sought to reap the glory of recovering Ceuta and needed time to assemble an army in Fez for a triumphal march on Ceuta. In September 1440, once the army was assembled, Master Joseph was finally released and sent back to Asilah without Ferdinand, carrying only Abu Zakariya's promise to undertake the swap himself, i.e. that he would personally take Ferdinand to Ceuta and release him upon taking control of the city. It is uncertain what else Joseph reported about Abu Zakariya's intentions, but the Portuguese ambassadors rejected the change of plan, arguing that they were not prepared to "hock Ceuta for paper promises" and that they needed to have some sort of hold on Ferdinand's person before the city was delivered. Abu Zakariya's column had set out from Fez in September 1440, with Ferdinand in tow, but they did not get far. Only now hearing of Castro's death and receiving the vigorous reply from the ambassadors in Asilah, they paused, and after some deliberation, Abu Zakariya called off the march and returned to Fez in October. (Reports of the mobilization of Moroccan arms for the march to Ceuta caused alarm in Portugal. Fearing that Abu Zakariya intended to take Ceuta by force, preparations immediately began to send an armed Portuguese fleet to reinforce Ceuta; it is uncertain if the fleet was actually sent, but news of the preparation of fresh troops would likely have been received in Fez, sending mixed signals about Portuguese intentions.) Negotiations resumed, this time swirling around potential hostage-swapping and material guarantees to supplement verbal promises. But there was little trust between the parties. In early November, the Nasrid sultan Muhammad IX of Granada stepped in and offered to break the impasse. He proposed that Ferdinand be placed in the hands of a group of Genoese merchants under his jurisdiction, giving his solemn promise to Abu Zakariya that he would not allow them to hand Ferdinand over to the Portuguese until the evacuation of the city was confirmed. The Portuguese did not give an immediate reply to Granada's offer. An outbreak of pestilence in Morocco in early 1441 delayed matters further. Three of the four noble hostages that had remained in Asilah (separately from Ferdinand in Fez) – João Gomes de Avelar, Pedro de Ataíde and Aires da Cunha – died of the plague at this time. (In a curious note, when the Moroccans asked Ferdinand how