📍 Scene: Road to Tikrit — Sunset
The journey was shorter than Mosul, but lonelier. ZAYD rode atop a donkey tied to a spice caravan. His satchel was fuller now — packed with notes, a copy of Qudama ibn Ja'far's book on taxation, and dried bread.
Nimr, his eagle, flew low overhead, circling protectively.
At a rest stop, an old Sindhi trader sat beside him.
TRADER (chuckling):
"You read more than you speak. That's either the sign of a wise man… or a dangerous one."
ZAYD (smiling):
"Not wise yet. Just preparing to survive in a world ruled by men who are."
📍 Scene: Tikrit — Merchant House of Ustadh Jalil
USTADH JALIL, tall, hard-eyed, with a white turban and trimmed nails, met him with no warmth.
USTADH JALIL:
"Faruq sent you? Then I'll break what he softened."
Zayd bowed without fear.
ZAYD:
"And I'll polish what you hammer."
Jalil raised a brow. "Good. You're not here to be liked."
📍 Scene Change: Tikrit Market — Week 1
Zayd was assigned to observe and follow, not speak. Jalil ran a tight operation of perfume oils, fine ink, and copper utensils. Prices shifted by the hour.
Jalil would point and test him.
USTADH JALIL:
"That woman paid 8 dirhams. Her hand trembled. Why?"
ZAYD:
"She either feared overspending… or hiding a debt from her husband."
JALIL:
"Hmph. Good. Never read only the numbers — read the hands."
📍 Scene: Back Office — Week 2
Jalil brought Zayd to the books.
JALIL:
"Balance this ledger. But find the three lies I've hidden in it."
Zayd stared for an hour. The ink was faint, but the lies were there:
Overcounted ink shipments by 10 jars.
Invented a customer who never paid.
Calculated tax on copper 4% lower than market rate.
ZAYD (presenting findings):
"You don't just balance books. You test souls."
JALIL:
"And you don't just copy numbers. You expose patterns."
📌 Growth Summary — Month 1 in Tikrit
Mastered fraud detection and internal auditing.
Memorized market price shifts by time of day and season.
Studied Persian merchant codes and weights.
Practiced reading body language and buyer psychology.
Understood how to detect soft corruption even without law enforcement.
📍 Scene: Tikrit Mosque Courtyard — Evening
Zayd began spending evenings here, copying old Hadith commentaries and legal opinions into his notebook.
An old blind faqih (Islamic scholar) noticed him.
FAQIH:
"You sit alone, but write with hunger. Why?"
ZAYD:
"I must master law and faith. Otherwise, I'll become clever without conscience."
FAQIH (nodding):
"Then remember — every dinar earned unjustly feeds a fire in the Hereafter."
Zayd bowed his head, the words burned into his memory.
📍 Scene: Jalil's Private Room — Week 4
Jalil invited Zayd to an auction. Men sold silk, servants, and even bonded workers.
Zayd stared, horrified, at a boy his age in chains.
ZAYD (whispering):
"Why would a man trade other men?"
JALIL:
"Because the world runs on cruelty — and gold polishes even the dirtiest chains."
Zayd stayed silent, but that night, he wrote:
Zayd's Journal, Entry 41:
"There is profit in evil, but never peace. I will trade across the world… but never with chains."
📍 Scene: Final Test — Jalil's Office
Jalil handed him a satchel of silver.
JALIL:
"Buy indigo for less than 100 dinars from three suppliers. If any of them cheat you, you owe me double."
Zayd spent four days negotiating. He used language, knowledge, and reputation. He even returned one shipment because he suspected tampered weight stones.
On the fifth day, he returned.
ZAYD:
"Three bundles. 97 dinars spent. Weight verified with Farid's stamp."
Jalil stared at him, then slowly nodded.
JALIL:
"You're still raw. But your eyes are sharper than most men's tongues."
He handed Zayd a wrapped book:
The Book of Governance and Market Ethics by Ibn al-Muqaffa'
JALIL:
"Read this. Then leave. You've learned all I'll teach."
📌 End of Chapter 6 Summary – Still Age 14:
Commerce: Advanced fraud detection, price memory, and audit skills.
Ethics: Confronted human trade, swore internal moral code.
Legal: Studied Islamic rulings on commerce and conscience.
Language: Improved Persian, started practicing Syriac names.
Reputation: Trusted by two masters, feared by liars.
📍 Next Destination: Baghdad — the seat of wisdom, trade, and danger.