***
Later that night, Dantes sets up his telescope. Exploring the infinite night sky, he feels a tap on his shoulder and hears a silken voice ask, “May I look at Venus, please?”
“Oh! Hello again, Raymee. Let me find Venus for you. Though it is bright enough to be seen with your eyes alone, it is truly a different experience when viewed through the telescope.”
Pulling open just enough of her veil to look through the telescope at Venus, Raymee says, “I don’t see any ocean up there. The Caliph of Mecca wrote in his poem about the Ocean of Venus, so why can’t I see it?”
“Perhaps the Meccan Caliph was referring to a goddess, the Venus of Greek lore playing in earth’s ocean,” observes Dantes.
“Oh; that must be the meaning,” Raymee declares. “I’ll have to read it again, with that in mind.”
Dantes looks at her curiously. “So, the Caliph writes you poetry? I have heard from your father that you are to wed him within a year — he must be a romantic man.”
“I have never met him,” answers Raymee. “I wish he had never been born. I do not want to join his harem, and give up my freedom.” Her violet eyes blaze through her veil. “It would be worse to me than death. Yet I struggle — I must fulfill my father’s wishes and do my duty as his daughter. If I disobey his wishes and do not marry the Caliph, I will have shamed my family. If I honor his desire and wed the Caliph, I will have shamed myself.”
Dantes looks at her in sympathy. “I, too, know what it is to struggle with one’s desire versus one’s duty,” he says. “Perhaps it will all work out for you yet. Do not lose hope, my lady.”
The next morning, as they travel out to hunt with Mumad, Dantes continues to watch Raymee, and feels sympathy for her in his heart. She is beautiful, and seems as virtuous as she is lovely. And so educated — her intellect could rival that of any well-to-do young lady in Paris.
The afternoon’s entertainment is a makeshift production of Hamlet, performed by Dantes’ crew of servants, who have an astounding knack for acting.
After watching the dramatic play, Raymee says to Dantes, “If I did not know better, I would think all of your servants high-born gentlemen and naturals of the stage. I admire their talent greatly. May I act as Ophelia in the next performance, and test my own?”
An idea sparks in Dantes’ mind, and he speaks. “We will perform for Caliph Saad, if your father will let you travel with us; and we can invite your father, as well, since you will of course need a chaperone.”
“Will you leave regardless?” asks Raymee. “Are you determined to travel to his lands?”
“Yes,” says Dantes. “We leave tomorrow morning. Are you not eager to meet your future bridegroom?”
“I will go with you,” says Raymee, not answering his question. “I will convince my father — he rarely refuses my requests.”
That night, Abram puts on an elaborate feast for Dantes, and each of his daughters dances before him — each lovelier than the last. Raymee sends Mumad on an errand, just before she changes into one of her sister’s belly-dancing garments. She admires her flat stomach and lush curves in the mirror, before she returns to the feast.
Abram is surprised, when he realizes that it is Raymee behind the veil, dancing around Dantes in a most seductive manner. He has never seen her dance for anyone before — she has always refused. Her moves are so provocative and sensual that Abram blushes, and Dantes feels his heart start to pound, as the luscious woman before him whispers, “It’s me, Raymee,” and then smacks his ear with a kiss before dancing away once more.
Dantes looks around to see if Mumad has witnessed Raymee’s shameless display, and he is relieved when he sees Mumad is not present.
Trying to distract himself from the heat he feels radiating throughout his body, Dantes turns to Abram. “I have enjoyed your company, sir, very much. I hate for our time together to end so soon. Will you accompany me to visit the Caliph of Mecca?”
“Yes,” answers Abram, without hesitation. “Raymee has already asked that she might go, and I cannot let her go unchaperoned. I also cannot bear for her to be disappointed, when I know she is already distraught over her nuptials.”
“Could you also guide me to Shechem?” asks Dantes. “I need a reliable source to take me through these vast deserts.”
“Certainly,” replies Abram, “that is where my forefather Abraham, the father of my ancestor Ishmael, communed with God. Muhammad appropriated unto himself, for the Arabs, my ancestors as their own, and ran Ishmael’s true offspring out of Mecca. We practice the original religion and way of life of Ishmael, as taught by Melchizedek, who blessed and taught Abraham. Raymee marrying Caliph Saad could bring my offspring back into power in Mecca, which is why I am so adamant she obey me in my choice of a husband; but even the Caliph is ignorant of the fact that the true heirs of Ishmael were run out of Mecca hundreds of years ago. What do you seek in Shechem?”
Dantes answers, “This may be hard for you to believe, and indeed it will make me sound mad. But I have heard a strange voice in my mind, and it directed me to you and then to Shechem.”
“Ah,” says Abram. “The still, small voice of mystery, heard by Abraham, Moses, and even myself. That same voice told me that through one of my daughters, the twelve princes of Ishmael will arise. In a night vision, I witnessed the rise of the great princes throughout Arabia. What else did that voice reveal to you?”
“The inner voice told me that she, for the voice I heard is feminine, is my true mother, and that only through her wisdom comes enlightenment; and that she reveals both cause and effect,” replies Dantes. “She has said that she will reveal more in Shechem. Why Shechem?”
“Shechem is an important place for divine revelation,” explains Abram. “Recall that Jacob wrestled with that same inner voice over there. Now that I know you also hear the voice of wisdom, I am even more convinced I must guide you to the Caliph, and then beyond his lands, to Shechem.”
In the morning, Dantes, Abram, Mumad, and Raymee, together with their caravans, set out for the long journey to Mecca.
Though Dantes has known Raymee for only a few days, he begins to feel strangely taken with her. He reasons that his long and lonely absence from Haydee and Mercedes has made him vulnerable to Raymee’s flirtatious charm, and cautions himself against falling in love with her. She is already betrothed to the Meccan Caliph, a powerful man whom he should not like to have as an enemy; and furthermore, his new friend Mumad is also under her spell, and Dantes would not be a honorable man were he to step in and try to take Raymee’s heart for his own. These thoughts trouble Dantes at each encounter with Raymee, as the journey proceeds.
Book II Count X:
RAYMEE’S REVENGE
The Sultan of Monte Cristo: First Sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo Page 11
