Princess Sultana's Circle (33 page)

I felt less certain that
all was well. I suggested, “Since we are here, we should make sure
that everyone is all right.”

Sara agreed.
“Yes.”

“
And tell them to turn off
that music.” Ahmed said with a tinge of annoyance. “They are
disturbing the whole camp.”

While our husbands waited
impatiently outside, my sisters and I cautiously entered the tent.
The music abruptly ceased.

This tent, which housed ten
or more maids, was divided into several private areas by partitions
made of heavy fabric. As I parted these drapes, I held Kareem’s
flashlight high, looking into the women’s faces. “Are you
unwell?”

One of the women replied,
“We are fine, Ma’am.”

“
What has
happened?”

Another answered, “There is
no problem, here.”

“
Hmmm.” I could tell from
the women’s expressions and the tone of their voices that they had
not been sleeping. Surely, these women had heard the loud cries
that had traveled the distance to other tents! Yet, no one offered
any information.

I whispered to my sisters.
“They are hiding something.”

“
Who is it that we heard
screaming?” Nura demanded when we finally came upon
Libby.

Libby’s eyes were wet with
tears, but clearly, she was not the source of the screams we had
heard. After hesitating, she looked into my face and whispered,
“Come, Ma’am, I will show you.”

Libby was familiar with the
interior of this tent and quickly led us through several
partitioned areas before pointing at one particular
section.

“
In there, Ma’am,” she
whispered before turning and rushing back to her bed.

This was all very strange.
By now, our curiosity was even more aroused.

Nura yanked open the
partition. I directed the flashlight into the area and was met by a
shocking, terrible sight! Two men were assaulting a woman! A third
man was watching! Sara screamed.

One man was covering the
poor victim’s mouth in an effort to silence her cries. Upon seeing
us, he now sat like one paralyzed. I recognized this man as Taher,
the middle son of our sister, Tahani.

As if in a scene of slow
motion, the second man who was on top of the naked woman gradually
turned to face us. I gasped as I recognized Rashed, one of Ali’s
many sons.

I glanced at the man
sitting in the corner of the room, and saw none other than Shadi,
Dunia’s favored son. The expression on his face was one of total
surprise. He had not anticipated such an intrusion—and certainly
not from his Aunties.

An enraged Nura shouted,
“What is going on here?”

I cried out, “Kareem! Come!
Quickly!”

Realizing that our husbands
were near, my three nephews began to run from the scene, roughly
shoving Nura and me aside, and knocking Sara to the ground. I
struck one of the three with my flashlight, but was unsuccessful in
slowing their frantic retreat.

Nura ran after
them.

I cried out, “Kareem! Help
us!”

Our husbands apprehended
them as the three ran from the tent. We then heard the renewed
shouts of our husbands and nephews.

The small area within the
tent suddenly filled with the other female servants. As faint moans
came from the woman who had been assaulted, the women gathered
round her side. I pressed through the crowd of women to see who had
been attacked. It was the same young woman whom I had seen earlier
in the day with Shadi.

I cried out, “Our nephews
have raped Dunia’s maid!”

Sara was suddenly beside
me. She began to comfort the distraught girl. “Poor, poor
dear.”

The poor girl had been
stripped of her clothing. She lay naked and defenseless before us.
Her face was a frightful mask of terror, and her delicate frame was
racked with sobs. She was so small that she appeared to be more a
child than a woman. I guessed her age to be no more than fifteen or
sixteen years.

Libby came into the room
and began to soothe her. “Veena, stop crying. You are safe,
now.”

“
Bring a pail of water and
towels,” Sara ordered. “She has been seriously injured.”

For the first time I
noticed that blood was streaming down the girl’s legs onto the
Persian carpet.

My fury at this senseless
brutality was hard to control. I had a strong desire to attack the
attackers, and I stormed outside with that intent. Our loud cries
and shouts had brought all members of our party from their tents.
The voices of my sisters, their husbands and sons, along with those
of our servants, now merged in a loud general uproar. I was pleased
to see that Kareem kept a determined grip on Shadi’s arm. Asad was
grimly holding onto Taher. Ahmed had placed both his arms around
Rashed’s waist.

Nura tried in vain to speak
above the clamor of voices.

Raising my voice as loudly
as possible, I, too, tried to explain what had happened.

“
A defenseless woman has
been assaulted!” I cried out again and again.

Nobody seemed to hear me
except Shadi. Our eyes met. The look he gave me was scornful which
made me so furious that I seriously considered searching out a
heavy stick to beat this nephew of mine!

Ahmed’s loud voice of
authority finally quieted the crowd. “Quiet! Everyone!”

After glancing around at
the faces in the crowd, Ahmed said, “The family will meet in my
tent. Now.”

Pulling the reluctant Shadi
along with him, Kareem walked away.

I hurried along behind
him.

Tahani ran to my side.
“Sultana, whatever has happened?”

I gazed sadly at this
sister. Tahani was a wonderful mother, and I knew that she had
raised her sons to respect women. Tahani would be devastated to
learn of Taher’s participation in this terrible attack. I hugged
her but said simply, “We will ask your son for an explanation,
Tahani.”

Tahani’s eyes lowered in
dread of what she was to learn.

Dunia, weeping a mother’s
tears, was trailing along beside Shadi.

Ali was already quietly
questioning his son, Rashed. My brother’s loud voice suddenly rose
in irritation as he exclaimed, “We were awakened for such a
thing?”

Ahmed reprimanded him,
“Ali, please do not discuss this business in front of those who are
in our employ.”

I glanced behind us. Our
curious servants were following us from a short
distance.

The moment we entered
Ahmed’s tent, the clamor rose once again as everyone tried to talk
at once. Only after Kareem, shouting angrily, reminded everyone
that Ahmed was the eldest in our family, and as such, deserved to
be heard, did the uproar subside.

Ahmed said, “I do not know
what has happened, myself. All I know is that screams coming from
the tent of the women awakened us. When our wives went inside to
investigate, we heard more screams.”

With his free hand, Ahmed
gestured toward Taher, Rashed, and Shadi.

“
These young men came
running from that tent, a place forbidden to them. Shouts from
within called out for us to capture the intruders.”

He shrugged, “And, so we
did. How could we know the intruders were our own
nephews?”

He nodded in the direction
where Nura was standing. “Nura will have to tell you what happened
inside the tent.”

Nura motioned for me to
come and stand beside her. With grim determination, I slowly walked
across the room and linked arms with my sister. Ali gave me a
menacing glare that I ignored.

Nura tried to explain.
“Sultana, Sara, and I have witnessed a most horrifying sight.” She
nodded toward her nephews, “These young men whom we all love, were
raping a woman. We saw the attack with our own eyes.”

I stared at my nephews in
utter contempt. Ali’s son, Rashed, was smirking! Dunia’s son,
Shadi, appeared to be enraged. Of the three, only Taher looked
ashamed. His face was red, and his chin was hanging against his
chest.

Nura continued. “Not only
that, but in their haste to run away, these nephews of ours pushed
and shoved their own Aunties! Poor Sara was knocked to the
ground.”

This was the first Asad had
heard of this. Before I had the opportunity to tell him that Sara
was unhurt, Asad roughly pushed Taher aside and ran from the tent
to look for his wife. Poor Tahani burst into tears. Dunia collapsed
against Haifa.

“
Who was raped?” Haifa
asked.

Nura shrugged, “I do not
know this woman.”

I offered, “A woman by the
name of Veena. She is one of Dunia’s maids, I believe.”

For the first time, Shadi
spoke in his own defense. His voice was abrupt. “This woman does
not work for my mother. She belongs to me.”

Dunia looked up. “Shadi is
right. The woman is his.”

Shadi’s expelled breath was
noisy. “I bought her when I was in Pakistan. She is mine to do with
as I please.”

My stomach plummeted. From
past knowledge of Ali and his sons, I knew that some of my nephews
often traveled to Thailand, the Philippines, India, and Pakistan
for the purpose of buying time with young prostitutes. But, this
was the first time I had heard of any of these nephews actually
purchasing a woman to bring her into our Kingdom as a sexual slave.
Certainly, such a thing is not uncommon in Saudi Arabia, and I knew
too well that a number of our cousins, such as Faddel, made a habit
of such activities, but none of our own husbands or sons had yet
descended into such moral decay. At least, not until
tonight.

I stared at Shadi in utter
loathing. So! My own nephew was a man who would stop at nothing to
satisfy his lust!

At this new information,
our husbands began to show a certain amount of
discomfort.

Kareem released his grip on
Shadi.

Ahmed dropped his arm from
Rashed’s waist.

Instantly, I knew what our
men were thinking. Had Taher, Rashed, and Shadi entered the women’s
tent, which was strictly forbidden to them, and attacked one of our
female servants, then they would have seen cause to punish the
young men. But now that they had learned that Shadi owned the woman
who was being attacked, the situation was suddenly viewed in a
different manner, no matter how offensive the attack had been. In
their eyes, what had happened to Veena was a personal matter
between a man and his woman, and they had no right to
interfere!

Seeing the indignant look
on my face, Ahmed said, “Shadi, the three of you were wrong to
shove your Aunties! Each of you will apologize.”

Shadi’s thick lips were
tight from anger.

“
Yes,” Dunia said, “I
cannot believe that a son of mine would shove my own
sisters!”

I turned back to stare in
contempt at Dunia. My sister was obviously relieved that our men
were now focusing their attention on her son’s manners, rather than
on his criminal conduct.

“
Of course, I apologize.”
Shadi said in a sullen tone.

Ali nudged his
son.

“
And, I apologize, also.”
Rashed said with a strained smile.

Although too embarrassed to
look into our faces, Taher too mumbled an apology.

At that moment, Sara and
Asad came into the tent, and Sara reassured us that she was
unhurt.

“
Now, apologize once more,”
Ali encouraged, “Your Auntie Sara was nearly injured by your brash
act.”

All three young men quickly
made their individual apologies to Sara.

Sara ignored them, and
searched the crowd until she saw my face. She said, “Veena has lost
too much blood, Sultana. I believe that she needs urgent medical
attention.”

I held my hand over my
mouth, momentarily speechless at the image that arose in my
mind.

No one spoke until Shadi
finally said, “She is my responsibility. I will take her back into
the city.”

I gasped. Unless someone
acted, Veena’s enslavement would be sanctioned if our family now
allowed Shadi to take her away. The subject would be forever
closed. Poor Veena would be used as a sexual toy for Shadi and his
friends as long as she was young and attractive. Once they were
tired of her, she would become a house servant.

I knew that I could not let
this unfortunate girl remain in the clutches of my cruel nephew.
Someone had to take up this helpless woman’s cause! Looking around
at the faces of my family, I realized that it was up to me. I would
have to save this woman!

“
No!” I shouted, shocking
everyone. “You will do no such thing, Shadi! Kareem and I will take
her to a doctor!”

Kareem’s reply disappointed
me. “Sultana, this is not our business,” he said
sternly.

But the tone of my voice
silenced Kareem’s objections. “It is our business! I do not care
how much money Shadi paid for Veena, Kareem. No woman should be the
property of any man against her will, and he certainly has no right
to rape and abuse her!”