Zuleika and the Barbarian

Zuleika climbed on still-shaky legs from their bed, and fetched the golden bowl, calling to Kansbar as she did. The genie appeared quickly, but not within his bowl, rather within the room, part of him outside in the garden. His face was grim. 'What is happening?' Zuleika begged him. 'It sounds like the furies have been loosed in the city.'

'My niece has obviously learned of her defeat, and is not taking it well,' the genie said. He suddenly shrank to mortal size. 'Come! We must save the poor foolish Golnar from her wrath.' He ran from the chamber with the princess and the khan behind him.

The women of the harem were cowering in a single corner of the apartment when they entered it. Kansbar went directly to Golnar's quarters, entering them, and saying as he did, 'Keket, daughter of Ja'fa, cease your rage, I command you!'

Keket whirled about, her beautiful face dark with anger. 'Who are you to dare to order me about?' she demanded to know of him.

'I am your uncle, Kansbar, the genie of Dariyabar,' he told her. 'Why have you sought to destroy this kingdom?'

'You have stolen my father's magic,' Keket cried, 'and by doing so you rendered him mortal, and he died long before his time. I have vowed to revenge myself upon your creation, this kingdom of Dariyabar! And so I would have, had it not been for this lustful creature I spawned from the seed of a mortal. Even you, uncle, must be disgusted by her overwhelming humanity!'

'I did not steal Ja'fa's magic, niece. The Great Genie took it from him as punishment for his crimes, which were many. It was not just his attempt at vengeance upon his brother, a fellow genie, but against many others in the world of magic. My brother was a wicked man, Keket.'

'I do not believe you!' she cried.

'I see that, like your father, you believe only what you wish to believe. You must be punished for your destructive behavior. Your magic is taken from you at the order of the Great Genie, and the Fairy Queen. You are henceforth mortal. Treat your daughter well, and perhaps she will take you in in your old age, for you are, Keket, an old woman now,' Kansbar said.

'Noooo,' Keket shrieked as she saw the look of horror upon Golnar's beautiful face. She looked down and saw her hands had grown withered and spotted. 'Noooo!' she cried again, and then to their surprise Keket swelled up and burst into a thousand tiny pieces that disintegrated as they exploded into the air.

'What has happened to my mother?' Golnar cried.

'Amazing!' Kansbar said with admiration. 'Somehow she managed to destroy herself before all the magic drained from her soul. Can you but imagine what she might have accomplished if that force had been used for good? My poor niece.' He shook his head. Then he turned to Golnar. 'You are my brother's last descendant, Golnar, but you are more mortal than magic. You have conceived a child during your orgy last night, but it is neither the khan's nor his general's. It is the offspring of a common barbarian soldier. But because you are my brother's grandchild I will save you from your shame.'

'How?' The query was short and sharp. Golnar gazed hard at the genie, who now seemed to be growing in size once again.

'First you must promise me that this quest for vengeance has ended with your mother's demise,' the genie said.

'It was never my battle,' Golnar said sullenly. 'I just wanted the wealth and power that the mother of Dariyabar's sultan would have, had I been that fortunate.'

'I will give you wealth and power on a smaller scale,' the genie said, 'but you must leave Dariyabar in order to obtain it.'

'How?' Again, the question was direct.

'There is a merchant of Samarkhan who has been here in the city for a year, but is now preparing to return to his home. I will make you his wife, Golnar, and give him the power to mount you most lustily for a brief time. He will believe the child you bear his own. It will be his only heir, for he has no others. He will treat you like the queen you sought to be. He is rich, and will, I promise you, grow richer with the passing years. That will be my gift to you, daughter of Keket. Will you accept it?'

She did not hesitate, but nodded in the affirmative. 'I will, Great Uncle Kansbar, for that is your name, is it not? My mother told me that it was your name.'

'It is,' the genie said, so large now that he practically filled the entire room.

'May I take my possessions with me to my bridegroom? All the beautiful things that Prince Haroun gave me? And may I take my servants as well? A woman should not go to her husband without her servants and her possessions.'

'I can see how well you loved my cousin,' Zuleika murmured dryly at Golnar's pronouncement.

'I loved him every bit as much as he love me,' Golnar responded. 'Do you know where he is, princess?'

Zuleika nodded.

'Then you must surely know by now he has adjusted himself to his new surroundings, and has found himself another woman to love,' Golnar said almost bitterly.

'At least you are free, and will have an honorable estate,' the princess replied in return. 'Poor Haroun will be a slave for the rest of his life. But at least Dariyabar is now safe!'

And that, gentle reader, is the end of my tale. The princess and her barbarian lived happily for many years, and had many children. As for Dariyabar, it was created by magic, and one day it disappeared without a trace, in the same manner. To this day, no one knows what really happened, for nothing remains of it by the sea on the edge of the southern desert along the road known as Silk.

Bertrice Small

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