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"Leave my land now, or stay forever in your graves."

—The Black Lizard.[1a]

Mehmed-bey, feared as Mehmed the Butcher and the Black Lizard, was one of Sultan Jaffar's greatest followers during the Crusades against Araby.[1a]

History[]

Mehmed-bey was one of Jaffar's most efficient and brutal generals. He had earned the sobriquet of Mehmed the Butcher after the Battle of Nine Jackals. A crusader force had been sent to capture the Oasis of Gazi. Mehmed had allowed the knights to seize the oasis, but only after the magic of his Fakirs had changed the water into wine. Despairing of thirst, the knights had been forced to fend off the assaults of Mehmed's Akincis, fast nomad lancers and horse-archers. Wearing down their resolve, the Arabyans forced the crusaders to drink the magic wine - a liquor of such potency that neither man nor horse could withstand its properties.[1a]

With the crusaders now helpless, Mehmed-bey attacked the oasis one last time, employing his armoured Sipahis to massacre the defenceless Bretonnians. The Arabyan knights took the oasis without a casualty. Those crusaders he captured alive Mehmed ordered hung by their feet from the palm trees, their mouths filled with salt and their lips sewn tight with twine. One man alone did the brutal general spare, allowing him to ride away and bear the tale to his countrymen, and this messenger Mehmed ensured would never bear arms against the Sultan again by chopping off his hands before setting him on his horse.[1a]

Death[]

As the crusades wore on, and Jaffar was cornered into the city of El Haikk, Mehmed-bey raised a vast army, hoping to smash through the forces of King Louis the Righteous and rescue his villainous master. If he succeeded, the crusades would be over. Jaffar would be free to continue his reign of evil. The crusaders of the Old World would be broken, the survivors cast into slavery or forced to slink back to their homelands in shame...[1a]

Knowing of the threat that Mehmed posed, King Louis' brother, the Duke of Aquitaine, gathered his own army and marched forth to prevent the Black Lizard from reaching the corsair city. In a great battle, the forces of the Butcher, despite outnumbering the crusaders greatly, were cut down and destroyed. Mehmed is widely believed to have been slain in combat by the Duke himself.[1a]

Sources[]

  • 1: The Red Duke (Novel) by C. L. Werner
    • 1a: Ch. 7 (pp. 161 - 163)
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