Cairo, 1910.
xxx
I can say without fear of contradiction that I had never before felt such fearsome heat in all my nineteen years. I stood on the foredeck of the narrow boat and I looked up at the enormous yellow ball that was the sun shining from a cloudless sky. It had been a pleasant journey by sea from the port of Southampton to the port of Alexandria aboard the 525 foot steamship SS Heliopolis. Passage to Egypt had cost me the princely sum of fifty pounds which my caring father, Sir Randolph Smythe, had taken upon himself to tender. From there we had taken a smaller vessel down the Nile and I was now taking my view of the City of Cairo for the first time. I had no idea of what was to occur soon after that fateful day except to say that my life was to change forever.
x
Fresh from rural Surrey I embraced the new sights and smells as Sir Robert and Lady Agatha joined me. I had put on my floor length one piece dress in Tussah silk with the shoulder plaits and V shape neck and I was wilting in the 90 degree heat. At the tender age of nineteen I had joined the wealthy socialite Lady Agatha Carstairs and her esteemed Egyptologist husband, Sir Robert, on an intended three month excavation of the ruins of the forgotten city of Meroe. On what was to be their second trip to Egypt the Lady Agatha had graciously invited me along as I had finished my schooling and was somewhat at a loose end in my life. My fiancΓ©, Roland Brown, had deigned to join the Royal Fusiliers for two years in South Africa and I had been surprised and dismayed at the news. Then, I had felt anger at him for delaying our upcoming betrothal, and then that had changed to indifference as I accepted the invitation to Cairo. I had been enthralled at the stories Lady Agatha related to me of camel rides, exotic locations and mouth watering foods like no other in the world. I did however wrinkle my nose at the unpleasant odour of the Nile as I leaned over the hand rail of the steamer.
"Something we never get accustomed to my dear."
Sir Robert laughed as we disembarked and made our way through the bustling crowd to our lodging. We registered at the Hotel Egypt and I made myself comfortable in my single room and awaited my trunk to be delivered.
x
Of course the British had occupied the ancient country since 1882 and I felt relatively safe with the armed forces in attendance. However Sir Robert had informed of the current tensions in the city and growing opposition to the British presence. Indeed, before I had left England my dearest friend Felicity had spoken to me of organised webs of bribery and corruption and the hideous crime of human trafficking in the country where women and even children were kidnapped and forced into labour and prostitution. I had scoffed at the very notion of myself suffering such an indignity and was not concerned in the least. How wrong was I? As I laid under the mosquito netting on my single bed dreaming of the Pyramids and the Sphinx I heard a loud knocking on my door. I opened it to two swarthy men, Egyptian or Sudanese I knew not, but they pointed in silence to my trunk which they had conveniently carried from the boat. Had I not been lost in thought I may have saved myself a world of grief but I turned my back and the next thing I knew was my mouth had been smothered with a dirty rag and everything went dark.
x
When my senses returned to me I immediately felt a sinister dread that gripped my heart. Had Felicity been right in her fears for my safety in this foreign land? I found that I could not move my arms and saw that I had been made to kneel on a thick rug with rope firmly binding my elbows and wrists. The room had alabaster walls, silk rugs and the air was scented with jasmine. Three hard faced men in kaftans stood close to me and two scantily dressed maidens stood with heads bowed. One tall man stood up from a chair to my right and approached my hunched over form.
"My name is Omar Al Gala and I have been commissioned by none other than Abdelhafid the Sultan of Morocco to, how shall I say, to become one of his privileged items of amusement. He is in the market for one such as thee, blonde and blue eyed."
He remarked about my luxurious head of strawberry blonde hair and my lilywhite complexion. I blinked twice to adjust to the light and perceived a rather handsome looking Arab in white robes. He looked directly into my face, all dreamy dark brown eyes and smouldering looks. His beard and moustache were neatly trimmed and he struck quite a pose. I tried to move my arms but every tiny movement made the ropes bite into my flesh. Amusement? This was insane!
"I demand my instant release and a full apology! I am Lady Jane Smythe and a British subject. The Consulate shall hear of this and you shall be in big trouble if I'm not wrong."
There was a slight pause in proceedings and then Omar burst out into hysterical laughter.
"How amusing! You, a mere slip of an English woman, demanding? Absurd! Mark my words, from this moment in time your previous life will be submitted to the past. I aim to educate you in our ways, gain your obedience and then sell you off as a slave of the Moroccan effendi's harem. Stand her up, Jamal."
I was roughly hauled to my feet and I trembled involuntarily. A harem! As I further scrutinised the grandness of the room I wondered if the British authorities were aware of such evil doings in their midst.
"Let us examine our wares."
The man called Omar clicked his tongue and I saw the flash of cold steel as a foot long knife was brought to my bosom and the entire front of my dress was ripped asunder! I tried to resist but was overpowered and my dress and undergarments were rudely stripped from me and I stood as naked as the day I was born. Everyone in the chamber looked upon my slim frame as Omar came up to me and placed a hand on my left shoulder. With my arms bound behind my back I was unable to resist his scrupulous touch as he traced a line with a finger from my neck to my breasts which had, to my acute embarrassment, become erect and pointing. He held my narrow waist and went around to the firm roundness of my bottom and pinched it hard.
"No! Do not, I implore you."
My outburst was silenced by a smack across my cheek as Omar continued to maltreat my body and softly caressed my warm inner thighs. His face was but an inch from my own as I felt a spasm in my bared vulva. My stomach did a somersault as he cupped my sex and fingered my pubic hair and I behaved most appallingly when I spat into his face.
"Your defiance may well bring you much untoward suffering English," he said as he wiped his chin. "You may want to save some precious dignity and comply with my wishes."
He glared at me and pushed the middle finger of his right hand into my vulnerable womanhood. A place where only one other man had ever touched me before. Dear Roland. He added a second digit as he reamed my soft folds most cruelly.
"Ridiculously tight. The Sultan has no need for virginal types as he approaches his later years. I shall break you in myself until you are ready for the effendi. Take her to the room of tears at once."
With that chilling announcement Omar retreated and I was dragged from one room to the next.
x
I was left naked and bound in what appeared to be female quarters. Indeed I looked up to see three long haired, coffee coloured young women in the buff and smelling of exotic perfumes. The darker haired one spoke in broken English and pointed at me.
"Now we show you the meaning of obedience."
I was rudely flung onto my front and the other women forced my backside up behind me. With my arms secured to the small of my back my face dipped to the floor and my feet were spread apart. That was when I heard the whip whistle through the air and strike my soft buttocks. The wicked tool must have had a dozen leather tails as they seemed to curl around my curvy bottom and bite painfully into the delicate flesh. I screamed loudly, never had I been subjected to such savagery before and it was a severe shock to my system. The thongs of the whip connected with my nether cheeks repeatedly and my legs began to feel like water.
"Please, spare me from the pain," I sobbed.
"As time goes on you shall always answer yes when spoken to or given a task. The word no must vanish from your lips forever."
The whip cracked again, this time with an underarm stroke and I convulsed as the braided thongs struck my vital parts between my parted thighs. Now I was tormented by a variety of cruel whips that swung both ways, under and over, and the other two females had to hold my anguished frame in place or else I would have collapsed. Again the vicious swish of the whip rent the hot air and smacked upon my rounded buttocks which quivered in a macabre dance. Then the punishment ceased and I fell to the floor in a pain filled heap, tears filling my eyes.
"Enough for now, we don't want permanent damage to the goods. Place her on the cot."
My frail body was lifted up and the ropes around my arms were untied. I was put on my back and my arms were hoisted above my head and tied to two posts. I wiggled on my burning rump and managed to find a sweet spot, almost like riding a horse side saddle, and closed my eyes, wishing beyond hope that this was some kind of nightmare.
x
I know not how long I was out but I was taken by blessed sleep until I felt my body being manipulated once more. I opened my eyes and saw three of the maidens attending to my toilet. Still tied by my arms the hair under my armpits was being shaved and as I looked down my body I saw that my legs had been spread out and my ankles tied to the foot of the bed.
"You are as hairy as a camel. The Sultan finds hair on females to be abhorrent.."