Chapter 6-1
2195 Words
Chapter 6
Winter 1060 (452 from Hegira), Rabaḍ by Qasr Yanna
Umar closed the door impatiently. The requests of the poor Christian girl, who also had humiliated herself to the point of kissing his feet, were therefore definitively stopped.
«I don't have time for who bother me! If she comes back, kick her out!» he ordered the servant woman who had opened before.
The desperate sobs of Apollonia's crying on the other side of the door were ignored even more easily than the verbal requests of earlier.
Nadira had been in a dark corner of the entrance room, intent on observing the scene that was taking place on the doorstep, but now that the door had been closed, cutting the voice and hopes of the poor girl from outside, she approached his brother and said angry:
« Wasn't the shame with which you already covered yourself enough? »
At that point Umar, extremely annoyed by the judgment of his sister, threatened:
«Be careful, Nadira ... be careful of what you say, or I’ll send you to your Qā'id on a stretcher!»
«I will go away happy from "my Qā'id", to never see you again!»
«Why didn't you leave when he came to ask for your hand? It seems to me that he wanted to take you to his palace the next day. » Umar replied, pointing upwards towards Qasr Yanna, seat of ibn al-Ḥawwās palace.
«Because I asked to wait for your wife to give birth, so I could see your third child. »
«As if Ghadda needed a girl with a mounted head to help her pregnancy…»
«You didn't even take a hair from our father...» replied Nadira, who then, getting a little closer, pointed her finger at him and continued:
«You are an ungrateful ... with me as with those poor peasants who serve this house from which they were born. If you weren't, you wouldn't have ignored the wretched woman who still cries behind our door. »
The call of the muezzin then rose high throughout Rabaḍ; the last ray of sunshine had disappeared behind the mountain of Qasr Yanna.
«She is a wretch, you said well, and always will be ... Explain to me why you must take this thing to heart. »
«Because if you had been tied to that pole, I would have thrown myself at the foot of your tormentor with even less dignity than the Christian girl. »
Detto questo Nadira scoppiò in lacrime, ma pure continuò, mentre Umar si trovava spiazzato da quell’inaspettata dichiarazione di devozione nei suoi confronti.
«… you ask me why I asked the Qā'id to wait for me for three months? That’s why I waited, because I care about you ...» she said through tears.
However, Umar became serious and gathered in himself all the strength he had to prove himself hard.
« You and your tears, Nadira. You won't be able to pity me! »
« I wonder how sorry you are that we will see each other only if Allah wants from now on. »
«I hope that Allah will receive my request to keep you away.»
Nadira started to cry louder and, beating him on the chest, she shouted:
« You are nothing, Umar ... nothing ... and maybe if you are finally something, it will only be thanks to me!»
Umar, who could not bear those words that hurt his pride like blades, slapped her and said:
«Don't you hear that it's time for the sunset delalāt? Go to clean yourself before the night comes.»
«And you go and wash your soul!»
They hurriedly left each other for their rooms, angry and angry with each other.
When Umar finished his prayer he remained thoughtful and sat on his bed, mulling over that slap in anger.
«What happened a little while ago on the door? I heard you fighting during the adhān33..» Ghadda asked to Umar, sitting next to him while holding his big belly.
«My sister is making me angry! Ever since the Qā'id asked for her hand, she criticizes my actions all the time. »
«And you, Umar, do nothing but provoke it… Since I live under this roof I had never seen anyone tied to the pole of the courtyard. Could it be that since the Qā'id asked for Nadira's hand you have been keen to reiterate who is in charge of this house and the whole village? Everyone talks about your sister, much more than what have they ever done about you. But after all, my beloved, you two are the same ... stubborn and always ready to impose their word on the other. What's more, you've both changed since that day ... she got her head up, but you lost your father's way. I also miss the Umar I knew. »
«Would you like to insinuate that I'm jealous of Nadira? That I fear losing the role of most important person in this house? »
«Not only of the house, but of the whole Rabaḍ.»
«Me?! Jealous of Nadira? What a nonsense!» Umar concluded, laughing nervously in an attempt to hide his discomfort because he knew that his wife was all right.
«Master, the sentry on the terrace asks to speak to you. » interrupted a servant from behind the door of the room.
Umar then got up and thanked the luck, since it was freeing him from that uncomfortable speech.
Ghadda then held him by the arm and said to him:
«Did I disrespect you?»
But he approached her and, softening the expression, kissed her on the forehead.
Covering his head and shoulders with a large camel hair scarf, Umar left the house. He was about to go where the stairs to the terrace left when he saw that the guard in charge of checking the condemned man was hitting the Christian girl. She had been landed on the ground, and now, with his head uncovered, she was parrying his face and shouting, while the other one hit her just like the day before had been hit Corrado. The poor Corrado, now, was in a unconscious state.
Umar stopped and, remembering his wife's words, ordered to the guard:
«Idris, forget about that poor wretch!» as if he wanted to prove to himself that he was not jealous of anyone.
« I have told her three times not to approach the boy ... And a little while ago she took advantage of the sunset ṣalāt to do it again!»
«Okay ... but don't hit her! Rather send her home..»
At this point Apollonia got up a bit, still remaining bent on her legs and sitting on her heels.
«Let me stay in the courtyard at least. I'll be there, quite by the wall..» she begged him full of tears.
«Do what you want!» Umar dismissed her, impatient to still have her in his way.
Umar dismissed it, impatient to still have her in his way.
«Three men on horseback come this way..»
«At this time? It will be wayfarers who have gone the wrong way. They could have spent the night in Qasr Yanna though ... Why go on a journey in the dark and in this cold?»
«The sky is clear tonight, I'm afraid the frost will fall.»
Umar thought for a moment about the prisoner, but then he again turned his attention to those approaching strangers.
«Umar, judging by what seems draped to me, at least one of those knights must be someone important. »
«You did well to warn me, Mezyan. If it is someone important, it is right that he knows my hospitality. »
Umar went down to the courtyard and then, looking at Corrado, asked the guard:
«Idris, after the adhān of the night wait a couple of hours and then let him go. »
The other in response bowed his head, nodding.
After the last meteorological considerations, Umar would have liked to free Corrado already immediately, but he believed that he dared to see a demonstration of storytelling power brought before those strangers felt benefited by his reputation.
The debt collector of Qā’id waited them on the entrance and saw the arriving while the last flashes of light disappeared to the west.
As the sentry on the terrace had seen well, one of the three dressed finely; for sure he was a nobleman. Umar immediately realized that the lineage of the three was not Berber, but perhaps Arab. On the other hand, apart from the appearance, little or nothing distinguished a man of Berber origin from one of Arab descent. Maybe they were different for the use of the Berber language as an idiom spoken in the family alongside Arabic and the remains of an ancient and foreign culture Islamic world imported by the Arabs.
The one that appeared to be a nobleman wore a cloak with a white hood, all finely damasked. Umar had never seen nobody like him. One of the three got off the horse, and said:
«We are looking for Umar ibn Fuad's house. »
«I am Umar. What can I do for you? »
«Do you know who is in front of you, Umar? » he asked referring to the guy they accompanied.
«You will tell me in the heat of the brazier. »
Then he said to his man in the courtyard
«Idris, fix these mounts! »
Umar then invited them to sit inside. He had no idea who was in front of him, but he did not want to give the impression that his hospitality was based on the generality of the guest. Realizing that in any case he was in the presence of a man of a respectable lineage, he thought it well to welcome him into his own home even before that he would have introduced himself.
In the usual well-furnished room with rugs and cushions, and now with a brazier lit on the middle of the room, Umar did the honours of the house by giving the best of what he had. He thought he could trust them, since together with the cloaks and bags they also handed the swords to the servants without anyone suggested it to them.
Now, in the light of the fire and the lights, Umar could observe them better. The man who seemed to be a nobleman was about forty years old, with a well-groomed appearance, a thin face and nose; he also had the air of someone who knows his worth and his importance for the world. He also spoke slowly, often closing his eyes with a knowing face. The other two were dressed in almost the same way, with long black tunics and white trousers, but one of the two wore a large gold medallion around his neck.
They were one in front of the other in silence. Long minutes passed before anyone started to talk. Then Umar wanted to break the ice to understand if he could catch some business:
«You're rich! Are you a pearl merchant? »
And that, smiling, replied:
«My agents have significantly increased my earnings this year through the pearls trade. »
«I would have said that you who were a Qā'id, if it were not that a Qā'id would travel with the escort and with the court. »
«Salim, brother ... my name is Salim. »
«Ok, Salim ... what business has led you to my house? »
Umar wanted to ask why they hadn't stayed at Qasr Yanna for the night instead of going back to the sunset for a few miles, however, he feared that his question could be misinterpreted, almost as if he were asking them why they had not stayed at home.
«That man you had tied to that pole ... is on sale? Because I seemed to see an exceptional physique. »
«You're a slave trader then! »
«I am a man who seeks precious pearls from mankind, brother. »
Umar's mind was immediately touched by the thought of selling Corrado to that man. Then he reflected that the Christians of Rabaḍ were not slaves, even if they served his house, and he could not be master of their life. Then he replied:
«I fear that none of these pearls exist at Rabaḍ. Here everyone cultivates his own land and prays within his own walls ... except for the four servants who govern this house.»
«Yet I know you are hiding a pearl of rare beauty under this roof, and that it is not one of your four servants. »
Umar became serious and, having understood that he was referring to Nadira, replied:
«The pearl you are referring to is not for sale, nor has it ever been. »
«Yet I know that Qasr Yanna's Qā'id was quick to buy it, brother. »
«Then, you'll understand what kind of man protects her ...»
«I am not afraid of anyone ... much less of the Qā'id, and this is because I have no intention of harming anyone. Nonetheless, I have heard of two sapphire gemstones, of a girl with paradisiacal features, of a dream that breaks the chest. The Qā'id can have anything he wants ... and he always gets the best. However, I am a pearl merchant - as you said - and I recognize that other Qā'id and gentlemen would pay a fortune for these pearls. The fame of Nadira's eyes, if this is her real name, has spread throughout central Sicily, but I don't ask you anything ... just to see them. Now that ibn al-Ḥawwās has made such a precious gift the others will certainly want to imitate it and it will be my merit to find such rarity among the girls of the Island and overseas. »
- Writer
