“Tell them that Amar will be around later to collect.”
To collect what she did not know. She did not even know what she was carrying.
Abal stepped out through the back door and tried to act naturally. She hid her face as best as she could without being too suspicious. The wind that whipped up the dirt around her gave her enough reason to shield her face. She walked briskly through the streets as the sun beat down at her back.
She went into the crowded market part of the town. The young girl passed by people she knew well, people who kissed up to her father and raised prices for them because they could afford it. Umm hated it but Abu gave them the money they asked for. He only ever gave one explanation “ If they need money and I have money, why should I not give it to them? My family is comfortable and who knows how many people my money will help. Money is a small matter, it is worldly. A very insignificant matter when you think of the matters of the hereafter.”
Abal in her innocence once asked him why he went so far to get money all the time.
He replied with a smile and said that he did not make voyages for money but instead he made them for knowledge. Abal did not understand what those people could teach him that he could no learn at home. Their city was filled with scholars and the scholars in Babylon were closer than the scholars in China.
Abal had to weave through the back streets. She took the exact route as she was instructed. She feared that if she deviated from the route given to her, Sultan would know. Why else would he send her through the narrowest alleys in the city, why would he make her walk through the dirtiest, smelliest places? Abal was near the river in no time. She had made the connection but did not want it to be true. Twenty five more paces and she would be at the wooden door.
She held the bag in her hands, hoping maybe it wasn’t true but when the old wooden door that the servants obviously used, there stood Mahmoud. He pulled her inside and snatched the package.
“I don’t know why you linger. Go away,” he said brashly.
“ Is that how you speak to the people who serve you?”
Mahmud had an astonished look on his face when he turned and looked her in the eye for the first time. Childhood friends stood across from one another seeing the people they never thought they would meet.
“What are you doing? Why are you Sultan’s messenger pigeon? What did he do to you? Is Sumayyah alright?” Mahmud said in a rush. He spoke in hushed tones while searching Abal’s face for any sign of distress. He was confused at how calm she was. He raised an eyebrow “Where is Khubaib?”
“I am Khubaib.” Abal replied simply, she did not know how much to reveal.
“It’s alright, I will not tell anyone about your lover, I just do not like that you are doing his work.” This is what Abal hated most about Mahmud. He thought he knew everything and any conclusion he jumped to was correct. He thought he had authority over everything and he treated her like a dumb little girl.
“I am not my sister, I do not sneak around the city with boys who like to play at being men.” Abal said through clenched teeth.
“So instead you act like a boy and work for the worst kind of men!”
“It is your business that brings these people to our city. You should hear how they speak of you.” Abal was angry now. She could say anything and she knew it. She stopped herself. He did not need to know anything more than she had already told him. She pulled her hood, which had fallen to her shoulders, back up and stuffed her hair under it.
“What do they say?” Mahmud asked. Abal did not answer, she turned to leave the small, dark alcove they had been standing in. She reached out a hand to turn the doorknob but Mahmud clenched down on her arm with an iron grasp. She turned back toward him and was met threats screaming at her from his dark gaze. “What do they say?”
“Nothing, you just made me angry,” Abal had tried her best not to sound scared but she failed. Her last word came out almost as a squeak. Mahmud released her and turned away. He knew she was lying but he also knew he had gone too far and scared her.
Before long, Abal was weaving her way back through the old streets and heading towards her home. Abal did not know how she would handle the problem if Mahmud made one. She tried to keep calm as she hurried to her room, still shaken up by the ordeal. She took off the clothes and heard something fall to the ground with a soft thud. This was how they paid her. Sultan normally gave her little trinkets from all over the world. He dealt wit people from all over Europe. They gave him gifts and he usually had no use for them. He noticed her admiring them once and told her she could have them. She picked up the tiny sack of coins and within it she found a key and a note written by Amar.
