Tyranny of Steel

The time had finally come; once more, Hasan had thrown a giant feast to celebrate the arrival of his guests from the East. Those guests, of course, were Berengar and his host. At the same time, Hasan sat at the head of the table with his first wife and his family gathering beside him. Yusuf sat at the other end of the table with his allies nearby.

Berengar and his host were caught between two factions vying for power in the middle of the table. He did not know whether or not Hasan had taken their conversation seriously, but either way, he would be in for a good show tonight.

Berengar had decided to take a gamble and allow the young Sultan to grow as a ruler. Thus aside from having his guard nearby to protect the lives of Adela and himself, Berengar planned to sit back and watch the show.

He was not nervous in the slightest. However, Adela was having a difficult time sitting still. She was filled with anxiety and feared the potential of the Sultan being poisoned, and she and Berengar taking the blame.

Seeing his fiancee getting fidgety, Berengar grabbed ahold of her hand and whispered to her with a voice filled with confidence.

”Relax… Everything is going to be fine. ”

Upon feeling the warmth of Berengar ’s hand, Adela began to calm down; she closed her eyes and took a deep breath while gripping Berengar ’s hand tightly. As time passed, the food was eventually brought to the table, where Berengar and Adela waited for the Muslims to say their prayers.

After that was over, Berengar eyed Hasan with hidden intent; while doing so, the cupbearer was beginning to pour Hasan ’s wine. Though Berengar had not outright said that the chalice would be poisoned, he heavily implied it. Thus, he hoped that the young Sultan would not be foolish enough to take a drink from it.

After catching Berengar ’s gaze, Hasan nodded in return which signaled to Berengar that everything was going to be okay. Seeing this, Berengar began to relax his grip on Adela ’s hand slightly. Instead, he began to drink from the fruit juice which was poured for their consumption.