Zuleika and the Barbarian

by Bertrice Small

  Hiding her smile, Rafa departed the khan's pavilion. He was a proud man, just as the princess was a proud girl. No. Zuleika was now a woman, and obviously none the worse for her initiation into her adulthood. "Where is the tent of General Sabola?" she asked the guard at the entry to the pavilion.

  "It is the one flying the blue and silver pendant, lady," the guard said politely.

  "Thank you," Rafa said, and hurried toward her destination.

  "Ohh, you have come at last!" Bahira said with a smile when Rafa entered. "My possessions have already been delivered. Come and help me sort through them. Who brought them? My parents? Did they weep with my loss? The general is an incredible lover. A bull! But I finally wore him out. Where is Zuleika?" The words tumbled forth excitedly from her mouth.

  "I can see that you have survived your first foray into womanhood well," Rafa noted dryly. "The princess has gone back into the city. Her father took ill in the night, and is not expected to live."

  "Haroun?" Bahira's big blue eyes were wide with her curiosity.

  Rafa shook her head. "More than likely the loss of his last child, and the knowledge that Haroun is to inherit, and would prefer to do it sooner than later," Rafa replied.

  "Is Zuleika safe?" Bahira inquired, concerned.

  "The princess is more than a match for her cousin. Especially as I forgot the bowl, and she will have it with her."

  Bahira's hand flew to her mouth. "Ohh, Rafa! How could you?"

  "Your parents came weeping with your things just as I was about to pack it. Then the guards hurried me out before I could remember," Rafa admitted. "Do not remind me, for until my mistress returns with the bowl I shall not be content."

  "She will be back in the city now," Bahira said.

  And Zuleika was. The people greeted her warmly as she rode through the streets, but their eyes were worried, she could see. She dare say nothing to reassure them. It was not her place yet, and she dare not have such behavior reported to Haroun. It would but arouse his suspicions. She rode through the great open gates of her father's palace, and dismounting, told the slave to take the beast to the stables. Then she hurried inside, going directly to her father's quarters. The guards bowed, nodded, and immediately permitted her to pass.

  Maryam, the slave woman who cared for her parent, came forward. "Ahh, princess, it is good you are here. Did the prince send you word?"

  "Nay. It came with Rafa, and my possessions," Zuleika answered. "You have a place in my household," she reassured the slave woman.

  Maryam bowed, her eyes relieved. "I will take you to him," she said, and led Zuleika into her father's bedchamber.

  The elderly sultan was awake, and his eyes lit up at the sight of his sole surviving child. He was seated in a chair, viewing his gardens.

  "Now, what is this?" Zuleika teased him gently. "I am gone but a few hours, and you take to your bed?" She knelt by his side.

  "What is left for me to live for, my daughter?" he responded.

  "Dariyabar!" she told him.

  He shook his white head. "Nay, Zuleika. I am too ancient, and far too frail now to carry the burden of Dariyabar upon my shoulders. I long to be with your brothers, and your mother."

  "Would you leave me, then? Would you deny yourself the pleasure of knowing your grandchildren?" she demanded, half-angrily.

  He laughed weakly. "I have no doubt you will bear the khan many strong sons, but you will not be here in Dariyabar, my daughter."

  She was silent for a moment. One could not be certain who was listening. "Khanistan is not that far away. They are on our northern borders," she finally replied. "Do you think I should not come to visit you, my lord father?"

  His gaze grew suddenly sharp as he looked at her, realizing there was much she was not saying. "Kansbar? " he whispered to her.

  "Safe," was her soft reply.

  "Keep him so," the sultan said, a small smile upon his thin lips. This strong, intelligent daughter of his, he now realized, would not easily give up her heritage. "The khan treats you well?" he asked.

  She nodded. "Very well. He is a man of honor, I am certain. He rules his own people well."

  "And his wives treat you well?"

  "He has none. Yet," she replied.

  "Ahh," the sultan said, immediately comprehending what it was she was telling him. "Bahira? Poor Abd al Hakim and his wife are devastated by her loss. My vizier no longer thinks kindly of your cousin."

  Zuleika laughed. "Bahira has completely wrapped the khan's general about her plump little finger, my father. The vizier and his wife need have no worries about her. I shall tell them that myself."

  "How long will you remain with me, my child? Will the khan permit you to stay?" the sultan asked.

  "I will be with you, my father, as long as you need me," she promised him. "Now I must go to my apartments, for poor Rafa was so distracted by our sudden move she left one or two of my possessions behind."

  "I will sleep now," he told her, and closed his eyes.

  Zuleika moved with assurance through the palace corridors back to her own quarters. To her surprise all her furniture was gone, including the cabinet where the bowl was kept. Her heart pounded with fright at the realization, and then Haroun's favorite, Golnar, was by her side.

  "What are you doing here?" she demanded rudely, her pale face suspicious. Her eyes were so light a blue that in some lights they appeared almost white.

  "My father is ill. I returned to be with him. Where is my furniture? Rafa left some things behind."

  "These are to be the new sultana's quarters," Golnar said.

  "Oh? Has my cousin then chosen a wife?" Zuleika inquired casually.

  "The vizier has a younger daughter. Her heritage is excellent, and he has decided that she will do," Golnar said.

  "Tahirah? She is only ten years old!" Zuleika exclaimed. How predictable of Haroun. He chose the easy and quick path. Perhaps he did have something to do with her father's sudden illness.

  "Yes, Tahirah. She is young enough to be trained to please the prince, and he will not have to mount her for several years. She is said to be well-mannered and obedient. She will do exactly as she is told," Golnar said smugly.

  "And you will retain control of the harem," Zuleika noted. "How very nice for you, Golnar. Has Haroun approached the vizier in this most important matter yet? He will be very honored, I have not a doubt. One daughter a concubine to the khan's general, and the other the new sultana of Dariyabar!"

  Golnar, who had a peasant's cunning but was not particularly intelligent, was not certain if the princess mocked her, or was admiring. She chose to believe the latter. "Yes," she said. "It is a good solution for us all. When is the khan to leave Dariyabar?"

  "I have been fortunate enough to please my lord Amir Khan," Zuleika explained in a manner that Golnar would comprehend. "He has said we may remain until the situation with my father is resolved one way or another. Of course that should be no problem, as we are no longer at war." Zuleika smiled. "Now, can you please tell me where the cabinet in my quarters went? Rafa left behind my foot basin, and I must have it! It has been mine my whole life." She smiled again almost apologetically. "You know how it is with the things we use to beautify ourselves, Golnar. Do you not have something you could not do without?"

  Golnar nodded. "My hairbrushes," she admitted.

  "And you have such beautiful hair," Zuleika admired. "It is like spun moonlight. My hair is just an ordinary black."

  "But you have always kept it nicely," Golnar responded. "It shines like ebony."

  "Ohh, thank you," Zuleika gushed. Then, "The cabinet?"

  "It was taken to the storage rooms in the cellars," she said.

  "I will go and get it," Zuleika replied.

  "Would you like to stay in the harem tonight?" Golnar offered.

  "Thank you again," the princess answered her politely, "but I think I will sleep in my father's apartments. You understand?"

  "Of course," Golnar said. "The sultan's condition is very deli
cate, or so the gossip goes."

  "Yes," Zuleika murmured, forcing tears to her eyes.

  "Go and fetch your foot basin, princess," Golnar advised. "And if you want the company of women, please know you are welcome in the harem. I will instruct the women to pray to the Gods for the sultan."

  "I never knew you were so kind," Zuleika said softly, struggling not to laugh. "Thank you." She took one of Golnar's hands, pressing it to her heart in a gesture of politeness. Then she turned and walked slowly away. As everywhere else in the palace, she was not challenged. She entered the storerooms, and searching among the bits and pieces of furniture there finally found her ebony cabinet. She opened the doors, and sighed with relief. There was the basin. She removed it, saying as she did, "Forgive me, Kansbar." The bowl quivered in her hands. Holding it tightly she returned to her father's apartments.

  "Oh good!" Maryam said. "You are back. I would like a bit of time to myself, but I did not want to leave the sultan here alone. Prince Haroun has taken all his attendants, and I alone remain."

  "When did this happen?" Zuleika asked.

  "Yesterday, while we were all in the sultan's hall of audience. When I returned with your father afterwards everyone was gone. When I sought an explanation I was told that the prince had ordered it. I was very afraid, princess. If I leave him, what will happen?"

  "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 par
ented 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."