**Scene 1: The Saffron Cellar**
*Kufa — 721 CE*
Hayyan al-Azdi's knuckles whitened as he pressed a linen pad soaked in **myrrh** and **pomegranate rind** against the sword gash in the young rebel's side. The air hung thick with the scent of dried cumin, crushed coriander, and the metallic tang of blood.
*"Allahu akbar..."* groaned the fighter, teeth gritted as Hayyan threaded a bone needle through torn flesh.
**"Breathe through the pain, Zayd,"** Hayyan murmured, his voice low as the oil lamps flickered against the cellar's mudbrick walls. **"This blade missed your liver by the width of a date seed. Allah grants you another dawn."**
Outside, the call to Maghrib prayer echoed through the streets—a sound that masked the groans beneath the apothecary shop.
**Scene 2: The Price of Silence**
*Above Ground: "The Verdant Fig" Apothecary*
Hayyan emerged from the hidden trapdoor, wiping blood from his hands with a rag soaked in **vinegar**. His wife Layla stood frozen by the shop's cedarwood counter, her knuckles pressed to her mouth.
**"Soldiers,"** she whispered. **"Two at the spice market asking about 'the healer who mends rebels.'"**
Hayyan's gaze darted to the courtyard where their four-year-old son Jabir played with **copper scales**, stacking dried figs like mountains.
**"We knew this day would come,"** Hayyan said, crushing **fenugreek seeds** with sudden violence. **"Tell them I treat fevers and saddle sores—nothing more."**
Layla seized his arm, her voice breaking:
**"Hayyan, listen! Umar's son was taken yesterday. They poured boiling oil down his throat for hiding insurgents!"**
Hayyan cupped her face, smelling the fear beneath her rosewater perfume.
**"Then we pray they never learn what lies beneath our son's sleeping mat."**
**Scene 3: The Underground Network**
*Cellar — Night*
Three rebels huddled around a brass brazier, their shadows leaping like jinn on the walls. Maps of Damascus and Baghdad lay unfurled beside jars of **nux vomica** poison and **white hellebore**.
**"The Umayyad tax caravan reaches Kufa in three days,"** hissed Khalid, a former silk merchant missing two fingers. **"Fifty chests of silver—enough to arm five hundred men."**
Hayyan stirred a foul-smelling paste of **arsenic** and **beetle wings**—an ointment for festering wounds. **"And how many more will die extracting it? Last week's 'ambush' left seventeen brothers rotting in the sun."**
A gaunt scholar named Yusuf raised a trembling hand:
**"The Caliph's new decree orders the execution of anyone possessing Greek texts. They burned Ali's library yesterday. Even Euclid's geometry is now heresy."**
Hayyan slammed his mortar down, making the rebels jump:
**"You speak of silver and scrolls while Zayd bleeds out on my table? This rebellion needs medicine before swords!"**
**Scene 4: The Healer's Lesson**
*Jabir's Bedchamber — Dawn*
Hayyan lifted his sleeping son onto his lap beside an open manuscript. Moonlight fell on diagrams of **human veins** copied from Galen—defaced with Umayyad orders.
**"Wake, little falcon,"** Hayyan whispered, guiding Jabir's small finger across a sketch of the heart. **"This is the *qalb*—where courage lives. Remember its shape."**
Jabir's eyes widened at the crimson illustration. **"Is it... like pomegranate seeds, Baba?"**
Hayyan smiled grimly. **"Exactly. And just as easily crushed."** He unfolded a tiny parchment hidden in the binding—a list of rebel safehouses written in **acacia sap ink** (visible only when heated).
**"If soldiers come, run to Uncle Rafiq's date press. Ask for 'honey for the queen bee.' Can you remember?"**
Jabir nodded, tracing the heart diagram with solemn devotion. **"Is Mama scared?"**
**"Of course not,"** Hayyan lied, tucking a **garlic clove** amulet around the boy's neck. **"Fear is a poison. Garlic purifies the blood... and courage purifies the soul."**
**Scene 5: The Raid**
*The Verdant Fig — Noon*
It began with a crash. Umayyad soldiers in **iron-plated vests** kicked down the door, scattering jars of saffron and turmeric like golden blood across the floor.
**"Where is the traitor Hayyan?"** roared the captain, shoving Layla against a shelf of glass vials.
Hayyan stepped forward, hands raised. **"I am but a humble seller of tonics, Captain. My license is signed by the Emir himself—"**
The captain backhanded him, splitting his lip. **"We found Greek filth in Ali's house! They say *you* taught him!"**
*Clink.* A soldier kicked over Jabir's copper scales. The boy whimpered, clutching his garlic charm.
**"Leave my son out of this!"** Layla cried.
The captain's eyes narrowed. He grabbed a jar of **mercury sulphide**. **"A humble tonic-seller needs cinnabar? This is for forging gold—or poisons."**
**Scene 6: The Choice**
*Cellar Entrance*
A wet cough echoed from the trapdoor beneath the fig-wood cabinet. Zayd.
The captain froze, hand on his sword. **"What was that?"**
Hayyan moved with desperate speed—
- **Step 1:** He "stumbled" against a shelf of **lamp oil**
- **Step 2:** His elbow "knocked" a brazier onto spilled **sulfur powder**
- **Step 3:** Yellow smoke exploded through the shop
**"Fire in the name of Allah!"** Hayyan screamed as acrid clouds billowed. **"Run, Layla! Take Jabir!"**
**Scene 7: The Alchemist's Sacrifice**
*Street Outside*
Layla fled with Jabir as soldiers dragged Hayyan into the sunlight. The captain pressed a dagger to his throat.
**"Who do you heal underground?"**
Hayyan spat blood onto the man's boots. **"Men who'll cut out your heart before you hear them whisper."**
Behind them, the apothecary erupted in flames—Greek manuscripts, rebel maps, and jars of priceless medicine vanishing in the blaze. Hayyan smiled.
**"Burn me. Burn my shop. But you'll never burn what matters."** His eyes locked with Jabir's across the street. **"Knowledge survives."**
The dagger pressed deeper—
**"Where are the others?"**
**"In the shadows,"** Hayyan whispered. **"Waiting."**
---