The first sound to reach your ears is that of bubbling water.
Boy, do you feel stupid when you discover you had food in your pack all along.
to find that someone has left you parked against a wall in the marketplace.
At least you’ve got money to buy food from one of the stalls.
Some kind soul has even left you a couple of dirhams to buy food from one of the stalls nearby.
to find that the Palace servants have unceremoniously dumped you where they think you belong.
Some kind soul has even left you a little food.
Fortunately, Zainab hears about your misfortune and arranges for you to be bought by a trusted servant, who promptly sets you free.
You’re given some basic provisions: food, a canteen… even a replacement sword. Any other loot you may have picked up is, of course, gone.
That goes for the earrings too, since Zainab can’t very well admit she gave them to you.
The flying carpet cleverly masquerades as a prayer rug, so you are allowed to keep it.
Zainab does contrive to claim the clothes you stole for her.
to find that someone—you never learn who, though you’re free to take a guess—has saved you from the slave market.
Some thoughtful person has even refilled your canteen.
Good thing the cloak slipped aside as you collapsed. Otherwise you might never have been found.
You regain consciousness…
in the slave market.
Cheer up: Islamic law, unlike other legal codes one could name, has much to say about the rights of slaves and the obligations of slaveowners.
…and count your blessings. The back-door guard remembers letting you in to deliver the Sultan’s shoes.
…and consider that it might have been much worse. The eunuch remembers letting you in to deliver the Begum’s sweets.
You get a severe scolding (containing a great many words your Arabic teacher never got around to) for making a mess of a simple errand… but you’re allowed to go.
