Zuleika and the Barbarian

by Bertrice Small

  "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.

  Chapter Four

  "My father is dying, Kansbar. Can you restore his health?" Zuleika asked the genie.

  "If it is his time, my princess, then it is his time," the genie responded sanguinely.

  "Would you have Haroun rule Dariyabar, Kansbar? You may speak with my father. He would have Amir Khan succeed him. But to make that happen we need more time. If my father dies this night, or in the next few nights to come, then Haroun will seize power here. Sultan Ibrahim must make his wishes publicly known. To do that he must be restored to his previously good health."

  The waters in the golden bowl grew dark for a moment, and then light again as the genie considered the problem. "I can give your father a moon's span, but no more, my princess. It is simply not in my power. If I do, I tamper with the will of the Gods, but I have not asked them for a favor in eons. They will grant me this, I know, for Dariyabar's sake. I shall also make both you and your father impervious to poisons of any kind, for Golnar is an impatient and vengeful woman. She already sees herself ruling Dariyabar through Haroun, but she will not allow that buffoon to live long, I suspect, before she kills him and takes the power for herself through the son she will seek to give your cousin. Haroun's heir may certainly come from her wicked womb as long as his sultana is of respectable lineage."

  "Golnar tells me he will seek the vizier's youngest daughter, Tahirah, who is still a child," Zuleika said.

  "Ahhh," Kansbar said, "then I am right. Golnar wants to give your cousin his heir. Pray she is not already with child, or if she is that the child is a female."

  "What are we to do with Haroun?" Zuleika asked. "Should we not kill him so he may not prove a problem for us?"

  "Fierce! Fierce!" the genie murmured. "You should have been your father's son! Still, you should not have his blood on your conscience. Haroun is a fool, my princess, but I believe we might allow him his life. However, I think he should live it in another place," he chuckled. "There is a land called Kava where women rule, and men are their slaves. His pretty face and randy cock would be much appreciated by the women of Kava. Of course he will, I expect, need to be retrained to know his place in their unique society," the genie said with a wicked and knowing smile. "I can arrange to send him there, my princess."

  "But what if he should escape Kava, and attempt to return to Dariyabar?" she asked him.

  "Kava is almost two years of travel from Dariyabar, my princess, but more important, the women of Kava have learned how to control time. For each year Haroun is in Kava, twenty-five of our years will have passed. If that does not reassure you, let me tell you that no man has ever escaped from Kava. Only a fool would want to, and while your cousin is indeed a fool, he will adjust. The women of Kava are very beautiful. They know pleasure well. After the shock has worn off, Haroun will find himself a mistress who will cherish him, and cosset him. He will live in luxury, his every need met as long as he pleases his mistress. He will quickly learn that those men who are recalcitrant find themselves in either the gem mines, or the fields behind a plow. Haroun would not enjoy that. But if the impossible happened and he did escape and find his way back to Dariyabar, he would be a very old man himself, for once he has entered Kava he remains young. But if he leaves, he will return to what he is, for he was not born of Kava. It is the perfect solution, and you will not have his blood on your hands."

  "What of Golnar?" Zuleika queried.

  "That is for Amir Khan to decide, my princess."

  "Very well," Zuleika said. "But my father?"

  "Will awaken in the morning healthy and well. He will be stronger in body and mind than he has ever been," Kansbar promised. "But in one month he will go to his bed, and not awaken again in this world. He has but thirty days in which to make his will known to the people of Dariyabar. He must bring Amir Khan into the city tomorrow, and the khan must marry you before all the people. This binds your father's blood to that of Amir Khan, and to the previous sultans of Dariyabar. Amir Khan will only co-rule with you, my princess. It is your first son who will inherit after his father, and his maternal grandfather."

  "And where is Haroun in all of this?" she demanded.

  "Your cousin even now is awakening to find himself in Kava," the genie chuckled, well pleased with himself. "He is among a group of slaves brought in from a nearby city to restock the stud pool."

  Zuleika giggled. She couldn't help herself. "He will be so confused," she said. "He may even think himself mad." She sounded rather pleased by the thought, remembering how he had squeezed her breast and threatened her just a short while ago.

  "He will survive after the shock has worn off," Kansbar said. "I will check on him now and again, but once he learns the lay of that particular land, and that there is no escape, he will adjust quite nicely, I am thinking. Perhaps I shall see he is given a stern mistress to start. One who will whip his bottom to train him to obedience."

  "Ohh," Zuleika murmured, "the very thought excites me, genie."

  Kansbar chortled. "Tell your father what I have told you, and then return in the morning to your khan." For a moment he arose from the waters of his bowl, and smoothed his big hands down the sultan's frail body. "There," he said.

  "Ibrahim is healed, and free from death for the next thirty days." The genie reached out and put his hand upon Zuleika's dark head. "You will be free of poisons forever, my princess," he told her. "Do not leave me behind again, however," he gently scolded her. Then he disappeared back into his bowl, the waters drained magically away, and the golden vessel once again became a plain metal container of no import.

  To her surprise Zuleika fell asleep for several hours, awakening to see a thin shaft of light pushing through the curtains. She arose and opened the draperies to a glorious morning. She opened the windows, allowing the soft fresh air into the room. Then she went to the bedchamber door and unbolted it, walking through to unbolt the main door to the sultan's apartments. When she returned to her father's bedside he was awake. His color was restored, and he looked better than he had in many years. "Father!" she cried happily. "Kansbar has kept his word!"

  "What have you done, daughte
r?" the sultan asked her. "I cannot ever remember feeling this well."

  "Kansbar has restored your health for a moon's span, father. At the end of that time you will join mother in the other world," Zuleika explained. "Today, the first day of the new moon, the genie says you are to bring the khan into the city with me. We will wed, and you will declare him your heir."

  "And Haroun? What of your cousin in all of this, my daughter?"

  "Haroun is no longer in Dariyabar. The genie transported him in the night to a place called Kava." And then Zuleika explained.

  The sultan chortled. "It is an ideal solution, my daughter. I should not like to have had your cousin's death on my hands. Lock the bedchamber door again, and summon the genie for me now."

  Zuleika did as she was bid, and then placed the bowl in her father's hands.

  The old sultan called, "Kansbar, genie of the golden bowl, your master, the sultan of Dariyabar, summons you to him."

  The bowl immediately filled, and Kansbar was there, his voice deferential. "I am here, Master. You have but to command me, and I will do it." The turbaned head bowed.

  "I thank you for the opportunity you have given me," the sultan said. "Now give me your wisdom. Is this Amir Khan the man to follow me? You are certain of this?"

  "I am, royal master," the genie said. "And your blood will flow in the veins of the children he gets on your daughter, princess Zuleika. The line of Dariyabar will not be broken."

  "Then so be it, Kansbar, guardian of Dariyabar," Sultan Ibrahim agreed. "I give my power over to you, to my daughter, and to Amir Khan from the moment they are bound together in marriage."

  "It will be according to your will, my lord sultan," the genie replied.

  "Farewell, Kansbar," the sultan said softly.

  "Farewell, Sultan Ibrahim," the genie replied, and Zuleika would have sworn that there were tears in his eyes, but then he was gone, and the bowl drained of its water.

  "Take the bowl out with you to the khan's encampment, and tell him of my wishes. He will take you as his wife this very day, and then I will declare him my heir before all the people." The sultan threw back the coverlet, and stepped from his bed. "The Gods! I feel better now than I have felt in years, daughter. Find Maryam, and tell her I am hungry! I want a joint of roasted kid, fresh bread, cheese, and melon for my meal! Hurry! Then go back to your khan."

  Zuleika bent, and kissed her father happily. Then she left his bedchamber to find Maryam, his personal servant, entering the royal apartments. "Maryam! My father has recovered from whatever it was that was ailing him. Go and see, and then fetch him his meal. He wants roasted kid, bread, cheese and melon. I will wait for you."

  Maryam hurried into her master's bedchamber, and when she came out she was beaming with happiness. "It is a miracle, my princess! It is a miracle. It was your visit, I am certain, that has restored him. Ahh, but I have news. Prince Haroun is nowhere to be found in the palace. His bodyslave put him to bed last night, but when he went to awaken him this morning he was gone. The imprint of his head was on his pillow, but he could not be found," Maryam said. "His servants are in an uproar."

  "He is probably with Golnar," Zuleika said.

  "No! She swears he did not come to visit her last night," Maryam said. "She is very upset, my princess."

  "I am sure she is," Zuleika said, "unless this is some plot of hers, for we all know the sort of woman she is. Tell my father. It is he who rules here, not Prince Haroun. I am ordered to return to the khan's encampment." She picked up the metal basin. "And I am to return here later today with the khan. I shall see you then, Maryam."

  Zuleika moved swiftly through the marble corridors of her father's palace, and out into the courtyard. Her golden gelding was immediately brought to her, and with it were the khan's two guards, her escort. She mounted without a word, and carefully holding the bowl against her she moved off, out through the palace gates and into the city. Again the people greeted her with smiles and words of blessing. She smiled back at them, happy to know that she would soon be living amongst them one again. She found that she was excited to be returning to Amir Khan. She wondered if he would cooperate with Kansbar, but then if he refused, Kansbar would destroy him. And that would be a great shame, Zuleika considered. Amir Khan was a beautiful man with a fine cock. They would make wonderful babies together for Dariyabar.

  He was awaiting her at the entry to his pavilion, a small smile upon his face. She slid easily from her gelding, even holding the bowl next to her. His eyebrows quirked. She nodded in response, and walked into his vast tent. Her heart was beating a tattoo. Just seeing his strong face thrilled her. When would he make love to her again? she wondered. It could not be too soon, she decided.

  "This is your fabled golden bowl?" he asked, reaching out for it.

  Zuleika drew back. "It is not yours to have yet, my lord. I must explain what the genie has said, and what he has done. Then I will summon him, and introduce you to each other."

  "Very well, but come and sit, my princess," he said, taking her by the hand and drawing her down into a pile of multicolored silk cushions. "And give your lord and master a kiss, for I find that I have missed you, Zuleika of Dariyabar. Is it possible that you may have missed me as well?" His big hand caressed and cupped her face.

  "Perhaps, my lord, the longing I felt in the night was for you," she teased him. "Amir!" she squealed as he pushed her back into the cushions, his hand sliding beneath her gown and up to brush her thigh. "You are too bold, my lord!"

  "And you, my princess, are shamelessly eager. You are wet with your desire, and ready to accept me, are you not?" His dark eyes looked down into her violet ones. Then he pushed two fingers into her love sheath, and began to move them back and forth.

  "Ahh, you devil! We must conclude our business first!" she protested. "Ohhh!"

  "Aye, we must," he agreed, and covered her body with his own, pushing her gown up to bare her lower body. Then his love lance was pressing into her, and she was wrapping her legs about him, and making little noises of distinct pleasure.

  "Oh yes, my lord! Ohhh, yes! Oh! Oh! Ohhh!" Zuleika cried, pushing back at his every thrust and clinging to him.

  He began to laugh with his delight in her, and her obvious pleasure in him. "I adore you, Zuleika of Dariyabar!" he cried as his juices flooded her hidden garden of love.

  When once again they had come to themselves, and restored their disarrayed attire, Zuleika told the khan of the visit she had had with her father; how the genie had restored his health for a single cycle of the moon so they might wed, and the sultan might declare Amir Khan his heir. "We are to enter the city this afternoon and we will be married tonight," she explained.

  "And Prince Haroun will stand by and permit this?" the khan asked. "I think not. I shall have to kill him first, and that may not prove easy, Zuleika."

  "No! No! Kansbar has transported my cousin by means of his great magic to a land called Kava. There, he will live his life a slave in this society of women. Kansbar says that once he accepts this fate he will be very content. No one escapes Kava. He will never return. Already they seek him in Dariyabar, but they will not find him. Nor are there any signs of violence, for there was none. Haroun is simply gone from Dariyabar."

  "Has he offspring?" the khan wanted to know. "We can leave nothing of him if we are to rule Dariyabar in peace, Zuleika."

  She shook her head. "Golnar, his favorite, has seen that Haroun did not spawn children. She wanted him sultan first. She planned to have him marry Bahira's little sister, Tahirah. The child is too young to be bred, but Haroun would have had a sultana who would be accepted. Then Golnar would have birthed my cousin an heir of her womb. A sultan's first son, be his mother the sultana or a concubine, is the heir."

  "A clever woman," Amir Khan noted. "I look forward to meeting her, my princess."

  "Why?" Zuleika demanded to know. She had hardly expected this.

  "One should always know one's enemy," he said quietly.

  "I want her sen
t from Dariyabar!" Zuleika said angrily.

  "We will consult the genie on the best way to manage this woman," Amir Khan told Zuleika. "Come now, my beauty, and remember you promised to introduce us."

  "I do not know if I should," Zuleika said.

  He laughed. "Are you jealous then, my princess? You should not be. I am yours, and yours alone," he swore.

  "Golnar is very beautiful, and does not appear to be what she really is," Zuleika said. "She will present herself to you as meek and mild, but she is evil incarnate."

  "Is she really that wicked, or do you not perhaps exaggerate just a little to protect your place in my heart?" he asked her gently.

  Zuleika could not believe what she had just heard from his mouth. Why was it that men could be such fools, and believe that every action or word a woman suggested had to do with them? She swallowed back her anger. "Golnar," she told him, "is far more iniquitous than you can possibly imagine, my lord Amir. When you are chosen by my father over my cousin, Haroun, when Haroun cannot be found, no trace of him at all, she will see all her plans and schemes coming to naught. That is when she will prove the most dangerous. She has an entire harem at her command, and she will use them and her own body to regain her objectives. If you believe otherwise, then I fear for Dariyabar."

  "You will be my wife," he said to her in an attempt to reassure her. "But when your father crosses into the other world, I will be sultan, Zuleika. It is my will that will be law, and not yours. I have already warned you that I will not be tampered with in my rule."