Khartoum Page #4

So you cannot expect me

to remember all things...

without confusion.

For if you had

left me this Bible...

then it would be different.

I could not have read it,

but even so...

- Khaleel.

- I'm here, master.

Khaleel, there's something

I want you to do for me.

And I shall do it, master.

Now, this great Jesus Christ,

sometime, master...

I do not understand this man.

For He announced, and He

was very clear about it...

for once He was very clear...

almost like

the great Lord Mohammed...

bless him and peace be upon him.

But I do not understand

this Jesus Christ.

For as I remember, you told me,

He announced most clearly...

as I have said...

Khaleel, there's something

I want you to do.

You have only to speak master.

Now, He say when a man

is struck upon one cheek...

he must turn the other.

Do you? No.

You don't.

I must inform you, Khaleel,

as delicately as possible...

that I am not Jesus Christ.

Wait! Will you first

find out for me...

where the Mahdi's camp

is at present?

Khaleel.

Peace be with you.

Peace be with you.

Send a messenger

to Mohammed Ahmed...

who is called the Mahdi...

and tell him

that Gordon Pasha...

Governor General of the Sudan,

has entered his camp.

It is a lie before God!

He is not Gordon Pasha!

Abdullah! Gordon Pasha is here!

How does he appear?

The skin is pink.

The beard is only here.

It is gray.

Khartoum.

Holy person, we saw him

yesterday in Khartoum.

It is Gordon Pasha.

How many are his soldiers?

He is alone

with one black slave.

I fear it. He makes magic.

We saw it yesterday

in the streets.

Kill him.

You're all so innocent.

Who makes the magic

that brings him...

to my camp alone

with one black slave?

He...

or I?

Bring the great one to me.

Is it because you are

an infidel, Gordon Pasha...

that I feel myself

in the presence of evil?

I doubt it, Mohammed Ahmed,

for you are not an infidel...

and I smell evil.

I have 30,000 soldiers

in my camp.

Is it because

you are so brave...

or so foolish,

that you come here alone...

unarmed, with only

a black slave to hold your robe?

Khaleel is not a slave.

He is a free man.

He comes with me out of love.

And he does not hold my robe,

but a gift for you.

Years ago, Mohammed Ahmed...

I led the armies

of the Emperor of China...

at a time of great trial.

And when his enemies

were crushed and confounded...

and his throne was again secure,

he made me this gift.

I have brought it

from London for you.

It is most exquisite.

When the Emperor of China

ceases to be a non-believer...

and accepts me,

the Expected One...

as the true Mahdi...

then I shall be happy

to receive such a gift.

Khaleel?

You will wait just outside.

Abria. Real abria.

I've had none in five years.

Your meeting with Zobeir Pasha

was less than happy, I believe.

Your intelligence service...

has an excellence

beyond my expectations.

How much you must regret

having killed his son.

I executed his son.

I have no regrets.

It was a necessary

object lesson...

in my campaign

against the slave trade.

And it was successful.

I brought peace to the Sudan.

But since

you have come back now...

with instructions

to evacuate Khartoum...

most happily,

the peace of the Sudan...

no longer concerns you.

What a pleasure it is

to negotiate with a man...

who knows even my instructions.

We need waste so little time

on preliminaries.

What are your instructions

concerning Khartoum?

I have been instructed

by the Prophet...

blessings and peace

be upon him...

to worship

in the Khartoum mosque.

There are those among the

Sudanese who will oppose you.

I welcome in peace

all those who worship with me.

And the others?

Mohammed Ahmed,

may I suggest...

that when first

I came to the Sudan...

its body was sick, stricken

with hunger and abused by war.

I cured it... and this land...

I'm not a loving man,

Mohammed Ahmed...

but this land became the only

thing that I've ever loved.

I cannot, under my God...

do you understand?

I cannot leave it

to the sickness...

and the misery

in which I once found it.

I respect you, Gordon Pasha.

I make no war on you.

Make no war on your own people.

I'll take the Egyptians

back to Egypt.

I'll leave the Sudan

to the Sudanese...

and be happy and contented,

but if I'm to leave Khartoum...

to sickness and misery,

to death...

The Egyptians

must remain in Khartoum.

I am a poor man of the desert.

But I am the Mahdi,

the Expected One.

On my cheek is the mole.

Between my teeth...

the space.

And so that all men may know

that I am the true Mahdi...

the Prophet Mohammed, blessings

and peace be upon him...

makes miracles.

Do you understand?

I begin to.

Gordon Pasha, do you believe

that the Prophet...

blessings be upon him,

has instructed me...

to pray only in

the mosque at Khartoum?

No. I am to pray

in the mosque at Cairo...

and at Mecca, and at Baghdad...

and in the mosque

at Constantinople.

He has commanded me to make

holy war until all of Islam...

acknowledges the purity

of his biddings...

and all the world

trembles before me.

But all Islam

must know who I am.

And believe.

Gordon Pasha,

for tasks of such greatness...

great deeds are needed.

Egypt opposes me...

and so the Egyptians

must remain in Khartoum.

For I shall take it in blood...

and the streets

will run in blood...

and the Nile will taste

of blood for a hundred miles...

and every Egyptian will die...

every child, woman, man.

Sudanese, too, who opposes

the will of my Lord Mohammed...

will die.

This is how it must be

in Khartoum.

Great and terrible thing.

Or I shall not pray

in the mosques of Cairo...

and Mecca,

and Constantinople...

nor will the world

ever tremble before me.

I had thought in my lifetime

that I had witnessed all things.

And you have.

You have described to me

how it was an object lesson...

when you slaughtered

the sons of the slavers...

and brought peace to the Sudan.

You have no regrets.

What is the difference,

Gordon Pasha?

An infidel object lesson,

or a holy miracle?

If Khartoum is sacrificed...

then all Islam

will tremble and bow...

and in peace I shall proceed...

to all the mosques

where I must pray...

and the lives of millions

will be spared.

Whisper to me, Gordon Pasha...

if they are different.

This is how it will be.

This is how it will be.

Stewart Pasha.

He's back, sir.

Excellency,

he has had no sleep.

General!

You have... been to the Mahdi.

He plans to lay siege

to Khartoum...

take it by force.

To slaughter all the Egyptians

and those Sudanese

who haven't accepted him.

But there are 35,000 people

in Khartoum.

Those are his purposes,

and I believe him.

The man is sincere.

He believes utterly

in the divine necessity...

for what he's doing.

How could I have been

such a stumbling fool?

I'm a man

who will question anything...

except my own

religious convictions.

The Mahdi's no different.

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