The Sultanah Ch. 04

"That was lovely Varis," Arkadas said at last, leaning over and kissing my cheek.

"Thank you for catching me there, I nearly fell back onto my neck on the balcony," I said, kissing Arkadas' breast, where my cheek now laid.

"It is my job," she said laughingly, "And my pleasure to catch you." And we lay together for a long while now in silence, enjoying the cooling night air and the closeness. In fact, I could not ever remember feeling this close to Arkadas, despite the fact that she had always been my best friend. Whatever formality existed in our relationship because of the fact that she was, technically, my slave had completely faded. I knew that I no longer held anything back from her and she no longer held anything back from me. We had shared our bodies and shared our souls. I felt my body, exposed, against hers and I wondered what other miracles that Gunes could work.

"It is getting late, you must be going," Arkadas said. Now I knew! I had nearly forgotten about my mission until that moment. I had been so caught up in my time with Arkadas that I nearly forgot.

"You are pushing me off toward my task?" I asked incredulously. Arkadas signed and shrugged her shoulders. She ran her hand through my hair.

"I do not want you to go but I know I can stop you," she explained. I rolled over slightly so that we were facing one another. Arkadas took my hands in hers and we pushed our foreheads together.

"I am doing what I must do," I explained again. This time, Arkadas just nodded.

"I do not understand. But now at least I understand that I do not understand. Besides, you now know the contents of my heart. I will never forgive myself if anything happens, but you will always know how I feel," she said. I smiled at my friend and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"And you will know how I feel, if anything were to happen," I responded. Arkadas furrowed her brow and stared at me for several seconds.

"I should hate to hear you even suggest that," she said finally, "but ...I feel something..." she said slowly. For the first time since we had finished making love, I consciously considered what I was planning to do that evening. I realized that I felt something strange as well. Something I did not expect. The anxiety and nerves I felt earlier were gone. Like they had all been burned up on my climax. Like Gunes had taken them away in honor of my devotion.

But it was more than that. It was not simply that I no longer feared. It was that my fear had been replaced. I felt safe, in fact confident. I could feel light of Gunes shining inside of me and knew that I would survive. The final binding of friendship in the like of the evening sun was a religious rite and it had brought me to a different level of understanding. Gunes accepted the tribute of my sexual desire and rewarded me with certainty. I wondered if that was what Arkadas was feeling as well.

"I know," I said and Arkadas smiled. I looked up at her again and she leaned over and kissed me deeply. Less passionate now, but more than a friend's kiss. A lover's kiss.

"Thank you Varis. I did not know what I needed from you tonight in my pain and anxiety. I never would have expected that it was...that. But you know me better than I know myself I guess...I love you and know you will always love me," she said finally. Now I kissed her back, giving her what she had given me.

"I love you too Arkadas. You are the only one that Varis, the girl not the Sultanah, can ever love. But do not thank me, thank Gunes. And pray to her that she will give me what I need tonight," I said. And I rose from the chair and began to dress.

* * * * *

Not long after I was standing on the City Wall, directly next to the North Gate. I was wearing a pair of black leather pants and a tight, black shirt. My face was covered with a black scarve and I was nearly invisible in the darkness of night. Saygili, my loyal guardsman was standing next to me, looking nervously over the wall. The besieging camp was stretched out before us in the darkness. Their campfires burned in all directions between the two rivers on the plain outside of the city. Even from the distance (their first tents were nearly 300 yards from the city wall) I could smell the scent of shit that engulfs an army encamped. I could hear music and even occasionally a loud word emanating from the camp. It was a night like any other night during the siege.

"Sultanah, I do not believe they are coming," Saygili said, not for the first time. I smiled and looked at my loyal guard.

"Be patient, we have nowhere else to be tonight. It is better out here on the breezy wall that stuffed in the top levels of that palace," I explained.

"I just fear for your safety," Saygili responded.

"And that is why you are paid. I appreciate your concern, now simply be quiet," I said, my tone more gentle than my words. Saygili nodded and peered back out into the darkness.

"This is not a task for the Sultanah. It is too dangerous," Saygili said quietly.

"That is not, to my memory, the sound of quiet, though I admit it has been a long time since I heard it," I snapped back. Saygili nodded again and did not speak. I did appreciate his concern, but I was ready now. I still felt the confidence that Gunes had granted me and I was ready to begin my task for the night.

We stood in silence for a while longer and I began to wonder if Saygili was correct. Perhaps something terrible had happened. Perhaps my efforts were for nothing and I had sent many loyal subjects to their death. While I no longer feared for my safety, I feared for...

"Soyguncu," Saygili said in a hushed voice. I looked at him and he jutted his chin out into the darkness beyond the wall. I looked down at the wall and saw a figure also dressed in black. My eyes were keen, but apparently my guards were better. But as the figure drew closer, I came to recognize the outline of my newest staff member: my thief. In a few moments she was standing at the far end side of the moat, looking up at us.

"Soyguncu, is that you?" I asked nervously. I hardly allowed myself to believe she had really survived.

"Sultanah, you are the one who insisted on passwords and code talking. How am I to respond to that question?" Soyguncu spoke back, slightly louder than I had. I laughed. She was right.

"I mean, how fares the lunar eclipse?" I asked in code.

"The owl has left the barn," she responded in turn. I smiled and nodded. That meant everything was in place. I looked over at Saygili and nodded. He sighed deeply.

"I ask you one last time to let me go in your place," Saygili said.

"You have grown too bold at court," I said to him, but in a good-natured way, "Who led and who followed when we held the gate against Rayhip? There is no time for you to question my orders. Just follow them." Saygili did not speak farther. Instead he lifted his crossbow and shot a single bolt. I watched Soyguncu jump as the bolt sunk into the dirty and rock of the side of the moat in front of her. A long rope was attached to the back of the bolt and it lead back up towards the top of the gate.

"Careful!" she yelled back. Saygili was not paying attention. He was already tying the end of the rope around a metal ring on the wall.

"I will be back as soon as possible," I said to Saygili, "It anyone comes, cut the rope loose. We can always shoot another one down." I explained. He nodded solemnly.

I then took a leather belt that I had brought with me and threw it over the rope. I wrapped the ends of the rope tightly around each of my hands and then climbed up onto the edge of the wall. I looked down over the side and it suddenly seemed much higher than it had before. Suddenly, my certainty that I would not come to harm seemed laughably absurd. I felt dizzy and turned to look at Saygili. He was looking down at the bottom of the rope, where my journey would end. He had no doubt now that I would go. How could I back out now?

I kicked my feet over the edge of the wall and slid my ass off of the side. I felt a powerful drop like I was going to plummet to the bottom of the wall. My arms stretched up and locked above my head. Just at that moment there was a powerful jolts and I bounced up slowly. The belt hand caught me. It jerked so hard that it nearly flew from my grasp. I squeezed hard on the leather belt, my fingers barely managing to maintain a grip. My heart was fluttering in my chest and I could not bear to keep my eyes open. But I felt myself hurtling toward the ground. I felt like I was sliding across the rope faster than a stallion could carry me. I prayed that the bolt from the crossbow would remain plugged into the ground.

When it felt like I had been falling forever and I feared that I was going to slam at full speed into the earth and break every bone in my body, I decided to open my eyes and get one last glimpse of the word before I died. I managed to open them just in time to see a hand inches from my face. I crashed into it with an audible slap and I saw stars in front of my eyes. But I felt another arm swing around behind me and grab my back. I dropped my belt and stumbled forward. Soyguncu and I tumbled into the grass on the far side of the moat. I heard a loud groan as I knocked the wind out of my thief.

We lay for a moment on the ground, catching our breath. Soyguncu was breathing deeply, trying to dispel the pain from our collision. I was shaking my head trying to get my bearings. My face felt numb where I had slammed into the thief's hand. Nonetheless I turned back to the wall and saw Saygili looking down at me. I waved to him confidently to indicate that I had made it. I think he nodded and then I saw him lift something up from behind the wall and he hooked it onto the rope and sent it screaming down towards us. When that object reached the backs of the moat and hit with a thud, he hooked another one onto the rope. Before that one even found its way to the moat, Saygili was already hunkering down behind the wall to wait.

"Shit!" Soyguncu yelled when she finally managed to catch her breath. I put my hand over her mouth and she nodded slowly, "I apologize Sultanah...that hurt like Tanri's asshole after a night at the pub," she said. I smiled at her casual blasphemy against the false god.

"I apologize for striking you. Are you alright?" I scrambled to my feet now and held my hand down towards the thief. She nodded her head and reached for it. I helped to lift her to her feet and we both turned and looked toward the camp. The tents looked less imposing from here, perhaps because I could not see the end of them.

"I am alright Sultanah," Soyguncu said after a moment. Then she turned back toward the city and toward the objects that Saygili had sent whirling down the rope. I followed her over.

"Will these be enough?" I asked. I pointed to the two ten gallon barrels Saygili had sent down. The barrel had two ropes apiece attached to them; one at the top with an iron hook that Saygili had used to slide them down and then another rope that was attached in two places. I lifted one of the large, heavy barrels by this second rope and slung it over my shoulder. A moment later Soyguncu did the same with the remaining barrel.

"It should be, there are other factors at play, you will see," she said. And with that she turned back and started heading toward the enemy's lines. She walked briskly.

"Wait up, wait up. Do not rush!" I called towards her.

"Sultanah, we do not have much time!" Soyguncu responded, pointing towards the placement of the moon in the sky.

"That is because you are late," I responded and she stopped walking, "Where is everyone else? Where are we going?" Soyguncu had exited the city several hours earlier along with several...compatriots. They had been in and among the enemy soldiers for some time, but now only the leader had returned.

"It took us a greater time to find what you were looking for than intended," she explained, and started walking again, only slower.

"Why? Was it tightly guarded?" I asked. Soyguncu snorted and shook her head.

"Your enemies do not fear you, it was hardly guarded at all. It was just a much larger camp than we anticipated. Your enemies vastly outnumber us. It took us time to find it." She explained. We were stomping through the field that separated the city from the enemy's camp at this point. Each step we took, we instinctively spoke more and more quietly. But it was very dark night and the grass was very high and at no time did I feel in danger of detection.

"Well will you remember where it was located?"

"Of course. It is actually not that far from here, an hour's cautious movement at most," she said.

"Where are the rest?" I asked. Now Soyguncu had stopped walking. She turned back towards me and her eyes looked sheepish through her shawl.

"After we left they decided to stay awhile and...make a little money," she explained.

"Make a little money?" I asked. How could they behave in such a way. Yes they were prostitutes but this was...treason!

"You can't expect to take fifteen whores into a camp with thousands of men who haven't smelled a cunt in weeks and expect their eyes not to turn gold," Soyguncu said in her colorful way. I sighed. My empire relied on the reliability of prostitutes.

"Well, will they be there at the appointed time?" I asked.

"Whores generally have only one rule, they are loyal to the one who has the most money. I think they will realize the Sultanah's purse is bigger than a soldier's. Besides, I have seen where we are going, we won't need as many as we thought."

"And what if they give us away?" I asked, realizing there were worse fates than simply having the plan not work. Soyguncu stopped once again. We were only about a hundred feet from enemy lines now and she whispered back to me quickly.

"Then we are already dead. We cannot speak long now, let us move," Soyguncu responded, and then she turned to walk. I took a deep breath and followed after her.

We moved much slower over the last one hundred feet of the enemy lines, and crouched low as we moved. Soyguncu was correct, our enemies did not respect us. There were no pickets on the edge of camp. The enemy did not expect us to attempt to sneak up on them at night and raise the siege. They were right, of course. If we caught them completely by surprise with an assault by all of my soldiers, we would only kill a small fraction of their number. The rest of their army could mobilize in leisure and then finish us off when we were tired. Still, I was thankful for their laxity as Soyguncu and I crawled out of the grass and between two tents into the camp.

The camp was laid out in a grid stretching off into the distance with four-tent blocks the central organizational unit. In the middle of each four tent-unit there was a small campfire burning. It was very late at the time we arrived in the camp and most of the soldiers were sleeping. Regardless, it was very bright in the camp and as soon as I moved within the halo of the camp, I felt very visible.

Whatever my nerves were, Soyguncu seemed fearless. As soon as she entered the confines of the camp she straightened up and walked into the light of the first campfire. I followed behind her closely, I looked left and right as I moved, but I saw no one stirring in that location. Soyguncu grabbed my arm and pulled me in close to her.

"I have carefully scouted. I had a route to our rendezvous to the whores through the quietest portions of the camp. But we will need to careful nonetheless. Follow my lead exactly and watch your feet, no loud noises," she said. With that she turned and walked deeper into the camp.

We moved for what seemed like an eternity. Soyguncu could move in absolute silence and I did my best to mimic the thief's actions. We moved in a sort of zig-zag pattern throughout the area. Occasionally, Soyguncu would drop to her knees on the outside of a tent and sit quietly for several seconds while someone passed. I would follow suit, and I could hear the soldiers inside the tents, snoring. Sometimes, Soyguncu was essentially sprint between an intersection in the tents and as I ran after her, I could hear the sound of voices nearby, campfires that had not yet died down. The camp was quieter up close somehow but the smell was more intense. I had no desire to allow these people on my land for a moment longer. The more we walked the more certain I became that Soyguncu and I were acting properly.

Over the course of an hour we slowly made our way deeper and deeper into the camp until we had worked our way clean out of it. We had stayed relative close to the Kuzey River as we made our way through the camp, but I was surprised when we finally pulled up and stopped just a few yards from the water. I could hear it rushing by in the dark. It was only when we stopped that I realized we had passed through the last of the tents in that area. The ground was wet, sloped, and marshy, not appropriate for tents. But in the distance to our right I saw a large, flat expanse. I could smell the tingling scent of shit and could hear noises. I could see several farms as well, abandoned by their owners now in the city and being used by our enemies. There were no people in this area. I was gasping by this time, the heavy barrel on my back and the long run had sapped my strength

"We have made it Sultanah," Soyguncu whispered and jutted her chin in the direction of the nearest farm. I looked around and did not see anyone moving. It was darker now where we were located and very quiet. My bladder felt tight and my heart was thrumming in my chest.

"Where are the whores?" I asked finally. The whole plan depended on them.

"We just need three or four I think," Soyguncu stated. She looked over her shoulder into a copse of trees near the river. She squinted and strained her eyes in that direction and then, slowly, her mouth spread into a broad smile. I turned and looked, but saw nothing. Soyguncu lifted her hand over her head and waved quickly. After a moment, I saw a silent stirring in the trees. I squinted harder and then I saw women walking slowly out the shadows.

There were only eleven of them left, presumably the rest were still turning tricks. The whores were dressed for the job in short dresses, long boots, their faces painted garishly, and wearing high, curly wigs. They were immediately recognizable for what they were. Some had smeared lipstick and disheveled hair and it seemed they had weighted their purses generously before arrival. But I did not care; they had followed through on their promise (most of them). They arrived next to us silently; they were all smiling broadly when they saw us, though I doubt they knew who I was.

"Where are the others?" Soyguncu hissed.

"Working," One of the prostitutes whispered back and shrugged her shoulders.

"I should skin you all for this! Our lives depend on this, it is no time for sucking cock!" Soyguncu added.

"That's exactly why we are here!" One of the other prostitutes shot back.

"Silence," I whispered, "We will deal with those who reneged on their promises later. Now is the time to act. It will be light in a little over an hour." The prostitutes were nodding. Soyguncu made a show of continuing to look angry but nodded her head as well.

"They are over there," she said, pointing towards the abandoned farm, "We will be right behind you. Remember, get them all! If we die, you probably die too. And you definitely don't get paid. Your cunts would have to take a lot of traitorous soldier cock to get what the Sultanah will pay for a couple of minutes work." The prostitutes' eyes lit up and they began to walk in the direction Soyguncu had pointed. They moved slightly more loudly now and they talk to one another. Soyguncu and I followed behind several yards in silence. We crouched low and kept our heads down.