"Arabian Nights"
Part 16
by Beryll
Rubbing his face with a groan of bone deep tiredness, Karl rose from the narrow cot in the barracks where he had spend the night. Two voices in his mind had debated for a long, long time why he was not returning to his chambers, when he had made a complete tour of the palace ground the last evening to cool his anger and his raging passion.
The answer had been quite simple. Because either he would have killed the blonde exotic beauty waiting there or Sean would have killed him. The emotional turmoil of the day had his blood boiling and there were only two ways to relief that pressure, violence or sex. And none had been conveniently available.
So he had cooled his head in the breeze of the deepening night, allowing himself the luxury of self-pity. He had even tried to think of Orlando, tried to remind himself that his prince was quite willing to share, that he would sooner or later have those nimble fingers wrapped around his cock, those sweet lips caress him.
It had worked. For a short while, then a shudder of desire had gripped him when he considered what it might feel like to have Sean's callused hands grab him hard instead. Allah, even fighting with the man was driving him mad with passion. And so far he had managed to thoroughly screw up any chance he might have had to win his trust.
"Captain, audience will begin in half an hour." the soldier who had woken him up reminded him. There was pity in his eyes. He couldn't possibly know why Karl had banned himself from his quarters but all of his men were loyal to their captain to the point of over-protectiveness. And so they were sure that whatever was going on, it couldn't possibly be their captains fault. If they only knew...
Why on earth had he kissed Sean again? He should be wiser than that. He really should. And still he didn't trust himself to return to his quarters even this morning to get a change of clothes. His fingers were twitching only thinking of the man. This would not do. He would be a nervous wreck in only a couple of days if this continued. He had to find a way to make peace with Sean. And the relieve the pressure that was yet again building in his groin.
Brushing braids from his face, he squared his shoulders and managed something like a smile for the worried soldier. All those things would have to wait till later. Now he had duties with the caliph.
Firmly fixing his mind on the matters at hand he left the barracks and headed towards the great hall. Important visitors were expected today. Visitors that were potentially dangerous so he would have to take extra precautions to ensure the caliphs safety.
The envoy from Al Bir was supposed to bring presents. After all his city had been subdued in war only a year ago. Now was the first time they were supposed to pay their taxes and Karl was not as confident as caliph Hugo that they would do so without pulling any dirty tricks. So he discretely positioned some guards with bows on the balconies overlooking the hall.
He just done with his preparations when the caliph already entered the audience hall. He did look much more rested than he had in the last months. Since he had declared Viggo his son only a week ago, there had been no further attempts on the children's lives. Whoever their mystery enemy was, he was obviously making new plans now. Karl swore to himself, that he would not grow lax in his attention, that he would not allow any harm to come to the children or prince Viggo.
He met the caliph on the steps, leading up to the dais with the throne, bowing deeply.
"You like tired, Karl." Hugo admonished, "You drive yourself too hard."
Karl nodded dutifully, inwardly cringing from the rebuke. If the caliph knew what had kept his captain awake so long he would not have been as understanding, Karl mused.
"Do get some rest, when this audience is done." Hugo continued and his tone of voice made clear it was not advice but an order. "I'll have some of your own guards escort you to your quarters, if I hear of you spending time outside of them."
Karl swallowed all the comments to that, before they could escape his mouth. Oh, joy, now he really was in trouble. How was he supposed to get through a whole day and night locked up with Sean in one room without eating him alive?
His mind scrambled quickly to come up with a solution, while he took his position to the far left of the dais. Only when prince Viggo entered the hall as well and took his place to right of the throne and leaned down to whisper a question to the caliph did he come up with an idea. He would simply send Sean to Viggo. And should anybody ask why he did not keep his new toy on his free day he could always say that the prince had expressed interest and that would be the end of that matter.
With a suppressed sigh of relief he surveyed the hall a last time to make sure that everything was in order, then he too turned to face the opening doors.
The envoy from Al Bir entered with the splendor that one would expect from such a rich city state. The war against them had been long and straining but in the end the superior military of caliph Hugo had prevailed against the hired men of the other ruler.
His ambassador was an old men with the shrewd expression of one well versed in court politics and the amble belly and richly decorated robes to prove that he enjoyed a life in luxury. Karl immediately knew that this one would present threats that the caliph himself was better prepared to deal with. Threats of a glib tongue and clever words.
He let his gaze drift over the guards accompanying the fat little man and couldn't suppress a smile. They were all of the same height, all dressed in beautifully wrought armor, all looked alike. They made a great display but they held their weapons like children playing at being soldiers. No reason to worry there. Maybe caliph Hugo had been right, maybe these people really were no threat anymore.
He listened to the pleasantries traded back and forth between the caliph and the ambassador with only half an ear, thinking on how he would get rid of the beautiful blonde waiting in his chambers as fast as possibly. Maybe if he send Sean to the prince today he could then say that the 'slave' had pleased the prince so well that he had decided to keep him? No, that would be too fast. But maybe Sean would be pacified by spending an afternoon with prince Viggo.
Only when the ambassador announced that he had a very special gift for the caliph, did his full attention return to the display in front of him.
The ambassador clapped his fat little hands and the great doors opened again. This time to admit yet another set of guards. These ones less splendidly dressed and in much better shape. But they were not what caught the eye of every single member of court assembled in the hall.
Between them walked a young man who made quite a few man swallow hard and some of the veiled ladies fan themselves. He was of nearly unreal beauty, his skin pale and smooth, hair slightly curled and the color of night, his limbs straight and perfectly formed, dressed in only in silken pantaloons, matching the color of his eyes. And they were what truly made everyone stare. Those big expressionate eyes the color of the deepest sea, which were right now blazing with a fury unmatched.
His hands were tied in front of him with beautiful but sturdy silver chains, but he walked with proudly squared shoulder, managing to look down on all the people surrounding him with the most haughty expression. The guards led him in front of the throne and then forced him to his knees, but he refused to bow his head as would have been proper.
"To show his honest and true loyalty, my lord sends his own youngest son Elijah to you!" the ambassador announced. "For your pleasure and amusement to do with as you please."
Karl felt an icy shiver run down his spine when he watched how the young man - no - prince first stared at the ambassador in unabashed hatred and then at caliph Hugo. 'He could just as well handed him a basket of vipers', Karl thought.
Thankfully the caliph seemed to be quite the same. For a long moment he looked at the beautiful young prince with an unreadable expression. Then he smiled politely at the ambassador. "We thank you for this magnificent gift. It is a gesture that will be remembered. However, we feel that we will not be able to make as much use of this beauty as he deserves. Therefore we will give him into the younger and stronger hands of our son."
Hugo smiled at Viggo, who for a moment looked like he had been ambushed by a pack of lions. But he quickly caught himself, regaining his composure and smiling pleasantly. "Thank you, father." he said and only Hugo, who knew him well by now could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "If you permit, I would now withdraw with my new... 'slave' and... well..." he looked a bit helpless and Hugo nodded gracefully.
"I understand. Be on your way." he said and waved Viggo off, who motioned to some guards to bring the young prince who was still kneeling in front of the throne, staring daggers at him.
Karl watched him leave with something very close to desperation. There went his chance to get rid of Sean for the afternoon. There was no way that anybody would believe the prince would ask for the rough blonde, when he had just been given such a beauty by his father. Although Karl was pretty sure he would have preferred Sean's company.
But that was no help to the captain of the guard. Pretty soon he would find himself locked up in his rooms with a man he desperately desired and could not possibly have.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Beryll
go to PART 17