Kitabı oku: «The Sky Of Nadira», sayfa 5
Chapter 9
Winter 1060 (452 from Hegira), Rabaḍ by Qasr Yanna and surroundings
Umar invited all the women in the house to retire to their rooms. He gently pushed Ghadda by the shoulders, forcing her to go to her room, and gave a caress on Jala's face.
Only Nadira was still standing at the entrance, eager for explanations.
«Umar, tell me who that man was. »
«Just a wealthy passing merchant who wanted to provoke me. »
«Doesn't it seem strange to you that he travelled just at this hour, and that he didn't spend the night up to Qasr Yanna? »
«Obviously, to see “the sky of Nadira" you can't wait for the sunrise. » Umar replied sarcastically, still full of ill-concealed jealousy.
«You would do well to inform the Qā'id ... at dawn! I seemed to feel some dissent towards my lord Ali. »
Umar looked at her sufficiently and said:
«Are you going to get into Rabaḍ's security issues now? The adhān of the night has passed ...now go to your room, sister! »
Nadira at that point, while the other walked away annoyed, found herself staring at the baked clay of the tiles.
Slowly every brazier, every light and every candle in the house was extinguished, ending that long day.
Corrado, was still tied to the pole, had long since stopped showing signs of knowledge, and Apollonia, curled up between her knees, had dozed off; in fact, she had slept even less than her brother.
Idris, further on, was lost looking at the starry sky, waiting for the moment when he could free the prisoner and go home.
A sort of bang roared through the courtyard; the crackling of what looked like a fire followed the first noise. Apollonia opened her eyes and saw an unusual glow coming from near the stables. Idris then began to scream, wiggling like a madman to draw the attention of others. Meanwhile Mezyan descended at breakneck speed on the stairs of the terrace, announcing to his companion below:
«The stables have caught fire! »
«Call Umar! »
«Call the others! »
Mezyan started knocking like a madman on the door, while Idris ran away to call the men who were sentinels at the entrance of the village; it was precisely the Qā'id, in fact, who advised Umar to have the guard mounted in the strategic points of Rabaḍ.
Apollonia got to her feet and, in the silence before the storm, in the meantime that Mezyan was knocking on the door, looked around. Dark shadows like the demons of Averno moved around the house and on the streets of the village. She sharpened her sight to realize if they were the inhabitants of Rabaḍ who had come to the emergency, however she concluded that the villagers would not have been so silent and cautious as they approached. Then, she hugged Corrado, and he, feeling the touch on his skin, opened his eyes.
Umar went out onto the courtyard at that moment, in time to witness the second rumble, caused by the sudden flare of a flammable substance. Flames rose even faster from the roof of the grain warehouse. Meanwhile, people were starting to come out of their homes.
Mezyan and another ten men were already shuttling between the nearest well and the stables. Now some screams began to be heard, while elsewhere, even some houses, other flames were rising; the whole Rabaḍ caught fire. The unequivocal noise of scrap metal also made clear what was happening: they stormed the village.
Apollonia grabbed Corrado by the hips and gathered all her strength to hoist him, so that the rope on his wrists jumped beyond the bifurcation at which it had been stuck. He shouted for the intense effort, then ended up on the ground dragged by the weight of his brother. He therefore freed him from the bonds and helped him to sit by making his back rest on the pole. Then she put an arm around his neck and tried to lift it ... however, being unable to walk, he fell to dead weight. Corrado screamed, feeling intense pain in his arms and knees. Apollonia therefore felt helpless; she would have liked to load it on her shoulders, but she, small and fragile, could not do anything. Finally, he grabbed his face in his hands and, looking at him full of tears, promised him:
«I won't leave you here.»
«Go and hide yourself!» Corrado answered, panting.
«I'm going to call Michele; he will take you home! »
Apollonia ran away, running as fast as her shoes allowed her and getting lost in the streets of Rabaḍ.
Corrado, left alone and seated with his back to the pole, looked to his left, towards Umar's house. A multitude of men at that moment crossed the courtyard, and the sound of scrap metal, coming shortly before from the village blocks, seemed to disappear. Corrado thought about what his sister was risking walking on the street during that assault ... so he was horrified at the thought that she would not return.
Umar, who in those moments stood by the stable, confused, helpless and above all unarmed, returned to the courtyard having understood the nature of the threat. However, a sudden blow to his head knocked him out causing him to collapse on the ground. Now the screams of the women of the house, perhaps of the servants, perhaps of the owners, rose loudly, and in a short time even from the home of Umar, black smoke began to rise. Corrado looked around terrified, then realized that there was no men in the streets of Rabad.
When the attackers came out of the house, two of them pulled Nadira by the arms. Corrado, hearing the screams, understood her identity even before seeing it.
Then, in the darkness illuminated by the bonfires, the unknown enemies came right up to the prisoner, who, resting his neck on the pole, was panting, having a high fever and a lot of fear. Corrado then imagined that they would now kill him, as they did with Umar and many others in the village.
«Hey you, unfaithful, stand up!» commanded one of those men, removing from his face the strip of turban that hid him.
Nadira's eyes widened: that guy was the wealthy merchant who had visited her house just before.
«I can't, kill me sitting!» Corrado asked resignedly.
Instead, the man squeezed Nadira by the neck and forced her to kneel before Corrado.
«Do you know this girl?»
He looked at her carefully; he had her not even three palms away from his face. He knew very well who she was, Nadira's eyes could not be confused, however he hadn't seen her full face and her hair uncovered since she, still a little girl, ran for streets of Rabaḍ. Moreover, Corrado had never seen the sister of the Qā'id’s man in that state: dressed only in night’s clothes and crying.
Corrado nodded his head. So that guy who introduced himself as Salim said to him:
«Go to your Qā'id, and tell him that if he wants to see his latest jewel he must give me back my wife! »
Nadira immediately understood the true identity of the rich merchant ... it was Mohammed ibn al-Thumna, the Qā'id of Catania and Syracuse, ascended to the most powerful emir of the whole of Sicily when years before, without any more central power, the Qā'id had collided with each other. She feared what that man could do to her: she imagined her sawed wrists just as he had made them saw at Maimuna.
Mohammed ibn al-Thumna grabbed Nadira by the neck again, causing her to rise, and handed her over to his men. Finally, he forced Corrado to raise his head by placing the cut of his scimitar under his chin.
«If you want revenge with those who reduced you like this, come and look for me when you get better ... you and your uncircumcised friends. »
At this Mohammed ibn al-Thumna left the courtyard and then Rabaḍ, aware that the fires in the village had already alarmed the sentries of Qasr Yanna, and that his brother-in-law would soon be able to intervene.
Meanwhile Nadira had been tied with a long rope and on the other end of it they pulled her down the road that descended from the plateau, just like you would do with a mule. Salim and his followers moved, illuminating the path with a few torches, and Nadira's bare feet wounded between the stones and brambles. When they came to the ford of the stream that ran under the Rabaḍ, precisely under one of the great norias, Mohammed ordered the girl to be dissolved and, putting on her a fine female dress, invited her to cover herself as befits women. Then, looking at the numerous men following him, he said:
«If anyone dares to disrespect the girl, he will have to deal with me ... she is still the promise of a Qā'id, and it must be treated as such!»
At that point they all jumped on horseback and vanished eastward. Nadira had to cling to Jamal's hips, the man with the large medallion.
Mostly black horses all went in the same direction. There were fifty more who assembled them, all dressed in a black burnus43 and with trousers of the same colour. They had dark faces and spoke the most common language among many African Moors. Nadira knew that idiom: it was in this way that she often expressed herself in the family, but she had never heard it speak so fluently and with that typical accent.
The knights gently spurred their steeds and these, at a slow pace, advanced under the moon forming a long procession.
«Lord, who are these men? And where are you taking me? » Nadira asked the Qā'id's right arm, as soon as she had calmed her sobs.
«They are the African cutthroats of ibn al-Menkūt. They betrayed their Qā’id to serve a cheaper one. But their lord now is a friend of my master and has given him a gift from his mercenaries to make use of them these days. » Jamal replied.
«And these foreigners will cut my throat too?» asked the girl with the typical innocence of those who do not know the world and tremble in the face of all that is new.
Jamal smiled and replied:
«Don't worry, you’ll serve my lord alive.»
It wasn't long before they stopped near a village on the border between the lands controlled by ibn al-Ḥawwās and those dominated by ibn al-Thumna. Other ugly faces were already stationed in the village, a group of houses very similar in appearance to Qasr Yanna's Rabaḍ. These others, cutthroats of the same fate as those who had ravaged Rabaḍ, paid homage to Mohammed, prostrating himself when he dismounted.
«Give the girl to the women of the village and, when she will get well, send her back to me.» ordered Mohammed ibn al-Thumna to Jamal, and Jamal replied with a slight bow.
Nadira was led in a modest house, and here sad-faced women took care of her by washing her feet, combing her hair and feeding her. Nadira asked who they were and one of the women replied that three days earlier the cutthroats of ibn al-Menkūt had captured the village, killing all men and raping every woman as an initiation rite to their new state of slavery.
Finally, Nadira was led by the Qā’id, who stayed in a sumptuous tent hoisted to the side of the mosque.
The arrival of the girl was announced by the sound of the numerous bracelets, anklets and rattles that had been placed on her. The eyes had also been tinted with kajal44, but when he appeared in front of Mohammed this already faded on contact with tears and streaked black cheekbones up to his chin.
«Come here Nadira, come closer! My tent is warmer and more comfortable. Winter nights can be too long when you can't sleep. » Mohammed invited her, sitting cross-legged on cushions.
Nadira entered in the luxurious tent and, approaching the brazier fire, and said:
«I know who you are.»
«Of course. It is for this reason that I'm not surprised that my brother-in-law has fallen in love with you ... It would have been strange if he had chosen a stupid woman as his wife!»
«You can't meddle me with your family affairs.»
«You mean in our family affairs ... sister-in-law! Do you know what your Qā'id did to me? »
«Your wife fears you ... after the evil you caused her.»
«Isn't the life and death of my home and my subjects in my hand?»
«Everyone's life is in Allah's hand, not yours.»
«But Allah has his designs, and these cannot be changed. If what happened with Maimuna hasn't it also been His will? »
«So even the fact that I don't want to go back to you is His will ... accept it and let me go. »
Mohammed laughed and explained:
«Different fates of men are born in the world: there are those who suffer their own destiny and there are those who use fate to change the times, seasons and peoples. I was born a nobleman, and in my Syracuse, I knew how to grow up and then take half of Sicily. I do a service to Allah and His inscrutable destiny, being in the world to change the times, seasons and peoples. There is no evil ... there is no good, but only the will of Allah. »
Nadira then fell on her knees and with her face on the ground she implored him:
«Please, my Lord, my mother cried when you tore me from her arms, and the house was invaded by smoke ... Let me go and make sure of her health, and then I will come back to you. »
«If you see your mother again, it will depend only on Ali, your Qā'id.»
Nadira therefore looked up, still remaining on her knees.
«Don't make me stay; the men you surround yourself with are treacherous and criminal ... they have done much harm to the people who live in this village. »
«They won't hurt you, don't be afraid. The fate of an illustrious bride cannot be compared to that of ordinary villains given for the amusement of soldiers. »
«But you enslave even our sisters, and these soldiers of yours have slaughtered all men! »
«Not all ... I let the Christian peasants stay. Surrounding yourself with infidels pays a lot, as they lavishly fill my pockets with taxation of jizya. The eastern iqlīm, full of uncircumcised and Jews, are a gold mine for the pockets of those in charge. »
«And you pay this army of mercenaries with jizya money? » Nadira asked with the same irreverence she showed with Umar. Now in fact she understood that the supplications could not find acceptance in the rocky heart of Mohammed.
He stared at her attentively and seriously, then replied:
«If it were not for the purpose for which I preserved you, if it were not for your eyes and your beauty, my dear Nadira, I would have them saw your wrists too… and even worse I would have you cut that intrusive tongue. You are my prisoner, remember that! There is no person in this world whose life can be broken as much as yours ... a cotton thread burned by the fire that flakes at the touch of my hand. » Mohammed said and mimed, rubbing his forefinger and thumb between them.
«You will always present yourselves to the best of your features, for the pleasure of my eyes. I will not allow you to cry if you spoil your face. I will not allow you to fast if you so thin your forms. Whether or not you wear Jilbāb45 in my presence will be only by my will. But don't worry, I will protect your honour, against anyone, included me, so that Ali doesn't despise you and refuse you because you are no longer a virgin. Your Qā'id is a beggar, a slave who has made his way with the flattery and the promises but would know how to give up his villain if she could not give him what he hopes to take the first night. You and your virginity are still worth too much in return for my wife. But if Ali proves obtuse, then I will unleash him against the forces of hell, devastate his lands, massacre his subjects, I will take women away from his cities to make them slaves and above all I will make you what I like. The attack on your village has been painless for many people, since it is rapid and with the sole purpose of kidnapping the sapphire-eyed girl, but if Ali won't listen to me, then many will suffer and will have to bow to their new Qā'id ... if they will want to continue living. »
«Ibn al-Ḥawwās will be able to redeem me from your hands, I am sure. And my brother…»
«Your brother is dead! I saw it myself. He got what he deserved, that foot-licker! » Mohammed interrupted her.
Nadira threw herself on the pillows and started to cry harder.
«Oh Umar ... Umar! » she called desperate, full of pain and displeasure for having quarrelled for a whole day without ever being able to tell him how much she loved him.
«Your brother was a good man. I am sure that in Heaven he will have the treatment reserved for martyrs. Now, stop crying, Nadira. » he cynically heartened Nadira, but she continued.
«Do not Cry! » then he repeated screaming, revealing that all he cared about was that she stopped whining. «I can't stand this whining in my presence. »
«You said that you’ll take care of me and you invite me to your tent; but how do you expect me to be quiet at hearing these words? You even ask me not to cry ... »
«I don't want your serenity; I want you feign to be fine in front of me. The next time I call you, you will smile. It's an order! Now go. You will stay with the women, but Jamal will keep an eye on you»
Nadira was brought back by the women who had previously made her up, and these began to hate her because she represented the reason for that war and their misfortune, although she was imprisoned like them within those four walls.
Chapter 10
Autumn 1060 (year 452 from the Hegira), Rabaḍ by Qasr Yanna
When Ali ibn al-Ḥawwās left Rabaḍ to return to Qasr Yanna, Nadira did not want any gifts for herself, despite the Qā'id promising her the moon. Only at the end, after a thousand insistences, Nadira accepted a gift, and requested a copy of the text of the poet Mus'ab be given to her, since it belonged to her more than to the others. Bashir, the Vizier, then hurriedly wrote those words on a sheet of fine paper from Balarm's factories.
Nadira was not very familiar with writing and had to appeal to the imam46 of Rabaḍ, who, after three days of reading and rereading the poem, had to chase the girl impatiently. In the meantime, she had learned all those verses by heart, and consequently also the servants were quick to memorize many of those words that the mistress now recited in their presence. "Do you know, oh my Lord, the sky of Nadira, the boundaries of her eyes?", This was the verse that was most frequently remembered.
As could be imagined, the news of the coming marriage between Nadira and the Qā'id spread with unusual speed outside Umar's home. An enthusiasm so great was unleashed among the people of Rabaḍ that the girl struggled notwithstanding the embarrassment of attending the bows and submission of people with whom she had even grown up together. And in the end, the news of the "the sky of Nadira" and the girl's marriage to the Qā'id also came within the walls where the Christians of Rabaḍ lived.
One day, Alfeo, the head of the family, a poor man who was twenty years older than he had, called all his children back to the table. It was lunchtime and that day also Apollonia and Caterina her mother had followed the men in the garden, to help the men and to eat all together without having to wait in the evening. Alfeo and Michele had just finished watering the broccoli garden, and therefore, closing the bulkheads of the saqija47 that passed through the ground, they set aside the hoe to go eat. Michele whistled to Corrado, who had been in the shaduf48 since morning, intent on hoisting the water from the gabiya49 to supply the small canals and vegetable gardens.
Caterina boiled goat's milk in the saucepan and Apollonia threw wood in the fire when Alfeo, recalling everyone, asked that they sit at the table under the roof of the country meeting. Numerous, and often not far from each other, were the farms scattered throughout the districts of the island, as well as the simple seats for the peasants, since the Saracens had incentivized small property and intensive cultivation from the beginning.
Alfeo, once Corrado Michele and Apollonia were in front of him, he started thinking about what the future of his three children would be. He had learned the news of Nadira just one day, but he had heard his boys talk about it before, and he knew that Apollonia felt admiration for the blue-eyed girl.
«Umar's sister was promised to the Qā'id as a wife.» he began, giving the news that everyone already knew.
«Father, they talk about it everywhere! » Corrado answered.
«The sky of Nadira, the boundaries of her eyes. » Apollonia added, while rubbing her hands to remove the dirt from the coal that had attacked and without knowing that her face was even more blackened.
«Daughter, it would take a Qā'id for you too. »
«Father, what do you say? » Apollonia asked puzzled, embarrassed and confused.
«A Christian qāid of course. » the Alfeo concept continued.
«There is no Christian qāid. » replied Caterina, who had given so much of her appearance and character to her daughter, but who now bore badly the signs of age and poverty.
«Not a qā'id, of course, but I still want to find a good party for Apollonia. »
«Father, I am fine like this! » the girl explained, looking for a moment at Corrado.
The fear of having to separate from the family, and therefore from her brother, had tormented her for years, however, now that such fear was revealed in her father's will, she felt unable to defend herself. On the other hand, her only weapon would have been to declare her sentiment to Corrado ... an event that terrified her even more than the first fear.
«Don't say nonsense! Nobody is doing well “like this” at your age. Corrado and Michele will find a husband for you... what's on the market, of course ... not a qāid ... but the best of what you find. I have only one daughter and I want to make the most of the situation. »
«But father, how do you think you can afford it? Didn’t you notice the clothes we wear? » Michele pointed out polemically, getting up and showing the tears and tatters on his tunic.
«Apollonia is a beautiful woman and has nothing to envy to Umar's sister. If it weren't for the rags we can afford, she would have found a Qā’id too. » Alfeo said, raising his angry voice.
«You speak with a father's heart, but all I want for me is really within these four walls. » Apollonia explained, stroking her father's hand and causing him to calm down. Then she tried not to look at Corrado, fearing that he would reveal what and to whom his last sentence referred.
But it seemed that nobody heard her because Corrado said: «Okay, father, tell us if you have someone in mind and Michele and I will fix it. »
Hearing those words from Corrado's mouth broke the heart of Apollonia. For years she had hoped that her brother would have felt something for her that would go beyond the family affection acquired in twenty years of living together. She had hoped that he would understand it without her declaring it to him. She had built the fairy tale and now the whole castle collapsed. Her gaze was lost in the void, staring at an indefinite point outside the door.
«I have not found anyone among Qasr Yanna's Christians who could improve our condition by marrying Apollonia. »
«Alessandro! I personally saw him flirting with her. » Michele proposed.
«He's a womanizer. » Corrado clarified.
«And what do we care? » Michele replied.
«It matters because vices cost money. »
«You said well, Corrado. And then, he tried to cheat me already three times in the market. No, none of Qasr Yanna. I want you to go to Demona's iqlīm after Christoúgenna50, when the land is not worked, where people still know Greek and the most of them are Christians. Go over there and find a husband for your sister ... and then think about yourself. »
Corrado and Michele looked at each other, then a moment later they laughed heartily at the thought of having to look for a wife.
«Corrado, you have been there; what can you tell me about the girls? » Michele asked enthusiastically.
«I was only nine. »
«But you will remember the women ... »
«I remember the inhabitants of Rametta51 ... fair skin and hazel eyes! »
«That's enough! » scolded Alfeo, who also said:
«How many times have I told you not to talk about those years? Corrado is as if he had been born in this house! »
Then the two boys exchanged an understanding look under the table: to Michele's gesture indicating his chest, Corrado replied gesturing with full hands to let it be understood that the breasts of the girls of Demona's iqlīm were abundant. Apollonia noticed it; it was too much! She ran out without explanation and in tears. She therefore went to hide behind the vegetable gardens on a sumac plantation. That day, she did not eat and when Corrado looking for her passed near her, she crouched carefully so as not to be discovered.
