Where Dreams Coincide

By Diann Carroll

In the courtyard of her fathers harem, Amira forebodingly awaits the arrival of her betrothed, Abu Aneza, an old sheikh of a desert tribe pivotal to the safe passage of her fathers caravans through the desert. On this fateful day, Amira is saved from the dreaded marriage by the surreptitious arrival of a man from the Divan of the Sun, as predicted by her recently deceased mother in a dream. Richard, the stranger who is no stranger, echoes up from her dream, unleashing the dormant supernatural powers passed down to her through the centuries via her grandfather, Farudd-Din Attar, and the mystical Simurgh of Persian lore.

Amira travels with Richard on the Ship of Souls from the Persian Gulf to the Land of Hind seeking liberation and reunion. Through her clairvoyant powers, she flies on the wings of the Simurghthat timeless being from beyond the world sea that flaps its wings and manifests many from the One. Sailing on the Sea of all Being she travelsnonlinearlyin multiple dimensions shifting her point of view as she seamlessly transforms from one facet of Being to the next, beyond time Where Dreams Coincide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jul 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781452524009

Diann Carroll

Where Dreams Coincide is a first novel—and lifelong dream realized—for Houston-based writer, mother, teacher, and entrepreneur Diann Carroll. The literary enthusiast and eternal student of spirituality initially conceived her story 30 years ago, while living on the littoral of the Persian Gulf. Visit www.dianncarroll.com to read more.

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Where

Dreams

Coincide

DIANN CARROLL

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Copyright © 2015 Diann Carroll.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-2399-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-2401-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-2400-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918806

Balboa Press rev. date: 07/28/2015

List of Characters

by Chapter

Chapter 1

Amira – daughter of Sheik Ibn Afrasuyab trader of Basra and Shaddiya of a nomadic tribe in the Levant

Richard – son of the deputy governor of the East India Company and the Zanzibari princess Fahara, and Captain of the Ship of Souls

Lo Chen – Chinese actor and pirate, and Richard’s right-hand man

Cumshaw – Lo Chen’s messenger bird

Yasmina - Amira’s sister and best friend

Samir – Amira’s brother

Shadiya – Amira’s deceased mother

Wassila – Ibn Afrasyab’s second wife

Chapter 2

Ibn Afrasuyab – Amira’s father and Sheik of Basra

Ibn Azziz – consul and right-hand man of Ibn Afrasuyab

Abu Aneza – fiancé chosen for Amira by her father, Ibn Afrasuyab

Khair Al Din/Barbarossa/Red Beard – Greek-born pirate who with the help of the Turkish Pasha seized control of Algeria in the 16th century

Chapter 3

Dragut – Red Beard’s successor and protector of Murad I

Kara Ali – 2nd in command of Dragut

Murad I – legendary Barbary pirate abducted as a child from the coast of Albania by Kara Ali (Barbarossa) and Dragut; through his naval prowess becomes Dragut’s successor

Andrea Doria – Admiral of the Genoese fleet

La Valette – Grand Master of the Knights of Malta

Charles V – ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 to 1556

Chapter 4

Murad II – great grandson of the Murad I and rescuer and companion of Richard

Mevarow – evil voo doo king of the Island of Aldabra

Fatuma – Sultana of Zanzibar and Richard’s aunt

Mendaui – healer from a native tribe in Zanzibar

Fahara – Princess of Zanzibar and Richard’s deceased mother

Ian Roundtree – Deputy Governor of the East India Company and Richard’s father

Bakiri - poet and co-ruler of Zanzibar, brother of Fahara and Fatuma

Kahlid - cousin of Bakiri, Fatuma and Fahara

Chapter 5

Don Juan of Austria - Admiral of the Christian Fleet at the Battle of Lepanto

Don Juan Espinoza de Cordoba - great grandson of Don Juan of Austria

Chapter 6

Miguel Cervantes – officer at the Battle of Lepanto and author of Don Quixote

Rodrigo – Miguel Cervantes’s brother

Dali Mami – Algerian Berber who holds Miguel and Rodrigo Cervantes for ransom in Algiers

Hasan Pasha – Beylerbey of Algiers who makes Cervantes a captive member of his court

Chapter 7

Hamza – a Nubian oud player held as a slave on Capitan Espinoza’s ship

Julia – a famed European beauty

Chapter 8

Suleiman – poet of the Shammar tribe

Shabib – cousin of Suleiman and son of Abdullah Ibn Mindil, Sheik of the Shammar tribe

Ibn Aneza – great-grandfather of Abu Aneza (betrothed of Amira) and Sheik of the Aneza tribe

Layla – betrothed of Shabib

Khalid al Tighif – uncle of Ibn Aneza, Sheik of the Aneza tribe

Fulana - daughter of Sheik Ibn Aneza

Nader – brother of Suleiman

Chapter 9

Alma – first wife of Abu Aneza

Chapter 10

Miriam – clairvoyant cohort of Amira’s mother, Shadiya

Sliman – Miriam’s husband

Fayad – member of the Ateiba tribe in pursuit of Amira and Richard

Chapter 11

Sinbad (Ali) – an old seaman who sails with Richard as guide at the request of the Sultan of Oman (repentant slave trader)

Jabir – leader of the pirates of Bubiyan, an island off the Coast of Grane

Abu Sofian – Persian tribe of fishermen and coastal pirates on the Island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz

Chapter 12

Farudi’d-Din ‘Attar – Persian nomadic trader who becomes wazir to Shah Hussein of Persia

Simurgh (Cumshaw) – mythical Persian figure who disperses the seeds of the Universe

Siddies of Janjira – former slaves from Africa who overthrew their slave master and became pirates sailing from the Island of Janjira on the Malabar Coast

Aurengzeb - Emperor or Amalgir of the Mogul Empire

Chapter 13

Omar – grandson of Sinbad/Ali

Emir of Grane – ruler the Land of Grane (Kuwait)

Quais – poor Persian boy who seeks his fortune in the Land of Hind

Mohkta - leader of the Persian caravan Quais joins

Moji – daughter of Mohkta

Sultana – mystical cat who leads Quais from poverty to wealth and fame

Chapter 14

Abdul Azziz – father of Ibn Azziz (Amira’s father’s right-hand man) commissioned by the Emir of Grane to lead Richard and Murad through the desert to the Caves of Ali Al Sind

Emir of Bereidah – malevolent Emir of the walled city of Bereidah whose permission is sought by Richard and Murad to travel through his desert territories on the way to the Caves of Ali Al Sind

Chapter 15

Mansour – admiral, nukadah, of the pearl diving fleet of Grane

Yaya- pearl diving trainer of Amira

Chapter 16

Suria wife of Omar grandson of Ali (Sinbad)

Chapter 17

Amin – husband of Yasmina, Amira’s sister

Mohammed – one of the Emir of Grane’s men come to warn Richard and Murad of Jabir and Fahad’s plot against them

Chapter 18

Zahara – a woman from the tribe of the Abu Soffian fleeing bondage through drowning

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Mohan Gupta – captain in the Maratha navy

Chapter 21

Bramendra-swami – Brahmin master who raised Kanhoji Angrey to lead the Marathas in the struggle to free the Konkan of Mogul rule

Balaji Vishwanath – spiritual brother of Kanhoji Angrey and student of Bramendra-swami

Rasool Kahn – leader of the former slaves, the Siddies of Janjira

Shivaji – liberator of Maharashtra from Mogul rule

Rajaram – son of Shivaji

Shahuji – grandson of Shivaji

Sambhaji - grandson of Shivaji

Tarabai - Sambhaji’s mother and Sambhaji’s regent

Chapter 22

Chenamma – Queen of Keladi

Chapter 23

Shivapp Nayaka – King of Keladi

Somashekhara Nayaka – son of King Shivapp Nayaka

Thimmamma Nayaka – brother of Shivapp and uncle of Somashekhara

Sultan of Bijapur – co-conspirator of Thimmamma to overthrow Queen Chenamma

Andhaka Venkata Nayaka – royal family member who also sought to overthrow Chenamma

King of Mysore – co-conspirator of Andhaka Venkata Nayaka

Chapter 24

Catherine Cooke – daughter of a British engineer in the service of the Crown of England

Chapter 25

Lydia – jilted bride of Don Juan Espinoza de Cordoba

Chapter 26

Author’s Note

In these fictional pages, many of the characters and events are historical; however here, they meet —

Where Dreams Coincide

Much Gratitude to

my husband, Sherif, and son,

Samir, for standing by me,

my daughter, Leila, for helping

me realize my dream and

my friends, especially Jerry, for

encouraging and supporting me.

List of Illustrations

World Trade Map

Barbarossa

Mediterranean Corsairs

Don Juan of Austria

Death of Dragut

Christian Slaves in Algiers

Slave Gang in Zanzibar

Maratha Soldier

Overland by Elephant

Durga

For David

and all those how visit

my dreams…

You expand beyond time and space. I am the source and end of your journey. I am the key. I am illuminating the hero/ine’s quest for spiritual truth. I open consciousness to the 4th dimension.

Chapter 1

I wake by the gurgling fountain in the harem of my father’s courtyard where I’ve cried myself to sleep. Though I look up and see you for the first time, it’s not the monochromatic tawny hue of hair, eyes and skin, the thin mustache and full mouth, the broad, square shoulders and jaw, nor even the expression of capacity and determination I recognize in your deep-set eyes. It is the Source that joins our minds as your eyes bore down unblinkingly holding my gaze as story after story unfolds spinning infinity into an instant …

With great effort, I wrest myself from the force of your presence. Who are you?

Richard.

The resonance of your voice strikes — a chord — Richard…Richard…Richard…echoes up from the corridors of my dream — vibrating so powerfully my mind shatters into a thousand pieces, each fractured piece like a mirror reflecting back my image as you.

What are you doing here? I ask as I rise from the fountain’s edge looking down at the pattern my prostrate body has left in the damp sand. Breathing in deeply the moist scent — I withdraw into the dry, dusty shadows of the alcove to pull myself together. But, as I look at you from the obscurity, our eyes lock again.

Amira.

How do you know my name?

From my dream, you answer, and we are drawn into a realm —where the dream and waking worlds meet, and where they overlap, our vision becomes omniscient. At a ship’s rail, we stand listening to the moon as she spins tales connecting the stars with her reflective light, weaving a story where our souls intertwine…

As the surface of consciousness ripples with the cacophony of high-pitched laughter and sharp, caustic cries, we look up as one through the canopy of trees surrounding the fountain. On the roof of the women’s quarters, we see a pack of my sisters and cousins running with arms raised, their trailing garments symmetrical with the plumes of the bird they pursue. Clouds of dust rise swirling in their wake. The comic scene relieves the intensity of our meeting through laughter.

Silly geese, they are chasing a bird. Looking more closely at the bird, I exclaim, That bird is wearing rings!

A fragment of the dream passes before my mind’s eye, and I hear my mother say, You will know him by the bird wearing rings. An image of me riding on a horse with a man dressed in the costume of the Shammar tribe follows.

Yes. Dressed as a Shammar, I will rescue you from this ill-fated marriage as the dream foretells, you say. Then, in response to my thoughts, you add, Indeed, we have witnessed the same dream.

We look into each other’s eyes and read the depth of our connection.

Hearing the bird squawking, we look up again to see Wafra nearly grasping the bird’s tail. As her fingertips brush the fugitive appendage, the bird soars to the left out of reach, and Wafra comes to the roof’s edge bringing the train of pursuers to a skidding halt. The women fall one upon the other into a giggling heap.

Soon, a man, the likes of whom I have never seen, appears before us breathing hard. Richard, he gasps, "let’s get out of here before these houris whisk me away to their paradise!"

You answer my surprised look, This is my first mate, Lo Chen, from China.

Hurry, Richard! They have not yet seen you, Lo Chen interrupts.

I’ll send a message via the bird, Cumshaw. She has a carrier in her rings!

Lo Chen tears us apart. Then, you and Lo Chen duck out of the gate. Cumshaw flies over the wall just as the train of female family members encounter Wassila, my father’s second wife, exiting the apartments and Mohammed, our ancient and trusted servant, entering the harem.

Where did that bird come from? they sternly ask in unison.

They only ask about the bird, so I ask myself — Richard, were you and your Lo Chen only a fragment of a dream passing behind my eyes? And in the asking, the sound of your name resounds internally in response — Richard…Richard…Richard.

Where did that bird come from? Wassila repeats turning a suspicious gaze at Wafra whose only response is a shrug. Wassila’s incredulous look lingers on Wafra. The other girls’ guilty giggles turn Wassila’s questioning gaze towards them.

We were just chasing a bird, Yasmina responds.

These girls are as flighty as birds today. They can scarcely contain their excitement, Wassila tells Mohammed uncharacteristically brushing the incident aside.

A crease of suspicion lines Mohammed’s forehead. So much work to do and these girls have the time to chase a bird, he grumbles.

Wassila agrees as they return to their work, Mohammed occupied with lambs for roasting and Wassila with my trousseau. My sisters and cousins re-enter the residence quietly questioning Wafra about the incident. Only, Yasmina remains behind.

Amira, Amira, Yasmina calls approaching the fountain where I remain transfixed. I hear her as if from afar but cannot respond. She touches my shoulder and asks with a look of sincere concern, Did you see that Amira? A veiled woman turned into a bird!

Allah the All-Merciful in his divine wisdom sent those strangers to relieve my tortured mind.

Strangers? I only saw one.

I am tempted to confide in Yasmina, my closest sister and dearest friend, but I am afraid that if I do, my escape will be foiled.

And so I answer, Well, there was that bird, wasn’t there?

I swear that woman became the bird, Amira.

On cue — Cumshaw flies in chased by our little brother Samir.

Look, look at that bird! he cries.

She’s carrying a message in the rings on her feet. Yasmina moves towards Cumshaw, who flies out of reach. Samir, bring the falcon to catch her.

No, no, Yasmina, I frantically cry grabbing her forcefully by the shoulders. Again, Yasmina looks at me with surprise.

I would not have her caught. I beseech you, let her be. She’s free, free! Would that I were free like her, Yasmina, light as that feather there lifted by these hot currents of air that raise the desert dust. Would that they raise me into the air where I could choose my direction free like a bird! Oh, Yasmina, can you imagine that? Yasmina looks at me blankly.

Cumshaw lights on the wall. Samir begins to climb after her. Cumshaw flies to the rooftop.

Let her be. She wants to be our friend. See how she stays. Samir, come. Sit beside me. You know, after the wedding, I will be going away.

Samir looks at me with tears in his eyes.

Why must you get married, Amira? Stay here with us. I hug him, but he continues his petulant protest, I will have no one to tell me stories when you are gone.

Yasmina knows my stories. She’s heard them thousands of times just like you.

Yasmina nods and smiles at Samir.

She will tell them to you.

But it will not be the same, Samir responds gulping deeply to hold back his tears.

The next time I see you, Samir, I will have new stories to tell.

A glimmer of interest shines through the veil of tears covering Samir’s eyes.

I have a surprise for you, Yasmina says putting her arm around Samir’s shoulder. Run along to my quarters. I’ll be there in a minute."

Samir hugs me then runs away to hide his tears.

Here, Amira, a wedding gift for you, Yasmina says extending a gold-framed mirror. Even if you travel to the ends of the earth, when you look at it, you will see me in you and know I love you and am always with you.

Oh, but you do understand Yasmina, I reply with a catch in my throat. As I stare in the mirror —

I see beyond the image, through the past and past the future, into the ever present. Truth lights our joined minds, and I can see images of stories where our two souls are intertwined in the mirror of God’s eye.

Mysteriously, I now know the power of vision my mother passed on to me, and I know it is also within Yasmina, as it is in all my sisters only veiled by fear.

Knowing you are with me gives me strength, Yasmina.

Our tears join as we embrace. Yasmina follows Samir out of the courtyard, looking back over her shoulder at me.

I mourn the loss of childhood. I would not leave my dear brother and sister, but the thought of marrying that old, shriveled sheik fills me with dread. I turn my attention to the prophecy of the dream chanting your name over and over in my mind — Richard… Richard… Richard. Though your name is foreign to me, it rolls familiarly across my tongue inspiring an unreasoned confidence. My mother’s voice has guided me from beyond the veil to heaven’s gate.

Before we met, I had sobbed myself to sleep at the edge of the flowing fountain in the courtyard of the women’s quarters, my oasis from the barren emotional landscape of my waking hours. In my dreams, my mother visits me to assure me life is not what it seems.

While alive, mother had kept my father’s unbound greed at bay. She filled his coffers by advising him when, with whom, how and where to trade the silks, gold and spices brought to him by ship from India and Africa and by which route and which caravan to transport them east and west. Through her vision, he profited, every transaction leaving him richer rather than poorer as was the fate of so many other merchants ruined by the resurgence of hostilities on the ancient trade routes.

Mother’s advice was indeed phenomenal since, like the majority of respectable women in Basra, she had spent most of her adult life behind the walls of her husband’s domicile. Unlike the women of Basra, she grew into womanhood traveling God’s creation with her nomadic family. Her vision, unhindered by the walls and veils of village life, stretched to the limitless horizons of the desert. As she journeyed by her father’s side, she developed second sight — soul, heart and mind in singular focus.

My mother had been forced away from her family because of her gift of vision, not only a source of income but also a great source of pride for my father. The community honored and respected my mother as a diviner, consulting her for all significant decisions.

In fact, my mother’s reputation preceded her. People came from near and far to ask her advice and so vastly broadened my view of the world. This, more than anything else, prepared me for my future.

There was a time when my vision was unveiled like mothers, but my vision clouded as I became aware of the walls surrounding me. Contrasting my life with stories my mother told of her childhood, I grew to resent my father for having stolen my inheritance.

To my vehement complaints, mother would reply, Amira, you are God’s gift from this union. Such a gift could only spring from the Divine. Nothing in God’s creation is an accident. Accept God’s will and your destiny shall be revealed.

But I was too angry. I watched with a resentful filter before my vision, distorting Truth. Then, my mother’s passing entirely eclipsed my sight.

Though my mother’s gift did not appear to be forthcoming in me, the possibility of my being latently endowed with such a talent, coupled with my mother’s power to withhold her own, had prevented my father from trading me in marriage. That is until she left this world. One did not need to be clairvoyant to predict what would come to pass.

When I produced no profitable advice for his trade, he cried, If she cannot protect my trade with the gift of sight inherited from her mother, she will protect it by marriage to the sheik of that quarrelsome Aneza clan!

With his usual shrewdness, he proposed the marriage to Sheik Abu Aneza carefully guarding the fact that I had not inherited my mother’s gift. Quite the opposite, in fact, he propagated the myth that I had and asked for unequivocal travel rights for his caravans through Aneza territory as a bride price. The patriarch of the Aneza tribe painstakingly negotiated with the various clans of the hitherto impassable Nejd and arrived at a guarantee of safe passage.