Chapter 12 #3
He sighed. “You didn’t come all the way to Mogadishu to discuss maps with me. You have had the moments you requested, many
of them. Speak your business.”
“In truth, I did come to discuss maps. I am looking for Asif al-Hilli’s daughter.”
“Dunya?” Wariness stole into Majed’s voice. “Why? What do you want with her?”
“You know of her?”
“Aye, though I am hardly surprised you did not.” Majed ran a hand over his beard. “Asif only spoke of her a few times. Toward
the end. When he was getting... stranger. I think he had all but stopped sleeping. At night when I took watch and it was
just the two of us, he used to ask me all these questions about God. About salvation and...” Majed swallowed hard. “About
what the Quran says about souls.”
What the Quran says about souls . If that was not a punch in the gut. I dropped my gaze, picking up a brass astrolabe from the desk. I doubted Majed wanted
me pestering all his belongings, but it was easier not to look him in the eye. “Is that when he told you about Dunya?”
“It was. He confessed that he had gotten married less than a year before joining us. Asif said his family forced him to wed—it
was a political match they could not turn down. But he never visited his wife and daughter after joining the Marawati . He said he hadn’t been ready to be a husband and didn’t know how to be a father.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him to go home.”
I set down the astrolabe. “You told him to leave us?”
Majed’s expression was heavy with grief. “Asif was so lost, Amina. He was chasing ambitions and glory beyond reason. I told
him that he had had adventures aplenty. It was time to take his earnings and go home to his wife and his child.”
“I wish he had listened to you,” I said quietly. “I really do.”
Remorse hung between us a moment, but then mercifully, it was Majed who changed the subject. “His daughter must be nearly
grown by now. Why are you looking for her?”
“Because she has run off with a Frank. Or been kidnapped by one, depending on who you ask.”
Majed’s mouth fell open. “A Frank ? When? Why ? Where did he—?”
“I was hoping you could help with that last part.” I pulled free the scrap of parchment I had taken from Dunya’s room. “Anything about this look familiar?”
Majed took the parchment and read the words aloud. “‘Beyond the hidden veil of waters and guarded by white snakes, he sleeps
beneath a ceiling of stone hands, forever separated from the celestial abode.’” He gave me a baffled look. “Is this a riddle?”
“Yes. To the supposed location of the Moon of Saba.”
He swore and collapsed into a cushion on the floor.
“My God,” he whispered, tracing the figures with a finger. “That ridiculous magical pearl Asif was always going on about?
The one that was supposed to belong to Queen Bilqis? How did you learn of this?”
“His mother tracked me down.” I hesitated, rubbing the back of my neck. “I... Dalila and Tinbu are with me. They are here,
in Mogadishu, selling contraband as we speak.”
Majed stilled. “I had wondered if they might be. Why did they not come here with you?”
“They feared we would kill each other.” His eyes met mine, and my next words came out in a rush. “I did not wish to involve
you. Truly. I still do not. But... I am lost , brother. Chasing down clues has only turned up more questions and this Frank she is with—” I shivered. “He can do things.
Like what happened to Asif.”
Majed dropped the parchment to his lap. “Then walk away, Amina.” For all that had happened between us, there was still a protective
urgency in his voice. “You have your own family to protect.”
“I know,” I said bitterly. “That’s why I can’t walk away. Asif’s mother threatened them.” When Majed swore again, I hurried
an apology, cursing this trip in my head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought this upon you.” I reached for the scorched
page. “I will go—”
Majed grabbed my wrist. “You will stay.”
The words hung heavy in the air. It was the same thing Majed had said to me over twenty years ago on the deck of the Marawati when everyone else on my father’s old crew deserted.
When they abandoned me, stealing away on the dunij with everything they could carry as the emirs of Kish closed in.
When I realized the only thing standing between me and a ghastly death was my grandfather’s ship and a strange cartographer who dreamed of China.
He released my arm. “Sit, nakhudha. Sit and tell me whatever it is you are trying so hard not to say.”
And so I did, starting with Salima’s surprise visit and the way she had framed Dunya’s kidnapping. I told Majed of the prison
break in Aden and the bloody death of Falco’s ex-recruiter. Of how it was becoming horribly clear the Frankish man had not
only succeeded in obtaining some of the magic he ached for, but held a frightening interest in me, my crew, and the Marawati . Of the way Salima had shut down my questions and threatened my family when I tried to quit. Of the wild things I had discovered
in Dunya’s library that spoke of a girl who knew far more than she should have and held ambitions that might have already
led her to her death, if not worse.
Majed listened intently through it all. He occasionally pulled his beard in contemplation or stood to pace, but he stayed
silent. Even after I finished, he stayed quiet, simply staring at his feet for a long moment.
Finally he spoke, the paper scrap in his hands. “I should have shut the door faster. If I had done so immediately, I could
have thrown the locks before you shoved your way in.”
I lunged for the parchment. “You know what...”
He ducked, keeping it away. “I said you could stay and talk. Not that I would hold my tongue. Good God, Amina. You would come back under circumstances like this. A Frankish sorcerer and the Moon of Saba. A Frankish sorcerer hunting us, in particular. And Asif’s daughter.
.. of all the people he could have taken. ”
“I know.” I waved a hand at the parchment. “Does that mean... anything to you? No pressure, but you are my absolute last
hope.”
Majed’s brow furrowed in concentration. “An island, yes?”
“A large one. That is often inaccessible, to make this even more of a nightmare.”
“That might be a more useful clue than you realize. Give me a few days.”
I rose to my feet. “Should I return?”
“No...” Majed was already pulling a scroll from one of his chests, getting absorbed in this new cartological mystery. “Do
not come back here. You are very loud, and Nasteho’s family overly curious. I will come to you.”
I could hardly judge him for his caution; indeed, I was just pleased this hadn’t ended in bloodshed. “Thank you, brother.”
“Do not thank me. We are family. It is what we do for each other.” His voice gentled. “Asif was family too. Which makes his
daughter one of ours. I will try to uncover what I can, God willing.”
Asif was family too . “Of course,” I said, a wave of fresh shame washing over me. “God be with you.”