Late into the night, there was a secret gathering of high-ranking officials within the Emirate of Granada. The Sultan's brother and several advisors were gathered in a part of the Castle where they discussed their treasonous thoughts in hushed voices.
Yusuf Al-Fadl was the younger brother of the Sultan; however, in his mind, his conspiracy that he had established was not a matter of succession; it was a matter of faith. As a religious fundamentalist, he had seen both his elder brother and his father before him spiral into damnation by secular rule.
The fact that Hasan entertained the idea of military aid from an infidel while feasting on pork and drinking wine in his spare time was bad enough; however, the Sultan had allowed Adela, a woman, to walk around uncovered, in his eyes, it was simply disgraceful, and the Sultan's lack of faith had gone too far.
As such, he was quietly conversing with his co-conspirators in a hidden passage within the Castle of Granada. Beside him was the Marshal of the Realm, the Spymaster, and the spiritual advisor who happened to be a high-ranking Imam.
Their reason for the gathering was simple; now that a foreign Christian ruler was staying within the Castle, they had finally found a scapegoat to pin their plot to assassinate the Sultan on. This scapegoat also acted as the perfect way to establish a theocratic caliphate within the territory of Granada.
Yusuf was the first to voice his concerns to his fellow conspirators..
"Hasan must die! In particular, he must die while this infidel of a Duke stays within our territory. If we can blame him as the assassin, then we can rally the faithful against the idea of Christian intervention in our lands and establish our Caliphate once and for all!"
The Imam was the next to voice his discontent with the current situation.
"The Sultan has gone too far, he allows a woman to walk around freely without escort, and she is even left uncovered; such blasphemy can not be tolerated! We must remove Hasan as quickly as possible!"
The other conspirators nodded their heads in agreement upon hearing this. All of these men were a part of the Islamic Fundamentalist faction. They were willing to die to see the secularism they viewed as cancer upon their realm thoroughly removed from society.
Ultimately, the Spymaster came up with the first plan to assassinate the current Sultan of Granada; in his hands was a vial of clear liquid; it was an odorless and tasteless poison that Berengar had once used on his father's Marshal.
"This is a lethal concentration of the poison known as arsenic; if we put it in Hasan's wine, he will never know that he devoured it. After he is dead, we can blame the poisoning on this Duke Berengar from Austria! We won't need to fabricate too much evidence; after all, the people will easily buy the idea of a Christian assassinating the Sultan!"
On the other hand, the Marshal disagreed with this point, why assassinate the Sultan with poison when they can get one of the house guards to kill him. As such, he voiced his disapproval of this plan immediately and offered a counter solution.
"Poison has a chance of failure; a loyal soldier with a blade is more likely to succeed. We should utilize one of the members of the House Guard who swears loyalty to the faith to kill the Sultan, then plant the bloodied blade among Berengar's possessions. This way, there is irrefutable "proof" that the Duke of Austria is responsible for the Sultan's death!"
Upon hearing two potential options for assassination, the leaders of the conspiracy began to fight among themselves to determine the most effective solution to their current predicament. While these men bickered among themselves, they were completely unaware that they were being observed by a pair of icy blue eyes not far away.
After Berengar and Adela finished their chat, Berengar immediately set his agents to task with infiltrating the Castle and spying on the most likely suspects of the conspiracy. After dressing in all black and waiting for the night, the agents began to blend in with the dimly lit corridors and successfully followed the conspirators to their meeting place.
The men who planned to assassinate the Sultan had no way of knowing that everything they said was observed and documented by this Austrian agent. While this agent watched the conspirators, the men involved continued to fight among themselves until they reached a decision. Yusuf was the one to finalize the decision, and as such, spoke with authority on the matter.
"We will use poison to eliminate the Sultan silently; then we will plant a vial of the substance among Berengar's belongings. He will be completely unaware that we are framing him and will make the perfect scapegoat. Tomorrow night, at the negotiations, we will enact our plan. The royal cupbearer will be alerted of our decision and will spike Hasan's drink with the poison."
Despite the earlier disagreement, all of the men present nodded their heads in affirmation of the plot to assassinate the Sultan and, shortly after that, departed from the scene of their conspiracy. It was only after they all had left that the agent scurried back to Berengar's quarters, triple-checking along the way to make sure he was not observed.
After the coast was clear, he knocked on Berengar's door in a specific way that symbolized he was a member of Berengar's Intelligence Agency. He then slid the document that he had written recording the Conspirators' conversation underneath the door.
Afterward, the man disappeared into the darkness and returned to his quarters; his actions were completely unnoticed by the Conspirators. As Berengar read the information, he had a smile on his face before lighting the note aflame with a candle.
If things turned for the worst, he did not plan to have written evidence of the conspiracy to assassinate the Sultan, even if it were in the form of recording the actual conspirator's conversation. Thus Berengar hatched a plan to spend the next day alongside Hasan and closely watched him to make sure that none of the assassination plots that had been hatched against him came to fruition.
Granada was crucial to his plans for the future, and he could not allow it to fall into a state of Islamic fundamentalism. At this moment, he began to hatch a goal to investigate and reveal the conspiracy between the Sultan's brother and several of his councilmen. By doing so, he hoped to gain the favor of the Sultan and forge an alliance between the two.
After thinking of his plan, Berengar went to sleep; for the first time in a long time, he was utterly alone at night, making him quite irritable. Eventually, the dawn rose, and Berengar was up bright and early; as usual, he was awake long before the members of his house were.
Thus he got out of bed and decided to go for a walk. He traversed the Castle's grounds before stumbling upon Hasan awake and hard at work in his study. Interestingly enough, the man had the same habits as Berengar, awakening early and getting to work as soon as possible.
Upon seeing this Berengar instantly began to search for his translator, and after finding him, approached Hasan within his study in an attempt to strike up a conversation. As such, Berengar knocked on the door, which altered the man to his presence. The moment he looked up and gazed upon Berengar's figure with a look of confusion on his face, he inquired about it.
"Duke Berengar, what are you doing up so early? Did you not sleep well? Was there something wrong with your accommodations? If they are not to your liking, I can have them changed immediately!"
To this, Berengar merely shook his head before responding to the young Sultan with a smile on his face.
"On the contrary, I was quite pleased with the room I was provided with; it was extremely comfortable. I wake up at this time every day, where I usually get some exercise in before getting straight to work."
Upon hearing this, a smile formed across Hasan's face as he got up from his seat and greeted his guest.
"We truly do have much in common."
In response to this, Berengar nodded his head before asking the Sultan the question on his mind.
"Would you like to join me? I know a few exercises that are great for your health; like I always say, "a healthy body creates a healthy mind!"
Thinking about it for a few moments, Hasan eventually smiled and nodded before speaking his thoughts.
"Sure, I was not involved in anything too important anyways."
The Duke of Austria and the Sultan of Granada went for a run; afterward, they began to do pushups, situps, squats, and pullups. By the time they were done with the morning exercise, Hasan was exhausted and in dire need of something to eat. Berengar and Hasan sat down at the breakfast table, covered in sweat, waiting for the morning meal to arrive.
With this small action, they had taken the first step to friendship.
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