Chapter 7: Hostess

The first time Maryam was led away by one of the eunuchs to be prepared for use by one of the Emir's distinguished visitors she was full of trepidation. Although she now thoroughly understood the ways a woman could please a man and had been exposed while being educated by the General to almost every perversion and variation any man could ask for, the idea that she was to perform for a man at the request of her Master the Emir made her very nervous. That much might be demanded of her, she already knew. The punishment for failing to please the man who chose her was severe, anything from a thorough flogging to being strangled, depending on the offence given and the Emir's whim.

As the bath girls and the eunuchs fussed about her shaving, oiling her cunt and arsehole, rouging her nipples and labia, brushing her hair and finally fingering her clitoris almost to the point of orgasm, she wondered what manner of man she would be expected to please. She had no choice, she knew, and there might be no man who chose her, or two might share her. The protocol was that the women came into the room at the end of the meal and carried round sweetmeats, coffee and pipes for the pleasure of the men dining with the Emir. Any guest could handle any of the women as freely as he wished while they were serving, could use any of them there and then, or retire with one to a convenient alcove, or even decide to take one to his bedroom for the night.

Sometimes a woman did not return to the harem from one of these evenings, and the eunuchs always said that was because the Emir had given her to a visitor as a present, but the denizens of the harem also heard rumours that sometimes it was because the demands of the visitor had been so great that the woman had died. This did not happen often, no more than once a year and there were dozens of visitors, so Maryam decided to remember the women who had returned to the harem happy and sparkling with evidence of the Emir's goodwill and the visitor's gratitude in the shape of sweetmeats or a small pot of coffee. Although these were identical with the ones served in the harem, they were special because of what they represented. Some of the western wives and concubines sneered at the excitement shown by the Arab women over such gifts, but what did they know of harem life, who were infidels and had not been born and raised to this tradition?

When Maryam entered the banqueting room bearing her tray of sweetmeats her first impression was an overwhelming odour of maleness. She was not in the first group of women to be sent in; they had carried coffee in exquisitely chased silver coffee pots which were not entrusted to nervous and inexperienced hostesses. Some of these women were already being used by visitors, here one on her knees fellating the man, there another feeding her nipple into a man's mouth, and at one side one on her hands and knees with the man about to come deep in her arse. The reason Maryam could smell manhood was that it was the first time in her life she had been in a room which contained a group of uncastrated men and she was not used to such a concentration of pheromones. She felt a sudden twinge of excitement in her cunt at the thought that she would soon be completely at the disposal of a stranger.

As she passed round the room offering her wares to the visitors some took sweetmeats from her tray and others took the opportunity of fondling her very accessible body. One who took the proffered dessert, but seemed a little shy of actually reaching out for her curves in public, spoke to her in a language she recognised as English, though she spoke almost none of it herself.

Assuming that all civilised Europeans spoke French, as Marianne had told her once long ago, she replied, «Maître?»

Switching to Arabic, the man smiled and said, I asked if you understood English?~

Much happier in her own language, she lowered her eyes and said, I regret not, Master. A little French, but no English.~

Then he caused her total confusion by asking, again gently, Then will you French me please?~

This confused her because this was an Arabic translation of an English idiom and such translations rarely carry over the correct, or even any, meaning. Seeing her confusion he gestured to his trousers and Maryam correctly guessed the meaning of Frenching for an Englishman. This she filed away for future reference; no information was ever useless. Kneeling quickly before him she started on his half stiff penis and her hours of practice on near useless eunuch pricks stood her in good stead and she had him solid and approaching a climax quite quickly.

Just as she was about to tighten her grip on him to delay the inevitable onrush, he lifted her head and asked, "It's my first visit to one of these soirées and I don't know the form. I gather I can have my wicked way with you, but am I permitted to take you off somewhere more private, or do we have to perform here?"

"As the Master wishes," she answered, then added daringly, "The Master may take me to his bedroom for the night if he wishes. All the Master needs to do is indicate this to one of the eunuchs."

Waving one of the dark-skinned fat men over, the Englishman said, "I want to take this one to my room, if that is permitted."

"Master, she will be brought to you. If I may advise, an hour more should pass before you leave the banquet. It is not proper to leave before the His Magnificence the Emir, may he live for ever, descends from the dais and mingles. The woman will be removed from the room as soon as you wish and is thus reserved for you," said the eunuch. With an expressive shrug he added, "If she is not removed it is difficult for me to prevent another honoured guest of the Emir who may wish..."

His voice tailed off as the Englishman nodded.

"Take her away then and I'll see her later."

Maryam was quickly hustled out of one of the small doors of which there were a dozen round the walls of the banqueting room, all connecting to a single corridor which surrounded the room, and designed to allow simultaneous entry of a host of servers as each new course of food arrived. She was returned with some haste to the harem where she was again prepared for use by a visitor, another bath, another shave, more perfume, oil and rouge, another manual arousal almost to the point of climax and then there was a lull for twenty minutes during which she thought her man might have forgotten her. Finally she was led away to her first assignation where she would offer her every orifice to a complete stranger as part of her harem duties.

In the bedroom the Englishman was sitting up in bed as she entered and knelt at the foot of the bed waiting, as she had been taught, for a signal from him to slip beneath the foot of the bedclothes and to kiss and lick her way up the bed to his penis where she would again rouse him to fever pitch with her skilled little mouth. But he did not signal; rather he sat as though waiting for something, and staring at the eunuch.

"Oh, God," he said in English, then switching to Arabic as he got wearily out of bed he addressed the eunuch, I suppose you won't go until you've had some baksheesh?~

Reaching for his jacket he started to look for his wallet as the eunuch fiercely protested, No, Master, baksheesh is for the bazaar. This is the Golden Palace of His Magnificence the Emir, may he live for ever; there is no baksheesh here.~

~Well go then?~ demanded the Englishman.

~The master does not wish me to remain to control the woman?~ asked the eunuch with an air of mystification.

~No thank you! Now go!~

As the eunuch left he waved an admonitory finger at Maryam who had not moved from her kneeling position at the foot of the bed.

The Englishman turned to her and asked, Do they usually stay while you make love to visitors?~

~As the Master pleases, she replied, not really knowing the answer.

Certainly there had always been a eunuch with her in the General's bedroom, but the protocol here was so well known that nobody had thought to tell her that a eunuch always supervised a hostess, and could whip her if she showed reluctance, or if the visitor wished it, or could hold her in any position the visitor wanted.

The next question was, What can I do with you? I mean are there any limits to what you will let me do?~

~As the Master pleases, she repeated.

~You mean anything? Really anything?~

She reviewed in her mind whatanything~ might mean and decided to play it safe so she remained dully repetitive, As the Master pleases.~

~I think we don't communicate well here. In plain language can I touch you anywhere I like? Can I fuck you? Can I come in your mouth? Can I use your arse?~

~Anything the Master wishes. I am the Master's to command.~

~Oh boy. Can I take you home to show the wife what a really willing girl is like?~ he asked, intending it as a rhetorical question.

~That is the Emir, my Master's decision, she answered in all seriousness.

~Whoa. Back off woman. It wasn't a serious question. My wife would slaughter me if she even knew I had met you. One other serious question, are there any condoms? I want to be safe.~

~Condoms?~ Maryam asked.

It wasn't a word she knew.

~Protectives? Rubbers? I guess I don't know the right Arabic word.~

Maryam didn't either.

~I do not know, Master, forgive me. There are many things in the drawer over there.~

Opening the drawer she indicated, her visitor was astounded by the range of objects, many whose use he could not imagine. Ben-wa balls and a long necklace of largish beads he understood, and the dildos, but there were other things the purpose of which was beyond him.

The whip and the paddle he took out and asked, Who uses these?~

~The Master, if he wishes, Maryam replied in a whisper, hoping he would not decide to use them.

She was relieved when he dropped them back in the drawer and remarked, It takes all sorts, I guess. Oh well, I'll risk it without. You should be clean if you work in the Palace; the Emir wouldn't take risks like that with his guests.~

Again lost in a conversation which alluded to things she had never heard of, Maryam stayed silent. She had never heard of sexually transmitted diseases, it simply was not a worry in a harem where promiscuity was tightly controlled and the women had no opportunity that was not provided by the Emir. They were tested regularly, in case a visitor left some undesirable influence behind, but it was not felt necessary to explain the whys and wherefores of such tests to mere women.

Taking her hand, the visitor pulled her to her feet and ran his palms up and down her body, revelling in the smoothness of her skin and in her passivity. Maryam was not surprised, indeed was rather relieved when he started to give his orders.