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Barbary Coast

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22. Diary of Kemal Agha, Captain of the Palace Janissaries. Rabi Al-Awwal 22, 1218

When my two officers came to tell me that that useless French whore had refused to let them take her in the ass, I was livid. Such insolence from an infidel slave! One who insults my officers, insults me and that must be punished most severely, lest I be considered weak among the Janissaries, something which could lead to serious trouble.

I turned her over to the eunuchs of the Palace torture chamber, instructing them to give her the full treatment. They would know how to take care of her. By the time I arrived, after dealing with some urgent business, they had the slut hanging naked from the ceiling, her wrists enclosed in rusted iron manacles, her body lifted such that her toes dangled just off the floor with her legs at full extension.

I did not know how long she had been hanging, but long enough that her face showed the strain her shoulders must be feeling. On the floor, a short distance from where the French whore hung, were two other infidel women, lying on their backs on the hard stone floor, their feet raised, their ankles held firmly in stocks. One was Barbara, the high-class English tart that the Sehzade had recently purchased at auction. The other was Mary, that pirate Karim’s whore. Interestingly, they were looking at each other like old friends, and I later learned something my spies in the port had not, that Mary had been Barbara’s maid back in England.

I decided to play coy. “What have these two done?” I asked the eunuch.

“They tried to poison the Sehzade.”

“Really?” I replied, innocently. “That is very serious indeed. I assume he will have them executed.”

“I don’t know,” he said. Our orders are to whip thei r feet with twenty strokes and then wait for further instructions.

“Very good,” I assured him. “Please proceed. “ He walked over to a barrel where a number of canes were soaking in water to render them supple, to impart the maximum force to the flesh of any disobedient slaves deserving of such treatment, as these two infidels surely were. He handed one to a fellow eunuch and the two men took a position a cane length away from the lovely feet of the two English whores and announced the punishment of twenty strokes.

Then, without further ado, the two floggers struck a vicious blow across the insteps of the two women’s helplessly bound feet. Such a racket you never heard! Howling, twisting their bodies, tears rolling down their faces. By the time they had taken four strokes, they were begging the men to spare them. These pampered infidel women are not tough like our Turkish girls, who would laugh at a mere twenty. The eunuchs, of course, didn’t understand the women’s foreign tongue, and it wouldn’t have mattered if they had, for they had their orders and no room for pity in their hearts, hardened by years spent practicing their art in this dark place.

As the whipping went on, the canes slashing against their outstretched soles, each stroke bringing shrieks of pain, the two sluts took hold of each other’s hands, to comfort each other in their agony. I have heard of unnatural relations among the infidel women, a disgusting perversion, against the teachings of our Holy Koran. May Allah forgive me for gazing upon such sin.

Finally, the eunuchs had delivered the full complement of lashes that these two sluts had justly earned, leaving them blubbering on the floor, their hands still locked together, when who should appear, but the Sehzade himself, no doubt come to be certain that his slaves had been properly punished. One glance at the soles of their feet, striped from heel to toe with livid welts would assure him of that. I bowed deeply to His Highness.

Now, the eunuchs turned their attention to the French whore, Marie. I was looking forward eagerly to seeing her body marked by the whip, to hearing her pitiful cries and begging for forgiveness, which, of course, I would refuse her. And they did not disappoint-lash after searing lash, the supple leather cutting into her whorish flesh, her body twisting in a doomed attempt to escape the supple leather that welted her delicate skin. The clever eunuch didn’t spare any of her most sensitive parts-breast, buttocks, back and thighs, all were welted. Blood dripped from spots where the whip had cut most deeply, a few drops falling on the cold stone floor beneath her feet. By the end, she hung limply in the manacles.

I thought that might be the end and prepared to leave. Then I saw the eunuchs pull the two English sluts up off the floor and drag them to the racks. The two slaves struggled and complained in their barbarous tongue, but to no avail and soon they were each chained next to each other on the solid wooden machine, and the eunuchs were turning the wheel stretching their naked bodies most delightfully. I could almost see the tendons in their shoulders and knees straining against the force.

“This is a plot you cooked up with that Karim, isn’t it,” the Sehzade shouted at them. “You will tell me the truth.

“Good,” I thought, “Let the pirate take the blame.”

The Sehzade continued berating the two English women. "It's that Barbary pirate, isn't it? All three of you are in on it, weren't you? A plot to have me killed, with a beautiful virgin English lady as the bait. But it had to be more than that. Someone else was behind it. I want the truth! Tell me all you know, or else!"

And it seemed the Sehzade meant his threat in earnest, for he called one of the eunuchs to bring over a brazier. The torturer pulled an iron out of it, the metal glowing a fearsome red in the dimness of the dungeon. “Perhaps you should test it on the French bitch. See if it wakes her up. The other two will see how she suffers and tell the Prince what he wants to know to avoid the same fate,” I suggested, stalling for time and not averse to adding further punishment to Marie for her derelictions of duty. Without hesitation, he strode towards Marie and pressed the hot poker into her thigh. The girl screamed and shook madly, like a fish on a hook. Before it cooled, he pressed it again against her skin, this time on her chest, drawing the same anguished reaction.

The two English girls on the rack looked absolutely terrified, suspecting that they might be next. However, the eunuch apparently felt that a further demonstration was necessary. He pulled two needles out of the fire and approached Marie. She begged piteously in French and the bits of Turkish she had learned in her time as my slave, but the eunuch took hold of one breast and slowly, as though he were assembling a shish kebab, placed the fiery point of the needle against the nipple and pressed it into the soft yielding flesh, which I had enjoyed so much, burying it into the fatty tissue.
View attachment 541999

Marie howled and shook madly. Undeterred, he repeated the maneuver with the other breast. This time it got no reaction; Marie had fainted. I signaled him to stop-she would heal, I hoped, and once she did she would be placed back in service and I was confident she would perform her duties diligently, regardless of what would be asked of her.

That task accomplished, the eunuchs turned their attention to Barbara and Mary. They stretched them further on the rack. The two women shrieked as they felt their joints stretched near the breaking point. Then, two eunuchs each took a sizzling iron from the fire, each drawing it up the legs of one of the infidel whores, holding it close to the flesh so they could feel its searing heat, but not quite touching the skin.

The glowing rods moved between their thighs drawing close to their womanly place. It seemed that having seen what the hot metal had done to the French girl, Mary decided it would be wise to confess her crimes. “This here's all the doin's of that pirate, Karim.” Then she laid out the hare-brained scheme of that idiotic love-sick Moroccan. Did that fool really think he could free his precious English lady from the Topkapi itself, the center of the might of the Ottoman Empire?

And it had been so easy, with him asking the apothecary in the bazaar to make a sleeping potion. Of course my spies had been following him and when the apothecary went in the back room to mix the powders, my men had easily prevailed upon him (for who did not fear the wrath of the Janissaries?) to substitute a lethal poison.

I approached the Sehzade. “I will have this Karim brought here and questioned, Your Highness,” I told him, leaving the room to order a squad of Janissaries to the port to arrest the brigand. I had nothing to fear from what the pirate might say, after all, since the fool knew nothing. All that would happen would be that under fiendish torture he would confess that this was all his doing, for he knew nothing of me and my desire to be rid of the troublesome Sehzade so that I could prevail upon the Sultan to disband the infantry that he had recently authorized at the expense of the power and prestige of the Janissaries. Another chance to deal with the Sehzade would surely arise, Allah willing.

While I waited for Karim to be brought, I retired to my chambers to relax with one of my other slaves, a blond Ukrainian girl named Olga, who was more than happy to please me in whatever way I desired.
This story is just excellent!

The way the women are simply the victims of scheming men with greater or lesser competence to scheme.

I'm well hooked! :)

:popcorn:
 
"I have been betrayed," he announced, eyes flashing, face red with anger. "It's that Barbary pirate, isn't it? All three of you were in on it, weren't you?
I think less of the Sehzade now, if that's any help. :rolleyes::oops::D
Stiff upper lip, ladies. :eek:

This is potentially the best Goldman/Moore collaboration yet. So many plots. Now our chief Eunuch may be more or less what he appears. Whose side is he on, besides his own?

Great stuff! :very_hot::clapping:
 
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I think less of the Sehzade now, if that's any help. :rolleyes::oops::D
Stiff upper lip, ladies. :eek:

This is potentially the best Goldman/Moore collaboration yet. So many plots. Now our chief Eunuch may be more or less what he appears. Whose side is he on, besides his own?

Great stuff! :very_hot::clapping:
This story is just excellent!

The way the women are simply the victims of scheming men with greater or lesser competence to scheme.

I'm well hooked! :)

:popcorn:
Thanks guys! A few more twists to come and a few interesting scenes brilliantly illustrated by Madiosi
 
23. Morning, 11 July 1803, a Topkapi Palace dungeon cell, Lady Barbara.

I awoke from a fitful sleep to the sound of footsteps outside our cell. My back and all my joints ached and my limbs were stiff as I tried to raise myself to a sitting position to see who was coming for us.

TIB-042.jpg (Tibool)


Late last night they had taken Mary and me from the rack on which we had been so cruelly tortured and threw us into a dungeon cell along with the unconscious fair-haired French girl, Marie. An iron collar was affixed around each of our necks and chained to irons placed around our wrists and ankles. The cell was small. There was barely room for three of us packed tightly together. The only good thing was that the closeness of our naked bodies kept us warm throughout the night.

tibd003.jpg (Tibool)


Earlier that night, our rack torture had ended with my maid servant, Mary, heeding my hysterical demand to tell the Sehzade what he wanted to know. She appeared torn at first and unable to speak. I realized then that the poor thing was wrestling with whether her greatest loyalty was to Karim or her mistress. But when the two eunuchs advanced the glowing hot irons so close to our crotches that the searing heat threatened to scorch our privates, she came rapidly to her senses.

"Gawd no! Please stop! I'll tell all!" she cried.

img-1412168093.gif (gif)


"Alright," murmured the Sehzade, signaling the eunuchs to stop.

"Well, ye see, your princeship. This here's all the doin's of that pirate, Karim. A day ago he tells me of a plot to rescue her ladyship, and then he goes off and comes back and shows me that there vial ye be holdin. And he says to me, he did: 'Mary, in here's a drug that'll put the Sehzade ta sleep. All ye need do is sneak it into the Palace and slip it into his drink.' Then he says to me that me an' Barbara should fuck you till ye pass out, call fer a doctor and escape. Simple as that. Twar'n't meant to do you no harm, your princeship, really t’wasn't. T'was all 'bout him wanting her ladyship back, that's all."

The Janissary officer who had been watching leaned over to speak privately with the Sehzade, who quickly nodded agreement. Moments later the officer was gone. The Sehzade turned to the eunuchs, and spoke to them rapidly.

Then to me, he said, "Enough! I've sent Kemal Agha, Captain of the Palace Janissaries, to bring your despicable pirate lover to me. Your maid’s story is too simple to be true. I have met this Karim Assaraf. He is cunning and ambitious, and let’s not forget that he is, after all, a pirate! Untrustworthy by nature! There has to be more to this than simply freeing an English lady from my harem! I can well imagine far larger and more sinister machinations at work. We’ll see what you two have to say when they bring the pirate in and the eunuchs go about their business of loosening a few tongues. In the meantime, I've instructed the eunuchs to throw you and your stupid maid in a cell for the night ... and the French girl too."

"Please, Sehzade,' I pleaded. "Surely you can see that I had nothing to do with this. Mary has just told you the honest truth. This was all the idea of the pirate, Karim. Foolishly, he appears to be lovesick over me and that is all there is to it! As Mary said, he meant you no lasting personal harm. But you must surely know, in any case, that I ... Lady Barbara ... am yours and yours alone! I am and always will be your faithfully devoted servant. Do as you please tonight with Mary and the French girl, but take me to bed with you! Where I belong! You know I will please you!”

"No! Never!" he shouted, clearly in a bit of a rage.

With that he abruptly turned on his heel and strode off. The eunuchs tossed the mercifully unused, but still glowing hot, irons back in the brazier, released Mary and me from the rack, threw us over their broad shoulders and carried us to the waiting cell. Shortly thereafter they threw the French girl in with us, slammed the door and left us in the dark.

Now they were coming for us.

"I don't suppose there might be a bite to eat? We are terribly famished." I said brightly as our cell door swung open, trying to put a good face on the situation, and hoping for the best.

All I got in return was a grunt from one of the eunuchs, who seized me by the shoulders, hauled me to my feet and began unshackling my wrists and ankles.

"Milady, often gets hungry in the night," offered Mary helpfully. The French girl said nothing ... offering only a sullen look.

They led us along a passageway that led back to the dungeon, shoving us roughly every so often to move us along. Every step was painful, given the severe beating the soles of my feet had taken the night before.

Before long we reached the dungeon entrance. The door was ajar. We stepped inside and there before us, bound totally naked to the rim of a large spoked wheel mounted over a trough of dark, foul-looking water, was Karim! He was bound upright, with his feet in the water.

Mary broke free and ran to him, calling his name. She was stopped halfway there by one of the eunuchs, picked up and placed shouting and kicking on the rack she and I had shared the night before. They quickly secured her to its frame.

Kemal Agha, the Captain of the Janissary Palace Guard, was there and appeared to be in charge. Sehzade and the odious Beshir Agha were present as well, but stood back ... observing the proceedings.

Kemal Agha barked an order and the French girl, Marie, was placed on the rack next to Mary. The wheel and drum were set in motion, clicking and clacking. Both girls groaned as their bodies and limbs were stretched taut.

Then the Janissary Captain turned to me and said in surprisingly good English, "Well my young English Lady, I am told that you are hungry this morning and demanding food. I daresay your pirate lover over there is looking rather hungry too. Perhaps he hungers for you ... for your body? Perhaps he was hungry enough to poison the Prince so he could taste the delights of the English Lady's considerable charms? Perhaps now that he is here, we should give him the opportunity he so desires?"

He snapped out orders to the eunuchs, who seized me and hustled me over to the wheel .. to which they bound me, facing and pressed tightly against Karim. As they stretched my limbs and tightened the bonds that held them in place, my bare breasts bulged against his muscular chest and I felt his pubic bone press hard against my own. I also thought I felt something rising between my thighs.

His breath stirred my hair and his beard scratched my cheek as he quietly and apologetically spoke to me: "I am sorry about this."

"Wasn't it enough to sell me to the Turks and keep Mary for yourself?" I angrily hissed. "Why did you have to come to Constantinople? Look at the mess you've made!"

Madiosi2017-392-Barbary Coast22-1c.jpg

He adjusted his hips, slightly, bringing additional pressure against my mound and a perceptible poke from underneath. I was right! He was aroused! Wouldn’t you know it!

“Hold still, damn you!" I spat in his ear.

"I do believe breakfast has been served and our pirate friend appears to be enjoying it," laughed Kemal Agha, stooping to peek under my bottom and between my thighs. "Time for tea now. Dunk them!"

With a groan and a creak the great wheel began to turn. Our bodies slid first, then our shoulders and heads, toward the waiting murky water. I took a deep gulp and held my breath. The waters roiled around my submerging head. Then the wheel stopped turning. I began to panic and to buck, and thrash wildly. He did so too.

But just as I thought I could hold my breath no longer the wheel began to turn again and we re-emerged. Gasping for air, I hung on the wheel as it rotated me upwards ... first upside down ... the contours of my body locked tightly to his. When I tried to move, our skin parted company with a suction-like noise. Then over the top and full circle to an upright position before halting. My wet hair was plastered to my head and back. My eyes stung. I blinked away water, spat, and cursed him again.

"How was it?" laughed the Janissary, jerking my head back, staring into my eyes, and tracing his finger down my back and into the cleft between my buttocks.

"Leave her alone," growled Karim.

"Perhaps, pirate, you would like to talk now? Tell me! Who put you up to this? Who are you working for?

"It was just I acting alone. She ... Lady Barbara, I mean ... knew nothing of it. I wanted her back. It was only a sleeping potion,” Karim muttered defensively.

"Only a sleeping potion, you say? Let's see about that."

Kemal Agha produced the vial, held it high, made a show of examining it critically ... then he handed it to one of the eunuchs and nodded toward the rack. The eunuch took the vial and circled around to the side on which Marie was stretched. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sehzade follow, watching intently.

The eunuch reached out and held Marie's nose, forcing her to open her mouth, into which he dumped the contents of the vial.

Wide-eyed, she swallowed. She began to cough and then to shake and break out in a sweat. Her eyes bulged. Her chest heaved. She squirmed and screamed and began to convulse violently. Froth formed at the corners of her mouth. And then she fell still.

Sehzade hurried to her side, placed his ear near her mouth, felt her neck and then retreated in horror, exclaiming "She's dead!"

All eyes turned to the wheel.

“So, it appears that this was in fact an assassination attempt. You scoundrel! Who paid you to do this? The French? Perhaps the Pope? We shall loosen your tongue, pirate! Dunk them again!”

We went down again and this time they held us underwater far longer than we were able to hold our breath. I was forced to exhale. Water rushed in. I thought I was going to drown!

Then they raised us. I gasped and choked as the wheel turned and my head came up. Water spewed from my nose and mouth. My eyes stung and the ropes that bound me bit cruelly into my already bruised and torn wrists and ankles.

“How could you? I hate you!” I croaked at Karim.

“Well, do you have anything to say, Karim Assaraf?” demanded the Janissary Captain.

Karim only coughed.

“Again!” shouted the Janissary.

Down we went for a third time. This time my eyes were open and locked on his. I remember thinking how hypnotically captivating they were. He let go first, an explosion of air bubbles clouded my view as he opened his mouth. My lungs screamed at me. I couldn’t hold it any longer. Water rushed in and I passed out.

When I came too I was still bound to Karim and the wheel. I could feel the hands of one of the eunuchs pushing on my back in a pumping motion. Water gushed from my mouth and nose each time he pressed. Karim looked only half-conscious.

Somewhere behind me I heard Sehzade proclaiming heatedly, “Enough! Beshir Agha! Issue a proclamation at once! The conniving pirate and his English Lady whore shall be executed at dawn tomorrow ... and the idiot maid too. And let it be known that no one who threatens me is safe! Bring me their heads!”
 
23. Morning, 11 July 1803, a Topkapi Palace dungeon cell, Lady Barbara.

I awoke from a fitful sleep to the sound of footsteps outside our cell. My back and all my joints ached and my limbs were stiff as I tried to raise myself to a sitting position to see who was coming for us.

View attachment 542175 (Tibool)


Late last night they had taken Mary and me from the rack on which we had been so cruelly tortured and threw us into a dungeon cell along with the unconscious fair-haired French girl, Marie. An iron collar was affixed around each of our necks and chained to irons placed around our wrists and ankles. The cell was small. There was barely room for three of us packed tightly together. The only good thing was that the closeness of our naked bodies kept us warm throughout the night.

View attachment 542176 (Tibool)


Earlier that night, our rack torture had ended with my maid servant, Mary, heeding my hysterical demand to tell the Sehzade what he wanted to know. She appeared torn at first and unable to speak. I realized then that the poor thing was wrestling with whether her greatest loyalty was to Karim or her mistress. But when the two eunuchs advanced the glowing hot irons so close to our crotches that the searing heat threatened to scorch our privates, she came rapidly to her senses.

"Gawd no! Please stop! I'll tell all!" she cried.

View attachment 542173 (gif)


"Alright," murmured the Sehzade, signaling the eunuchs to stop.

"Well, ye see, your princeship. This here's all the doin's of that pirate, Karim. A day ago he tells me of a plot to rescue her ladyship, and then he goes off and comes back and shows me that there vial ye be holdin. And he says to me, he did: 'Mary, in here's a drug that'll put the Sehzade ta sleep. All ye need do is sneak it into the Palace and slip it into his drink.' Then he says to me that me an' Barbara should fuck you till ye pass out, call fer a doctor and escape. Simple as that. Twar'n't meant to do you no harm, your princeship, really t’wasn't. T'was all 'bout him wanting her ladyship back, that's all."

The Janissary officer who had been watching leaned over to speak privately with the Sehzade, who quickly nodded agreement. Moments later the officer was gone. The Sehzade turned to the eunuchs, and spoke to them rapidly.

Then to me, he said, "Enough! I've sent Kemal Agha, Captain of the Palace Janissaries, to bring your despicable pirate lover to me. Your maid’s story is too simple to be true. I have met this Karim Assaraf. He is cunning and ambitious, and let’s not forget that he is, after all, a pirate! Untrustworthy by nature! There has to be more to this than simply freeing an English lady from my harem! I can well imagine far larger and more sinister machinations at work. We’ll see what you two have to say when they bring the pirate in and the eunuchs go about their business of loosening a few tongues. In the meantime, I've instructed the eunuchs to throw you and your stupid maid in a cell for the night ... and the French girl too."

"Please, Sehzade,' I pleaded. "Surely you can see that I had nothing to do with this. Mary has just told you the honest truth. This was all the idea of the pirate, Karim. Foolishly, he appears to be lovesick over me and that is all there is to it! As Mary said, he meant you no lasting personal harm. But you must surely know, in any case, that I ... Lady Barbara ... am yours and yours alone! I am and always will be your faithfully devoted servant. Do as you please tonight with Mary and the French girl, but take me to bed with you! Where I belong! You know I will please you!”

"No! Never!" he shouted, clearly in a bit of a rage.

With that he abruptly turned on his heel and strode off. The eunuchs tossed the mercifully unused, but still glowing hot, irons back in the brazier, released Mary and me from the rack, threw us over their broad shoulders and carried us to the waiting cell. Shortly thereafter they threw the French girl in with us, slammed the door and left us in the dark.

Now they were coming for us.

"I don't suppose there might be a bite to eat? We are terribly famished." I said brightly as our cell door swung open, trying to put a good face on the situation, and hoping for the best.

All I got in return was a grunt from one of the eunuchs, who seized me by the shoulders, hauled me to my feet and began unshackling my wrists and ankles.

"Milady, often gets hungry in the night," offered Mary helpfully. The French girl said nothing ... offering only a sullen look.

They led us along a passageway that led back to the dungeon, shoving us roughly every so often to move us along. Every step was painful, given the severe beating the soles of my feet had taken the night before.

Before long we reached the dungeon entrance. The door was ajar. We stepped inside and there before us, bound totally naked to the rim of a large spoked wheel mounted over a trough of dark, foul-looking water, was Karim! He was bound upright, with his feet in the water.

Mary broke free and ran to him, calling his name. She was stopped halfway there by one of the eunuchs, picked up and placed shouting and kicking on the rack she and I had shared the night before. They quickly secured her to its frame.

Kemal Agha, the Captain of the Janissary Palace Guard, was there and appeared to be in charge. Sehzade and the odious Beshir Agha were present as well, but stood back ... observing the proceedings.

Kemal Agha barked an order and the French girl, Marie, was placed on the rack next to Mary. The wheel and drum were set in motion, clicking and clacking. Both girls groaned as their bodies and limbs were stretched taut.

Then the Janissary Captain turned to me and said in surprisingly good English, "Well my young English Lady, I am told that you are hungry this morning and demanding food. I daresay your pirate lover over there is looking rather hungry too. Perhaps he hungers for you ... for your body? Perhaps he was hungry enough to poison the Prince so he could taste the delights of the English Lady's considerable charms? Perhaps now that he is here, we should give him the opportunity he so desires?"

He snapped out orders to the eunuchs, who seized me and hustled me over to the wheel .. to which they bound me, facing and pressed tightly against Karim. As they stretched my limbs and tightened the bonds that held them in place, my bare breasts bulged against his muscular chest and I felt his pubic bone press hard against my own. I also thought I felt something rising between my thighs.

His breath stirred my hair and his beard scratched my cheek as he quietly and apologetically spoke to me: "I am sorry about this."

"Wasn't it enough to sell me to the Turks and keep Mary for yourself?" I angrily hissed. "Why did you have to come to Constantinople? Look at the mess you've made!"

View attachment 542174

He adjusted his hips, slightly, bringing additional pressure against my mound and a perceptible poke from underneath. I was right! He was aroused! Wouldn’t you know it!

“Hold still, damn you!" I spat in his ear.

"I do believe breakfast has been served and our pirate friend appears to be enjoying it," laughed Kemal Agha, stooping to peek under my bottom and between my thighs. "Time for tea now. Dunk them!"

With a groan and a creak the great wheel began to turn. Our bodies slid first, then our shoulders and heads, toward the waiting murky water. I took a deep gulp and held my breath. The waters roiled around my submerging head. Then the wheel stopped turning. I began to panic and to buck, and thrash wildly. He did so too.

But just as I thought I could hold my breath no longer the wheel began to turn again and we re-emerged. Gasping for air, I hung on the wheel as it rotated me upwards ... first upside down ... the contours of my body locked tightly to his. When I tried to move, our skin parted company with a suction-like noise. Then over the top and full circle to an upright position before halting. My wet hair was plastered to my head and back. My eyes stung. I blinked away water, spat, and cursed him again.

"How was it?" laughed the Janissary, jerking my head back, staring into my eyes, and tracing his finger down my back and into the cleft between my buttocks.

"Leave her alone," growled Karim.

"Perhaps, pirate, you would like to talk now? Tell me! Who put you up to this? Who are you working for?

"It was just I acting alone. She ... Lady Barbara, I mean ... knew nothing of it. I wanted her back. It was only a sleeping potion,” Karim muttered defensively.

"Only a sleeping potion, you say? Let's see about that."

Kemal Agha produced the vial, held it high, made a show of examining it critically ... then he handed it to one of the eunuchs and nodded toward the rack. The eunuch took the vial and circled around to the side on which Marie was stretched. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sehzade follow, watching intently.

The eunuch reached out and held Marie's nose, forcing her to open her mouth, into which he dumped the contents of the vial.

Wide-eyed, she swallowed. She began to cough and then to shake and break out in a sweat. Her eyes bulged. Her chest heaved. She squirmed and screamed and began to convulse violently. Froth formed at the corners of her mouth. And then she fell still.

Sehzade hurried to her side, placed his ear near her mouth, felt her neck and then retreated in horror, exclaiming "She's dead!"

All eyes turned to the wheel.

“So, it appears that this was in fact an assassination attempt. You scoundrel! Who paid you to do this? The French? Perhaps the Pope? We shall loosen your tongue, pirate! Dunk them again!”

We went down again and this time they held us underwater far longer than we were able to hold our breath. I was forced to exhale. Water rushed in. I thought I was going to drown!

Then they raised us. I gasped and choked as the wheel turned and my head came up. Water spewed from my nose and mouth. My eyes stung and the ropes that bound me bit cruelly into my already bruised and torn wrists and ankles.

“How could you? I hate you!” I croaked at Karim.

“Well, do you have anything to say, Karim Assaraf?” demanded the Janissary Captain.

Karim only coughed.

“Again!” shouted the Janissary.

Down we went for a third time. This time my eyes were open and locked on his. I remember thinking how hypnotically captivating they were. He let go first, an explosion of air bubbles clouded my view as he opened his mouth. My lungs screamed at me. I couldn’t hold it any longer. Water rushed in and I passed out.

When I came too I was still bound to Karim and the wheel. I could feel the hands of one of the eunuchs pushing on my back in a pumping motion. Water gushed from my mouth and nose each time he pressed. Karim looked only half-conscious.

Somewhere behind me I heard Sehzade proclaiming heatedly, “Enough! Beshir Agha! Issue a proclamation at once! The conniving pirate and his English Lady whore shall be executed at dawn tomorrow ... and the idiot maid too. And let it be known that no one who threatens me is safe! Bring me their heads!”
This absolute travesty of justice!!!

No, I really don't care if Barb keeps or loses her head...

behead 039 c.jpg

...but the NFL allows protests during the National Anthem...

I don't know where I put the the damn remote to turn it off...

...the football game, you morons. What channel is Barb's beheading on???

Tree

...annoyed...
 
"No! Never!" he shouted, clearly in a bit of a rage.
Englishmen aren't so fickle, either. ;)

And all it takes is a nice cup of tea and we can be quite reasonable. None of this nasty, icky, racking stuff! :)

"I don't suppose there might be a bite to eat? We are terribly famished." I
A cucumber sandwich might be nice....

I was right! He was aroused!
Well, don't sound so jolly surprised about it! :doh:

The conniving pirate and his English Lady whore shall be executed at dawn tomorrow ... and the idiot maid too. And let it be known that no one who threatens me is safe! Bring me their heads!”

Oooh, deary me. Talk about a temper. Just not civilised. Not civilised at all.

Executed. I shudder at the thought! :eek:
 
This absolute travesty of justice!!!

No, I really don't care if Barb keeps or loses her head...

View attachment 542178

...but the NFL allows protests during the National Anthem...

I don't know where I put the the damn remote to turn it off...

...the football game, you morons. What channel is Barb's beheading on???

Tree

...annoyed...
:duke:
 
It was a TP video.

I still see it.

Does Ossa Boocko?

Do Honets horn?

And my personal favorite ...

Does the Pope sleep in the woods?



Some fly by night ... some fly by day ...

Bluemoon you saw me standing alone ..........


:p
 
It was a TP video.

I still see it.

Does Ossa Boocko?

Do Honets horn?

And my personal favorite ...

Does the Pope sleep in the woods?



Some fly by night ... some fly by day ...

Bluemoon you saw me standing alone ..........


:p
Not as poetic but last night about 2 AM Tree time I crawled out of bed and went outside to take a leak (that is a piss). In the overcast sky I heard a huge flight of geese that I couldn't see and wondered how they navigate in the dark when Barb and Siss cannot steal one of my cars in broad daylight with out trashing it in 10 miles???
 
24. Morning, 12 July 1803, a Topkapi Palace dungeon cell. Lady Barbara.

I woke with a start. I am not sure what disturbed me. Perhaps it was a rat, or perhaps one of the other two who shared my cramped dungeon cell had stirred. Whatever it was hardly mattered. I shuddered. For that morning ... I ... Lady Barbara ... eldest daughter of the honorable Duke of Cruxton ... was to be executed ... condemned to die ... beheaded ... of all things! ... in front of a large crowd, no doubt ... somewhere in the very heart of old Constantinople.

The previous morning I had been taken to the torture chamber and bound to a water wheel, naked atop the Moroccan pirate, Karim Assaraf. He and I were questioned and dunked repeatedly ... nearly drowned! It had been assumed that we had plotted to murder the Sultan’s brother, the Sehzade. That was ridiculous! I was totally innocent and Karim had undoubtedly been manipulated by someone else. But, once it was revealed that the vial my maid, Mary, had carried into the palace contained poison rather than a sleeping potion, the Sehzade was having nothing of it. He was convinced that his life was in danger ... that we were all part of a sinister plot ... and called for our heads.

So they tossed me in a cell to await execution ... the same one in which I had spent the previous night along with my maid servant, Mary, and the since deceased French girl, Marie. But this time my cellmates were Mary and Karim. We would be together until they came for us in the morning.

I was furious with both of them. The source of my predicament, after all, was their ill-considered plot to rescue me ... without my knowledge ... from the Sehzade’s harem. What could they possibly have been thinking of? ... did they really imagine that they could get away with such a hair-brained scheme right under the noses of one of some most powerful and secretive potentates in the world? And besides, I was madly in love with the Sehzade and hardly wanted to be rescued! Fools! Clearly they had been manipulated, by some sinister force, into nearly poisoning the Sehzade! And now, because of them, I was to die! It was all so terribly unfair!

So I had decided that I would have nothing to do with my cellmates. I turned my back on them ... physically separating myself and facing the wall, resisting any and all attempts they made to engage me. I was in no mood for excuses or apologies!

And after awhile they accepted my hostility, and turned to themselves, which meant I was left to amuse myself by staring at droplets of water snaking their way down the cell's stone wall and listening to the sound of my cellmates rutting away just behind my back. I thought if I heard Mary cry out with pleasure, and then demand that Karim do it again, one more time I would kill them both with my bare hands!

75b2db857ac20d5313e3321493c6c7bb.jpg

So, needless to say, I was in a foul mood that morning when the eunuchs came to prepare us for our execution.

Mary, assuming her role as my maid, asked me whether I slept well.

"What do you think?" I spat at her with contempt.

"Come now Lady Barbara. Look, they've brought us food," said Karim soothingly.

"Not hungry!!!"

"Anger, won't help," he replied, adding reasonably but not helpfully, "What's done is done, dear Lady Barbara. Today we die. It is our fate. Let's face this together."

I answered that one with dark brooding silence.

Karim and Mary looked at one another, shrugged and started eating. I resumed my study of water droplets on the cell wall, but I couldn't help but also listen to the sounds of munching. The pangs of hunger were eating away at me, but I would not relent. My father, the Duke, always said I had a stubborn streak.

Time passed. The morning was well on. I began to wonder what was causing the delay? I had clearly heard the Sehzade declare the night before that we would be executed at dawn.

"I've an idea, milady," Mary said, setting aside the food and breaking her silence. "T'was thinking, you being a Lady an' all, and yer father, the Duke, bein' all high an' mighty with the posh folk an' even their majesties. All we needs ta do is get word out that the Turks intend ta execute you. They won't stand for that back home now, will they? Somethin'll be done, right quick, ta save us!"

"This is why you are only a maid, Mary!" I shouted at her, reproachfully. "They are executing us THIS morning, not next week or next month. Or did you forget? How, pray tell, did you expect to get word to anyone in time, and who exactly were you hoping to get word to?"

"Sorry, milady ... weren't thinking properly, yesterday's torture an' all," she allowed, bowing her head and looking rather deflated.

"Leave her alone!" snarled Karim, turning away.

We spent the next couple hours in silence.

Then, at last, they came for us ... quite a few eunuchs, and a compliment of Janissaries as well. We offered no resistance. There was really nothing we could do but allow them to shackle us ... arms bound behind our backs. Nothing was said. As soon as we were ready, they simply led us out of the dungeon, through the palace, into the courtyards and, finally, out into the city.

By then it was high noon. The sun beat down from high overhead. Compared to our cold, dank dungeon cell, it was oppressively hot. I began to perspire. Through the city we marched, in procession, surrounded by Janissary guards. Onlookers eyed us curiously as we passed.

Eventually we reached a great square, behind which loomed the great mass of Hagia Sophia and its gigantic dome. There, a huge crowd had assembled, attracted by the grisly prospect of an execution. The atmosphere seemed holiday like. Anticipation showed on every face. As our Janissary escort forced the crowd to part, we trudged forward, naked and helpless ... heckled from all sides.

I kept my face down, eyes on my feet. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind ... what a horrible ending for me ... what had started out with such promise ... the Grand Tour of the Eternal City ... waylaid by Barbary Pirates ... whipped and beaten by that vile turncoat, Captain Steele ... auctioned off like cattle as a sex slaves ... sexually awakened at the hands of an Ottoman Prince ... and now beheaded, ignominiously, in the very center of Constantinople.

We reached the place of execution ... a large scaffolding, before which stood a line of muscular-looking Janissaries. Our executioner was already present, wielding a gleaming wicked-looking scimitar.

Slowly we mounted the scaffolding. The Sehzade and the Beshir Agha were already there. A speech was being delivered to the crowd, which pressed closer and ... in response to the Sehzade's speech ... began to chant something rather unpleasant sounding in Turkish.

Off to one side, drums began to beat, and horns blared shrilly. It was time. They lined us up ... Karim in the center, Mary and I on either side. As I took my place, I glanced at the Sehzade. Our eyes met and held for a fleeting moment before he looked away.

They ordered us to kneel and bow our heads slightly. I got down on my knees. I turned and looked back. The executioner had taken up his post behind me, his face impassive. The scimitar blade looked awfully sharp! And the three pointed poles mounted at the edge of the scaffolding ... stained dark with the blood of countless victims ... were a grim reminder of the horror to come!

F06EE048-F726-4B22-B783-A06A856A7D4F.jpeg

This is it, I thought, and returned my head to a bowed position. I felt the executioner's hand flick my hair aside to bare my neck. I heard Mary began to pray ... Karim as well ... I did not ... it seemed senseless ... for what purpose?

The blade touched my neck as the executioner took aim ... and then it was gone, presumably raised for the fateful strike. I sucked in my breath and tried not to tremble.

A commotion broke out. Mary had panicked and tried to rise and flee. There was a brief scuffle as they grabbed her and forced her back into place.

The din from the chanting crowd, along with the incessant beating of the drums made my head pound. My last moments dragged on. For a second time, the blade touched my neck and was withdrawn. The pace of the drum beat quickened.

I sucked in my breath ... quite possibly my last ... tensed my body and closed my eyes.
 
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