“There are two types of crimes within the harem. We refer to them as capital crimes and affronts. Capital crimes are serious and unambiguously enumerated. Everything else is an affront – more specifically, an affront to the Emir, whether or not the Emir is involved.

  “Punishments generally follow the eye-for-an-eye maxim, and adhere to conservative Arabic, sharia or Islamic religious traditions.

  “The six capital crimes are:

  “Permanently harming the Emir or any member of the Emir’s household, with the exception of concubines. The punishment is death.

  “Permanently damaging, or, through one’s own actions, encouraging the damage of another concubine. The punishment is to receive the same damage twofold. For example, if you damage the eye of a rival concubine, both of your eyes are damaged in return.

  “Adultery, that is, sex with a man other than the Emir, unless sanctioned by a eunuch for training, the Emir, or one of the Emir’s guests. The punishment is neutering, the removal of everything that makes you a woman. Vaginal sex and any arousal are then impossible.

  “Lesbianism, unless sanctioned. The punishment is removal of your love bud, that is, your clitoris, and cauterization of your G spot. Sexual pleasure is then no longer possible for you.

  “Masturbation. You are here to pleasure the Emir. Any pleasure you derive is only with the permission of a eunuch overseer or the Emir. For the first offense, your love bud and G spot are rendered numb for six months. For the second offense, your love bud is removed and your G spot cauterized. Masturbation is then no longer possible for you.

  “Leaving the seraglio without permission. As punishment, you are hamstrung. That is, the tendons behind your knees are cut, rendering you permanently unable to walk.

  “All other offenses are affronts. To punish affronts, we make liberal use of the drug incapacidide. In general, incapacidide renders the area where it’s used dysfunctional, until an antidote is applied. For example, insolently talking back to a eunuch may be punished by having your vocal chords injected with incapacidide, rendering you unable to speak. That is what has happened to both of you. I did warn you first, which I’m not required to do.

  “In general, affronts are punished by rendering the involved part – the voice or hands, for example – unusable for some period of time. In addition, beatings with a leather lash or a cane are used when deemed necessary – most commonly when a concubine responds too slowly to training. A misbehaving or slow-to-learn concubine may also be punished by chaining her in various positions of discomfort.”

  Claire was, again, horrified. This was barbaric! She wasn’t even allowed to control her own body! And what would happen if the Emir decided to take her, or her and Saida, before they were finally rescued? Would she allow herself to be, essentially, raped by some Arab prince, old enough to be her father? If she didn’t, what would they do to her? Cut her further and ruin her completely?

  Angrily, she thought again of survival. She decided she could and would endeavor to live within these rules until they were rescued. She had little choice. Oh! When would Elliot and Ali finally arrive to rescue them?!

  After warning them not to become agitated again, the two eunuchs released their bonds. Claire and Saida were allowed to go into a bathroom together to relieve themselves, shower, and freshen up. Once inside, they hugged each other for comfort. They tried mouthing words of comfort to each other, but quickly gave up. It was just too difficult. Since there was nothing on which to write, they would have to wait to communicate.

  Claire stood before a mirror and examined her neatly trimmed intimacies. She couldn’t believe they’d cut her in that way. Sure, partial or complete inner labia reduction was becoming more commonplace in the US, especially in California, but it was the choice of the individual, not something imposed on them by someone else.

  She was surprised she wasn’t still shaking in horror. She realized it was probably the sedative they’d both been given, that was keeping her and Saida from going absolutely berserk. She needed to get a grip on herself before it wore off, or she’d get into even more trouble. Well, they’d seen to it that at least she couldn’t scream at them anymore.

  The desert lily tattoo was quite charming. Under other circumstances, she would have loved how it looked. But it’d been imposed on her and so she hated it and the ring in her nose and the script on her wrist that apparently labeled her a concubine!

  They both got into the large, tiled shower. Claire could see tears in Saida’s eyes. They hugged again and then helped each other wash their hair and backsides. Claire liked the feel of Saida’s hands washing her. Momentarily, she thought back to Vara, and wondered if the Greek woman had actually done something to her mind that made her respond to other women now, in ways she never had before. Well, if so, she’d better not do it here. They would ruin her if she were caught.

  Just the movement in the shower aroused both women. With their sensitive, always-erect clits ringed and exposed, they were subjected to almost constant stimulation, if they moved at all.

  Finally, a flushed Claire and Saida returned, naked, to the surgery, where Aziz and the Grand Eunuch, looking grim and displeased, waited for them. Majid was gone.

  They followed the Grand Eunuch out of the operating theater and along a crisscross maze of narrow, stone corridors to a single, ancient-looking, engraved bronze door. The Grand Eunuch opened the door and they passed through into a small vestibule. The eunuch Aziz barked a command in Arabic, and Saida immediately knelt in ‘tulip’ position in a corner of the little room. Claire followed her lead and knelt next to her, hands behind her neck.

  The Grand Eunuch spoke in broken English. “You about to enter the seraglio of His Highness, the Emir of the A’arabe.” Claire was to find, later, that “A’arabe” meant “scorpion” in Arabic.

  “As you hear door close, you must close own door on former life. You always belong to Emir now.”

  With that, he slammed the heavy, bronze door with a loud bang, essentially announcing the arrival of new concubines to the harem.

  They stepped through unlocked, wooden double doors into a modest-sized room. The room was ornate and round with a very high ceiling. White, morning sunlight poured in through windows beneath Arabian arches around the top of the room. Claire's heart pounded as she realized she was now enclosed in the seraglio. For all practical purposes, the outside world no longer existed for her. Elliot seemed so far away now, certainly many hundreds of miles away from the palace. Everyone here assumed her to be only another initiate into the Emir’s private collection – a harem girl, a concubine, the Emir’s whore should he decide to take her.

  A girl approached the Grand Eunuch and bowed deeply before him. She wore yellow pantaloons with a wide, gold belt resting very low on slender hips and dipping down in the front to just above her pussy. She wore an open bolero, exposing her breasts. Her nipples weren’t ringed, but were painted a deep red, matching her lips. She wore a delicate ring in her nose, Arabic script on her right wrist, and desert lily just above her belt on her belly, identical to those Claire and Saida had. Her pantaloons were open in the front, exposing her hairless intimacies, which appeared to lack inner labial lips, just as Claire and Saida did now. There was no evidence of any rings in her clit or outer labia, which were painted the same deep red color as her lips and nipples.

  The Grand Eunuch introduced the girl, “This be the concubine Janan who will fix hair, makeup and harem dress for you. She already told what to do. Janan, this be C’amila and Saida. Both are mute, and will remain so for some time. Saida from Tunisia and speak Arabic and English. C’amila from Bosnia and speak only Bosnian and some English, so you speak English to them.”

  “Yes Master.” Janan replied, bowing again. “And after we are finished here?”

  “Aziz return and escort them to courtyard.”

  “Very good, Master.” She turned toward Claire and Saida. “C’amila, Saida, you come with me now.” Still naked, they followed her.

  Janan took them into a room instantly recognizable as a beauty salon, complete with chairs, sinks, manicure and pedicure facilities and everything else needed to groom the harem residents. Several girls were already there, performing or enjoying various procedures. Janan sat Saida in an ordinary salon chair and began to apply a thick cream dye to her hair all over, and to her thick eyebrows. When Saida’s hair was saturated, she moved to another chair while Claire took her place. Janan wet Claire’s coarse, curly hair, combed a thick portion of it forward, and swiftly cut heavy bangs about a quarter inch above her thin, black eyebrows. Then she trimmed Claire’s hair evenly all around, to several inches below shoulder length. She blew-dry the bangs, straightening them with a roll brush, and left the mass of curls everywhere else.

  Janan carefully examined Claire’s eyebrows. “These will regrow thicker, or not?” She asked. Claire started to answer but, of course, was unable to speak. She shook her head, confusing Janan who laughed good-naturedly. “You must have really been screaming at the eunuchs for them to mute you already. Don’t worry, you’ll get along. This happens to many girls at first. In a few weeks, maybe a little longer, they will make you able to speak again.”

  Claire decided that she liked the friendly, open Janan.

  “C’amila, are your eyebrows permanently like this?”

  Claire nodded her head.

  “Then we must duplicate on Saida.”

  After Saida’s hair was the same black as Claire’s, and cut identically, they removed most of her brows with electrolysis. In the end, her brows exactly matched the smooth, one-hair-thick curve of Claire’s. Looking at the two women, it was now, at first glance, difficult to tell them apart. They looked very much alike in their face and hair, their shape, and totally alike in their body proportions, modifications and ornamentations.

  After their manicure and pedicure, Janan instructed them in identically applying their makeup. Except for their thin brows, they were made up in the style of an Eastern houri, with their lips, nipples, and beauty lips stained the same deep red. They were dressed in transparent, silk, aquamarine pantaloons, cut-away in front and held low on their hips with a wide, gold belt that dipped below their lily tattoos. The silk color matched the dominant color in their seahorse and interlocked-initials tattoos. They each wore a matching, open bolero.

  Janan had the two women stand side-by-side in front of a large mirror in the salon. Oh my God, Claire thought. Even I can barely tell us apart!

  Aziz returned to take them into a large atrium, well-lit by the desert sun streaming through windows in the upper walls high above them. The atrium was more of a conservatory, filled with plants and the sound of splashing water. As they walked through a group of trees they could see a large pool, fed by a semicircular waterfall. Several naked girls were laughing and splashing in the pool, while others lounged around it in cushioned recliners. The scene was idyllic, the women almost child-like in their innocent joy and playfulness.

  Claire exclaimed, “This is beautiful!” But, of course, no words came out, just a couple little squeaks.

  A girl standing by the pool noticed Aziz, bowed to him, and stood looking at all of them attentively. As the others saw them, they followed the first girl’s lead. In a few moments, all the girls were standing, quietly, looking at them, apparently awaiting a word from Aziz.

  Aziz barked a command and all the girls moved to one area near the pool and knelt, sitting back in repose position, their hands resting on their thighs, palms up. Aziz approached the group, motioning Claire and Saida to follow.

  “These are the new concubines who have joined the Emir’s harem. They are and will remain a matched set in all possible ways. This is C’amila. The only language she shares with some of you is English. She does not yet understand Arabic. This is Saida. She understands both Arabic and English.

  “C’amila and Saida are mute and will remain so for some time. If you must question them, use yes-no questions. I expect all of you to take some responsibility for their training. In particular, Rafidah, you are to translate for C’amila, since Saida cannot. You will also begin to teach C’amila to understand Arabic as best you can while she cannot speak. Rafidah, come join us. The rest of you are dismissed. You may introduce yourselves to C’amila and Saida when we’re finished here.”

  The girls returned to what they’d been doing, which, Claire saw, was largely nothing at all. A petite, dark Arab girl with a huge halo of very dark auburn, curly hair hanging loosely to her waist came up to them. She kissed each of them on both cheeks and bowed to Aziz, casting her eyes downward. That downward look of deference was to be one of the most difficult things for Claire to remember. She was completely used to the American custom of assertively looking someone straight in the eye.

  She saw that Rafidah had the same nose ring, desert lily tattoo and Arabic script on her wrist as she did. It appeared that all the concubines did wear them, as she’d been told. In addition, no inner labia were evident on Rafidah, her denuded outer lips closed neatly, as Claire could see through the opening in the front of her pantaloons. She didn’t appear to have a ring through her exposed clit or any rings in her outer labia. Apparently, that wasn’t normally done to the concubines and had been done to Saida only because of the eunuchs’ desire to match her to Claire.

  Aziz appeared anxious to be finally rid of them for a while. After instructing Rafidah, he turned to Claire and Saida. Rafidah translated as he spoke. “C’amila and Saida, Rafidah will instruct you, in English, on what you need to know about harem life. I will return tomorrow and begin your training in pleasing His Highness as a matched pair. From this moment forward, you must stop thinking of yourselves individually, but only as two identical concubines, forever linked for the pleasure of the Emir. Everything you do, and everything you learn, should be practiced exactly the same. If I can detect any difference in the way either of you respond to anything at all, I will create a punishment for you, one which you will surely detest.”

  Rafidah, in good, understandable English, told Claire and Saida about life in the seraglio.

  Over the next few hours, Rafidah had them practice the various submission positions used in the harem, how and when to bow before the eunuchs and the masters, the need to keep their eyes downcast, how to walk, when to smile, and on and on. Claire had rarely been so bored in her entire life. But Rafidah was insistent that they learn to do everything automatically. If they made a mistake, she would, after all, be punished along with them.

  Being unable to speak made clarification of their instructions almost impossible. Claire hoped she got everything right, as there was no way to ask Rafidah, and no writing materials for them to use.

  In the evening, the Grand Eunuch made his nightly visit to the courtyard. Claire knew she had to assume some position of submission, but failed to do so quickly enough for the Grand Eunuch. Or, perhaps, he simply wished to make an example of her. He instructed Aziz to bring her, along with Rafidah, to him.

  Aziz clipped a chain to Claire’s nose ring and lead her to the Grand Eunuch, who sat his huge body on a tiny stool that Claire was certain would shatter under his bulk. The enormous black man was almost as tall sitting as Claire was standing. He took the chain from Aziz and rose up to his full height. He pulled the chain up with him such that Claire was forced to stand on her toes to lessen the painful tugging by the ring through her sensitive nose. She tried to cry out, but could emit no sound.

  The Grand Eunuch spoke rapidly to Rafidah in Arabic. She translated for Claire.

  “The Grand One wonders if you are disrespectful or just slow and stupid.” Claire, not knowing what to do, tried to shake her head, but the tension on her nose made even that gesture painful to her.

  “He wants Aziz to teach you that there are consequences for poor manners or poor performance. They will chain you for two hours. I am sorry, C’amila. Perhaps I didn’t teach you well enough today. They will chain me and Saida with you.”

  Aziz clipped a chain onto Rafidah’s nose ring and another onto Saida’s and led the three of them to a rack extending out from the wall in the courtyard, about seven feet above the ground. Their hands were manacled behind them. Aziz looped their chains through the rack, pulling on them until the three women were standing on their toes, their heels a couple inches from the ground, their noses held up by the chains. Any attempt to stand flat-footed would result in the rings being agonizingly pulled and perhaps ripped from their noses. He fastened the chains and left them there.

  After a few minutes, the balls of Claire’s feet and her nose were on fire with pain. She dared not move for fear of the agony it caused her nose. She could barely see Saida and Rafidah, but could tell they were suffering in the same way.

  The two hours seemed like an eternity. Claire could feel hatred of the Grand Eunuch, Aziz, and everything associated with the harem building in her. Her fury reached its peak near the end of the first hour. After that, it began to dissipate, as her tortured mind determined to never do anything here that would cause them to punish her like this again. She was even more miserable that she’d caused her friend, Saida, and poor Rafidah to be punished because of her. After almost two hours, Aziz returned. He spoke to Rafidah.

  Rafidah translated, trying not to move while she spoke. “Eunuch Aziz wants to know if we have learned our lesson. I have assured him that I have.”

  Through tear-filled eyes, Claire would have told him to go fuck himself – if that were even possible for a eunuch. Fortunately, she couldn’t speak the words, and so avoided further punishment. She painfully nodded her head, just enough for Aziz to recognize the gesture. So did Saida. He then released their chains.