SECRET OF THE TURTLE MEN, CHAPTER ONE
"Khamsin in the Qiblah Plant"
By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
Riding in an expeditionary procession through a city's streets, Pavel found, was a most enjoyable experience. The citizens of Medina Jadeed were waving and shouting and even throwing flowers his way. The guards of Medina Jadeed were escorting him, their sultan, and he was glad of their presence, for otherwise he would have soon been unable to move. Behind him, his father stood with Mahmoud, Commander Sachsen and Jezreel, who were at a viewing balcony, waving in all apparent accord and geniality. Pavel knew that was not entirely true, for his father intended to wring from Mahmoud some concessions and help, and Sachsen was equally eager to get as many citizens of Medina to emigrate to Connobar as he could manage, to become breeding stock and thus the fathers of their children.
Yet Mahmoud's grin was not forced. Before he had left, Pavel had called Mahmoud's extended family together and in Mahmoud's presence, had informed them plainly of his wishes and asked them how to best accomplish it. The answer had required him to adopt all of Mahmoud's children as his own, and to accept Mahmoud's two prior husbands as his concubines, but in the end, it was as he had wished it to be. Mahmoud was back on the throne again, as Pavel's agent, but with assurances that so long as Medina was no threat to Facilitata or Connobar, or its own tribal neighbors beyond that of self-defense, he would not return to remove Mahmoud from his agency. Mahmoud quickly realized that as Pavel's vizier, he held all the power he had before Pavel's arrival and their marriage, and so as long as Pavel stayed away, his actual title was inconsequential. His eldest son would inherit the throne, or his other children according to their due measure. The two husbands could stay in their homes as they now were, or if they wished, could be married off, so their loss in status was offset by an increase in freedom.
Mahmoud was so grateful, in fact, that he admitted to Pavel that he wasn't pregnant! Neither had Jassem been pregnant, though it was a common misconception about the Waters of Life. The assassin who had dosed Jassem had made him indeed ill, but the medication had had nothing to abort.
So on the whole, Pavel left Medina Jadeed the same as it had been before his arrival, though no longer a threat to his valley, for Mahmoud was no longer eligible to command armies of his own. Pavel had exacted a secret promise from Jezreel to keep him informed of events in Medina Jadeed, and let it go at this.
As for the escort of guards, that he sent back when they were clear of the city streets and of the throng that escorted them for a short ways beyond the gates, and now he was alone with Aram on one sukhusan and Jassem guiding the other with Jethro perched behind him, his heart as free and clear as never before. He was with his friends, he was unchained, he was out to explore! If only his comrades were as light-hearted!
"Why didn't we have the angels fly us part of the way?" Jethro grumped as they jostled along. "They were there and they offered."
"I wanted their turtle bower free to take some Medina citizens back to Connobar. A grant of general amnesty is one thing, but if I had lost a husband to the Temple hideaway, I might be tempted to ignore the amnesty and try to take him back."
"You are wise." Jassem agreed. "It is best if they are ferried away as quickly as possible."
"The Angels agreed to take them all closer to the mountains at once, and then to carry them over to Connobar as quickly as they could." Pavel said. "I felt that was imposition enough. They'll make several trips before they're done, and they weren't smiling after I asked that of them."
"I don't know why the Angels threw in with you during the war." Jethro said. "I mean, they don't seem to need anything of ours or yours." Pavel had learned a few days before from Jethro that the Angels were completely unknown in Connobar, a fact they had kept hidden from Pavel's father during the negotiations.
"Connobar captured some of their Turtle Men." Pavel said. "The Turtle Men live with the Angels and there is a genuine bond of affection there. Maybe stronger. All I know is that I grew up thinking the Angels were aloof, uncaring and somewhat dangerous, but when Connobar captured a Turtle village, they suddenly became our best allies."
"Why do these Turtle Men care about Angels?" Aram asked him. "And why do Angels care about the Turtle Men?"
"I don't know." admitted Pavel. "I just know that the loyalty runs very deep, and the war with Connobar made it very clear that the loyalty runs both ways."
"Another mystery of this world." Jethro observed.
"We have our hands full now, just trying to find a path through the mountains. Until we can find a clear route from one to the other, Medina is of no value to Facilitata or Connobar, or vice versa. If there is to be trade, we must be the ones to find the trading route."
"My people are famous for being traders." Jassem said. "In the Lands of Mohammed from whence we sprang, we were the focus of three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, and we dealt with all of them equally, opening up the Path of the Golden Wind."
"Here it's more like the Pink Wind." Jethro said. "Have you noticed what's heading our way?"
Pavel looked. "Sooner than I expected." he said. A gigantic wall of the pink mist was roiling to their left, heading their way. "We had best strike a quick camp for the Khamsin."
He had experienced this wind before, it struck every day about the same time in the early to mid-morning, and returned again near dusk. The Medinans called it the Khamsin, a remembrance of the sandstorms that had afflicted their lands back on Earth, but here of course was no sand, just the pink mist that robbed a man's mind of anything but lust. But the tactic was the same, to make camp and endure until it passed. With the Khamsin blowing every morning and late afternoon, no man on these plains dared or desired to travel alone.
"I know a better place to wait it out." Aram said. "But we must ride, quickly. It is a short distance ahead."
"I am in your hands." Pavel gripped Aram's slender waist tightly and let one hand wander down to his groin in the process. Aram gave a keening call and the sukhusans broke into a creditable gallop for such large, ungainly beasts.
They made it to a small grove of very large trees, or at least, tree-shaped plants. The trunk was a mere two meters high, from there it broke out into two large leaf-shaped fronds. The fronds were quite thick and looked substantial.
"Come, we will climb two each into the leaves of this one." Aram said, tethering the beast to the trunk of the largest, central tree.
By standing on the sukhusan, Pavel was able to grasp the leaf, found it unyielding and firm to his clutch. It was more like climbing onto a rocky ledge, only this wasn't so rough as that, in fact, it had a pleasantly soft feel to it.
"What kind of plant is this?" Jethro asked suspiciously. "Last plant I climbed into that had leaves this big wore me completely out."
"Me, too." Pavel grinned. He and Jethro had been inside a night-beacon, which had plunged them into an all-night orgy with its store of the pink mist, and each time they climaxed, it had sent up a beam of light straight up into the air. Since they had been hiding from Mahmoud's men at that point, it was hardly a welcome feature to the plant, and they had of course been captured the very next morning.
"Jassem, is this thing safe?" Pavel asked.
"Very safe." Jassem assured him. "We call it the qiblah plant, for its lower leaf always points right to Medina Jadeed. Why, we do not know."
"The leaf will wrap around us when the Khamsin blows." Aram said. "Please, my sultan, make haste before the Khamsin reaches us."
Pavel scrambled up onto the plant. Jassem was tethering the other sukhusan to the trunk as well on the other side, and Pavel gave Aram a hand up and watched as Jethro effortlessly levered himself onto the lower leaf. Jassem was reaching up, when the leaves began to curl shut.
Aram's hand gripped Pavel's shoulder and pulled him down. "We must lie flat, my sultan." he said.
Pavel lay down on the leaf at Aram's hastening shoves that had become almost forcible, and was soon flat on his back in the almost V-shaped middle. Aram hastily placed himself atop Pavel and the leaf closed.
"Now what?" Pavel asked. It wasn't dark, the leaf was heavily translucent but in the bright light of day he could see Aram as if by a blue-ish moonlight.
"Now we make love, my sultan." Aram said. "Might I take my pleasure with you this time?"
Pavel smiled. "I would enjoy that very much." He had been surrounded by servants during his palace trysts with Aram, and Aram had always played the bottom, insisting that a sultan could not be the sexual recipient of an inferior. But now they were away from the palace, and Aram, well away from prying eyes, was apparently now willing to bend the rules.
Pavel found the Arab lower clothing, which was simply two overlapping leggings that tied separately around the waist, very convenient in this way. He had learned from Jezreel that this was a clothing innovation peculiar to the Arab people of Desire, but sensible. By simply untying the two strands at his waist, he was easily accessible to Aram.
Aram was fighting back the leaf's top as he held himself above Pavel, while he hawked spit onto his rod and rubbed it on hastily. The need for haste quickly made itself clear, for the leaf began to rock and the top closed down quite harshly, pushing Aram's light, slim frame onto Pavel tightly.
Pavel got his legs to either side of Aram, there was room enough on the sides, just that Aram was tightly pressed against him. Aram moved his body downwards slightly and Pavel felt the hard shaft pressing against his anus and sighed happily. He hadn't been entered by another man in some days, it was time, it was time!
"Ah, my generous sultan, who gives me his body this way." Aram said to him. In this position and tight quarters, Aram's smaller frame would not let them kiss, but Aram could and did lavish kisses on Pavel's breasts, suckling at them quite hungrily.
The leaf rocked and swayed in the wind that now surrounded them. In a matter of another minute at most, the mist would be around them.
Pavel asked. "How will we breathe?"
"The air will enter from small openings at the leaf's tip and base." Aram assured him. Aram's cock had found its purchase and now the swarthy cockhead pushed into Pavel's ass.
"Ah, hah!" Pavel said, not in pain but in enjoyment. The feel of a man's hard, hot cock in his ass, he craved it daily and had been denied it for nearly a week. How did Mahmoud, anyone, stand being without a cock in his ass for so long?
"Did I harm you?" Aram asked, concern on his face. The leaf bowed and dipped again.
"Not at all." Pavel said. "Please, give me more of it, all of it."
"I am honored." Aram said and pushed in steadily.
Pavel sighed. "But if air gets in, won't the mist get in as well?"
"Of course." Aram gave a final shove and his balls slapped against Pavel's asscheeks.
"Mmmm." Pavel groaned. "Then why bother to get inside the plant at all?"
"You will see very soon, my beloved sultan." Aram said.
The leaf undulated in the breeze. The leaf...undulated. Waves rippled from the tip to the base, moving their bodies in sequential rocking. And as the rocking of the first wave reached Pavel's midsection, it first yanked Aram's cock nearly out of his ass, and then re-imbedded it inside him.
"Mmm!" Pavel grunted again. "Ah, that's ni-i-i-i-ce." he groaned. Damn, it had been a long time, days and days, since he'd had a man's cock in his ass. It felt so damned nice having it inside there again!
The leaf seemed to take inspiration from their bodies and began to move in steady rhythm. "Now we relax." Aram sighed. "The qiblah plant will do all the work for us. We need only enjoy."
Aram was right. The plant had them moving in a wonderful cadence. The way the plant's leaf moved, like a sine wave, would plunge Aram's cock into him to the very brink, then pull him out to where only the cockhead remained inside. Aram wasn't moving a muscle to fuck Pavel, the plant was doing it all for him.
"Mmm, this is much nicer than the night-beacon." Pavel admitted. "Does it speed up?"
"Of course." Aram said and his mouth reached down to suckle Pavel's nipple, sending a wave of pain-pleasure through his body from the taut, sensitive nub. "The Khamsin has just begun to blow."
But it didn't blow this hard, Pavel knew. He had experienced it many times since entering the Arabian plains, and it was only like a friendly breeze that wafted the mist among you. But the plant was taking the breeze, capturing a lot of it, and turning their tube into a writhing tunnel of passion.
"Ah, yes!" Aram sighed as the leaf seemed to gain in momentum. "Yes, my lord, I am pleased we found this plant. I could not wish a better joy for you than making love inside the qiblah plant at Khamsin." He lowered his head and began to run his tongue over Pavel's chest, tasting his body with strokes of his tongue that were now languid and slow, now rapid stripes of warm moisture, so that his body never knew from one instant to the next what that rich pink tongue would do to him, so that he wanted it to go on and on and on....
Aram's cock was now plunging (being plunged) in and out of him with a steady, rich rhythm that stroked every part of Pavel's bowels, the cockhead taunted his prostate with every entrance and removal into his body. Pavel gasped and clutched at Aram tightly. He couldn't prevent Aram's movements, there was no reason not to cling to Aram with every ounce of his strength, feel the massive pud dancing the dance of the morning winds.
The leaf was inexorable, it pushed them into a faster and faster cadence, until Pavel's entire body began to tingle with the power of the rising desire, until his eyes turned the blue plant and pink mist which covered them in their small bower into purple emotion, he groaned as the leaf bucked them both faster, faster. Now the leaf was not a casual movement in the wind, it was a force of its own, it wrung the passion from their bodies, whipping them along with itself madly, so that Aram fucked Pavel rapidly, a pounding ram in his ass that wracked him, sent his senses scattering to all four directions (qiblahs) and he clutched tightly at Aram, wishing that the small man were tall enough to let them kiss, he settled for a kiss on the top of Aram's head, while Aram returned to his stroking caresses of his tongue over Pavel's chest, which now felt totally moist and damp from the undivided attention it was getting. Aram rested his head on this damp pillow and gasped deeply, and his cock was a pulsating tongue of fire in his ass, and Pavel felt the heat from Aram, felt his own need rising in him, groaned as Aram groaned, Aram almost chanting in his joy, Pavel a murmuring contretemp to his melody.
"Ah, ah, ah-hah!" Aram grunted and Pavel felt his cock, still pumping in and out of him heartily as the leaf forced their bodies into this motion, burst with hot seed that filled his ass, flying in all directions as the cockhead plunged back, taking the jism with it. Pavel's entire body suddenly electrified with tingling pinpricks all over his body, and he groaned, felt his load explode against Aram's stomach, dousing him with salty passion, covering them both, so that it roiled off their sweat-slicked bodies and dribbled off his sides. Pavel could feel dimly that the come from his body was running down the minute rivulets in the leaf's tines down to join the sperm that still flowed out of his ass with Aram's cock still bobbing in and out of him, not ceasing its movements even though Aram's passion was over, for the leaf did not permit them to stop.
Done, he panted, and Aram's cock still fucked him lustily. Aram still remained hard.
"Isn't it over?" Pavel gasped.
"Not yet, my sultan, my king, my lover." Aram crooned. "The Khamsin must cease before the leaf will release us. Be not afraid, it will soon be done. We are not prisoners here, but are present at our own choice."
"All right." Pavel's body was inured to the pink mist, he could keep up sex as long as his body would permit the movements, and here even the movements weren't necessary. He rode on the bucking bronco of the oscillating leaf and it ran his body from its drained state back into passion. He could go again in a few minutes at this rate, this was sheer luxury of lust, not even a muscle on his body needed to move. It was like masturbating, only even here your hand rested, as Pavel's hands rested on Aram's back.
Pavel gripped Aram as his pleasure mounted once again. "It is good to be here with you." he said to Aram's sweat-speckled head. "Would that the plant would move us all day."
"I know a place where the Khamsin rarely ceases." Aram said. "It is far from our path, but the qiblah plants there are well-patronized by any who get near them."
"Some other time, then." Pavel said. "For now, I'll take this second gift from you."
Aram smiled and his face flushed, he gasped, and Pavel felt Aram's cock rise to renewed heat in his ass. This was very like being captured by Jethro back when he was in the thrall of the pods which had robbed his mind and turned him into a ravening sex machine. A non-stop fuck. He really should have taken Jethro on in the earliest days, when Jethro only stopped fucking when sheer exhaustion sent him into sleep, but he had shied away instead from the lusty houseguest, traded off with his fathers and the others of his extended household.
The Khamsin would blow for a good half hour or more. At this rate, he'd manage five or six times in that period. Just a little benefit of being a citizen of the planet of Desire.
When at long, long last, the leaf stopped its undulations, and unfurled, Pavel was covered in sweat. He looked at the leaf's central tine, saw that it was quite clean despite their prolonged and repeated ejaculations which had run there. "Where does it go?"
"Into the plant." Aram pointed to a triangular opening in the plant's stalk. "From there, the plant uses it in some manner or other. I know nothing more, it is forbidden to cut down the qiblah plant, which points us towards Medina Jadeed and our prayers."
Pavel looked at the other leaf, the upper leaf, which was only now beginning to stop its gyrations. Large portions of the leaf's sides remained outstretched, extending like airplane wings attached longitudinally, explained how it captured so much of the Khamsin's power for its own use. These "wings" turned every part of the bluntly-serrated edge into so many flaps on the wings, capturing every bit of the wind that blew around them.
The leaf finished and showed Jethro had been fucking Jassem in the same manner. Jassem lay there languidly, a smile of complete satisfaction on his face, his stomach still glistening with his ejaculations.
"Where can we clean up, if you know of a stream nearby?" Pavel asked.
"There is one near at hand." Aram said. "All the hills sprout streams or oases, it is why my people stay so close to the mountains. Water becomes scarce out in the plains, it turns into a true desert just beyond the horizon in that direction." Aram pointed to the west, away from Pavel's home on the other side of the mountains.
They went to the small spring-fed stream and were able to wash all at once, though they could not bathe here, but had to scoop water up to splash upon themselves. Pavel took the chance to bathe Aram and then accepted the same ministration from him, Pavel watching idly the qiblah plants. There were five of them in that clutch they had left. All of the leaves aimed the same way, both leaves, one aimed back at Medina Jadeed and the other.... "Where do the top leaves point?" he asked Aram. "Do they point to anywhere?"
"It is a bad place." Aram said. "We do not speak of it. As one way points to salvation, the other points to damnation. The two qiblahs of the human soul, redemption by obedience to Allah, or the desolation of the Djinn."
"Djinn?" Pavel asked.
"I am told you arrived at this valley as guests of Angels, who are the good sons of Allah. The bad ones are the Djinn." Aram said, as if he had just thought of it. "But if you are under the Angel's protection, perhaps it is not a danger after all. But many of my people have been captured when out riding alone by the Djinn. They fly down and scoop you up and ferry you off to the mountaintops. From there, they offer you the choice to join them or not. If not, they return you. If so, the man is never heard from again."
"The Angels have taken from your people, as well?" Pavel was surprised. He knew that some of the castaways from the jungles went to live with the Angels, who had been their servants for generations, long enough to form their own distinct tribe with their own customs, the Turtle Men.
"Yes." Jassem said. "Do we travel that way?"
Pavel walked, nude, up to the qiblah plants and sighted along them. "The plant seems to point at a pass in the mountains." he said. It looked like a pass, a place where the mountains indented and lowered their lofty heads.
"I follow you wherever you go." Aram declared loyally.
"We have to find a path back to our valley, or to Connobar." Pavel said. "That way is as good a place as any to begin. And the Angels are our allies."
"Sounds good to me." Jethro stated. He struck a heroic pose, one arm outstretched, regal in his masculine naturalness, pale body shining in the sunlight just now peering above the nearby mountains of the east. "To the desolation of the Djinn!"
"And if we are wrong, may Allah have mercy on our souls." Aram said. And without further argument, he went to tend to the sukhusans.
THE END OF CHAPTER ONE