Alamut Read Online Free Page A

her a dish with water in it, and when she had finished this task, they took her to a bedroom.
    “Sara and Zainab will be your companions,” Miriam told her.
    “Good,” Halima replied.
    The bedroom floor was covered with soft, colorful carpets. Carpets covered the walls and were hung between the low-lying beds, which were covered with tastefully embroidered pillows. Beside each bed was an artfully carved dressing table with a large silver mirror affixed to it. A five-candled gilt candelabra with strange, twisted shapes hung from the ceiling.
    The girls dressed Halima in a long white gown of delicate silk. They tied a red cord around her waist and sat her down in front of the mirror. She could hear them whispering about how sweet and pretty she was.
They’re right
, she thought,
I really am pretty. Like a real princess
. She lay down on her bed and the girls put pillows under her head. They covered her with a feather quilt and left on tiptoe. She buried her head in the soft pillows and, in a state of fairy-tale happiness, fell blissfully to sleep.
    The first rays of daylight shining through the window awoke her. She opened her eyes and saw the designs on the wall hangings, woven in bright colors. At first she thought she was still with the caravan. On the wall she saw a lance-bearing hunter on horseback chasing an antelope. Beneath him a tiger and a buffalo faced off, while a black man carrying a shield shoved the point ofhis spear at a raging lion. Beside them a leopard stalked a gazelle. Then she remembered the previous day and realized where she was.
    “Good morning, sleepyhead,” Zainab, who had just propped herself up in bed, called to her.
    Halima looked at her and was astonished. Her hair poured over her shoulders in ample locks and shone in the sunlight like pure gold.
She’s more beautiful than a fairy
, she thought. Enraptured, she returned her greeting.
    She looked toward the other bed, where Sara was sleeping, half naked, her full dark limbs shining like ebony. The conversation woke her too, and she slowly began to open her eyes. They glinted like two dark, white-irradiated stars. She fixed them on Halima and smiled at her oddly. Then she lowered them again quickly, like a feline confused by a human stare. She got up, went over to Halima’s bed, and sat down on it.
    “Last night when Zainab and I went to bed, you didn’t notice us,” she said. “We kissed you, but you just murmured something ill-tempered and turned your back.”
    Halima laughed, though she was almost frightened by the other’s gaze. She could also see the light down that covered her upper lip.
    “I didn’t hear you at all,” she replied.
    Sara devoured Halima with her eyes. She would have liked to hug her, but she didn’t dare. She glanced furtively toward Zainab.
    Zainab was already seated at her mirror, combing her hair. “We’re going to have to give yours a wash today,” Sara said to Halima. “Will you let me wash your hair?”
    “That would be fine.”
    She had to get up so her companions could lead her to a separate washroom.
    “Do all of you bathe every day?” she asked incredulously.
    “Of course!” the other two laughed. They immersed her in a wooden bathtub and splashed her playfully. She shrieked, dried herself with a towel, and then slid into her clothes with a pleasant, refreshed feeling.
    They ate breakfast in a long dining hall. Each of them had her own place, and Halima counted twenty-four in all, including herself. They sat her at the head of the table next to Miriam, who asked her, “So what do you know how to do?”
    “I can embroider and sew, and I know how to cook.”
    “What about reading and writing?”
    “I know how to read a little.”
    “We’re going to have to work on that. And what about verse making?”
    “I’ve never learned that.”
    “Right. You’re going to have to learn all that and quite a bit more around here.”
    “That’s fine,” Halima said happily. “I’ve always wanted