Chapter 23: Results...

Late in the afternoon of that day, 8th April, was to be the big prize giving and the invited guests were assembled in the Throne Room on the ornate and comfortable chairs. All the male relatives of the contestants were present; the women themselves were brought in from the Emerald Palace harem for the last time and sat on a dais to one side, each under an abaya embroidered with her competition number. When all was in readiness, the Emir entered and all made obeisance to him. When he was seated the Major Domo banged on the ground and all were then permitted to rise.

The Emir rose and started the announcements.

"I can now announce that the votes cast by the honoured guests have been counted and the clear winner, for the exquisite performance of a public defloration in the old traditional manner is the Earl of Bargoed, and by the rules of the competition Azia should be given to him. This raises a problem, however, since his Lordship informs me that he cannot take a slave into his own country without the authorities intervening, since subjects of Her Britannic Majesty are not permitted to own slaves, or indentured servants. It is with much regret that I have to disqualify his Lordship from the competition."

There was a buzz of conversation round the audience who were privately surprised that the British aristocracy felt themselves bound to obey such a foolish law.

"On consideration, I have therefore decided," the Emir continued, "that the runner-up will be awarded the prize of keeping the contestant whom they deflowered. Consulting the votes, it seems that the display, perhaps unique in our history, of defloration by a female Master performed by the Countess of Bargoed, came second in the competition. As you all know, the Countess is also the Dowager Princess Zubeydeh, mother to the Emir, and so is subject to my rule, and she is not a British subject. I therefore award her contestant number twenty, Jaida, as her prize."

A round of applause greeted this decision.

Turning to Princess Zubeydeh the Emir asked, "Will you want to keep her here, or to take her home with you? Perhaps I should rephrase that as shall I wrap her for you to take, or would you like her delivered?"

"I shall take her to England when I return, if my Master pleases, and she shall be my Lady's Maid. I've always wanted one of those, though I've no idea what her duties will be," she replied.

"Nevertheless, I don't doubt she will be punished if she doesn't perform them properly," the Emir interjected, to general amusement.

"In the mean time she can stay with us in the Ruby Palace, if my Master pleases," the Princess continued.

What Jaida thought of this prospect, nobody could tell, as she was properly covered by an abaya, but in any case her opinions were of no importance. The Major Domo led her from the dais to where the Earl and Countess were sitting and she dropped into a beautifully executed obeisance to them. Princess Zubeydeh touched her shoulder and had her kneel beside her chair, where she left her hand on the abaya, fondling the girl's shoulder, and sometimes breast, for the rest of the ceremony.

The Emir then surprised even himself when, on the spur of the moment he said, "A special commendation goes to Abubakar Ibn Abbas, who some of you know has only recently been promoted to Colonel. I am sure he will do well in his new rank in the months and years to come."

There was a small commotion in the audience as those in the know realised that the Emir had just given a lowly Rifleman a permanent promotion to high rank. The man himself could not believe his ears until General Mustapha confirmed it to him.

'Allah alone knows what the Army will find to do with him, but he can't be worse than some of the Colonels I have known, ' was the General's private thought. In the event, and on the General's recommendation, he was put in charge of the Army's brothels, and enjoyed his new career mightily. It was said that he performed his duties so conscientiously that no new woman joining one of the brothels was permitted to service any soldier for money without the Colonel first checking her suitability personally.

The Emir hurried on, "The five other losers in the first round may now be moved into my harem, there to be trained as Golden Palace hostesses. They are numbers fifty-one, nine, twelve, ten, and two."

Those women were gathered together and marshalled into a parody of an army squad and escorted from the Throne Room by eunuchs under the supervision of the Chief Eunuch. There was a short period of quiet, during which a murmur of general conversation arose and more bets were placed as to which girl was the winner. The smart money was on Neveen, since Hajji Kofi Natsheh, her sponsor was known to be held in high esteem by the Emir. Mahmoud Ibn Sultan, however, was quite confident that Lama's singing voice would be sufficient to overcome his not being a member of the Emir's intimate circle of advisors.

Hearing one of these bets being taken by the father of Lama, the Emir said, "What odds are you offering? I might consider a bet myself."

The resulting emotions on the face of the would-be bookmaker were hilarious as he struggled with the problem of not being able to refuse his Emir anything, as against the absurdity of offering odds to a punter who already knew the outcome of the contest on which he was betting. There were a few moments of general hilarity among those around the unfortunate Mahmoud Ibn Sultan, as he was forced to admit that he was offering three to one on his daughter winning.