A Memory of Love

by Bertrice Small

  Struggling to gain control of herself, Rhonwyn took the pastry Nilak had offered her and began to chew it. It had no taste in her mouth. She swallowed, but put it back down upon the plate.

  Nilak reached out and took the girl's cold hand in hers. "It will be all right, my child, I promise you. This is a good life."

  "I am Rhonwyn uerch Llywelyn, wife of Edward de Beaulieu, lord of Haven Castle. I do not belong here. They must let me go!"

  Nilak gathered Rhonwyn into her arms and held her tightly.

  It was at that moment Baba Haroun hurried over to the two women. "What is happening to her?" he demanded. "She must be ready to go to the caliph tonight."

  "She is in shock, my lord Haroun. It is to be expected, after all. She may have come here as a warrior, but she is in reality only a young woman," Nilak murmured softly. "If the caliph is already taken by her beauty, we must treat her gently so our lord and master is not disappointed in either you or me."

  "Your years have given you wisdom, Nilak," he grudgingly agreed, reaching into his voluminous red, black, and yellow-striped robe. "Here is a gentle sleeping potion that will calm the girl." He uncorked the little silver vial and poured it into Rhonwyn's cup.

  Nilak put the cup to Rhonwyn's lips. "Drink, my child. We have put a mild dose of herbs into your tea to relax you. You need to sleep so you may face life as bravely now as you have always faced it in the past. Drink."

  Rhonwyn didn't argue, gulping down the fragrant brew as if she couldn't escape fast enough. She hated this loss of control over her own life. Within minutes her eyes grew heavy. She didn't protest as Nilak led her to a couch where she lay down and promptly fell into a dreamless sleep.

  "What is she to be called?" Nilak asked the chief eunuch.

  "Noor," he answered her.

  "How suitable," Nilak remarked. "Will you help me get her out of these odd garments, Baba Haroun? I do not want to entrust her to the other women of the harem quite yet. Has the lady Alia been informed of this girl's arrival and the caliph's interest?"

  He nodded, thinking as he did that Nilak was perhaps a more valuable slave woman than he had previously considered. The lady Alia was the caliph's favorite wife. She had been wed to him when she was thirteen, and while he had two other wives and several favored concubines, it was the lady Alia who was his friend and his confidante now that the first flush of passion had passed them both. It was her son who would follow his father as the next caliph. She was well liked, feared, and respected by all in the harem.

  "I have warned my lady of this new threat," Baba Haroun said. "She will come and see the girl as soon as we have gotten these clothes off of her."

  They worked together, removing Rhonwyn's leather boots, her mail leg coverings, the chausses; her hauberk with its metal shoulder pads. Beneath the knight's garb they unlaced her padded arming doublet, and took off her braies, her hose, her chemise. Rhonwyn lay naked before them, her slender frame sweating and dirty but lovely.

  "Allah! She is absolutely beautiful," Nilak said. "There has never been a woman here as fair, Baba Haroun."

  The chief eunuch stood silent for a long moment, studying Rhonwyn. Her body was utterly flawless but for that ugly bush of hair at the junction where her two thighs met. That would be removed immediately. The limbs, however, were shapely and firm. The breasts small but nicely rounded with pert nipples. Bathed and properly garbed, she would be truly worthy of his master's bed.

  "She is lovely," a new voice interjected, and they turned to find the lady Alia had joined them. "What kind of a girl do you think she is?"

  "Warlike and difficult," Baba Haroun said immediately.

  Alia laughed and patted his hand. "You are too protective of me, Haroun, and most prejudiced where any other woman is concerned. What think you, lady Nilak?"

  "I am not certain yet, my lady, but this girl is, I believe, intelligent. I do not sense any wickedness about her, but she has been in my company only an hour or more. However, a woman who could convince her husband to allow her warlike pursuits is both clever and headstrong. She has been very brave these past few days, as you will come to see when I tell you her tale. Now she has only just realized her fate, and it has put her into shock. We will ascertain more of her character when she awakens in a few hours."

  "Baba Haroun," the lady Alia said, "see that Noor is carefully guarded until I send the lady Nilak back to watch over her." She turned to the older woman. "Come, and you will tell me this girl's story."

  Nilak followed the caliph's wife to her apartments, and they sat together as Nilak repeated what Rhonwyn had told her.

  Alia was thoughtful for a few moments when Nilak had finished, and then she said, "Noor has done me a great favor in slaying Prince Abdallah, although she can hardly know it. Unless she sets herself up against me, she will have my friendship for that alone. If anything had happened to my lord Rashid, Abdallah would have killed my son to gain the caliphate for himself. Praise Allah he is now in Paradise, and not Cinnebar." Then her usually serene face grew concerned. "He is eager to possess her, they say. Will she be ready to go to his bed tonight, Nilak? He does not like to be disappointed, as you know."

  Nilak sighed. "I cannot say, gracious lady," she answered honestly. "I do not know what the girl will be like once she awakens from her slumbers. Rest may restore her urge to resist."

  "When she is bathed, bring her to me," the caliph's wife said.

  Nilak arose and bowed to the lady Alia. Then she withdrew, hurrying back to where her new charge lay in a restless sleep, watched over by two armed eunuchs. "You may go now," she told the two guards, and sat down next to Rhonwyn. She beckoned to a slave girl and sent her for the embroidery she had been working on earlier. Receiving it, she bent over her needle once again.

  Rhonwyn awoke, confused as to where she was, her mouth dry. Then Nilak's lace came into her view, and the girl fell back against her pillows. "I am thirsty," she said weakly.

  Nilak poured her a goblet of liquid and held it to her lips. "It is fruit juice," she said as Rhonwyn greedily gulped down the contents of the goblet. "How do you feel now, my child?"

  "Still tired" came the wary reply. Then Rhonwyn looked down, and seeing she was naked, gave a small cry. "What have you done with my garments, lady?" She was blushing furiously, and there was nothing nearby with which she might cover herself.

  "You could not sleep in those rough garments, my child. Your lovely limbs were prickled with the mail of your leg and arm coverings. Only that padding about your breasts saved them from being so evilly marked. Can you stand up? You must go to the baths and be washed. You have slept almost the entire day away."

  "Could you not have put another garment on me?" Rhonwyn demanded.

  "A clean garment on a filthy body?" Nilak sounded shocked.

  "I am going nowhere without something to cover me," Rhonwyn insisted stonily.

  "I realize you are not used to being naked, my child, but we are all females here," Nilak replied quietly. "Come now, do not be foolish. The baths will restore you." Nilak arose and held out her hand.

  "No!" Rhonwyn said.

  Nilak did not bother to argue further. Noor was going to have to learn obedience sooner than later. She signaled to two eunuchs. "The lady Noor is to be escorted to the baths and is having a moment of obstinacy. See that she overcomes it. I will meet you there." Then she moved off, crossing the main room of the harem, a small smile upon her pretty face as she heard the shriek of outrage behind her. She did not bother to turn about. The eunuchs had been given their orders and would carry them out. Nilak entered the baths and called for the bath mistress.

  "Good day, Sarai," she said as the bath mistress came.

  "Good day to you, Nilak. You are bringing me the warrior woman? Where is she? I hear he wants her tonight and there will be a great deal to do with this one."

  "She is coming," Nilak said with a small laugh. "She objected to being naked, and two eunuchs had to escort her, I fear."

  "Foolish creatur
e," Sarai muttered. "These Frankish women are so ridiculous in their fear of nudity. Ah, here she is."

  Rhonwyn was pink with her outrage. The two eunuchs had grasped her arms and hustled her through the harem, practically lifting her off her feet when she resisted them. When they put her down before the bath mistress and Nilak, she whirled and struck them both with her fists. "Barbarians!" she shouted angrily.

  The eunuchs were surprised by her ferocity, but neither was hurt by the blows. They laughed and then departed.

  Rhonwyn turned again and said to Nilak, "How could you let them do that to me, lady?"

  "I do not argue with foolish girls," Nilak said sternly. "The rule in this world is obedience, Noor. When you do not or will not obey, you will be made to, my child. Now, you are not a stupid girl, so this should be the only lesson you will need."

  "I will escape this place, return to my old world," Rhonwyn said defiantly.

  "No, you will not," Nilak said implacably. "Even if by some miracle you managed to leave the palace, you would not know where to go, and you would be caught and brought back. You would be whipped upon the soles of your feet until you could not walk for three days. That is the punishment for disobedient slave girls. We do not mar the beauty of harem women, but unruly behavior must be punished. Cease your foolishness, Noor! We have much to do before moonrise. This is Sarai, the bath mistress. You will obey her, and I will be by your side to see that you do."

  "You remind me of my aunt," Rhonwyn said. "She is an abbess."

  Nilak laughed. "And did she have to speak so directly to you, my child?"

  "Aye," Rhonwyn said, and then followed the two older women into the balhs.

  She had never thought herself a dirty woman, but she had also never known what clean truly was. She was rinsed and soaped. A silver instrument was used to scrape the dirt from her body. She was rinsed again. A thick peach-colored paste with a heavy fragrance was smoothed over her arms, her legs, beneath her arms, and atop her Venus mons. She was brought a cup of hot, sweet mint tea. When she had finished it, she watched in utter amazement as the paste was rinsed from her body, and her body hair with it.

  Rhonwyn looked down at her mons and blushed. She had never noticed before how plump it was, nor the deep rosy slash that bisected its twin halves. There was an intense sensuality to her body now that made her very uncomfortable. Neither her nudity, nor their own nudity, seemed to disturb her two companions. What an odd world, she thought as she sat quietly while her fingernails and her toenails were pared almost to the quick and then smoothed and shaped neatly.

  Her gilt-colored hair with its gold and silver lights was most thoroughly washed several times until she thought her scalp was going to be scrubbed raw. Then her hair was carefully dried by hands that toweled and brushed until her tresses almost floated like thistledown in a west wind. They lay her upon a raised and padded bench, and an old crone carrying a basket came From the shadows.

  "This will be the hardest thing for you to bear," Nilak said. "Rafi will cleanse your love channel for you. There is no prurience in her actions, my child. Remain quiet, and she will not hurt you."

  Rhonwyn's eyes were wide and startled at Nilak's words, but by now she realized that resistance was indeed futile. She tried not to tense as Rafi pulled her nether lips apart, bathing her gently in places Rhonwyn never knew could be bathed. The old lady's fingers pushed a soft cloth into her body, cleansing and purifying the path the caliph would take this night. Rhonwyn was amazed that she could be stretched quite that wide.

  "He will enjoy this one, for while she is not a virgin, she is barely used," Rafi remarked to Nilak and Sarai. "Her pleasure jewel has not yet grown greatly." She cackled and looked down at Rhonwyn. "I am done now, my chick. May you know only joy in your master's bed."

  "What did she say?" Rhonwyn asked Nilak.

  "She says you are beautiful and wishes you joy" came the reply. "She is finished now, and you are ready for your creaming. Remain where you are. You will like this part," she said with a small smile.

  A young eunuch, naked but for a loincloth, came with a tray of lotions and creams. Looking Rhonwyn over critically, he selected a lotion from his tray, poured it into his pink palm, and began to massage her body. Rhonwyn was shocked, but the young brown eunuch worked efficiently, her naked body apparently quite boring to him. His fingers dug into her shoulders and neck. He massaged her chest and breasts; her arms, hands, and fingers; legs, feet, and toes. Then he turned her over as easily as if he were turning a flat bread over a fire and began to work her shoulders again, her back, her buttocks, the backs of her legs and feet. Tense at first, Rhonwyn found herself relaxing in spite of herself and felt newly energized. These baths were the most deliciously decadent experience she had had in all of her life. She somehow thought that Edward would have enjoyed them, and the remembrance of her husband sobered her.

  She was being prepared like a lamb for the slaughter for the caliph's bed. Another man. She had not been able to make happy the one she was wed to in the matter of passion. When she displeased this man, would he order her killed? Perhaps if he were unhappy with her, he would return her to the crusaders' encampment, and poor Sir Fulk as well. It was a slim hope, but one to which she would cling. She would tell the caliph honestly that she was unable to give or receive pleasure, and then he would send her back to Edward. There was nothing to be afraid of any longer, and she had certainly enjoyed these baths in the meantime. She would have to tell Edward all about them when she returned to him. Haven could certainly benefit by such civility.

  Chapter 9

  The caliph's wife was a beautiful woman whose intelligence, kindness, and common sense had kept her close to her husband's heart for over fifteen years. She was Egyptian by birth, a slender lady with pale golden-colored skin, beautiful almond-shaped brown eyes, and long, thick dark hair that she wore loose and dressed with strands of tiny pearls. She wore a peach-colored silk kaftan trimmed with gold at the keyhole neck opening and the wide sleeves.

  "Kneel to the caliph's wife, Noor," Nilak instructed her charge.

  Rhonwyn knelt, but she did not bow her head.

  A barely discernible smile touched the lips of the caliph's wife. The girl had pride, and properly channeled that was a good trait. It was just possible that this beautiful creature might make her husband a fourth and final wife. An ally against the two silly featherbrains who held the positions of second and third wives and who spent much time attempting ways to supplant her or cause trouble for her son, Mohammed. And if her son had not been there to follow his father, they would have fought with each other over whose son would, and then Cinnebar would have suffered the tortures of a civil war.

  "She is ready?" the caliph's wife asked Nilak.

  "She seems to have come to an acceptance with herself, my lady. She has been bathed and purified properly, and it is hoped that the reality of the possession will more than satisfy the caliph's anticipation," Nilak replied with a small smile. "She is lovely, isn't she?"

  The lady Alia nodded in agreement. "Tell her I am pleased with both her beauty and her gentle manners."

  Nilak repeated the words spoken by Alia to Rhonwyn.

  The girl looked to Nilak and asked, "Am I permitted to address this lady directly, or must I speak to you?"

  "You may address her and I will translate," Nilak responded.

  "I thank you, my lady, for your kindness. I hope the caliph will see fit to release me back to my husband so I may cause you no distress by my presense," Rhonwyn said politely. Certainly the caliph's wife could not enjoy having all these women waiting for her husband's attentions. She would undoubtedly be delighted to get rid of at least one, and Rhonwyn would surely be delighted to go.

  Nilak repeated Rhonwyn's words, adding, "She does not yet understand our ways, my lady, and like most captives dreams of freedom."

  "He will certainly dissuade her of such notions," Alia said. "By morning she will be his devoted slave as so many others are. I do not quite know w
hat it is about Rashid, but he has great charm to go along with his insatiable appetites for passion. Tell Noor I thank her for her kind wishes and that she pleases me. If her gentle behavior continues, she will have my favor."

  "Fortunate girl!" Nilak exclaimed to Rhonwyn. "You have pleased her with your good manners. If you continue to do so, she says, you will gain her favor. The caliph's second and third wives have never, even on their first nights with him, had her favor."

  "The caliph has three wives?" Rhonwyn was both surprised and shocked.

  "He is allowed four under the law of Islam," Nilak answered her. "And as many concubines as please him. The only stipulation is that under Islamic law all his wives must be treated equally. If you delight him, you could easily become his wife, Noor. And with her favor, who knows what heights you might attain within this house? Your future at this moment is most golden, my child. Do not forget me in your greatness."

  "I have no stature here," Rhonwyn said in practical tones, "nor do I wish any, as you well know. I do not go to the caliph to delight him, but rather to plead for my release, Nilak."

  "Do not be foolish, my child. I have told you there is no way back to your world from Cinnebar. Make the most of the opportunity offered you in this time and this place," Nilak said.

  "What does Noor say?" the caliph's wife asked.

  "She frets she will not be able to please him," Nilak lied with facile grace. What else could she say? she thought. "I am attempting to reassure her that she is a delight to the eye and will indeed please our lord and master, the caliph."