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“Ahh,” smiled Sundara Pandya, the
Maharaja of Tigalava. “That
is three times you have done that.
I think you have bewitched the shells.”
“Perhaps
Vinayakudu
continues to smile upon me,” Larra replied, her full lips twitching
in a return smile.
“Perhaps,” the maharaja agreed,
“or perhaps it is more of your white magic.”
“I told you, your
highness. I have no
magic. I am merely an adventurer
and explorer who stumbled into your world.”
“A most mysterious and beautiful
adventurer,” Sundara replied.
“One I would like to get to know
better.”
“You know me well enough,” Larra
said. “I am almost seven
months with child and you have many women to choose
from. How could I possibly please
you?”
“I have no one like you,” Sundara
persisted. He leaned
forward. “What do you say
we play for higher stakes?”
“Higher
stakes? I know what you would
win. What prize is available
to me?”
“I will make you my
maharani. You will rule over
my harem as my first wife.”
“It is a great honour – too great
for one of such low birth, and I have told you that I have children that
I must return to.”
The maharaja reached out and stroked her arm
with the tips of his fingers.
“You are highborn enough for
me. I choose my
bedmates. If I wish to make you
my maharani, then my maharani you will be.”
“I will think on it,” Larra
said “Now my child stirs
within me. I am tired and need
to rest.”
“I will expect your reply tomorrow,”
the maharaja replied. “And
then we will play
ashte kashte for a
more interesting prize.”
Larra smiled and rose gracefully to her
feet. Her female attendants closed
around her. “On the morrow
then,” she promised.
Larra murmured in pleasure as two of the young
girls rubbed the scented oils into her
skin. It had been explained to
her by one of her young attendants that the oils had a cosmetic as well as
a therapeutic value. Apparently
the oils softened the skin and allowed it to return to its normal shape once
a pregnant woman had been delivered of her
child. Larra wasn’t so sure
of that, but she was happy to accept the pleasant massage that went with
its application.
She had now been with the Elephant People
for almost a month and had picked up a working knowledge of the
language. At first it had baffled
her until she realized that it was a dialect of
Hindi. After that it was a matter
of applying her language skills and improving her
vocabulary. It was a natural
talent she had. Somehow any language
she encountered came easily to her, no matter how
alien. She now spoke it well
enough to know that her hosts did not call themselves the Elephant People
but the
Tigalava. It was difficult for her to think
of them differently, however, considering the extent to which elephants were
worshipped and portrayed.
The elephant motif was everywhere, especially
in the form of statues of Ganesh or
Vinayakudu
as the Tigalava called him. In
addition, there seemed to be a large number of real elephants in the Tigalava
city. Larra could clearly hear
their trumpeting through the high windows of the palace although she had
yet to set eyes on one.
She and Rupali were considered quite remarkable
due to their skin colouring. For
some reason that Larra could not determine, white skin was held in high regard
and accounted for much of the special treatment they had
received.
There was also anther
reason. She had learned from
the same chatty girl that had informed her about the oils that she and Rupali
were considered blessed, in that they had been given shelter by Vinayakudu
himself. That was a relief to
Larra. Far from viewing their
seeking shelter in the lap of one of the gods to be a desecration, the Tigalava
regarded it as a sign that the god had intervened on their
behalf. How else could the mysterious
appearance of two strange women be properly
explained?
Larra was not about to enlighten her
hosts. She and Rupali needed
a place to rest, and since she was now entering her seventh month of pregnancy
Larra could not afford to take chances on losing her
baby. She would allow the Tigalava
to believe whatever they wanted provided it worked in her
favour. However, she knew that
playing on people’s superstitions was a dangerous
game. If there was the slightest
suspicion that she was not what the Tigalava thought she was it could backfire
on her badly, so she was careful not to make any claims for herself or act
in any way that might be considered out of the normal; at least not out of
the normal for her.
That attitude had worked well with the
maharaja. He was infatuated with
her despite her swollen waistline.
However, he was a man of honour.
Shortly after her arrival he had summoned her to his
bedchamber. His intentions had
been more than obvious, but Sundara had boasted that he had never forced
a woman to his bed. Larra had
held him to that, agreeing to converse with him and play the board game he
enjoyed so well, but going no farther until she was delivered of her
child. Only then would she consider
sharing his bed.
Her strange reluctance (from his point of
view) had at first angered him. But
he was a man of his word. He
took no action against her in spite of the fact that she was the only woman
ever to refuse him. He did insist
, however, that she play ashte kashte with him every
evening. It was a simple game,
the forerunner of pachisi, a game Larra had enjoyed as a
child. Although it contained
a considerable element of luck, she was quite good at it and enjoyed beating
the maharaja on a regular basis, an occurrence that both annoyed and intrigued
him.
He was almost as intriguing to
her. Although in his forties,
Sundara Pandya was still a strikingly handsome
man. Tall and athletic, with
a finely trimmed beard and dark, intelligent eyes, he strongly appealed to
her. He was charming and immensely
curious about Larra’s world, a combination that made him difficult to
resist.
The situation was made more complicated by
the fact that eventually she and Rupali would want to
leave. Larra did have her other
children to think of and she would not have been remotely satisfied as a
member of a harem. When she was
delivered of her child she would have to convince the maharajah to let her
go. It was that fact that had
her thinking about his offer.
Larra gazed about her luxurious
quarters. It was more than obvious
that it was part of a harem. The
walls and ceilings were covered with some of the most beautiful and titillating
artwork she had ever seen. It
made the erotic artwork she had seen on other archeological sites seem like
an elementary school primer by comparison and some of the sexual positions
shown seemed completely impossible.
She wondered if the maharajah ever entertained any members of his
harem here or visa versa. It
seemed like an incredible waste if he did
not.
She was led to her cushion-covered resting
place. The young serving girls
never left her alone and she had to admit that she and Rupali were well cared
for and also given a certain amount of
freedom. They were allowed to
practice Larra’s physical routines and move freely about the area assigned
to them. It was quite large,
consisting of the apartment and an open area that had been developed as a
large formal garden. Several
other doors opened on the garden as well, although she never saw anyone else
in it except her ever-present gaggle of young
girls.
The girls themselves were quite pleasant and
apparently very happy with their lives.
They had explained that they had been especially chosen for their
intelligence and beauty. One
day they would become full members of the harem, an event they were all eagerly
looking forward to. That simply
served to confirm Larra’s conclusion about the situation into which
she and Rupali had fallen. It
was something that preyed on her mind.
She did not want to find that she had escaped one form of imprisonment
only to fall into another.
That last thought decided
her. Tomorrow she and the maharajah
would play for more than tokens.
Sundara Pandya, the Maharaja of Tigalava,
watched intently as the exotically beautiful woman moved her playing pieces
about the ivory and ebony playing board.
She was certainly the most
captivating woman he had ever met, with her white skin, teak dark hair, and
violet eyes. He found her incredibly
beautiful and was not at all deterred by her burgeoning
body. If anything the fact that
she had life within her made her even more
alluring. Her clothing hid very
little of her body, consisting of a pair of see-through pantaloons and a
gauzy top that fully revealed her swelling breasts and firm pink
nipples. He became aroused almost
every time he thought about her.
True to his principles he had not forced her
to his bed even though he had desired her from the first time he had set
eyes upon her. From the very
beginning it was obvious that she would not behave in the manner of women
he was used to. Priding himself
on the fact that no woman had ever refused him, he had been stunned when
she had shown no interest in lying with him, however, she could not refuse
his invitation to attend him in a non-carnal
capacity. He had soon found that
she was very good at games, especially his favourite, ashte
kashte.
In order to draw her in, he had intentionally
played poorly, even swapping out one or two of the cowrie shells and feigning
annoyance when she soundly trounced him.
Now he had her playing for something
worthwhile. She had agreed to
grace his bed in return for a chance to receive her absolute
freedom. If she won she was free
to leave his realm any time she chose and he would help her on her
way. If she lost…, well
his couch awaited.
Larra’s lips twitched slightly in annoyance.
One cowry up and three down -
a one.
She needed a better throw
than that. The cowries were not
falling for her tonight. She
had three elephants in play and one in her
house. Sundara had all four of
his in play and on his last throw had just sent her lead elephant back to
the house. Two of his pieces
were almost home.
This was the pivotal
game. They had agreed to play
the best of nine games with Rupali and one of the other girls making up a
third and a fourth player. However,
as far as her wager was concerned only the games she and Sundara won
counted.
So far Rupali had one win, and the other girl,
a child called Vema, had two wins.
Interestingly, Vema was the Hindu goddess of
sex. Larra wondered in
passing if that was significant.
She made her move, advancing one of her pieces a single
space. Now it was Sundara’s
turn. Going after her gave him
a certain advantage, but he had won that right at the beginning of the
game. Order was determined by
a toss of the shells and it just so happened that in this game Larra went
first and Sundara went second. He
had three wins and Larra had two.
If he won then he would win their game within a game
It would mean that she was bound to him for
as long as he wished and the first act of that binding would see her go to
his bed. She needed a win to
leave them tied and get a rematch.
Sundara took his
turn. The cowries tumbled across
the table, three facing up. He
moved one of his pieces home. Now
it was Rupali’s turn. She
had two of her pieces home and was in a
quandary. If she won that would
give her two wins and leave Sundara the over-all victor with one more win
than each of them. That meant
she needed to lose to help Larra out, but she also had to hope that the maharaja
would not win either.
Rupali took her turn, tossing a
three. It enabled her to move
both her stones onto the same square, blocking the path
home. It meant that Sundara could
not get past her, but neither could
Larra. It wasn’t critical,
being only a temporary block and Larra wasn’t
worried. Eventually Rupali would
have to move.
Now it was Vema’s
turn. The girl was a fairly good
player, but she was playing for her
master. Larra couldn’t complain
about that, after all Rupali was helping her, but she was annoyed when Vema
threw a four, enabling her to move one of her stones so that it landed on
a square occupied by one of Larra’s
elephants. The piece was bounced
back to her house.
Larra threw – a lucky break, an
eight. She was able to bring
the piece that had been sent home into the game and take another
turn. This time she threw a four
and bounced one of Rupali’s pieces back
home. And so it went; the game
moving back and forth with first one player ahead and then the
other. But slowly Sundara advanced
his pieces until he had all but one home.
When Larra’s turn came she had only one
chance. If she threw a four she
could catch Sundara and send him home.
If she did not she would have to hope that he did not throw the perfect
three he needed.
She threw – a
two. It was not
enough. She made her move and
then waited as Sundara picked up the
cowries. He
threw. Larra
smiled. “You win,”
she said.
“Yes,” Sundara
replied. “It appears that
I have.”
To give him credit, Sundara acted like a
gentleman. He ordered the serving
girls to bring a light meal and then sent Larra back to her erotic
lodgings. It was significant
that Rupali was not allowed to return with
her. When she arrived in the
apartment her bevy of juvenile servants descended upon
her.
“Great honour, mistress,” one of
the girls chirped. “Our
lord comes to you in your own apartments.”
“Yes,” Larra agreed, her lips curving
slightly. “A great
honour.”
Her gossamer costume was stripped from
her. She smelled the scented
oils as they were prepared. Four
girls worked on her, rubbing the aromatic oils into her
skin. When she was nicely lubricated
they dressed her in gold and gems and little
else. Smelling of jasmine and
frangipani she waited in the soft light of oil lamps for the maharaja to
come, the ever-present serving girls cooling her with frond
fans.
Sundara was dressed in a white robe trimmed
with gold. His turban had been
removed and his grey-streaked hair was neatly bound into a queue with gold
wire. He approached Larra’s
divan, and stopping just before her, slipped off his
sandals. He knelt before her
and took her hands in his.
“I have dreamed of being with you since
I first set eyes upon you,” he said
quietly. “You are more than
a woman, you are a mystery, and I am completely within your
power.”
Larra smiled slightly, her violet eyes
glowing. “So you say, my
lord, but it appears that I am the one who is captive
here.”
Sundara raised her right hand and gently kissed
her fingertips. “No, it
is I who am a prisoner of your beauty.
I take no woman who truly does not want
me. I release you from your
wager. You are free to go anywhere
within my domain and I will trouble you no more unless you send for
me.”
The maharaja got slowly to his feet and turned
slightly. Larra caught at his
fingers. “No, my lord,”
she said softly. “I was
fairly won. You may claim your
prize, but be wary of my condition, and send away the girls and
guards.”
“I shall treat you as the most delicate
of flowers,” said the maharaja.
He waved his hand dismissing the ubiquitous girl servants and female
guards. Within seconds they melted
from the room.
“There will be no one to cool us,”
Sundara remarked.
“It is a pleasant night,” Larra
replied. “Take me to the
garden.”
Sundara held up her light robe, draping it
about her shoulders. Then Larra
took his arm and walked into the perfume of the warm tropical
night. She led him to the central
fountain, where four statues of the elephant god shot jets of water into
a central basin. “Why not
let the god cool us?” Larra asked, dropping her robe and stepping into
the water.
The basin sloped gently from the edge, reaching
a depth of about four feet in the centre.
Around the outer edge were placed four statues of Ganesh, each the
size of a real elephant. The
raised trunk of each god spayed a jet of water into the
pool. She shivered as the water
cooled her flesh, but she held out her hand and smiled as Sundara loosened
his robe and let it drop and then stepped toward her.
Larra smiled
approvingly. The maharaja was
tall and strongly built; slender of waist and broad of
shoulder. It was apparent that
he had been an athletic man during his youth and had kept himself in shape
as he aged.
Sundara took both her hands in his and raised
them to his lips. “Are you
sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“Now more than ever,” Larra replied,
pulling his hands toward her and returning the kiss, placing her lips against
the tips of his fingers.
Gently, the maharaja pulled her closer, and
bending his head kissed her softly on the
forehead. Then moving lower kissed
each of her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and finally found her
lips. Larra opened her mouth
and their tongues intertwined. For
several minutes they explored one another’s mouths and Larra forgot
about the coolness of the water coursing over her body.
Sundara’s hands caressed her shoulders,
and slid down her back to just above the curve of her
backside. Pulling her close he
softly kissed her neck as Larra offered it to
him. For the next few minutes
each of the lovers found delight in caressing the other and then Sundara
placed his arm in the small of Larra’s back and beneath her thighs,
and while she clung to his neck, he lifted her from the
pool.
Dripping wet, he carried her across the garden
and back to the divan and laid her among the cushions, laying his body beside
hers. He kissed her deeply once
more, while running his fingers across the smooth flesh of her distended
belly. Larra purred in pleasure,
arching her body into his touch.
She gasped as his fingers went to her swollen breasts and stroked
the area around her nipples. His
touch sent a shock through her ultra sensitive breasts, but it was as nothing
compared to the sensation as her touched his tongue to her engorged nipples
and suckled them like a child.
Larra groaned pulling herself against Sundara,
sensing his male hardness near the apex of her
thighs. Her legs parted slightly
in unthinking response but he made no attempt to take advantage of what was
offered. Larra’s right hand,
which had been fondling Sundara’s muscular back and shoulders dropped
between his thighs. Sundara gasped
in surprise and then groaned in pleasure as Larra began to massage his thick
shaft.
“Ahh, my white orchid,” he
gasped. “I can no longer
contain myself.” He slipped
off the edge of the divan and seizing Larra’s long legs positioned himself
between her thighs.
Larra whimpered in carnal delight as Sundara
thrust into her. She had been
ready for him for quite some time and as he penetrated her more deeply her
whimpers changed to cries and then screams of sexual
rapture.
Sundara responded with hoarse cries of his
own, their moans, gasps, and cries creating a sexual duet as each pleasured
the other. It was a song that
did not end until Larra’s body shuddered in sexual release and Sundara
cried out as he climaxed.
For several minutes the lovers lay beside
one another, the only sound the panting of their fevered bodies, and then
Sundara spoke. “I have never
loved a woman like that. You
were sent by the gods to give me pleasure.”
“I am glad I served you so well, my
lord,” Larra replied.
“My only regret is that the child I carry was not created by
your seed.”
“When the child is born I will take it
as my own,” Sundara replied, “and then perhaps we can create
another.”
By the light of the oil lamps Sundara saw
the lips of his lover curve in a smile.
Then she snuggled next to him and closed her
eyes.
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