Few knew that they had also contributed to the triumph by means of cunning of the first order. Two sons of Saladin’s nephew Taqi al-Din were present at the battle. One of them, Ahmad, “a very handsome youth” who had only just come into a full beard, managed to shoot a Latin knight with an arrow but was killed shortly thereafter, attempting a second charge on enemy lines.22 The second, whom Abu Shama named as “Chahinchah,” had a rather more complicated story. Prior to the battle he was approached by an agent in Damascus who was secretly working for the Templars. This covert asset had managed to
...more
