Chapter 24 #3
“Fine,” Karim said. As much as he hated to admit it, Babu was right. The Jackal was a cruel, vicious swine, but he had managed to keep the tribe safe, and that counted for something.
Babu went on. “Not that we have enough food for all the extra mouths you’ve brought us. First, they’re too good to roam the Red Lands, and now that they’re kicked out of their paradise, suddenly we owe them refuge?”
Elyas’s expression darkened.
Karim was quick to interject. “You don’t have to worry about the Hudjefa. They’ve brought some of their animals, along with skilled artisans, laborers, and warriors too. Isn’t that right, Elyas?”
The old man crossed his arms. “My people are not paupers come to beg for charity, especially not from a brute like you.” To Karim, he added, “If I had known we would be received in this way, we would have set up camp on the eastern riverbank. Are you certain this alliance is wise, sen?”
Karim wasn’t sure. In fact, the whole plan might have been a huge mistake. There was no divine voice whispering instructions in his ear. There was only his gut instinct, and the tug that usually led him where he was supposed to go. But maybe that wasn’t enough anymore.
Babu and Elyas glared at each other with open contempt. The others shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and eyed Karim, waiting to see what he’d do next.
Why did I ever think this was going to work? Karim wondered miserably.
He was so focused on the two men that he didn’t see Aya break away from her grandmother and approach Faiza, who clung to their mother’s side. It was only when Aya spoke that Karim took notice.
“Here,” the little girl said, producing a small bouquet of flowers bound with twine. The white lotus blossoms, grouped with a spray of red poppies, were limp and bruised from traveling in the pocket of Aya’s robes. She offered them to Faiza, who looked at the flowers uncertainly.
Aya explained, “I picked them by the river. They’re a little sad now…” She shrugged and nudged them toward Faiza again.
By that time, everyone else had fallen silent watching the two girls.
Faiza stepped away from her mother’s side and accepted the flowers from the younger girl. “They, um, might be better if we put them in some water. What do you think?”
Aya nodded enthusiastically.
“And perhaps you’d like some milk and a little bread?” Faiza added.
“Oh, yes!” Aya clapped her hands. “Then maybe we can play a game? I love games. Do you know how to play sheeza?”
Faiza smiled. “Yes, but I’m not very good.”
“I can teach you. I’m very good. I beat Sabba every time.”
“All right,” Faiza said warmly, taking the little girl’s hand. “Teach me then.”
Karim felt a swell of emotion as Faiza led Aya toward the family tent. Bless that girl, he thought. For all Faiza’s screaming and carrying on, she’d always had the biggest heart.
The playful exchange between the two girls seemed to have sucked the tension out of the air. People in the crowd murmured approvingly, and some even smiled.
Elyas stared after them. “While the men sow discord, the children water flowers,” he said, then turned back to Babu.
“You are not the kind of man I prefer to break bread with, but you would probably say the same about me. Karim is right—the Hudjefa bring with us many skills and resources that we are willing to share with the Anen if you are willing to share yours with us. We can weather the dark days ahead more easily if we join forces. We were brothers once, though so long ago that only the old stories remain as evidence of it. Perhaps it would do us good to remember that.”
Babu’s jaw worked as he considered a response.
Come on, you fool, Karim thought. Do something good for once in your life!
Finally, Babu said, “You say you have fighters? Weapons too?”
“You don’t remain a secret from the world for generations without a good defense system,” Elyas told him.
Babu nodded. “Good. We’ll show the Shass what’s what the next time they decide to raid us. They’ll think twice before doing it again, won’t they?”
Elyas chuckled gruffly. “They will, sen. They will indeed.”
At that, it was as if the crowd exhaled as one. Weapons lowered, conversations erupted, and wounded men and women were brought forward and attended to. As the business of living started up again, Karim hoped peace would hold, especially considering what he knew was coming.
Through the moving crowd, he caught sight of his mother. She regarded him with a look: We need to talk.
Karim cringed. He had, it seemed, a lot of explaining to do.
***
The first thing his mother did when they returned to sit in front of the family tent was demand to see the knife wound in his shoulder. When he removed his robes and she saw that it was already healing, she slumped onto a milking stool and shook her head.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Is what that man said true? Are you really…a messenger from God?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Karim replied.
“More complicated?”
It took until the sun was melting into the horizon for Karim to relate all that had happened since he’d left the Jackals.
He didn’t tell her everything, but enough for her to understand the magnitude of the situation they faced.
His mother went about her daily chores while she listened.
When his story was finished, Karim expected Nour’s first reaction to be about the oracle, or Setnakht and his army, or his own newfound powers.
Instead, she asked, “You really love this girl?”
Karim scoffed. Leave it to my mother.
He considered the question. He and Sitamun had never spoken so baldly about the subject and never said the words—they’d expressed it in, well, other ways. He couldn’t speak for Sitamun, but his own answer came easily.
“I do.”
Nour blew out her cheeks. “A Khetaran…and what’s more, a princess! If only your father were here. He would have the shock of his life!”
Karim took up the scarab amulet Sitamun had given him and rubbed it between his fingers. “I suppose Father would have forbid it. He hated the Khetarans even more than he hated the Shass.”
His mother shook the sand from a blanket and folded it with care. “I think he would have come around. If Babu can see the sense in making peace rather than war, then I should think your father would have been capable of that too.”
It was a comforting thought.
“Do you know which girl Djet admired?” he asked after a long moment.
His mother sighed, heavy with sadness. “Yes. She still mourns his loss. Sweet thing.”
Karim rummaged in his pack and pulled out a fine golden bracelet studded with lapis. “Could you give her this? Tell her it’s a gift from Djet. Tell her…that he wanted to give her the world.”
His mother accepted the bracelet. She ran her fingertips over the blue stones, thoughtful, before asking, “What will you do now? I’m guessing you aren’t staying.”
Karim grimaced. How does she always know?
“You want to go to her, yes? This girl you love?” She poked at the fire she’d started in preparation for the evening meal. “I assume you’d like my blessing. And my forgiveness.”
Karim gazed into the distance, where he could see Gamil, his sisters, and a few of the Hudjefa children playing what had to be the seventeenth round of sheeza with little stones in the sand.
Already he could feel the rope tugging him, urging him to keep moving.
He felt bad about leaving them again, but that didn’t make the feeling go away. “Yes.”
Nour sighed, the firelight catching on new lines that had developed on her face. “You may have both—on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
She gave him a hard look. “This power of yours, this…invulnerability. Don’t let it turn you into someone I wouldn’t recognize. Something came over you today; I saw it. The way you struck Babu again and again. If I hadn’t stopped you, would you have stopped yourself?”
Karim didn’t reply.
“However this power has come to you—whether it be through Khetaran magic or God himself—it has a cost.” She laid her small hand over his. “Promise me you won’t forget who you are. No matter where this journey takes you.”
“I promise,” Karim said, giving his mother’s hand a reassuring pat.
He made the vow honestly. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to break it.