Читать книгу Rayan - Son of the Desert - Indira Jackson - Страница 21

Carina had asked the couple – who indeed came from England to spend two weeks of vacation here – how to find the way to the caravan market.

As it turned out the distance she had to cover was not really far: 20 minutes later she had arrived there.

It took her a while to find her way around the place but soon she had found out that there were two groups of people: those who wanted to sell her a one-day-excursion by horse or by jeep into the desert; and the others who were busy preparing a real caravan on the merchants’ paths to the next oasis, which would take a couple of days or even months.

Her problem was that within this latter group, which was the one she was interested in, there were hardly any people who wanted anything to do with her. Most of them even refused to talk to her. This was partly because she was a single woman, and partly because these Arabs were just not able to understand German or English.

She had almost given up the search, when she found a man that was very helpful. His English was full of mistakes but with some effort she could understand him. He told her that he was going to leave this place the same evening, on horseback because that was faster than the camels.

Yes, he confirmed, all caravans had to pass by the oasis of Wahi first. The reason was that within the desert one had to always follow the way of the water, which meant from one well to another. This was especially true with horses, who needed a lot of liquid. Yes, he could take her along until there. As they would be riding in a small group they would be much faster than any caravan, usually consisting of a lot of camels, which provided security but made them very slow.

Carina could not believe her luck! Yet she found the man to not really be to her liking, in spite of his friendly words. Somehow he did not sound genuine. She put that down to the fact that he of course wanted her money for the trip. When they had already discussed the details about the departure and were just about to haggle over the price, all of a sudden a roundish, very spirited Arabian interfered.

A heavy discussion in Arabic was the result, which ended with the speedy disappearance of her guide, who disappeared without further greetings. With an open mouth Carina was left to just stare after him. She could not comprehend what had been going on: where was he going all of a sudden?

Then she fully realised only when the other man started to yell in English: "Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea who that person was? One of the best known white-slavers in this area! That man would never have brought you to Wahi, but for sure into the next Harem! If you have the contacts you can find enough rich Arabs that would pay a lot of money for a blond, beautiful woman.”

His outburst came along with a lot of wild gestures and head-shakings. Carina felt her face burn – a white-slaver? Really? Her blood ran cold. Could it be true?

Then she found her words again: "And who are you?! And why should I now believe you of all people?! Maybe you have just ruined my one and only hope. And by the way: what did you tell him so that he went away like the devil was behind him?”

The man seemed to be a bit embarrassed now: "I told him that you are my wife, like he could have easily seen for himself if he had just looked at the ring on your finger.“ He signalled to Carina’s fake wedding band. “I told him you wanted to run away from me and he had better be gone now before I call the police. That helped. It usually does. In this country married men are respected.“ With that he grinned boldly.

Carina could not decide if she should laugh out loudly or be angry with him. Then she asked seriously: “And why would you want to help me?”

He pointed at her necklace: “Because of this amulet. For many years I have been in good business with Sheikh Suekran al Medina and I really do not want to endanger this relationship. If he allows you to carry his emblem around your neck, you have to be important to him and, therefore, you are important to me as well.”

"Then the least you could do is help me! I have to go after him. By the way, my name is Carina Hartmann. From Germany.“

"And my name is Hatem – as explained I have been a merchant here for many years. My shop is just over there.“ He signed with his hand to one of the shops a few meters down the road. "From over there I could watch you with that … scum", he continued. "You should be glad that I had nothing to do and was sitting outside in front of my shop.“

And then he said: "By the way – who is it you would like to go after?“, and Carina replied without hesitation: "The Sheikh.“

If she had thought she would impress Hatem, she was completely mistaken. He laughed. And laughed. Droning like he had just heard the best joke in his life.

"You must be mad. Too much heat.“ He wiped away the tears that had started to stream down his face because of all the laughter and made the typical circling gesture with his right hand near his temple.

Carina was furious – what did this street merchant think about himself?! Miffed she turned around without a further word and marched briskly away.

Hatem stopped grinning and went after her. He took her wrist and made her stop. "Listen carefully! You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. They will cut your throat before you are near enough to even say what you want.“

"Really?“ hissed Carina. "And I thought this fabulous amulet works miracles? Why would they cut my throat then?“

Now Hatem stopped to think for a moment. "You are right about that of course. Okay. But what would you tell them? Do you really believe you would be welcomed to an audience by the Sheikh himself?“

"Yes! Because I only met him just yesterday. And you know what? I saved his life! You desert people do so much love the rule about a life debt. Well! That is my plan! Are you going to help me or not?”

Hatem was impressed. Of course he had heard the rumours about an attempted assassination on the Sheikh’s life. As she indeed had the necklace around her neck her story seemed to be true. Nonetheless he continued to think it through: "Anyway. What would you want there? What do you think the warriors should do with you? Take you with them? Where to? Zarifa? To the heart of the desert of Rub’al Khali? Surely NOT! Haven’t you ever heard that strangers are not allowed to access it?“

Carina had not yet thought it through that much. Therefore she said, impulsively: “No, not all the way to Zarifa, but at least part of the way. Until I have collected enough information for my book about him!“

Hatem made a disgusted sound: "Really? You are writing a book? – well, that is going to make the Sheikh really happy. For as far as I have heard he is a great fan of publicity.“ His voice was thick with mockery.

Carina had now had enough of this importunate stranger: “You know what? I do not need you at all. And I have not invited you to help me in the first place.“ She had already started to turn away, to get away from him, when suddenly a thought crossed her mind that she could use as a victory:

"You folk do believe in destiny, don’t you? Well I do too! Do you really think it was coincidence that it is me of all people, who travels from Munich to here to collect information about the Sheikh, to get to know him inside the plane? From Munich to here!? Coincidence? And on top of that I saved his life? If I am correctly informed he usually takes his private jet - but that had a technical defect!“

Within her mind she thanked the uncongenial lawyer who had revealed this detail to her. “All coincidence? If you believe that – fine. But I think it was the will of Allah!“

She knew she was coming across quite pathetically, but she saw immediately that she had struck gold. Nevertheless she continued: "Well, now I wish you a good life and a successful business for the future. Because I am busy trying to find a way to follow him.“ Hatem realised that she did indeed believe what she had just said and that he had no way of stopping her.

Suddenly Carina changed tactics: "Do you know the Sheikh personally?“ Hatem shook his head. He had always talked to his men, never to him personally. "I always negotiate with a man that is called Mazin. He is the contact person for the Sheikh here in Dubai. Why?“

"Wouldn’t you like to get to know him?“

Hatem caught himself with the thought that in his heart Carina’s whole adventure got to him. Yet what could he do anyway? If he did not want to barricade that crazy lady within some chamber, he had to support her in order to prevent her from getting in contact with the wrong people.

For some time he thought that the idea of disabling her had some appeal but he was afraid about what she would do afterwards. The police around here had no sense of humour in that kind of case, especially when it came to female tourists.

"Very well, listen. Tomorrow a caravan will take off. As your nice friend has explained to you a couple of minutes ago, indeed everyone - no matter if by horse or camel – has to pass by Wahi. I am going to check if I can arrange something for you. But I promise you nothing, alright?“

Thus the two made an appointment for the evening. Carina was supposed to come again to the shop shortly before dusk.