Chapter 13
Winter 1060 (452 from the HHegira), inside the walls of Qasr Yanna
Only a day and night had passed since Mohammed ibn al-Thumna had ravaged Rabaḍ and kidn*pped Nadira. Ali ibn al-Ḥawwās' messengers had come down from the mountain to verify the nature of those fires sighted during the dark night, but they had been of no use; nor would the ten Qā'id men who left immediately after the search for Nadira and her kidnappers.
Buried those poor twelve killed by the sword of the cutthroats of the Qā'id of Catania, especially men on lookout and guard, the whole population began to pack their bags in the grip of general psychosis. A long procession of men, women and children, but also of beasts and carts pulled by hand or with mules, went up to the walls of Qasr Yanna, where they could
