The Cahena & The Hinge Of Fate

Guest post by Deuce Richardson

Since I was a tweener, I have been fascinated by the Berber peoples— called in their own tongues Amazigh or Imazighen. In my opinion, the Berbers are the most neglected large ethnic/‘population’ group on the planet. They are linguistic cousins to the Ancient Egyptians, and there were Berber pharaohs of the Lower Nile at one point.

From Libya to the Canary Islands and from the southern Sahara to Tangier, the Berbers have been an ethnic force to reckon with for the past five millennia–mostly as warriors, musicians and poets. That, and their beautiful women.

Since Egyptian times, the Berbers have been an obstacle to empires, whether one is referring to the Carthaginians, the Hellenistic Greeks, the Romans or the Arab Mohammedans. At every point, they were looked upon as “barbarians” — a designation they don’t seem to find all that pejorative. They remain partisans of their ancient cultures all across the frontiers of North Africa, outsiders in their own ancient homeland.

Since I was a tweener, I have been a fan of Manly Wade Wellman. Initially, it was his tales of Kardios in the Swords Against Darkness anthologies. However, I soon began tracking down his yarns regarding John the Balladeer. Since then, I’ve read the vast majority of MWW’s SF/fantasy/horror novels.

Manly’s final novel was Cahena. Its historical frame is 732 AD, the night before the Battle of Tours. Charles Martel has a newly-arrived warrior brought before him. That aged warrior is Wulf, a Saxon from England who had fought for the Byzantines against the Moslems before joining the army of the Cahena.

Wulf tells of his meeting with the Cahena after the fall of Byzantine Carthage to Mohammedans in 698 AD:

She sat cross-legged, dressed in a loose dark skirt and tunic. Her scarf had been put aside, and her long, black hair fell like great wings upon her shoulders. It was smooth, thick hair, with faint lights in it. Her face was a fine oval.
Her nose was short and straight, with flared nostrils. Her strong, delicate chin had the slightest of depressions, not quite a dimple. Her slanted eyes held their own radiance.

The Cahena — also known as Al-Kahina — takes her name from the Arabic word for “priestess/prophetess/sorceress.” It was intended as an insult by her Mohammedan adversaries. Much like Geronimo, her true name is only known to her inner circle. While not afraid to ride in the vanguard of battle, the foundation of her leadership is based on her spiritual gifts, her skills as a general and her hypnotic beauty. As her Berber captain, Bhakraan, puts it:

“She has spirits to advise her, she has magic to serve her. And when you meet her, you’ll probably think she’s the most beautiful woman you ever saw.”

Bhakraan does not lie. The Cahena possesses authentic supernatural powers of prophecy and clairvoyance. They make a crucial difference in the struggle against the Arab imperialists, who have the riches and manpower of newly-conquered Egypt to draw upon.

Wulf makes his own crucial contributions to the struggle. He is a truly deadly fighting man, a veteran of countless clashes with the Mohammedans, but he is also a student of past generals like Caesar and Belisarius. Here is an excerpt from one battle:

He tried to judge everything at once. This was a big man on a bigger horse than Wulf’s. Black turban, black beard, square shield, flashing blade. As they drove together, Wulf kneed his horse’s flank to veer right. They were close, close enough to strike.
Wulf felt the shock of a downsweeping blow on the metal rim of his shield, heard the ring of his own mighty slash on the other’s helmet. The Moslem crumpled and fell flat among scattered tufts of coarse, thistly grass as Wulf reined clear of him.

“Yallah—” someone screamed, and another foe rode at him.
Something purred past Wulf. A javelin smote the charging Moslem’s belly. Wulf saw the look of blank amazement on the shaggy face, saw the body fold in around the transfixing shaft, tumble to earth. He didn’t know who had sped that javelin, whom to thank. 
He rode after the countercharge.

Blood n’ thunder stuff! There was a rumor at one point that Karl Edward Wagner “helped” MWW with those battle scenes. David Drake — a man who would know — categorically shot that down. This is Wellman at the peak of his narrative powers.

After their most successful battle yet, a high-ranking Muslim prisoner is captured. The Cahena takes him into her inner council. She would have done well to reflect upon this command from the Prophet (PBUH) in the Noble Quran:

 O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as friends/guardians—they are friends/guardians of each other. Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.

I will refrain from further spoilers.

As much as I admire the rest of his works, Wellmann’s novel, Cahena, holds a special place in my heart. Cahena was the last novel Wellman ever wrote. He’d spent a career writing about occult detectives alongside books/novels concerning the American South, but he took a turn down a side-road with Cahena. At the end of his career, Manly felt compelled to write a novel set 4,000 miles and 1,300 years away.

I have no idea why MWW chose to do so, but I’m grateful he did. This is a novel that I would honor with the adjective of “Howardian” — except Robert E. Howard could not have written it. When he died, REH did not have the experience or maturity to write a novel like this. Cahena is set during a period when the “hinge of Fate” could’ve swung either way. As it is, Wulf provides the bridge that (perhaps) swings things differently on that fateful battlefield of Tours. One thousand years later, Jan Sobieski would turn the tide again (for now) before the bloody gates of Vienna.

The readers of the Frontier Partisans blog know that Jim Cornelius is a fan of Tim Willocks’ The Religion. The same goes for me, if not moreso. I am struck by a few parallels here. Wulf the Saxon and Tannhauser — also of Saxon descent — are both highly deadly men who are also literate. Both “know Muslims” and both are present during a “hinge” moment between the West and the Dar-al-Islam. The Cahena herself could be seen as a blending of the beautiful and saintly Lady Carla and the mystic Amparo. The distance from the Cahena’s realm to Malta is about 500 miles. The same conflicts, just 900 years apart.

I don’t believe that Willocks has ever read Cahena, but the similarities are there. Great writers, thinking alike.

Here we are, a few days past what would be Manly’s 122nd birthday. The original (posthumous) printing of Cahena by Doubleday was in 1986. DMR Books has kept Cahena in print these past five years. That lease runs out at the end of May. It may be another 40 years — or never — before we see a publisher take a chance on another “dead tree” edition of this classic novel.

I’ve bought copies of Cahena for several friends. Neither I nor they regret it. You can still purchase a copy here.