Zuleika and the Barbarian

Chapter Three

It was like the most incredible dream, Zuleika thought. She lay between the two men, amazed that such hardened, fierce warriors could be so tender with a woman. They bathed her body with their tongues, licking with long strokes across her torso and breasts. They turned her, and the fleshy organs moved down her back, and over her buttocks. She was rolled again onto her back. Bahira now sat cross-legged upon the mattress, an alabaster vial in her hands. The two men cupped their hands, and she poured a pale lavender cream into the upturned palms. Now Amir Khan and Sabola began to massage the fragrant cream into Zuleika's soft skin. She sighed with delight, and they smiled down at her. Their combined touch was both sensual and gentle.

"They did not teach us that men made such delicious love," she murmured, and she sighed again.

"You are not afraid then, my princess?" Amir Khan asked.

"No."

"And you will trust us to offer you pleasure such as you have never imagined?" he said. He bent and brushed her lips with his own.

"I thought I should please you," Zuleika responded.

"In time you will show me all you have been taught, Zuleika, but your first encounter with passion must be at our hands, for we are skilled in making love," Amir Khan told her.

"Having seen you with Bahira, I am convinced of it," Zuleika answered him. "Perhaps you should have sought another way to conquer Dariyabar than the one you chose."

Sabola laughed aloud. "I can see my friend will have no easy time with you, princess," he teased her. Then, he too bent to kiss her, and she found his hard mouth exciting, his lips far different than Amir Khan's. So, all men's mouths were not the same. She kissed him back, running a naughty little tongue across his lips to his surprise. His warm brown eyes met her gaze, and then he winked, leaning by her ear to whisper, "You are a very bad girl, princess."

Zuleika giggled. "I think I could be," she whispered back.

Together the two men now played with her plump breasts. They caressed the flesh, drawing their fingers across the sensitive skin. They nuzzled her. Their tongues licked at her nipples, encircling them slowly over and over again until she was squirming. Sabola's mouth closed over the nipple he had been entertaining. Bahira began to very gently nip at her other breast, alternating with little laps of her tongue, and soft puffs of blowing. Zuleika's breasts felt swollen, and almost sore with their attentions.

She felt the khan's big hand cover her mons, pressing down to send a bolt of excitement through her. His fingers brushed the pale mound of her flesh, noting its shadowed slit which was long and showed the distinct signs of moisture. He ran a finger down it, and the finger slipped between her nether lips, deep into the creamy dampness. He smiled to himself. Then he pushed a single leg up, and lowered his dark head so he might taste her at his leisure.

Her leg lay partly over his shoulder and neck. She forced her mind and her senses away from the mouths at her breasts, and when she did she almost swooned with the feeling of his mouth on her most private place. His tongue tasted, teased, and drove her to near madness. She felt a hand beneath her buttock so he might avail himself of her even more. His tongue pushed itself slowly into her love channel. She gasped audibly as it moved back and forth for a time. Then it withdrew, and he began to flick the fleshy organ over her lovebud, which responded in the most amazing way. She was overwhelmed with the sensations they were pressing upon her. The three mouths were giving her such intense pleasure.

"Stop! In the name of all the Gods, please stop!" she begged. "I can bear no more! It is too wonderful! I shall die!"

"No you won't," the khan said, and he was now looking into her eyes. "It is just your first time, my princess. Sabola, have her sweet juices for yourself now." Then he began to kiss her, and Zuleika's head spun with the excitement engendered by his kiss, Bahira's mouth at her breasts, and Sabola's mouth lapping at her juices.

"You will kill me!" she cried, pulling her head away from him.

"More than likely you will kill me," he replied. "Do you want my love rod deep inside you, Zuleika?" He licked at her throat and face. "I will fill you full, my princess. In your wild and virgin dreams you cannot imagine the heights we will attain together!"

"Yes!" she sobbed, and then she cried out as Sabola's vigorous attentions caused her little love bud to break with pleasure.

"She is ready," the general said, moving back up by her side. "Take her, my friend, and enjoy!" Then he reached out to Bahira, and began to kiss her again.

Zuleika closed her eyes. She felt Amir Khan covering her slender body with his big one. Her heart was pounding wildly. She wanted him desperately!

"Open your eyes!" he commanded her.

"I can't. Not this first time. Not until I really know," she half-sobbed. She felt the head of his lance just touching her.

"We proceed no further until you open your eyes," he growled. "I want to see your soul when I take your virginity, Zuleika! Open your eyes for me!"

She couldn't. She just couldn't. And then he moved ever so slightly upon her. She felt his length, eager to enter her. She felt the ruby tip just barely lodged within her, and throbbing with its need. Or was it her need? Zuleika opened her violet-colored eyes to meet those of her lover. "Now!" was all she said.

He smiled down at her, and slowly, slowly, slowly he began to enter her fevered body. "Wrap your legs about me now, Zuleika," he told her. He pressed forward again when she had obeyed.

It was a feeling unlike anything she had ever experienced. He filled her, and she wanted to weep with the completeness of it. "Ohh, yes!" she said, and then she gasped as a sharp pain knifed through her. "Ohhh!"

"Your virginity is gone, my princess, and now the pleasure begins in earnest," he told her. He began to thrust and withdraw. Thrust and withdraw, until Zuleika's head was spinning, and every inch of her young body both ached and resounded with the pleasure he was offering. It seemed impossible that he could go deeper, and yet with each thrust he seemed to plunge himself in further and further until she thought he would touch her racing heart. "Do you like it?" he murmured in her ear, kissing it.

"Yes! Oh, yes, my lord Amir! I like it very much!" she told him, and then remembering the lessons she had been taught she decided she would offer him a bit of enjoyment too. Forcing her own pleasure back she concentrated, and then she began to squeeze the great lance that drove itself within her.

The khan groaned, but his eyes lit with appreciation at her efforts.

They labored together for some minutes, and then Zuleika began to lose control of herself. Her heart was beating too rapidly. She could no longer focus, nor could she barely breathe. She cried out as a wave of intense enjoyment washed over her. She clung to the khan with all her strength, her nails raking down his long back. He laughed, and then he groaned, crying out as he exploded his juices into her body. He collapsed upon her, and they lay, limbs entwined, for some long minutes. Finally he rolled off her, placing a kiss upon her lips as he did so, and brushing an errant strand of hair from her pale forehead.

Zuleika blushed as he washed her free of their passion.

"Sabola must have his turn, my princess," he told her softly.

"I am ready," she said as softly.

"May I take her other virginity, my lord Amir?" the general asked. "I hesitate to go where my lord has already been, for the princess will soon be your wife, and my sultana."

"Yours is a thick tent peg, Sabola," the khan replied. "We must prepare my princess for your entry first." He looked down at Zuleika. "Do you know of what we speak?"

She nodded. "We have been taught to accept a lover in that manner, my lord, using the dildo."

"Good! We shall begin that way while you make Sabola ready," Amir Khan told her. He then accepted from the bedside basket a long, smooth ivory dildo. He dipped it into a wide-mouthed vial of thick oil that Bahira held up for him. "Take the proper position, Zuleika," he told her.

She knelt, her buttocks raised, directly over the general's groin area, taking his flaccid manhood into her mouth as she bent her head. She began to suckle upon him as the khan inserted the dildo carefully into her bottom. He was gentle, and painstakingly careful. He moved the dildo warily forward, then drew it back, working it guardedly until the entire length of ivory was sheathed within her. Sabola groaned as Zuleika's skillful lips and tongue aroused his lance to stand hard.

"Enough!" his rough voice finally growled.

She raised herself just enough so he might move from beneath her. Zuleika then again assumed the submissive position that was expected of her. Behind her, he moved the dildo back and forth, and then she realized that he had replaced it with his own manhood. Carefully, he pushed inside her as Zuleika arched her back and raised her buttocks high to accommodate him better. He was very big, but he was gentle, she had to admit, his big hands tightly grasping her hips. Back and forth. Back and forth. She felt her rear channel widening to accommodate him even better. He groaned suddenly and his lust exploded inside her, "You have the ass worthy of a God," he told her as he finally and reluctantly withdrew.

She was pulled again onto her back, and before she might say anything else the khan was filling her with his hot and eager love rod. "Did you enjoy him?" Amir Khan snarled in her ear. "Did you like it when he shoved himself into your beautiful little ass, my princess?" He thrust hard, and she cried out.

"'Tis your custom to share!" she replied.

"You enjoyed it," he accused her.

"It had a certain piquancy about it," she admitted. "Are you jealous, my lord? Then do not offer to share my favors with your friends again. I was trained that the sharing of one's body with another is to be enjoyed. If you make me your wife, and ask it of me, I shall never allow another to have me. But you must ask!"

He drove deeper and deeper into her soft flesh as if he were trying to punish her. "I will kill you!" he threatened.

"Then you will not have Dariyabar!" she taunted him, and the muscles of her love sheath tightened about him hard as she leaned forward and sank her teeth into his shoulder.

"Ohh, bitch!" he cried, and his hot juices once more flooded her interior.

"You will love me, Amir Khan, and I will love you," she told him, her tongue now soothing the shoulder she had bitten.

"The lion of Khanistan has found his lioness," Sabola said. "Marry her quickly, Amir. She is perfect for you, and her belly must be filled with your sons as soon as possible if you are to hold Dariyabar," the general chuckled. "Now, I would take my beautiful Bahira and seek my own tent, my brother. With your permission, we withdraw."

"Go! Go!" the khan said impatiently, and he turned back to Zuleika when they were gone, and said, "You are mine, and mine alone, my princess. Do you understand what that means?"

She laughed. "I understand, my lord, but I will admit the evening was a stimulating one. Will you not agree?"

"The Gods! How well Sabola knows me. I have not been able to erase you from my mind since we met last night, Zuleika. Had he filled your love sheath with his manhood, I do not think I could have ever forced that picture from my mind. My length is the only one that shall ever fill you, my princess."

"I am content with that, my lord," she told him. "I hope that Sabola will be as generous to Bahira."

"I suspect that your Bahira will have my general fully compliant to her will by the dawn, my darling," the khan laughed.

Zuleika nodded with a smile. "My cousin, Haroun, thought her a meek little ewe sheep to be managed and directed. Now, my lord, tell me how we are to take the city?"

"Wait until tomorrow when Rafa arrives with genie and his bowl," he said. "I think your Kansbar will want a say in our plans."

"You must treat him with respect," Zuleika advised. "He is a very old genie, and sometimes apt to be impatient. When you want to dump his bowl of water into the sea you must recall his power."

"I have never met a genie before," the khan said with a smile.

But when Rafa arrived the following day from the city she brought bad news. The sultan had taken ill in the night. It was not likely that he would recover. "What will become of us among the barbarians!" she wailed piteously. "The gods curse the evil Haroun!"

"Get the bowl!" Zuleika said. "We must consult with Kansbar."

A look of horror suffused Rafa's face. "Oh, the gods! I have forgotten the bowl! Ohh, my princess, you must forgive me!" She threw herself at the princess's feet. "I was about to fetch the bowl and pack it among your possessions when the vizier and his wife arrived with the lady Bahira's things. Both of them were weeping, and it took me forever to get rid of them. I was distracted. I forgot."

Zuleika's first instinct was to order her faithful servant beheaded by the khan's guards, but instead she swallowed back her anger. "I will have to go back into the city," she said. "If my father is ill, and thought to be dying, even Haroun will not refuse me entry. Rafa and Bahira will come with me. No! Bahira must remain here," she decided in an afterthought.

"When will you return?" the khan asked her quietly.

"When my father is dead, and I have overthrown Haroun," she told him.

"You will need my help to overthrow the prince," Amir Khan said. "What if he attempts to retain you as a guarantee of his inheritance?"

"He has no power over me as long as I possess the genie," Zuleika assured him.

"Then you must fetch the bowl, but I would prefer you return to me as quickly as possible. If your father is dying you can be of no further aid to him. Is it possible your cousin poisoned him?" the khan wondered.

"Anything is possible," Zuleika agreed, "but I do not believe Haroun would have acted so swiftly, or before he has found a suitable bride to be his sultana. His favorite, Golnar, knows she will not have that position however she importunes him. But she will want to help him choose the girl. No, this is simply fate at work. But I must remain in the city as long as I can be a comfort to my father, my lord Amir."

"Then I must come with you," he responded. "It is too dangerous otherwise."

"Nonsense!" she told him. "You must remain with your men. I could not trust Haroun if he had you in his grasp. No, my lord. It is too dangerous for the khan. Rafa, however, can be our go-between, for I have now decided I shall go into the city dressed as I am, and with nothing else. I will tell my cousin that Rafa must go back and forth with changes of garments for me, for the Khan will not allow me to take my possessions from his tents. That will sound most barbaric to him, for he would not permit his women to travel without everything they own. Give me a good horse to ride, and have one of your men accompany me. Haroun will see you already value me by this."

"I will send two men with you," the khan replied, "for I do value you very much, my princess." He pulled her into his strong arms, and bending his head, found her ripe lips with his own.

She soared with the touch of his mouth on hers. For a brief moment she closed her eyes and let him become her world. It was a good feeling, and she would have wished it could go on forever, but it could not. With a reluctant sigh she drew away, reaching up to caress his cheek with her hand, a little smile on her lips. "Can I really trust you, Amir Khan? Or will you betray me once you have Dariyabar?" she asked.

"Those are questions that you must answer for yourself, Zuleika," he responded with the utmost seriousness. "There is nothing I can say that will allay your suspicions. Your heart must decide." He loosed her from his embrace. "Go now, my princess, but be careful, and be on your guard."

They brought her a beautiful golden gelding with a full black mane and an equally luxuriant black tail. The black leather saddle was decorated with bright brass studs, and turquoise. Zuleika introduced herself to the beast, murmuring softly in his ear and rubbing his soft muzzle before she gave it a kiss. Then to his surprise she mounted without any aid, springing lightly into the saddle and fitting her feet into the stirrups. She gathered the reins into her hand, smiling with her approval. "You barbarians have the finest horseflesh," she told him. "What a magnificent beast you have given me to ride, and how unfortunate he is gelded. He would breed up wonderful colts."

"His sire has," the khan told her. "And he is his sire's image. He is called Sunrise, and he is yours now. He has never before accepted a new rider. It is obvious he has been waiting for you."

Zuleika patted the gelding's slim, arched neck. "One stallion is more than enough for me, my lord," she said with a chuckle. Then she urged her horse forward, and flanked by two of the khan's men she headed back into the city.

"Can she trust you?" Rafa asked him when he had returned to the tent.

"Yes," Amir Khan said quietly. "Now go to the tent of my general, Sabola, and help the lady Bahira while the princess is gone."

Hiding her smile, Rafa departed the khan's pavilion. He was a proud man, just as the princess was a proud girl. No. Zuleika was now a woman, and obviously none the worse for her initiation into her adulthood. "Where is the tent of General Sabola?" she asked the guard at the entry to the pavilion.

"It is the one flying the blue and silver pendant, lady," the guard said politely.

"Thank you," Rafa said, and hurried toward her destination.

"Ohh, you have come at last!" Bahira said with a smile when Rafa entered. "My possessions have already been delivered. Come and help me sort through them. Who brought them? My parents? Did they weep with my loss? The general is an incredible lover. A bull! But I finally wore him out. Where is Zuleika?" The words tumbled forth excitedly from her mouth.

"I can see that you have survived your first foray into womanhood well," Rafa noted dryly. "The princess has gone back into the city. Her father took ill in the night, and is not expected to live."

"Haroun?" Bahira's big blue eyes were wide with her curiosity.

Rafa shook her head. "More than likely the loss of his last child, and the knowledge that Haroun is to inherit, and would prefer to do it sooner than later," Rafa replied.

"Is Zuleika safe?" Bahira inquired, concerned.

"The princess is more than a match for her cousin. Especially as I forgot the bowl, and she will have it with her."

Bahira's hand flew to her mouth. "Ohh, Rafa! How could you?"

"Your parents came weeping with your things just as I was about to pack it. Then the guards hurried me out before I could remember," Rafa admitted. "Do not remind me, for until my mistress returns with the bowl I shall not be content."

"She will be back in the city now," Bahira said.

And Zuleika was. The people greeted her warmly as she rode through the streets, but their eyes were worried, she could see. She dare say nothing to reassure them. It was not her place yet, and she dare not have such behavior reported to Haroun. It would but arouse his suspicions. She rode through the great open gates of her father's palace, and dismounting, told the slave to take the beast to the stables. Then she hurried inside, going directly to her father's quarters. The guards bowed, nodded, and immediately permitted her to pass.

Maryam, the slave woman who cared for her parent, came forward. "Ahh, princess, it is good you are here. Did the prince send you word?"

"Nay. It came with Rafa, and my possessions," Zuleika answered. "You have a place in my household," she reassured the slave woman.

Maryam bowed, her eyes relieved. "I will take you to him," she said, and led Zuleika into her father's bedchamber.

The elderly sultan was awake, and his eyes lit up at the sight of his sole surviving child. He was seated in a chair, viewing his gardens.

"Now, what is this?" Zuleika teased him gently. "I am gone but a few hours, and you take to your bed?" She knelt by his side.

"What is left for me to live for, my daughter?" he responded.

"Dariyabar!" she told him.

He shook his white head. "Nay, Zuleika. I am too ancient, and far too frail now to carry the burden of Dariyabar upon my shoulders. I long to be with your brothers, and your mother."

"Would you leave me, then? Would you deny yourself the pleasure of knowing your grandchildren?" she demanded, half-angrily.

He laughed weakly. "I have no doubt you will bear the khan many strong sons, but you will not be here in Dariyabar, my daughter."

She was silent for a moment. One could not be certain who was listening. "Khanistan is not that far away. They are on our northern borders," she finally replied. "Do you think I should not come to visit you, my lord father?"

His gaze grew suddenly sharp as he looked at her, realizing there was much she was not saying. "Kansbar? " he whispered to her.

"Safe," was her soft reply.

"Keep him so," the sultan said, a small smile upon his thin lips. This strong, intelligent daughter of his, he now realized, would not easily give up her heritage. "The khan treats you well?" he asked.

She nodded. "Very well. He is a man of honor, I am certain. He rules his own people well."

"And his wives treat you well?"

"He has none. Yet," she replied.

"Ahh," the sultan said, immediately comprehending what it was she was telling him. "Bahira? Poor Abd al Hakim and his wife are devastated by her loss. My vizier no longer thinks kindly of your cousin."

Zuleika laughed. "Bahira has completely wrapped the khan's general about her plump little finger, my father. The vizier and his wife need have no worries about her. I shall tell them that myself."

"How long will you remain with me, my child? Will the khan permit you to stay?" the sultan asked.

"I will be with you, my father, as long as you need me," she promised him. "Now I must go to my apartments, for poor Rafa was so distracted by our sudden move she left one or two of my possessions behind."

"I will sleep now," he told her, and closed his eyes.

Zuleika moved with assurance through the palace corridors back to her own quarters. To her surprise all her furniture was gone, including the cabinet where the bowl was kept. Her heart pounded with fright at the realization, and then Haroun's favorite, Golnar, was by her side.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded rudely, her pale face suspicious. Her eyes were so light a blue that in some lights they appeared almost white.

"My father is ill. I returned to be with him. Where is my furniture? Rafa left some things behind."

"These are to be the new sultana's quarters," Golnar said.

"Oh? Has my cousin then chosen a wife?" Zuleika inquired casually.

"The vizier has a younger daughter. Her heritage is excellent, and he has decided that she will do," Golnar said.

"Tahirah? She is only ten years old!" Zuleika exclaimed. How predictable of Haroun. He chose the easy and quick path. Perhaps he did have something to do with her father's sudden illness.

"Yes, Tahirah. She is young enough to be trained to please the prince, and he will not have to mount her for several years. She is said to be well-mannered and obedient. She will do exactly as she is told," Golnar said smugly.

"And you will retain control of the harem," Zuleika noted. "How very nice for you, Golnar. Has Haroun approached the vizier in this most important matter yet? He will be very honored, I have not a doubt. One daughter a concubine to the khan's general, and the other the new sultana of Dariyabar!"

Golnar, who had a peasant's cunning but was not particularly intelligent, was not certain if the princess mocked her, or was admiring. She chose to believe the latter. "Yes," she said. "It is a good solution for us all. When is the khan to leave Dariyabar?"

"I have been fortunate enough to please my lord Amir Khan," Zuleika explained in a manner that Golnar would comprehend. "He has said we may remain until the situation with my father is resolved one way or another. Of course that should be no problem, as we are no longer at war." Zuleika smiled. "Now, can you please tell me where the cabinet in my quarters went? Rafa left behind my foot basin, and I must have it! It has been mine my whole life." She smiled again almost apologetically. "You know how it is with the things we use to beautify ourselves, Golnar. Do you not have something you could not do without?"

Golnar nodded. "My hairbrushes," she admitted.

"And you have such beautiful hair," Zuleika admired. "It is like spun moonlight. My hair is just an ordinary black."

"But you have always kept it nicely," Golnar responded. "It shines like ebony."

"Ohh, thank you," Zuleika gushed. Then, "The cabinet?"

"It was taken to the storage rooms in the cellars," she said.

"I will go and get it," Zuleika replied.

"Would you like to stay in the harem tonight?" Golnar offered.

"Thank you again," the princess answered her politely, "but I think I will sleep in my father's apartments. You understand?"

"Of course," Golnar said. "The sultan's condition is very delicate, or so the gossip goes."

"Yes," Zuleika murmured, forcing tears to her eyes.

"Go and fetch your foot basin, princess," Golnar advised. "And if you want the company of women, please know you are welcome in the harem. I will instruct the women to pray to the Gods for the sultan."

"I never knew you were so kind," Zuleika said softly, struggling not to laugh. "Thank you." She took one of Golnar's hands, pressing it to her heart in a gesture of politeness. Then she turned and walked slowly away. As everywhere else in the palace, she was not challenged. She entered the storerooms, and searching among the bits and pieces of furniture there finally found her ebony cabinet. She opened the doors, and sighed with relief. There was the basin. She removed it, saying as she did, "Forgive me, Kansbar." The bowl quivered in her hands. Holding it tightly she returned to her father's apartments.

"Oh good!" Maryam said. "You are back. I would like a bit of time to myself, but I did not want to leave the sultan here alone. Prince Haroun has taken all his attendants, and I alone remain."

"When did this happen?" Zuleika asked.

"Yesterday, while we were all in the sultan's hall of audience. When I returned with your father afterwards everyone was gone. When I sought an explanation I was told that the prince had ordered it. I was very afraid, princess. If I leave him, what will happen?"

"You may go and rest," Zuleika said. "I will keep watch by my father's bedside this night."

"I think the prince seeks his inheritance, princess," Maryam said in a low tone.

"I believe you are right, Maryam," Zuleika answered the old serving woman. "Haroun has never been patient, even when we were children."

"I curse the Gods that they took your brothers from us!" Maryam said passionately.

"Do not curse the Gods, Maryam. They had, I think, very little to do with it. How interesting is it that my cousin encouraged my father and my brothers to war with Amir Khan while he remained safe behind the walls of this city. The Gods allow us a modicum of freedom, Maryam. But they are there to judge us when we exchange life in this world for a life in the next. More important, the Gods know what is in our hearts. There are no secrets from them, although we may believe we are clever enough to keep our innermost thoughts from them."

Maryam sighed. "You are right, princess," she said. Then seeing the basin in Zuleika's hands she asked, "Shall I take that for you, my princess?"

Zuleika shook her head. "Nay. I will put it aside. Rafa is coming tomorrow with a change of garments for me. It is my foot basin. She left it behind. I will have her take it back to the khan's camp with her when she returns." Zuleika set the vessel aside casually. "Go now and rest, dear Maryam."

"I have fed your father, what little he would eat," Maryam said. "He is tucked in his bed, but not asleep yet, I suspect. He will be pleased to know you are here." Then she turned and left the sultan's apartments.

Haroun had not yet put in an appearance, and Zuleika knew that he was sure to do so. He would know now of her presence in the palace. He would want to appear concerned. She was eager to consult Kansbar, but it was too dangerous until her cousin had come, and then gone. The princess went into her father's bedchamber and seated herself upon a padded stool next to the elderly man.

"Kansbar?" he husked at her softly.

"I have retrieved the bowl, father."

"It must be given, by tradition, to the next sultan," Ibrahim said to his daughter.

"Not Haroun," Zuleika replied in a determined voice.

"You are strong enough to lead Dariyabar," her father replied.

"The khan is stronger, father. And more worthy. Please trust my judgment in this, though I be but a woman," she told him.

A cynical smile touched his lips at her words. "And a diplomat as well, my daughter. I know that it is you who have inherited my intellect. Your brothers were good men, but they had not, any of them, the strength or ability to rule Dariyabar. Tell me of your khan."

"He is strong, not simply of body, but of mind," she began. "His people respect but fear him as well. Not because he is cruel, rather because he is mighty. On our short acquaintance I have found him to be kind, and fair."

"Do you trust him, my daughter?" the sultan asked her.

"Yes," Zuleika answered unhesitatingly, "although I have told him that I do not."

"Why?"

Zuleika quickly explained in soft tones her visit to the khan's encampment the night before he entered Dariyabar. "But then when he came he did not ask for me as his wife, and took me for his concubine."

"He is clever," the sultan said. "He realized that if he insisted upon having you for a wife, Haroun would become suspicious, and plot his demise. Could you not see that, my daughter?"

"I did, upon reflection, my father, but he must believe he has to re-earn my trust lest he betray me ever again," she said.

"There speaks the woman in you, Zuleika," her father chided her. "How was he to communicate with you before he entered the hall of audience? The khan did the right thing. I believe that your judgment is correct. It is Amir Khan who should follow me upon the throne of Dariyabar, but there is still the matter of your cousin, Haroun."

"He must be killed," Zuleika said implacably.

"Let the genie make that decision, my daughter. I dislike having the blood of my nephew on my hands. Kansbar will do what is best for Dariyabar. You must bring him to me that I may tell him of my desires in this matter," the sultan said.

"Haroun has not yet come, father, and he will come, I know it. Let us wait until he is gone. Sleep now. I will stay by your side."

"You are not afraid of Haroun, are you, my daughter? Yet you must not be overconfident. He is a dangerous man."

"Yes," she agreed, "he is, father. But he did not realize that I was the key to Dariyabar, so great was his greed for the kingdom. That greed will cost him dearly."

"You must also beware of Golnar," her father warned.

"Why? She is a simple creature who has told me she cannot do without her special hairbrushes," Zuleika said scornfully.

"She is more to be feared than your cousin," the sultan said. "Her eunuch is in my pay, daughter. Golnar is the whip that drives your cousin, Haroun. Your cousin has no mind of his own to scheme. He is merely an avaricious fool. It is Golnar who plans and plots the strategies that will lead to Dariyabar's downfall. She is a crafty creature, far more treacherous than Haroun. He but concerns himself with satisfying his own desires for wealth, women, wine and the power she promises him will be his when I am dead."

"Why did you not tell me all this before, father?" Zuleika asked her parent, surprised by the depth of his words.

"Because you needed an ally to fight Haroun," her father said.

"I have Kansbar," the princess responded.

"It is not enough, my daughter. Dariyabar will not accept a ruling sultana. There must be a sultan, and without a viable alternative candidate you would have been helpless. That is why I allowed Haroun to believe he had convinced a senile old man to give his daughter to the enemy," Sultan Ibrahim said.

Zuleika had to laugh at this revelation. "Father, you sly fox!" she chortled.

"Old age and cunning will always triumph over youth, my daughter," he responded with a chuckle. "It is a good lesson to remember."

"I will indeed remember it," she promised him. "Now get some rest, father."

The old man closed his eyes, and Zuleika settled down by his side to watch over him. Until this night she had not fully realized what a clever man her father really was. He had spent more time trying to teach her brothers how to be rulers than being with his daughter, though it had been a useless exercise. Cyrus, Asad, and Jahi had been men of brawn, but little intellect. Zuleika came to realize that it was this that kept her father from giving in to, his own desires, and joining his beloved Jamila in the afterlife. Dariyabar needed him. And the truth of the matter was that of his four children, only his daughter had the wit to rule. And in order to do that she must have a husband. He had parented his half-brother's nephew in hopes that Haroun could be molded into a ruler, but Haroun was controlled by his insatiable desires and his greed. He was worse than the sultan's sons.

And then Haroun, encouraged by his favorite, Golnar, had come up with the idea of giving Zuleika to Amir Khan.

Zuleika smiled to herself as she sat by the sultan's bedside. The old man had played his part to the hilt, nodding and agreeing with his nephew that this would be the answer to their problems. But Haroun was not defeated yet. Zuleika sighed. She wished she were back in the khan's pavilion, naked and in her lover's arms. This second night, alone and together, would have been magic. But first things first! Her cousin must be dealt with as quickly as possible now that her father's health was in such a precarious state. She started as two hands fell upon her shoulders.

"Zuleika, my dear and beautiful cousin, how dutiful a daughter you are," Haroun's voice murmured softly. His hand caressed her neck lightly.

She arose. "Come into the outer room, Haroun," she whispered. "I would not wake my father, and he has just fallen asleep." She knew, however, that the old man was fully awake.

In the outer room he held her in his embrace and said, "A night in the khan's camp has sent you back to us with a new lushness, my cousin. Were you well fucked last night? Did you find his barbarian ways pleasing to you?"

Zuleika smiled boldly into her cousin's face. "I was very well used, Haroun, not just by the khan, but by his general as well. They took both Bahira and me to the great bed in my lord Amir's tent, and shared our favors between them. It was very exciting. I could never have imagined such a thing, but I will admit to enjoying it." She smiled again. "You would not have shared me, and allowed me such pleasure if I had been yours, cousin, would you?" she taunted him.

His too-handsome face darkened. "You could yet be mine, cousin," he replied. One arm about her waist, his other hand clamped about her breast, and he squeezed it.

Zuleika's tongue ran provocatively across her lips, and she pressed herself against him. "Do you dare to steal what is not yours, Haroun," she mocked him. "Golnar wants me gone lest I influence you instead of her. That is why she has chosen a mere child, a little girl who cannot be a true wife to you for several years, for your mate. If you take me, and keep me in your harem, cousin, Golnar and I will fight for supremacy. One of us will die. Even if it is I, Golnar will never forgive you, and she will find a wonderful way to revenge herself upon you. If I survive, I shall kill you myself, Haroun, and thus rule our land alone. But perhaps Golnar and I will conspire together against you, Haroun." She laughed. "If you think it is worth it, then take me now! Of course you will also have to deal with the khan, who has found my favors much to his satisfaction."

"I am well rid of you!" the prince snapped, backing away from her. "How long are you to remain with us?"

"They say it is a possibility my father is dying," Zuleika replied. "I will remain until either his health improves, or he leaves us for the afterlife."

"May he join your mother quickly, then," Haroun said nastily, "so we may be rid of both of you!"

"You are too kind," Zuleika murmured, bowing to him from the waist. "My serving woman, Rafa, will be traveling back and forth between the city and the khan's camp each day with a change of clothing for me. The khan would not let me bring anything with me, so fearful is he that I might not return," she said.

"Yet you claim to have enjoyed his lust," Haroun responded.

"Indeed I do," Zuleika said enthusiastically, "but I also find the khan's camp primitive. I am used to the elegance of our city."

"Enjoy it while you may," the prince said, and then without another word he turned on his heel and departed the sultan's apartments.

Zuleika was hard-pressed not to laugh aloud. She went to the door of the chamber, and threw the bolt that locked the door to her father's rooms. Then she went back into the sultan's bedroom, and closing that door behind her locked it as well. The draperies were already drawn across the tall arched windows. Fetching the old and dented basin, she set it on the table near her father's bed, and leaning over it said, "Kansbar, genie of the golden bowl, great protector of Dariyabar, come to me now, I implore you."

The bowl filled quickly with crystal water, and transformed itself into the beautiful vessel that it truly was. Kansbar's stern face appeared upon the surface of the water.

"Well, daughter of Dariyabar, what is it you want? I see that you have managed to retrieve me after that fool, Rafa, left me behind."

"We have much work to do, genie," the princess said.

"Explain!" he replied sharply.