The Awakening, Zuleika and the Barbarian (21 page)

"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.

"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, daughter?" 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."