The first naval shell hit the outer fields west of the city.
The second landed closer.
By the third, dust was rising along the lower walls.
Inside the palace chamber overlooking the harbor, Hussein Dey did not move from the window. He kept his hands behind his back while stone fragments rattled somewhere below.
Behind him stood Agha Ibrahim, commander of the regular infantry, and Mustapha ben Youssef, who had led cavalry at Staouéli. Both still wore the same uniforms from the field. Neither had bothered to change.
Another boom rolled in from the sea.
Mustapha exhaled through his nose. "They did not waste time."
Hussein Dey turned slightly. "Tell me again what you saw."
Mustapha stepped closer to the table where the plain of Staouéli was marked in charcoal.
"Their weapons are terrifying! It's unlike the weapons they used during the time when they invaded Egypt. It was not a musket anymore. And its range are superior compared to ours."
