A Sheik's Spell (28 page)

Her barefoot rammed into an object on the floor, causing her to nearly fall. Coughing spasmodically, Felicia pressed her face into the bunched up garment. Her mind told her to hurry, but she also knew that many of the containers in the lab held highly flammable materials. If only one of them broke, exposing the contents to the extreme temperatures in the room, the entire lab would be blown to smithereens. So she progressed cautiously, but as rapidly as she could.

Na’im reached the scene moments after Felicia had gone into the lab. Wild-eyed with concern, he grabbed George by the shoulders and demanded to know where was Felicia.

“She ran into the lab before we could stop her, Na’im. Phillip and I tried to...”

“She’s in there?” Accusing eyes turned to Phillip. “Why didn’t you go in after her? Give me your shirts!” Na’im demanded.

Without hesitation, they did as he asked, while Na’im removed his shirt as well. He hollered to a man carrying a large earthen jar filled with water. Snatching the two shirts from George and Phillip, Na’im met the man and submerged both shirts into the water. Hurriedly, he covered his body as best he could with Phillip’s shirt. Running toward the lab, he removed the water from the second one and placed it up to his face.

“Felicia!” he called, as he entered the smoke-infested room. He could hear her coughing as he entered.

Felicia was surprised to hear Na’im calling her from inside the building. Pulling her face slightly away from the lab coat, she mumbled, ‘ ‘I’m over here.’ ’

Na’im went in the direction of Felicia’s voice. The room was not a large one, so he was able to follow the sound of the metal drawer scraping as Felicia attempted to pull it open.

The file cabinet drawer was so
hot, Felicia couldn’t stand to touch it. Using the dangling end of the coat, she managed to pull it open slightly. By then, Na’im was at her side. Deep coughs began to wrack Felicia’s body as it rejected the unwanted smoke.

‘ ‘Get back outside!” Na’im ordered her.

“But the files,” she responded between coughs and sputters.

“I’ll bring them. Now go!”

Felicia shuffled her way back to the lab door. Choking and overcome by heat, she stumbled across the threshold. William and George dragged her away from the building, while one of the women wiped her face with a cloth soaked in water from the well.

The workers had made a line where a continuous flow of jars filled with water traveled, but they did little to extinguish the fire.

The fodder was being removed from the roof of the schoolhouse, and water was being poured on the side nearest to the lab. They did not want it to go up in flames too.

By this time, the fire had spread to the interior of the lab. Na’im yanked the file drawer open the remainder of the way. Thrusting his hand inside, he snatched up the few files he found and placed them under the shirt he wore. Swiftly, he turned toward the door, knocking over several glass beakers in his wake.

As Na’im approached the doorway, the building exploded. His body was hurled out of the building by the impact. The gold material from the pants of the ceremonial galabia ignited like paper, engulfing his legs in flames. A cry like a wild animal in extreme pain broke from Na’im’s lips.

Felicia watched as the building exploded in fire and Na’im’s body was thrown through the air. Screaming insanely, with flailing arms she pushed away from Phillip and the others as she rushed toward Na’im.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Several workers had already reached Na’im. Removing their own galabias, they covered Na’im’s blazing legs and smothered the flames.

“Na’im! My God! Na’im
!,” Felicia wailed over and over. Crying uncontrollably, she knelt down beside him and pulled his head onto her lap.

His face was covered in black soot from the smoke, and his long brown eyelashes were singed. He did not respond to Felicia’s lamentations. The pain from his burning legs was so acute it had rendered him unconscious.

Aisha, Fatimah and Kareem emerged from the crowd that had gathered.

Distraught over Na’im’s condition, Fatimah asked, ‘ ‘How did this happen?’ ’

“It is my fault. He came in after me. Into the lab, when I was trying to save the formula. This never would have happened if it hadn’t been for me.” Felicia’s shoulders shook as she sobbed uncontrollably.

‘ ‘It is too late for that, my child,’ ’ Aisha told her. ‘ ‘We must remove these clothes from his legs. They will blister and we do not want the cloth to stick to his skin. It will be difficult to remove if we wait any longer.”

Gingerly, Aisha peeled the pants of the galabia away from Na’im’s legs. Felicia was not prepared for what she saw. She did not know much about bums, but there was no doubt that Na’im’s bums were very severe.

For a moment, deep concern crossed Aisha’s usually calm features. “We must get him back to the house. We cannot let these bums get infected.”

Felicia looked up at George.

George responded immediately. ‘ ‘I will bring the truck around. And we’ll need some blankets to put in the back so he can lie back there. Kareem, go and tell the sheik and Yasmin what has happened so they will have someone waiting to take him into the house.”

The explosion had ended the workers’ efforts to save the lab. It was completely engulfed in flames and still burning profusely. All attention was now given to the schoolhouse, which was repeatedly doused with water.

George arrived with the truck and Fatimah covered its bed with blankets from the worker’s homes. Carefully, Phillip, William and George placed Na’im upon the blan
kets and in the arms of a waiting Felicia.

Minutes later, they arrived at the front of the mansion. Na’im’s parents were waiting anxiously, along with Waheedah. Four male servants were there to carry Na’im into the house on a sheet that was used as a stretcher. They were instructed by the sheik to place him in the first bedroom in the west wing. It was the closest to the entrance.

Overwhelmed with guilt, Felicia simply watched as the group followed Na’im’s progress into the house. She felt depleted of energy, her mind tortured with the pain of Na’im’s situation. She wished with all her heart that she could undo what had just been done, if only it was in her power.

“Now look what you have done,” Waheedah’s accus
ing voice interrupted Felicia’s thoughts. “This would never have happened, if not for you. You, your lab and your formula. A woman should bring a man pleasure, not pain and destruction as you have. I am sure once Na’im regains consciousness and has time to think, he will realize he does not need a woman like you in his life. I believe he cares for you, but his duty to his people is most important.

^Your chemicals and solutions help to destroy and will do more harm than good. Our people are better off without your kind.’ ’ Then she left behind the others.

Felicia had no response to Waheedah’s accusations. Maybe she believed they were true. She did not care. She only wanted Na’im to be well again. The thought of his beautiful golden body marred with scars so deep, or that he may never walk again, overwhelmed her. She’d take all the guilt and blame in the world if it would help him.

A ceaseless flow of tears dropped onto the folders Felicia held in her lap, the formula now only a reminder of Na’im’s terrifying situation.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sheik Rahman sat beside his son’s bed. He and his wife had held a vigil there for several hours. He had ordered everyone out of the room except Sahim (Sah- heem), the village doctor.

His mind told him that Aisha would be the one who could help Na’im, but his emotions spoke against it.
She had been brought here by the woman, Felicia, and it was because of her that his son lay unconscious with his legs brutally burned.

He had spoken harshly to Fatimah and George after the accident, refusing to give his permission for George to marry her. He, too, was being punished for his heritage.

Yasmin had remained quiet while Sahim applied a liniment to Na’im’s third degree bums. She did not agree with her husband, but his grief was so powerful she decided to wait and see if Sahim’s medicine would help. Yasmin knew her husband’s negative attitude toward Aisha had been fueled by Waheedah. She’d made it clear that none of this would have happened if the foreigners had never come, and a man in power like the sheik did not need such evil in his own home.

Waheedah’s voiced concern over Na’im’s welfare was weakened in Yasmin’s eyes when she showed no affection toward her son, only concern for herself.

“Please excuse me now while I bathe and change my clothes into something more comfortable,” she had said.

‘ ‘All that dancing has made me sticky, and the air is stifling in here.
I will return later, after Na’im is cleaned up. I cannot stand this sort of thing.”

For Yasmin, Waheedah had proven she did not love her son.

Fever had begun to set in as Na’im squirmed with discomfort, rubbing his badly burned legs against the sheets of the bed. Before long he began talking out of his head, and the name he called over and over was Felicia’s.

Na’im’s parents listened as a semi-conscious Na’im tried to explain and justify things in his life to the images in his feverish mind. He talked of his father’s illness, his obligation to his people and his love for Felicia.

Then he went into the past, and it was a tearful Na’im who recounted the first love in his life, Tahillah, Kareem’s mother. Out of respect for his father and his people, he had never told anyone how he felt about her. Even she never really knew. But Tahillah’s mother had known, and she had expected Na’im and Tahillah to build a life together, a better life for her daughter. That is why he felt responsible for Kareem. Because he was the future leader of Karib, he felt his first obligation was to his people and not to his heart.

Yasmin held her son’s hand as he spoke of his current inner battle to claim the woman he loved, or do what his dying father felt was best for his people.

Tears flowing down her cheeks, Yasmin could no longer resist telling her husband how she felt.

“We cannot allow our son to undergo such mental torment. He loves this woman Felicia, and I believe she is good for him. On her own, she brought our villages relief from Hassan’s grief and madness, and today she proved she is willing to honor our customs and ways if she has to. We want a strong woman as our son’s wife, and she has shown that and more. I love you, my husband, even now after everything I have learned, but we cannot let our son bear the burden of your mistake. We know Kareem is your son, and he can help prolong your life. It is through Kareem that the burden can be lifted from Na’im’s heart.”

Sheik Rahman stared into his wife’s tormented eyes and he knew what she had said was right. He nodded his head in submission.

“Let us send for Aisha. I believe she will know how to help Na’im.”

“It is unfair for my uncle to decide all foreigners are bad. He was the one who sent Na’im to the United States to learn more about the western civilization. He said we would learn much from your technology and it could help us to progress. Now he has completely changed his mind, and does not want to have anything to do with anyone who is not ‘his own’.”

“You must calm yourself, Fatimah. Your uncle is distressed about your cousin. He is not thinking rationally now, and when he spoke to you he spoke out of concern for you.” A slim smile crossed Aisha’s lips. “It does not mean he is right. Give him a little more time.”

George rose from beside Fatimah, who sat on the couch. Impatiently, he paced back and forth across Na’im and Felicia’s sitting room.

“I just don’t understand it,” George pondered. “It appears the &e started directly over our living quarters, because that’s where the fodder ignited.”

“It is a common thing here in Egypt, George,’ ’ Fatimah responded, “for the fodder to be a source of fire. It has happened to many homes in many villages. This is not a strange thing.”

“I can understand that. But I could have sworn the fodder was directly over the lab portion of the building.” “What difference does it make now,” Felicia com
mented. “The damage has been done. Na’im is suffering because I was rash and played the heroine. I’ll never forgive myself for this. Never.”

‘ ‘You magnify your own pain, Felicia, by having such thoughts. It is more important now to send Na’im feelings of love and healing to help his life force fight off the infection that will surely set in without the proper help,” Aisha advised her.

“ Well, I've been here long enough. Talking about this isn’t going to change anything. I’m going outside to find Phillip and William and see if I can be of any help.”

“I will come with you, George.” Fatimah followed him as he approached the door.

"No. In light of what your uncle has said, I think you’d better stay here.”

Disappointment crossed Fatimah’s young face. “Don’t worry. I haven’t give up on the situation. I just need a little time to myself to think about this.” George pressed a light kiss to Fatimah’s lips and then he was gone.