Chapter 1: The Floggings Will Continue

“Hassan was impressed by your story, and would like to hear more of your life,” says A’isha.

“I thought you said that I’d written enough for your library.”

“Yes. But now you are being instructed to write more.”

“About what?” I ask. “I’ve done a lot in my life and not all of it is something your brother might want to know about. Besides, a woman needs a certain amount of mystery about her.”

“Hmmm ... OK ... You wrote in your first story that you’ve spent time at sea as a ship’s ‘boy’. Perhaps you can enlighten Hassan how that little episode ended.”

“That’s not an episode I remember fondly, but if it’s what you want,” I sigh.

“It is,” replies A’isha. “And show more enthusiasm for the task or Samed’s cane will persuade you.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m all too familiar with ‘the floggings will continue until morale improves’ approach.”

I go to what I regard as ‘my’ desk and take out some writing materials. At least spending the afternoon writing means I get out of washing the corridor floors. When A’isha said that my rank within the harem was that of an odalisque, I didn’t know then that an odalisque is the lowest of the low. A life of cleaning toilets and floors, scrubbing clean huge cook pots, doing mountains of laundry, and running meaningless errands for women who simply like to have someone to boss about. If anyone thinks living in a harem is all about lying around looking pretty then they’ve never been inside the harem at Wadi Halaf.

So where do I begin my story ... hmmm ... yes...

It is late February 1808. The Zafiro, the Spanish privateer which has been the centre of my life for five years, is docked in the Portuguese capital. Everything is muddle and confusion ashore as Portuguese royalty and government officials fall over each other in their haste to flee before the invading French army arrives. As usual Captain Iago Rodrigo of the Zafiro has a sharp eye for profit and the situation around us provides plenty of opportunity for that. Transporting passengers to the Portuguese settlements in Brazil at grossly inflated prices is an obvious money spinner. Unfortunately the Zafiro is short of passenger space without unloading some of its cargo and temporarily discharging all but a skeleton crew. Needless to say, the crew of the Zafiro aren’t happy at the prospect of some them being stranded in the middle of what could soon become a battlefield.