The Captive (17 page)

“All right now. Don’t be frightened. They’ve all gone now.”

He pointed to a tree and said, “Figs.”

“Do you like figs?” I asked.

He nodded vigorously.

His mother came up. She had heard the last remark.

“He is greedy where figs are concerned, aren’t you, Samir?” she said.

He hunched his shoulders and nodded.

I remembered that later.

I was sitting by the pool, thinking that the days were passing quickly and wondering when the Pasha would be coming back. Could I hope to escape again? There could not be another draught like the last. Rani would surely suspect if there were. And if I did take it, what effect would it have on me: how much did Nicole know about such potions?

Moreover, I imagined that Rani would prepare the

aphrodisiac this time. She was no fool. It might well be that she had a suspicion of what happened. Was there any hope? I wondered. Could Simon offer me anything but words of comfort?

Samir came up to me. He was holding a fig.

“Oh,” I said.

“What a nice fig, Samir.”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Fatima gave it to me.”

“Fatima!” A shiver of alarm ran through me.

“Give it to me, Samir,” I said.

He held it behind his back.

“It’s not yours. It’s mine.”

“Just show it to me.”

He stepped back a pace and, bringing out his hand, held up the fig.

I went to take it from him, but he ran and I went after him.

He ran full tilt into his mother, who caught him laughingly and looked at me.

“Fatima gave him a fig,” I said.

She turned pale.

“He’s holding it now. He wouldn’t give it to me.”

She snatched it from him. His face puckered.

“It’s all right,” she said.

“I’ll find you another.”

“But that’s mine. Fatima gave it to me.”

“Never mind.” Her voice shook a little.

“You shall have a bigger and better one. This one’s not very nice. It has worms in it.”

“Show me?” cried Samir excitedly.

“First of all, I’ll get you a nice one.”

She put the fig into my hands.

“I’ll be back,” she said.

She took Samir off and a few minutes later returned without him.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“She’s capable of anything.”

So think I. “

“Rosetta, I am going to test this.”

She sat on the stones holding the fig in her hand and i35

staring moodily before her. One of Fatima’s little dogs came into sight.

She laughed suddenly and called to him. He came up and looked. She held out the fig to the dog who swallowed it at one gulp, and looked at us hopefully for more.

“Why should she give him a fig?” she asked.

“She might have been sorry about the earrings and wanted to please him.”

She looked at me scornfully. Then her eyes went to the dog. He had crept into a corner and was being sick.

She was triumphant.

“She is wicked … wicked … she would have killed Samir.”

“We can’t be sure.”

“It’s proof enough. Look at the dog.”

“It might have been something else.”

“He was well enough before he took the fig.”

“Do you think she would go so far? What would happen to her if she were discovered?”

“Death for murder.”

“She would think of that.”

“Fatima never thinks ahead. She would think only of getting rid of Samir so that Feisal could be the Pasha’s favourite.”

“Nicole, do you seriously believe she would go to such lengths?”

The dog was now writhing on the ground. We stared at it in horror.

Suddenly its legs stiffened and it lay on its side.

“It could have been Samir,” whispered Nicole.

“If you hadn’t seen him with the fig … I will kill her for this.”

Aida came up.

“What’s the matter with the dog?” she said.

“He’s dead,” said Nicole.

“He ate a fig.”

“A what?”

“A fig.”

“How could he die of that? It’s Fatima’s dog.”

“Yes,” said Nicole.

“Go and tell her that her dog has died through eating a fig.”

I was really alarmed. I had been apt to feel somewhat contemptuous of their rivalries, but when they led to attempted murder, that was another matter.

It was not to be expected that that would be the end of the affair.

Nicole was not the sort to let such a thing pass.

Her remarks about the fig and the death of the dog would be enough to show Fatima that she suspected her. And she had been the one who had given the fig to Samir -the fig which afterwards had poisoned the dog.

There was open warfare between Nicole and Fatima. Everyone was talking about the death of Fatima’s little dog who had died after eating a fig.

Rani was worried. She hated trouble in the harem and liked to believe that she could keep everything in order.

Smouldering looks passed between Nicole and Fatima and we were all waiting for the trouble to start.

I begged Nicole to be careful. It would be best for her to tell Rani or the Chief Eunuch what she suspected; and they could deal with the matter.

She said: “J want to deal with Fatima. They might not believe she did what she did. They will say it was some other thing which caused the dog’s death. They wouldn’t want the Pasha to know that there had been attempted murder in the harem.”

I said fearfully: “He will be back soon. Surely he will hear something about it then?”

“No. He would not hear such a thing. Besides, they will try to make it all die down before he gets back. But I am not going to let it. She tried to prove my son a thief and when that failed she tried to poison him.”

“At neither time did she succeed.”

“No. Thank God. And it was due to you. You have been my good friend and when I can I will repay you. Yes, I will repay you for the good you have done me and her for the evil. But repayment there shall be.”

It could not go on.

Fatima approached Nicole in the gardens.

She said: “You are spreading evil tales about me.”

I had picked up enough of the language to understand a little now and then, so I could make out roughly what was being said.

“Nothing could be more evil than the truth,” cried Nicole.

“You tried to kill my son.”

“I did not.”

“You liar! You poisoned a fig and tried to kill him. Instead your dog died. It was proved.”

“I did not give the fig to him. The child is a liar as well as a thief.”

With that Nicole brought up her hand and dealt Fatima a stinging blow on the side of her face.

With a cry Fatima leaped upon her. I was terrified, for in her hand I saw a knife. Fatima had come prepared for battle.

Several women screamed.

“Fetch Rani,” someone said.

“Fetch the Eunuch. Call them.”

Fatima had plunged the knife into Nicole’s thigh and her trousers were drenched with blood. It seemed to be spurting all around.

Rani had come and was shrieking to them to stop. With her was the Chief Eunuch. He was a big strong man, and was soon dragging a kicking, screaming Fatima away from Nicole, who lay on the ground bleeding profusely.

Two other eunuchs who were tending the gardens appeared Rani ordered them to take Fatima away. The Chief Eunuch knelt beside Nicole. He said something to Rani.

Then he lifted Nicole tenderly in his arms and carried her into the building.

1 was horrified. I had known that there would be trouble sooner or later between them, but I had not thought of fighting with knives.

There had of course only been one and that had given Fatima the advantage. Now I was worried about Nicole. I had grown fond of her.

She was the only one with whom I could communicate. She it was who had made life tolerable for me.

Then I thought of Samir. Poor child, what would become of him?

He was bewildered and came to me to be comforted.

“Where is my Maman?” he asked plaintively.

“She is ill.”

“When will she be better?”

“We must wait and see,” I told him one of the most unsatisfactory answers possible, as I remembered from my own childhood.

Fatima was under restraint. I wondered what would happen to her. The incident would not be lightly passed over, of that I was sure. To do so would be to undermine law and order in the harem and that was something neither Rani nor the Chief Eunuch would allow.

From what little I could understand, the women were discussing the poisoned fig and Fatima’s attack on Nicole;

Aida and her pretensions were no longer the main topic of conversation.

Rani was seething with anger because Fatima obviously had access to her closet where the drugs were kept. I wondered how often these had been used with discretion to remove some unwanted person from the harem. I imagined orders coming from the Pasha, through the Chief Eunuch, of course, that someone was to be quietly removed. It must have happened now and then. The secrets of the closet should be closely guarded and the fact that Fatima had succeeded in getting access to it must give cause for alarm.

The Chief Eunuch was in constant communication with Rani. I saw him frequently in the harem.

Nicole was kept in a room by herself. I was allowed to visit her, presumably because she asked that I should. They were very anxious that she should recover and were ready to do anything to help her to that end.

I was shocked at the sight of her. Her thigh was encased in bandages and she was very pale; there were dark bruises on her forehead.

“That snake would have finished me … if she could … and she nearly did,” she said.

“How is Samir?”

“He asks for you.”

A smile illuminated her face.

“I did not want him to see me … like this.”

“I think he would like to see you anyway.”

“Perhaps then …”

“I’ll tell him. He will be overjoyed.”

“You are looking after him for me?”

“As well as I can, but it is you he wants.”

“That wicked witch is shut away, I know. That is a great relief to me.”

“Yes. She is not with us any more.”

“Thank God for that. I could not lie here knowing she was there … and I powerless. How much does Samir know of the danger he was in?”

“He is too young,” I said.

“Children are sharper than you think. They listen. There is little they miss. Sometimes they put the wrong construction on things … but Samir will know something is wrong. He will sense danger.”

“I will look after him. You must not worry about him … and when you think he should come to see you, I am sure they will allow it.”

“Oh yes. They do not want me to die. The Pasha would ask questions. He would wonder how well Rani was looking after us. She might be

replaced. That is always in her mind. He would remember me because I am the mother of his boy.”

“And what of Fatima? She also is the mother of his boy.”

“He never really liked Fatima. She is a fool. She always was. She is the mother of Feisal, true. But that is all. Feisal is a good-looking boy, but that does not mean Fatima will be kept in favour because of that if she is a menace in the harem. I did not have a knife. She was the one who produced it. She might have killed me. It was what she intended to do. As it is … I have lost a lot of blood. The wound is deep. It is going to take a long time to heal.”

The next day I took Samir to her.

He leaped on to the divan and they hugged each other. I felt the tears in my eyes as I watched them. The child’s joy was great. She was there. She was still ill, he knew, but she was there.

He sat beside her and she asked what he was doing? How was the boat going?

“The pirates nearly took her,” he said.

“Really?”

“Yes, but I saved her in time.”

“That is good news.”

“When are you getting up?”

“Very soon.”

“Today?”

“Well, not today.”

“Tomorrow?”

“We’ll have to see.” There it was again. Samir sighed, recognizing the vagueness of the reply.

“You’ve got Rosetta,” she told him.

He turned and smiled at me and held out his hand. Nicole was biting her lip and lowering her ey s. She was as touched as I was and in that moment I was sure she felt as great an affection for me as I did for her.

The next day when I was with her. Rani brought in the Chief Eunuch.

Nicole spoke to him in French. She told him what I had done and that it was my prompt action which had saved Samir.

“I owe Samir’s life to her,” she said.

“I must repay her for what she has done for me.”

He nodded and I believe the look which passed between them was one of love.

The tragedy of their lives was brought home to me more vividly than ever. But for that one incident which had befallen them, everything could have been so different for them. In my imagination I saw the ship. I could picture the meetings . the friendship which sprang up as it can on board ship where people see each other every day if they wish. Relationships blossom in such an atmosphere. And that was how it would have been with those two young people. What would have happened if they had been al lowed to stay together? I pictured them at sea . warm evenings, sitting on deck, the starlit sky, the gentle swishing of the calm sea as they drifted along. Romance in the air. And then . shipwreck . sold into slavery and the end of a love-story which had only just begun.

Could I not understand better than anyone? Had it not happened to me?

And poor Nicole! Cruelly separated, yet to live not far apart.

Actually to see each other often: she the member of a harem to bear a child to an imperious master; he to lose his manhood because he was tall and strong and could be of use to that ruthless man. How dared some people inflict such horror on others! How dared they take us from a civilized world and submit us to their barbarous way of life! But they did dare. They had the opportunity and for the moment the upper hand and with it they tampered with our lives.

Nicole was getting better. She was exceptionally healthy and Rani was