Children of Gebelaawi (75 page)

Hanash muttered in embarrassment:

- I'd almost forgotten. But tell me what's made you decide

this today?

Arafa smi led.

- Our Ancestor let me know he was pleased with me in spite

of my breaking into his house and killing his servant.

Hanash looked astonished agai n.

- Arc you going to risk your life for the sake of what you

dreamed when you were stoned?

- Call it what you like; I'm certain that he died pleased with

me. He wasn't angry either at the breaking i n or at the killing,

but if he cou ld see my present life the world wouldn't be wide

enough for his anger. (Then, in a soft voice:) And that's why

he told me he was pleased.

Hanash shook his head i n amazement.

- You used not to talk about him with respect.

- That was earlier, wh en I was fu ll of doubts. Now that he's

gone, respect is due to the dead man.

- God have mercy on him!

- Never, never can I forget that I caused his death. That's

why my job is to bring him back to life if I can. If I succeed, we

shan 't know death.

Hanash looked at him sadly.

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- Magic has so far given you nothing but love potions and

deadly bottles.

- We know where magic begins, but we can't imagine

where it will end. (Then, looking round the room: ) We shall

destroy everything except the book, Hanash; it's the treasure

chest of secrets. I shall put it next to my heart. We shan 't find

escape as hard as you think.

In the evening Arafa went as usual to Trustee's House. A

little before dawn he returned home. He found Hanash awake

and waiti ng for him. They stayed in the bedroom a while, till

they were sure the servan ts were asleep. The two of them then

crept stealthily to the veranda. The servant sleeping by the

balustrade snored regularly. They went down the steps and

towards the gate. Hanash went over to the gatekeeper's bed

and clubbed it with a stick, but it struck a cotton dummy and

made an alarming thud in the stillness of the night. They were

afraid the noise might have woken someone and waited at the

gate with pounding hearts. Then Arafa drew the bolt gently,

opened the gate and slipped out, followed by Hanash. They

closed the gate and stole away through the darkness and

silence, adhering to the walls and making for the home of

Snarler's mother. Half-way down the Alley lay a dog. It stood

up curiously and ran towards them sniffing. It followed them

for a few yards, then stopped and yawned. When they reached

the entrance of the tenement-house, Arafa whispered:

- Wait for me here. If anything alarms you, whistle to me

and escape to Muqattam Bazaar.

Arafa went down the entry passage to the stairs and climbed

up to the room ofSnarler's mother. He tapped on the door till

he heard his wife's voice aski ng who it was. He said eagerly:

- It's Arafa. Open up, Awaati£1

She opened the door and by the light of the lamp in her

hand he saw her looking up at him, her face pale and sleepy.

He came straight to the point.

- Come with me; we shall run away together.

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A raja

She stood looking at him, stupefied. Over her shoulder he

saw Snarler's mother appear. He said:

- We shall ru n away from the Alley and live as we used to.

Hurry!

She hesitated, then said with some annoyance:

- What made you remember me?

- Leave talking for the proper time. Every minute IS

precious now.

There came a whistle from Hanash followed by the noise of

men. Arafa shouted in panic:

- The dogs! We've lost our chance, Awaatif.

He rushed to the top of the stairs and saw figures and lights

in the courtyard below. He went back in despair. Awaatif said:

- Come in here!

Snader's mother said harshly, in self-defence:

- No, don 't come i n !

What was the use o f going i n ? He pointed to the little

window in the corridor and asked his wife hurriedly:

- What does it look out on?

- The light-shaft.

Taki ng the exercise book from his breast he rushed to the

window, pushing Snarler's mother aside, and threw it out.

Then he hurried out through the door, closing it behind him,

bou nded up the few steps to the roof and looked over the

parapet into the Alley. It was swarming with torch-lit figures.

He heard the noise of men coming up to get him and ran to

the wall dividing the roof from that of the next house in the

direction of Gemalia. He saw a group, led by a torch-bearer,

forestalling him. He doubled back towards the wall of the first

roof in the Rifaaite sector. Through the door to that roof he

saw torches approaching. He was choki ng with despair. He

thought he heard Snarler's mother scream. Cou ld they have

broken i nto her room? Had they taken Awaatif? A voice at the

door to the roof shou ted:

- Give yourself up, Arafa.

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He stood there without a word, ready to surrender. No one

approached him, but a voice said:

- If you throw a bottle, dozens will be thrown back at you.

- I have nothi ng.

They closed i n and surrounded him. Among them he saw

Yoonus, the Trustee's gatekeeper, who came up and shouted:

- Cri minal! Scoundrel! Ungrateful bastard!

In the Alley he saw two men pushing Awaatif in front of

them. He implored them:

- Let her go ! She's nothing to do with me.

But a blow caught him on the temple and silenced him.

I I 3 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I n front of the furious Trustee stood Arafa andAwaatif, their

hands tied behind their backs. The Trustee rained blows on

Arafa's face till his hands ached. He shouted:

- You drank with me while you were scheming to betray

me, you bastard!

Awaatif said wi th tears in her eyes:

- He only came to me to make his peace with me.

The Trustee spat in her face and shouted:

- Shut up, criminal!

Arafa said:

- She's innocent. She had no hand in anything.

- Not at all; she was your accomplice in the murder of

Gebelaawj and all your other crimes. (Then he roared: ) You

wanted to escape; I'll help you to escape from this world

altogether.

He called his men and they brought two sacks. They pushed

Awaatif over on her face and quickly bound her feet together,

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A raja

bundled her screaming into a sack and tied its neck tightly.

Arafa shouted with insane excitement:

- Kill us however you like! Tomorrowyour enemies will kil l

you.

The Trustee laughed coldly.

- I have enough bottles to protect me for ever.

Arafa yel led:

- Hanash got away. He escaped with all the secrets. He'll

come back one day with irresistible power and he'll free the

Alley from your wickedness.

Qadri kicked him in the stomach and he fell down wri thing.

The men leapt at him and dealt with him as they had dealt with

his wife, and set off with the two sacks to the desert. Awaatif

soon fainted, bu t Arafa went on suffering torment. Where

were they taking them and which of the varieties of death had

they prepared? Would they club them to death? Stone them?

Burn them? Or throw them down from the jebel? How terrible

was the pain that filled these last minutes of life! Even magic

offered no escape from this choki ng, rending pain. His head,

which was throbbing from the Trustee's blows, was at the

bottom of the sack, and he was almost suffocating. Death was

h is only hope of release. He would die and with him wou ld die

hope; and that man with his cold laugh might well live long.

Those whose deliverance he had longed for would rejoice at

his death. No one would know what Hanash wou ld do.

The men who were carrying them to their death were silent;

not one of them said a word. There was nothing but darkness,

and beyond darkness, death. For fear of death he had put

himself under the Trustee's protection and lost everythi ng; yet

death had come - death, which destroys life with fear even

before it strikes. If he lived agai n, he would shout to everyone:

'Don ' t be afrai d; fear doesn't stop you from dying, but it stops

you from living. People of our Alley, you are not alive; you will

never be granted life as long as you fear death . '

One of the killers said:

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Children of Gebelaawi

- Here?

Another protested:

- The soil here is too heavy.

His heart fluttered, although he did not understand what

they meant, but i n any case it was the language of death. The

agony of suspense grew still more intense till he almost shouted:

'Kill me ! ' Suddenly the sack was dropped. Arafa groaned as his

h ead struck the ground and pain shot through his neck and

spine. From moment to moment he expected the cudgels to

descend or worse to happen. He cursed the whole of life

because of evil, the ally of death. He heard Yoonus say:

- Dig fast so that we can get back before morning!

Why were they digging the grave before killing them? He

felt as ifj ebel Muqattam were resting on his chest. He heard a

moaning which he soon recognized as that of Awaatif, and his

trussed body heaved violen tly. Then the sound of the digging

filled his ears. He marvelled at the hardness of men 's hearts.

Then he heard Yoonus speaking:

- You wi ll be thrown to the bottom of the pit and the earth

will cover you wi thout anybody having raised a hand against

you.

Awaatif screamed despi te her exhaustion, and from the

depths of his bei ng he shouted in an unknown language.

Strong hands lifted them, threw them into the pit and shovelled the earth back. A cloud of dust rose in the darkness.

1 1 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The news about Arafa spread through the Alley. No one

knew the real reasons for his death but they guessed that he

had annoyed his master and that the latter had brought him

to his inevi table fate. At some time it got arou nd that he had

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been killed by the same magical weapon as he had used to kill

Saadallah and Gebelaawi. Everyone took pleasure in his death,

despite their hatred for the Trustee, and the relatives and

friends of the strongmen rejoiced. They were pleased at the

killing of the man who had killed their blessed Ancestor and

given their tyrannical Trustee a terrible weapon with which to

subdue them for all time. The future seemed black - blacker

than ever, now that power was concentrated in the hands of

one cruel man. There was no longer the hope that a quarrel

might break out between the two men, weakening both and

causing one to side with the people of the Alley. It seemed that

nothing was left for them bu t subjection and that 'they must

regard the Trust and the Clauses governing it and the words of

Gebel and Rifaa and Qaasim as forlorn dreams, fit only for the

music of the rebec and not for putti ng into practice in this life.