[EVENT] The Final Defiance of Cairo

The men stared at Sibok as if he were insane. He explained his reasoning, and a few of them seemed to understand him. “We cannot just allow the invaders to take this ancient and noble city without a struggle! Their victory has to be ashes in their mouths!”

It took hours, but he eventually convinced everyone who he needed to assist him in his course of action. Despite the graveness of this plan, he found himself becoming giddy. He would finally be able to leave the mark on history that he had deserved for so long. This will be a tale that men would tell for generations, he had kept told the men he had convinced, we shall be remembered as those who most nobly resisted the unstoppable Ottoman wave of destruction, in such a way that they will never have the riches that we possess now.

The common Egyptian folk were confused when they witnessed the few Mamluks that had remained in the city bustling back and forth between buildings throughout the city carrying various oddities and placing them around. Wooden furniture was taken from the Citadel and other buildings owned and placed around the edges of the city. Hundreds, if not thousands of barrels that were rumored to carry pitch or lamp oil were also rolled around, for some purpose that was whispered about and guessed at by the good people of the city, but ultimately unknown to all but those high up in the Mamluk command.

Once everything was ready, a Mamluk approached Sibok, and informed him that all of the ordered preparations had been finished. The cousin of the Sultan was so nervously excited that he could have hugged the Mamluk, but he composed himself and said, “very well. This is absolutely terrific news. Be sure that the men are ready. We execute the plan this plan, as soon as possible. Get moving! Today we go down in history!"

The short period, barely ten minutes from when the order was given to when it started, was a blur for Sibok, as can be expected. He had never been anyone of that much importance, whereas he was now he the lives of the nearly one million citizens of Cairo in his hands. And he was prepared to use them. By the time the Caliph reached the Ottoman camp, as he had ordered as a distraction, he was quite literally twitching from the anticipation.

It started on the north side of the city, but the fire spread quickly. “The heathens who lived in Persia believed that dying in fire was pure,” Sibok said to no one in particular, “I have no idea, but perhaps they were correct. Either way, burning this city to the ground is better than allowing the invaders in. It shall never be said that Cairo fell to them.”

He watched structures that had stood since the time of the Pharaohs catch fire, right besides building that had only been erected weeks ago. There was mass chaos as people crowded the streets, trying to escape the giant death trap, only to realize that the walls that they had trusted to keep them safe were now keeping them from leaving. People who had the sense to hide in stone buildings either suffocated from the pervading smoke, or were just cooked to death from the sheer heat. Men would later say that the smoke could be seen from across Damascus, and although that was certainly an over-exaggeration, it gave a good idea of how gigantic this blaze was. The destruction was, if not total, absolutely dreadful. Men, women, children, and animals all burned, and Sibok burned with them.

As the flames consumed him, he decided that his cousin would surely be proud of him. He had not bent his knee to the Ottoman menace. He had stayed defiant.