The Messengers from Cairo

Crown of the World Prologue Graphic Novel:
Page V: "The Messengers from Cairo"
July 24th, 2011
Pen, pencil, markers



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*LES GASPS* SARACENS! IN EGYPT! Who’d have known it?!

*clears throat and assumes loud booming announcer voice*

Introducing the newest character in our series: Malik al-Harawi! (and his dashing, shamelessly-foppishly-dressed—by your’s truly of course —black Arabian stallion. So I went a little crazy with the tassels, but who cares, really? Doesn’t everyone love tassels? And by everyone I mean myself of course ). So, I ran a little late with this one, but for the most part it’s on time. –ish. Yeah. I was getting really, REALLY excited about how this one was turning out. But then I inked it. I promise, the sketch of Malik and his horse looked so much better than how it turned out. Whenever I ink these things I ruin them. It’s a strange thing, I couldn’t bear to post them up here “un-inked” and unfinished but I know they’ll turn out not-as-good-as-they-were. Maybe I’ll upload that one later.

In other news, I can never seem to find the horse poses I'm looking for. So I have to make them up. Gah. Also: SO. MANY. HORSES.

HORSES. HORSES EVERYWHERE!

I count six (visible) in the upper panel and twelve in the lower panel.

You know what takes me a really long time to draw? People. You know what takes me longer to draw than people? Horses.



Anyways. So, Malik al-Harawi and his Saracen companions are returning to Shirkuh’s camp from Cairo after bearing a message to the vizier there. Cool beans. So this is basically just a fun splash page where I overload your eyes with intense shadowing and details but you can’t actually make out the details because I suck at inking. Or rather, I don’t know when to stop inking. Anywho, enjoy.

Oh. Postscriptum. The flag behind Malik is the Islamic Takbir and says: الله أكبر Allāhu Akbar" which means "God is Great."



Crown of the World Prologue Novella
Crown of the World Prologue Novella Cover
Page I: "I Lift My Eyes Up to the Hills"
Page II: Too Far to the South
Page III: Cutting back North
Page IV: "Like the Old Days"
Page V:”The Messengers from Cairo”
Page VI: "Homesick for Damascus"
Page VII: "Chasing Shadows"
Page VIII: "Deliver Us From Our Enemies”
Page IX: "Malik’s Plan"
Page X: "A Prey to their Teeth"
Page XI: “The Fowler’s Snare”
Page XII: "The Snare has been Broken"
Page XIII: "The Chase"
Page XIV: "Fight Back"
Page XV: "Oh no"
Page XVI: "Hit"
Page XVII: Too Easy
Page XVIII: "A Near Miss"
Page XIX: Evening the Odds
Page XX: “You Fight Well”
Page XXI: Fight and Fall
Page XXII: "Fall"
Page XXIII:”Disarm”
Page XXIV: "Finish me off"
Page II: Too Far to the South
Page XXV: "Go in peace"
Page XXVI: Godfrey de Montferrat

   

Crown of the World belongs to Nathan Sadasivan.