SECRET OF THE TURTLE MEN, CHAPTER 20
"Under Canopus' Light"
By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
Three days of peace. That was what Pavel had, as the plans they had made after the banquet were set in motion and came to fruition.
He was no warrior; he let Mahmoud handle the details and settled for a briefing at regular intervals. He spent the rest of the time getting to know Pelen.
For Pelen was now a man without a country and without a belief system, for with the Turtle Men both were embodied by the Angels, and he had seen their underlying face. He had resolved this, for now, by focusing upon Pavel. The devotion he showed was borne of an underlying desperation. No man can live entirely alone.
So they talked. Pavel told of his home valley and Pelen drank it all up with the fervor of a convert. He began to refer to Facilitata as "home" and the Angel Valley in just those words. Even when he talked of his father's house, he called it that.
For himself, Pavel found a strengthening bond of love for this orange-haired, beautiful young man. The days here, when he could have any man that he wanted, when they would beg for the chance or be proud of being chosen, and he clung solely to the young Pelen instead.
Perhaps it was only because they were both so far from home. They needed each other. They were wrapped up in each other. That was the way it felt.
Mahmoud noticed it, of course, but his culture didn't care about such things, at least not with Pavel's station. And Mahmoud had his own lovers. As wazir, he had the servants and guards of the palace, all of whom were available and most of whom had been selected for their physical beauty. As Pavel's husband, he also had access to Pavel's concubines, including those two men he had married before Pavel. And above all, he had the power and the chance to use it. When he spoke of the battle to come, it was clear that he expected this to gain him a place in history, for his talk was of an epic struggle.
The skies of the Arab plains were speckled with the Ifriti and had been since yesterday afternoon. Pavel felt that they must have emptied their home valley, that all of them save the very Council members, had come here. And well they should, for Mahmoud had promised an Arab servant for the clutches of each group of Ifriti who helped in the battle to come. And their dismay at losing the promised help for ferrying men over the mountains was dispersed as Mahmoud showed by his messenger and package-carrying assignments that there were many more uses for the Ifriti on the plains than that. So they flew messages and small gifts back and forth across the plains, summoning the sons of Allah for the battle to come. All who wished to gain honor in life and paradise in death, gird yourself, take your blades and come, for His hand would bless all who heeded the call!
It was dusk of the third day. The battle would begin before long. Pavel and Pelen had lain together, bathed in the afternoon mist, and now relaxing in the even-better afterglow of post-coital intimacy. Pavel stroked the hair, such a vibrant color that glowed like the hearth of a fire, and said, "Well, my love, it is time for me to get dressed. As the sultan, I must lead my men. Mahmoud will be by my side, but he cannot lead so long as I am here. I am only his voice, but I must be that voice."
Pelen smiled and his hand cupped one of Pavel's breasts. "You don't think I'm letting you go alone, do you? Someone has to be around to make sure you don't get skewered by a Djinni stinger."
Pavel shrugged and cocked his head. "Well, with you holding a ward-shield for me, I should be safer than anyone else on that field. I just hope we can get in quietly."
The servant called to them softly from beyond the tapestry. "My sultan, it is time."
Their plan was simple; the Ifriti would fly in at night, trying to arrive just as the men came boiling out of the gate. Avoiding the pink mist, the Ifriti would guard the arrivals until they could get clear of the mist (and until after they could finish fucking away its effects) and form a guard in turn for those who would come after that. But this required careful timing, and there was not a watch or clock to be had within these domains. So to aid in this, Mahmoud's brother, the Royal Astronomer, Sheik Hassan bin-Hadid, had been enlisted. He came up with a simple device that reflected back an image only directly overhead when held level (measured by a bubble in a tube on its side fitting exactly within two marks). It was decided that when Canopus (one of the brighter stars in the firmament, named by Hassan after the one which had graced the skies of Mankind's past) was directly overhead, the raid would commence. There would be no moon to give them light, and it was hoped this would hinder the Djinni more than themselves; they had torches but these would not be lit unless the battle was joined in earnest and all surprise was lost. The men congregated in the hallway and the cavern outside, would dive into the pink mist and the Ifriti would land to protect them. And the battle would be fought, and won or lost, by the light of Canopus.
It would take only a single Djinni spotting all their preparations to turn this into a horrendous bloodbath (for the Djinni could be counted on to attack like so many kamikaze bombers, with no regard for their personal survival) instead of a hopefully bloodless raid. Jethro was still pessimistic, but present for the fray.
It was Pavel's proud duty to stand with this raiding party/attack group with Mahmoud, Pelen and three others holding ludicrously large shields designed to let them hunker behind it for safety while still present and issuing orders on the battle. Pavel would, that is, for Mahmoud had his sword and made it abundantly clear that he intended to be in the forefront of battle. "For a sultan it would be forbidden to lead such an attack, but for a wazir such as myself, it is permitted." Mahmoud said. From the gleam in his eye, he was looking forward to this!
So Pavel stood within the hallway, waiting for the relayed call of when Canopus would be firmly in the cross-hairs of Hassan's star-clock.
Sounds did not travel through the doors. Pavel knew it was time when a young soldier darted in and gave the simple call: "Now!" And Pavel turned and dashed into the door into the Djinni Valley.
The downhill slope nearly caught him off guard, he was blinded by the darkness and the thick pink mist he was in the moment he stepped through the door. He stumbled, nearly fell, but recovered and looked around. Pink mist everywhere, he turned and moved to the side and free of it, and now he was in only blackness, and the dim light of the stars overhead.
He shuddered, dizzy with rampant lust! He had lost his comrades in the mad, blind dash! No shield, no Mahmoud, no Pelen! Where were they? He didn't dare call out. But he was alone, alone! Madness to be alone on Desire with the mist about you!
There were figures moving about him, human figures. Pavel, blinded by the lust borne of the mist and hindered by the darkness, determined to plow back into the mist and take whomever came first to hand.
But there was Pelen! Pelen, carrying his shield and panting, came toward him. He still held onto the shield as it was strapped to his limp left arm, but it warded nothing in its angle. For Pelen, too, was caught within the urgent need of the concentrated passion. Pavel caught Pelen in his arms and lowered Pelen to his knees, the shield's edge came down onto the ground and Pelen held it so, a small barricade behind which they could make love.
Pavel and Pelen kissed, and their hands sought eagerly out the other's groin, to fish into the loose clothing. When Pelen's sweet hand fastened upon Pavel's prong, Pavel moaned into Pelen's mouth and grasped Pelen's pud firmly, and they stroked each other while clinging tightly to each other.
Pavel pressed his hips towards Pelen and their cocks brushed against each other, and Pavel gripped and held them together. Pelen crooned a low cry and embraced Pavel with his right arm as Pavel pumped their dicks together, the foreskins gripping and catching on each other before ironing out into a smooth interlocking clutch, so that as Pavel's hands moved and his cock's foreskin was crumpled atop his glans, Pelen's was stretched back taut, and Pavel's foreskin stroked Pelen's cockhead and the tender skin just below it. Then as Pavel's hand came back, Pelen's foreskin returned that silken touch to the underside of Pavel's pud, so that it was like being brushed on his cock's bottom with a fine velvet cloth, only this cloth was warm, warm and almost moist in a way that velvet never could attain.
Pavel was being kissed by Pelen and could see almost nothing, but he felt a warm smoothness at his hand, pressing and cupping it, and he released their two cocks to have them clutched and then wrapped in warm coils, and Pavel smiled, released Pelen's lips long enough to look up into the Ifriti who had joined them. His eyes had adjusted to the dim light and he could just make out the face above him.
"Forgive me for joining you if I have intruded." the young Ifriti gasped out. "But the mist has brushed me due to a counter-wind that has sprung up, and I must seek my own release."
Pelen looked up into eyes and features that could only remind one of the ancient demons of mankind and he gasped.
"You are welcome." Pavel said. "Pelen, don't be afraid. This is something you must experience, having an Ifriti cock wrapped around your own."
"Both of yours." the Ifriti affirmed. "We three shall reach pleasure together." And the Ifriti began to tighten and lengthen his prehensile prong, and then the coils began to slide back and forth, fully enveloping both the hot young pricks and clutching them tighter and smoother than their jointed fingers ever could. It was like Pavel was fucking an ass which had a cock inside of it, Pelen's cock, that was also surging and pulsing within this wonderful even radiance of potency.
And the head of the Ifriti's cock rose up and quested about like a snake. Pavel grinned at Pelen who watched this display in wide-eyed astonishment, and Pavel caught the head with his mouth and sucked it in and the Ifriti groaned and his sliding shaft speeded up around their cocks.
Pelen moaned at this new influx of sensation and he reached out and took the Ifriti dick bodily from Pavel's mouth and crammed the spit-shiny head between his own lips and the Ifriti sped up still more, enjoying this double-nursing of his cock. Pavel reached out to lick the shaft and when Pelen relinquished the pud to gasp for breath, Pavel took it back into his hand, though his own cock was sending out more and more urgent signals.
Pelen's gasp was more than that for breath, someone had come up behind Pelen and his dark face just visible now, gave a sudden thrust of his hips and Pelen groaned with the startled sound of one who has been peremptorily impaled.
The face was blinded in his lust and this gave it a nearly fierce feature; he was squatting behind Pelen and hunching into Pelen's firm butt with the posture of a proud Arabian stallion atop its mare, Pelen gave a squelched cry and Pavel felt Pelen's jism pummel his ballsac, dousing his balls with a heavy wash of thickly-sticking sperm, and Pavel felt the heat of Pelen's cock as it drenched him and he sucked the Ifriti shaft back into his mouth and sucked on it hard.
And now he was the one suddenly grasped and having a hard cock pushed into his ass. It was long, athletic and giving a pulse as it entered, and he wondered if a second Ifriti had entered their grouping.
Then a pale hand reached out, the arm covered in a gray uniform over a white shirt, and a strange voice said in panting need, "Uh, uh, forgive me for just grabbing you, uh, uh!"
"Glad you could join us." Pavel gasped out. This stranger was good news, for the Connobarans had not been able to promise to be present in time though their aid had been sent for through the hall of doors. At least a small force of the gray-clad soldiers was now supplementing their own force, and their odds were now better.
But Pavel had no time to think of this, he had a talented Connobaran cock in his ass, pulsing as only a Connobaran can do it, and a different but more talented Ifriti pud still pumping his cock and Pelen's own deflating prick, and his own needs were a boiling presence in his cock and balls.
Pavel groaned in his need, the Ifriti prong slipped out and a blond-haired face reached over Pavel's shoulders and caught it, thrusting Pavel slightly to one side, and Pavel had the sound of a hot Connobaran mouth slurping a thick Ifriti prick filling his right ear, Pelen's come-load was dripping from his balls and making the Ifriti shaft slippery and somehow stinging in quality, Pavel suddenly felt his body surge with electrical power all over and he groaned and, squelching his need to bellow out his lust--he would give away their presence to the Djinni if he had--squirted his load onto Pelen's now flaccid organ, spraying his young lover with all the energy he had in him.
The Arab fucking Pelen also gave a soft groan and his hunches into Pelen took on an urgency and the face contorted with its pleasure as he shot his wad into Pelen's buttocks.
Pavel had his own cock in his ass, this one not thrusting into him at all, just pulsing in the Connobaran way, and massaging his prostrate with ripples rather than more savage thrusts, and Pavel enjoyed the feel of that in his post-orgasmic lassitude.
The Arab man caught his breath and looked at Pavel for the first time with eyes undimmed by lust. "Sultan Al-Fajr!" he breathed. "My lord and sovereign, I...I did not know!"
Pavel smiled as the Connobaran cock in his ass heated up. "You were welcome here." he said. "As are all who fight for me this day."
"I am honored." the Arab breathed and stood up, hastily shifting his cock back into his trousers, and fled.
"You're the sultan?" the Connobaran soldier gasped out.
Pavel took the Ifriti cock in his hand, for the Ifriti was groaning heavily now. He pumped it as he spoke. "Yes, I am."
"Damn, I'm fucking royalty." the soldier breathed out.
"And doing a wonderful job of it." Pavel agreed, grinning.
"Ur-mph!" came the call from above them, and the Ifriti cock exploded into the air and rained down on Pavel and the young Connobaran soldier. The Connobaran gave a startled gasp of surprise and lust, and then his hard cock was pumping its jizz into Pavel's ass, as the Connobaran bit back his cries by clamping his mouth onto Pavel's shoulder and muffling it there.
Mahmoud stepped up as the Connobaran was still sobbing out his passion and the Ifriti's cock was still waving aimlessly about. With him were the other three shield bearers.
"We have found you." he said with a collected tone that meant he had already satisfied his own lusts. "Can you guide us now back to the tunnel from which you came?"
"I can do that." Efram said, striding up from another side.
"You're here?" Pavel said in surprise.
"Wouldn't miss this game for the world." Efram affirmed. "Never know when you might need to buy something in a hurry."
"We'll pay top dollar if it comes up." Pavel agreed. "Lead us to the tunnel, and hurry. We don't have that long before the Djinni spot us."
"They already have." Efram agreed. "Can't you hear that rising buzz?"
The air was indeed beginning to fill with the sound of angry Djinni wings.
"Hurry!" Pavel said.
The darkness was yet an aid to them, they stumbled in darkness after Efram and as many men as could be summoned to them. Pavel could see little, for the four shield-bearers flanked him on all sides, and for that he was actually grateful. Above their heads, the Ifriti could be heard clashing with the Djinni, dark shapes writhing in combat against the too-few stars. Shapes fell about them as they ran, thankfully all Djinni.
The Ifriti were better fighters. But the Djinni were more numerous, and the tide must be expected to turn soon.
But the Arabs were not idle. They had indeed prepared for this day, and large bottles were being hurled about the valley of the emerging Djinni as they broke out of their coffer-dammed holes with the aid of what could only be described as small catapults some men wore strapped to their backs and whom knelt down to form the base to let it be loaded and fired. These bottles exploded with an oily power about the Djinni, and Pavel could see that the Djinni who breathed these bottles' contents began to stagger and fall.
"What is that?" He asked Mahmoud, who was with him and Efram in their protective enclosure. Now Djinni began to approach their group and Arab and Connobaran fighters moved in to intercept them.
"We captured a live Djinni some years ago." Mahmoud gasped out. "We studied it and learned that they breathe through many small tubes into their body. So they can't even hold their breath. We use a poisonous mixture under pressure. It is not dangerous to you and I unless we breathe a lot of it, but it killed the captive Djinni and so it does these as well."
But there were more Djinni than there were raiders, even with the Connobarans' help.
There came an explosion from the tunnel from which they had emerged, the tunnel back to their homes. The Djinni had blown up their escape route.
They were now trapped in the Djinni Valley. And it was filled with enraged Djinni determined to kill them all.
END OF CHAPTER 20