Christians dealt with the plague, Ferdinand replied that "they removed themselves from places where people were dying of it", a reply which was reportedly received with derisive laughter.) By September 1441, the disappointing news arrived of the breakdown of Granada's offer, and Ferdinand was once again clapped in leg irons. Whatever hope remained for a peaceful solution was dashed a few months later in March 1442. According to Álvares, the Moroccan noble Faquy Amar (tutor of a Marinid prince) was arrested that month by Abu Zakariya's men, and on his person were found several Portuguese letters originating from Queen Eleanor's council that outlined a hare-brained scheme to break Ferdinand out of prison. Faquy Amar was brutally flogged in Ferdinand's presence and subsequently executed along with his conspirators. It was now clear to Abu Zakariya that the Portuguese had no intention to yield Ceuta and that nothing remained to do with Ferdinand but to extract the largest cash ransom that he could get. Negotiations ensued with the prisoners. Ferdinand put it out that he might be able to raise a total ransom of 150,000 dubloons (dobras) and the release of 150 Muslim prisoners for the release of himself and his companions. Ferdinand was subsequently separated from the rest of his entourage. He was moved to a new small dark, windowless cell – more accurately, an empty weapons storeroom in the qasr of Fez, where he could be more closely guarded. Only his physician Master Martinho was allowed to see him. The rest of the entourage remained in the palace dungeon and were assigned to hard labor, principally in the stables and roadwork, but occasionally also in the castle, where they might exchange words with Ferdinand through a crevice in the wall. Abu Zakariya raised his price to 400,000 dubloons and 400 prisoners and asked Ferdinand to inquire of it from his relatives. But the reply from Portugal, which came four months later, said it was far too much, that they could afford 50,000, but offered to dispatch the ambassador Vasco Fernandes to negotiate a comprehensive ransom, which would include the son of Salah ibn Salah, and the pair still being held in Asilah (the surviving Aviz knight Gomes da Silva and Pero Rodrigues, who was the stand-in for his father, Rodrigo Esteves). The reply infuriated Abu Zakariya, particularly the codicil that implied the son of Salah ibn Salah would have a