3. Attainment

Thine interest Miss Celia in my narrative demands that I forewarn you on the contents of this one letter. Banda Atxe was to be a turning point in my life. I beg you to withhold your judgement on what I am about to confide, my most generous friend, if I may be so bold as to call you so.

Returning to my narrative, our sailing went without any enemy vessels hindering Buslu's embassy. The intricacies of the Raja's mission remained unknown to me and I was not eager on a future interview with de Graeff. I was finally presented as a gift to the Sultana, a woman in imposing regalia. Instead of taking me in her service, and against the plans of Master Jan, she gave me to the service of an old man in his retinue, a sage under the name of Shayk Nuradin. His household was not far from the palace, where I was assigned lowly chores under the vigilant eye of a foreman. I was in a degraded condition, yet my spirits were surprisingly high. Having been a proud soldier with a promising future under the banners of the King, I was laboring among the refuse of my new masters. All the novelties around me kept my senses wide awake, the outer furnishings of the palace, my port of entry  to the city, being more elaborate than that at the Moro Sultan. Applying myself to my duties, I learned their language, different from the one in Sulu, in not too long a time. I carefully earned the appreciation of the foreman, to an extent that he took me to indoor services. It came to be that the Shayk inquired after me, the Christian slave presented from Sulu, and I was called to his presence. I wasn't yet deemed worthy of his direct address, but he made his interest visible after having my story recounted, and commanded that I was to be given the opportunity of receiving instruction in the verities of Islam. His speech was full of terms unknown to me, which I attributed to my recent acquaintance with their Atxenese tongue. I was given a coarse white robe, taken to my new lodgings in a wing for  scholars adjoining the Shayk's apartment, and led into a small cell, shared with another man my age, Bandong. Along with other youngsters we were learning the opening verses of the Coran, and through them my first inklings of the Arabic language. My Atxenese companions there were friendly and of great help. I learned later that it was during that period that de Graeff had come to inquire after me. While I was embarking with my fellow scholars in long conversations on the suwar, my old lutheran acquaintance's request to meet me was being rejected at court. When the Shayk learnt about this, he gave me the honor of his attention. He praised me for my scholarly endeavours, this time directly, and invited me to recite the article of faith, thereby entering the company of the faithful.

By that time I felt so hopelessly far from my old allegiances and so strongly attracted to what I had found in Atxe, that I did not hesitate to recite it. Now I have disclosed to you what I had not to another soul, ever since disembarking in Barbados, a practice called the Takiya. I was allowed to move about freely in the plain yet esteemed robe of a religious scholar. After committing the holy writings to memory and a year of study among my young friends, I started using and elaborating arguments in Arabic. The Shayk got hold of this and interrogated me. When he was convinced of my newly acquired proficiency in the Arabic tongue and interested in my description of a land far to the east and across the sea, he chose to have me at his personal service. I was apprenticed into writing down his communications, religious writings and commentaries by an older secretary. I seldom left his quarters, just to take some fresh air. I abandoned any kind of physical exercise, and even though the cooking at his household was frugal, I lost the lean body of a young warrior to the more plump constitution of a scribe. During that year I learned from passing whispers how the Shayk had been falling in disgrace at court.

I take my leave from thou my lady and leave the continuation of my labors until my next letter, with the humble hope for thine merciful handling of the news I have disclosed in this.

2. Captivity

I am ever so grateful for the appreciation thou bestowest on my letters, I only aspire to be a worthy follower of the style of writing thou, Miss Celia, hath so graciously shared with me by making me your humble disciple and now correspondent.

Returning to my narrative, my captivity under the Raja Bungsu started as a strenuous ordeal. I was chained and imprisoned in a small cage. Of my fellow captives, their fates were kept hidden to me. I was fed a loathsome gruel, barely enough to keep me alive, and regularly beaten with long sticks across my cage's bars. After I lost track of time, I was released from the cage and put in shackles to toil in the rice paddies. While the laborers went about  I got a visit of a man in European garb. He introduced himself Master Jan de Graeff. After my initial surprise at hearing him address me in Spanish, he recognized my reticence and addressed my qualms. Father Miguel had already instructed us against the dangers of the devilish Lutheran heresy practiced by another European power, the Dutch. In my disadvantaged condition, I was prone to accept him as a friend. He explained me that he was acting as an adviser to the Sultan of Sulu, that's how he called him, on behalf of the Dutch Company of the East Indies, and had just brokered an embassy to the Sultanate of Atxe. He said he had convinced Bungsu that I, having gained some reknown, would be a good addition to the presents for the new ruler, a queen. He offered me the office of his informer at her court, taking for granted a grateful compliance on my behalf and an animosity towards the Moors given my affiliation. I didn't inquire much else from him, so though suspicious, with no choice but to follow his lead, my willpower weakened and I gave in.

Bungsu's interest was caught by the accounts of my fighting, and eventually called me to his presence. An imposing figure, he talked to me through Master Jan as an interpreter. It galled me to be cut off from the transactions, and I decided I was to learn the local tongue. In the building of the fort the natives had caught up fast to our Christian language, and it was them who did most of the translating for us when needed. Now it was a clear disadvantage to be unable to communicate by myself. I learned I was to be captive till the embassy was ready, although better fed and treated. A close watch was kept on me as I was instructed on some of their manners. I was also given a slave girl for company, taken years ago from an inland heathen people. She had been under moorish captivity, serving in the palace for years, therefore very useful in my instruction of their language as well. I learned the other Christians were toiling as slaves, and as expected I was kept at a distance from them. Once, one of my former companions caught sight of me and gave a look of reproach that I can only understand, seeing me I in better shape, not as emanciated as a laboring slave. As the launching of the embassy neared, I found myself all the less eager to escape, my curiosity wetted by familiarity with the Mahometan mores. I was clad as a moor and brought under a proper roof. This queen I was being presented to was called the Sultana, a name that made the upcoming events seem all the more intriguing.

Finally we set sail, Master Jan bidding me farewell at the pier. I entrusted to his charity the well-being of the other Christian soldiers in this stronghold and also for Yalma, the slave-girl. He told me not to worry about my comrades, as they would all be put to good use and a fair treatment, words that did not sooth me as I wished. During our sailing I learned my captors feared an encounter with some Christian vessel, and since they were not ready to entrust me a sword and a rope, it required my returning to a severe bondage, though without no mistreatment, the last of that kind I was to suffer for many a year.