Princess Sultana's Circle

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