The Fall of the Moors

Philip Bannerman

Fatima and Abdul lay in bed exhausted after each having a long day of work, their son Ebrihim was sound asleep.

 “Are you excited to go off to war next week?” Fatima asked Abdul, 

“Of course,” Abdul replied. “This is my life goal. My father died in a Moorish war but I will survive.” Abdul got up and headed for the door.

“Where are you going Abdul?” Fatima exclaimed frantically. Free photo Islamic Alkazar Architecture Moorish Spain Seville - Max Pixel

“I’m going to see Nadal,” Abdul replied.“It’s been a long time.”

“Be safe.” Fatima replied as Abdul closed the door. 

The two met at Nadal’s house.

“How have you been, my brother?” Nadal asked., 

“Can’t complain,” replied 

“Abdul I’ve been waiting to serve my whole life. We have to maintain our dominance on this land,”. Nadal said, 

“I’ve been writing a lot of poetry recently. Do you want to hear something?”

“Okay” Abdul replied, 

“Her skin soft as a baby’s tummy, her hair the feel of silk, her body the shape of an hourglass. “My child deserves her milk, I leave for war but love her still, and I must fight and I must kill, she waits for me all by herself. I love her touch and smell.”

 “Bravo Abdul exclaimed, you’ve been getting better recently my brother, 

“I appreciate the love,” said Nadal. The two talked for about an hour then Abdul went back home.

The war would begin in 3 months and the two would join the force. The army would begin training for the war and early on Abdul would run into a man named Amir, little did he know the two would eventually become close partners but at first Abdul didn’t care for him. Amir was very braggadocious; he would brag about his academic accomplishments and rich family, this initially got on Abdul’s nerves especially since he couldn’t relate his family wasn’t the wealthiest and his mom was a single mother. Nadal took a liking to Amir so the three decided to stick together, it was now October. Abdul just wanted to cuddle with Fatima but he had work to do. They started off with stretching then they went straight into burpees, the soldiers’ hands touching the cold pavement, after this they began to spar with wooden sticks. Next the soldiers jogged and sprinted, this was all to build up endurance and skill, they were done for the day. Over the next three months the soldiers would build up their strength and stamina, no breaks were taken, these men were in the best shape of their lives. 

The men were given their armor and put on a ship headed to Castillia y Leon, they had an abundant food supply so they weren’t worried about food. When they arrived it was snowing heavily, the soldiers could barely see ahead of themselves, the trek was extremely tedious and on the way multiple soldiers got frostbite, four died and were left in the snow. The snow would eventually pass by and the army would take a break; they were a collective of 346 with 40 soldiers dedicated to carrying food and Medical supplies. The army would eat but only a small portion of their food, they needed to save it for the next week approximately so that they would be away from home, some also prayed to Allah during this time. The soldiers would continue to march to Madrid, Spain this is when Abdul, Amir and Nadal would begin talking to another soldier named Kareem, a tall slim young man who wanted to be a scientist, the four would stick together. Kareem had lost one of his friends to frostbite earlier on Abdul, Amir and Nadal would express their deep remorse. 

Meanwhile Fatima was back home missing Abdul dearly, she hadn’t felt a man’s touch in three months she couldn’t wait for him to come back. 

The Army would finally arrive in Madrid, Spain and the other army was ready but they were significantly outnumbered, the Moors charged and started taking down soldiers first they had 150 then 100 then there were 50 left, the moors boxed them in and brutalized them. In the battle Nadal would be slashed in his abdomen so the medics had to stitch him up and a couple other soldiers. The Moors had lost only 39 soldiers, as their armor was far superior to the opposition.  They also had horses, though two had died unfortunately. From Madrid they went to a city in Castilla y Leon called Avila, which today has a population of 59,000. Their army had heard about what happened in Madrid so they too were prepared. The march to Avila wasn’t long and on the way Abdul, Amir, Kareem and Nadal spoke about their parents, when they arrived an army was waiting. This one contained 250 soldiers, this battle would be much more competitive than the previous. This time the opposing army charged first, this caught the Moors off guard, but they proceeded to charge, Amir, Abdul, and Nadal were further in the back away from attack. The first 50 Moors in the front would die within minutes of the battle beginning, the three separated minutes later another 70 Moors would die as well as the rest of their horses. This battle was looking bad for the Moors and 26 would actually retreat, but the brave would continue to fight until the opposing army retreated.

“Nadal! Amir! Kareem!” Abdul would scream, the two were nowhere to be found. Abdul would search everywhere until he saw his best friend Nadal with a spear jammed through his liver, he was losing blood fast as well as consciousness.

“Stay awake!” Abdul would scream at him, his eyes were now closing, his grip weakening,

“So long my friend” he would whisper, then proceed to cough up blood and take his last breath. Abdul began to cry.

“Why Allah” he would say, there was no bringing him back Nadal was gone. Amir and Kareem would find Abdul and comfort him, they as well were saddened. Kareem said 

“it was inevitable it had to be at least one of us”

“What do you mean by that?!” Abdul would reply angrily

“I mean that’s the price we have to pay” Abdul would proceed to punch Kareem in the jawline, the two would trade punches but the fight would be broken up by Amir and some other Moors.

“Don’t you ever speak on my brother like that, I’ll kill you!” Abdul said Nadal left behind two kids and a beautiful wife. The army would then eat more of their rations and rest; they were now down to 172 men and they had a decision to make, turn back or attack one last town. The three generals spoke with each other about what they should do, and they would ultimately decide to go forth and fight another battle. This one would be fought in Leon so after eating most of what was left of the rations they marched to Leon. On the way Kareem and Abdul were quiet, Amir tried to break the ice multiple times but he was unsuccessful, when the army arrived at Leon the opposition was unprepared, and as they saw the Moors they would begin to assemble fast dozens and dozens of soldiers. They were a collective of 209 and so the Moors were outnumbered however they couldn’t even tell, they charged into battle and started off winning, but as more soldiers from the opposite side came out of the bushes they would take the upper hand. Amir was doing well, he stabbed one man in the chest and then the next, but then he was speared in the head, and he would die on the scene. The Moors became overwhelmed and had to turn back, they were chased and some were caught but the majority escaped. Abdul and Kareem would find each other 

“But where’s Amir” Kareem would say, they searched the whole army and he was nowhere to be found. They started asking other soldiers but they too hadn’t seen him, at this point the two assumed the worse and grieved together. 

“I’m sorry about what I said earlier Abdul” Kareem would say

“That wasn’t cool man” Abdul would reply,

“You are my brother Abdul that’s all that matters” Kareem exclaimed

“You are forgiven” Abdul would say. The collective of 50 would take the short march back to Galicia where they lived.

“This is where we part ways” Kareem would say when the two reached Orense,

“Peace my brother” Abdul would say back. When Abdul reached home he was excited about seeing Fatima for the first time in months, he opened the door and went to the bedroom where he would see Fatima having intercourse with another man. He immediately got to beating him up until he ran out of their home,

“How could you do this Fatima!” Abdul would say

“Our kid is in the next room!”

“I’m sorry Abdul! I hadn’t been with a man in months, you must understand.” Fatima exclaimed

“Understand what?!” Abdul stated, we’re done Abdul would pack his bags and head to his mothers home.