Zuleika and the Barbarian

'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