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TROJAN HORSE By Geneva A young Spanish Gypsy girl is saved from death by a Corsair raid, but becomes a slave, then wife, to a North African slave dealer, helps him overcome challenges and turmoil and gets her revenge for past injury. This story parallels events in my earlier stories, "The Ship, the Oasis, the Book, the Slave," parts I-III. START There were some in our Spanish village who called my mother and me witches. Well, we could not do much about it but I did not think that was true. The Church and even ordinary people insisted that witches were evil, but we certainly did not do any harm that we were aware of. It was the opposite. We tried to help our neighbors and fellow villagers whenever possible, treating injuries and afflictions. The trouble was, that although many were grateful, some had reservations. It was just that some thought that certain of our activities were suspicious or even alarming although they were for the benefit of those who came looking for our help. We got to be known as healers, but in reality we just applied commonsense, and lot of trial and error. Also, like my grandmother and her mother had done in their time, we spent a lot of time collecting folk and traditional remedies. Unlike my sister, I was a good pupil and my mother relentlessly, it seemed to me at the time, drilled me with continuing instruction in various plants and herbs that could reduce pain or cure infections or illnesses. Even for these medicinal plants, we gave a lot of testing and, I have to admit, we rejected quite a few as they simply did not work, so I think we took a thoughtful careful approach to healing, not like the priests who insisted they could cure everything by reciting their prayers. In addition to these, my family, at least its women, looked for and collected many old books that proposed various cures for ills. Oh yes, we made sure we learned to read, although that itself could arouse suspicion, especially among those who thought we should know our place in society and leave reading to the Church and nobility. Some of the supposed healing books contained spells or incantations and all were completely useless, maybe made up by charlatans to trick the gullible. So, even though we were thought of as those who practice magic, that was undeserved. I had no belief in magic at all. That is, except for one special book that my mother told me about on my tenth birthday. She said these spells all worked! She told me the book had been in her Gypsy family for generations and was usually passed down through the female line. It contained a collection of spells, written in some ancient language, certainly not Spanish or Catalan, so when I heard some of the words it was really only a collection of strange sounds, although there were accompanying short instructions in Spanish. My mother also warned me that the book was bound in human skin, which gave the spells their power. I was horrified at first, but intrigued too. It sounded barbaric. My mother said that her family never did discover where the book came from originally or the language that they were written in. Just about all of the spells had to do with healing, as I found out when I got a bad cut on my leg when I was careless with a sickle at harvest time. It was deep and painful but, after my mother read a spell to me from this book, the edges of the wound drew together and sealed. In just a short time there was only a fine line that could hardly even be called a scar. Then there were spells could heal some injuries like broken bones, to cure fevers and ease women's labor pains. More of them could cure hunchbacks, cast eyes, withered limbs, even small things like removing disfiguring birthmarks. But in addition there were four astounding spells at the end of the book. These supposedly would change anyone hearing them, women into men or reverse that, and men into women, and its reverse. The effectiveness of these spells and the book could have given us great power, but my mother insisted we had to be extremely careful with how we used them in case anyone suspected us. These spells definitely could have been thought of as witchcraft and it would only take one bad harvest, or some fever to go round the village and the superstitious villagers could look for scapegoats in spite of everything we had done for them. When I was young we were lucky that we had the protection of the local lord, Don Martin and his wife Dona Elena. Dona Elena had had a difficult first labor, raising worries about her survival and these were only eased when my mother used one of her spells. My mother, cautious, had first tried the extract of a plant but eventually she had to resort to a spell from the book to help the woman. It had eased Elena's labor difficulties and she soon delivered a healthy boy. The Don had been totally grateful and we had his protection. The villagers would not have dared to cross him. We lived in a small village on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. My father had a small plot of land that, if we worked hard and were careful, gave enough food for my family, my father, my mother, two brothers, my sister and me. When we helped villagers too with our healing, there was usually a small reward in food, as few had any money. Occasionally too we tried our hand at fishing along the coast. We survived, as well as any of the other peasants in the village. As I said, my mother made me, and all my siblings, learn to read. In this way we were different from just about all of the peasants in our village. When the priest discovered that he looked at us suspiciously. I suppose he thought that peasants like us should not be able to read things for ourselves. Then, when I was just a young girl, my mother discovered that I had a talent for reading and memorizing and I was first able to easily read Spanish, then read and speak the nearby Catalan language and even my mother's Romany language. From there I went on to learn some French, Italian and even Arabic from books that the grateful Don had loaned us. My excellent memory served me in other ways. After one or two readings of pages of written words I could recite them almost perfectly. That aroused some more wariness and suspicion among the clergy too. When I reached my twelfth birthday my mother gave me the book to read. "The spells are in in two parts. For each spell there are instructions in Spanish, although the actual words of the spells are in some other language. Whatever it is I don't know. You try it." But even I had no idea what they said, if anything, and I had shaken my head. "This is impossible! I have no idea what these say." My mother just laughed at my frustration. "I think they are from an ancient language, so old that its words are gone forever perhaps. They even defeat my daughter's talents." And she hugged me. "It doesn't matter. All you have to do is sound them out and they will do their work. The Spanish instructions tell you what the spells do." My mother had come into the possession of the book when her grandmother passed it to her. Now that I was more mature my mother allowed me to help her more and more when she was called on for healing. My mother was careful at first. Magic spells and the book would have been rigidly suppressed by the local clergy and my cautious mother continually stressed it was really Christian prayers were important and what she did was only a side effect. Still, the old priest, Padre Philip, may have had his suspicions about the cures we performed but we pretended to be devout and contributed as much as we could to the church. It helped too that we had protection of Don Martin. I was about fifteen and almost grown to womanhood, I had breasts and a curved figure and I bled regularly every month, when things changed. Don Martin had decided to try his fortune at warfare, but in an expedition to one of the Spanish colonies in North Africa his ship was attacked by corsairs and he disappeared. Dona Elena was left with two small children and soon went to her brother's house, leaving only a caretaker and one servant at their castle. Then Padre Philip died and he was replaced by a much younger man. Philip had not been exactly approving of my family's activities but at least left us alone. My mother's cures could be passed off as villagers' gossip or the power of Christian prayer. She had always insisted on reciting some prayer before using her skills. The new priest, Padre Luis, was younger, less tolerant, more suspicious, and more zealous. He had not been in our village a week before he let us know that he disapproved of my family's healing activities and even hinted darkly about notifying those further up in the Church's hierarchy. That stopped our activities for some months but gradually, with desperate pleas from villagers, my mother began her healing arts again. Then, it soon became obvious that, despite being a priest, Luis found the young women in our village attractive and it began to be spoken in the market that his vows of chastity were taken lightly. He was fat and disgusting and no woman in her right mind would have been attracted to him but he could use the power of his position. I had no wish for complications of any type and anyway, I was getting much more favorable and welcome attention from Pedro, the handsome son of the local miller. We were even talking about getting married. He was a catch, but I was pretty too. I thought that we would make a handsome couple on our wedding day. Some other young women in the village gave me dark looks as they were envious of me but I could not help that. I knew that Padre Luis watched me too but I made sure to keep out of his way if I was alone. Things were changing outside our village too. We had heard of the Inquisition, but ours was a small unimportant, fairly stable village and we thought we could leave the wider world to its own devices. That changed one day when two men arrived, both in black clerical clothing, along with an escort of six soldiers and we saw them go to the priest's house. In an hour or two they headed to the vacant castle and we heard later that the two men had taken up residence there by order of King Philip. Soon they began to make their presence felt around our village and in the surrounding farms, not saying anything, but quietly observing. I shivered when I saw them. Their clothing was black, their expressions and manner too. At mass the following Sunday the priest announced that the two men were officers of the Inquisition, and we were ordered to be completely open to them. I shuddered at what could be in store for us. All of us had heard of their work. They had been given license to seek out, and destroy heresy and witchcraft and all who they suspected did not adhere rigidly to the Church's doctrines and teachings. Unfortunately that allowed some people who were jealous of others' success, or simply had minor disagreements, to secretly denounce them for not adhering to the faith, whether true or false. Often the victims were arrested and could bequestioned under torture until they were forced to confess to all sorts of crimes, supposed and real, and give the names of others who might be wavering from rigid adherence to the Church's teachings, or worse, who might be involved in black arts. When the mass was finished my mother took me aside. "Maria, we have to be careful. The inquisition has a name for ruthlessness and proving anyone's innocence does not seem to be a priority with these men. They believe that it is better to kill a hundred innocent than let one guilty party free. We are probably in danger as I am Gypsy and I am known as a healer. So, we have to lie low for a bit until these men leave. I think that the local church must take an even greater part in our lives than in the past to deflect any suspicion, at least until these men leave." Unfortunately that meant we became much more in contact with the priest and, in spite of the two inquisitors' presence, he made it evident that I still incited his desire, brushing against me whenever he could and making suggestive comments in my ear with his stinking breath. I made sure that that I was never alone with him. The two inquisitors began changing their tactics, starting with the more important or better-off villagers and questioning them about any signs of heresy or witchcraft and taking some in for further examination. These victims would leave the castle, their faces often pale and broken. Unsuccessful at finding prey there the two moved on to simple peasants like us and when it was the turn of my family my mother simply showed them the recipe books for our herbs. The spell book was kept well hidden in a cavity in the mud walls of our mean house. We took a risk one time. There had been a young man in the village, one of those who I had never seen taking part in the rough and tumble of the young men's games. In fact, any time he made an attempt to join in, the others treated him with mockery. Occasionally too he was physically abused. His name was Juan. His mother Anita, a widow, came to our door one night and I heard her talking about Juan with my mother. At last the woman went away, crying. My mother called me, "Maria, do you know what that was about? I was speaking to Anita Rodriguez." I had heard parts of their conversation. "Yes, mother, it is her son Juan. I think he is .....different from the other men in the village." "Yes, his mother is worried about him. She is afraid that one day he will be badly injured by the others, maybe even killed. He is one of those who..uh, wants to ... relate to other men as a... woman does. He is not attracted to women.like most men are." My mother was stumbling over her words. "You know what I mean." "Yes, that is frowned upon. I have heard some young men call him names too." "More than frowned upon. He could be in danger from the villagers, the Church and the authorities, but especially other young men who are bullies. He has been beaten a few times. Anyway, that was his mother asking if I had any potion that would make him like other young men." She sucked in her breath and shook her head. "Unfortunately the answer is no. We don't, and I have not heard of any that does but I have thought of possible way to help him. He has the mannerisms and tastes of a woman. Perhaps we could make him into a true woman? You remember that book of spells we have? There is one there that makes any man into a woman." "But that would be immediately noticed," I protested. "Senora Rodriguez can't have a son one day, then the next day he has disappeared and she has a daughter instead. And wouldn't it be dangerous for us if it were found out we had helped?" "Yes, you are quite right. But she once was very kind to me and I should help her in return. I have been wondering how to go about this. But first, we have to find whether Anita and Juan would agree to that. I would not want to change anyone against his or her will. "I think you are now old enough to help me with this, Maria. You are almost grown up and you are sensible and cautious. You should use the book and get to know its power." She gave a slight smile as if she had some secret. When the Senora Rodriguez and Juan came to our small house that next night my mother outlined what she could do. She had sent my father and the rest of the family out. "The less who know about this the better," she had said to me. "Anita, Juan, I have a way, it's drastic, but it could make Juan into a young woman of the same age. There is a bonus too. She would be beautiful. Would you want that, Juan, becoming a woman? How do you feel about that, Anita?" Anita first drew in her breath and looked horrified but in a minute her expression changed to hope. "Having a beautiful daughter?" She gave a wry look. "That would bring me pride. Oh, maybe worry too. But she could have a chance to better herself by marriage too. She would want to get married, wouldn't she?" Juan's eyes went wide open. My mother took Anita's hands in her own. "I have been told that it will take a few months before she has fully adjusted to her new existence, but in Juan's case, maybe less time. She would become a normal young woman, and happy to have the attention of young men. She would even look forward to getting married and having her own family. However, the first changes and the later adjustment are only a part of this. There will be questions from any friends and acquaintances about what happened to Juan and who the new young woman is. So, you need a safe place for your new daughter to go to. I am sorry, I think it would be best if she left here." Juan just looked utterly bewildered but Anita nodded. "I was thinking about that. I have a sister who lives l about a day's journey away. I could say Juan has gone away to her. You say I will have a daughter instead? I would have liked to have that daughter with me here but her safety, the safety of all of us, is more important. I understand the danger." She embraced her son. He looked as if he was going to start crying too. "I have a suggestion," said my mother. "Why don't you both leave this village? Tell some people in the village that both you and your son are both going to leave it and go elsewhere. You can be as vague as you want where it is you are going but you can let it be known that you are both leaving because of the abuse your son is getting. Then everybody will know about it when the village gossip gets active. "But first you had better contact your sister and make sure she will give shelter to you and your daughter." Anita looked wistful. "Having a daughter!" she breathed. "That will be strange, but....Yes, I will sent a message to her!" "Do you think your sister would have any problems accepting her?" "She knows about Juan and I think she would be very sympathetic to him." In three days Anita came to us. "Yes, I contacted my sister and she will be happy to have us. She knows what the situation is here. She is a widow like me and would like the company. It's not before time. Yesterday some men beat my son." My mother gasped. "How badly hurt is he? I can help him." "He has some bruises and scratches but nothing worse." "Then I suggest three days from now. Make your preparations and I will come to your house, and Maria will be with me to help. Now, what will happen is that Juan will become unconscious. Absolutely no one must see him in the time while he changes to a girl. That happens over about two hours but the new girl stays unconscious much longer. When she awakes I suggest you dress her right away in girl's clothes, and keep her out of sight of anyone and leave the village some night before dawn. The less that anyone sees of you with a girl the better. " We made our way to Anita's house three nights later. She opened the door quickly at our discreet knock and let us in quickly. "The rumors are going around already about your leaving. I have heard people say that they are glad you are going," said my mother. Anita sighed. "It would have been nice to for my son to be accepted, but..." "Then we should do this as soon as we can," said my mother. Juan had been standing in the background listening to us, white faced and trembling. His mother beckoned him over and embraced him. "Be brave! It is going to work out all right." "Sit down, Juan," said my mother. "I will have my daughter Maria read a few words to you from a book we have. In a short time you will feel cold and start to shake. Then you will fall unconscious." "My mother told me about that. Will it hurt?" "I believe you will feel ill and start to shiver. That will be uncomfortable but when you are unconscious you will feel nothing, of course. Then when you wake you will feel sore all over, but that should pass in a few hours. So you are ready?" He swallowed nervously and nodded. "Maria, you should start now. Read this here." It did not take long. I read it as clearly as I could although I may have stumbled over the unfamiliar words. My mother had watched me carefully and nodded approvingly when I had finished. She took the book from me and hid it in a pocket. " Now we wait!" I was surprised that my mother was watching me rather than Juan. Nothing appeared to be happening until it felt as if a cold breeze had blown over me and I felt my insides churn and I felt slightly nauseous. "Mother." I cried, " I feel ill." "I did not tell you. It will affect you, but much less than Juan here. "Just wait and see. I think you will be pleased." Senora Rodrigues too wriggled her body as if uncomfortable and hunched her shoulders. I did not feel at all well. It was like I was starting a fever but I soon became distracted by Juan. He had started to shiver like me but his shaking became much more violent. At one point he jumped to his feet with a strangled cry but reeled on unsteady knees and would have fallen over if my mother had not caught him. By the time she laid him gently on a pad he had become completely unconscious. "Now watch, Maria. It is the first time you will have seen it." I was still not feeling very well but I forced myself to watch. His body had been shaking then a kind of rippling started, with waves of change running up and down his body, each making subtle gradual changes. The contours and proportions of his male body began slowly rearranging to a woman's, his shoulders narrowing, his waist too, while his hips widened. His hands and feet began shrinking and at his groin his penis and the sac below gradually shrank, as if they were retracting into his body. His skin was becoming visibly smoother and the limbs rounder. I should have been embarrassed to be looking at male parts, but I was too curious to avert my eyes. A little later his penis and scrotum had disappeared, leaving only a slight mound still covered with dark hair. A short time later the lower part swelled slightly and began to split, changing into a cleft in otherwise smooth skin. On the flat man's chest the nipples began to swell, followed by the surrounding darker skin, and finally the flesh below swelled and expanded making female breasts. Juan no longer existed. In his place was a young woman. The process had taken just over two hours. "So she's a girl now. It's the first time you have seen it, so you should examine her, Maria. Have a look at her new woman's parts. So do you mind Maria doing that, Anita?" It was as if Anita had to come out of a daze. "No, we are all women here, now. It's a miracle!" My mother gave a slight smile, and gently spread Juan's legs. "Have a look." I shook my head in awe. All I saw were the folds and soft flesh and the moist opening of a woman. But I soon discovered he was not the only one to be affected. My nausea had disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving me with only a slight ache. "How do you feel, Maria?" asked my mother. "I feel well, now." "Do you notice anything?" Before I could answer the widow looked at me, puzzled. "Maria, you have changed. You are suddenly very beautiful." My mother kissed me. "I will let you see yourself in the mirror when I get home. I had a very pretty daughter, now she is even more so. Maria, when we get home you should look at yourself in the mirror and I think you too will be pleased. The same with you, Anita. Why don't you check yourself in a mirror? "Now, this girl who was Juan will awaken, in probably a day and a half. She will still have male hair at first. Juan did not have much but any male hair on her face, arms and legs and her groin, will soon fall out. You should dress her in women's clothes as soon as possible and leave the village." Back at home I rushed to see myself in the polished metal that served us as amirror. I gave a small scream while my mother beamed at me. I held my face in delight, then removing them so I could see again the beauty in front of me, the sparkling eyes, high cheekbones, slightly pouting lips and a smallish nose. I turned to all angles the better to see myself. "You are pleased?" my mother asked a twinkle in her eye. "But don't spend too much time at the mirror. I would not like to think you are vain," she teased. "Yes, Yes! The spell did that to me?" "Yes, it makes both men and women into beautiful women. But you were born female so there are many less adjustments to the spell, let's say, for a female body than for a male, like Juan was. Women already have everything in place so you only felt a small discomfort. Oh yes, tonight, when you get ready for bed, look at your body. I think you will be pleased there too." We lived in a small cottage with only two rooms. That night my mother shushed my brothers and sister out of the way and I removed my clothes to bare my body fully. I was delighted. My breasts were higher, fuller and more shapely, my waist slimmer. My rear stuck out a little more but was very shapely and nicely proportioned over slim thighs. "A word of warning, Maria," said my mother. "If anyone comments on your changed appearance, just act innocent. Just say that you are maturing." As she had planned, Senora Rodriguez and her new daughter disappeared one night. It would be a day's walk to the village where her sister lived. I had not seen the changed Juan but my mother told me that the spell had worked without any complications. "What name is she using?" I asked. "She decided on Luciana. I think Juanita would have been a nice choice too but we don't want to raise any suspicions. However, they are well away now." "Did she become beautiful?" "Yes, as usual, the spell made a beautiful girl. She will attract men's attention, just like you will, Maria." She embraced me. "What about Senora Rodriguez? It must have happened with her too?" "Yes, and she is delighted, of course. Maybe she too will attract the attention of some man. It would make life easier for her to have a husband again." Some months later my mother took me aside. "You remember that young man Rodriguez that became the girl Luciana?" "Oh yes, have you heard how she is doing?" "Yes, Anita sent a message to say Luciana is going to get married." I cried out with pleasure. "Then the spell had a happy result. Were there any difficulties when she woke up?" "Anita says that Luciana felt a lot of surprise waking up as a woman and suddenly being in a different body. Yes, I expected some adjustment to the physical differences but Senora Rodriguez says that she soon adapted. By two months she was just like any other girl, interested in young men and happy with her body. "Anita too. She has been seeing a widower and says she is going to get married as well." I had flattered myself that I had been attractive enough before this but the spell had made me one of the most beautiful young women in the village and I was delighted. I could see the pride in my mother's eyes and the envy of other young women in the village, and the eyes of the young men in the village follow me any time I was in the square or went to the market or the harbor. Not that I flaunted my beauty. Because I was half Gypsy and suspect, I carried myself as demurely as any other young woman. Although some of the village girls were quite brazen, wearing tight blouses, swinging their hips and giving flirtylooks at the young men while fluttering their eyelashes, I made sure to dress modestly and keep to dull colors, and I avoided any speech or behavior that could be thought of as flirtatious. Besides, I had the young man Pedro and I was in love with him. We had set a date to get married too. Unfortunately, the priest had noticed my beauty. Over these months we tried to take part in as many religious celebrations and saints' days as possible, so we could deflect any suspicion but keeping out of his way was difficult. It came to a head one night when we were preparing for the Easter celebrations. I found myself in a small room in the church with the priest between me and the door. Before I could get past him he pushed the door shut and stepped over to me. "Maria, why are you so resistant?" he asked. "You are so beautiful. I can help you immensely." He put his arms around me and tried to kiss me. I tried to push against him but he was too strong. I let out a scream and kicked him but it did not drive him off either. One hand was pressing my breasts and the other fumbling between my legs. The door opened just as I forced myself away from him and raked my nails over his face. It was one of the inquisitors. "This whore, she attacked me!" screamed the priest. "I was trying to push her off me. I think she is possessed by the devil. Didn't you hear her unearthly scream as she tried to blind me?" My cries of protest were ignored and I was dragged from the church by some of the soldiers. My mother had seen me and when she protested and tried to free me we were both dragged into the castle and thrown in separate dungeons. The next morning I was pulled out and taken upstairs to a room. The two inquisitors and the priest were there at a table. The priest hid his guilt well. The head inquisitor stared at me. "You are accused of trying to seduce the priest here, then attacking him when he resisted. Furthermore, others in your village tell us that you and your family have acquired a reputation for dealing in black arts and dispensing potions. That sounds like witchcraft." I denied it of course and tried to protest but my version of the events, that I was an object of the priest's lust and that all we used were simple remedies, was dismissed out of hand. Worse, the rest of my family were arrested the day after and questioned too. Our denials were ignored, of course. Either their minds were made up or it was more important to get confessions and get victims to help cow the rest of the village. My denials meant torture. My arms were tied behind me and I was hoisted up on a rope. The pain was excruciating and I kept fainting but I would not give in. They next placed me, with my legs on each side of a narrow wedge of wood that dug into my crotch. The pain was immediate, growing stronger until it was agonizing. Finally I could stand it no more and I confessed to everything they charged me with, even though it meant my own certain death. Worse, I heard the screams of the rest of my family too and someone else must have confessed. I do not blame them. Anyone would eventually break under the torture. They put us on a quick trial where the verdict was certain, found us all guilty, of course, and I sat in my cell, sick at heart, knowing the penalty, waiting for a horrible death. Two days later soldiers burst into my cell, sheared off my hair, removed my clothes, giving me only a dirty rough garment to wear and dragged me from my cell. I hoped I might be the only one but I was devastated when I saw the rest of my family chained, sheared and in sackcloth as well. My father and mother were so broken that their eyes were staring and they did not acknowledge me. We were dragged up to the top of a hill overlooking the harbor and with sickening horror I saw seven stakes already set in the earth, and surrounded by brushwood and more piled nearby. Broken and in total despair, I had given up screaming and denial. Their minds were made up. My family and I were to die horribly and painfully. But they were not done with torture. One by one we were savagely flogged until we were hanging in the ropes that bound us. Then we were pulled to the stakes, chained there and the brush piled round us. I drifted in and out of consciousness. I saw Pedro looking at me with anguish, his father holding him back but the other villagers, probably relieved that other victims and scapegoats had been found, were screaming at us, even some who had benefitted from our healing skills. Shouting and jeering at me, even throwing excrement, was a girl of about my age, Isabella. She had been an early rival for Pedro's affection and now hated me. I cursed them all and tried to prepare myself for my own death but the inquisitors had an extra torment for me. They burned my family one by one, my mother, my father, then my brothers, and my sister so that each had to endure the screams of the others as they perished. All I could do was wish them a quick death and hope for the same. I had lost hope yet, as I cursed them, I swore that if ever I survived I would take a terrible revenge on them all. When my sister disappeared behind the flames and her screaming ended the priest brandished a flaming torch in front of me. "You should have tempered your pride," he said. "I could have helped you." I made to spit on him but he stood back. I closed my eyes and waited. Then a different noise began to intrude over the jeering of the assembled crowd, screams of terror. I opened my eyes to see dozens of armed swarthy men pouring into the square. The panicking crowd tried to flee but there were other men blocking the exits. Stories about these men had been talked in hushed tones along the coast. They were corsairs, Barbary pirates and slavers, feared for their plundering of villages along the coast, but even worse, making raids to capture slaves. As the priest turned to flee he threw the torch at the brushwood piled around me but his aim was off and it only rolled onto some bare ground. I felt a surge of hope that the raiders might kill him but he dodged two and escaped. I had some satisfaction when I saw the junior inquisitor fall with a sword through him but his superior ran faster, dodged the raiders and burst out the exit. The six soldiers put up a fight but they were completely overwhelmed by the numbers of the raiders. Many of the villagers managed to escape too but finally the men had caught several dozen of them and herded them into a circle at sword point. The air was filled with screams and wails of the captives and the shouts of the raiders. I saw them bring out chains from a sack and one by one they separated out their captives and examined them. They even pushed some away, but the others were chained in groups of four and pushed into a separate group. It was obvious that they were selecting the youngest and strongest men and the prettiest women. They worked quickly and efficiently as if practised and in only a few minutes they had selected and chained about thirty of the villagers and started to herd them to the harbour by whip and sword point. In the harbor three rowboats and a larger vesse had arrived. They were about to leave the square when a tall swarthy gray bearded corsair,, who seemed to be the captain, spotted me, still hanging in my chains at the stake. He looked at me curiously then at the other five smoldering piles along from me. His lip curled in distaste and he was about to leave me there when I desperately recalled the Arabic I knew and, "Save me," I croaked. I had nothing to lose. If the villagers came back and found me still chained to the stake they might just burn me out of spite. His head jerked and he looked surprised and when I repeated it he pushed aside the brush and lifted up my head. "Save me, lord," I said again. He shouted and in a minute another of the corsairs helped him remove my chains. He roughly pulled my head up to examine me. " Dirty, and she has shorn hair, but I think she could be pretty. Perhaps she will do as well. Carry her down to the boats," he ordered. "She is weak." I was saved from the pyre, but now I would be a slave of the raiders. I must have been a terrible sight, my hair shorn, dressed only in dirty sackcloth, dirty, bruised and still bleeding from the terrible flogging I had been given, but at least I was alive. I was in the last small boat to ferry prisoners to the ship. I was barely aboard before it began to move off. I had been freed from the chains of the Inquisition. Now I exchanged them for chains of slavery. I took a last look behind at the village that had been my home. Now I associated it with the destruction of my family and I cursed it. I hoped I would never see it again. Along with all of the rest of the prisoners I was herded with whips down steep stairs into a hold below the ship's deck, and chained to a staple in the wooden walls. The men were put at one end of the hold, the women at the other. I shuddered when I saw the wooden planking was stained with blood and urine and more and I caught my breath in the stink of the hold. It had been used for prisoners before. We were not the first captives the corsairs had taken. The other women clung each other for comfort, as much as their chains allowed, but none touched me. It seemed I was beyond their sympathy. I did not care anyway. Some of them had been in the mob that had screamed for my execution. I hoped their slavery would be cruel, but it was possible that my own fate could be cruel as well. I had been saved but it was possible these Barbary corsairs and slavers would have their own ideas about witchcraft. The ship soon got underway, judging by the regular roll it took and the splashing sound of the waves. With the number of crowded prisoners in the hold it soon turned stifling hot but at least the slavers gave us as much water as we could drink. We were even fed that first evening although few of us had any appetite. The next day, and the days after we were allowed on the open deck twice a day, but only in small groups, and with the men kept separate from the girls and under close guard of the corsairs. Most times we were out of sight of land, but once I saw a rocky coastline to the north. By the position of the sun the ship was heading generally south east, to North Africa and the lands of the corsairs. We were fed twice each day but the food was dreadful, some kind of tasteless mush that we had to eat with our fingers. One day we were caught in some windy weather and the violent pitching of the boat made many sick. The smell of the vomit was barely noticeable in the rest of the stench. The third day I did not feel well and by the symptoms I knew I had a fever. I was lucky. It passed in two days and I survived, but two men and one girl fell into comas and died. The crew simply took the bodies up to the deck and threw them overboard. It was on morning of the seventh day when we realized that the ship had stopped and we heard the crew shouting and the anchor splash down. We looked at each other in apprehension. The next phase of our slavery was would begin. I had expected that the ship would have moored in the harbour of a city, but when we were herded up onto the deck I saw it was in a wide bay with absolutely no buildings at all, just a broad shallow beach with a big rock sticking up from the sand. To the south it was just desert wilderness. Then, after an hour, a dust cloud appeared in the desert and men on camels and horses appeared. Soon a small boat was heading to us, and a black bearded man climbed a rope ladder into our ship. All of the slaves were herded in front of him and he walked slowly in front of us, carefully inspecting the men's teeth, and checking their muscles and their genitals. The girls were examined too. He had them open their mouths to see their teeth, felt at their breasts, and even between their legs. His eyebrows rose when he reached me. I must have been a sight, shorn and dirty, haggard with the voyage and my illness, barefoot and dressed only in sackcloth. "What about this one?" he asked the captain. I knew some Arabic but I did not catch the reply. Something must have interested him as he pulled up the sacking that was my sole clothing. His lips pursed when he saw the healing stripes of my whipping. "I was about to be killed, burned alive," I said. "They had already burned my whole family. I was next. The captain saved me." He stiffened. "I see you know Arabic." "Yes, and other languages." "Why were you going to be executed?" "A priest tried to molest me and then unjustly accused me of being a witch." I told him the truth as he would probably ask the corsair captain about it but I must have convinced him and he gave a nod of approval. "You will do. You are dirty and scruffy but I see a lot of potential for beauty there." He finished checking over the other captives, gave his approval and a large quantity of gold coinage passed hands. The captain grinned, flashed his toothy smile again and bowed to this new man. By this time other small boats had come from the shore and in groups, still in our chains, guarded by armed men, we were ferried to the shore. I looked round, increasingly apprehensive. There was only the sea, the long strand of sand with a rock sticking up out of it, and the ship. The last group of prisoners had been just set in a small boat when the ship pulled up its anchor, unfurled its sail and was soon well out into the sea. We were left on the pebbly shore, chained, bewildered, exhausted and with guards all around us. Then, shouting and cracking whips they set us into a long column and drove us south across the desert. The other captives had shoes but my feet were bare and as the sun climbed higher I started to suffer more and more from the hot sand. I was limping when the leader actually pulled me up in front of him on his saddle. "Thank you, master," I said. He grinned at me, showing his strong white teeth. "I am Walid. I see you know your place already, slave, but do not expect any favors. It is just that every slave is worth some money and if I left you here to die I would lose money. "I have usually gone on these expeditions myself but I have just been in Alexandria with a former group of slaves. Ahmed, the captain, made a good selection but I am not so sure about you. You are dirty, your hair is too short and you are bruised, but maybe underneath the grime you could be pretty and so worth training." "These things are temporary, master. You are mistaken. I will be beautiful and I can translate for you." He laughed. "So, a touch of insolence! Just make sure it does not have to be beaten out of you." The men seemed to know where they were going. I supposed they used the subtle changes in the desert landscape. To my mind it was only was a succession of featureless low hills, rocky sandy areas and the occasional dune. We were not fed, but in an hour we were allowed to stop and given water, then driven on. This was repeated every hour until in about four hours I began to make out dark shapes on the horizon wavering in the heat of the desert. Gradually the dark shapes began to separate and change into the tops of palm trees and low buildings. It was not before time. With the heat of the sand, the blaze of the sun and the pace of our march many of the group were staggering and occasionally falling. These were whipped to their feet but i one man could not be stirred and was thrown over a horse. Finally our procession passed between some low walls. Workers in alcoves in the white buildings round the square stopped their work to look at us and wave to our captors. I saw an iron worker at an anvil, and two weavers, a leather worker and a potter. Some children stopped their playing to gawk and cry out at our arrival and I saw black shrouded women look us over carefully. A large pool of water in the square surrounded by palm trees made the area seem like heaven. I wanted to plunge myself in the water but Walid kept his hand on the collar round my neck. The oasis was not large, but if this slaver Walid controlled all of it, he would be fairly well off. Finally, just past the square a small dusty path led to another group of buildings, obviously where we were heading. One of these, a two storey building, was larger and more opulent looking than the others. It joined onto a compound with high wooden palings. A gate opend and we were driven through into a bare sandy area, surrounded by a fence, and with several wooden huts on either side. Ominously, at one end, there was a high wooden post set with manacles. It was a whipping post. The men in our party were herded to one side and driven into some huts, then the women into the huts on the other side. As my eyes got used to the gloom after the dazzle of the sand. I saw my hut had bunks on either side, with a long table between. We were pointed to the bunks, each just long enough for a girl and actually supplied with a coarse blanket. This was to be my home, if you can call it that, for the future. There was a small tub of water and we ran to it even pushing each other aside to get a drink while the slavers laughed. One of them seized one of the girls and pulled at her clothes. She screamed and fought him but immediately he pulled his whip from his belt and savagely slashed her across the body and legs four times. By his gestures he was telling her to undress. She was almost distraught, but she did so, and I saw that the rest of us were expected to do the same. Two other girls needed their own slashes of the whip before they too undressed. I understood some Arabic and he was ordering all of us to undress and wash. I saw more whips pulled from the men's belts and I cried out. "They are telling you to undress so you can wash. They will whip you if you don't." I pulled off my sackcloth so that I was naked. They looked at me as if I was conspiring against them but all eventually all had stripped. Two more men carried in a large tub of water and poured it into a trough. We were pointed to it and I was astonished to see they even given us a coarse yellow soap. I grabbed it first as I was still covered with the grime of the Inquisitors' cells, blood and dust from my near execution, more filth from the slave ship and the dust and perspiration from the journey over the desert. Most of the girls were still huddled together, trying to hide their breasts and groins. I was now inured to nakedness and I carefully cleaned myself all over. I even stuck the remnants of my shorn hair in the water and washed the dust from it. The girls all squealed again when the head slaver pushed into the hut. He looked around until his eyes settled on me. "You are the one who speaks Arabic?" "Yes, Master Walid," I said. He gave a faint smile. "Then you will be useful," he said. "You can tell the others that they are now my slaves. They will remain here for some weeks until they are trained. Then they will be sold on." "Trained as what, Master?" "The best looking ones are bound for a harem. The less pretty will become maids and domestic servants or field workers." My Arabic was not fluent, but I understood what he had said. "This is our new master Walid," I cried in Spanish. "You are now slaves. Some of you are to be trained as maids but others will become harem slaves." I was drowned out by the shrieks and cries and weeping. "No, No!' I heard cried. "You had better accept it," I shouted above the screams. "It's not any better for me. If we do not obey we could be whipped until we do. Did you see the whipping post?" There were more screams and cries from the women round me and fearful looks towards the post but when a guard cracked a whip the cries faded to a sullen heavy silence. Walid looked at me in approval. "Yes, I think you will be very useful indeed. What is your name, girl? " "It was Maria, Master, but I do not want to use that any more." "Why not?" He raised his dark eyebrows, amused. "It is a Spanish name. These people would have killed me cruelly," I hissed. "I want nothing more to do with Spain or its people. "I am part Gypsy and it was a priest who accused me of being a witch and denounced me to the Inquisition. He had earlier shown his lust for me and even tried to force himself on me. So he wanted me out of the way so that I could not reveal it. They tortured me until I was forced to confess to being a witch to stop the agony. Then they found me guilty and would have burned me alive. They had already executed my family. I only survived because the corsairs raided the village." "You have a strong, commanding air about you. I will call you Amira." But then menace slipped into his voice. "Do not let it go to your head. You may have been saved and I put you on my horse to help you, but you are a slave now, just like the others and I will have you whipped if you ever forget that. "Since you are here, you can tell the rest of your fellow slaves the following. They will be taught the proper behavior for slaves. They will follow all orders promptly and without protest! They will obey me and all my servants, both men and women. If not, there is a whipping post waiting for them!" He pointed to the whipping post set prominently in the centre of the compound. "Tell them that any rebellion or disobedience will be severely punished by whipping or beating. Even execution." I translated his message to growing whimpers and small cries. Some broke down crying. "By their reaction I think you have translated accurately," Walid laughed. "Now you can tell them this. My captain selected them well. Most are quite beautiful. So now, tell them how lucky they are to be so attractive women because most will bound for harems where their lives will be much easier than if they were sent to be field workers. We will teach them how to appeal to and satisfy a man. But tell them too that they will be severely punished if they try damage their beauty. In this place we will teach them how to show off their beauty and make themselves attractive to future masters, by decoration, dress, cosmetics, and perfumes. Some of them will be taught to dance or sing or play musical instruments for masters." There were more screams and tears when I translated that. Some looked at me accusingly. I would have to be careful in case they took their despair out on me. Walid looked at the terrified girls. "Good! Now tell them that they must keep themselves properly clean. They will be kept naked the first weeks but when we give them clothes they will dress themselves carefully and show the proper deference expected in front of masters." I heard subdued mutters from the women round me. They did not like it but they were helpless. The following day Walid used my services quite a bit, continually calling me to pass on the orders to the other slaves while they were instructed in grooming and washing. Perhaps I was slightly more leniently treated, but I had to obey just as promptly as the rest. The day after that we all had another shock. We were called from the huts, given some food and water, and immediately afterwards were made to line up in twos. This time even more men with whips had come to herd us. We were taken in pairs into a hut. I trembled as I heard screams from girls who had gone before me then we saw them stumble out the other side of the hut. Many of them were in tears and bent over clutching their groins. The girl in front of me panicked and tried to run back to the hut to hide but the men with the whips were on her and she squealed as the whip struck across her thighs leaving a red weal. When it was my turn I was pulled into the hut and two men seized my arms and pulled me down on my back, holding my arms and legs so that I could not move. I smelled hot wax and I cried out when cloths dipped in the hot wax were placed under my arms and at my pubis. I screamed even louder when in a minute the cloths were ripped away. I was left totally bare under my arms and, at my pubis, Anyone could see my intimate parts. I was humiliated. Being kept naked was bad enough but now my dignity had been invaded even more. I shut my eyes tightly not to show my tears. They were not finished with me. Another of Valid's men examined my ears. Like most Spanish girls my ears had been pierced when I was younger and he grunted in approval as he pushed earrings through the little piercings then pushed me out the other side to join the other tearful girls. They were equally as bare as me and the grooves of our nether lips were easily visible. Walid had come to watch, occasionally pointing at some poor girl who had to have the procedure repeated on her freshly tender parts. When the last was finished he beckoned me and I kneeled in front of him as we had been taught. "You, Amira, tell them that it is to help them keep clean. It also makes them more suitable in the harem. It will be expected on the auction block. My slaves are known for their high quality." He spoke as if it was a matter of pride. I did as he ordered, but our supposed quality was no comfort to me or any of the others. I recognized that Walid's compound was only a stage in my slavery. My destiny would be a slave market, probably in Alexandria. We may have screamed that day, but two days later it was worse. Once more we were herded in a line and then pushed into the hut. This time the air was filled with the nauseating smell of burned flesh, that I had last smelled as my family was destroyed. I felt weak at the knees, cried and stumbled until I was whipped on. One of Walid's men was standing over a brazier filled with glowing charcoal, holding a wooden handled long iron rod with patterned wire at its other end. It was a branding device. Like the girls around me I whimpered when I saw it. We would never be able to erase the sign of slavery that was to be burned into us. By him were two guards with swords and whips who would enforce discipline and snuff out any resistance. Two men pulled the girl in front of me to the brazier, held her upper right arm firmly and I heard her shriek as the hot metal was pressed on her and she was branded. She was released and pushed out of the door and it was my turn to be held so that I could not move as the device was pressed to my arm. There was a brief hiss and I too shrieked in agony. I wanted to be sick with the indescribable pain, and through my tears saw the burned blistered mark on me. They released me and roughly pushed me into the courtyard, where I cried in misery with the others. Someone had put a container of cool water and I poured some on me but it only slightly relieved the pain. Walid had no sympathy for me or any of the others. "Tell them," he commanded. "They now have my brand to identify them as my product. It is a mark that will show how well trained they are. A mark of quality!" I hated him that moment, but I did as he said. It took another three weeks before the scab fell off, leaving the mark that I came to recognize as Walid's name incised on my skin. I had half hoped that I would get an opportunity to escape one day. Now my status as a branded slave could be seen by anyone who saw my arm. I could never erase it. That first two weeks we were all kept completely naked so our breasts, bare groins and brands were completely visible. Initially most girls felt embarrassed and humiliated. In Spain we had kept ourselves properly covered up. Other than the time I examined myself after Juan was changed I had rarely seen the whole of my own naked body, and mostly only parts when I discretely washed myself. Occasionally some of the young women went to a river to bathe and wash but, being a Gypsy, I had never been asked to join them. I thought back to those days with mixed feelings. Our continual nakedness made us increasingly aware of our bodies. Over the next days we gradually got over our original shock and no longer gave much resistance. We had even become so used to our enforced nakedness that we were no longer embarrassed. If some girls were, they were they did not show it. Perhaps some of the men prisoners over the other side of the compound might have seen us, but no on was concerned. We were taught to obey masters and sit and stand gracefully but one day the poses we were shown seemed especially lascivious to me. Some women servants or instructors had been brought in and showed us how to lie on the floor, and twist, move and pose, the better to show their breasts and hips. We had been given clothing, but it was only flimsy sheer garments, harem clothing. One of the instructors drew in her breath and covered herself with a robe when Walid unexpectedly appeared in the doorway. "I came to watch, to see that all were being properly instructed." The instructor just bowed to him and sniffed. There were apparently certain techniques that she was embarrassed to show before a man. "This training seems especially suggestive, Master Walid," I said to him. "It is for the harem?" He looked at me sharply. "Do not forget your place, slave, but yes, they are being taught the skills of odalisques, and you will learn them too." I sucked in my breath. Odalisques were the female slaves whose one purpose in life was to give pleasure to men. I thought of my own situation. I was a slave, but if a man was supposed to find pleasure in an odalisque, could such a girl use her body in some way to get favor? From the time we had been brought to the oasis the men had been kept separate from the women. One day we saw them being herded into line, chained together in a coffle hands chained behind them, and driven north. Walid's men were on horses, with whips and drawn swords. The slaves were on foot. I knew it was probably the last time I would see them. It was another break from my past. "We have spent enough time getting them used to their slavery," said Walid. "Now they are on their way to the coast where a ship will take them to Alexandria and its slave market. They are young and healthy. They will be good workers as servants or in quarries or the fields. If they are not, they will find themselves chained to the oar of a galley." I tried to feel sorry for them, but they had been part of the crowd that had called for my execution. In less than a week it was the turn of the women. We were lined up and black cloak- like garments and sandals were thrown to us. "Tell them to use these," Walid ordered. "The cloaks will protect them from the sun on the march to the coast. Buyers prefer paler skinned girls and the sandals will protect their feet. Our ship is back from Alexandria and will take you all to the slave market. " Our hands were chained behind us, iron collars were fastened round our necks and chains attached to these so that we were locked to each other. The gates of the compound swung open, showing the oasis, but beyond, the bare, forbidding desert. It was our turn to be taken to be sold. Walid wheeled by on his horse, with a critical eye slowly inspecting the two dozen of us, lined up before him. At last his horse stopped at me and he looked down. "So Amira, are you ready to be sold in the slave market? I think you now look much better than when you came here. Your hair is still too short but it is growing, and your body has healed. You are quite beautiful now. I thank you for your help." I looked at him but did not say anything. I had aided in my own slavery but if I had not I could have been whipped. He turned away to look at the rest then he turned back and stared at me for a minute, making me increasingly uncomfortable. His eyes flickered to the compound, back to me for a few more seconds then he leaned over from his horse, pulled the covering off my head and lifted my chin. I felt weak and helpless before him. This man was my master. He gave a faint smile. "Yes, you helped me. So well that I think I am going to use you again. You have told me you know many languages as well as Arabic and Spanish. Perhaps you can help us instruct other groups of slaves." He barked a command and the next thing I knew I was detached from the coffle, although the iron collar was still left locked on my neck. I was pushed back into the compound, and the gates shut while Walid rode off with the rest of his party. Outside the compound I heard the crack of a whip and the clink of chains. Somewhere a woman cried out. She must not have moved fast enough. All of the women, except me, were being driven north to the coast and the slave market. I sat alone in the hut, bewildered, wondering what fate Walid had for me. I wondered if I had been abandoned, but around noon a servant brought me a meal. "Our master Walid has gone to Alexandria to oversee the sale of the slaves. He says that you are free to explore the oasis as long as you return to the house before dark. You will be given meals there at dawn, noon and at sunset. A sleeping space has been made for you in the servant's quarters and you are to wear these." He threw me a dull red robe and sandals. I felt lucky. I now had clothing, and other than stuff to be worn in a harem. None of the servants seemed concerned when I hurried out of the compound. I soon knew the reason why. All of the few dozen inhabitants of the oasis knew who I was and out of the shade of the palm trees the landscape changed rapidly to desert. The oasis was as effective a prison as steel bars. I wandered around the square, watching some artisans to pass the time but there was a limit to what there was to see and when it got too hot I returned to Walid's house where I was fed and assigned a corner in the servants' quarters. I explored the next day too but to my surprise I was soon bored so I decided to practice my Arabic with the servants and anyone else I that wanted to pass the time with me. It might be useful. Walid returned after ten days. I was first aware of it when he strode into the servants' quarters to my small alcove. "Well, slave, you should know I got good prices for the other females in Alexandria," he said. "Now, I will tell you what I kept you for. There will be future raids by myself and other captains to bring in more slaves. You will help to instruct them, but until then you will help my servants." Over the next months there were two more lots of new slaves. The first time was a group of prisoners from southern France and the second from Catalonia and I helped pass on orders and instructions from Walid or his men. Perhaps I saved a few girls from whippings. If any of them accused me of helping in their slavery I pointed out the iron collar I still wore. "I am a slave too. Would you like to hear instructions from me, or learn by a whipping?" As the time went on and I became an increasingly useful slave to Walid, our relationship began to change. He no longer shouted his orders to me. His voice softened, or perhaps I began to anticipate his orders. I wanted to please him and when I was aware of him watching me I tried to walk as tall and straight and gracefully as I could, but I watched him too at times. He exuded power and strength. I even wrapped some cloth round my collar to reduce the chafing and he did not object. Our relationship took a drastic change when he returned from yet another expedition with more slaves, this time from the Atlantic coast of France. They had been driven into the compounds, the men separated from the women, fed and given water and set into the huts. As usual, I had passed on his orders. As it had been a hot day, all of Walid's men and the prisoners were tired after the trek from the coast and I had been kept busy too. "There Amira, they are settled. It is late. We can begin their training tomorrow." Walid stretched. "Now it is time for us to eat and rest. Come with me!" He led me to a room in the house where his men were already feeding and pointed to a low table. He sat down across from me and gestured to his men, intently eating and drinking. They only looked at us casually. "Eat as you will but his time you may eat with me." In the compound the slaves were fed adequately, and I had always been directed to eat with them. This was a major change. A servant brought us some food, a spicy meat stew with rice and some fruit. I was cautious and apprehensive that he actually allowed me, a slave, to eat with him. This food was far better than I had tasted in years and as I filled myself he watched me intently with his dark keen eyes as if looking right into me. I did not know how to react and I gave him faint awkward smiles. When we were almost finished he put his hand on my head and rubbed me affectionately." You do well, Amira," he said. His other workers had finished their meal and we were now alone in the room. I was more aware of his overwhelming manly presence. I realized his look was of hunger, but not for food. To my shock I was aware that I desired him too. My nipples had hardened at his touch and I felt moisture between my legs. I put my hand over his, raised it and kissed it and on my hands and knees I crawled to him over the tiled floor, opening my clothing to show my breasts hanging enticingly from my chest. I rose to my knees before him and gently eased off his outer robe. "I am your slave. I know the talents of a harem slave. I have been well trained. Let me show you how well I have learned, Master Walid." A smile took his lips and he took my short hair in his hands, bent me back and kissed me. I was weak in his arms. His other hand was at my waist, then rose to cup my breasts. When he tweaked a nipple a shock run through my body. "Your hair is still too short, slave. It would lower your price on the auction block. You will let it grow. And you are also dirty from today's work, Amira, but so am I," he laughed. "Come!" Surprisingly gently, he took my arm and led me from his room and upstairs. It was clean, spacious, light and airy, much different from anything I had seen before. I gasped. The room he pushed me into had a large tiled bath filled with clean water with even some soap by it. He gestured to it. "Clean yourself, Amira." It was more a suggestion than an order. I almost squealed in delight and ran over to it but when I looked around he was gone. I removed my dirty clothes and spent a luxurious time in the warm water, washing myself twice and brushing my nails as I wanted to be clean for him. Finally a female servant came in and took my dirty clothes, leaving a towel and a bundle of fresh clothes. I dried myself and examined it. It had the type of clothes we had been trained to use, harem clothes, fine silken robes, multi-colored, some sheer, that clung to my body when I put them on. The outline of my body, the swell of my breasts and the small bumps of my aroused nipples were tantalizingly only just visible. The bundle even had some cosmetics and I reddened my lips and put dark shadow round my eyes as I had been taught. A small vial held a musky perfume and I dabbed it on my neck, between my breasts and at my groin. The servant reappeared, gestured for me to follow her and led me into what was obviously a bedroom. The floor was ornately tiled and bare apart from a large Persian carpet, a long bench and a large wooden platform with a pad and a few sheets. The desert sun had set and it was now dark outside and a small lantern had been lit, casting a soft golden glow. My heart thumping, I sat down on the bed crosslegged. Walid entered almost immediately. He must have washed separately. He too was in a loose robe but it did not hide his strong thighs and muscled chest. As the robe flapped open I saw he was ready for me. He sat on the bed, leaned over to me and pulled me to him, kissing me. I gently eased his hands from me and stood before him on the carpet, swaying, undulating my hips and breasts, gradually allowing my outer garment to slip from me. He beckoned for me to come to him and he lifted aside the rest of my harem garments then completely off me so that I was naked. I was conscious that my nipples were swollen even harder and there was musky wetness between my legs. There was a fine sheen of sweat on my body. I was tense with anticipation. As a slave trained for the harem my task should have been to stimulate him but it was the other way round, not that it was needed. He placed his hands on my waist, his thumbs rubbing and slightly tickling my ribs then he moved up my torso to cup my breasts, lifting them up, pushing them together and playing with their softness. He fanned his fingers over my nipples then pinched them, teasing and playing with them until I was gasping. He kissed and sucked them then his hands worked down my belly to my hairless mons and gently rubbed below. My skin tingled at his touch and I sucked in my breath as he touched my most sensitive spot. Then his fingers were even further down, probing me gently and opening me. I was desperate for him and I pulled off his robes, kissed him hard, lay on my back and pulled him over me. "Master, take me." I grunted at the slight sharp pain as he slid into me and we were joined. Then, as he moved in me I cried out in the language of passion and in a minute we climaxed together. Afterwards he examined the trace of blood at my thighs. "So you have never been with a man?" "No, Master Walid, you are my first. And only!" We talked for about an hour then he took me again and once more in the morning and I slept with him every night from then on. So, from a slave, I had become some kind of companion or perhaps a concubine although I still wore the iron collar. Walid was not married and I occasionally wondered what my future was. Perhaps eventually I would only be one of several wives but I did not mind. I felt secure in his arms. I had once thought I could use my training to get favors from him. Now I gave myself to him willingly and as the days passed I became more and more comfortable with him and we spoke more easily to each other. So it was that I became a willing participant in helping him train another two more groups of captives. One day he said, "I have decided I no longer want you as my slave, Amira." I gasped, devastated that he would put me away and I gave a small cry and put my hand to my mouth. "Please do not, master. I love you." I burst into tears. But he began to laugh. "Amira, you have become very dear to me. No, I want you as my wife." He hooked his finger in the iron collar I still wore and pulled me to him. In minutes he was in me and I cried out my ecstasy. "I will remove your collar too," he said when we were resting. "I do not think it is needed now and it takes away from your beauty." I took his hands in mine and kissed them. "Walid, I owe you my life. I was your slave. You owned my body, but now you own my heart too. Walid, I want to keep your collar on me. Perhaps it is not necessary, but it continually reminds me that you saved me from a dreadful fate. You are still my master. I bear your brand on my arm but I give myself to you freely. Your brand is on my heart." "Very well, Amira, you have become more, much more than a slave, and I will allow you a collar." A month later he had a surprise. "Amira, kneel at my feet!" he commanded. I quickly did so, surprised. Was I to be enslaved again? He took a key and unlocked my collar and threw it aside. "Master," I protested. "I am yours. I told you that!" "Yes, but we need one that better matches your beauty." He lifted up my hair, now grown to a decent length and from a bag he drew a shiny gold strip and bent the metal carefully round my neck into an even circle. This collar was smooth and comfortable. "Yes, the size is right." When he pressed it a little more I heard a small click and it closed on me. "It's a cunning catch. There is no key," he said. "It cannot be removed except by cutting." I fingered the collar in delight, feeling its smoothness on my neck. I could not tell where the two ends joined. It was gold, and heavy, but not as much as the iron collar. It was some goldsmith's masterpiece. "Walid, this shows I am yours. I will wear it forever in pride and gratitude. I owe my life to you, my husband. Even as your slave I was better off than in that miserable Spanish village." I gave him a fond embrace. "There is more," he said and he produced golden earrings, and a golden armband. I threw my arms around him and soon he carried me to the bed and a spell of glorious love. I took more and more part in his activities, even to planning raids on the European coast but, one day, looking at a fresh group of slaves, the idea came to me that if we were to take the extra time to select the prettiest girls on the raids, they would command the highest prices. Beautiful girls for the harem got premium prices. Also girls would take up less room on ships than men, eat less and be more easily controlled. Walid was enthusiastic when I told him and from then on he arranged that the corsair captains should concentrate on women captives. Then one day he commented that he wished there were more pretty girls but he commented that the men in the plundered villages fought more when they saw their women being abducted by corsairs. I suddenly remembered that the magic book lost in the destruction of my family had a spell that changed men to beautiful women. Women too became more beautiful, as I knew. If I had a magic book with the same spells, I could supply beautiful women. When I broached this to Walid he was suspicious of magic but the thought of the profits made him interested. "But you would need human skin, you say." He was wary. "Perhaps from a corpse," I said, but I decided to let the matter rest. The thought of magic and using human skin made him uneasy. A week had passed when another idea came to my mind. "Walid, my family was destroyed in a horrible fashion and I still want my revenge on those who did it. I think another raid on the village I came from would get me some revenge but it would be profitable for you too. You only took about thirty captives from it. I think there could be many more. There was a young priest there too. He had a major part in my family's deaths. I would not mind seeing him here in chains." "You would make him into a female?" "No, I have other plans." It took a month to plan a raid and another two weeks to carry it out. I fretted when Walid was away, but I had my own preparations. To my delight I discovered I was pregnant. Walid would be delighted too. I loved him but it would also make my own position much more secure. Late one morning I heard a commotion among the servants. "The master is returning." I heard someone cry and when I looked north across the desert I saw a column coming towards us. The gates of the compound were swung open and a fresh group of slaves, a mixture of young men and women was driven in. They were dirty and looked exhausted. The business of settling the new slaves into their quarters came first, and I played my part in giving them instructions. I even recognised some of the girls. It had been some years since they had jeered at me as I was chained to a stake. Now I would make sure they understood their slavery. Under my hooded robe they did not recognize me but I would reveal myself to them in a day or so. Later, when he was washed and fed, I ate with Walid and he was delighted when I told him I was pregnant. "I hope it will be a son for you," I said and I sank in his arms and pulled him to me. "How did this raid go?" I asked later. "They had not learned from that first raid and had no defense against us so it was easy to get to the village. But they were not assembled at the square like that time when you were saved you so it took a little more effort to round them up. As usual we selected the youngest and healthiest adults. Unfortunately, the man you wanted, the priest, tried to escape and he was killed, but there is another like him. Perhaps he will do?" I had wanted the priest, but he was dead and I cursed. I wondered who Walid had meant but when I saw the prisoners the next day it was even better. He had captured the senior inquisitor, the man who had destroyed my family. I told my idea for revenge to Walid. "I now can get the skin I need." He stared at me and I wondered if I had gone too far. "He is yours to do with as you want," he said at last. The inquisitor was separated from the rest of the men and stripped. I had four stakes put in the sand of the compound and had Walid's men tie his wrists and ankles firmly to them so that he was fully stretched out. I had the other slaves, men and women, lined up to watch and they looked on fearfully as I made my preparations. When I exposed my face the inquisitor's eyes widened. "The witch!" he hissed. I heard cries and screams from the other slaves, worried about what was going to happen. My back was to them and they would not recognize me. I would keep that for later. "You recognize me, I see, but no, I am not a witch. I am an ordinary girl who you wronged. My family tried to do good but you killed them horribly and you would have killed me. But I escaped. Now I will take my revenge for my family and all others who have felt your malice. You believe in your religion. I will allow you to say a small prayer for yourself, as you are now going to die." I pulled out a sharp knife. I then gagged him and skinned him alive, ignoring his muffled screams of pain and shrieks. I removed large patches from his chest, back and thighs. He was still alive when I had finished so I had Walid's men drag the body out to the edge of the oasis. There, the dogs of the oasis or the jackals of the desert could finish the job. The rest of the prisoners had become very quiet and many were in tears. Even Walid was quiet that night. "Your ferocity astonishes me and frightens me, Amira. I would not like to experience it. Woe betide anyone who becomes your enemy." "I am only sorry I did not have the priest too. He died too easily. And Walid, I love you. You have my heart. I would never do anything to harm you." Now I had what I wanted. When a leather worker had uneasily tanned the pieces of skin I was almost ready. The following evening I wrote down all the spells I remembered and I am sure I remembered them all. Like the previous book, I wrote what the spell did on one page and on the facing page the ancient words, or at least the sounds that I knew corresponded to them. When the leather was ready I sewed the pages together into the fresh hide cover. I did not need much of the skin but I decided it would be prudent to keep some pieces in reserve. As I was slightly apprehensive that the spells would not work, the very next day I sent Walid and all the overseers, except the female ones, out of hearing and I ordered all of the female slaves to undress. They had not yet been forced to strip. They shrank back from me and protested, almost panicking, perhaps frightened that they too would be skinned but when the overseers, I had only female ones, cracked their whips the rest removed their clothes and cowered before me in apprehension. I still wore a hood and my face was in shadow. I opened the book at the spell, and in a clear voice I recited the ancient words. Years previously my mother had read them to me and this time I only felt a slight passing shiver. In a just a minute I saw some of the girls shiver and hunch their backs as if they were cold. Some sat down, but in less than an hour all were moving around with no apparent discomfort. Soon I heard the squeals and gasps as they discovered their new bodies, running fingers over their faces, feeling their breasts and waists. I had the overseers hang up pieces of polished metal for mirrors and, as I expected, they spent hours checking their faces. More than a few of them turned and posed in the mirror the better to see themselves. Perhaps their delight would temper the approaching days of slavery when they would be waxed and branded. I had them all sit in front of me. "I have made you all more beautiful." Some of them even smiled at me. "That way you will be worth more on the auction block in the slave market." I had the satisfaction of seeing their expressions change to horror and some break down and cry. I still kept my head mostly covered so they did not recognize me. There was time enough for that. After their evening meal Walid came to inspect them and he looked at the women approvingly. "They are all real beauties. They will sell well. But what about their training?" "I think it will take the same time as before. But I cannot say about the next group." I pointed over to the huts that contained the men.. "Now these men, are they ready?" "Yes, they are stripped too and tied to a long rope as you wanted. The male overseers are well away too." "Make sure you keep well away too, husband. I want more children from you," I laughed. "I will do it now. They will soon be unconscious anyway and can be taken back into their hut as the changes proceed." The prisoners looked at me fearfully too and did not relax much when I began to read to the spell to them. As the women had done earlier, they soon began to shiver, but their tremors become more and more severe until they were shaking, and all finally collapsed unconscious on the ground. I signalled for Walid's men to carry them inside. "What now?" Walid asked. "From what I remember of this spell, they will be unconscious for almost two days." "And their training? They were men." "I have no idea. There will be shock to find that they are now women with completely different bodies. I think it will take some time for them to get used to their new bodies. A young man my mother used the spell on in Spain took at least two months before he carried himself as a woman but soon after that she began to take care of her appearance and start to notice men. These over in the huts were young men with young men's appetite for women so they will be horrified with their new bodies at first and have to get used to the loss of their male parts, their different shape, their weaker bodies and female things like squatting and monthly bleeding. Then there are the more subtle things, like learning to walk gracefully and coping with developing female emotions. Then they will be aware that they will be expected to attract men and submit to masters. I think it will take longer. " Walid made a face. "So that will be extra expense to look after them that time before we sell them on." I took his arm affectionately. "Yes, Walid, but think of the extra profit from having more beautiful girls suitable for the harem. That will make it worthwhile taking the extra time. Besides, if they reach the stage of accepting their bodies they will display themselves better on the auction block." In fact it took almost two days before this group woke up. Their screaming and tears lasted another day at least. When they had somewhat settled I had them sit in front of me and told them why I had used the spell on them to fresh screams, tears and moans, soon suppressed when one of our helpers cracked the whip over them. We kept them all naked of course, the better to begin accepting their new bodies. I watched them carefully to see their reactions to their new bodies. I was amused at their tears of frustration as they got used to the movement of their breasts and the width of their hips and their changed strength. Now that they had been changed, they would be treated as any other female slaves, all their body hair removed, branded with Walid's name, and put through the same training regime as those who had been born women. Adding to my pleasure, one of the women who had been caught was Isabella, the woman who had cried abuse and hatred to me when I had stood chained at the stake. She was standing at the head of a line with the others, naked, ready to be branded. They all had been waxed the previous day. It was time to reveal myself and I finally threw off my hood. I heard shocked cries when many of the girls recognized me. "Maria, Maria, you were one of us. Please Maria, can't you save us?" Isabella whined. "You never let me be one of you. You gave me no pity before. I give you no pity now." I took the branding device and branded her myself on both her arm and her buttocks and the following weeks I made sure that her overseers were especially vigilant in training her. I had no way of arranging it, but I hoped she would get a demanding master. Occasionally I wondered I had known a spell to make her ugly whether I would have used it so that she would spend the rest of her life in some hard menial work and in coarse clothing rather than in a harem with its silks and perfumes. Still, she was a pretty girl and she would get us a good price when she was sold. I branded all of the others too, ignoring their tears and entreaties, but a simple brand on one arm was enough for them. The next weeks were given up to training the slaves. On one occasion a desperate girl threw herself at Ayoub, one of our overseers, beating him futilely with her small fists. She was one those who had been a man and was being taught how to subtly display her breasts, rear and pubis and writhe before a master to stimulate him. She had earlier been shown how to decorate her hair and to apply cosmetics, red for her lips and colored shadows round her eyes. When she was made to color her nipples, areolas and groin with red dyes I had seen her squeeze her eyes in shame. Finally she burst into tears in her anger and frustration and launched herself at him. He easily caught her and slapped her to the ground, laughing at her attempt. She was much weaker than him and easily held off. For her rebellion she was fastened at our whipping post and lashed until she collapsed while the rest of the girls looked on in terror. She and the others were better behaved after that and when the time came for her to be sold she was docile and compliant. The first batch of slaves, those who had been born women, were sold off within a month and Walid returned home very pleased. "We did well. Their beauty attracted a lot of buyers and we got high prices for them. More and more buyers are getting to know that I sell quality slaves. This has been very worthwhile." Three months later it was the turn of the others, those who had been made into women by the spell and they gave us a high profit too."Did you have any problem when they were sold?" I asked. "Some of them did not show off their new bodies as well as they could, others much better. That girl we whipped some weeks back was one of these but I think she had learned so she displayed herself well on the auction block. Maybe one or two of that group did not have the same confidence about them as the previous ones, those who were born female, but it was a hotter day and they could have been tired too." In all, over the next four years, we mounted approximately two expeditions each year, collecting thirty to forty young people each raid, changing the captives to beautiful girls and selling these in the slave market. During that time too I bore three children who I loved and protected as fiercely as a lioness her cubs. I now had the status of Walid's wife and was mistress of the oasis. He may have wanted me to conform to Muslim ways, but he never insisted on it. I was proud of my beauty so I preferred to leave my dark hair uncovered whenever possible. I did not mind that I had Walid's golden collar on my neck. It gave me a secure feeling. Walid himself had taken part in most of these raids and he had started to probe the Atlantic coasts of Iberia and further north to the islands. It was common knowledge among corsairs that the inhabitants of these islands had lighter features, with much more fair or red hair and these characteristics were in great demand in the slave markets. Unfortunately the voyages were longer, the seas colder and wilder, the coasts more dangerous and I worried about him and the future of my family. At first he dismissed my worries about his safety but on his return from some sales in Alexandria he told me of a plan. "Amira, you are right. I'm starting to feel that our raids take too much effort. So I got the idea of using letting the other corsairs do the actual raids and capturing the slaves and then I could buy the slaves from them and bring them here to the oasis to use your magic spell on them and then train them. This way a lot of the risk to us would have gone. The corsairs can concentrate on one thing, so can we." "Have you spoken to any captains about it?" "Yes, in Alexandria I spoke to a young Tunisian captain call Rami. He has sailed on a number of raids and has been quite successful. He could supply us with many slaves. I think he is interested but I need to persuade him a little." "Does he know about my spell?" "No, Amira, all he knows is that I am interested in good quality captives. I think I will invite him here, so show our operation and what we can do." I would have been more cautious, but Walid seemed confident so when Rami arrived at the oasis I gave him a demonstration of our procedures. To convince him even more, we ordered one of our new slaves, one of those who had once been a man, to spend a night with him. The girl must not have been trained enough as she resisted but the next one, Leila, we called her, was very satisfactory. The one who had resisted. Jasmin, was whipped the very next day as a lesson to all. I was furious at her, and at myself. I should have trained her more rigorously. Rami was astonished when I told him Leila had been born a man. She had served him well. So he was persuaded to work with us and the arrangement seemed to be working well for some time, but when Walid returned from a trip to Alexandria I could see he was troubled. "What is it, my husband?" "It's that corsair Rami that we have been working with. I have heard rumors that he has been recruiting men, much more than would be needed for a voyage, and some of these are warriors used to land fighting, not sailors at all. That makes me suspicious. "I heard that his father was killed on one of their recent raids on the northern islands and that as head of the family Rami now owns the boats and warehouses so he's become an important man in Tunis. Perhaps he is getting ambitious and too greedy. I suspect he has designs on this oasis and our operations." "Then why don't you take a quick trip to Tunis to find out more?" Walid shook his head. "Things are just too busy here so I can't go, and Rami would recognise me if he saw me in Tunis but I will send Ayoub. He's a shrewd, reliable man and I can trust him." It took three weeks for Ayoub to return. "I have asked in the streets, the harbor and the bazaars," he reported. "Yes, Rami has been recruiting mercenaries and he has been seen in the company of a man Nasir. I believe Nasir is an old enemy of yours', Walid? And I hear he calls you 'the sly' " Ayoub's eyes crinkled in his face with amusement. Walid sighed. "Yes, Nasir, I remember him. We had dealings in the past. He calls me 'sly' but I never cheated him. It is just that I am better at trade and he is jealous. Before I got into the slave trade we were competing in some other trade but I offered them better prices and got the trade. He would have done the same with me." Ayoub sat back and looked back and forward at Walid and me. "However, I heard too that Rami's uncle, his mother's brother, a merchant called Youssef, has been helping in the business after Rami's father was killed. His own trading business had not doing well at all and I have heard it whispered in the bazaars that he has the ambitions to take over Rami's business completely. So perhaps he would not object to having Rami removed. I think he may be a useful ally." "Ayoub, maybe it's you who should be called 'sly'. Go back to Tunis and contact this man. Tell him we will make it worth his while to give us as much information as possible." Rami's uncle turned out to be a useful ally. He fed us detailed information on Rami's plans and we set our own plans carefully. The rumors were right. We awoke one morning to see Rami's force camped outside our oasis. "They completely outnumber us but at least they don't show any sign of actually attacking us," I said to Walid. "They will want us to surrender. That way Rami can get the whole of our operations, completely undamaged." "Walid, you and I will use a flag of truce and go to meet them and negotiate with them. We can take their measure." As we got nearer we saw it was indeed Rami and Nasir. I was furious at Rami's treachery but I kept my temper in check. Walid kept his anger hidden too, acting as if he was only disappointed in Rami. "I see I am surrounded by many men. So your greed got the better of you, Rami. I am disappointed. I have been honest with you and I have been a fair partner." He looked at Nasir. "So you are in on this too? We have been enemies for some years. Ah, It looks as if I have been too careless." Rami looked pleased with himself. "I am only trying to get my proper share. You call it a partnership when it is me who takes the risks on the northern seas, and you sit here secure in your oasis. Remember that my father was killed." "That was true, but he knew the risks. So, what are your demands?" Walid asked. As we expected, the greedy Rami wanted everything, the oasis, its contents and even my magic book. When he mentioned it I saw a slight frown on Nasir's face. So Rami had not told him about the book! He wanted to have its power for himself. I could use that. Actually, I could easily make another book anyway. I still had enough prepared skin, and I easily remembered all the sounds and instructions. However, the oasis and our operations were very valuable and they were our home. Besides, I feared for the safety of my family. It made me more determined to foil his treachery and make him suffer. Walid nodded slowly. "Ah yes, you want the book." "Yes, I know, I will spare all lives but I must have that. It will be part of our agreement for your surrender." I whispered to Walid. "Tell him we must confer as it is my book. Pretend to argue with me. I have a plan." Walid looked at Rami. "Yes, what you ask is a lot. I must discuss this further with my wife." I pretended to be exasperated with Walid and turned my back on him, tapping my sandaled foot on the sandy soil and putting on a stiff, angry pose. "I beg another day from you," he said. Rami looked impatient. Well he might. We were completely outnumbered and he really did not need to negotiate. "My men could ride in and destroy you all," he threatened. Walid wheedled. "Please, we need time. I give you my word that we will have a decision tomorrow. As a token of my sincerity I will send you something tonight, one of our products." Rami nodded his agreement and back at our house I called for our slave Leila. This beautiful sensuous girl had been a man and changed by my spell but, after just a few weeks she had taken to her new body enthusiastically, trained hard and shown such a talent for inventiveness that we had not sold her. She had previous experience of Rami too. She had previously spent a night with him when he had visited the oasis and would know his tastes. "Leila, I want you to go to Rami. Spend the night with him and allow him to do as much as he wants. We need to get him in a satisfied mood. Do not hold back but here are some things you can do." When I had gone over the instructions twice I had Leila repeat them. I kissed her. "Then off you go, Leila. The sun is setting. Tell their guards that we have sent you for Rami." Leila bowed. "I will do as you say, Mistress Amira." She had made herself up extensively with cosmetics, and ornaments, a sultry scent and sheer garments suitable for the harem under her dark cloak. She was one of our most attractive and skilled slaves. If we survived this I would make her one of our instructors. There was much she could teach new slaves. "You have your beads?" I asked. She pulled them from around her neck and waved them at me. I spent a nervous night with little sleep but she returned in the early dawn, picking her way across the stony ground in the half light. "It is done?" I asked. "I see you left your beads with Rami." She laughed, showing white teeth in her red lips. "He searched me, mistress, but he did not find anything. Yes, he actually made quite a good lover. Now he sleeps contented." She smiled. "I wonder, mistress, if that could be his last time as a man? I am keen to see what will happen now." "Just wait and see, Leila. Perhaps you deserve to take a part in it." The sun was just above the horizon when I walked out to about halfway to the enemy and gave a loud cry to summon them. I was pleased to see that although Nasir and just about all of his force soon crowded round me, there was no sign of Rami. As I expected, he would still be sleeping soundly and later I could deal with him separately. For the moment I was alone and surrounded. I was taking a risk but Walid could not be there. Nasir stood in front of the others. "Where is Walid?" he snarled. "We have decided to surrender to you. I was angry yesterday but I changed my mind and persuaded him. He knows that we are helpless before you and nothing can be done but now he is so angry with the loss of our oasis that he has sent me alone to tell you that we accept your terms. I just beg you to spare our lives and those of my children. "But first, I have to say something. Come nearer. It is a request to Allah that this agreement be acceptable. I had the book open already under my robe and quickly I cried out the spell that would make men into women. All of the enemy force near me would hear it. Nasir looked at me suspiciously. "What words are these? They are not Arabic." But he just shrugged as if it did not matter, confident he had won. I had actually read the spell just in time as I saw Rami's tent open and he staggered out, rubbing his eyes and looking round as if in a daze. When he saw me out there alone with his force he started to run to us but he was too unsteady on his feet and stumbled. He pulled himself up, but he was too late. I suppose he was crying out to warn Nasir but he was too far away to be heard. First one, then another, then more and finally all of the enemy force began to hunch their backs and shiver until they fell over on the sand. Rami was still staggering to me, screaming and shouting, but before he reached me Walid was caught by Ayoub and other mounted warriors. They jumped down and, seizing Rami's arms, tied his hands behind his back, put a rope round his neck and dragged him into the oasis. I had had my head covered but now I threw back my hood so that he could see my face and my triumph. I had him dragged to the whipping post, and fastened to the manacles. I took a sharp knife and I cut the clothes from him. I pricked his skin with it and his eyes rolled in terror. Perhaps he remembered me telling him that I had once flayed a man alive. "You are wondering what happened," I said. "Leila told me you searched her, but not enough. You see, the beads she wore contained a drug that she put in your drinking water to make you sleep. I suspected that only you knew about the book so we needed to get you out of the way. However, now it can be your turn. I am going to punish you for your treachery. So, I offer you death, or the spell to make you into a woman." That was actually not true. I wanted him changed so I could have the satisfaction of making him an obedient harem slave and seeing her shame, at least for the few months until she began to accept her body. Besides, she would become a comely slave girl, and earn us money at her sale. Rami twisted in the manacles, but I felt no mercy. I needed to eliminate him as a threat. "You will be changed, just like all those you captured for us. It will be your turn. I think you are young and healthy and will survive the spell." I pulled his beard. "This will go when you change. I will take pleasure in training you and I will have Leila give you special attention too. Let us see if you can learn to be an exquisite slave like her." "Then, at the end, you will be sold in the market in Alexandria. We will try to find a suitable purchaser for you. A demanding master! Perhaps you will find yourself in a harem perfumed, decorated, in flimsy clothing or even naked on the carpet before him, one who you will have to please, or die. You will be able to use the skills we teach you." He broke down but I had one more thing. The new woman would need an appropriate name. "We are going to call you Nesrine. Isn't that a lovely feminine name?" Then, as with the rest of his force, and all the slaves that he had captured on his voyages, I read the spell to him. He was devastated and broken and hung in his bonds. and in a few minutes I watched him begin to shiver, then fall unconscious. I had no doubt he would survive the spell as he was young and healthy. The new woman woke up in about a day and a half and we put her among the other slaves. The following weeks we trained her well, I think. At least she was obedient and learned well. She resented us, I am sure, but so did all the slaves. We did not tell the other slaves in case they killed her in revenge. That would have been one less slave to sell. We had to whip her once. When a vicious sandstorm blew up and knocked down the enclosure's fence she escaped with a new male prisoner. She was recaptured at the seashore close to some wrecked boat and brought back and whipped, like all slaves who had attempted to escape. Possibly she may have been taken from our compound by the other escapee but it did not matter. Her punishment would be a lesson to all. All of Rami's force had become women, except for some older men who died under the spell. The rest were trained as servants or farm workers, but the most beautiful women, including Nesrine, were made ready for the slave market and the harem. We would make quite a profit on them. Soon afterwards Walid took her and the remainder off to be sold in Alexandria. When he returned I asked him about the sale. "Very successful," he said. "The buyers are now waiting for any new slaves I bring. We do well from this trade." "What about that girl, Nesrine?" Walid grinned. "She looked well on the block and a number of buyers were competing for her. She was finally bought by the agent of a dealer in Algiers, I think. We got a good price for her. "There's one curious thing. Her uncle Youssef, the one who had helped us on our plot was on the same ship taking her to the slave market. He called her to his cabin one night. I had allowed him to do that. She could please him anyway he wanted except he was not allowed to penetrate her. I wanted to keep her as a virgin for the market. "I think he really wanted to gloat over her and she certainly hated him. Well, the following night the uncle disappeared. Obviously he fell overboard, or was pushed. I thought it could have been Nesrine's work but when we checked her cage it was well locked. I suppose it could have been an accident. The man was known for strolling round the deck. I can't say I liked him, but he served his purpose." I thought of Youssef with distaste. Walid had invited him to our oasis to see our operations when it looked as if we were going to work together. With Rami gone he had taken over the businesses completely, including the corsair ships. "I did not like him at all either," I said. "He was fat, with disgusting manners and obviously did not wash much." "Still, he was a contact for getting more slaves. Now I will have to negotiate with other captains. Rami's former organization was run by Youssef and now he has disappeared. I wonder if any more of that family will become corsairs." "Walid, I think that with your reputation there will be many eagerly competing to supply you with slaves." The new arrangements were satisfactory and we were about to get another group of slaves when a new problem arose that threatened our operations. Walid had heard rumors and described it to me. "The oasis is just a bit further to the south and east of us, about four hours travel. It's bigger than ours and it's become the base of a group of Berber tribesmen. Normally these people are nomadic but this group invaded the oasis a few years ago and took it over, so they are now overlords to the original residents. These Berbers are a turbulent, warlike, quarrelsome group and they are using it as a base for their operations, taking tribute or robbing and plundering caravans that pass their way, even villages further to the east in Egypt in the Nile valley. "Our own small oasis here has hardly deserved their attention but somehow word of our success and the gold we get must have leaked out. I keep spies in a number of places, including there. I pay them well. One of them has told me they may be a possible threat. He says that the tribesmen are setting envious eyes to us. "We easily countered the threat of Rami, but this is greater. It could be more difficult." "Yes, Walid, we had better plan a strategy. Get your advisors together to discuss it." Walid called in his senior men to discuss our situation and to my surprise, asked me to come as well. The men looked at me sceptically, they were not used to the presence of women in their discussions, but Walid was firm. "This is my wife. I value her advice. To withstand this threat we need more than strength of arms. There are just too many of them and I do not think we will be able to use the book. We will need to be extra cunning. We could fight them, but we would soon be overwhelmed. We will have to survive by other means. "We will have to plan carefully, of course," Walid said. We have sold off our last group of slaves and the new ones have not yet arrived so at least we will not be encumbered with these." "We are still in great danger, Walid," said Ayoub. "I know, but we have faced danger in the past and survived. We do not have much choice here either." We were too late in making our plans. The attack caught us by surprise. The very next morning we saw a cloud of dust and we did not have enough time to get our arms ready before the tribesmen swept over us. Walid's men managed to cut some down but we were overwhelmed and had to surrender. Actually I wondered why they had accepted our surrender and simply did not slaughter us. We were dragged before the leader. "You are now our prisoners," snarled the Berber chief. "I am called Agizul and I am commander of these warriors." He looked around our prosperous little oasis. "You have set up an organization to train slaves and I see it has brought you much wealth. But now you will work for us. You will still handle slaves and train them but it will be for me and my chiefs." He looked at us and scowled. " We are only sparing you because you have experience. If you do not help us and obey us you will die." So that was the reason they wanted us alive but I suspected that we would be killed once they had learned all they could from us. Agizul snapped an order and the Berbers began to plunder the oasis. It was wanton destruction rather than just looting. My heart was in my mouth and I cried when I saw my beautiful home, where my children had been born, set on fire, then the other buildings. Even the compound and the huts we used for our slaves were torched as well. Black smoke rose well above the ground. They even cut down the palm trees and threw some bodies into the wells and in a short time what had been my home and a pleasant haven for me was a smoking ruin. Other dead bodies were left in the sun and already vultures were circling. The golden jewelry that Walid had given me was pulled from me but the catch on the gold circle round my neck foiled them. Agizul scowled. "We do not have the tools with us to remove it. It will be cut from you later, maybe by removing your head!" He was interrupted when a warrior rode up to Agizul and spoke something in what I supposed was their language or dialect. Agizul's face twisted and he barked orders to the others. "What was that?" I asked Walid. "I am not sure, but it looks as if they have seen some men are coming from the north. They are not sure about how many there are or what they want so they are going to leave here. They will take us with them. They have everything they want anyway." Our hands were lashed behind our backs and I saw we were to be driven south across the desert. I was almost in tears. Once again I was like the fresh slave of years before, but there were some differences. "My children!" I cried. They were small and would be in trouble it we were set on a long march. "They must fend for themselves," Agizul said contemptuously. I threw myself down in the sand. "I will not go with you, I will not help you except with my children. Kill me if you want!" "And kill me too," cried Walid, sitting down. Agizul glared at us, calculating. We were taking a dangerous risk, but he would need us, at least at first, to work with the corsairs and then to train more slaves. "You tempt me, woman! Untie her!" he commanded. "Then tend to your brats!" I took my children in my arms and, comforting and coaxing them, carrying them where necessary, I struggled with the other prisoners across the desert. Walid was close to me. "Amira, where is the book?" he whispered. "When the raid came it was so sudden I had to act fast. The book was one of the first things I thought of but I did not want it on me in case they searched me so I hid it in the house. That means it is probably gone now, burned, when the house was looted. However, these Berbers have not asked about it or mentioned it. In fact I think that they don't know that we have a book like that. But I can easily make up another. I have enough tanned skin with me and I can remember all the words. That is what I did before. When the time is right I will make up a new book and these Berbers will suffer. They need us just now. We will use that to our advantage." These were brave words but we suffered on that march. The Berbers were not as generous with water as we had been with any of our prisoners and I feared for my youngest son's life. Walid had to carry him the last hour until finally the other oasis came in sight. When we were led into it we saw it was much bigger than the one we had left. This one must have had several hundred inhabitants. By their dress and appearance it looked like only a small proportion of the inhabitants were Berbers. The great majority looked as if they were the original inhabitants, now under control of the Berbers, and I noticed their wary looks at the Berbers as we were led in. We might have useful allies in the future. That first night Walid and I and our surviving servants and helpers were herded into a large hut. We were given no food but at least there was some water. My younger children were crying but in the morning we were finally fed and soon after that Walid was led away by two armed Berbers. I worried for his safety but he returned three hours later. "Yes, their intention is like that one Agizul had told us. They want me to set up plans to establish a slave training compound here, just like we had in our previous oasis. Then they are going to send me to Algiers and Tunis to contact the corsair captains and tell them how the arrangements are changed. The Berbers do not trust me, of course. To make sure I come back you and our children will be kept here as hostages and two of their men, who understand Arabic, are going to accompany me at all times to make sure I do what they want. "Their plan is to unload slaves from the ships at that rock on the coast just as we did, but then it will be a longer trek for them across the desert to this oasis. I think they do not realize they could lose a lot of slaves to heat and thirst unless they supply enough water. After that I am also to go to Alexandria and re-establish a market for the slaves." "When is this, Walid?" "They are in a hurry. I leave in two days. I will have to be away for some weeks." He took in his arms and held me. I was fortunate that in a few days the Berbers actually assigned a one room dwelling, a mud brick hovel, for me and my children. It was a great come down from the house we had before, but at least it was more private. At first my children and I had to join the other captives for meals and fed stuff that I would have been ashamed to serve to our own slaves but later I was actually given a little money and allowed to shop in the market, at first under escort, but that soon dropped too. Like the previous oasis, I had nowhere to go and I had three children to care for. Escape would have been impossible so I spent time teaching my children and visiting the survivors of our previous servants and overseers, gradually sounding them out to see who was reliable. When I was sure I would not be bothered by the Berbers I took several days to write down the spells on some tough paper, checking the words carefully then I wrote them into a piece of the prepared skin I had brought with me. I was ready. Three caravans, each with long lines of laden camels, passed through the oasis during the time Walid was away. These had been intercepted by Berber riders and escorted to the oasis where they drew up just outside in the desert rock and sand. I watched as Berbers swarmed over the contents of the camels packs, scrutinized them and demanded taxes. The caravaneers may have resented the amounts asked, but they could not argue. If they had, the whole contents might have been confiscated and the men themselves slain by the avaricious warriors. Two of the caravans had been heading into Egypt, another was coming from Egypt and going south over the Sahara. With the freedom given me I also took the opportunity to deal and talk with the stall keepers, the merchants, the artisans and especially some servants of the Berbers. These workers had been almost their own masters, and the small taxes they paid eventually went, minus the graft at various levels, up to the Ottoman who were their nominal overlords. Then, four or so years previously, the Berbers had swept in, taken complete control and now kept the inhabitants only just above slavery. The taxes were heavy, but no one dared protest. There were slaves there too, women for domestic work and men for the heavy work. When some of these people asked me about my own position, I just said that we had been captured and brought to the oasis. That would be my story until I got to know them better and I could distinguish those who genuinely chafed under the Berber rule from spies and informers. I started to spend more time with Leila. This beautiful graceful girl soon became a pleasure to be with. I remembered that she had once been a man but had taken rapidly to her new female body and had shown so much skill and promise that we used her as an instructor for other slaves. She was very happy in her femininity and I had seen her several times in the company of Ayoub. However, Ayoub had disappeared. I had not seen him after our oasis was captured and destroyed. The Berbers had initially kept her in the one large room with other female prisoners, but when I pleaded that I needed help with my children she was allowed to stay at the hovel I called home. The children became very fond of her and she often accompanied me as I walked around the oasis. She had an easy way with people and I thought it would be useful if the she and the shopkeepers got to know each other. Despite our imprisonment and the loss of Ayoub, Leila always seemed to have an optimistic manner. It was when we were talking one night that I realized that I had rarely concerned myself about the new women's past lives and although I had seen many transformations I had never asked any of them about their own feelings on the change. "I have forgotten, Leila. Where were you from?" "I was from Southern France. Uh, like you and just about all of your slaves, I was captured by corsairs and transported to your oasis where you changed me. I had been a man." "Yes, I knew that. Leila. Uh, what was it like when you were changed?' "When you had me fastened to that rope with all the other men and read that spell to me I wondered what was going on and when I began to shiver I thought I was going to die, that you were some evil witch that would kill people. The next I remember is waking up in the hut in a deep pain all through my body. Some others had wakened earlier than me and they were shrieking with terror. I think that was what had wakened me. I was too dazed for it to make sense but I discovered gradually, like the others in the hut, that I was totally changed. It seemed like a horrible dream. When I was more wide awake I fumbled between my legs to check again but all was missing.. "I must have fallen asleep but when I woke again, I've no idea how much later, it was to howls and cries, and tears in women's voices. At first I wondered if the women had been put with us. Then when I felt below my belly it was like before, all gone, only a mound with a slit in it, a girls' parts was there but it made no sense at all to feel my own hand and the other prisoners felt the same. "Then when I rolled over my chest felt funny too and when I put my hand on it I discovered female breasts. I felt my own hands on my chest. "Amira, you can't have any idea.You were born a woman. When you matured to a woman and grew breasts, it was over many months. For me and others it was too sudden. You have no idea of the shock I felt waking up and seeing breasts on my chest, feeling their soft weight and how they moved of their own accord when I changed position. My nipples were more sensitive but I did not appreciate it at that time. Men have nothing to compare with all of these. "You kept us all naked too so there were female figures everywhere I looked and I knew I was the same. In some ways it was worse that they were all beautiful, desirable women, the sort that would have attracted me. But I was the same! It made me realize how I could be the object of some man's desire. The thought of being in bed with a man, him entering me and filling me with semen, it.. it was just devastating." "That was what we wanted. I mean to make you the most attractive of women." "Those first days were terrifying. We all stumbled around first, in a kind of daze or extreme denial, with the thought sinking in that this was no bad communal dream or hallucination. Instead it was how our existence would from then on. Our lives were turned upside down. "When you told us what you had done, and why, the worst was knowing that we would even be supposed to make ourselves attractive to men! Most men were now taller and stronger than us and we could be killed if we resisted. There were many more tears that night. Almost all parts of our lives had been taken from us. "Then later you had all of our body hair stripped from us, what had not already fallen off. That was painful and then there was the branding. You treated us like cattle, not human beings. "The later training too, that lascivious behaviour, all of us would have happily killed you. Our only hope was that there might be a way to reverse our change and you might know it. Some spoke of rebellion and torturing you to give up the information." I wished I had not asked. I had wanted my revenge on the village, but I saw that the corsairs' raids on unknown villages and the book had caused misery too. Leila gave me a smile. "Yes, Amira, you and Walid and others caused us misery and pain. But Amira, gradually that shock wore off. We still hated being slaves but, bit by bit, day by day, we became more accepting of our bodies. They were beautiful, after all. As more days went on by we changed to liking our bodies then being proud of them, happy with their beauty and gracefulness and potential and it seemed more and more natural that we would want to decorate our faces and nipples with colours, and care for our hair. " She blushed. "We learned to love our beauty.Yes, and that finally we would want to attract men. "That is a powerful spell. You taught us poses to show off our bodies to attract a man's attentions. Then it progressed to learning ways to please men in love making. By the time three months were had passed I was superbly happy with my female body and I was thrilled that I would be able to use it to attract men. I would please them, but not as much as they would please me. "That first time you had me spend a night with Rami, I thought it was wonderful that I had the chance to use my new body to excite and please him. I think I showed quite a bit of skill that night." She gave a smug look. " But I used him to please me, to satisfy my own desire. I could almost bend him like wet clay. He had me, he thought, but I was the one who used him. I am only sorry that you did not allow me to fully use him. I wanted that. I wanted him in me to practice more skills but you had forbidden that. I was to be kept a virgin for the sales block." She actually pouted. "I remember that time when Rami wanted to attack the oasis and I was sent to spend the night with him. Yes, he was fully satisfied, but I got my wish too. It is wonderful having a man in you to bring you to ecstasy. "Amira. I hated you one time. Now I feel that change was the best thing that happened to me. But, I resented being a slave. Then you essentially freed me. I love my new body and you have let me teach the new women the powers and delights of their bodies." She reached to me and we held each other. "There is another wonderful thing too. I know I now can bear children. Strange that, I would never have thought of that. Now as a woman it is one thing that I want. I see you with your children and I am envious. I want children too, to feel them at my breasts." A small tear came to her eyes and she sniffed. "What is it Leila?" "It is just Ayoub and I were... growing fond of each other and now he has disappeared. Probably he was killed when these Berbers invaded our oasis. I am crushed that his body was left for scavengers and unburied. Now I would like to kill all of them, " she hissed. "They keep us prisoners here and we will be expected to serve them." "Leila, I have some ideas but I will have to work them out." Her eyes lit up but I held my finger to my lips. Other than heavy taxes, the Berbers' rule affected the oasis inhabitants when they thought they were not obeyed promptly enough. Then retribution was swift and brutal. I saw a leather worker summarily beheaded in the square simply because he had argued about the price of a saddle repair with a Berber warrior. Another time a slave was impaled because he had accidentally bumped into a Berber. The population were cowed but muttered among themselves. They would be ready to rise. It took six long weeks, but I had continually watched out over the desert for Walid's return. There would sometimes be clouds of dust or wavering shapes in the heat haze and either some travellers would appear or these would just turn out to be dust clouds or mirages. I was disappointed many times over the next weeks when only small travelling groups or the caravans appeared. Then finally, one day, from the east, three figures slowly materialized out of the heat haze and I saw it was Walid. When I ran to him he dismounted and we were in each other's arms. But our reunion was brief. That did not suit the Berber escort, and they prodded him with spears towards the building where Agizul held court. He was to report to Agizul first. It was two hours before he finally returned and I threw myself into his arms, relishing the feel of his manly body against me. In turn he ran his hands up and down my body and nuzzled my neck. He looked round the mud walls of the hovel. "A bit different from what we had." "Not for long, I hope," I said. "Well there are other things to think about. This oasis is bigger than the one we had, and it is better situated for the caravan roads to Egypt. So if we were able to capture it, it would be better for our own trading. We would no longer have to rely only on a ship to Alexandria. The other slave markets of Egypt would be open to us." "You've heard of the old legend of the 'Wooden Horse of Troy'?" I asked. "No, what was that?" "An ancient city in Turkey, I think. It was captured and destroyed after its citizens accidentally let in some invaders who were hidden in a wooden horse statue. These Berbers may have captured us now, but now we can study them and see their weaknesses. They will see." "I have been trying to think of some scheme. I see that you are too. But we will have to be cunning." "Walid the Sly," I laughed and kissed him. "We can plan together later. When do you think you will be able to start with new slaves?" "If we wanted a place constructed like we had, that will need wood. The palm trees in the oasis are not suitable, and they are too valuable for shade and food anyway. We would have to... I mean the Berbers would have to bring suitable wood in. I told them this and they are not pleased. They might have been able to use some of the wood from our former oasis but they stupidly burned that. The alternative is to build stone walls but that is very time consuming. Whatever they decide to do, well, after that I will contact some captains." In fact the Berbers set almost all the men and even some women in the oasis to cutting blocks of stone from a rocky outcrop to the west, and transporting them to the oasis where they would be used for building. It was hard work. The Berbers used their whips frequently but eventually they saw it was too slow and affected other trade in the oasis, and thus their taxes, and switched to a construction of mud bricks. Finally a walled compound began to rise, with huts of mud brick for the slaves too. There was only one day of relief from the labors, when the Berbers had a great celebration. They had a feast and we were even allowed to eat their leavings. I was told Agizul had taken another wife, a Berber like the others. The new quarters were almost completed when Walid was summoned to Agizul. "What happened?" I asked when he returned two hours later. "He told me that the slave quarters are almost ready, so now I have to arrange to get some slaves, as by the time they get here the compound will be fully completed. I was expecting to be sent to Tunis to tell the corsair captains that we can take their captives but Agizul ordered me to stay here. Instead, he's going to send one of his men who speaks good Arabic to make the arrangements. He's called Meddur. He was one of those who escorted me some weeks ago. "Agizul was in a fairly good mood. Maybe it's that new wife he took some weeks ago. I wonder what his first wife Kahina thinks about that. She will be a senior wife but she won't get to spend the same time in bed with him." "Yes, I met her once. She treats us like dirt. I would not like to cross her. I imagine she will be jealous of the new wife." Walid made a curse. "I wanted to be alone in Tunis to make some arrangements. Now I will have to come up with another plan." But the Berbers' turbulent nature helped us. Walid was suddenly called back to Agizul for more orders and gave a short laugh about it when he told me what had happened. "Last night there was a squabble among them and Meddur was stabbed. He lingered on but died this morning. Agizul was furious but there was nothing he could do. That will help me. Now he says he is going to send the one called Udad with me but Udad is careless. "However Agizul warned me again that you and the children are hostages here. I will be very careful." They left the very next day and I was alone again. We were still prisoners, but we had gradually got to know some of the Berbers women and one of those was Agizul's wife, Kahina. One day, about a week after Walid and Udad had left, a Berber woman, one of her servants or slaves arrived at my dwelling. "You are the woman Amira? And this is the slave Leila? You are commanded to follow me to my mistress Kahina. She demands you both go to see her." We were led to a secluded room in a stone house where she lived with Agizul and three other wives. Looking around, I thought the Berber women must have felt it strange to live in a house and in one place. In the tents of the nomadic Berbers there would have been little furniture, just what was suitable for a tent, cushions, and only a few low tables were set over the ornate rugs. Kahina was not unpleasant, but soon let us know that we were, at best, servants and that we had to obey her. She actually asked about my children and my life but then the conversation moved to how we had lived before the Berbers captured us. I could see that was just an attempt to relax me. The way she guided the conversation I knew she wanted something but she took some time to get to it. "I have noticed that you and this other slave here," she pointed to Leila, yes, and many others of you women who we captured, are fairly attractive, though not like we Berber women, of course," she added smugly. "We were fortunate to have been born that way." I flashed my eyes in warning to Leila. They did not know about the book. I wanted to keep it that way. "You skin is light. Where are you from?" I told her my story, that I had been born and lived in Spain, but abducted by corsairs. Then I let Leila tell her story too that she had been abducted too, and also captured, enslaved and trained. I said that we had both been freed by Walid but we avoided telling her about Leila's great change or the existence of the book. She pretended that these things did not really interest her, but anytime I stopped she pressed me for more details. It was obvious that she really wanted to hear about the world outside the oasis. She had never been beyond the desert, except for a brief visit to the Nile valley. I had never seen much of Spain either, other than my miserable village and some others nearby but I spun great descriptions of mighty cities of gold and tall buildings. Taking a cue from me Leila described the great cities of France and Italy. She looked us up and down. "So you were captured by corsairs. That is a fitting fate for infidels like you." I kept my temper. I had to appear docile. "Yes, a proper fate, mistress," I murmured. "And you now help train other infidel women for harems. I have been told it is to help them serve masters?" So this was what she had been leading to! I could see by her eyes that she also wanted to hear about the training we gave the girls. "Yes, these women learn how to entice their future harem masters." I said. "Walid has built up a reputation for supplying beautiful and well trained slaves so they have become highly sought after in the markets. We usually used the slave market at Alexandria as it was the nearest to us. We select the most beautiful and teach the girls to use dress and perfume too, all to help them enhance their beauty. But also," I gave a meaningful glance, "We teach the girls poses to subtly attract their masters and then techniques for stimulating them, even the most tired and jaded of masters. That then leads the masters to nights of love. Our girls are trained to incite men's lust." I gave her a suggestive glance. She was biting her lip. So I had Kahina's attention. I wondered if she was uncomfortable as her knuckles began clenching and unclenching and her tongue began continually licking her lips. I broke off my description. If I upset her it might be unsafe for Leila and me. But I soon knew it was the other way. She was very interested. "You teach methods to for women to attract men. Tell me more about how you do it." I suddenly realized why she wanted to learn our techniques. She was a principal wife but Agizul had recently taken a new wife. Kahina would be jealous and would want to keep his attention and her position. "Mistress Kahina, perhaps we could instruct you some of these? Oh, I beg your forgiveness. It should not be for me to tell you what to do." I was grovelling but I had to pretend that we were treating her in a way that befitted her position. "No, no, it is interesting to know about these things. Uh, you will have new slaves due to arrive soon? When they arrive I will watch you how you train them." "Mistress Kahina, perhaps Leila and I could show you how in private? That way you would not have to wait. Leila, would you be able to show mistress Kahina some of your skills?" Leila played her part well. "I would, but I think we need better clothing, and special clothing to show off your beauty, mistress. We will have to buy the fabrics." The woman looked at Leila suspiciously but threw us some coins. "Very well, go and buy what you need in the markets." The coins fell on the floor but I ignored the insult and gathered them up. So the next day Leila accompanied me while we bought what we needed in the markets. "Well, harem clothes to seduce someone, rather hard to find in this oasis! I suppose I will not need much anyway, but maybe I can find some fine silks and muslins," she laughed. "What is happening, Amira? I think you have some scheme in mind." "I am not sure how to arrange it yet. It would be useful if we can at least get into her favor, and I wonder if we can use it some way to help us." Kahina had ordered us to come to her house the next day. The guards were very suspicious but after one went to check with her we were let through. "Good, you are here. I hope you have something useful to show me!" Leila and I had dressed in all-covering loose black garments, but with harem type clothes hidden underneath. Once in Kahina's room, Leila slowly slipped off her covering cloak to reveal her subtly colored fine silks and muslins. These covered her but hardly concealed her at all. Her lips were red, her eyes outlined in kohl and subtle rose, gold and green shades. Her finger nails were painted in shades of red with fine golden patterns. We had spent hours working on them. Leila slid off her shoes showing her matching toenails. "You wanted to see us show the skills of the harem? Let me show you, Mistress Kahina. It is to get stimulate the master. You see, he might have called for a slave, but sometimes a master is tired and his penis cannot grow satisfactorily. That is dangerous as he might be frustrated and blame it on the girl. Then, mistress, if she failed to arouse him he might get tired of her and get rid of her." This was a hint that Kahina might lose her position or influence. Leila stretched out sinuously on a pile of cushions, breathed deeply and arched her back so that her breasts were more prominent. She placed her hands at the back of her head, running them through her long dark hair, slowly pulling it up and letting it fall over her shoulders and face then tantalizingly eased it back from her lips and eyes, pursing her lips and fluttering her eyes, making graceful movements with her hands and flexing her legs and feet. She raised herself slightly, letting her top garment fall open to show the valley between her breasts. The peaks of her nipples were pressing out the soft fabric, visible one second, then hidden the next. Another sinuous movement of her torso and her top garment opened to her waist, then slid off it and down her thighs. Leila moved off the rug like a snake, then gracefully reared upright and swayed so that the last garment also began to ease off her, lightly falling from her shoulders, breasts, waist and hips. It was about to fall when she caught it and slowly drew it back and forward over her head, torso and hips. Confident of her power, beauty, and sexuality, she began to undulate, moving her breasts, waist and hips. Her legs opened and closed, tantalizingly exposing her woman's parts. Leila let slip her last garment slip from her fingers and she sank back to her knees then bent forward to the floor on her belly and raised her rump, wiggling it. Finally she rolled on her back, opened her legs, and pulled up her breasts so her nipples projected more. Kahina licked her lips and swallowed. She pointed. "She is bare down there," she said, astonished. Her voice was hoarse. "This is done a lot?" "Yes, in eastern parts like Turkey many harem masters prefer their slaves to be totally bare." "Are you? How did you do that? Shaved with a sharp knife?" "Yes, I am bare too. It was done with molten wax when I was first trained. It pulls off the hair when it sets." She gave a wince. "Did it hurt?" "Yes, a little at the time but I was a slave. I could not protest." "You were a slave you say, but now you help him. Curious! Now you are my slave." She fingered my upper arm. "I see you are branded too with Walid's name." "Yes, and Leila too. All of his slaves are branded. The brand hurt when it was done and for some days afterwards but now I wear it with pride. I was first only a slave but Walid took me as his wife." She looked at me sceptically. "Then you have been trained too." "Let me show you." I performed before the same as Leila had done, but added a few variations of my own, like moving on my hands and knees so my breasts hung and swayed under me as I moved. I had painted my nipples like Leila's, and I thought they looked as pretty as hers. The spell had kept me beautiful, even after suckling three children. Kahina's mouth was open and she kept swallowing. Like a fish, I thought. Now I would set the hook deeper. "Mistress Kahina, I said. "Your beauty is more than ours. But would you like us to help you learn these arts?" "Yes" she whispered. Carefully I unfastened her clothes, suppressing my anger when I saw her wearing the gold bracelet that had been taken from me. I still wore my own gold collar, but I had wrapped a cloth round it so it would not be noticed. It seemed that Agizul had forgotten it. Actually Kahina was older than me, with her body thickening and her breasts drooping slightly but she was still fairly attractive. Using parts of my own clothing and Leila's, and pieces of fine silk we had bought, we dressed her in a costume suitable for a harem slave. "Oh, you are quite beautiful, mistress Kahina," I said. "First, to pose, you must show only glimpses of your body to tease the master." Carefully, bowing first, I took her arms and legs and gently showed her poses and movements that would draw attention away from her heavy waist. "Now you must move your hips, waist and breasts, not fast, just like a slender reed moving in a gentle wind. Pretend that you are dancing to distant music, that you are like a cobra moving sinuously to the charmer's pipes, if it pleases you, to show off your beauty a little better." I adjusted a piece of silk round her hips. She was actually very keen to learn and kept trying and practising moves and positions and by the time we left she was tired out. "What good was that?" Leila asked as we made our way back. "Maybe I can use it. She will be keen to try these skills with Agizul and I hope she will at least remember that it was us who taught her. Even if I can't use them to influence her then we may have a little more of her sympathy." She called us back the following day. She looked satisfied and smug. "Agizul took me to his bed last night and I used the things you had told me. I think he was very pleased. Of course it was my beauty mainly but your instruction may have helped too," she added airily. I was delighted when Walid returned a day later. When I told him about Kahina he laughed slightly. "So you are now in her favor?" "Possibly, but she still treats us only as slaves. Actually that's good, as I keep thinking about how I will be able to use her. I had thought I could get her to read the spell from the book some time when she was alone with Agizul, but I think she is illiterate. I would have to be there and that is difficult too." "Amira, I will leave it to your ingenuity. I have some good news. First, Ayoub is alive." Leila had been listening and gave a small scream of delight and danced round the floor. "Yes, he was injured when our oasis was attacked but he hid under some debris so he was not discovered. Actually he mentioned that soon after the Berbers had led us away, a small group of what looked like Europeans arrived at the oasis. These would have been the party that the Berbers had seen. They must have been at the coast and were attracted by the smoke. They picked around the debris, but soon left. They did not see him either. "Was he badly hurt?" "No, it was not serious and he was able to survive at the oasis until he was well enough to make his way to the coast. Fortunately a passing fishing vessel picked him up and he managed to make his way to Alexandria. There he heard about our situation and contacted me when I was able to slip away briefly from my Berber guard Udad when he got distracted with a female companion. Ayoub had arranged that with some local women! "So, Ayoub and I have made some plans. He is getting together a force of some men to attack this oasis. That will be the day after the night of the next full moon, about a week from now. I will have arranged for a new lot of slaves to be picked up from a ship and brought here as well. Yes, there will be some slaves but instead most will be Ayoub's men, disguised and armed. You know, it would help if the Berbers were leaderless. If you were able to use the spell to arrange that?" I shook my head. "I am still not sure how to go about it." We were interrupted when Agizul and two of his men simply burst into our house. "Who are you?" he demanded. He had seen me before but obviously did not recognize me. I bowed to him. "I am Amira, wife of Walid. Your wife Kahina knows me." He snorted. "You, Walid, you say that you have more slaves arriving soon?" "Yes, in a week. I have arranged it as you commanded. They will arrive by ship at that large rock on the seashore. I have used the site before. It is a good marker." "Good, then you will need men to help you. I will send some of my men with you to make sure you do as you are ordered. You will make sure that the slaves are well guarded and that you bring them here quickly." Walid bowed. "Certainly. As you wish, Agizul." "And who are you?" He looked at Leila. "I am a servant of Amira's." "Slaves and captives do not have servants." He stared at her and before Leila could react he pulled off her head covering. I was shocked at his insolence but I did not dare protest. His eyes lit up and he gave a feral smile, "A pretty one. I have not seen you before. I think you would look well in my harem." Leila failed to hide her distaste and he suddenly gave her a backhanded slap across the face. "Enough of your insolence, slave!" She fell to the ground, her lip bloody. Walid was about to protest to Agizul but he saw the warning in my eyes. We had to pretend to be cowed. "A low slave like you should think it is an honor to be in my harem! Perhaps another time. My senior wife has learned new ways to please me." He looked at the rest of us with badly concealed contempt. "You, Walid, come with me! It is time you were on your way, and remember you will have a good escort in case you think of any tricks. And remember your wife and children are here." I embraced Walid. I wondered if I would see him again. "Vicious son of a whore! Do you think we sounded servile enough?" Leila muttered when they had gone. "And I would be supposed to go to a pig like him at some time?" "He is crude and cruel, but let me fix you first." I got out the little book and I turned to the page with the spell that healed injuries and read it. Not that I really needed to read it to as I had all the spells completely memorized. In a few minutes the swelling and pain had disappeared. "I am sorry that happened." "That's all right. It hurt, but if you or Walid had interfered we all could have been killed. Besides, the book healed me quickly. It shows your new one works as well as the old. You have that special leather to make others too." I thought of what Agizul had said about Kahina, and I looked at the book in front of me. An idea came to my mind and I explained it to Leila. She gave a broad smile."Now, that will be very interesting, to use Kahina like that!" The day before the full moon we stood at the threshold of our mean house and looked at each other, both of us slightly shaking with nerves. "This had better work!" I embraced her and we kissed. "Good luck!" we wished each other. We made our way to Agizul's quarters and asked to see Kahina. As she had not summoned us we had a long nervous wait before we were taken to her. "Well?" she asked coldly. "What do you want?" "Please, Mistress, we came to ask if our advice was continuing to work well?" "Yes, it has. In fact I have been wondering if you have any more that I can try." "Why, yes, Mistress, I just remembered that there was another way. We taught it only to our best slaves, as not all girls were skilled enough for it, but perhaps mistress would like to try. You have shown that you are intelligent and skilful and learn well." Her eyes immediately lit up. "Yes I would. I even think Agizul now prefers to bed me rather than that new woman." Her voice changed from smugness to venom. "Then Leila, would you show her?" We had actually modified a previous move and connected it with another and a new one we had made up. Once again Leila removed her covering and in her harem costume demonstrated. Kahina studied her intently and copied her. She actually worked hard, practising for at least an hour until she was tired and covered with perspiration. Next was the crucial part. "Also, Mistress Kahina, that move is better done with a special piece of silk for you to wear. You also recite some words on it. I don't know what the words mean unfortunately. We got it from an old book that came from the Pharaoh's." "What? I can't read." I had been expecting that. "Then I will tell you the words and you can remember them. You must speak them out to Agizul." I pretended to giggle. "Whisper them in his ear when you are close if you wish, but wear the silk. It will lead him to a night like he will never have experienced before. For you too. Now, I will tell you the words." Patiently I recited out the few dozen words of the spell, having her repeat them again and again until she could recite them with absolutely no error. "That is good," I said. "We will bring you the silk and tonight you should wear it, perhaps round your hair, or your neck and then when you are alone with Agizul speak these words. I do not know how it happens but it will inflame his desire." "Now Leila, would you go and bring the silk for our mistress here?" "You could have brought it with you," Kahina pouted. "Yes, but we did not know if you would want it, and we have just finished dyeing it. It is red, the color of love. I did not want the dye to get on you. It will have a small leather corner for you to hold better." Leila returned in a few minutes with the silk and I offered it to her. "So Mistress Kahina, remember, wear this round your hair in your silver ornaments, or better round your neck or over your breasts, then recite these words to inflame Agizul's passion. Oh yes, do not recite them until you are alone with him on your bed of pleasure. That will make your night more intense." We bowed and took our leave of her. I had written the words of the spell on the tiny patch of thin leather sewed on the silk. We spent a restless night but the next morning at dawn I saw increasing groups of Berbers hurrying back and forward to Agizul's quarters, some running. Others were were huddled in groups outside, gesticulating and obviously very concerned about something. I smiled to myself. A little later I heard some womens' howling from Agizul's quarters. "Agizul is bewitched!" I was elated. But I wondered what the result of the spell was. Agizul would either be an unconscious woman, or dead. Later that day the confusion got even worse with the more important Berbers going back and forward to the house but there was still no news. At last I saw his deputy, a stocky man called Wararni, coming out, shaking his head. This was the day after the night of the full moon when Walid had made his plans for. I waited nervously the rest of that day, always scanning the horizon but saw nothing. It was in late afternoon when I heard a cry from a Berber in a watchtower. "Men are coming," he cried and in seconds Wararni rushed out to scan the desert. In a few minutes he came to my house. "You woman, I see Walid's party approaching. It is late and he must attend to getting the new slaves settled first. Do not interfere." 'Where is Agizul?" I asked. He glowered at me suspiciously. "He is taken ill." I ran out and looked out to the north. A dark blob in the heat haze had appeared on the horizon, slowly resolving into mounted warriors in Berber clothing, their heads almost hidden by dark Berber type turbans, and herding a tethered group of captives. Worse, as they got nearer there was no sign of Walid. Some of the riders even waved at the Berber guards at the oasis and shouted cries of acclamation. I began to panic. But they had only just reached the edge of the oasis when the riders threw off their head coverings, spurred their horses, drew swords and swept into the oasis. The Berbers were completely taken by surprise. They fought bravely but they were totally disorganized and completely overwhelmed. I watched this, hardly daring to breathe. When one rider came towards me and pulled off his head covering, and I screamed with joy and relief. It was Walid. He dismounted, put his arms around me and swept me off my feet. "You've won," I cried. "We are free of the Berbers!" "Yes, It was actually good luck that Agizul sent me with an escort of his men. It split his forces. Bad generalship! Ayoub's men easily ambushed those that he sent with me and about two thirds of them were killed. The rest are in chains. So we have won and the oasis is ours. Oh, where is Agizul?" I laughed. "I am not sure but I think something may have happened to him. You remember the power of a certain book?" He gave an uproarious laugh. "Then we should go and see what happened!" As we approached the house I was delighted to see Ayoub checking the rooms, but better, Leila was with him, clinging to him. Her face broke out in a great smile when she saw us and I embraced her. "You have heard what happened?" she asked. "No!" I shook my head. "All I know is that all day the Berbers were running around in a semi panic. You have been in his quarters. So what happened to Agizul? I asked. "I think he may have he survived the spell but a new woman is still unconscious in the room. You will be pleased to know the spell worked well. The new woman will get a surprise when she wakes up. There will be quite a few changes for her to get used to." There was a great wailing at Agizul's quarters and three distraught women tumbled out, driven by our forces. I recognised Kahina among them, looking crushed and bewildered. These were Agizul's wives. I doubted if he would have any further need of them. So my plan had worked. I had shaved a small fragment of the tanned hide to make it flexible then, in as tiny letters as I could, I had written the spell on it and sewed it to one corner of the silk. I imagined the shock on Kahina's face when she saw Agizul start to shiver, fall unconscious and change before her eyes. Finding herself more beautiful would be little consolation. It took another hour for Walid's force to round up the rest of the Berbers. There had been about forty warriors still in the oasis but when they were faced with superior forces, especially with their leader mysteriously gone, they had lost heart. Wararni had resisted and went down fighting. Some others fought bravely too, but the fight was out of most and they surrendered. Others simply vanished into the desert. The new slaves were very bewildered by the confusion but they were driven into the compound along with the surviving Berbers.There were a number of the Berber women too and Agizul's wives, other than Kahina. They wailed and complained, but we let them fend for themselves and over the next months they gradually assimilated into the population. We were not so lenient with Kahina. I needed her out of the way so she was put with the rest of the slaves for training and eventually she would be sold. The next few days kept us busy as Walid established his authority. The rule of the Berbers had been exacting and the inhabitants of the oasis welcomed him as a liberator, even to making him the governor of the oasis. The woman who had been Agizul was unconscious when his forces were defeated but she died after two days and never knew Agizul's power had been overthrown. I had heard the spell was severe and often men did not survive. By several weeks, Walid had taken full control, and the life of the oasis was getting back to normal with the new batch of slaves well on their way to being fully trained. Walid, with support of inhabitants, now had a larger slave compound, closer to the caravan routes and, other than the greater distance to the sea, would be more convenient for the slave trade. There is one unfortunate effect for me. I did not think I had one, but my conscience now troubles me more. I kept remembering what Leila had said about her capture. I had taken my revenge on those who crossed me but I began to think more and more about the anguish that the slave trade had caused to the innocent. My revenge was now sated. Leila was now an enthusiastic helper and had found a man in Ayoub that she loved. I had found Walid and I have children that I love. Many of the other young women have accepted their beauty and slavery, even those who had been men too but I wonder if that made up for all the misery. END Note. The main character here, Amira, is a minor character in my stories my earlier stories, "The Ship, the Oasis, the Book, the Slave," parts I and II.