Shekib and Tariq entered their sleeping quarters when daylight broke. They had neither seen nor heard anything else throughout the night. The soldiers were walking about now and the servants looked hurried. The king was likely expecting a visitor.
Ghafoor was awake, her arms stretched over her head as she yawned. The others rubbed their eyes.
“Tariq? You’re up already? Did you not sleep last night?” Ghafoor asked, puzzled.
“Something happened last night,” Shekib said softly. “Something you all need to know about.”
Her words, rare as they were, got everyone’s attention.
“We saw someone leaving the harem through the side door, which should have been locked. It looked like a man. He ran off toward the palace but in the dark we couldn’t make out his face.”
“It must have been the king. You know his urges come at odd hours.”
Tariq shook her head. “It wasn’t the king, trust me. I know his shape. This man was leaner, taller. And the king doesn’t sneak in and out of the side door. He comes and goes as he pleases, even when the hour is late. This was someone else.”
Ghafoor and Karim leaned forward; they were just now making the realization that Shekib and Tariq had made last night. Qasim looked at her sister’s concerned face.
“Did you hear anything inside? Was anyone awake?” Karim asked.
“Nothing. I walked through the hallways and heard nothing at all, saw no one. Whoever it was that let him in was not making a sound,” Shekib said, her tone flat and serious.
“Of course not,” Ghafoor said. “But if this has happened once, then it has probably happened twice and three times and more. We have a serious problem on our hands, guards. If the king learns that someone has been sneaking past us and paying secret visits to his private harem, we can start saying our final prayers.”
“Should we tell someone in the palace?” Qasim asked nervously. “No, absolutely not!” Ghafoor cried. “We have to find out what we can on our own and stop this from exploding on us.”
Karim and Tariq nodded in agreement. Shekib stood in silence. Ghafoor was taking charge now.
“First of all, we need to speak with the concubines, privately, one at a time, and see if anyone can give us any information.”
“You think whoever brought him in is going to tell us?” Qasim asked.
“No, she won’t tell us anything, I’m sure. But if this has been happening, someone must have heard something and I’m sure that someone else will be willing to talk about it. You know how these women are with each other. They can’t wait for a chance to rip the others to shreds.”
“I can’t believe we haven’t already heard about this,” Tariq said.
“This was bound to happen. It was just a matter of time. There are just too many women in one house. One of them was going to invite trouble.” Ghafoor spoke confidently, as if she had predicted this months ago.
Shekib and Tariq lay down to get some rest. The others assumed their posts, rotating to cover Tariq’s position as well so that she could close her reddened eyes for a few hours. The situation had given Ghafoor new energy. Her face was serious and her tone urgent. She gave orders as if she were a palace general commanding her soldiers.
Karim and Qasim shot each other looks but let her be.
Shekib could not sleep. From the moment she had seen that shadowy figure, a feeling had taken root in her stomach. Something would come from this. She lay on her side, looking at the cracks and crevices of the stone wall. She was not in her village now. She was not even in Azizullah’s house. She was in the king’s palace. Bigger people meant bigger problems.
Sleep claimed her finally but briefly. In the afternoon, she rose and dressed. She found Karim in the bathhouse. Five women soaked in the pool. Shekib looked up and saw the balcony was empty.
“Have you heard anything?”
Karim shook her head. “Ghafoor says she has her suspicions but no one is talking yet. I’ve asked two of the women, Parisa and Benazir, if they heard anything odd last night but they said they hadn’t. We have only asked those women who have children since it’s unlikely young ones would sleep through a visitor in the dark.”
Shekib nodded. The reasoning made sense.
“But it is best not to create too much of a stir since one of the women might actually tell King Habibullah what we’ve been asking.” Karim sighed heavily. “There are just so many ways for this to turn on us.”
“That’s how things are. There always has to be someone to blame,” Shekib said. She could still see Bobo Shahgul’s crooked finger pointing at her, her beady eyes filled with hatred.
The next week brought no revelations, no clues as to who had come to visit the harem. The only proof that Shekib and Tariq had not imagined the whole thing was that the visitor had returned. Just five days after the first sighting, he was seen again leaving the house. This time it had been Qasim’s turn for night duty.
Qasim’s description seconded what Shekib and Tariq had described.
“Did you go after him? Did you see his face?” Ghafoor had demanded.
“No . . . I only saw—”
“You just stood there? We’re trying to find out who this is and you just stand there? Great job guarding the harem!” She threw her arms up in exasperation.
“He was walking so fast. I didn’t think I should . . .”
“Forget it. It’s fine. There’s no point chasing this man down. He probably already knows that we’ve seen him and obviously he doesn’t care. He’s only concerned about getting caught by the palace. He knows we cannot do anything,” Karim said with annoyance.
“What are you talking about? If Qasim would have had half a nerve, she could have—”
“Then you can take her night duty and you can chase him down yourself!” Karim shouted. She was tired of hearing Ghafoor’s complaints. Ghafoor pursed her lips but was silenced.
The bickering had seeped through the harem and into the guards’ quarters. Their small troupe now felt the pressure and it was straining the thin friendships that had formed among them. Shekib watched as the cracks grew, week by week.
The man visited the harem about once a week and though we posted a guard at the side door, we were somehow unable to confront or identify him. By Ghafoor’s account, he never appeared on her overnight shifts but the others doubted this. More likely, she was turning a blind eye since she too did not want to be the one to chase him down in the middle of the night. Better to find out from the woman and put a stop to it there.
In the meantime, Shekib decided to continue laying the groundwork for her own plans. She approached a few women with two purposes in mind. She asked if they had heard anything, any strange noises in the night. And she found ways to make mention of her own family. She awkwardly and clumsily told a story about them, about the string of boys her mother had borne, her aunts had borne, her grandmother had borne.
Women in our family have many sons. I was the only daughter.
Curious looks. The women were not sure why the disfigured guard was sharing such information but they nodded politely and moved on. Or they shooed her off and crossed their brows. But Shekib persisted.
Something told her she did not have much time.