An Arrangement

[slippedhalo]

Oh, now this was more like it! Divine, indeed! Suddenly Firanzin was extremely happy she'd taken this client on. He'd managed in a few minutes to get her so wet and excited that it was all she could do to hold on and wait for his prick, and she was mighty glad she had too because he wasn't nearly finished with her yet. As he filled her with his pistoning miracle she writhed and moaned beneath him as he kept on working her pearl as well. "Ohgod, ohgod, oh yesss...Master!" she cried out as he fucked her better than she could remember being fucked in an extremely long time, possibly ever.

 

[Otto26]

Edmund continued to move slowly within Fira's body as his hands stoked her cries, stroking her to ever higher levels of excitement. He wanted to say 'I told you so. Far too attractive and exciting. A fucking slave goddess, Aphrodite anew,' but the ability to form complex sentences had fallen away from him. His entire attention was focused on her writhing form and his fascination with the way her body reacted to his touch.

As he pulled back for another thrust she pushed herself at him, lunging half out of the bed. His hands swooped down and grabbed her ass, supporting her body. Holding her thus he thrust in and ground his pubis against hers before pistoning again and repeating the process. He sped up as desire overtook him, her cries and writhing goading him and eroding his control.

 

[slippedhalo]

This time it was her fighting to remain in control of her body but unable to make the moment last any longer even despite her desire to prolong the pleasure, she gasped and shivered as she felt the blackness and stars about to overtake her as her body trembled temendously and her nectar flowed in copious amounts from her still writhing body.

 

[Otto26]

Breathing heavily, Edmund spent into Fira with a satisfied groan, burying himself in her, hands squeezing her ass.

"God's hairy balls!" he exclaimed as he looked down and saw their mixed fluids literally dripping onto the deck beneath them. He reached up with one hand and levered Fira off the bed and into his arms. He kissed her roughly, tongue forcing it's way into her mouth. One arm wrapped under her ass, supporting her body, whilst the other held her tightly against him.

When he was forced to come up for air he gave her a roguish smile.

"That's more like it," he gasped.

 

[slippedhalo]

"Mmmmm, indeed." agreed Fira as she snuggled her head against his neck and slowly lowered her legs to find the floor for standing up. She sighed, kissed him again and then set to the work of cleaning up their mess. When finished, with the floor, the bed, herself, she smiled up at him and asked, "So what have they got for breakfast around here? I'm famished."

After a pause she asked, "How near are we to Beiruit? Did they tell you the eta?"

 

[Otto26]

Edmund cleaned himself with a wet towel and then tucked his cock back into his trousers, buttoning them closed.

"As to the first, they've promised porridge. The presumption is that many of the passengers will be be ill. As to the second... I had reason not to be noticed within the Slovenian Empire. And if anyone heard me, or us, talking then they'd have been looking for us aboard two other ships. This ship is actually bound for Alexandria, not Beirut. I have to go on to Cairo."

Though he said it matter-of-factly he found, to his surprise, that he felt a bit guilty about deceiving her. Nothing for it, he reasoned. Still what's the difference between two port cities in the Sultanate to a whore? I'll give her a bonus to make up her bother.

"The winds looked fair and it typically takes three days to arrive. I'll ask when next I have a chance."

 

[slippedhalo]

"Alexandria?" repeated Fira, the color draining from her face as she digested this new bit of information. "Alexandria...no! I can't go there! I can never go back there!" she protested, rushing to dress herself so she could find out for herself how to get off the ship and onto another, bound somewhere much safer for her than Alexandria. She was actually shaking, shaking from this news, it upset her so much. She turned to Master Edmund who blocked her path and stared at her as if she'd sprouted a second head. Her green eyes wide with panic she pushed at him but he didn't budge, "Please, I have to get off this ship. I can't go to Alexandria. Don't make me go back there!"

 

[Otto26]

Edmund grabbed Fira and pulled her into an embrace.

"Quiet! Panic will buy you no peace. It's unlikely the captain would alter his course and virtually certain that he won't change his final destination. He'll have contracts to fulfill and penalties if he fails to fulfill them. You don't have enough love or money to bribe him. You'll not swim back to the Empire. Calm yourself and explain. Why, exactly, can you not return to Alexandria? What do you fear?"

 

[slippedhalo]

A quiet dread settled upon Fira as she melted into the embrace, holding back panicked tears as she replied in a horrified whisper, "I was raised there...My family lives there...the drunken, wife murderer of a pig farmer I refused to marry lives there and the priest who tried to teach me much more about the uses of a confessional than any eleven year old should ever experience...I can't go back there...THEY are all still there...and none of them know what has become of me. If they see me as your whore, all their taunts when I was but a child will prove to be right and I can't live through that. Please, can't we just remain on the ship until the ship makes it's next stop and get off there?" she asked, feeling foolish even asking because she knew he'd tell her no but she couldn't see any way to live through this dreaded shame.

 

[Otto26]

"I cannot," Edmund replied. "But I fail to see the problem. Your family are obviously part of the Christian underclass. If you are worried about being discovered in Alexandria then come on to Cairo with me. God knows I won't fail to take advantage of you and your presence, but so long as you behave yourself you're not a burden. We'll put a boorqa over your lovely hair and veil your face. If anyone asks I'll introduce you as my wife."

He brushed aside the beginnings of a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Most problems in life can be solved by shooting someone or lying to them," he joked. "And if your family happens to recognize you, well, you'll be the wife of an Anglian merchant."

"Truly, not a problem," he promised her. "Alright?"

 

[slippedhalo]

"You would do that for me? You'd lie to protect my...dignity?" she nearly slipped and said 'honor' but realized the words 'whore' and 'honor' together were usually viewed as a joke.

She was extremely greatful and simply bent to kiss her master's hand in thanks, "Thank you, master, thank you." as she rose, she wiped the tears away from her eyes and asked softly, "Why would you be willing to help me this way? For a few more days of my service, that's all you ask?" she couldn't believe she was getting off so easily for such a hefty favor. To allow her to pose as his wife while in Alexandria, some men would sooner die than give a whore that honor, even in make-believe. He surprised her.

 

[Otto26]

"I have my reasons," Edmund replied. "Not least among them is the chance to enjoy a little more time with you. It's hardly a sacrifice on my part."

Indeed, it's bloody marvelous. Leaving her in Alexandria for my pursuers to find and extract a false destination was good, but this is far better. They'll be looking for an Anglian gentleman, not a merchant and his wife. And, of course, even allowing for how long it's been, she's a magnificent lay. I can always dump her in Cairo.

He gave her ass a quick squeeze and a pat.

"So relax. Take a moment to wash up and come out. Even porridge sounds good to me."

He smiled and walked out of the cabin into the common area. The crewman stirring a pot of porridge gave him a knowing grin.

"Loud?" Edmund asked.

The man nodded. "You made her moan well."

Edmund shrugged. "It's a talent," he said with a modesty he didn't for a second feel. He took a bowl of the porridge and sat on a chair to eat. It was basically semi-solid starch and didn't have much in the way of taste. But it was warm and there was a lot of it. Right now, that was more than enough to make it taste great. He quickly polished off the bowl and had another.

The rest of the day was astoundingly boring. The other passengers emerged from their cabins one at a time and either ran for the food or ran from it. The rest of the time was spent in spending time. Some of the passengers read whilst others played games. After lunch Edmund ended up playing several games of backgammon with a merchant named Ihmad. The man seemed thoroughly pleasant and was willing to share his liquor. They traded back and forth with small victories, one or two hundred dinars at a time.

 

[slippedhalo]

Fira ate the godawful mush that was breakfast because she was indeed hungry and never turned down a meal, never knowing when or if her next meal would come. Afterward, several of the men gathered to play games. She watched for a while and then grew bored and decided to walk off to a place where she could still hear everyone laughing and joking but could just watch the water, it scared some people to be out at sea and not see land anywhere around, but she found it kind of fun and when it wasn't making her stomach churn it was peaceful.

 

[Blase]

Ihmad

Ihmad Furaq was a wealthy man. It had not always been so.

As a youth in the Sultanate, he had traveled in caravans, doing whatever hot, dusty, back-breaking work was required to earn a wage that fit easily into the palm of his hand.

But he had watched and learned, finally realizing that there was no reward for the work of one's hands and body. All that the merchants did was buy and sell, working with their minds to control the flow of goods from here to there. And for that, coins flowed through their fingers while those like Ihmad shifted every load at their direction.


When by chance a caravan brought him to the great market in Anatolia, he saw his chance.

It had been hard. No one in the caravan cared when an unimportant son of an unimportant tribe ran away, but neither did any of the richly garbed merchants or the countless peddlars in this sprawling center of commerce care if he ate.

But he had eaten, one way or another, and he had worked until he was able to set up his own tiny booth. And even as he honed the skills of a peddlar, he hoarded his money and began learning the skills of a merchant.

Long years since, he had left behind the destiny that he had been born into; to live and die unremarked in a place where no one ever came.


Ihmad's reverie faded and he looked across the small table at Edmund.

"Perhaps a few more games after dinner, my friend? You have been doing well, but tonight, Insh'Allah, my luck may be with me more strongly."

 

[Otto26]

Edmund tossed back the remains of his drink and nodded. "Why not?" Why not, indeed? Life is looking up! Anglia has little influence in the Sultunate or Axxum and none at all in Good Harbor. I might actually live long enough to make it there. And Fira! Good god above thank you for the meal you have set before me. Hot and willing. A pleasant journey indeed.

"Why not?" he repeated. "Nothing else to do this voyage... almost nothing else to do on this voyage," he corrected himself. "And you're pleasant company Ihmad Aga. But by all means let's eat something. Where is my servant?" He looked around noticing that Fira was absent from the room.

"Fira!" he bellowed. "Get down here you magnificent wench!" He chuckled, amused by himself.

 

[slippedhalo]

Fira heard the call and went down to the area where the men where all drinking and playing games glaring at each hungry stare as she forced her way past the gaggle of on-lookers toward her master's table. "What?" she asked in annoyance at being hollared for, then with a raise of his eyebrow she cleared her throat and added, "What...Master?"

 

[Otto26]

Edmund dropped his hand down under her skirt and then ran it up her leg to her ass and gave the firm cheek an equally firm squeeze.

"Ihmad Aga, my servant Firalla," he barely caught himself, almost revealing her real name. "Obstinate and often unruly, but a truly excellent servant... in the end." He chuckled again. "Find out where the cook is hiding the food and tell him Ihmad Aga and his guest are hungry," he ordered. He gave her a little slap on the ass as he pushed her towards the hatchway that led to the deck.

He watched her move away from the table for a moment and turned his attention back to Ihmad. "She's new, but she's worth her weight in gold." He blinked a little owlishly at his glass which had somehow filled up again. He took a drink and added, "Smart as a whip, too. Damn me if she isn't."

 

[slippedhalo]

Fira shrugged off the cavalier treatment and went off to find the cook and ask what she'd been ordered to, after all, she was supposed to serve the man even if it did always irk her the way people addressed their servants and whores.

 

[Blase]

Ihmad

Ihmad started to reflect distastefully on the kind of behavior that Anglians and other Infidels would accept from their servants, then realized the hypocrisy of the thought. It had been his own spirit that had taken him from the life of a tribesman to his current life where his name was known and respected in three nations, if not even farther.

He had long since concluded that a man's life was what he could make of it. A woman's, too, he supposed.

Still, spirit alone was far from enough. Just as in the game he and Edmund had been playing, one had to have a sound understanding of what could and could not be done, and when. Ihmad had seen boldness in the wrong place get men beaten, and much worse.

He sat back a bit and and smiled with satisfaction as an opening door wafted the aroma of hot food from the galley. At least in this part of the world, on this ship, he did not have to worry about whether it would be halal.

 

[slippedhalo]

Fira carefully carriied the hot tray of food into the room, nudging her way past several men who rudely grabbed her or rubbed up against her...she was tempted to dump the hot food on the class-less idiots but instead pasted a smile onto her face and served her master and his companion.

 

[Otto26]

The food was somewhat familiar to Edmund. He had been seconded to a colonial regiment once, and then several times thereafter as he had gained a reputation for being 'good with natives'. Not that he was particular about what he ate, and certainly not after he'd been drinking as much as he had. Ihmad was exactly the sort of social connection that Edmund needed to cultivate. The man was a prosperous merchant who travelled frequently and widely. The crew of the Bella Donna, for example, obviously knew him, even the captain had stopped by to pay his respects and inquire if all was well.

He was also pleasant company, though not exactly the same sort of man that Edmund was. He looked askance, though he said nothing, when Edmund made a plate for Fira. He had also appeared somewhat scornful when Edmund and Fira ate. Though neither of them ate with anything like the speed that was their custom, they were still finished well before Ihmad.

Edmund bade Fira to return the dishes to the cook and return. When she had, he had her stand by his side where it was convenient to occasionally grope her, discretely, or so he thought, or send her off for another bottle. He knew he was drinking a little too much, but he wasn't losing heavily and he was relaxing for the first time in months. Besides, losing a little money to Ihmad couldn't hurt.

As the dice tumbled down onto the board Edmund exclaimed in delight. "Hah! Just so. I'll beat you this time, Ihmad Aga." His position wasn't the most favorable, but the dice were favoring him at the moment. I'll double him before my next throw, he thought. I don't need to lose as much as I've been; break even and call it a night. I'll have a little midnight tumble for a nightcap and then to sleep. He smiled at Fira.

 

[slippedhalo]

Fira hated these sorts of games. She considered them a collosal waste of time and money but she remained her master's champion because she knew most men would be cross at having a woman at their side who wasn't cheering them on in such a situation. Still, she was bored out of her mind.

 

[Blase]

Ihmad

It was a good board, Ihmad thought.

Edmund's confidence might yet prove justified, yet there was confidence that came from skill, and confidence that was simply poured down a man's throat.

No harm in indulging that, as long as you could afford it.

In Ihmad's world, the rule was to always be sure of the price.

 

[Otto26]

"Double, I think," Edmund declared. He reached out and rotated the cube. Ihmad smiled thinly at him. "I think you're being rash, so I'll re-double."

Edmund nodded. 'If you want to throw your money away, I'll take it.' He tossed the dice and nearly cursed out loud. The combination was going to leave at least one of his pieces exposed, but he couldn't start moving off.... Mentally he shrugged and made his move. Ihmad would get the numbers he needed or he wouldn't. It was that simple and while his judgement had been questioned upon occasion, his courage never had.

He took another drink and watched as doom poured out of Ihmad's dice cup. The merchant's thin smile never faded as he sent Edmund to the bar. "Poor fortune for you, I fear, Edmund."

The game quickly spiralled into a nightmare. Edmund no sooner got his piece back on the board than Ihmad sent another to the bar, all the while steadily moving his pieces off. In the end, it was a rout; Ihmad moved his last piece off the board while Edmund had moved none off and, worse, still had a piece on the bar. It was the worst game he'd ever played. It was the worst game he'd ever heard of.

"Backgammon I believe," Ihmad commented. "The dice did not favor you. Let's see, that was two hundred dinars for the original wager. You doubled and I re-doubled and then there's the backgammon so the wager doubles, and doubles again. That makes thirty-two hundred dinars."

Edmund swallowed his drink and contemplated ruin. Thirty-two hundred dinars was more than he was carrying. He could offer one of the jewels, of course, but without a professional jewler to appraise it he'd get perhaps a third of the actual value. And there was no way a Christian was going to get a good price from the Muslim gem-dealers of Alexandria, so he couldn't owe the man. The bearer bonds were out of the question. Cashing them in Good Harbor, far from Anglian agents, was one thing. But cashing them just about anywhere else was likely to get him killed.

He ran his hand nervously up Fira's leg and noticed Ihmad's eyes tracking the hint of exposed flesh. Edmund moved his hand to expose a little more of Fira's outer thigh and saw Ihmad inhale slightly.

"Of course, Ihmad Aga. Yet it strikes me that on an ocean voyage there are things better than money," he replied.

 

[slippedhalo]

Fira's eyes narrowed. She'd been following the game. She was no fool, this man had just lost his shirt and now he was planning on offering her? She was insulted and dismayed, what about the plan to get her safely through Alexandria? What about her bonus money at the end of the voyage? He'd been a fool and a liar and her body grew stiff as he touched her. She felt betrayed.