Dunes of Gor Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty: Consequences

It was late in the afternoon as Jaleesa Shahzad lay snuggled beside her cousin, Aleah. Aleah had rolled on to her side after a while and now lay with her back to Jaleesa. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Aleah’s body began to quiver until Jaleesa could ignore it no longer.

“Naughty, but beloved cousin, are you doing what I think you are doing?” she whispered into Aleah’s ear.

“Oh!” Aleah, blushed and ceased, moving her hand away from between her thighs, embarrassed to be caught out.

“Butterflies?” asked Jaleesa as she snuggled close to her cousin.

“Such lovely butterflies, dearest cousin,” said Aleah with a hint of guilt. “I had such a naughty dream this afternoon. Me and my whip.”

“That whip must be your new passion now,” giggled Jaleesa. “Were you whipping a man again in your dream?”

“Yes, but also a girl. I think I would also enjoy whipping a girl, though I would use a lighter whip on a girl.”

“Oh?” This was news to Jaleesa. “What sort of whip would you use on a girl?”

“Just a light switch whip, I think. Enough to spank the girl and make her cry out, but not leave such marks as I left on Ghadir.” She turned round and snuggled her face next to Jaleesa’s. “When I return home eventually, I am going to practise I think. Unless you would let me whip you for practise?”

“Certainly not,” said Jaleesa, indignantly.

“Oh, please, delicious cousin. Just a light spanking. I would go easy on you. I just need to practise my switch hand. Just light, loving swipes across your bottom.”

“I don’t want to be whipped, lightly or otherwise. I would feel foolish. And, I think it would hurt.”

“You would let me whip you lightly across your pretty bottom if you truly loved and wanted to please me,” pouted Aleah.

“You know I love you, oh, most perfect of cousins, but really, that would be asking too much of me.”

“What if I halted the blow before it actually hurt? I could do that.”

“I suspect you would be clumsy and hurt me by accident. You would get excited and then I would be crying out with a red stripe across my bottom.”

“It is such a lovely bottom,” sighed Aleah as she stroked it. “So perfectly formed.”

“I am actually quite proud of it,” agreed Jaleesa. “But your bottom is nice too.”

“You never touch my bottom,” said Aleah. “I’m not sure you really like it… Oh!” there was a girlish giggle as Aleah felt a hand touch her bottom lightly.

“See, now I have touched it,” said Jaleesa. “And it is a nice bottom, though probably not as nice as mine.”

“You are such a lovely cousin,” sighed Aleah, softly as she rested her cheek against Jaleesa’s breasts. 

They lay together a while longer, the warm rays of the sun shining through the narrow windows, warming their bed. Occasionally the girls reached for grapes in a bowl on a nearby low table and, peeling them with their finger nails, one at a time, fed one another the peeled fruits, giggling as they placed each grape in the mouth of their cousin. Their fun was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door, followed by Reyhan’s voice.

“Girls? Are you respectable and decent in there? I wish to speak to you both.”

“It is my mother!” gasped Jaleesa.

“It is my amita,” gasped Aleah.

“She must not see a collar around my throat,” cried Jaleesa.

“True. It would be hard to explain. Here, wrap a scarf about your hair and throat,” said Aleah as she sat up. “I too must dress. Let us wrap ourselves in soft belted gowns and look demure and innocent. Do NOT mention the butterflies!” 

“One moment, mother,” cried Jaleesa. “It is hot today and we are scantily dressed!” The girls hurried off the bed to select long dressing gown style robes that fell to their ankles. The garments wrapped about their slim bodies and had overly long floppy sleeves that flopped elegantly. With both girls dressed, Jaleesa and Aleah both wrapped colourful head scarves about their hair in the fashion of the Bedouin women. “Enter, dearest mother,” cried Jaleesa as she knelt on the large bed. Aleah knelt closely beside her.

“Look at the two of you,” remarked Reyhan as she entered the room and quickly observed every detail. “Lazing around all day, the pair of you.” Her eyes fixed on Aleah’s face. “Your cheeks are rosy red. Have you been doing what I think you have been doing, young Sasani girl?”

“Oh no, Amita. Not that. Certainly not that!”

“Tch. Must I tie your wrists together to the headboard ring with pretty red ribbons from now on when you sleep at night, so that those hands don’t stray between your legs?”

Aleah blushed bright red. How did she know?

“You are an open book to me, both of you,” said Reyhan as she walked around the room. “Don’t think I don’t know every girlish trick you possess.” Her face relaxed into a smile. “I was your age once, and I too had moments when I thought my mother knew nothing too. So!” She clapped her hands. “Daan wishes to speak to you both. You…” she pointed at Aleah, “have angered him. You whipped Ghadir. Why?”

“I do not need a reason, amita. He simply displeased me. He is only a slave.”

“That he is, but he is an important slave, needed at an important time, and now he is bed ridden and cannot support your uncle’s war council. He is not happy.”

“Can I not discipline a slave?” asked Aleah. “That is my right as a free woman.”

“Yes, but there is a time and place for everything. Really, Aleah; your Uncle is not pleased with you.”

“Oh.” Aleah shrank back a little. Although she was family, she was also a hostage and her father and mother were now set to wage war on her uncle and aunt. 

“As for you, daughter,” Reyhan regarded Jaleesa. “Your father has something important to tell you, apparently. I know not what it is. But he has hardly slept, and eats very little, so absorbed is he with his work to defend this bastion. Honour his commitment when you see him, and do not prevaricate with anything he tells you to do. So, darling girls, so dear to my heart, put on your prettiest clothes, the pair of you, and please, Aleah, if you know what is best for you, do not speak back to your uncle when he reprimands you. Be contrite, humble and apologetic. Off with you, lazy girls. I’m not taking you into the great hall in those silken dressing gowns. Into your dressing rooms, both of you! You can help one another dress as I see there are no slaves present.” 

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The young cousins held one another’s hands as they followed Reyhan Shahzad through the elaborate series of corridors and enclosed passageways of the central Keep and on to the private chambers of Daan Shahzad. Security grew increasingly tighter the nearer they got to Daan’s residence. With war looming, the keep had moved to a secure military footing, and on several occasions warriors asked the ladies to stop so that their identities could be confirmed. Veiled and hooded as they were, it was even necessary to stop the women of House Shahzad in order that their identities could be proven, for a veiled and hooded woman could be almost anyone. 

“Great Sword,” said Reyhan, speaking the day’s password for the central chambers. She was permitted to pass through the final corridors with Jaleesa and Aleah walking close behind.

Within the great hall of cool stone walls shaped from granite, Daan Shahzad leaned forward across a large wooden table of irregular shape that was strewn with scrolled maps, their corners weighted down with heavy stones. He leaned on the palms of his hands as he moved coloured blocks around the maps in a pattern that seemed to make sense to him. Much of the map covered the desert, but here and there small sculpted models represented towns, cities, Kasbahs and wells. As the women entered, Daan straightened up and greeted them.

“Aleah, Jaleesa, Reyhan. Close the door.”

Aleah was the first to come forward, having been forewarned that her uncle was displeased with her. She hurried forward and knelt before his feet, lowering her head. “If I have caused offence, please understand that…”

“Be quiet, girl.” Daan moved to face her. “You whipped my slave, Ghadir. Why?”

“He was disrespectful, uncle. He looked at me in a mocking fashion.”

“You lie.” Daan took hold of Aleah's wrist and hauled her to her feet, shocking both her, Jaleesa and Reyhan. As Reyhan stepped forward to intercede, Daan waved her back. “You carried a heavy whip to where Ghadir was overseeing some tasks for me. You had intended to use that whip before you even found him. Why?”

“I… I don’t like him,” said Aleah. “I am a free woman. I shouldn’t have to explain my desire to punish a slave.”

“You do need to explain when you are not of the household and when that slave is an essential part of my war footing. Ghadir’s organisational skills are without equal. An army wins wars more often for its command and control and its supply lines than for its fighting prowess. I need Ghadir to be thinking and planning for me. You have made that impossible today. Tell me, Aleah, is this an attempt to undermine my ability to resist the forces of your mother and father, because that is what it looks like to me.” He shook the girl and then led her across the room, pulling her along by her wrist.

“Uncle, no! I wouldn’t dare!”

“No? Because it seems to me you have done your family a great service by injuring my slave. I was a fool to allow you your freedom. I should have thought your loyalties to your immediate family were so strong that you would try and deprive me of my most brilliant strategist.”

“Daan, please,” began Reyhan as she hurried towards her man. She clutched Daan’s arm and pressed her forehead to it. “I do not believe the girl tried to hurt us.”

“I shall be the judge of that, Reyhan. Stand back.” Daan pushed Aleah over the strategy table, pressing her belly and face against the wood. “Do not move, Aleah!” he warned. The girl lay bent over the heavy table, her heart racing as terror now gripped her. 

“I didn’t mean…”

“I said, quiet.” Daan picked up a long wooden cane that he took from a wall hook. “Jaleesa, lift up your cousin’s long skirts. Draw them back and tuck them into her belt.”

“Daan, please no, this is wrong,” cried Reyhan.

“Do not oppose me again, Reyhan! You are my woman. My word is final. Stand down.”

As Reyhan did so, Daan walked over to where the young Aleah was trembling and already crying. She knew what was about to happen. Her legs and bottom were now uncovered and exposed.

“It is my fault!” cried Jaleesa suddenly. “I asked her to whip Ghadir! I was angry with him! I cannot say why, father, but it is my fault! Aleah was only protecting me, your daughter. She did this for me, for the love she has for me! If you must whip anyone, it should be me, not Aleah.” And saying that, Jaleesa broke free of her mother’s arms and ran headlong to where Daan stood. She dropped to her knees before her father and pressed her forehead to the floor. “She is not deserving of this. I was petty and spiteful. I perceived an insult. Aleah is young and wants to impress me. She took the whip and went to punish Ghadir because of what I foolishly said. Please, father, do not hurt her.”

Daan sighed and lowered the cane. “Foolish girl. Putting such thoughts into your cousin’s head. See what might have happened to her.” He pulled Aleah’s skirts back down around her ankles and lifted her from the table. “Why did Ghadir anger you, Jaleesa?”

“It… was… nothing, father. I was immature. I was petty. It was nothing.” 

“I see. I think you will both spend some time in your rooms for now. It is probably not good that you wander around the keep causing trouble for me. Aleah…” he gazed at the Sasani niece as she rose from the table, looking upset, “you should have said this yourself. Do not let my daughter ensnare you in her fantasies. I might have punished you just now.”

“I am sorry, uncle.” Aleah smoothed down her skirts. 

“You will stay in your rooms until all of this is settled, one way or another. Both of you. But first, I have something to tell you, Jaleesa. Stand. Wipe away your tears, compose yourself. You are a Shahzad woman.”

Jaleesa did as he father ordered. Like her cousin, she was breathing heavily. She still did not dare tell her father the truth of what had happened, and if Ghadir was really so important to the future strategy that was required to save her House, then she couldn’t say anything that might see him killed while he was still needed. 

“We stand at the crossroads of fate and destiny, my child. Sacrifices have to be made by us all. A powerful Landsraad army marches across the desert as I speak. More than three thousand lances strong. There will be war, and I am busy making alliances so that we will survive. This fortress is impregnable, and we can withstand a siege, but we cannot win if the Landsraad survives long enough to sway the Emir to its side. I have to defeat the Landsraad before they frighten the Emir to declare me outlaw. You understand, child?”

“Yes, father. I have faith in you.”

“And we all must pay the price for House Shahzad to survive. What I ask of you now is part of that. I have arranged an alliance that will strengthen our military forces, and that alliance will be secured when I give you over into free companionship with my chosen ally.”

“Free companionship…”

“I know you are only nineteen, and barely that, but you are not too young to submit to a companion. You are a dutiful daughter. You always have been. This is necessary.”

“Surely I have a choice, father…” cried Jaleesa.

“The decision has been made. I have made it. Your companion will bring me a thousand lances that I may use against the Landsraad. In return, he secures a Landsraad bloodline for his future children. You will respect, obey, and support him, as Reyhan, your mother, has done for me. I know you are scared, but this is the role that daughters play in the great houses. You seal alliances and contracts with your bodies. Do not disappoint me, child.”

“Who... who am I to companion, father?”

“I am sealing an alliance with the Kavar desert tribe of Bedouin raiders. Their leader is a man called Hassan. You are to be his, to bear his children, and obey him in all things as a dutiful free woman should.”