SHEIK OF DESIRE, CHAPTER 9
"The Harem Bath"
By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
Though they could see Medina Jadeed more and more clearly as they rode, it was still a long, weary trek to get there. Lunchtime came and went, and the sun was well on its way down before they made it to the walls of the small city.
Medina Jadeed was perched along a long ridge on the edge of a rather precipitous mountain flank. The only approach was up a winding trail which had obviously been cut into the mountainside at places. Unable to build out, the citizens of Medina Jadeed had built up, on their left-hand side, houses crawled up the mountain from the single road inside the wall on the left-hand side, each story helping to support the larger story above it which went further and further back to rest against the mountain. Many of the houses had large plazas at these stories, often with growing plants and sometimes what appeared to be small animals, as if the housetop had become a miniature farm. Children played on these plazas as well, peering over and calling out to each other or to the people below. In front of these buildings, lining the road and making their navigation hazardous, was the market, which seemed to be a free-for-all; Pavel saw people arguing and Aram said that they were fighting over the space their stalls were taking up.
On the right, there appeared to be a ban on the houses rising any higher than the wall, two stories and no more, the buildings themselves seemed to be of higher quality as well, decorated and sometimes with their own smaller walls enclosing open areas. Not a single tent was erected against these buildings, instead, rugs were often laid out and here was the space where the citizens of Medina Jadeed had for their lovemaking. No open display here, blankets or smallish "pup tents" covered the myriad squirming bodies, though often inadequately. Pavel watched, but saw nothing to suggest that the men were using that opening at the navel Jezreel had described, it was all man-to-man sex here, with a heavy preference for anal sex. It was as if the town had its richer district (along the wall) and its area for the common man (along the mountainside). The clear area between the two that they trod divided the town utterly.
The Sultan's palace, and beyond it the Mountain of the Stars, was at the further end of the town. The palace was the only building that dared jut up beyond the walls on the right-hand side, but it had its own, and larger wall, to ward it. On the left-hand side was a building prominent by its smallness, ornamented more than the palace even, topped by two minarets with onion-shaped roofs. To Pavel's query, Aram replied that it was the Mosque of the Blessing of Allah. On this world, as Muslims on Earth had once prayed while facing towards Mecca, they prayed toward this Mosque, the point from which all qiblahs of prayer were calculated.
The Sultan's palace reached beyond the Mosque in an L-shape to form the barrier at the other end of town. Beyond the palace was the curiously tall and thin outcropping Jassem had pointed out, with its observatory atop it.
Medina Jadeed was loud, noisy and crowded with people. Pavel found himself the center of much of this attention, merchants approached holding up their wares, some extended palms in what Pavel assumed to be begging, many just seemed to want to touch him on the leg (all they could reach of him, atop this tall animal). It was flattering and offensive at the same time, Pavel was glad when the guards of the Sultan came out from the palace and began to push them away. These guards formed a barrier across the street, fencing off with their bodies the palace and the Mosque, which let them dismount in peace.
Pavel and his friends made it into the palace, and the change from chaos to serenity was immediate and complete. Only a dull roar of the crowds outside permeated inside these walls.
"Whoof!" Pavel said as he looked about at the placid splendor. This was a meeting hall, divided into three even strips by rows of pillars. The central one, which they were on, was carpeted, the other two rows on either side were plain marble. Pavel had heard of marble but never seen it, but knew it immediately, the striated stone polished to a high glow. What was not marble was decorated in colorful geometric designs.
At the end of this hall was the throne of Mahmoud. Pavel looked at Mahmoud approaching it and thought he'd get up on it, but Mahmoud merely walked around it to a small door there. He turned and gestured, and Jezreel followed him in there.
"Come with me, third husband of the Sheik." Jassem said. With him was a large, strong man. Dressed in fine clothes such as Jassem wore, the open vest showed a huge chest barrel completely clean of hair and shining from a fine coating of oil, showing off to good effect the man's massive muscles. He kept his arms crossed, and in his right hand, he bore a large, wicked-looking sword. "We must enter the harem quarters, which is where we shall live from now on. There we will cleanse ourselves and then proceed to the Mountain of the Stars for the evening."
Pavel looked at Jethro, who shrugged, so he nodded and said, "Lead the way."
"You must follow the harem guard, and I will follow you." Jassem clarified.
"Oh." Pavel turned and the man led them to another doorway.
The room beyond was some sort of guard room, a large group of men were there, lounging about, who paid Pavel strict attention but did not bother to rise or shift their bodies, they merely looked at him carefully as they passed. The guard stopped at the next doorway, stepping aside and gesturing them on through without him.
The next door obviously took them into the area that had blocked the end of the street. Inside it, Pavel found a small open garden space in the middle, surrounded by many small doors covered with tapestries in different colors. A pool in the center of the area was stocked with fish, some small animals unfamiliar to Pavel but obviously domesticated and tame, gamboled about. The men in the room lounged about, exercised by wrestling or other athletic endeavors (one was lifting blocks of stone connected by a metal bar) or talked with each other. What Pavel didn't see was sex going on, which surprised him a little.
He turned and saw that Jethro wasn't with them. "Where's Jethro?"
Jassem shrugged. "He is your guard and will wait outside with the other guards until he is summoned by you." Jassem saw Pavel draw in his breath to call out and he said, "but first he will be given food and a bath and clean clothing. We are safe here, and I will guard you. I still have my knife, as you can see." And he did.
"All right, if you're sure it's okay." Pavel said doubtfully.
"He may enter as you wish. Some of these men here are guards."
"Yeah, another thing. This may sound silly, but why aren't any of these men having sex?"
Jassem smiled. "Plenty of them are, in their quarters. When we have quarters, we use them instead of sex in the open air."
"All right." Pavel wondered more about the rather odd masturbation he had witnessed during the long ride, decided it must be an exception permitted in their culture. Otherwise, you'd spend half your time off the horse, fucking! "Speaking of baths, I could sure use one." He could smell himself, and it wasn't pleasant. A combination of the smell of that beast he had ridden clung as well."
"I shall find you a bath." Jassem called out. "Where is the Harem Master? My Master, the third husband of the Sultan, is fatigued and wishes to have a bath and to be led to his quarters."
One man hurried up. White hair at his temples, his face beginning to be lined, he exuded authority and strength. "Welcome to the palace, third husband." the man said to Pavel. "I am the Harem Master here. Forgive me for not recognizing you, but we were not told what you looked like, nor even that you were coming here this day."
Pavel smiled. The man was genial enough. "That's all right, but I do want a bath and some clean clothes."
"At once." the man bowed. "Your quarters will be the ones beyond that green-with-gold tapestry over there. All will be prepared for you while you bathe. The bath is this way." The man gestured to some of the others lying about, they rose to their feet and went toward Pavel's new quarters. Pavel and Jassem followed the Harem Master.
Inside the door they went to was a room lit only by oil lamps and a long slit of open-air window all along one wall. It contained mostly a small, square basin and it was filled with water, gently steaming. "You can see that we keep this bath filled and warmed. Call upon these servants" the Harem Master pointed to couple of youths standing almost out of sight, both were young, naked and sporting rather prominent erections "for anything you may need."
"I shall bathe my Master, thank you." Jassem said hastily.
The Harem Master was unperturbed. "As you wish."
"I don't need help bathing." Pavel said.
"That's not the reason I intend to join you." Jassem said. "Notice the color of the water."
Pavel looked, saw the slightest pink tint. "Oh." he said. Water and plants both took in and often concentrated the mist; he would be unable to bathe without also making love in some form.
"You're allowed to make love to these bathing boys, but I'd prefer it be with me." Jassem said. "Besides, I have never taken a real bath before. The few oases on the plains are too small and too valuable to be used for bathing in. So it would be a pleasure for me to bathe you, Master."
Pavel grinned. "In that case, I insist you bathe me." Pavel lifted his hands to his shirt.
"No, let me undress you, Master." Jassem said. "It is also a part of my duties now."
Pavel let Jassem's slender hands, those slim brown fingers, move over his body. He had been too excited by the approaching city of Medina Jadeed to pay attention to his body for over two hours, and now it craved his attention. The band sped up on his cock.
"What about this thing?" Pavel gestured.
Jassem's response was to pull out the small knife from his waistband. Jassem lowered Pavel's trousers, slipped a finger into the green band, followed it with the knife. A quick slash, a spasmotic clutch at Pavel's cock, and the band fell away, a roundish "C" of hard green fur. Jassem flung it carelessly at the serving boys, one of whom caught it and took it away. The other brought them soap and towels, then bowed and followed the first.
Pavel let Jassem remove his shoes, and then his shirt and trousers released his body with Jassem's gentle urgings. Nude, Pavel stood before Jassem, who hastily shucked off his own slipper-like shoes, removed his vest and trousers, and was nude as well. Jassem smiled coyly, stepped into the water, and then extended his hand to Pavel.
Pavel stepped in, and felt the water's insidious embrace. Warm, it also surged with passion that entered his body directly through the pores of his skin. But Pavel was used to this effect of water; he wasn't surprised, he merely enjoyed the warm water. Heated water was a treat on their farm, not that it was truly needed in this warm climate, but it felt very good. This water was just warm enough to be pleasant, welcoming.
In the water, at Jassem's soft press on his shoulders, Pavel sat down, and the water came up to his mid-chest. Jassem followed him down by getting on his knees and, with his hands, scooped water to thoroughly coat Pavel's body.
Need followed the rivulets of water on his body. Desire stroked in lines over his back, down his chest, across his face and nestled in his hair. Pavel groaned, and Jassem sighed as well. after taking the soap. It wasn't a hard bar, but rather a bowl of soft flakes. Jassem moistened a few of the flakes in his palm, then worked it into a lather.
Pavel felt Jassem's hands on his scalp, massaging the soap into his hair. Foaming passion, that was the way to describe it, Pavel reached for Jassem's cock submerged in the water.
"Ah, please, Master, a short space while we get you clean." He begged. Jassem finished with Pavel's hair, and began to run his soapy hands over Pavel's shoulders and then, one hand on Pavel's back and one on his chest, circling Pavel's body and lingering over Pavel's breasts, fingers caressing and awakening the nipples into turgid nubs. Pavel didn't release Jassem's cock, but held it firmly, feeling it pulse as Jassem moved his hands over Pavel, touching him completely.
Jassem plied the soap over Pavel's body, scrubbing only with his fingers over Pavel's body, raising the arms up to wax the hairy armpits. The soap made an astonishing amount of lather; Jassem only needed to renew it once before it was no longer possible to cleanse Pavel while sitting down.
"Arise, my Master." He urged softly.
Pavel stood up, his fingers reluctantly releasing Jassem's prick, and Jassem, remaining kneeling, ran his hands over Pavel's abdomen and down his thighs. "Turn please." he said, his chest heaving.
Pavel did and felt the warm hands finish his back, soap his buttocks, and the backs of his legs. "Back around, please, Master." Jassem said after a time.
Pavel turned and saw that Jassem had contrived to lather his own body during this process. He had been so turned on by the feel of the hands that he hadn't noticed when they had left him to tend to Jassem's own body.
Jassem was a-lather and his body glowed in the flickering oil lights around them, giving him a golden glow.
Pavel groaned. "Now, Jassem, please! Now!"
Jassem's lips dived obediently down onto Pavel's cock. Pavel groaned, slid his fingers into the soapy scalp, finding no purchase, but needing none; Jassem was an eager adept, slurping hard, ignoring the taste of soap in his own need.
But he stopped after a time. "You will be cold." He panted. "Re-enter the water, Master, and take me, please!"
Pavel knelt into Jassem's embrace, pushing him back into the water, supporting him with his hands, glad for the hard farm work and the muscle exercises which made this easy to do.
Jassem's legs rose up and clutched his waist. It was merely a matter then of finding the way inside in the slippery, soapy water.
Jassem gasped, then groaned as Pavel's cock slipped into him. Pavel felt him relax, and become buoyant, he let Jassem rise to the surface without hindrance, rising slightly to remain firmly imbedded in Jassem, then when that gorgeous Arabian cock surfaced, he promptly captured it.
"Ah!" Jassem grunted. "Oh, Master, this is not seemly. You should not do this to a mere servant."
"You're my servant." Pavel released him briefly to say it. "I'll do whatever I damned well please with you." Then he returned to recapture that turgid prong.
"We are alone, after all." Jassem sighed. "And I obey my Master."
By clutching the side of the basin, Jassem was able to push and pull himself on Pavel's cock, combined with Pavel's own hunches, they churned the water but made a comfortable combination of Pavel fucking Jassem while sucking Jassem's prick.
But it was tiring. Pavel released Jassem after a time and grabbed the lithe dusky body, began to hump at him in earnest. The force of his thrusts pushed Jassem again and again beneath the water's rising waves, but Jassem made no protest, no move to stop him.
Jassem was groaning openly now, and Pavel felt his own muffled moans rise to join him. In the small room, the crashing, splashing water and their groans was the thunder and fury of an electrical storm.
Jassem's groans reached their height and Pavel saw the pearly jets rise into the air while Jassem's ass clutched onto him. Pavel leaned over long enough to capture one of the spurting sperm packets on his face, and then another into his mouth, and then Jassem was done, the last dribbling out of him.
But Pavel's own lust was just beginning to rise, he lowered Jassem's body, letting Jassem's hands hold his head above water and he pumped into Jassem hard, and felt his climax rise up and assail his body, and he grunted. His knees slipped and he felt himself fall out of Jassem, but that was an additional turn-on, his cock free-floating and spurting of its own accord in the warm water.
Pavel finished and pulled himself up to kiss Jassem. "Ah, Jassem!" He began.
Then the water seemed to change its consistency. It was like it was filled with electricity and it jolted Pavel's and Jassem's bodies.
"Ah!" Pavel shouted. "What's happening?"
"I don't know!" protested Jassem. "We must get out of here!"
But the water had them in its clutches and their bodies, in thrall, would not obey the commands of their brains.
It seemed to shift emphasis, Pavel was held but not tormented, but Jassem was thrashing about in painful abandon.
"Guards!" Pavel shouted. "Help us! Guards!" It was all he could think to do. His body still would not move of his own volition.
Jassem spasmed, screamed in agony. Pavel felt Jassem's skin crawling beneath him, he tried to look and see what was happening, but even his neck, well out of the water, would not turn as he wished. He could only stay as he was, looking into Jassem's pain-filled face.
Jassem screamed again, and then the guards were in the room. But then Jassem fell limp as the hands were reaching for them, and the water released them of its own accord.
Pavel staggered out into the arms of the men around them, eyes blurred and trying to focus.
"Allah's fury!" One of them murmured. "The Waters of Life."
"What?" Pavel looked over at them. "What is it?"
"Someone filled the bath with the Waters of Life." someone said in dismay, fear.
"The Sultan must be told, immediately." another said.
"I will find him." a third voice said.
"What the hell's going on here?" Jethro asked, arriving.
"Your Master has been the victim of a plot." someone volunteered, his voice carrying both horror and delight at the novelty. "He bathed with his servant in the Waters of Life. The Sultan's third husband will now be a father."
"What?" Pavel said. He managed now to sort out the crowd into their details. Jassem was being supported between two men who had been in the harem's garden. He hung between them, limply, blood pouring in a small stream from his waist. His navel was now an oval shape, and this was the source of the blood. "Good God, what happened to Jassem?"
"He now carries your child." the voice said again. Pavel could see that it belonged to one of the bathing room servants. "You made love in the Waters of Life, not ordinary water."
"And what do you know of this?" the Harem Master demanded.
"Nothing." the lad said hastily. "We filled it with the waters from the jars as we always do. The Waters of Life do not look any different than normal water."
"True." the Harem Master mused. "And it shows a surprisingly subtle plot."
"But what happens now?" Pavel asked. "I don't know your ways. What happens to Jassem now?"
"What happens to you, you mean." the Harem Master said, his eyes appraising Pavel carefully. "You have been unfaithful to your husband and worse, impregnated a servant through stolen Water of Life. You will have to be tried before the Sultan."
"I could be executed?" Pavel asked.
"We no longer kill for any reason." the Harem Master said. "It was Allah's command upon our arrival here, and we obey the Will of Allah. But you and your servant will be banished, for certain."
"You'd punish Pavel and Jassem for something someone else did to them?" Jethro said angrily. "You should punish instead the man who did this to them. And who did this to them?" Jethro was now dressed in the clothes of a harem guard, and he looked pale but fierce with that huge sword. He held it as man does who knows how to use a weapon. "You'll hurt these two over my dead body!"
"Let us all gather in the garden and await the Sultan." the Harem Master said soothingly. "Nobody will separate you from your Master. Where he goes, you will go. The southlands are not that unpleasant, so I am told."
"Screwy as this place is, I'd rather go to the southlands." grumbled Jethro, but he sheathed his sword adeptly and went outside with the others.
The Sultan arrived a moment later. "My third husband, tell me what occurred." he said simply.
Pavel told the story as well as he could. "We didn't know what was happening. I don't know your Waters of Life at all, and neither did Jassem. You can't punish us for our ignorance."
"It is not a matter of punishment, but of honor." Mahmoud told him sadly. "But we can rectify this yet. It is merely a matter of removing the child. I can summon a doctor. He will give Jassem a medicine we keep for times when the child is endangering the life of the husband who carries him. He'll be ill for a few days, but...."
"No!" Jassem said fiercely, clutching his stomach. The bleeding had stopped, but he was obviously still in pain. "Not this child. I won't. Banish me and I'll go gladly. But don't take this child from me!"
"But I cannot have the child of my third husband being borne by a servant." protested Mahmoud gently.
"But it isn't your third husband's child." said the Harem Master easily.
"What?" Pavel said. He didn't believe his ears.
"Your third husband called in his guard to help him bathe."
"Me?" Jethro said.
"Shh!" the Harem Master said. "When the Master was done bathing, the guard and this servant dallied in the bath after him, and being a kind master, he permitted this. It is not lawful for the servants to be in the bath without their master. He was trying merely to protect his servants, not realizing the danger he placed himself in. He is new to our ways, after all. This is what really happened. Ask anyone!" And the Harem Master glared around him, and bowed heads murmured their assent.
"True." beamed Mahmoud. "Is this what happened, after all?" he asked Jethro. "Understand that if this is so, your Master will not need to be banished. I see no reason to punish two servants who are ignorant of the rules of my harem on their first day. You need instruction, not lashes."
Jethro looked stubborn, and Mahmoud's smile slipped. "Yeah, okay, that's what happened." Jethro said at last.
"Excellent." Mahmoud beamed. "Then no real harm has been done here today. I will make a generous gift to the mosque to repay the insult done to the Waters of Life in my own palace, and everything will be fine."
"All right." Pavel said. He was beginning to catch on. As Daddy Al had said once, "Hey, if it isn't official, it didn't happen." That seemed to be a principle the Muslims lived by! "So my servants are going to be parents now."
"An illegitimate child." mused Mahmoud. "We can't have that. My third husband, order your guard to marry your servant. It is the honorable path for him to take."
"Uh...." Pavel turned to Jethro.
"Never mind, I get it." grumped Jethro. "Jassem, will you marry me?"
"You place your hand on his head." Pavel said. "Uh, I don't quite recall the exact words."
Jethro parroted the words given him by the Harem Master.
"Well, Harem Master, please coach my third husband and his servants on the proper behavior in my harem if you please. I don't wish to be bothered by such petty things in the future." Mahmoud turned to leave, turning back at the end. "My third husband, you are blessed to have such faithful servants. Would that my own treated me with such loyalty."
"They are my friends." Pavel said.
"Teach them." Mahmoud said sharply and left.
"Certainly, my Sultan." the Harem Master bowed. "If you will get dressed," he said to Pavel, "I will coach you all on harem behavior per the Sultan's instructions. I will be in my quarters, beyond the gold tapestry." He turned and they were left alone in the garden. Everyone had gone into their quarters, no doubt to spread the word of the atrocious lies that were now the official version of events.
Pavel turned to Jassem. "Jassem, are you all right?"
"I am fine. I am happy." Jassem said, smiling gently. "I bear your child, though I must forever deny his true name. I am honored. I will see that he knows his true heritage when he is grown."
"Uh, Jethro?" Pavel looked at his blond-haired friend.
"Me? I'll be all right. Just one thing, though."
"What's that?"
"Remember when you told me you had gotten married, sort of, and I acted like a jerk, asking you how you could get married, sort of? Well, I owe you an apology. A BIG apology. The trick in this crazy place is to NOT get married, sort of!"
"We aren't wracking up a very good score on that point, are we?" Pavel grinned.
"Yeah, well, nobody's getting rid of an unborn child just because I didn't pop the question." Jethro said. "Even if it ain't really mine."
"It is yours now." Jassem said, stepping over to his new husband. "And I will make you happy, and we will have more children, yours and mine. You will see."
Jethro managed a smile. "I'm sure of that." he said.
"We'd better go sit in the lecture on harem rules and pay attention." Pavel said. "I think we really need to know them."
"Yeah." Jethro said. Arm-in-arm with his new husband, he followed Pavel to the Harem Master's quarters.
END OF CHAPTER 9