BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (49 page)

Coming out of her enamored trance
immediately, her ears hear Baltor jubilantly say something in a
language she did not understand. She immediately looked over at
him, noting that he was speaking to the giant.

Without pause, Baltor used the same exact
tone of voice that he had just used, but this time he spoke in
Pavelian, “Greetings Yaush and Jimnee! Are you guys having a great
time at our victory celebration?”

After delivering a grandiose bow, the giant
responded back in Pavelian, though he bore a very strong accent, as
well a slightly drunken slur to his words, “Sultan Baltor and
Sultaness Brishava! Yesssh, Jimnee and I have a great time at
the…uh, cerebration!”

Though everyone, too include Baltor, chuckled
at Yaush’s response, Baltor added, “Yes—great celebration!”

“Yes—great celebration…
**ha ha**
Great friends…
**ha ha**
Great ales!
**Ha ha ha ha
ha!!!**
” Yaush said through his own booming and drunken
laughter.

Everyone in the group found themselves begin
to cheerfully laugh as well, which quickly drew the attention of
the surrounding crowds that had just grown silent.

Once Yaush had finally regained a control
over his laughter, though there was still a beaming smile upon his
face that also beheld reddish-colored eyes, he lifted his
giant-sized mug high into the air toward Baltor.

In response, Baltor’s left hand reached out
for the full goblet of wine that had been resting on his own
throne’s conveniently located drink holder—once he firmly held the
goblet, he raised it up.

In response, everyone—humans and giants—those
that still had drinks in his or her glass or mug raised them high
as well—those who didn’t have anything in their cup hurriedly
filled them up with wines or ales.

Fifteen seconds later, Yaush loudly toasted
in Pavelian, “Here’s to Valakan and the Sharia Empire—great friends
and…uh…all—” Instantly he looked at his wife.

She finished, “Allies…”

After looking all around for a few seconds,
Yaush finished his toast, “Yes—great friends and allies!” He next
tilted the half-filled mug of ale toward his mouth, and killed the
rest of his drink...

In response, Baltor said with chipper,
“Here—here!” He then chugged the entire contents from his
goblet—everyone else, but Brishava, followed suit. She only took a
small sip of her red wine, as she was already feeling buzzed.

Once this toast was complete, Jimnee raised
her mug high into the air, and added with a smile in Pavelian, “And
we can’t forget to mention the really delicious Pavelian
foods!”

Returning the smile, Brishava raised her own
goblet and replied, “Thank you, Jimnee. Our home is your home. Have
whatever you want—eat whatever you want.”

The smile upon Jimnee’s face disappeared,
just before she informed seriously, “My husband and I’ve already
talked things over with our Valakanese comrades. We have all
decided that we would like the city of Valakan to begin trade with
the Sharia Empire, as soon as possible! After all, we have many
things that would interest you, as you have many things that
interest us. Is this okay?”

Brishava enthusiastically replied, “Of
course!”

Yaush said something in Valakanese to
Jimnee.

Even though Baltor and Brishava had been
nodding their heads affirmatively and heartily, Jimnee still
interpreted, “Yaush also said that he and his buddies have already
begun the process of transforming the dragon’s head into a
wall-mounted plaque. He said it’ll take several more weeks of time
to complete it, especially how big it is, but once they’re done,
we’ll all need to head back home…okay? So far, they have had to
keep Baltor’s swords in them, otherwise it starts to grow
back.”

In Valakanese, Baltor answered with a
nonchalant wave of the hand, “No problem. I can teleport you guys
back home whenever you’re ready, and we can handsomely pay for the
taxidermist services.”

With a wave of his mug-holding hand, Yaush
said in Pavelian, “Ah, it gift…from us to you…my friend! After all,
you—all of you—saved our nation of Valakan. Thank you!”

“And thank you,” Baltor responded back in the
same language. A few in the group responded similarly, but most
nodded their heads and smiled.

A few seconds later, Jimnee delivered a quick
bow just before she said, “If you’ll please excuse my husband and
myself, we need to talk privately to my brother-in-law, Barquoth.
It’s literally been a decade since these two brothers have last
talked!”

Surprisingly, Baltor rose out of his throne,
walked over to Jimnee, and gave her a hug. While in the tight
embrace, he said, “By the way, before you two go, I must compliment
you on how well how well you speak Pavelian, Jimnee!”

“Thank you, Sultan Baltor Elysian,” Jimnee
answered with a very proud smile. “Your wife is a great teacher…no
matter what it is she teaches.”

Baltor gave Jimnee a quick kiss on the left
cheek, just before he released the embrace, and then turned to face
Yaush. Both friends clasped each other warmly, though Yaush was
careful not to crush his little friend.

During this lengthy hug that turned even
lengthier, as the rest of this group couldn’t help but join in the
hug, it had become as solid as a small mountain! Even though the
remainder of the population would have gladly joined in, none did
because they could clearly sense that this was an “exclusive group
hug.”

Once this mountain had finally broken up into
individual rocks, about a minute later, the men began to exchange
back, shoulder, arm, and even hand clasps with each other, while
the women exchanged hugs and/or kisses with both genders.

Nearly a minute later, Yaush and Jimnee
delivered one final farewell wave of the hand to the group, and
then they walked over to Barquoth’s location in the coliseum, which
was at the far left side, where sat, stood, ate, or drank most of
the Vispano Knights.

Once these three—Yaush, Jimnee, and
Barquoth—had finally reacquainted themselves, about ten minutes
after having left the throne area, they filled up their mugs with
ale, before exiting the coliseum and stepping out into the
desert.

While gazing up at the thousands of stars in
the night sky, as only one quarter moon was present, the three
talked well through the night. As for everyone else, much more
drinking and celebrating transpired until well after sunrise.

Baltor and Brishava departed, making their
merry way back to the palace, at two in the morning, by route of
one of the royal carriages.

Back in their royal bedroom, the two had
their own “private victory celebration” that lasted until dawn’s
first light.

Only minutes before sunrise, Baltor was only
now lying comfortably in bed, for the very first time that night.
Even though he had stuffed quite a few soft pillows under his back
and head for support, he still used his hands to clasp and support
the back of his head even further, so that he could better look
down at his wife. Equally silent and comfortable, Brishava’s head
continued to lie on top of his belly, as her eyes deeply stared
into his.

That is, until she could no longer hold
herself back as she squealed aloud, “I love you so much, baby doll!
You have no idea on how bad I missed you while you were gone, and
now, you’re back, and I’m so, so, so happy! Make sure you dream of
me after you fall asleep.”

“I love you too, my Breeze! And I wi—”

At that moment, his eyes instantly closed,
while his hands, arms, body, neck, and head slowly dropped onto the
pillows—already he was deep in slumber, as the sun had just
risen.

For about the next twenty minutes or so, she
contentedly stayed where she was without looking away for even a
second. Once this timeframe had passed, however, she sat up in
bed.

She next reached for the silky bathrobe that
had been earlier tossed to the far end of the bed, donned it, and
then slipped both feet into her pair of plush slippers resting upon
the marble floor.

After she had risen to her feet, she pulled
the silky bed sheets all the way up his neckline, and then she
began to walk toward the double doors. Only once she had begun to
near this entryway did she call out, “Guards, open the doors for
me. Thank you.”

Simultaneously, the exterior guards opened
their respective doors, and then they—one male and one female—bowed
their heads for a second; once their heads had risen, they observed
that their Sultaness had already exited the room, and so each
closed their door. There were four additional guards standing in
the hallway.

Once Brishava had reached the very middle of
the hallway, she crisply turned to the right, and continued to walk
down the hallway to her personal dressing room, along with her
entourage.

Two rooms to the left, which took about a
minute of walking, she stood in front of the closed double doors
that led into this room, which had another pair of guards, so she
crisply turned left, and walked toward the entryway.

Five seconds later, after the palace guards
stationed here had opened these double doors and bowed, she entered
alone—once inside the room, those same two guards closed the
doors.

Inside this bathing/dressing room made
entirely of black and white marble and bearing the dimensions of
thirty-foot length by fifty-foot width by twenty-five-foot height,
there was a ten-foot squared bathing pool in the room’s center,
which heated waters continuously pushed out steam.

Hanging on the wall on the far side of the
pool was a large, ovular-shaped mirror. To her left, there was an
entryway that was large enough for a large portable closet on
wheels to traverse through, and which entrance led into another
smaller room filled with tons of her boots and shoes, outfits and
dresses, hats, scarves, jewelry—what she referred to as her “royal
goodies.”

To her right, there stood not only a large
portable closet on wheels, yet her six handmaidens currently in a
bowing position, ready to perform all their morning
missions—lotion, dress, groom, apply her make-up, and finally, don
the crown upon their Sultaness.

Because of Brishava’s earlier-delivered
requests to her handmaidens the night before, these handmaidens had
already selected very comfortable, yet snazzy, traveling attire: a
pair of silvery boots, golden breeches, and a silvery shirt that
was partially concealed by a silky cape with gold-and-silver
stripes.

Once the handmaidens had completed with this
mission, an hour later, the lead girl that had jet-black hair and
dark-brown eyes said, “We believe that we are done, my Sultaness.
What do you think?”

Brishava, who continued to gaze at herself
for yet another minute, especially at her hair to ensure that there
were no loose or chaotic strands in her pulled-back-above-the-crown
ponytail, finally said with a chipper smile, “Wonderful, Lara!”

Lara responded, “Thank you, my
Sultaness.”

“Thank you very much, girls—perfect as
always!”

“Thank you, my Sultaness,” all the
handmaidens responded back.

A few seconds later, Brishava’s smile slowly
faded as she began to brief, “Tonight at seven o’clock, I shall be
back here and ready to be prepared for bed, as I didn’t get any
sleep at all last night.”

Even though she didn’t intend to pause at
this point in her briefing, the handmaidens interrupted by giggling
like little girls—in turn, Brishava began to giggle back as her
mind began to reminisce, but only for a few seconds.

Once those seconds had passed, Brishava
lightly cleared her throat, in order to regain a control of both
her laughter and mind, just before she concluded this conversation
by asking, “Please have my favorite set of black silky pajamas
ready for me tonight?”

Even though three of the six handmaidens were
still occasionally giggling, the other three that were more serious
and mature immediately responded, “Yes, my Sultaness.”

Not even a second later, the older three
crisply looked over at the younger three to calm their laughter and
to respond—those younger three said almost at the same time, “Yes,
my Sultaness.”

Still smiling, Brishava performed a
ninety-degree pivot to the left, saying with a final smile, “That
will be all, girls—have a lovely day!”

“Yes, my Sultaness,” they all said, just
before they bowed.

Brishava walked the straight line toward the
door. Ten seconds before her arrival, she called out, “Guards,
please open the doors.”

A second later, the exterior guards opened
them simultaneously, and then they bowed—the same four guards stood
nearby.

After Brishava had exited the room, the door
was closed. Once she had reached the middle of the hallway, she
pivoted ninety-degrees to the left—the two guards at the door
closed them and the other four guards followed her as she made her
way to the royal dining hall.

Nearly a minute and a half later, once the
group had all arrived at this set of double doors, the pair of
exterior guards stationed there opened them simultaneously, and
then they bowed as their Sultaness passed.

Brishava alone entered the royal dining hall,
and the doors were closed right behind her. Already had her eyes
observed and noted that besides the two-posted interior guards,
which had risen from their bowing position, there were seven other
occupants.

Currently, everyone was happily socializing
with each other over at the couches—Calitta, Cheo, Chelsea,
Travail, Barquoth, Yaush, and Jimnee.

“Good morning, my friends,” Brishava greeted
to everyone with a very chipper tone as she lightly clapped her
hands together one time.

In turn, half of the group replied back with
an equally-chipper “good morning,” while the other half
respectfully added the two words to either the front, or the back,
of his or her reply, “my Sultaness.”