The Desert Sheikh

Chapter 3

“I have to talk to you about Minna’s wedding,” Sarah said to the sheikh.

He looked up at her in surprise. He was sitting on some cushions in his tent, surrounded by a group of men. Most of them had rifles slung over their shoulders and one of them, a younger man who was sitting near the entrance, had taken his rifle off his back and was now pointing it in Sarah’s direction.

“Weddings are a woman’s concern,” the sheikh replied. He signalled to the younger man with the gun to put it down. “Discuss the wedding with my niece. Maybe you could help her with the arrangements. It’ll help you to pass the time until we hear from your husband. Now if you’ll excuse me, I was busy conferring with my men about more important matters.”

The sheikh turned to one side and started talking to the group of men on his left. The man with the gun stepped forward and used his rifle to try to drive Sarah out of the tent. However, Sarah pushed past him and walked nearer towards the sheikh. All of his men stood and most of them grabbed their guns. One man, with an extremely long, black beard, pulled out a sword. However, the sheikh remained seated and ignored most of what was taking place around him.

“Minna cannot marry her cousin,” Sarah declared.

“Has she refused?” the sheikh asked, barely looking at Sarah. “She seemed most grateful when I informed her of the arrangements.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Good. She is happy and the groom, Saeed Al-Zafir, is happy. Aren’t you, Saeed?” the sheikh asked, addressing the armed man by the entrance to the tent, the one who was trying to force her out with his gun.

“I am indebted to you, Sheikh Akbar Al-Zafir, for your generosity.” The young man bowed low to the sheikh though he continued to point his gun in Sarah’s direction.

The sheikh nodded to him in return and then looked up at Sarah and smiled. “So you see, Lady Bolton, this is a blessed union. No one is being forced to marry anyone else. Everyone is happy. Thank you for your concern. Perhaps the groom can escort you back to your tent.”

Sarah wasn’t going to let him dismiss her so easily. Clearly, he thought she was protesting the fact that the marriage had been arranged, as so many were in Yazan, often against the will of one or both of the two people that made up the wedding couple.

“It’s good that both the bride and groom are happy,” Sarah said in an attempt to open up a dialogue with the sheikh about it. “However, it isn’t good that they are cousins. Cousins shouldn’t marry each other.”

One of the sheikh’s men started laughing and Sarah could hear another man muttering something about where would any of them get their wives from. The sheikh signalled to them to be quiet.

“The wedding has already been arranged,” he said. “It’s not open to discussion.”

“I insist you listen to me,” Sarah said. She stepped closer to where the sheikh was seated. Several of his men came forward. One of them looked particularly angry and bared a set of broken, yellow teeth at her. Sarah wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d started snarling like a wild dog. She knew that she was certainly overstepping the mark, first by coming into the sheikh’s tent and then by challenging him. However, she wasn’t going to let the matter rest. There was no way she was going to have her ransom money pay for such a union. As a doctor, she couldn’t have anything to do with a consanguineous marriage that would lead to proven medical problems for the couple’s children and grandchildren. She had to make the sheikh understand and call off the match.

When the sheikh saw that she wasn’t going to be intimidated into leaving, he signalled for her to sit down and told all of his men to leave them.