His Defiant Desert Queen(17)

                “I will ask Sheikh Azizzi to be fair. I cannot ask for him to be compassionate,” Mikael said suddenly, his voice deep and rough in the quiet of the car. “Compassion is too much like weakness. Compassion lacks muscle, and conviction.”

                “Does he know about my father, and what he did to your family?”

                “Yes.”

                “So he won’t be fair.”

                “Fair, according to our laws. Perhaps not fair according to yours.”

                * * *

                For two hours the convoy of cars traveled across the wide stretch of desert, before turning southeast toward the foothills and then on to the Tekti mountain range. They traveled up a narrow winding road, through the steep mountain pass, before beginning their descent into the valley below.

                Finally they were slowing, the cars leaving the main road for the walled town built at the foot of the mountains.

                Jemma was very glad the cars were slowing. She needed fresh air. She needed water. She needed a chance to stretch her legs.

                “Haslam,” the sheikh announced.

                She craned her head to get a better look at the town. Twenty-foot-tall walls surrounded it. Turrets and parapets peeked above the walls. The vehicles’ headlights illuminated huge wooden gates. Slowly the massive gates opened and the convoy pulled into the village.

                They drove a short way before the cars parked in front of a two-story building that looked almost identical to the buildings on either side.

                Jemma frowned at the narrow house. It didn’t look like a courthouse or official city building. It seemed very much like an ordinary home.

                The driver came around the side of the car to open the back passenger door. “We will go in for tea and conversation, but no one here will speak English,” Mikael said, adding bluntly, “and they won’t understand you. Or your short skirt.” He leaned from the car, spoke to the driver and the driver nodded, and disappeared.

                “I’m getting you a robe,” Mikael said turning back to her. “It won’t help you to go before Sheikh Azizzi dressed like that. I am sure you know this already, but be quiet, polite. Respectful. You are the outsider here. You need to make a good impression.”

                “Sheikh Azizzi is here?”

                “Yes.”

                “I’m meeting him now?”

                “Yes.”

                Fresh panic washed through her. “I thought we were going in for tea and conversation!”

                “We are. This is the judicial process. It’s not in a court with many observers. It’s more intimate...personal. We sit at a table, have tea, and talk. Sheikh Azizzi will either come to a decision during the discussion, or he will leave and make a decision and then return to tell us what he has chosen to do.”

                “And it really all rests with him?”

                “Yes.”

                “Could you not override his decision? You are the king.”

                Mikael studied her impassively. “I could, but I doubt I would.”

                “Why?”