Chapter 30: Terrifying Journey

Three weeks later the Chief Eunuch informed the Emir that Neveen was pregnant, though neither of them knew that this had happened as a result of her night in his room in the final of the competition. It was also clear that Lama was not pregnant. The Emir immediately ordered Kamal Qumsiyeh, the Head of Protocol, to arrange for a box at the next performance of Rigoletto at a good Opera House. As luck would have it, that was at the Theâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, so it was arranged that he and Lama would fly out to see it. Naturally, it never occurred to anybody to tell Lama anything about the proposed trip, nor did it occur to the Emir that she had never been outside a harem in her life, except for the journey from her father's house to the Golden Palace.

When the day of the journey arrived, Lama was roused early and put in an abaya. Of course nobody gave her any reason and equally naturally she did not dare to ask. She was taken in a motor car for only the second time in her life, and hustled through a strange building and put in a funny shaped bedroom with tiny windows. There her abaya was removed and two women whom she took to be bath girls prepared her for the Emir's bed. The odd thing she noticed was that these bath girls wore funny little hats, but were otherwise naked.

Later, the Emir came into the bedroom and Lama dropped into a deep obeisance at the sight of her Master. It was then that the whole room started to shake and she became very frightened. The Emir appeared not to notice the noise or the movement of the room, and merely touched her shoulder in a signal for her to rise.

"Master, what is happening?" she blurted before she could stop herself.

"We are leaving. That was the engines starting up."

"Master, I do not understand," she said.

"Look out of the window," he said.

Lama looked out of the window and screamed. The buildings outside were moving!

"Calm down," said the Emir laughing, "It's only an aeroplane."

Lama had only ever been in her father's harem, and then in the Triple Palace. The two car journeys were the only occasions on which she had ever been outside; they had been strange and frightening and now she was utterly terrified. The Emir was still laughing as he laid her on the bed and stroked her breasts until she calmed down a little. By the time he had finished fucking her, she was calm enough to eat some figs and have an odd-tasting drink which one of the naked women brought for them. Then she slept, unaware that her drink had contained a sedative.

Some six hours later, the Emir said, "Time to get dressed, we are nearly landing."

The stewardesses had a high old time dressing her in a brassière and knickers and then a summer dress, none of which she had ever worn before. The Emir found the whole process very amusing. Then they landed and went down some high steps outside, without an abaya, which frightened her again. It was almost a relief to get into a Rolls and be driven off to the Embassy. The city through which they drove was strange and somewhat frightening, especially as the streets seemed full of women dressed in all manner of garments she had never encountered before.