the-secret-crusade-oliver-bowden

away and dumped outside the wicket gate. It opened and he was
dragged in. It closed again behind him. Arms took hold of Umar. He was
pulled to the block, spread as Ahmad had been. He offered his throat
and watched as the executioner towered above him. Beyond the
executioner the sky.
‘Father,’ he heard from the citadel, as the gleaming blade came slicing
down.
Two days later, under cover of darkness, Ahmad left the fortress. The
following morning when his disappearance was discovered there were
those who wondered how he could bear to leave his son alone – his
mother having died of the fever two years previously – while others said
the shame was too much for him, that that was why he had been forced
to leave.
The truth was a different matter altogether.