The Master and The Maiden

Chapter 9

*

"Fareed." Kabeer forced a smile. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Spare me the formalities." Fareed raised his hand, his expression turning sour. "You know why I'm here."

"I'm afraid I do not." Kabeer said politely, briefly glancing at the men behind Fareed, their hands wrapped around the hilts of their swords.

"Is that what you're going with?" Fareed raised an eyebrow slowly. "You'd rather feign ignorance rather than confess and save yourself the humiliation?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying, Fareed. You come to my house so early in the morning, almost knocking down my gate and now you expect me to know why you're here?" Kabeer said, his adrenaline spiking. Though he very much wished to wrap his hands around Fareed's throat and strangle him to death, he knew he had to keep his temper in check. Fareed still hadn't stated why he was here. Yet.

"Master," Lukman took a step forward. "Give the word and I will make him talk."

"No, Lukman." Fareed raised his hand slowly, the wicked smile returning to his face. "That's no way to treat our friend."

"Tell me what you want Fareed, or get out of my house." Kabeer said, stretching up to his full height. Fareed stared at him coolly.

"For the last time Kabeer, return what you took from me." he said. "Or else there will be... dire consequences."

"As I have mentioned before, I do not know what you are speaking of." Kabeer said.

"Very well." Fareed sighed, turning to one of his men. He gave a curt nod, and the latter quickly dashed out of the house.

"And now we wait." Fareed clapped his hands together. "Aren't you going to offer us drinks?" he looked up at Kabeer. The latter frowned and turned away.

"You there," Fareed snapped his fingers at one of Kabeer's slaves. "Get me a chair at once. The finest in the house." The young boy stared fearfully at Fareed, unsure of what to do. His feet had already begun to move, so accustomed to obeying that he hadn't paused to remember it wasn't his master who was commanding him. But something about the way Fareed was staring at him calmly sent a chill down his spine. His gut feeling was to obey. And so he dashed off to fetch a seat for the guest.

Kabeer was shaking with rage where he stood. His hands had balled into fists beside him, and he was staring at Fareed with as much hatred as one could muster. But Fareed knew him too well. The pretence of rage was mainly to cover up his true emotion; fear.

He'd noticed it from the moment they stepped into the house. Kabeer's action of sending his wife and daughter away at once simply cemented his suspicion. Though what he did was quite normal, the fact that he didn't send the two female slaves away as well showed that he was afraid for his family alone. Afraid of what Fareed could do to them.

The young slave quickly returned with a chair, and he hastily placed it close to the door of Kabeer's study. Fareed's lip twitched as he took his seat, interlacing his fingers on his knees.

"You've got a nice house, Kabeer." he said, looking around. "You must be living a comfortable life."

Kabeer made a noise at the back of his throat, somewhere between a growl and a whimper.

"Of all the people you could dream of stealing from, Kabeer. You chose me." Fareed said, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"How dare you accuse me of stealing from you, Fareed?" Kabeer yelled, taking a step forward. In a flash, six sabres were drawn and pointed at him.

"I am no thief, Fareed." Kabeer said, his voice still raised, though he had the wisdom to take a step back. "How dare you accuse me of such a crime?"

"You are not making this easy for yourself, Kabeer." Fareed chuckled. "You are a wise man. I would have assumed that you would simply return what you took from me. Yet you remain stubborn."

"I do not know what you are talking about." Kabeer said, for truly he didn't understand. Fareed kept saying that he had taken something from him. But Jamal told him that Zaid had been captured 'before' he managed to steal the jewels. Did that mean Zaid had been successful? Or was Fareed merely pretending in order to frame Kabeer? His mind was racing as he glanced at all six men watching him intently. He could make a run for it. There was a clear path between the two men to his right. If he moved quickly, he could escape before they caught up to him.

But then Safiya and Noor were upstairs in the former's bedroom. He couldn't leave them both, after he had been the reason for putting them in this mess.

Fareed continued to watch him through narrowed eyes, feeling the satisfaction coursing through his veins. The hatred he felt for the Order was now being channeled at Kabeer. He was finally going to get his revenge after all this years. They wouldn't be able to recover from the shock of loosing one of their prominent members.

Finally, the man whom Fareed had sent returned. All eyes turned towards him as he went to stand beside his master.

"Where is he?" Fareed asked, still looking at Kabeer.

"He'll be here in a minute." he panted.

"Adequate." Fareed smiled serenely. In a matter of seconds, the gates burst open once again. In stepped Aliyu, accompanied by Jamal, Fahad, and about a dozen old and tired looking men.

"Gentlemen." Fareed smiled, standing up at once.

"What is the meaning of this, Fareed?" Aliyu asked at once. "How dare you send a messenger to summon me to your presence? Do I perhaps look like one of your slaves?"

Fareed didn't miss the way his eyes flitted towards Kabeer behind him, or the momentary flash of fear in them. Perfect.

"Forgive me, Aliyu ibn Muhammad Al-Khatib." Fareed smiled, spreading his arms as though to embrace him. "Still, I am glad you honoured my invitation."

"Why did you wish to see me?" he asked, folding his arms behind him. "And why are you here with your armed men in the house of another man so early in the day? What is going on here?" he feigned innocence. It was important that he kept up this air of ignorance. If he gave away the fact that he knew why he had been called...

"Gentlemen, I would direct you all to our humble host behind me, Kabeer ibn Hamza, who, until very early this morning, I believed to be a friend of mine." Fareed said, relishing the mounting tension in the group. This was exactly why he had summoned the members of the council.

"What do you mean?" one of the men asked.

"I believe, for each and every one of you to understand why you are here, you must know what happened yesterday. Please bear with me, for I shall not take much of your time." Fareed said. Turning around, he picked up the chair behind him and placed it beside Aliyu. "Here you go." he said. "It would be rude of me to ask you to stand while I narrate my tale."

"I have enough strength left in me to stand, thank you." Aliyu refused his seat.

"Very well." Fareed smiled, though there was a flash of hatred in his eyes which Aliyu thought he has seen.

"Now gentlemen, it is your common knowledge that yesterday, being Friday, I attended the Jumu'at prayer like each and every one of you. Many of you can testify to seeing me there, is that not so?" Fareed asked.

There was a general murmur of consent amongst the group.

"Now, after the prayer was concluded, my friend Fahad over here can testify to the fact that, while we were conversing outside the mosque, we were approached by Kabeer and Jamal over here, is that not true?"

"Indeed it is." Fahad said, though his eyebrows were raised in confusion.

"And he can testify to the fact that after our brief run in with them, I had invited all three of them to my house where we were to have a private discussion amongst ourselves, is that not so?"

"Indeed it is." Fahad said.

"And he can also testify to the fact," Fareed turned to face Kabeer as he spoke. "That after our discussion, I lead all three of them to a room where I keep my most treasured family heirlooms?" he asked, staring calmly at Kabeer.

"Yes you did." Fahad stated.

"But what does that have to do with any of this?" Aliyu asked. "Did you simply wish to have us here while you narrate to us how you spent your day, Fareed? I do not have time for such nonsense."

"I'm glad you asked that, Aliyu." Fareed said, choosing to ignore his last statements. "I'm sure you can imagine my surprise then, when I woke up this morning to find that I had been robbed?"

"You have been what?" Aliyu asked, as several of the men behind him gasped. The idea of stealing from the Al-ghala mansion seemed bizarre. Surely no one in their right senses would dare to imagine such an act.

"Robbed, my fellow gentlemen." Fareed said. "Even I found it hard to believe."

"What was taken from your house?" Fahad asked.

"A necklace." Fareed said, a grave expression on his face. "The most valuable treasure which belongs to my family was stolen right under my nose."

"And you chose to assume it was I who stole your necklace?" Kabeer finally spoke up, for relief had washed over him so suddenly that his lips began to contort into an unwanted smile. "What would I want to do with your necklace, Fareed?"

"I believe you are the only person who can answer that question, Kabeer." he replied.

"What is the meaning of this, Fareed?" Aliyu asked, his voice drowning out the murmuring of the men behind him. "How dare you point an accusing finger at a respectable member of society without any form of evidence?"

"Evidence?" Fareed spat venomously, a flash of wild anger crossing his face. Aliyu took a step back out of fear. For a moment, he thought he'd seen something in Fareed's eyes. But he shook his head quickly; Uthman was dead. What he had witnessed was merely a flash of resemblance between father and son. Uthman was dead. And he himself had made sure of that.

"You ask for evidence, when the culprit has been caught red handed?" Fareed said, regaining his composure. Kabeer felt a chill run down his spine. No! It couldn't be.

"Bring him in." Fareed nodded at Lukman. The latter hurried out of the gates, returning less than a minute later with a man walking solemnly behind him. The man was chained at the ankles and a rope was tied around his hands. Lukman held the end of this rope, pulling the man behind him.

Aliyu felt his heart stop when he realized who the man was. So this was why Fareed had wanted them all here; to humiliate the members of the Order in broad daylight, when he knew they wouldn't be able to retaliate.

"Confess your crimes." Fareed commanded. And it was as though his words had breathed life into the man, for he began to speak at once.

"My name is Zaid ibn Abdullah. I am a blacksmith, and I own a shop up in the market. I am married with a wife and a young son, whom I named after,"

"No one asked you for a life history." Fareed snapped. "Tell them what you told me."

"A few weeks ago, Kabeer approached me in my shop and begged me to carry out a service for him. He promised to reward me handsomely if I did my job well. My family is poor, and I was in desperate need of money at the time. I told him I would do whatever he asked me to do.

"He told me that he wanted me to steal from someone. That what I was going to steal would be something of great value, and we would both benefit from it if we succeeded. Naturally, I refused. But then he gave me a huge sum of money and told me to think about it.

"I am a poor man. I barely have enough to feed my family. What could I have done? So I agreed to carry out the task. I came to his house here and told him I was ready to do the job. He then told me that he wanted me to steal from the Al-ghala mansion. I told him it was impossible, for no one could enter the mansion. However, he told me there was a way. He told me that the only way to steal from the mansion was from the inside. So we hatched a plan. I would pick a fight with one of Fareed's men at his warehouse, and they would surely bring me to mansion. From there, I could easily escape from whatever restraints they may have put on me and steal the necklace while everyone was asleep. And so I did."

"I believe a few of you were present in the market you saw when my men captured him and were bringing him to the mansion?" Fareed asked.

Three of the men nodded energetically.

"Continue." Fareed ordered.

"The plan worked smoothly. As we had anticipated, I was able to escape from the ropes they used to tie me down and steal the necklace from the mansion. I was too tired after the beating I received from his men, so I ordered one of my apprentices to bring it to Kabeer's house. But he didn't do what I ordered him to do. He went to Kabeer's shop instead, and when he didn't meet him there, he gave the necklace to one of his slaves. I do not know whether the slave delivered the necklace or not." he finished.

"And how were you caught?" Aliyu asked.

"I had forgotten that I left the knife which I used to cut the ropes back in the mansion. It carries the inscription I make on all my products. So Master Fareed found the knife and ordered his men to capture me. They came to my house at dawn today." he said, tears welling up in his eyes. All through his speech, he had avoided looking at Kabeer. He couldn't bear to look into his master's eyes and see the shock on his face after his betrayal.

"So there you have it." Fareed clapped his hands as Zaid began to sob quietly. "Or do you still need more evidence?"

"This is madness." Kabeer yelled, finding his voice suddenly. "Absolute madness. Don't you see what's going on here? It's a conspiracy. Fareed is trying to frame me. I am an honest man. You know me, Aliyu. I would never steal from anyone. You know me."

Aliyu stared at Kabeer with remorse in his eyes. Why didn't he flee when he had told him to? Fareed had him cornered now. Of course he would find another way to frame him, since he couldn't openly state what Kabeer had tried to take from him. He had to find a way to ensure Kabeer was not charged with theft. It had been he (Aliyu) who had given to order to have the jewels stolen from Fareed. Kabeer had merely been acting on his orders. He couldn't let Kabeer suffer for an act which he himself had delegated to him.

"I am sure there is still an iota of doubt amongst you." Fareed said. "Even with the evidence presented before you, some of you still doubt. I can understand. Kabeer is a prominent and honest member of our society, or at least so he claims. That is why I asked that nothing should be done unless you all are here. I had intended to have my men search this house at once, but I wanted each and every one of you to be present before anything is done."

"Search my house?" Kabeer said wildly. "You must be insane if you think I will allow you to search my house, Fareed. I will not allow it."

"If you have nothing to hide, then why will you refuse?" Fareed asked.

"Enough." Aliyu said. "We can settle this issue simply without resorting to yelling. We are not women."

With a grave expression, Aliyu turned towards Kabeer. "Surely," he said. "You will not refuse to have your house searched if you have nothing to hide."

"I have nothing to hide." Kabeer said. "But I refuse to let anyone search my house. I am not some common criminal. I am a respectable man. I will not be insulted by having my house searched for some piece of jewelry which most certainly is not in my possession."

"Kabeer, do not refuse." Aliyu said. "Please do not make things more complicated than they already are. Let's get this over with."

"I didn't steal anything, Aliyu." Kabeer pleaded. "You are my friend. You know more better than anyone here. Do you honestly believe I will be capable of stealing from anyone?"

"I want to believe you, Kabeer." Aliyu said. "I truly do. But given the circumstances, we have no other option. Please step aside and allow them to search."

"Adequate." Fareed said, nodding to his men.

"Wait a second." Aliyu said, stopping the men who had begun to move towards the study.

"What is it?" Fareed asked irritatingly.

"Your men will not search his house." Aliyu said, turning towards the men behind him. He selected six of them, whom he appointed to search Kabeer's house. A muscle in Fareed's jaw twitched.

"Well played." he chuckled quietly to himself.

*

"Will he be okay?" Safiya asked as tears continued to pool in her eyes. Noor was holding her mother in her arms, both of them shaking silently. Safiya was shaking out of fear as she rocked back and forth. Noor was shaking not out of fear, but because she was holding her mother who was shaking beside her. She had no time to be afraid. Her mind was on her father, whose voice she'd heard just a few seconds ago yelling that he wasn't a thief. Never had she been heartbroken as she was right now. She had never heard her father sound so desperate before in her life. Like a wounded animal.

"He will be okay, mother. Insha Allah." Noor patted her shoulder, surprised at how confident she sounded. Safiya continued to shake silently beside her, but she said nothing.

"Did you know, mother?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" Safiya wiped a strand of tear that fell from her eye.

"Did you know that Abba was in a secret cult?" Noor asked. Safiya let go of her daughter, sitting up straight. "How did you..." she started to speak, but Noor cut her off.

"I overheard his conversation with his guest at dawn today." she said. "They were talking about an Order, or something like that."

"I suspected it." Safiya said. "I mean, I know most men keep secrets from their wives, but your father had more secrets than usual. I began to notice it from our early days of marriage, when he'd leave for his - as he called them - meetings, and he wouldn't return until late at night when most men had already retired to their beds. Whenever I asked him, he would say it was for business. But now I know otherwise."

"And now he's in trouble because they tried to steal from someone." Noor said quietly, more to herself.

"Noor, your father is a good man." Safiya said, cupping her daughter's cheeks. "I don't know what is going on down there, but I know one thing for sure. And that is Kabeer would never do something which is wrong in the eyes of Allah. He is a good man, Noor. I do not want you to have a misconception that he is a bad man for having secrets, Noor." she said.

"I know he is a good man, mother." she said. "I do not judge him for whatever he is doing. I am merely trying to understand his actions and why he did them."

"There are some things which we are better of not knowing, my child." Safiya said. "It is better to be ignorant sometimes than to know things which would put our lives in jeopardy."

"But mother," Noor started to say, but both women jumped suddenly as they heard excited voices downstairs.

"Wait. Let's listen." Safiya said, pressing her index finger to her lips.

*

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" Kabeer said, taking a threatening step forward, but two of Fareed's men quickly restrained him, pinning him against the wall.

"What is this madness, Fareed?" Aliyu yelled, his nostrils flaring in anger.

"Are you still defending him?" Fareed asked, dangling the necklace before their eyes. "Are you still going to defend this thieving bastard even when he's been caught red handed? Was the necklace not found in his own bedroom?"

"Do not call him names, Fareed. Mind your tongue." Aliyu spat.

"Or else what?" Fareed said.

"Call off your men, Fareed." Aliyu said.

"He tried to attack me." Fareed replied coolly. "Their job is to protect me at all times."

"You've found your necklace, Fareed. Let him go at once." Aliyu said

"Let him go?" Fareed said incredulously. "Oh, I don't think so. Not after everything he has done."

"The punishment for stealing is to be decided at a council meeting. In the meantime, Kabeer shall be detained before judgement is passed on him." Aliyu said.

"I don't think so." Fareed laughed maniacally. "I want justice. And I want it right now."

"Master," Lukman called from inside Kabeer's study. "We've found something."

All eyes turned towards the door, watching as Lukman and another man stepped out of the study, brandishing a piece of parchment in his hand. No one had noticed when they had slipped into the study.

"What is it?" Fareed asked.

"See for yourself." Lukman handed it to him. Fareed snatched the paper from his hand, furrowing his brows as he began to read:

Zaid,

If you receive this letter, then do not reply. I do not want any suspicion to arise should someone notice us communicating. Burn this letter immediately you receive it. Though I would very much like to believe otherwise, I'm afraid Fareed is onto us. Do not ask me how I know, for I am afraid of putting down too much into this letter for fear that it will be intercepted.

I trust that the operation was successful. Even though I still haven't received any news from you, I want to believe that everything went smoothly. After our weeks of planning, I don't think there should be any room for mistake.

You have done well, Zaid. This task is something I would trust to no one but you, for I know very well that you are highly skilled and you will be able to finish the mission without any issues. I trust you know what is at stake should the mission be unsuccessful.

Take the package to the hideout I told you about. I shall enclose the keys along with this letter. Make sure you are not followed. Also, I want you to travel out of town. I do not want you to be around when the news spreads that there was a theft at the mansion, for I am sure Fareed will raise an alarm.

Remember, no one must know what we are doing. It is important that we maintain a clean image throughout this operation.

I shall contact you very soon. Stay hidden and stay safe. We are all counting on you.

Kabeer.

Fareed finished reading, the smile still plastered across his face.

"Here you go." he handed the paper to Aliyu, who began to read fervently.

"You," he turned to Kabeer. "You are in a whole lot of trouble."

*