Chapter 5: Discipline

When the Head of Protocol arrived in the square half an hour later, a stage had been set up in the middle, with tiered seating all round it. There were about a hundred men there, with more arriving by the minute. As they all settled down, a naked man was dragged into the square, put on the stage, and loosely chained to a post. The only woman was Princess Zubeydeh in a fresh abaya accompanied by six armed guards and chained to the Chief Eunuch.

Kamal Qumsiyeh mounted the stage and read out the charge, that the man had failed to show proper respect for the authority of the Emir in the precincts of the Golden Palace, "When it was his duty to protect the authority of the Emir, may he live for ever," as the charge sheet put it.

Princess Zubeydeh whispered to the Chief Eunuch, "What will happen to him? Do you know?"

"He will surely die," was the only answer.

Kamal Qumsiyeh called for any man who wanted to buy the criminal to speak now.

'Obviously, since he had offended the Emir, he isn't going to find any takers at any price, ' thought Princess Zubeydeh, 'Anyone buying him would also buy his entire property, goods, money, and women; the down side is that they would also have to accept responsibility for all his previous actions. In the event of a normal business bankruptcy, that is a purely financial risk, but in a case such as this... '

Then someone spoke up, and said that he wondered whether anyone would like to see the man used in an exhibition for as long as he could stay alive. A sort of gladiator contest between this man and some others who were wrestlers at a local sports club. A faction of the crowd thought this was a good idea, but others decried it as old hat. After all, nobody had insulted the Emir in his own Palace for years and so some special punishment was called for.

Kamal Qumsiyeh then said the traditional punishment was flogging to death for such a crime, but that the insult was so serious that flogging didn't seem enough. There were people who suggested hanging him out in the street for anyone to use, or whip, or maltreat, until he died of something. Others suggested the centuries old traditional punishment of being staked out in the desert covered in honey to be eaten alive by the insects. Others had more bizarre ideas still. Princess Zubeydeh wondered what kind of justice this was, when just about anyone could make any suggestion they liked; wasn't it enough that the man was to die? She wondered even more what her son would decide to do.

Just then the Emir arrived in the square; immediately there was quiet, and the Emir went to speak to Kamal Qumsiyeh. Kamal Qumsiyeh then announced that the Emir had decided that the man would be left where he was on the stage and every hour a small part of him would be cut off, a finger or an ear, or a small area of skin, or a portion of flesh, until he died of these wounds. In the mean time he would be fed, given water, and given medical aid as necessary to prolong his life.

Turning to the man, the Emir reached out and, using a knife from his belt, calmly sliced off one of his ears, whereupon a medical attendant started to staunch the flow of blood and to sew up the wound. This was far worse than any whipping; this was pure long drawn out torture.

On the way back to the Golden Palace, Princess Zubeydeh reflected, 'The cruel man who just sliced a man's ear off is the man I raised as my son, to be gentle and kind; moreover he is my lover who stroked me so tenderly at times and gave me a real insight into my own submissive character. What might he not do to me if he chose me again that night?'

She was surprised when a frisson of excitement went from her cunt to her nipples and back at the thought of just how cruel he could be, and was followed by another when she remembered that the punishment the man was to endure was for trying to rape her.