Seville’s crisis had now lasted nearly a decade, since Cordoba’s fall. The city was flooded with refugees from the lost cities to the north. There was a perennial shortage of food, because of the abandonment of the city’s hinterland and the disruption to river trade. Every so often the poor sanitation would cause an outbreak of cholera or typhoid or some other hideous disease. Rumours that Fernando’s armies had been glimpsed in the heat-haze of the horizon periodically swept the fearful city, causing panic and rioting.

When he had turned up at the vizier’s office in the emir’s palace, offering to help in any way he could, Ibrahim had found plenty to do. He found he was capable, unexpectedly good at finding solutions to novel problems, and implementing them. Perhaps he had inherited something of his formidable mother’s qualities. He rose rapidly in authority, and in the scale of the problems he was given to solve.

Something about the work satisfied a deep spiritual need inside him. He still adhered to the teachings of the Almohads, named for Almuwahhidum , the Oneness of God. In his patient work he felt he was healing damaged lives; it was a work that served God’s unity better than any amount of killing, he thought.

‘But,’ Peter said, ‘how long can this continue, Ibrahim? This is a city under stress. King Fernando doesn’t even need to attack; the steady pressure he is applying is slowly winning the battle for him. All you are doing here is managing the city’s decline.’

‘Not necessarily.’

‘Of course necessarily; that’s the truth. But if your mother’s weapons designs were to pay off - if even one of them came to fruition - then the whole situation could be transformed.’

Ibrahim snorted. ‘If a miracle happens? If Saladin came back to life and led us to victory?’

‘We don’t need a miracle. Your mother’s engines are taking shape, Ibrahim, manifested in steel and leather and wood, only a short walk from this very room. Don’t you think it’s your duty to come and see what we have - your duty as an officer of the emirate, and a son?’

Ibrahim stared at him. In the far distance he heard angry shouts, the crash of smashing glass, harsh military orders: the sounds of a disintegrating civilisation. He felt his determination wavering.

XVIII

XVIII

Thomas Busshe sought out Saladin in northern England, where he had gone to ground three years after he had arrived in Britain. Saladin soon learned that Thomas was coming to tell him that his mother needed him, and he must come back to London.