In the past, I thought that the solution was all-out war between the Westerners and the Egyptians, without it appearing that we had any hand in it. That is why I humour both in exactly the same way. I appear to them as the angel of peace and am hoping for the moment when I shall become their angel of destruction, and I try to gain the trust of this disdainful district commissioner who has descended on us, he and his accursed wife, like destiny.
By my enthusiasm for curing Sergeant Ibraheem I also put on a show of solidarity with the family of the child whom he saved, who are from our clan, though I wouldn't have felt sorry for the sergeant if the stone had broken his neck in two. And I seized another great opportunity that my people had, as usual, squandered, when I encouraged them to pay the tax, unlike the Westerners. I know that the holding back by our opponents and the shortfall in the tax will hasten the dispatch of another military expedition, and this time we shall be the innocent party and the war will be between the Westerners and the Egyptians only. I may be able to light its spark from a distance, as did Yousif. I explained to my people, albeit with the greatest caution, what we might gain if we fulfilled our tax commitments and left the rebellion and disobedience to our opponents, but competitiveness took possession of them. 'We shall never pay as long as they don't! How can we take the initiative to pay before they do?'
Never mind. If that opportunity has passed, welcome now to the tempest of the ghoul-woman. And this time I will work to make sure it engulfs them.
What can you say or do now, Yahya, to defend Maleeka? I know you will be, as usual, one of the first to arrive, but I have been waiting for you here under the lean-to for a long time. You are always spoiling things for me with your spurious goodness and your spurious history. You convince the gullible that you are above discord and difference, that you are neither with your own people nor with us, but I do not believe you. I find you to be the most devious of all the people of the oasis, but I will bide my time with you as I bide it with them. God help me today to hide my joy at their misfortune. The death of Mi'bid saved you, you Westerners, from fighting, but what can save you today from what Maleeka did? Today I don't even need to speak; indeed, it will be better if I don't open my mouth. Up to now everything has gone as I would wish. I hear the bray of your donkey coming from Aghurmi and I shall embrace you, Yahya, as I always do, dreaming that you may crumble into dust in my arms.
The cluster of agwad assembled earlier than usual. On the faces of the leaders of the sheikhs of the West — Idrees, Abd el Majid, Yahya — was anxiety and gloom, and I could see in the faces of the sheikhs of my clan — Sallam, Nafi', Abdallah — repressed anger. Greater than all of that, however, was the terror that could be seen in the eyes of all. I would, then, add to their grief.
In a sad voice, and with my head bowed, I said, 'The district commissioner asked for me yesterday but I couldn't fathom exactly what he wanted. He says he wants us to punish Maleeka and her family and those who allowed her to leave her house or he will exact his own revenge.'
The voices of the agwad rose as one, cursing the commissioner, his wife and the day they'd alighted in our land, to which I added a silent 'Amen!'
Sheikh Abdallah said, 'Wouldn't it have been better if we'd acted on what the boy Mabrouk said and killed him along with his wife the moment they descended on our land as harbingers of ill-omen?'
Sheikh Nafi' said, 'We sought to escape disaster that day and we fell into a greater disaster…'
Sheikh Abdallah interrupted him and said, 'Don't waste our time on what will not help us. What is to be done now about the calamity that has befallen our land? What is to be done about the defilement of the ghoul-woman that has spread ruin everywhere?'
A heavy silence reigned that was ended only by the voice of Sheikh Yahya, which sounded weaker than usual, as though he himself did not believe what he was saying. 'I have heard,' he said, 'of the disasters that have occurred and on my way from Aghurmi I saw a fallen palm tree. But I know it had been rotten for a while…'
The sheikhs interrupted him angrily and some of them jumped to their feet shouting, 'What do you mean? In my neighbour's house, the children were struck by fever. Black scorpions crawled out from beneath the earth and filled the houses like ants. With my own eyes I saw an olive tree burning. We shall all die if things go on this way. Do you not hear the weeping in every house?'
I smiled to myself as I watched them almost come to blows, but Yahya waited for them to fall silent and turned to Sheikh Sallam, whose family has for generations recorded the noteworthy events of our oasis in a written ledger, and asked him what our ancestors used to do when such a catastrophe befell them.
Sallam answered, 'No disaster of this sort has befallen our land before. I know that for certain. Nevertheless, yesterday I reviewed the manuscript where all the news is gathered and I could find no allusion to such a thing.'
Sheikh Idrees said, sorrow almost preventing him from speaking, 'If we were to kill our daughter, would that erase the pollution of the ghoul-woman?'
Everyone fell silent. I know they were waiting to hear that but I couldn't prevent myself from saying, 'That would make His Excellency the district commissioner happy and relieve us of his wrath.'
Sheikh Idrees burst out hotly, 'God's wrath upon him and his wife, the bringers of disasters! I'm not thinking about what will please or displease him. As far as I'm concerned, he's far easier to deal with than the disaster of the ghoul-woman, and we'll take care of him soon, God willing.'
The rest of the Western sheikhs looked at him in reproof and some gestured at him to put him off, but Yahya was oblivious to it all.
Sheikh Nafi' said, 'Calm down, Idrees, and let us think. Didn't you hear Sallam say that this is the first time such a catastrophe has befallen the oasis? The people are waiting for the sheikhs to find a solution.'
As though he'd seen a road to salvation open before him, Yahya raised his voice, which was still, however, weak and hesitant, and asked, looking at Sallam, 'What says the manuscript, Sheikh Sallam, of what we used to do to women afflicted by insanity?'
Sallam replied in amazement, 'What kind of a question is that, Sheikh Yahya? We did with them as we do now — summon a sheikh who has memorized the Koran and knows the prayers that expel the jinn from the woman's body. Then we imprison the madwoman till she is cured or dies. But this is no jinn whose harm is confined to the one he possesses. This is a terrifying evil against which our ancestors took every possible precaution. What possesses the ghoul-woman is a reaper of souls and spreader of ruin. Our ancestors knew how dangerous it was and imposed imprisonment on widows till the spirit of perdition should leave them…'
Sheikh Abdallah said simply, 'So let us do what Sheikh Idrees has said and leave the rest to God. Let us kill her quickly so that she be gone from us and her evil with her.'
Suddenly Sheikh Yahya's voice arose, restored to its usual wrath. 'Are we here to find a solution or so that each of you can repeat, one after the other, "Kill, kill, kill," as though the one that possesses you all is the angel of death. God grant me patience.'
I saw Yahya flailing around like prey in a trap and thought it a good opportunity to let fly my arrow, so I said quietly, 'Whatever Maleeka may have done, Agwad, she's not just the concern of her family any longer…'
Sheikh Abdallah seized the thread I'd thrown out and said, 'You're right, Sheikh Sabir. Maleeka is the daughter of us all and the evil she is spreading injures us all. It isn't up to the Westerners now to decide on their own what to do.'
Yahya continued to flail around furiously. 'Have you heard me or any of the agwad of the West express a unilateral opinion? Or have we been "consulting", as you call it, and asking Sheikh Sallam what our ancestors used to do when disasters befell us?'