and rescue Rachel._

Manfred's face fairly glowed. He picked up one of the jewels from his
table, a large precious topaz of a warm golden color. He took Daoud's
hand, laid the rare stone on his palm, and closed his fingers over it.

"This is yours. Use it to recruit and supply a troop of your own in my
service. They should count themselves blessed by God to have a Mameluke
to train and lead them."

"It is I who am blessed," Daoud said.

He looked at the stone in his hand. It was a shade lighter than the
color of Sophia's eyes.

He bowed again to Manfred. At last he could fight as he preferred to,
leading troops in open battle. As a Mameluke.

Smiling to himself, he stroked his chin.

_And at last I can let my beard grow._

* * * * *

_A letter from Emir Daoud ibn Abdallah to El Malik Baibars
al-Bunduqdari, from Lucera, 19th day of Rabia, A.H. 663:_

Next to the Byzantine Empire this kingdom of southern Italy and
Sicily is the most civilized of Christian nations. That is to say, a
Muslim might almost be comfortable here. In fact, many are.

The chief interests of King Manfred's courtiers are falconry,
poetry, dalliance with beautiful women, and philosophical
disputation. My lord will note that I do not mention warfare.

King Manfred seems to hope that some intervention by God or fate or
chance will make it unnecessary for him to take the field against
Charles d'Anjou.

Christian warriors generally prefer to wait for their enemies to
come to them, reasoning that a small force of defenders can defeat a
large force of attackers. That is why there are castles everywhere
in Europe, even in the cities of Europe. Their wars against us, that
they call crusades, are an exception, and perhaps, too, they have
learned something from the failure of those invasions.

But this is also an exceptional moment. The Guelfi and the French
are not ready to fight, and Manfred could win everything if he were
to act now.

I tried to persuade him to invade northern Italy and bring the
Papacy under his control, but he would have none of it. So we must
await Charles, and defeat him when he comes. After that Italy will
lie open to Manfred. Then for his own future safety he will have to
place the pope under his influence.

But how I long for a day like that when I rode behind my lord
Baibars to destroy