The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

Amina travels to a town whose name she leaves unspoken and finds a specific shop. A small woman with a delicate face and one singed eyebrow instantly recognizes Amina. The woman, Dalila, hugs Amina, a gesture that scares the pirate captain, because Dalila wears a cap decorated with poison tablets and vials. Dalila is reproachful that Amina has been gone so long without communicating. Amina reflects that Dalila first met the crew when she blackmailed them; she poisoned Majed (the navigator of Amina’s old ship, the Marawati) and refused to provide the antidote until the crew had taken her far enough away from the town of Basrah.

Dalila is mysterious about her origins, but she is both a Christian and a follower of the mythical Banu Sasan. She asks after Marjana, and Amina cryptically thinks that Dalila is the only person who attended her birth and whom Amina trusts to do what is necessary if her worst fears about Marjana come true. The women reminisce about Amina’s four husbands, and Amina tells her about her mission to find Asif’s child. Dalila says she received a letter from the Frank, Falco, who wanted to pay her for her knowledge. He delivered his message through an agent named Layth. Dalila worries that the Frank has tracked down two of Amina’s crew so far and reminds Amina that she has been gone a decade. This makes Amina feel guilty. Dalila demands a bonus in addition to the normal cut, and Amina helps her to pack.

Amina and Dalila look for the Marawati in Aden. There they see a crowd gathering around a ship surrounded by two warships, and Amina recognizes the Marawati, though it has been disguised. The crowd is talking about murdered people washing up on shore and the government’s belief that goods from the dead people’s vessel have been found on the Marawati. Tinbu appears, trying to reason with government officials who then strike him, and when his crew leaps to defend him, they all get arrested. Dalila wants to find another way of traveling, but Amina insists that they save Tinbu and her ship.

The sailors are taken to Aden’s prison. A man that Amina noticed on the ship is now yelling that Tinbu is innocent. The way he talks about Tinbu makes Amina believe that this man, Yusuf, is Tinbu’s latest lover. She follows him, lures him into an alley, and pulls a knife, asking him about what is happening in the cell. When he understands who she is, he tells Amina that they are charging Tinbu with piracy and murder. Tinbu will be executed by crucifixion. Amina asks Dalila if she can get the supplies to recreate one of their past heists, and she grumpily agrees but says they have no elephant for a distraction. Amina asks Yusuf how good his acting is.

This section outlines a recipe from the Banu Saran called Blue Cretan henbane, which is “their most prodigious trick and the classiest of sleeping pills” (86). They combine blue henbane, black poppy seeds, opium, euphorbia, black seeds, agar ikon, lettuce seeds, basil seeds, mandrake apple, and datura nuts, and pound them together with leek juice. Once crushed into a powder, the mixture is made into a pill and fumigated with blue sulfur. To drug a person, it can be put into food or drink, and those affected will have no clue what happened until they are revived with vinegar inserted into the nose, which induces vomiting. The author of this excerpts cautions people to be mindful of what one consumes around the Banu Saran.

Amina poses as a vendor near the police station, offering a game of chance. Yusuf pretends to play, and Dalila interferes, accusing Amina of being a thief. The police get involved and reveal that Amina has also stolen Yusuf’s cuff. He is genuinely shocked, and the police take Amina and a smelly bag that she is carrying away to the station, along with Dalila and Yusuf, who are now officially her accusers. The police find more items that appear to be stolen. They get curious about her bag, thinking that it smells like hash, and Amina insults and goads them until they sample the substance.

However, it is really the knockout drug described in the previous interlude, and the police quickly pass out. Amina and Tinbu hurriedly discuss if the ship is ready, (which it isn’t), and if the crew will be loyal, (which they will be). One of the larger crew members asks to be freed and makes a loud joke. Amina smashes his teeth in and threatens to cut off his genitals, terrifying the other sailors. She reveals who she is, and they know her reputation. When she asks if they are good rowers, one volunteers to teach the others. The rest realize that they can either stay in the cell and be horribly killed for the crime of piracy, or they can join Amina. They strip the police and the office of whatever supplies they can find. Tinbu has an idea for how to escape the harbor and tells Amina that he recently salvaged a useful item that is now hidden aboard the Marawati.

They swim to the Marawati and climb up the anchor chain. Amina has the urge to hug the railing when she arrives, as she has missed her ship. She is happy to see only a single soldier on guard. She hesitates to attack him while he is at prayer but does so anyway. Tinbu reveals that he has hidden a supply of naft (liquid petroleum) under the floorboards. They find the sailor with the best arm, and he throws some naft in a brass container, aiming for one of the warship’s lanterns. He misses, but the collision wakes everyone. The sailor throws a second missile that hits, and the lantern bursts into flame.

Amina’s crew begins to row. Some row badly, but they all give it a good effort. Although the warship is now on fire and in chaos, there are still two bowmen. Amina’s stolen crew ducks away from flying arrows, and Amina looks to the second warship. She knows the new men on her crew are watching her, so she tells them to speed up and ram the other warship moving to block them. Amina takes her bow and arrow and climbs up the mast despite her dislike for heights. She perches on the crow’s nest, lights her arrow, and fires at the warship. She hits her target: the warship’s mainsail. The burning warship moves, and the Marawati gets through. The men celebrate, but Amina cringes, remembering that Salima asked her to be discreet.

The excerpt declares that the nakhudha asks for more fighting men and archers, as the pirates off the Malabar Coast are active. The excerpt also remarks that the people till their fields one season and till the oceans the next in speedy cutters. Entire families are involved in this seasonal raiding, and they are talented sailors who can sail any vessel, as well as being expert marksman. The nakhudha has a story about one of these youths, whom he enslaved and who grew into the most talented boatsman that his captain had ever known. However, after 10 years of service, he turned on his enslaver and escaped to join a crew of criminals led by a woman.

The crew rows through the night to put distance between them and Aden. Amina finds Tinbu trying to stop Dalila from putting a stinging poultice on the whip-wounds on his back. Amina asks after his family, and it’s revealed that Tinbu is from the Malabar coast and was captured during a raid as a teenager. He complains that his family wants him to come back home for good and to marry. He wants to discuss the mission to find the teenager and says that Falco has already approached him also, but the sorcerer was looking for Amina herself, as he thought she was blessed by the supernatural.

Tinbu and Amina speculate on who is telling the emissary where to find people, and Dalila suspects that Majed, the navigator, is doing so. Amina is skeptical, believing that Majed, who was like an older brother, would never talk about them. Tinbu has gone to visit Majed and says that he is now married with children. He has gone straight, has been on hajj many times, cares for orphans, and has a government job. Tinbu says he knows that Layth, Falco’s agent, is traveling to Zabid next. Suddenly, Tinbu spots his cat between crates and is excited to know that she is safe. He says that she is a lucky cat despite not having good balance or catching mice, and when Amina doubts him, he says the cat’s luck brought his friends just in time to save him.

After getting supplies, the Marawati heads for Zabid. Amina enjoys being on the ship again. She makes sure that the crew views her with both fear and love, and she makes it a point to learn their stories and families. While she prays on board, she reflects on how much she has missed this life and thinks that God has arranged for her and the ship to be in Aden exactly when Tinbu needed her. But she also misses her daughter badly. Her inner voice tells her that she is too old to be pirating and should be home with Marjana.

Tinbu finds Layth in a tavern, looking old and sick. He is alarmed when he sees Amina, whom he calls “the seawitch” (125). He tells Amina that Falco wants to hire her to help him sail the Indian Ocean and collect magical objects. He says that Falco has fighters with him but will not say who has told Falco about Amina and her crew. When they bring up the girl, Dunya, he laughs and says that after the girl’s grandmother chased Falco away from her home, Dunya came after them, wanting to make a deal to help him find the magical object known as the Moon of Saba. When Layth begins to tell Amina where Falco went, he chokes. Amina and Tinbu see coin-like shapes appear in his throat, and he coughs up some coins that Amina just gave him. He dies with coins jammed in his mouth and throat, and Amina realizes that they are dealing with something very magical. She is upset at Salima’s lie to them and believes that they need to go see her before they proceed any further in their search.