters; it took everything before it and deposited it in the river. There was nowhere else for it to go. It flooded the fertile plains, tearing up the newly planted crops and turning the area into a morass; it soaked the cattle and sent the goats scurrying for whatever shelter they could find; it swelled the Guadalquivir until its banks could no longer withstand the pressure and the muddy river spilled out across the land. It was a monster that could not be contained.

Ahmad watched as the flood water rose higher and higher, turning the road into a river and lapping at the door of his house. This spot, where he had built his house so many years before, was once so tranquil and safe; now it was about to become the centre of a maelstrom. A dead goat, its stomach swollen, its eyes staring at nothing, swirled past. Soon it would be them being carried downstream. Everything he had built would be swept away if they didn’t do something to stop it.

‘Makoud, Simon, come here and help. See those logs. Bring them here and help me to build a barricade. We have to do something to hold back this water. A few more hours and the house will be flooded.’

They toiled for a while, heaving the enormous trunks of wood into position but it was obvious that it was going to make no difference. The water was already creeping under the door and sending Aisha into a state of panic.

‘Ahmad. What are we going to do?’ she wailed. ‘The water is going everywhere and it is so filthy. I will never get this house clean again.’

‘Move as much as you can off the floor and take some of the stuff upstairs. You two as well,’ he said, pointing at Simon and Makoud, who by now were soaked to the skin.

‘If the river keeps rising you won’t be able to stay here,’ Simon said.

‘What choice do we have? Layla’s house is in a worse spot than ours.’

‘You could stay in my house. We could go there now. It’s a bit small for all of you but at least it will be dry,’ Simon said.

‘What about your landlady? The Christian woman. Won’t she object to you filling her house with strangers?’

‘She’s gone. Left the city. Even the old man who was looking after the house has gone to live with his son in Seville. He gave me the keys before he left.

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