Chapter 20: London Town

On the flight to London the Emir was idly reading a book he had chanced across in his late uncle, the Crown Prince Gamel's collection of erotica. It was a fictional account of part of the life of an Irishman who had worked as the head of the Janissaries for an absolute ruler such as himself in the time of the Napoleonic wars. Little had changed apparently, in the training, selling and treatment of slaves since then.

There were three interesting ideas in the book which were new to him. The first was the deliberate breeding of white female slaves with African males to produce strong workers for the fields, which was unnecessary nowadays; because of the use of machinery, agriculture was no longer labour intensive. The second was the use of female white slaves as draft animals to pull pony traps; again he felt the invention of the Rolls-Royce made this unnecessary, and the thrill of using the women was more than satisfied by the hunting he loved, using wolfhounds to track down a specially trained slave. The third, however, was more intriguing; he thought he too might try the pleasures of ensnaring a mother and daughter pair. Perhaps a kidnapping, or perhaps, even more exciting, the seduction of both while keeping it secret from the other.

As they came in to land he gently disengaged the stewardess's mouth from his penis and put the book down. Barbary Slaveship in two parts by Allan Aldiss; he made a mental note to look for other works by that author sometime.

When he reached the Embassy, he was greeted by the Ambassador, Hajji Kofi Natsheh, and his staff with the utmost formality. In his suite of rooms he found the two concubines whom he had left for the Ambassador's use when he demoted the former Diplomatic Advisor five years earlier, waiting naked on his bed. With them was a third, younger woman whom he did not recognise. As he came into the room they scrambled off the bed and made a deep obeisance.

Touching the youngest woman on the shoulder with one foot, he asked, "And who might you be?"

Without rising, or even looking up she replied, "Your Magnificence, may you live for ever. I am the youngest wife of the Ambassador. My name is Yara, if it pleases Your Magnificence."

The Emir picked up the riding crop which was on the dressing table and administered a sharp cut to the buttocks of each of the older women. He was pleased that neither of them made any sound at all.

"All three of you may return to the harem. Send in Hajji Kofi Natsheh."

They quickly donned abayas and left the room. Seconds later the Ambassador rushed in and prostrated himself.

"When this visit is over you may return to Kobekistan, and then retire, on full pay," the Emir said, "You may take with you such of your personal retinue as you wish."

"Your Magnificence, may you live for ever, is kind," said the old man, grateful beyond measure as he had resigned himself to staying in London in a sort of working exile for the rest of his life and never again seeing his home and family in Kobekistan.

"First I need some searching done. I want a list of several pairs of British women to meet the following criteria. I want mother and daughter pairs listed. They must be of good breeding, the mother not much over forty, the daughter between fifteen and twenty, preferably reputed to be a virgin. They must be attractive and relatively poor. The mother should be, if possible, a widow or divorcée. I want their life histories and photographs on my desk in three days time, and I do not want them to know they are being researched. I will handle the contact with them myself, and my ultimate aim is to take at least one pair into my harem. Can that be done?"

"As the Master commands," said the Ambassador.

"In the meantime I will be going elsewhere and I will return in three days, so I will not be using your womenfolk while I am here. Contact Ghada Baroud to arrange for a new Ambassador to replace you."