Daughters of the Sky

DAUGHTERS OF THE SKY

Episode 1 The Slavers of El Arish

Chapter 9 Delendria’s Decision

Delendria’s sweat drenched body quivered as a second orgasm shook her. Shelandra’s tongue was incredibly tactile and it was buried deep inside Delendria’s quivering vulva. She and the woodland Elf had been going at it now for over and hour despite the fact that Ben Aben had his member deep within Shelandra as he took her from behind.

Shelandra at best was an unwilling sex partner, but as the scars on her back showed, she had learned the hard way that Ben Aben was not someone to be ignored. Now she did whatever her lord and master asked, even though she hated him for it.

Delendria felt the same way. She dared not defy her captor, but to her shame she had difficulty not showing pleasure when stimulated by someone as skilled as her Elf partner. It didn’t take much to excite Ben Aben. As soon as Delendria had begun to moan he had moved behind Shelandra and penetrated her. The Elf had gasped as he thrust into her, but had managed to stick to the task Ben Aben had ordered.

Shelandra grunted as Ben Aben pulled out of her. “That’s enough for you,” he gasped. “Now the other.” He lifted Delendria’s tiny body and heaved her unceremoniously onto the bed. Spreading her legs he opened her and thrust his slick member inside in a single movement. Delendria felt no pain; only the usual shame at being used as an instrument of his pleasure. And always there was the ever present fear that Ben Aben’s seed might take root in her womb.

She knew nothing of Elf-Man relationships, but guessed that the two species were alike enough for procreation to take place. Only the fact that Elves rarely conceived gave her any hope that she might avoid the fate that so many of Ben Aben’s concubines shared.

Ben Aben’s fevered breathing told her that he was close to climaxing. But that was no assurance the current session would end. The man had an almost insatiable sexual appetite and it was not unusual for him to have sex with several women in a single night, as Delendria knew from first-hand experience.

With a groan of pleasure, Ben Aben collapsed on top of her, and then rolled to one side. Immediately one of the serving girls who had been fanning him while he enjoyed the two Elves came forward and handed him a cool drink. A few seconds later Shelandra and Delendria were offered the same.

Delendria took the goblet gratefully. Two hours of forced lovemaking had left her hot, thirsty, and close to exhaustion. Morning would come soon enough and she had a full day ahead of her in spite of her busy night.

Her daily duties were the one bright spot in her harem existence. She of all of the concubines was allowed something that none of the others were; freedom from the harem for a few hours each day. It was almost worth the nightly degradation.

Fire screamed his greeting as Delendria approached his enclosure, Sky following almost immediately after. Both Gryphons were looking much better after several weeks of proper food and grooming, but she still worried about their conditioning. The massive shackles about their forelegs prevented them from flying, and as a gryphon was a creature of the air she knew that their powerful flight muscles would atrophy without proper exercise.

With Ben Aben’s approval she was allowed to mount the beasts each day and encourage them to exercise their wings, but it was not the same as real flying and could not hope to duplicate normal flight. Nevertheless, Delendria welcomed the daily tending of the gryphons. It made her harem existence more meaningful, giving her something to look forward to each day other than serving Ben Aben’s prick each night.

It also allowed her to enjoy the rest of Ben Aben’s collection. She had not dreamed there were so many different species of animals. She stopped in front of the enclosure containing the beast that fascinated her most. Gigantic in size, she didn’t quite know what to make of it. She now knew its name. Ben Aben called it an elephant and it had been the prize of his collection until he acquired the gryphons. Delendria, however, was fascinated by the huge animal and made a point of stopping outside its enclosure whenever she tended the gryphons.

Ben Aben’s zookeepers didn’t seem to mind as long as she simply watched, and she was watched closely by two of the huge black eunuchs that guarded the harem to make sure she did nothing unseemly. She was, after all, one of Ben Aben’s possessions and being afforded the luxury of being outside the harem was something he allowed only her. It was a very special privilege, but one Ben Aben was forced to allow if he wanted the gryphons to live. They would accept food and water from no one but Delendria. It gave her a status no other member of the harem could attain, and it also gave her an idea.

She had to endure Ben Aben’s attentions for another week, before she was given a night off. By sheer good fortune Ben Aben had another toy, an exotic young maiden whose body was both incredibly beautiful and decorated with the most elaborate and colourful tattoos Delendria had ever seen.

There was just one thing wrong with her plan. If it worked she would escape, but she would do so unavenged. In spite of her decision to submit to Ben Aben physically, she had never surrendered mentally. The brutal slaver had taken both her maidenhead and her honour. The thought of simply fleeing without seeking to right the wrongs done to her was unconscionable. It went against everything being Shebaria stood for. And there was one more thing. It galled her to leave the other harem members behind, especially Shelandra. But there was no way that she could get any of them out of the harem. She could either escape alone or not escape at all.

Practicality won out over honour. She would escape, but she vowed that she would return to help those enslaved by Ben Aben. For that she would have to make sure that she managed to get away; and that mission would not be all that easy. She had no illusions about what would happen to her if she failed. She had already experienced Ben Aben’s cruelty and knew that she would probably have been punished much more severely for her escape attempt if the he had not needed her to care for the gryphons. If she was caught next time the punishment would be much more severe. The memory of Shelandra’s scarred back immediately came to mind. She would also most certainly spend the rest of her life in chains, forced to tend the gryphons as little better than the lowest slave.

And she had caught a glimpse of what it was like to be one of the lowest ranking slaves. All of the hardest, dirtiest, and most dangerous tasks were performed by these hapless captives. Without them life in El Arish would have been impossible. They carried the water, swept the streets, emptied the chamber pots, prepared the food, tended the fields, and a thousand other tasks Delendria could not even imagine. Almost universally they were treated little better than animals. While she supposed that some masters treated their slaves with dignity and kindness, others were cruel to the point of stupidity.

It made no sense to her to beat someone until they could barely crawl away. How could a slave be expected to properly complete the tasks assigned if he or she was crippled? Yet she had witnessed many such beatings while in El Arish. Powerless to do anything to stop the brutality, and realizing that any attempt to intervene would merely make matters worse for the victims, she had stood by helplessly, suppressing her rage, but vowing to correct the filth that tainted El Arish if she ever got the chance.

She would only get that chance if she could escape. And she was about to put that to the test.

She rose just before dawn, feeling somewhat guilty that her escape opportunity was made possible by the fact that Ben Aben was probably enjoying his latest acquisition. She knew from experience that he was particularly active during the early hours of the morning. There was something about a few hours sleep that seemed to give him an almost insatiable sexual drive just before sunrise, no matter how active he had been the previous evening. She was depending on this habit to keep him away from his zoo while she was there.

By now the palace guards were used to seeing her visit the gryphons, and were also used to her early morning visits. Since she was there at Ben Aben’s orders they made no effort to stop her as she headed for the row of cages. A few of the Zhuar guards gave her a searching look, perhaps surprised that it was still an hour before dawn, but no one said anything or even questioned that she should be there.

Normally Delendria would have headed for the gryphon cage, but this time she detoured a bit, counting on the fact that in the darkness the few torches would not provide enough light for anyone to guess that she was somewhere she should not have been.

She stopped outside the elephant enclosure. The elephant was confined behind a low wall topped with metal bars. She doubted that the elephant would have any problem breaking through them, but it definitely would have a problem removing the heavy iron shackle from its rear leg.

She set down her grooming materials. She had to move fast and hope that none of the guards were paying her any attention. Seizing the bars she heaved herself to the top of the enclosure and dropped into the elephant’s pen. She wasn’t the least bit afraid of the giant beast. Like all Elves, Delendria had a natural affinity for animals. She wasn’t sensitive to the degree that Shelandra was. Wood Elves had a very strong communion with nature, but all Shebaria had a strong bonding with their gryphons that went far beyond the relationship that Men had with animals.

“Now, Zumi,” she whispered, using the elephant’s name. “We have to get out of here.” She felt guilt about this as well. If her plan succeeded there was no possibility of taking the elephant with her, but she vowed that all of the animals in Ben Aben’s zoo would be released one day, just as she would see that El Arish freed all of its slaves.

She pulled the pin from the heavy leg iron restraining the elephant. Unlike the gryphons Ben Aben had not ordered the massive animal padlocked. Light as a forest nymph, Delendria bounced from the ground to the elephant’s trunk and from there to its forehead where she seated herself with her legs straddling the massive neck.

“Ahead, Zumi,” she ordered. “Ahead.” She kicked her heels and directed the huge beast against the bars of the enclosure. With a grinding crash they went down and the elephant rumbled out onto the promenade.

The sound of the escaping elephant could not be disguised. Delendria knew that it would draw every guard within hearing, but she intended that they be faced with more than just the elephant. A few cages down was where the great cats were caged. Delendria had learned what most of them were called. Some were powerful beasts of legend, like the lion. Others were sleek spotted cats like the leopard and cheetah. She knew all their names and they knew hers. As the elephant ripped open cage after cage she called out to the beasts within. “Come, my friends. Run before you are caught. Now is your chance to be free.”

The giant felines needed no further urging. Leaping from their cages they rushed down the concourse, looking for any way out of the zoo. The fact that a few astonished and frightened guards stood between them and freedom mattered little to the powerful beasts. Even the Zhuar fled for their lives. It was the sort of pandemonium Delendria needed as she urged Zumi toward the gryphon enclosure.

The iron grill housing the gryphons was not intended to hold them. The leg irons were, and the leg irons were what she needed Zumi for. The massive padlock was much too heavy for her to break. But with the gryphons tugging and Zumi pulling, the heavy iron hasp gave way, freeing Fire. With a scream of pure avian joy the huge beast flapped its wings and launched itself into the air.

It wasn’t quite what Delendria had planned. Fire was her mount and she had planned on riding it to freedom if things started to go wrong. She was counting on the gryphon sticking around, but in its excitement at being freed the beast ignored all her commands and soared even higher.

Delendria said some very unladylike words in Elvish. Now she would have to free Sky in order to escape, and despite the wild cats rampaging through Ben Aben’s zoo, she couldn’t count on the palace guards staying away forever.

“Come on, Zumi,” she urged, heading the elephant toward Sky. There was no time to lose. She had to free Sky and this time make sure the overexcited gryphon didn’t abandon her.

Freeing Sky proved to be much more difficult than freeing Fire. At least the first gryphon had remained relatively still while Zumi and Delendria tried to free him, but Sky was mad with excitement, flapping her giant wings so rapidly that she threatened to knock Delendria from the back of the elephant.

Delendria screamed her commands in Elvish, using every word of control she could think of; all to no avail. After weeks in captivity the high strung gryphon was uncontrollable. One of the great wings slammed into Zumi’s forehead with enough force to buckle the elephant’s knees. The same blow almost swept Delendria from her perch. Grimly she held on while Zumi turned and in panic began to charge down the concourse.

Delendria could do no more than hold on for dear life as Zumi thundered down the course. The elephant was completely panicked, trampling anything in its path, and to make matters worse, Ben Aben’s palace guard had recovered from its earlier surprise. Dozens of angry men and eunuchs hurled spears and waved torches at the elephant attempting to halt its rampage. One of them with a bit more presence of mind did more than that.

The rope settled over Delendria’s shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides and jerking her from the elephant’s neck before she was even aware of what was happening. She described a perfect arc through the air and had time only to twist her body as she fell so that she was able to roll as she struck the ground. Nevertheless, the impact knocked the breath out of her and for a few important seconds she lay helpless. She came to only as her arms were jerked behind her back but by that time it was too late. She struggled furiously as her wrists were bound, but the weight of the man sitting on her pinned her helplessly while she was bound.

She was dragged to her feet and found herself confronted by several angry Men. The one who had bound her held her arms from behind while several others surrounded her.

“Elven bitch,” the man facing her growled. “We ought to teach her a good lesson.”

Delendria realized that she was still dressed as a concubine. She wore only a silken hanging that hung to her ankles in front and behind. It left her legs and buttocks almost completely exposed. From the waist up she wore nothing at all, other than the gold chains Ben Aben liked to decorate his women with. She could feel the men’s eyes boring into her fixing on her breasts and loins.

“Not a good idea. This one is Ben Aben’s bitch. He’d not like it if we took her for ourselves.”

The man who spoke stood directly in front of her. The others stood in a semicircle around her. They were placed perfectly for her feet to reach them. Without further thought Delendria struck

Her foot took the man between the legs, but she didn’t wait to see him fall, gasping to the ground, she was already dealing with the other three. In spite of weeks of enforced idleness, all of Delendria’s training came back to her. Although her hands were tied, her legs could reach each of her opponents. Whirling into action she hit them with a flurry of kicks that had all of them on the ground. Then she turned and ran.

Unfortunately, she only got about two feet. The hand of the first man she had kicked snaked out and caught her ankle. Her own forward momentum slammed her heavily into the ground and with her hands bound behind her she could not break her fall. Winded she could only lie where she was while the man got to his feet, scrambled toward her, and pinned her to the ground once more.

“Bloody Elf,” he gasped. “To hell with Ben Aben. You’re going to learn your place.”

There was no objection from the other three men as he bound her ankles, and then picked her up and carried her to a small wooden building just off the concourse. She thought briefly of screaming, but that option was taken away from her when her loincloth was torn off and stuffed into her mouth. She could only twist her body in a desperate attempt to escape as her captors stretched her across a small table in the centre of the small room.

The room was probably a guardroom intended as a shelter for the guards when it rained. The table she was lying on was no more than a couple of feet wide and three feet long. The men bent her body across the narrowest part of the table, untied her feet and spread her legs. One of the men held her under the arms while two men took each of her legs and pulled them apart. Then the man who had objected to her violation moved between her thighs and undid the drawstring on his trousers.

Delendria increased her struggles. It was true that Ben Aben had raped her and had then forced her to have sex with him on numerous occasions, but those events paled into insignificance compared to the terror Delendria felt when faced with being gang raped.

The men who held her were brutish and foul-mouthed and none of them smelled as if he had bathed in several weeks. Fear gave her strength she did not realize she had. Her body heaved, her slender legs jerking the men who held them back and forth.

“Fucking little bitch can really fight,” laughed the man who was between her thighs. “But I think it’s time to give her what she deserves.” He stepped forward, his manhood fully erect and pushed her back on the table by placing his hands on her breasts.

“Oommpph!” Delendria screamed as he entered her. She was consumed by pain, terror, and revulsion as she was brutally raped. It was every bit as painful and frightening as the first time Ben Aben had taken her. The terror was compounded by the fact that she was surrounded by three other sweating, jeering men, each waiting his turn. She screamed again and then again as her assailant pounded into her tiny body.

“Tight little bitch. Think she’d never had a man before,” grunted the man between her thighs. His brutal entry had her bleeding like a maiden on her wedding night. Adding to her ordeal, the men holding her amused themselves while they waited by pinching her arms, legs, and breasts.

Mercifully, it took only a few minutes for the first man to finish with her, but then the second man took his turn. This time the rape was not quite as painful. Her love canal was slick with blood and semen, providing some lubrication, but the man got the reaction he wanted from her by bending low over her and biting her breasts until her nipples bled. Delendria shrieked in pain, her cries muffled by the gag, and then it was the turn of the third man.

It was the man who had suggested the rape in the first place. He was especially brutal, using his phallus like a weapon in an attempt to hurt her as much as possible, while at the same time mauling her breasts with both hands until she screamed and writhed in agony. As he finished her with a grunt of satisfaction the fourth man stepped forward.

What he might have done to her, Delendria had the good fortune not to learn as there was a sudden grinding crash and the roof of the small building was torn off as if ripped away by a giant hand. Fire’s shriek of rage told her what had done it. She was hurled to the floor as the gryphon literally tore the shack to pieces and then the four men inside it.

Covered with the blood and guts of the men who violated her, Delendria managed to get weakly to her feet. In the distance she could hear the screams and shouts of Men as they attempted to cope with the animals still raging in their midst and the sudden reappearance of a beast of legend. In spite of what had been done to her, Delendria had no wish for Fire to continue his rampage. Not only would there be danger to the gryphon, but Ben Aben’s guards were not to blame for what had taken place. It was the rulers of El Arish and the perverted culture of slavery that were responsible. If it meant killing some of the guards to end it then she would do it, but until then she wished to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

Fire’s rage seemed to have temporarily subsided while he stood guard over her, but Delendria knew that Ben Aben’s men would recover. It was time to leave, but first there was a little unfinished business. Utilizing what strength she had left, she gripped fur and feathers and scrambled up to a position just in front of the gryphon’s wings. “Up,” she ordered.

Clinging to the gryphon without a harness was difficult, but Delendria’s meld with Fire was so absolute she hardly noticed. As long as she did not order the gryphon to perform some complex aerial acrobatics she was in no danger of falling.

Using her knees and verbal commands she ordered Fire to the cage where Sky still screamed in rage. The powerful gryphon was so enraged that she had abraded the flesh beneath the shackle until it was a bloody mess. Delendria swooped down and issued a command, hoping Fire’s presence would calm his sister. It seemed to work. Sky stopped her shrieking and the thunderous flapping of her wings and settled down, the gleam of intelligence returning to her eyes.

Delendria slid off Fire’s back and almost collapsed. Biting back the pain of her injuries and annoyed at her weakness she made her way to the heavy shackle that held Sky’s rear leg. She grimaced at the bloody mess the heavy iron had caused. Fortunately there did not appear to be any permanent damage, but the shackle was still locked and without Zumi’s strength to help break it the gryphon was still trapped.

The shouting of Ben Aben’s guards as they began to recover from the chaos she had helped create warned her that time was running out. It was only a matter of time until they arrived on the scene and she didn’t want to have to fight her way out. But she couldn’t just leave Sky to Ben Aben’s mercy.

She looked around, desperate for something to help her and spotted a pile of chains off to one side of the pen. Perhaps there was a way…

Shaking off her pain and exhaustion she grabbed a length of chain and wrapped it around the heavy links holding Sky. Then she dragged the other end over to where Fire stood guard. There was no time to lose. Outside the compound she could see the palace guards forming up. Several of them carried bows and she knew she had only seconds to act.

“Take it,” she ordered, placing the chain within reach of Fire’s claws. The gryphon seemed to understand, as did Sky. Delendria clambered back onto Fire’s back and ordered him to rise.

For a few seconds she was afraid her last desperate attempt would fail and then the links of the chain stretched and snapped. The sudden release almost catapulted Delendria from Fire’s back, but she held on and piloted the gryphon into the air.

She was too exhausted to shout a war whoop. She had escaped and taken Fire and Sky with her. Now it was time to find help. She turned the gryphon away from the city and back the way she had come.

She could think of nothing better to do than follow the river. She had no idea how wide the desert was, but knew that flying away from food and water was certainly not a good idea. As she flew she ran through her mind what she would do to Ben Aben when she returned.

She couldn’t think of anything brutal enough to completely satisfy her. But at the same time knew that she was not capable of treating him the way he had treated her. Still it amused her to imagine ways of tormenting him when she returned at the head of a triumphant army.

The only flaw in her plan was the last part. Ben Aben would not be easy to get at. Safe inside El Arish and surrounded by hundreds of armed men, including archers she would need a formidable force to drive him out of his lair. And then there was the matter of finding her sister. Rescuing Asharia took precedence over everything, unfortunately she had no idea what might have become of her since they had been separated at the site of the ambush. All she could think of was to return to where they had been parted and try to pick up her trail. At that point a glint of metal caught her eye.

She immediately centred her gaze on it. Metal that was shiny enough to reflect light usually meant arms or armour and she immediately urged Fire lower to investigate. It soon became obvious that there was more than one object reflecting light. Interestingly enough the reflection seemed to originate in the middle of the river. Then she spotted another and then another and finally hundreds. They formed a long line of glittering points stretching back along the course of the river as far as she could see. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that she was looking at a huge flotilla carrying an entire army.

The question was whose army? She dropped lower swooping over the marching soldiers just out of bowshot. A huge grin split her features. “Dwarves!” she cried. “Dwarves!” She had never thought she would be so happy to see the traditional enemies of her race.

The Dwarves had also seen her. A great cry went up as the two gyphons and their single rider swooped just above the masts of the fleet and flew its entire lengths. By the Great Goddess,” Delendria exclaimed. “There must be thousands.” She turned Fire and flew back toward the head of the flotilla and then she saw something that made her scream with joy. Standing on the bow of the lead ship was a slender and petite blonde dressed in white. There was no mistaking her poise. Delendria had known her all of her life. “Down,” she ordered. “Down.”

She brought Fire to a landing on a curve of the river just ahead of the fleet and slid to the ground. She had a hard time not leaping into the river and attempting to swim toward the lead ship. However, the fact that several large reptiles were sunning themselves on the bank gave her pause; that and the fact that the ship was heading steadily toward her as fast as its large oars could propel it. Just a few more minutes and her sister would be with her once more and Sky would once again have a rider.

Sky sensed Asharia’s presence long before the ship reached the riverbank. The gryphon let out a series of welcoming shrieks that were almost deafening, but nothing could wipe the grin from Delendria’s face as her sister moved steadily closer.

Asharia did not wait until the reed ship was tied up, but leapt the last few feet and rushed into the arms of her sister. For several minutes there was a tearful reunion and then Asharia noticed Delendria’s condition.

There was no way to hide what had been done to her. She was almost completely nude and her body was bruised and bloodied. Asharia immediately stripped off her cloak and wrapped it around her sister. There was no need to exclaim at or comment on the condition of her sister. The same thing had been done to her and she knew the pain Delendria must feel. “Come sister,” Asharia said softly. “You are safe now.”

By now the lead ship had pulled in to the riverbank. Several Dwarfs had leaped off and tied it to the trees along the bank. One of them approached, his axe slung over his back. He bowed respectfully as he stopped before the two Elves, an action that Delendria found surprising. “You are welcome, my lady,” the Dwarf said. Delendria now recognized him as Kran Firetong, the caravan commander who had sneered at her and Asharia just before they were ambushed. He now seemed to have changed his mind about Elves and she wondered what had transpired between him and his sister to so change his attitude. It appeared that she was not the only one with a story to tell.

Delendria was about to return his bow when suddenly her vision blurred. Her sister caught her just in time as she pitched forward. “How stupid of me,” Asharia said as she eased Delendria to the ground. “It’s obvious that you have been through a terrible ordeal and here I am acting as if we’ve been invited to tea.” She motioned to the Dwarfs who were now al around them. “Please help me get her into the ship. She needs rest and medical attention.”

Firetong himself stepped forward and gathered the barely conscious Elf into his powerful arms. Quickly he carried her toward the ship and up the gangway. Asharia followed him to what amounted to a sheltered area at the stern of the ship. It was really no more than a roof woven from reeds that allowed the crew members to get out of the hot sun, but it was here that the Dwarfs had set up a couple of cots to look after anyone who was ill.

“I think she’ll be alright,” Asharia said. “Just get me some water to clean her up and perhaps something for her to wear.” The Dwarfs moved to do her bidding.

“Sorry,” Delendria apologized as the Dwarf’s moved to carry out Asharia’s orders.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Asharia said. “Just lie still and let me take care of you. There will be time enough to talk when you are feeling better.”

Asharia not only took care of Delendria, she tended to the gryphons as well, especially Sky whose taloned foreleg had been scraped raw by the leg iron that had been placed on it. “You’ll heal,” she told her mount. “In the meantime it will do you good to exercise your wings.” She motioned for the gryphon to take to the air without her, knowing that the link that bound the gryphon to her and visa-versa would bring it back. Fire followed, flying escort for his sister. Asharia watched them rise into the air for a minute and then headed toward the ship and Delendria.

Her sister was sleeping when she returned. Beside her stood Kran Firetong and another dwarf that Asharia recognized as being the Dwarven equivalent of an Elven healer. “Your sister will recover physically,” the healer said. “Her injuries are painful, but superficial. I am not sure how well her mind will heal.”

“She is Shebaria,” Asharia replied. “She will make a full recovery.”

The healer looked at her doubtfully, but a few days rest proved Asharia right. Delendria was back to her old self and sat down with Asharia to recount what had happened to her. In private each girl told her story, holding nothing back. It appeared that each had endured similar trials and that each had triumphed.

“Now just one thing remains,” Delendria stated as Asharia finished speaking.

Asharia nodded. She knew exactly what that one thing was. “Two more days on the river and we will reach El Arish. Then we will deal with Ben Aben.”

“Yes,” Delendria agreed. “It will be interesting to see just how brave he is when confronted with an army that can match his.”

As it turned out Ben Aben was not very brave at all. Nor were the citizens of his city who were most displeased to find five thousand vengeful Dwarfs on their doorstep. They agreed to most of the Dwarves’ demands almost immediately, including the payment of several tons of gold. On only one demand did they balk and that was the Dwarves’ insistence that the city free all of its slaves, and give those who wished to stay full citizenship. But they quickly gave in when the Dwarfs began to deploy their siege engines.

Both Elves were a little disappointed. They were looking forward to seeing the huge machines in operation and the complete capitulation of El Arish robbed them of that. However, there was one compensating factor that both girls were determined to enjoy to the full.

Ben Aben was dragged before them wearing noting but a loincloth, his body laden with chains. Now that the tables had been turned, all of his sadistic arrogance was gone and he stood trembling before them while he awaited his fate.

“I see yer fellow citizens gave ye up quickly enough when their own skins were threatened,” Firetong commented. As the Dwarf who had suffered most because of Ben Aben’s actions he was part of the tribunal that had been established to determine his fate. The other members were the two Shebaria.

“What do ye think we should do with this scum?” Firetong asked. “I suggest we geld him, flog the hide off him, and put him to work hauling ore.”

Although all three suggestions appealed to the two Elves, neither spoke for some time while they considered the fate of the man who had allowed one of them to be taken as a sexual slave and who had personally taken the virtue of the other. No punishment seemed too severe, but they wanted it to be one that Ben Aben would long remember. It was Asharia who spoke first. Leaning toward her sister she cupped her hand and whispered into Delendria’s ear.

Delendria smiled. “I like it,” she said. “I would be poetic justice.” She turned to Firetong. “Has the delegation from El Arish returned to the city?”

“Nay, they be down at the dock for the transfer of the gold.”

Delendria nodded. Not entirely trusting the citizens of the city, it had been decided that certain members of the city’s nobility remain as hostages until it was confirmed that the Dwarf’s demands had been carried out to the letter. “Send for the most senior. I have something I want him to hear.”

Mahmoud Ben Aben, once the most exalted and powerful member of the nobility of El Arish, waited outside the door of the harem. The heavy door was constructed of thick planks of cypress wood, but he knew that just a few weeks before they had been covered in sheets of beaten gold. That was gone now, stripped from the door to help pay the Dwarf’s exorbitant ransom.

El Arish had paid a heavy price to avoid the fate that would have befallen it had the Dwarfs attacked and sacked the city. It was a bitter humiliation for a city that considered itself the most civilized and enlightened in the entire world. Even more humiliating had been the restrictions placed on it by the Dwarfs. No longer could free men be taken as slaves. That lowly state was now reserved for criminals. As a result many of the young women taken as harem slaves had been released although, surprisingly many chose to stay, especially those with kind masters. He was outside the door of one such harem now awaiting the summons of his master’s favourite. As a well-educated man it had been thought fitting that he tutor the children of the harem and he had proven to be quite good at it. Not that he had much choice. It was either the soft life of a tutor or the much harsher duties of a common house servant.

He reflected on the changes that had taken place in El Arish. No longer were servants slaves. Now they had to be paid and were free to seek other employment if they were not satisfied with their masters. That did not apply, however, to those of Ben Aben’s station. A man condemned to slavery as a criminal had no rights except to serve as he was directed. He silently cursed the two Elven princesses who had recommended that he be forced to serve a man who had been his political rival. The humiliation had almost been more than he could bear, but he was now over that. Several weeks of service had shown him that pride was something a slave could not afford.

A bell just above his head tinkled softly. It meant that his master’s favourite and the children were waiting for their daily lessons. Quickly he stepped forward and opened the door, his skippered feet making no noise on the smooth marble floor.

He winced as he walked through the outer rooms of the harem. He was still a little sore. The other eunuchs had told him that the effects of his operation would not be noticeable in a few weeks time, but there was still a little bit of swelling and it hurt if he was not careful when he walked. He entered the children’s area of the harem. The children were there as always and he bowed to them, indicating his readiness to begin their lessons. The master’s favourite was there as well, her golden skin glowing as it caught the light falling through one of the high windows. She looked at him and smiled.

“Good morning, Mahmoud, on time as usual.”

“Yes mistress,” he replied going down on both knees. It was just one more humiliation in a life of servility, but something that he had accepted. Alone of all the members of his master’s this particular member of the harem had chosen to attend his daily lessons and her indulgent husband had agreed.

“I have decided to join the lesson again today,” Taria said. “I find your discourses so enlightening.”

“I will be pleased to serve you, mistress,” Ben Aben replied, keeping his head bowed in order to show proper respect.

He was used to the routine by now and no longer felt the burning resentment that had filled his heart when he had found that his former favourite had chosen to go to his rival. He felt nothing toward her any more other than the reverence due the wife of his master. The woman that he had once considered the most skilled and ardent lover he had ever taken to his bed stirred no response in him now other than that of a perfect rose or a splendid sunset. Stifling a sigh he seated himself before his mistress and her children, unrolled one of the scrolls he had brought with him, and began to read.

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