The Love Slave Part 28

"I hope it is the fat one," Zaynab said. "The one who beat Iniga. He is the worst of them all. I pray he suffers the most!"

Watching the three dying men somehow seemed to ease the pain in her heart. Zaynab knew she would always remember, but at least she felt justice had been done. Iniga had been revenged. Her honor would be cleansed by the death throes of the men who had maltreated her so terribly.

For the next few weeks Hasdai ibn Shaprut worked with Karim to set the government and its administration, unsettled by the death of Habib ibn Malik, back on an even keel. Zaynab spent her time regaining her strength and preparing for Oma's wedding to the vizier, Alaeddin ben Omar. In the days of Zaynab's captivity, Karim's former first mate had pressed his case with Oma. When Zaynab returned, Alaeddin came to her, pleading.

"You must convince her to wed with me," he said. "I love her dearly. I have taken no other wife, in the hopes that she would change her mind and return to me, my lady Zaynab; but I am no longer a young man. I am past thirty. If I am to have sons, I must marry soon."

"I have told her I would free her, and I have advised her to marry you, my lord," Zaynab told him. "Last time, I know, she remained with me because I was going into a strange new world. Now, however, I have the Nasi, and I have the caliph's daughter. I should not want her to deny herself the happiness she could have as your wife. I will speak with her, but I can promise you nothing, my lord. Oma is every bit as independent in her thinking as I am. Are you certain you want such a wife? She will not change." Zaynab's eyes twinkled.

"I want only her!" he vowed earnestly.

"Do you love him?" Zaynab demanded of Oma later that day.

"Yes," Oma said, "but I love you too, lady."

"If you love him," Zaynab replied, "then you must marry him." She caught her friend's hands in hers. "Ohhh, Oma, do not be a little fool! I love you too. You are the best friend I ever had, but what you will have with Alaeddin ben Omar will be even better. You will have your freedom, and status as the wife of the vizier. You will have children of your own, and I know you want that. Best of all, you will have the love of a good man. Do not throw that away just to remain with me, Oma." Zaynab's eyes filled with tears. "Dearest Oma, if I could have what you have, I would be the happiest woman in the world!"

"You have the Nasi, and Moraima," Oma said slowly.

"The Nasi and I are friends, and of course I am grateful for that. I must live this life that fate has chosen for me, but you do not have to live it with me, my good Oma.

"I want you to live your own life as Alaeddin ben Omar's wife and the mother of his children. I would sell my soul for what is being offered to you, but I shall never know love again. The only man I have ever loved cannot love me. Fate has presented you with a golden opportunity, Oma. If you reject it this time, you will regret it all of your days, and I will think you the biggest fool ever born."

Oma burst into tears. "Ohh, lady, I am so torn! I want to be that black-bearded ruffian's wife, but I cannot bear the thought of leaving you all alone! You have no one but me to look after you."

"I shall have the Nasi give orders to comb the slave markets of al-Andalus for a girl from Alba," Zaynab said. "She will not be my dear Oma, but she will make her own place in my life. Marry the vizier, Oma. After all, you are not getting any younger either. You are sixteen, and I already had had Moraima when I was your age," Zaynab teased her friend. "If you wait much longer, the vizier will be forced to find a younger wife to wed."

"As if anyone would have him, the black-bearded villain," Oma said, and then she smiled tremulously. "Is it really all right? You will not mind if I marry him, and desert you?"

Zayab hugged her. "You are not deserting me, Oma," she rea.s.sured the girl. "Now, run along, and tell him of your decision. You will make him the happiest of men. I will dower you generously, and the Nasi will see to it that your bride price is also large."

"You are certain you are content to let Oma go?" Hasdai ibn Shaprut asked Zaynab that night as they lay abed.

"She loves him," came the quiet reply. "No one should throw away love, my lord, though there are those who would think me foolish for such sentiments. Will you negotiate her bride price for her? I should consider it a great favor, and I will need an imam to attend to the legalities of her freedom and the marriage contract."

"I will ask the prince to speak to the imam, and I will negotiate her bride price." He took a lock of Zaynab's golden hair between his fingers. "Tell me what you did to Ali Ha.s.san. What pleasure was so lethal that it killed him?"

"Ali Ha.s.san killed himself," Zaynab said impa.s.sively. "He boiled his heart in his own l.u.s.t, my lord. I managed to keep him at bay until the night you found us. Finally I took him to the bed and made him lie upon it. I bound his arms and legs with silken cords. Then I began a sweet torture that between lovers is a delight, but for Ali Ha.s.san was a death sentence, although I knew it not."

He reached up, and pulling her head down to his kissed her, and whispered against her lips, "Do to me what you did to Ali Ha.s.san, my adorable little a.s.sa.s.sin."

"Are you not afraid of meeting the same end, my lord?" she teased him, but she was a little shocked by his request.

His brown eyes looked directly at her. "I am not afraid," he said softly.

If he had been another man, Zaynab would have found a way to avoid what he was proposing, but Hasdai was genuinely curious. She arose from the bed, and fetching her little golden basket, brought it back to the bedside. Reaching in, she drew forth two silken cords and bound him. She began by resting lightly upon his thighs and fondling her own b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He watched, fascinated, as she put a finger in her mouth, sucked upon it, and then withdrawing it, encircled her nipples.

Then she began his torture, and when he was well roused, and straining against his bonds, Zaynab sat back where he could see her, and teased at her little jewel until she was gasping and weak with pleasure. He struggled against the silken cords, wild with his desire to possess her, and at that point Zaynab lowered herself over his raging member, taking him into her body to slowly pleasure him. When the edge was off his hunger, she released him from his bonds, and rolling her over, he pistoned her again and again until they both found paradise.

Afterward he held her in his arms, saying, "What other little games have you kept from me, my dear? Next time I want to bind you and be the torturer. Would you object?"

"My lord, it is my duty to give you pleasure," she answered.

"Then so be it," he said, and promptly fell asleep, perfectly sated with the pa.s.sion they had shared.

Zaynab lay awake for some time, and finally arose, pulling on a simple white silk caftan. Slipping through the diaphanous curtains, she walked out into the garden. The moon was full tonight, and it silvered the landscape below. She paced slowly, inhaling the fragrance of roses, nicotiana, and her own favorite, gardenias. The air was warm and the light breeze ruffled her long hair.

She needed to compose herself. Prepare herself for the voyage to al-Andalus; for the long years ahead of her that would be filled with pa.s.sion while devoid of love. I don't want to be a Love Slave any longer, she thought silently, daring to let the words she could not voice blossom in her mind. I want to be Karim's wife, the mother of his children. I would give up everything I possess for that paradise! I would live in a black goat's-hair tent and eat from a wooden bowl the rest of my life if Allah would but grant me my desire. I hate the life I must live! She paced nervously through the garden.

I must control these mutinous thoughts, Zaynab thought, reminding herself that soon she would see her darling little daughter. Moraima was her life now. She would never again return here, nor see him again. It had been horrendous being so close to Karim, neither of them acknowledging the other except in the most formal of terms. It was worse being in the Nasi's arms, knowing Karim was in the same house. Why had she ever come back to Alcazaba Malina? Oma. She had come for Oma. Or had she? Suddenly she stopped, stiffening, sensing his presence before he even spoke her name.

"Zaynab!" He stood, silhouetted in the moonlight, wearing a caftan as white as hers, his hair pulled back so that she could clearly see his handsome face.

"Forgive me, my lord, I have intruded," she quickly said, and turned about to go. His hand fell lightly upon her shoulder.

"Do not leave," he said quietly. "We have had no real chance to speak together, you and I. Are you happy?"

She did not turn about, saying instead, "I am a wealthy woman, albeit a slave. I have a good master in the Nasi, a powerful friend in the caliph, and a child I love, my lord."

"But are you happy?" he asked her again.

She spun about, saying angrily, "No! I am not happy, Karim al Malina. I will never be really happy away from you! There! I have said it aloud to you. Do my words make you happy?"

"I have not been happy since the moment I left you," he replied.

"Oh, my lord," she cried furiously, "what good does this do either of us? I cannot have you, nor you me. Find another wife, and sire children upon her for the good of Malina, as your father would have wanted you to do. I will shortly return with my master to al-Andalus. I shall make certain that we never see each other again!"

"Your master," he said sneeringly. "You make him very happy, Zaynab. His cries of pleasure could be heard throughout my garden this night. It pleases me that I trained you so well."

Her little hand flashed out, making hard contact with his smooth cheek. With equal speed he yanked her into his arms, his mouth descending to cover hers in a deep, burning kiss. His heart leapt at the familiar feeling of her body against his, at her lips softening against his lips in pa.s.sionate response, but then she drew her head away from his. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and her eyes were like sea-washed jewels as she looked at him, anguished.

"Zaynab," he whispered, his own heartache evident.

She pulled completely from his embrace. "You are far crueler to me than Ali Ha.s.san was," she said low. "How could you, Karim? How could you break my heart again like this? I will never forgive you!" Then she ran from him, across the garden, through the diaphanous curtains, back to the chamber she shared with Hasdai ibn Shaprut. Trembling, she pulled her garment off and slipped into the bed again. The man beside her lay quietly, pretending that he yet slept, but he had seen the tableau in the garden and was troubled by it. Now the Love Slave lay by him, struggling to control her sobs. He had to know the truth, but he would not ask her until they were back in al-Andalus.

Oma's wedding to Alaeddin ben Omar was a quiet one. The vizier had no family but an ancient father. The bridal bath the day before was just between the two friends. Oma did not sit on a golden throne amid a wealth of gifts as Iniga once had, and perhaps it was better they were not reminded of that day. The vizier, his father, Karim, and the Nasi went to the mosque, where the imam, having been informed by the qadi that the marriage contracts were in order and agreed to by both parties, p.r.o.nounced that they were man and wife. The four men returned to the palace. After a small traditional repast, Alaeddin ben Omar took his bride home to the fine new house that the prince had given them. His elderly father, Omar ben Tariq, would live with them, that he might enjoy his grandchildren in his remaining years. He had taken immediately to Oma.

"She is pretty enough, and has a sweet nature," he told his son, "and she is broad in the hips. She'll be a good breeder!"

"When do we return to Cordoba?" Zaynab asked Hasdai that same evening, after the bridal party had gone.

"Are you that anxious to leave?" he asked her thoughtfully.

"We have been gone over four months, my lord. The prince is restored to good health, and is fully capable of administering the government here for the caliph, or so you have said. Oma is settled. I miss my daughter. The Gulf of Cadiz is not an easy sea in autumn," she concluded.

"So the prince has told me," he said to her. "We are going to travel overland to Tanja, and sail the short distance across to Jabal-Taraq. We shall then travel to Cadiz, and meet our vessel at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. If you like, we will stop in Seville and see the city, my dear. I promised that to you on our voyage to Malina."

"I just want to go home," Zaynab said quietly.

"You cannot travel without a servant," he said to her.

"I want a slave girl from my own land, Hasdai. We will not find one here in Alcazaba Malina. Besides, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, even after my years in al-Andalus. I need no one to ride in the litter with me. I will be brought my meals, and when I can bathe, I am capable of doing it by myself if I must."

"Then we can leave tomorrow," he said. "The Saqalibah can be ready at a moment's notice, and so can I."

"I, however, cannot," she informed him. "My possessions must be packed I will send to Oma tomorrow to come and help me. We can leave the day after, my lord."

"Give the bride a few days' respite, my dear," Hasdai said with a smile. "Although I know Oma will come to your call, remember she is no longer your servant. Why do we not plan our departure for a week from today. In the meantime I will want our host to ride about Malina with me to rea.s.sure his people that everything is all right now. Do you mind being alone? We will leave in the morning and be gone for several days."

"I am content with my own company," Zaynab said. "I shall visit the silver market and find something special for Moraima."

When Oma came to help her a few days later, however, Zaynab was delighted for her company. Together the two women packed the Love Slave's belongings for her return to al-Andalus. Oma was full of news.

"I have two sweet little serving girls in the harem," she told Zaynab. "One is from a place called Crete, and the other is a Rumi. They were a gift from my father-in-law. He is such a dear old man, Zaynab. When Alaeddin and I told him about the baby, he was simply delighted. Ohh, it is so wonderful to have a family of my own!"

"Baby?" Zaynab laughed. "You did not tell me about a baby."

Oma chuckled. "Well, you know that once we saw each other, Alaeddin and I couldn't keep our hands, and our other parts, quiet I knew before you were kidnapped, lady."

"Yet you would have returned with me to Cordoba," Zaynab said softly. "Ohh, Oma! No woman ever had a better friend than I have had in you. I will miss you, but I will be content knowing you are so happy." Then seeing Oma's tears, she brushed them away, saying, "Tell me about your new home, and how many other servants do you have? Remember to be strict but fair with them. Is the house very big?"

"There is a eunuch who runs the household," Oma said, "but no eunuch in the harem. I told Alaeddin it was a waste of money to buy one just for me. There is a cook, and people to clean, and we have ten of the new Saqalibah to guard us. The prince gave them to us. He said we can never expect things to be as they once were, so we must be vigilant. The house has beautiful gardens with fountains. It is a lovely place, and I am so happy!" Her pretty face shone, confirming her words. Then she chuckled. "I cannot help but think how annoyed that horrid Mother Eubh would be to learn of our fates, lady. I'm certain she expected we would end up slaving for some Celtic chieftain in the hls of Eire. I'm sorry she cannot know of our happiness."

"Which is certainly far greater than hers, I suspect," Zaynab answered her friend. "We are the fortunate ones."

Hasdai and the prince returned late the following day, and ate together before retiring.

"I am informed that your caravan is packed and ready to depart at first light, my lord Nasi," the prince told him. "You will follow the coastal road connecting Alcazaba Malina with Tanja. The journey should take no more than three days. A vessel will be waiting in Tanja to ferry you across to Jabal-Taraq. Once there, you are again on the soil of al-Andalus proper. I will not save my good-byes for the morning, but rather now tell you of my deep grat.i.tude. Had you not come to Malina, I do not think I should have survived, so deep was my sorrow. I know that the caliph sent you in response to a plea from my council, Hasdai, but once here, you truly felt my pain. You understood, but you did not allow me to wallow in self-pity. You made me remember my duty to my people, as my father would have wanted. For that, for your friends.h.i.+p, for so much more, I am very grateful."

"Now," Hasdai said with a smile, "your next duty is to find a young wife, and sire another generation of descendants of ibn Malik."

Karim shook his head. "I will not marry again," he said quietly. "My sister's son shall be my heir."

"But surely you want a wife, a harem of lovelies?" the Nasi pressed.

"I once fell in love with a woman that I could not have," Karim told him. "Then I married the girl my father chose because I wanted to please him and for once be a dutiful son. Hatiba had been promised to Ali Ha.s.san. She loved him as I loved someone else. Even had my family's tragedy not occurred, I learned that a marriage without love is a hollow thing, Hasdai. No, I shall not marry again."

"What if you fell in love?" the Nasi asked.

Karim's eyes fastened onto Hasdai's. "I shall not love again," he said firmly. "How could I love another after my beloved ..." Then he laughed ruefully. "Besides, Hasdai, I have certainly had my fill of women, have I not?"

The Nasi laughed. "Indeed, my lord, yes, yet a soft body beneath a man is truly paradise. I do not think I should want to be celibate."

"Obviously, Zaynab pleases you," Karim said abruptly, then wondered why on earth he had said it. Did he really want to know from the Nasi's mouth of the pleasure she could give a man? He already knew. Why did he continue to torment himself?

"She does," Hasdai said shortly, and then, "I should not have been so fortunate as to possess her for my own had not my lord, the caliph, had no way of putting the lady Zahra aside without causing confusion regarding the succession. The caliph adored Zaynab, and she him."

"A pity," Karim responded coolly, and then he said, "I think I shall retire, Hasdai. I shall see you in the morning before you depart."

Dismissed, the Nasi returned to his own quarters, where Zaynab was already asleep. He wanted to ask her about Karim, but he did not wake her. When the prince had said he loved a woman he could not have, Hasdai wondered if that woman was Zaynab. There was obviously something between them, although Zaynab had never given him any cause to doubt her loyalty. He had promised himself he would ask her, but not until they were back in Cordoba. He would keep that vow. She might be his property, but even so, Hasdai wondered if he had the right to question her about her innermost heart.

They departed in the early morning before the sun was too hot. Karim came to bid them farewell. Hasdai watched as he approached Zaynab, but the prince merely wished her a safe trip, and Zaynab thanked him in impersonal tones. Oma arrived with the vizier, and the two women hugged one another.

"I nae thought when we were taken from the convent that it would end like this," Oma said in their native tongue. "G.o.d, Allah, whatever ye want to call the deity, go wi' ye and keep ye safe, lady. I wish we dinna hae to part I wish ye were remaining here. Could ye nae ask the Nasi? He would free ye if ye asked him, I know."

Zaynab hugged Oma. "Nay, la.s.sie, he wouldna. He canna throw away the caliph's gift so lightly. Besides, he enjoys me." She smiled, and patted Oma's hand. "And there is Moraima. I canna leave my wee bairn, Oma. Ye'll understand when ye've borne yer own. Send word to me when it comes, la.s.sie. I'll want to know yer safe." Then, after kissing her friend on both cheeks, Zaynab entered her litter.

Their caravan, accompanied by the caliph's one hundred Saqalibah, traveled a road that paralleled the ocean. It was a wide, well-kept road built hundreds of years ago by the Rumi. There were other travelers upon the road, some going the distance to Tanja, others merely moving from village to village. Every ten miles there were caravan stops: government-run inns with primitive but clean sleeping accommodations and food for both man and beast.

They traveled one-third of the distance they had to go the first day. Although they sheltered at a caravan stop, they had their own tents. Zaynab was irritated because she could not bathe until the following morning, before they left. The public bath belonging to the inn was, like all public baths in al-Andalus, open to women only until noon each day. After the noon hour it became the province of men.

Hasdai returned to their tent, refreshed from his ablutions. He was well fed, relaxed with good wine, and ready for love. "I have missed you," he said softly, reaching out for her. "It has been too long since we have been together, my dear."

Zaynab glared at him. "I am tired, my lord. My head aches from the heat and the dust of the road. I am filthy, and covered with grime." She moved away from him. "All I want to do is sleep. I do not like disappointing you, but I cannot be at my best under the circ.u.mstances. The innkeeper may have a wh.o.r.e for hire. If she is clean, I will not mind if you use her, my lord."

He looked at her, appalled. "I am capable of restraining my l.u.s.t, Zaynab. I do not want a wh.o.r.e. I want you, but I will wait."

She flung herself on her mattress and slept She was annoyed with him. He was always so reasonable. She wondered if he ever lost his temper. Certainly she had never seen him do so.

He shook her awake before dawn. "Go and bathe," he commanded her in a tight voice. "I have not had you in over a week, and I do not intend to wait until we return to Cordoba to do so."

Zaynab was astounded, but she obediently arose, and found her oils, soaps, and toweling. "What if the bath is not open yet?" she whispered to him. She drew on her all-enveloping cloak.

"It is open now," he said. "I asked the innkeeper last night."

She left the tent and hurried across the compound to the bathhouse. It was strange being without Oma. She paid the bath mistress her stipend and then stepped into the warm water. She debated about was.h.i.+ng her hair, but she had done so before they left Alcazaba Malina. It could wait until Tanja as long as she kept the dust brushed out of it.

Returning to the tent, she slipped beneath the coverlet, and Hasdai immediately gathered her into his arms. "You are delicious," he murmured into her soft tresses, and his hand sought, found, and tenderly caressed a plump breast. "No games," he said. "I would simply be a man with you, my dear. Would another woman rouse me as you do, Zaynab? I wonder about it sometimes." He delicately pinched a nipple.

"You cannot know the answer to that question, my lord, unless you take another woman," she answered him. Her little hand stroked the back of his neck, and she felt the p.r.i.c.kle of gooseflesh that her touch raised on his nape. "Would you like another woman?"

"No," he growled in her ear, and then the tip of his tongue insinuated itself into the sh.e.l.l of it, swirling about teasingly. He blew softly into her ear, sending a s.h.i.+ver down her spine. "I want only you, Zaynab." Then he was kissing her, his mouth pressing hard upon her mouth, his tongue infiltrating between her lips to play with her tongue. His lips traveled over her face and throat, working their way down to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"Ummmmm," she purred with pleasure as he kissed her and fondled her. "Ahhhhh," she moaned as his mouth fastened upon first one nipple, then the other, drawing hard upon the flesh, stoking her rising excitement He bit gently down on a nipple, sending a tiny jolt of sweet pain through her. Zaynab's fingers wrapped themselves in his dark hair, kneading his scalp as his hand moved down her belly to caress her mont "Unfortunately," he whispered to her, "there is no time for subtlety, my dear. If there were, I should pleasure you as you did me a few days back. When we get home," he told her as he mounted her, "I shall bind you to our bed, spread wide for my delight Then I shall play with you until you beg for mercy, and your love juices will flow as copiously as they have ever flowed." He pushed himself slowly into her. "I will make you cry out with your happiness, Zaynab." Then he began to move energetically upon her, covering her mouth when she moaned with pleasure, for he did not want the entire place to hear her. She bit his palm, and he laughed, even as his own love juices exploded from his now satisfied manhood, filling her with his loving tribute.

Afterward he held her in his arms, the sounds of the caravan stop awakening in their ears. "We should start every day this way," he teased her, and then she laughed, snuggling against him.

"I shall look forward to our return to Cordoba, my lord," she told him. "I see now that you enjoy games, so we shall have to play some."

On the third day they reached Tanja. It was not a very impressive place, a clutter of low white buildings, and narrow winding alleys that pa.s.sed for streets. There had, it seemed, always been some sort of settlement on the site since the time of the Ancients. It had even been there during the height of the Rumi empire. The city was set on a beautiful small bay of the Strait of Jabal-Taraq. Across the water the famed rock rose up from the sea. The view was utterly spectacular. The Nasi and his party were courteously welcomed by the caliph's governor, who housed them in his own small palace.

The following morning they were ferried across the strait, finally setting foot back upon the soil of al-Andalus that same day. Reorganized, their caravan wended its way to the mouth of the Guadalquivir, where their s.h.i.+p was awaiting them. They sailed up the river to Cordoba Zaynab did not choose to stop at Seville. She was too anxious now to see her child; but when at last they reached her home, it stood quiet. Hearing them in the courtyard, Naja ran from the house. His brown eyes were filled with tears. "Oh, lady!" he cried. "The princess is dead!"

Chapter 19.