A Sheik's Spell (27 page)

elbows
to touch in front of her face, causing the veil to conceal and then expose Na’im as he sat motionless.

With deliberate motions, Waheedah danced her way around the cushions, ending up in front of Na’im. At first the music was slow and enticing, as her rhythmic feet, pointed and pivoted, causing her small waist to swivel and her hips to rise.

Time and time again she raised her arms above her head, spinning so fast her body was nothing but a blur in a midst of blue. She was an accomplished dancer with the grace and agility of a gazelle, and this was her moment of glory.

Closer and closer she danced to Na’im, until his hair blew from the air created by her whirling veils. As the bongo’s beat became stronger, the snapping movements of Waheedah’s hips pounded with the sound. She was a vibrating mass of flesh from her shoulders down.

Na’im’s eyes began to watch her hips, as if mesmerized. Like a cobra following its prey, his head turned as if on a swivel. The music mounted with a frenzied rhythm while Waheedah’s body echoed its maddening vibrations.

Na’im’s face transformed into the personification of lust, as cord-like tendons flared on the sides of his neck, and his chest heaved until you could see the imprint of his muscles beneath the gold material. His eyes glared with an unnatural light, while his tongue repeatedly licked his usually firm lips that now appeared slack.

Felicia thought the music would never end. She had never seen a man’s primal sexual instincts brought so close to the forefront of his conscious mind. It hurt all the more because it was Na’im.

Finally the tantalizing music was over. A breathless Waheedah stood with a detached veil across her face.

Motionless. Showing only her eyes that feasted on Na’im. He, too, had eyes for no other than Waheedah. Felicia’s heart seemed to stop as she watched the two of them.

Once again, Hambir’s voice rang out loud and clear as he stood before Na’im and Waheedah, holding the chalice up high. Then he turned and spoke to the crowd. The intonation of his voice suggested a question.

“The time has come, my child,” Aisha said before stepping forward into a nearly-closed pathway.

At first Hambir did not see the tiny woman as he ceremoniously offered the chalice to the villagers of Karib. Then Felicia heard Aisha speak up in a feminine but piercing voice. A surprised Hambir acknowledged her.

Felicia’s legs seemed to move her forth on their own volition, as Hambir and Aisha exchanged words. And then Aisha announced her name.

The crowd opened and backed away, as Felicia re
moved the hood and cape that covered her. Fatimah stepped forward to take it.

The change of events evoked an astonished reaction from the crowd as the word spread.

“Hey, that’s Filly going up there!” an amazed Phillip shouted, rousing even more interest from the villagers.

“Boy, Phil, you’re right,” an excited George chimed in. “It is her.”

Sheer astonishment dominated the faces of the people on the platform. Waheedah gasped audibly as Felicia came forward and mounted the stairs on Hambir’s command with Aisha close at her heels. Even Na’im’s dazed eyes came to life when they focused on Felicia.

Waheedah’s father jumped to his feet protesting loudly, but Aisha interrupted him, suggesting in her quiet but powerful way that English be spoken for Felicia’s benefit

‘ ‘We are a people of respect. And I am sure a man of your status, Jamal Sutan Faruuk, will show respect for our ancestors by respecting one who wishes to be a part of this ceremony.”

Sheik Rahman looked on in bewilderment, but the eyes of Na’im’s mother, Yasmin, burned with unadulter
ated pleasure.

Angered beyond belief, Waheedah attacked Hambir. “You cannot allow this woman to challenge me in Awya. She is a foreigner and does not have the right to do it.”

Things were moving so fast that the stoic Hambir’s composure had crumbled a bit. He did not know if what Waheedah alleged was true.

“Sheik Rahman, you have performed more Awya's than anyone here. What does the Book of the Ancients say on this matter?”

“It grieves me to say, Hambir, that I have never led ritual to an Awya that involved a foreigner. Therefore, I do not know.”

“I know what the Book of the Ancients says,” Aisha spoke up. “A foreigner can challenge Awya if she is presented by an Egyptian with spiritual leadership such as myself. And this has been done.”

“Father, we cannot take the word of this woman who is obviously on the side of the foreigner who challenges me,” Waheedah argued.

“No, my daughter, I will not permit it.” Menacingly, Faruuk addressed the sheik and Hambir. ‘ ‘I demand that you send to the temple for the Book of the Ancients.”

The sheik nodded his head in agreement, and Hambir summoned a runner to get the book, giving him the sacred key.

All the commotion had a positive effect on Na’im. He

was still not himself, but Felicia could tell he was becoming more aware of his surroundings. No longer did Na’im look at Waheedah with the eyes of a man who has spotted an oasis after countless days in the desert Instead, his golden gaze had come to rest on Felicia, confusion deep within its depths.

Their eyes locked.
Gold and brown. Felicia’s breasts heaved incessantly as she willed him to recognize her.

Waheedah was totally infuriated by what she saw and stepped between them. “Just what do you think you are doing? Do you think that because you have allowed Na’im to use you at his convenience he belongs to you? That he actually wants you? You are a fool.”

“I don’t think so. It’s you that he doesn’t want or he would have claimed you before now. So you decide to force him to choose you, nearly drug him out of his mind so that he doesn’t know that he’s agreeing to marry you. But that doesn’t matter to you, does it? You’d get him any way you can.”

Loud shouts rose from the crowd announcing the return of the runner. Out of breath from his efforts, he passed the Book of the Ancients, wrapped in animal skin, to Hambir.

Time stood still as the councilman searched the book for the necessary passage. At last he found it and recited for all in Arabic and English.

“The Book of the Ancients says, ‘A foreigner is allowed to challenge Awya, but they must have a spiritual leader of Egyptian ancestry to open their way to the ancient rites’,” Hambir recited to the crowd. Closing ±e book he declared, ‘ ‘Felicia Sanders has fulfilled the requirement of the ancient ones. Her challenge of Waheedah Faruuk is accepted.”

The crowd roared with anticipation. The majority of the villagers had never seen a challenger of Awya. This one was being challenged not by an Egyptian, but a foreigner.

Felicia could feel the adrenalin pumping in her veins as she listened to Hambir’s declaration. Leaning over to Aisha, she told her she had an additional request.

“There are a group of Nubian musicians among the villagers that I would like to play for me. Would you tell that to Hambir?”

Without hesitation, Aisha imparted the request to Hambir and the others. ‘ ‘The challenger, Felicia, requests her own musicians from among the villagers of Karib. They are of Nubian descent. Their music she finds more to her taste.”

“This is an outrage!” Waheedah blurted out “If she cannot..”

Hambir silenced her by raising his hand. ‘ ‘The request is accepted.”

Aisha smiled. “It is now up to you, my child.”

The platform was literally divided in half by the bodies of four of the men who led Na’im’s procession. In a straight line, they stood with their hands on their hips and their feet spread apart

Felicia was instructed to take her position on the left side, while Waheedah stood waiting on the right.

Felicia looked out into the eager faces of the crowd. She had danced many times as a youngster before an audience, but it had been many years since she’d done so. None of the people behind her had ever thought of her as a dancer, only a scientist Yet Felicia knew in her heart her first love had always been to dance. She would not have been a scientist if she’d had her own way. Fate had stepped

in that summer before she could take advantage of a scholarship with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. Her mother became very ill, and Felicia had to stay in Memphis to take care of her.

It was a slow recovery and Felicia began to pursue her second interest: science. She took classes at Memphis State University. As time passed, she became convinced, with the help of others, that she would make a good research scientist. Finances also played a heavy part in her decision.

Life could be strange. Now the career of a research scientist had led her back to where she always wanted to be-on stage as a dancer.

Felicia struck a pose reminiscent of the Egyptian dancers of old, elbows and wrists bent, flat palms extended upward. Dark brown flesh protruded through the shreds of gold as her knees flexed in readiness. Then the drums began. It was the kind of beat that struck a cord in Felicia’s heritage and spewed up natural rhythm within her.

Never moving her feet, she allowed her upper body to respond in a way that the crowd knew was only the beginning. The rhythm commenced within her head and worked its way down, as Felicia’s toned frame became the embodiment of the bongo beat. The beads of her top amplified her movements, while the strips of gold about her lower body became floating sparks of energy around her.

Trim legs were raised high, forming angles and spear
like lines, as she brought forth her dance training, jumping and spinning with the agility of a cat, yet harnessing the lightness of a bird in flight. Felicia quivered with the ending vibration of prolonged bongo beats and cymbals.

She was so dynamic, the crowds initial response was shocked silence, until Phillip hurled his compliment up toward the platform, clapping his hands high above his head,“Do it to‘em, Filly!”

The challenge had begun. Back and forth, Waheedah and Felicia danced, different in style but evenly matched in skill. Felicia, a fireball of gold and brown, her dance a mixture of modem jazz and African dance; Waheedah, a sea of blue, a belly dancer at her best.

Competition was at an all-time high. Felicia matched every exotic step executed by Waheedah with a blast of kicks, twists and twirls.

Na’im responded well to the additional time allotted him by Felicia’s challenge. He had completely recovered from ^e altered state the ‘ ‘drink of the one who waits’ ’ had brought upon him. Now his chiseled features were the epitome of attentiveness as he watched the two women perform.

As time passed, his jaw began to clench with impa
tience. Glancing at the merciless sun, Na’im knew the two women could not keep at it much longer. Already their bodies were drenched with perspiration.

Suddenly the crowd’s attention was no longer on the stage. Felicia stopped abruptly as some of the villagers ran, shouting and pointing toward the workers’ homes.

There was no way for her to see what they were pointing at from where she stood. But she didn’t need to see, for already a huge ball of black smoke was billowing upward into the sky.

“Smoke,” she shouted, turning toward Na’im, “and it’s coming from the direction of the schoolhouse and the lab.”

Felicia was off the platform in seconds, pushing her way through the crowd. Na’im was not far behind. His huge bulk enabled him to travel fast through the hordes of people.

Na’im instructed several men to transport water from the west wing of the house and from the well nearest to the lab. There was no running water inside the workers’ homes.

It took Felicia a couple of minutes to reach the lab site, her exhaustion forgotten in the excitement. Phillip and the others had already arrived, and they stood watching as the back end of the small building went up in flames.

Large mud bowls were being brought from the well by several workers
, but no one knew where to throw the minute amounts of water.

William pointed to the fodder that had been on top of the building. “It must have caught fire first. It’s burned a hole completely through the roof. Our living quarters are just about gone.”

“What about the completed formula?” George asked in exasperation.

“It’s still in the file cabinet,” Felicia quickly an
swered.

“There’s a chance that we can get it out of there,” Phillip interjected, “the fire seems to still be contained in the living quarters.”

‘ ‘You’re right, Phillip, and I’m the only one who knows exactly where it is inside that cabinet,” Felicia said with finality.

Phillip remained unconvinced. “Now wait a minute, Filly. Maybe George and I can get in there and bring the whole file cabinet out.”

“By now the file cabinet is too hot to carry. And there’s too much smoke in there for any of you to see what you’re doing. I know where it is, and we’re wasting time standing here discussing it”

Felicia ran to the smoke-filled lab door before anyone
could stop her. She started to cough and gag immediately from the thick smoke that burned her eyes and shot up her nose. Closing her eyes and covering her nose and mouth, she grabbed for the lab coats that always hung near the door. She used one of them to shield her face as she progressed into the room.