village called Ain Jalut, the Well of Goliath. A fierce
sun beat down on yellow grass and dusty tamarisks.

El Malik al-Mudhaffar Qutuz was mounted on a milk-white stallion from
Hedjaz in the midst of his emirs. Baibars al-Bunduqdari rode a
fawn-colored half-blood mare, part Arabian and part steppe pony. Daoud,
in his early twenties and risen through the ranks of Baibars's personal
guard to be second in command of the orta, fifteen thousand strong, sat
on his sturdy Yemenite stallion before the other emirs. His red turban
shaded his face and shielded his steel helmet from the sun. His chest
was encased in the breastplate of an emir, steel inlaid with gold.

The Mameluke emirs, bashis and muqaddams wore their fortunes into
battle--gold bracelets and belts, jeweled rings, necklaces of coins.
Jewels sparkled on their belt buckles and the scabbards and hilts of
their scimitars, on their turbans, on the toes of their boots, on their
fingers. Over their mail shirts and gold-inlaid breastplates the emirs
wore velvet vests and long khalats of crimson or gold satin, lined with
white silk, fastened with gold buttons, trimmed with silver thread at
the collars and cuffs and hems. Silk turbans were wound around their
helmets, red, blue, yellow, pinned with jeweled clasps and adorned with
the plumes of rare birds. Tied tight around their waists were wide
shawls printed with stars and crescents. Their boots were of soft
leather, crimson-dyed, with silver spurs, gold buckles, and pointed
toes.

_And all that I have_, Daoud thought, _may be torn from me in an instant
today_.

From Daoud's neck hung the silver locket given to him by his first, and
so far only, wife, Baibars's daughter Blossoming Reed. It was, she had
told him, a magical thing.

The Mamelukes were now the last defenders of Islam. The Tartars having
conquered Baghdad and Damascus, El Kahira was the only remaining center
of Muslim strength. If the Tartars overcame the Mamelukes, all that
remained of the Dar al-Islam would lie open to the invaders, even the
holiest place of all, Mecca, the house of God.

"We are a hundred thousand and they not a fourth of that," said Qutuz
almost petulantly, his eyes fixed on the oncoming Tartars. "How can they
dare to turn and fight us?"

"They are Tartars," said Baibars. "They do not fear the numbers of their
enemies."

"Being a Tartar yourself, you can tell us how they think," said Qutuz.
Daoud heard a faint undertone of contem