[Runesmith]

The rasping sound of the buzzer woke her up as the single fluorescent bulb flickered on. The bed creaked as she tossed the blanket aside and rolled to her side. The buzzer meant that it was 5:00 in the morning, and if she didn't hurry, the shower stalls would be full. She heard the creaking of the other bed. "Selamat pagi, Salleh," Suri called out in her sing-song voice.

"Selamat pagi," the slave answered drowsily, and proceeded to haul herself out of bed. Suri always called her "Salleh" - from "mat salleh", which means "pale skinned person" in Malay. The name given to the slave was Zaheera. The name had been given to her by the stern, beautiful woman who took custody of her when the guards had brought her from the airport to the palace.

It had been a short drive. After the prince had been driven off in a shining Rolls Royce Silver Phantom, escorted by four black Land Rovers, a small white paneled van had driven up to the plane and picked her up. She was seated in the windowless back of the van with two uniformed guards, and could only see the crowded, narrow, dusty streets through the front windshield. The crowded, traffic-choked streets had quickly given way to a wide road with no other vehicle on it. That road led to the palace.

The first thing that she saw were the tall white walls rising out of the dusty brown fields, shimmering in waves of boiling hot air. The walls were broken by a pair of huge black sheet metal gates, flanked by two guard houses, surrounded by sand bags. The van was waved in. As the gates opened, the stark contrast to the outside was astounding. A lush garden of green surrounded a huge, sprawling white building, built in a mix of styles, combining Moorish domes and minarets with European baroque, like a cross between the Hagia Sophia and the Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg. It was surrounded by four large mansions, a building that looked like an office, and a few other smaller buildings. Glinting far beyond the buildings was the ocean, with a brilliant white sand beach.

It was in the office building that the slave had been received by Madam Li, the woman who introduced herself as the "personnel director of this facility." Madam Li seemed too young to be holding such a position - the slave would have imagined a harem keeper to be a stern elderly butch woman with a crew cut. Madam Li was strikingly pretty, with long narrow eyes, high cheekbones of a pure-blooded Han Chinese, and thick straight black hair cut at the level of her shoulders with bangs covering her forehead down to her neatly shaped eyebrows, framing a porcelain-doll face with a small dainty nose and perfect lips. The kind of etheral beauty that would make other women feel insecure and irrationally jealous at the same time if they ever caught their boyfriends/husbands glancing at her.

Memories of that first meeting still made Zaheera blush. Madam Li had ordered her to strip, and stand on a wooden platform, and inspected her body as if she was a lab specimen, noting things down on an iPad, taking photos of her bruised vulva and breasts to complement the notes. Then, while she stood there naked, she had been subjected to a torrent of intimate questions in Madam Li's tight clipped emotionless voice about her health, her sexual experience before and after the abduction (instead of "abduction" though, Madam Li used the word "recruitment", as if all this was a job contract she had signed up for). When Madam Li came across the infinity symbol branded on the inner part of the slave's upper left thigh, she visibly stiffened - the only time during the interrogation that her cool composure changed. She asked the slave how she had got the brand, and the slave, not knowing how much she was allowed to disclose, and how far she could trust this woman, replied that the person who had trained her after recruitment had given her the mark. Madam Li didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but she didn't press it further. She did, however, take a couple of photos of the symbol using her mobile phone, although she didn't seem to document it on the iPad.

Afterwards, the slave was lead to a different room, where a wizened old Asian crone had measured practically every part of her body with a measuring tape, muttering to herself and not taking any notes at all. The measurements included even the length from her clit to the perineum, the width of each outer cunt lip, and how far each inner lip could be stretched. After the humiliating measurements, she was given clothes to wear, which didn't fit her well at all. They consisted of a short red batik blouse (similar to a bikini jacket), which was fastened in the front, and a length of cloth. The crone showed her how to wrap and secure the ankle length cloth around her waist, leaving her midriff bare. After she had got dressed, Madam Li gave her an approving smile, and informed her that henceforth, she will be called Zaheera.

For the first week, she was kept in a room in that building, and each morning she had "orientation" sessions. Some of these were done by Madam Li, who explained to her the structure of the harem. At the top of the food chain were the four proper wives of the prince, carrying the title Puteri (Princess, in Malay) - Aishah, Raqueema, Suleika, and Tasmia. Each of the princesses had their own residence, which were the four mansions in the compound. Aishah was the first wife, and the other three were by tradition, one step lower in the hierarchy to her. However, Madam Li confided in a conspiratorial tone, Suleika was the prince's favorite. Next came five concubines (with the title, Gundik) - Mayang, Nayla, Tatyana, Rachel, and Anca. The concubines were of foreign birth, and therefore, ineligible to be proper wives, but their children could carry the title prince. The concubines lived in the main building. Zaheera was to be a Pengiring (or, companion) to either a Puteri or a Gundik. Below her level were the servants.

During that week, she was taught the proper etiquette and forms of address by Madam Li, seductive dancing techniques by a young Chinese girl named Siew Ling, and massage techniques by the old crone, whose method of instruction consisted of demonstration, grunting, gesturing, and slapping when the student made a wrong move. That was how she was introduced to Suri, the Pengiring who was to become her room mate. Suri suffered through the sessions as the guinea pig for Zaheera's attempts at learning Malay massage. Several days later, she was informed that she will move in to the main building, with Suri as her room mate and guide. It was also on that day, that the Doctor, whom she met on the plane, injected her with Depo Provera, a long term contraceptive.

Each morning she and Suri had to report to the office building for lessons with the old crone. Zaheera had become quite good at the massage techniques, although at night her hands and shoulders ached from the practice. She envied Suri, who had to just lie there and be massaged.

"Today is special lesson, Salleh," winked Suri as they headed to the showers. "Madam Li teach you today."

"You won't be with me today?" asked Zaheera, with some concern in her voice. Although she didn't consider Suri as a friend (at least not yet), there was something comforting in knowing that this always-cheerful Malay girl was there with her. "Why? You miss me already, Salleh?", laughed Suri, casually tossing her night smock in to the laundry bin. Her large breasts bobbed as she picked up a shower kit from the counter and tossed one to Zaheera. The Pengiring didn't have any belongings - it was forbidden. They brushed teeth with disposable tooth brushes, and washed their hair with shampoo that came in single use sachets. Their towels and clothes were picked up from bins, and tossed in to laundry bins when done. The Pengiring were not allowed to wear bras, and panties were only allowed if they had some menstrual bleeding in spite of the contraceptive.

There were around 15 - 20 Pengiring, as far as Zaheera had been able to keep tabs. Every morning they showered in the communal shower, had breakfast of rice with a spicy beef or fish curry, and went to their assigned duties. Zaheera didn't have duties assigned to her yet, and Suri's duty was to be her guide. As they headed towards the office building, the fresh breeze blowing from the sea smelled invigorating.

Madam Li was waiting for them inside the instructions room.

To be continued...