Tomas knocked gently on a thick wooden door in a street on the far side of the great city. The cobbled and greasy roads were now deserted as it was well after midnight, but he still scanned the area carefully before ducking into the gloomy doorway. Only a stray dog curled up for warmth on the path noticed his stealthy figure. It whimpered briefly as if expecting a kick, but the tall black man in the grey shawl merely glanced at the mangy cur and passed on. Another lonely traveller through life's shadows, he thought grimly. Existence in the back streets of Constantinople was be brutal and short for most.

The door creaked open immediately, as if the occupant had been waiting just inside it. For a big man, Tomas moved lightly and within a half second he was inside with the door firmly closed and barred again. The man who greeted him with the traditional Muslim blessing was shorter than him by a foot and bent by early disease, but even in the half light, Tomas could see fire in the mans eyes. Tomas had sought him out for this task because, apart from his mistress and her daughter, no one hated the Vizier more than his old friend Aki. Born like him a free man, his mother and boy had been captured in a raid on a rural north African village by Arab slave traders years ago. After the long and desperately sea sick journey across the seas chained in a creaking dhow, he had been sold at the market to a pharmacist who was looking for a quick witted boy to weigh herbs and grind paste for the physicians in the city. Lucky for Aki, but not for his mother. A tall, regal looking woman with finely etched features, she was selected for the palace sales. The Vizier, alerted by his cruel creature Cuk, had noticed her slim beauty at the auction and bought her for his harem with a handful of silver.

Sadly for Aki's mother, the prospect of submitting nightly to the already corpulent and goatish Minister was more than she could bear. She attempted suicide after the first night in his chambers. Unsuccessfully maybe, but her bloody and ruined body was of no use to him as a concubine any longer. So she was unceremoniously thrown from the palace walls sometime in the early hours of the night she was discovered naked and bleeding on her straw pallet. Her corpse merely added to the growing pile of discarded bodies no longer required by the Vizier over the years on the cobbles below. No one bothered giving the shattered body a second glance next morning. Nudged aside into the open sewer, it was just another piece of human flotsam for the great Bosphorus to carry out into the hungry sea.

Aki had harboured a deep and abiding hatred for the Vizier from that moment on. As a slave he had little opportunity over the years to turn that hatred into deed, but Tomas had now given him something he could do...something he was very good at. The pharmacist had taught him well over the years, and when Aki was made a free man on his eighteenth birthday, appointed the boy his paid apprentice rather than a servant. A few years later, the old man passed away from a wasting disease, and with no wife or sons to carry on the business, graciously left the shop and stock to his apprentice. In the years that followed, Aki had prospered well enough. Eager to learn and to innovate, his skills as a potion maker were soon highly sought after.

But the customers who used his pharmacy for ungents and poultices would have been shocked if they had known of his...other...sideline.

For Aki was known by a very few selected customers for another, deadlier skill. The ability to concoct poisons so potent and effective, enemies were dispatched with astonishing speed. He'd been lucky so far. His skill as a source of such substances was a closely guarded secret by those who knew and used him. But he realised, even as he let his muscular countryman in this dark night, that this dangerous exercise might be his last. Selling deadly nightshade paste or crushed white snake root to a merchant so he could incapacitate a rival was one thing. But both the target and the toxin in this case was of such a scale that he understood, even as he prepared for tonight's bargain, that it was likely to be his last ever transaction.

But as with Tomas, he was fully prepared to both carry out the task and suffer the bitter consequences. He had waited years for the opportunity to gain revenge on the cruel Vizier. If he had to meet his maker at the hands of the palace executioners soon after, he was nevertheless confident he would meet his gentle mother in paradise. A journey he would be happy to make.

The two men sat at a low table on hewn oak benches as the ritual of shared coffee was carried out. No meeting of two acquaintances in this empire was complete without a cup of the Arab blend so favoured by the male population. The hot liquid was drunk in silence. Both knew what this evening was about and Tomas was happy to allow Aki the decision to introduce the subject in his own time. They exchanged no pleasantries about family and friends. Neither had them in any case. Aki was still running the business alone and Tomas had only Gia and Naomi to call his own. But he would never discuss them directly with an outsider, even one as committed to the cause of the Viziers death as Aki. So they sat in comfortable silence for the few minutes it took for the intensely sweet coffee to cool enough to be swallowed.

Finally, Aki reached under the table and took out a small, tubular bottle, no longer that Tomas's middle finger.

"So little?" the nubian murmured, wondering at the idea of such a tiny thing wreaking such grand revenge.

"More than enough Tomas" Aki said quietly "...in fact maybe more than necessary. If this...substance...is applied correctly, it will be enough to kill many men. But my friend, it has to be applied correctly. It is in the form of a fine dust, not a liquid. This means it can be ingested in two ways. Through the stomach, which kills but takes a little longer, or through the lungs...inhaled as a powder. That is the quicker and more deadly method. But Tomas…?"

He paused.

"...the quantity required to kill one man is very, very small. Within hours...two at most...symptoms will begin to appear. Once they do, agonising death is certain. It is not an attractive end my friend...black, suppurating lesions erupt over the body, a high fever grows, then there is uncontrollable vomiting. Followed by convulsions and coughing up quantities of blood from the infected lungs. The victim..or his bodily fluids...will also be very toxic to those around him. Be careful...be very careful Tomas?"

The taller man nodded gravely. He was not familiar with the poison, but by the way Aki was emphasising the toxicity, he was in no doubt that the man was genuinely concerned for the welfare of others in the vicinity of the intended victim.

He lowered his voice to a gravelly husk.

"Aki, my friend, I understand your words. If the situation was not so perilous, I would not be asking you to risk your life for..."

Aki shook his head dismissively.

"My life?...my life ended Tomas, when that warthog butchered my mother. She's in paradise waiting for me...and I will be happy to greet her again. No...do not worry about me, old friend. I care more for the success of the execution of this matter than life. But I do not want to go to my maker guilty of any unnecessary deaths. A man has much to confess before he will be allowed into heaven...my list of sins is already long?"

Tomas nodded again. His personal tally was long enough and killing the Vizier so horribly would add to the grim toll. But the protection of his mistress and the princess was paramount.

The transaction was completed quickly...Tomas listened as Aki detailed scrupulously the application required, then secreted the sealed phial in a place even a body search would not reveal it. An unpleasant necessity. He left moments later, wrapped again in the anonymous grey kaftan. His walk back to the palace was untroubled and, letting himself into the walls by the same secret passageway he had left by, he slipped silently back into the temporary royal apartments via a door hidden behind a heavy tapestry. Once in his own room, he voided his body of the phial, washed it, then hid it inside a brass frame holding a grand painting of Suleiman the Magnificent. The old Sultans image was everywhere in the palace, even though his son had been ruler for years. The worst that could happen would be that the metal frame might be dusted by a slave on his morning cleaning duties. The deadly toxin should be safe until needed...which was getting closer by the hour.

XXX

"Kati...my sweet...so demanding?" Fatima laughed as she was pinned against the wall of the linen room. It had been two days since her 'education' of the twin and it seemed the appetite of the pretty brunette was still unsatisfied.

"Stop talking so much Fatima" Kati growled, although her mouth was curled in a smirk "...I have a much better use for that clever tongue than chattering?"

Fatima laughed happily again. Far from being a reluctant convert, it seemed the hunger she had awoken in Kati was undiminished by the past two nights exertions. Now it felt like she was ambushed several times a day by a greedy Katerina, eager for more 'lessons'.

Although lessons were really unnecessary now. From that first fumbling reciprocal response, Kati had picked up the basics very quickly. Now it was the pupil who was keenest to attend...classes. No more the reluctant partner, it was the twin who instigated 'fun' at every opportunity. So much so that a drowsy Emilia had angrily demanded that her sister keep the noise down last night. Emi had been surprised that her hitherto conventional sister had embraced the delights of Sappho quite so enthusiastically, but in truth her disapproval had more to do with the short time left before Naomi was to be sacrificed to Kamal. The princess and her petite lover had resumed carnal relations, but it was a more sombre, less exuberant Naomi who allowed Emi to caress her body at night. Every time they made love, it reminded both girls that their time together was getting shorter by the minute.

It hadn't helped when Gia had insisted that Naomi accompany her to the Viziers quarters for a clear the air audience. At first Naomi had been horrified at the very idea and refused point blank. But Gia had been persistent and relentless. It was only when Emi quietly agreed that Naomi should at least attempt to appease the Vizier that she sulkily agreed. The meeting, supervised by Kamals eunuch as well as Tomas, went as well as it could, given that Naomi was on the verge of tears throughout. But she did as her mother ordered and humbly apologised for her bad behaviour at the Sultans decision. The Vizier struggled to hide his triumph at securing the grovelling acceptance of the Sultana and Princess. He was still ambiguous about their motives, but allowed both women to kiss his ring finger at the end of the conversation. His thoughts as Naomi bowed deeply before him, using her soft lips to briefly touch the large ruby on his smallest finger, were as depraved as any of his many enemies would expect. The thought of Naomi bowing before him in his bed chamber before carrying out one of the duties expected of an obedient wife made him stiffen under his voluminous robe. "Yes", he thought darkly..."you will bow before me again princess..and those pink lips and tongue will make me as hard as an18 year old...very soon".

Luckily Naomi could not read the mans thoughts, otherwise she would probably have vomited over his pudgy fingers. No matter, the deed was done and she returned to the apartments with a scowl, once they were out of the Viziers sight, to be comforted by the ever attentive Emilia.

But now, with Emilia and Naomi in the orchard garden, talking quietly, Kati was interested in more games with Fatima. It was definitely no longer a chore...if it ever had been...and she found herself tingling whenever she remembered the way Fatima used that long tongue to please her. She had not forgotten the reason Gia had requested she seduce the slim Egyptian, and for the last two nights, had subtly pumped her new lover for information between long bouts of lust..all of which she passed... word for word, to the Sultana. But Kati was an earthy girl, always eager for more pleasure, so she thought it not unreasonable that she should gain the most enjoyment possible from the task.

"No more teasing my little Cleopatra...I need you to..."

Kati sighed as Fatima slipped a cool hand down the waistband of her loose pantaloons and began to cup and stroke her sex. The girls fingers were almost as nimble as her tongue and the taller girl soon slumped against the stacked linen piles as Fatima began to kiss her neck and whisper promises into her ear. Katerina's thighs parted as the caresses began to become even more intimate.

"By the gods..." she panted "..,.you drive me wild Fatima...inside now, my lover...deeper?"

Fatima obliged with a smile against the warm skin under her lips. She had plans for tonight involving a carved life like wooden phallus that had been inside her clothing bag ever since she moved back into the royal apartments. When she had been taught herself, in the days when she was a virginal innocent, the older woman who corrupted her had enjoyed pounding an open legged and sighing Fatima with the implement strapped to her waist with leather fasteners. Fatima's virginity was not prized like Naomi's. She was always destined to be a toy for the Vizier to play with occasionally. The dark haired women who educated Fatima was free to get rid of that small troublesome obstacle quickly. But the girl had soon started to enjoy it too...at least after the first painful thrust through her maidenhead, so she had occasionally since been able to persuade a female lover to use it on her. The Egyptian girl believed that Kati would be an eager convert too, once she'd used it once. But right now the darker girl needed to build some credit. Sucking on Kati's bottom lip, she drove deeper into her with straight fingered eagerness. Careful still not to damage the maidenhead she knew Kati prized, she nevertheless could use considerable force to excite her lover. She moved her head down as Kati panted and took a hard nipple in her teeth as the warm wetness below clutched at her curling fingers. Biting down just enough to hurt but not to damage, she was rewarded by a loud whimper from above her. Kati it seemed enjoyed being treated a little roughly when she was approaching her climax. It was time to use the party trick again. Fatima quickly dropped to her knees, pulling Kati's loose pantaloons down in as she dropped. Parting the smooth thighs in front of her forcefully, which earned her another gurgle of delight, Fatima pushed her head forward, between the gasping girls legs and drove her long tongue up inside her sex, thrusting it and two careful fingers in to tip Kati over the edge. Her hair roots screamed in protest as the girl above her arched and clutched at her head desperately again and again.

The small room echoed to Katerina's intense orgasm, her lover lapping slower as the spasms slowed. Then there was just the sound of heavy breathing and Fatima licking her lips.

When she stood again, it was with no reluctance that Kati kissed her back gratefully, no longer caring about the taste of herself on Fatima's lips. It had been a foolish reluctance anyway...soon overcome. Now she knew what she and the Egyptian girl tasted like...and it was truly delicious she decided, she craved the flavour. Kati hummed her delight as the kiss ended.

"That was...just..." she grinned cheekily

"I know Kati...I know" Fatima smiled back.

"Tonight, my angel, as a special treat...I'm going to let you…." Fatima put her head on Kati's shoulder and whispered into Kati's ear for a few seconds, leaning back afterwards to see the astonished look on her lovers face.

"Really...I didn't know such things existed...a...an…?"

"An ejdera my sweet..in all but real flesh. I have enjoyed being used by one in the past...and I think you would very much enjoy wearing it to, uh...sikmek me?….I am such a naughty girl, as you well know…?"

Kati almost blushed...the slang words for a mans erect penis, then the coarse description for the act of love made her tingle all over again...even though her orgasm was just a few seconds ago.

"By the gods Fatima...yes...I would very much like that?" she said, goggling at the other girl.

The two left the laundry room hand in hand. Both looking forward very much to the dark hours.

XXX

Emi and Naomi lay side by side on the large bed, looking out at the dark skies above the palace. It seemed a million twinkling stars were looking down on them. But none offering a solution to the approaching crisis.

They had made love...slowly and gently. It seemed the days and nights of unbridled passion between them were over for now. The sex was wonderful still...it was hard for Naomi to imagine anything in her life ever being as perfect again. But something had been stolen from them when the Sultan made his announcement. True, they had always been victims of the ticking clock. But they were young...endlessly optimistic. Something that might happen in 6 long moons was a distant prospect, especially as her mother had promised to never let it happen. But 5 days was all they had now. Five days and four nights. Soon the Viziers servants would be milling around the apartments, organising clothes and expensive jewels for the bride to be. Soon too, the peace they were enjoying would be crushed under the weight of palace expectation. It was harder and harder for them to pretend that the forthcoming marriage was a mirage. Because every morning they rose together was one less to enjoy. More than once, Emi had found Naomi crying uncontrollably in the private bathroom, holding her face in her hands and sobbing as quietly as she could. It broke Emilia a little more every time.

The serious looks on the face of her mother and Tomas told them both that things were very bad. The cheery optimism of the Sultana from a week ago was now replaced with tired looking eyes and downcast frowns. Naomi had not dared ask if her mothers plans had progressed. The expression on her face was enough to make the princess turn away and look dully into the distance. Without realising, she gradually started to distance herself from everyone, including Emi. What was the point of pretending now? In less than a week, she would be the Viziers property, his to rut with and abuse, until he tired of her anyway...and who knew how long that would be?

Not that it mattered. Emilia would be long gone...banished back to her family...Kati too. And her mother would be unable to intercede any more. A husbands rights outweighed a mothers every time. Even her father the Sultan would not be able to aid her. If the Vizier, once he'd slated his thirst for her body, decided to beat her daily, shoulders would shrug and the gossip would be that she was a poor wife, worthy of little sympathy. A sort of black depression settled over Naomi. Nothing Emilia could do would lift it.

"Naomi my love...tell me what I can do to make you smile again…?" Emi said sadly. Their bodies were still cooling from the recent love making, but already she could feel Naomi slipping away from her, into that quiet, dark place her mind retreated to after passion was spent.

Naomi's head turned to look at her lover. Her eyes were still brilliant blue, even in the semi darkness of the room, but there was an emptiness in them now. Gradually, the vitality was being drawn from her. Emi's heart sank as Naomi forced a smile onto her face. Not a proper smile...but the sort you reserve for frail, elderly relatives or small children. A polite smile that says they have no idea what devils are torturing you.

"Nothing my sweet. You can do nothing to help me now...no one can. My mothers plans have obviously failed...even Tomas walks around with a sad face. I am lost my love...lost to you all. Maybe you should not wait for the engagement announcement? You know after that, the Vizier will banish my whole household until after the wedding? His own servants will take me to the harem before the ceremony. If you go now...in the morning at the latest...and take Kati with you...you will be out of reach of his people...his cruelty?"

Emilia gasped at the bleakness in Naomi's voice. She sounded like someone about to be executed in the morning, who has dully accepted her fate.

"No Naomi...NO!" she said firmly "I will not...I cannot give up on you. There are five days yet for the Sultana to find a way. Please don't despair...I love you with all my heart and soul. Without you I will wither and die...please Naomi…?"

Naomi tried to maintain her icy calm, but the sheer terror on Emi's face broke her. She clung to the smaller girl almost desperately...

The sound of crying replaced conversation as the two wrapped arms around each other and sobbed in misery.

XXX

Elsewhere in the palace, a pale faced boy of no more than twelve summers was being cuffed and kicked soundly by an older servant.

"Yusuf….why are you still hanging around the kitchens? His excellency the Vizier has requested quails eggs and menemen for breakfast. The olives and green peppers will spoil if you prepare them too soon. Go and lay the table...it will be dawn in an hour and you know how angry he gets if he has to wait even a minute?"

The boy shrugged as if he was indifferent to the Viziers anger, but it was all bravado. The man could be utterly vicious if crossed and there had been enough broken corpses littering the cobbles below the palace over the years for his servants to be rightly wary. He sighed in resignation. Being beaten by the older boy was a daily event...he hardly registered it. But he knew his job was to be up all night, ensuring breakfast was prepared in plenty of time. He sighed again. It could be worse...until the evil Cuk had been executed, the servant boy had known the enforcers personal body servant well. That unfortunate had been thrown from the walls after having his joints separated on the rack for just being with Cuk when he was discovered in that now sealed secret room. Not only that, but the boy had been required to service his master in ways which made Yusuf gag. At least the Vizier was only cruel...not a sodomite.

Running lightly on bare feet now, he entered the breakfast room where the dishes and cutlery were ready. The snow white Egyptian cotton table cloths were already on the two breakfast tables. Courtesy of some lucky servants who were already in bed. Unlike him. He grumbled as he set out the large silver oval plates and matching cutlery. The Vizier had a prodigious appetite even under normal circumstances. The boy shuddered as he wondered about the sharpness a night mounting the beautiful Princess Naomi would give the old goat. He spared some sympathy for the girl, but really it was not his business. Men were men after all and women merely their property...it was written.

Table laid and condiments placed in the centre (the Vizier was a little overfond of black pepper and salt) Yusuf yawned and scanned the room for anything amiss. Seeing nothing, he decided to chance an hours sleep under the shelf in the back kitchen. It was not yet light...plenty of time to wake and help carry the serving dishes into the tasters room for checking. The three men would be scrupulous as usual, each taking a small portion from every item of food. The Vizier never chanced a meal until they had.

XXX

As the boy slept unknowing in his small cubby hole, a silent figure stole into the Viziers breakfast room unseen. His mouth and nose covered by a silk mask, doused in vinegar...hands covered in white gloves, recently stolen from the musicians store room. Carefully...almost reverently... the figure unscrewed the top from the salt and pepper pots. Tipping an inch of granules from the top of each into a pouch, the hands tipped some greyish powder from a vial into the pots, then carefully replacing them on the table. Finally, the figure tipped more of the greyish powder onto the cutlery and plates, carefully wiping them down until only a light film remained. Just before the person left the room as silently as he had entered, the white napkin, rolled neatly beside the plates was dusted inside with the same light powder. As the figure left the room, if anyone had been observing, they would have heard a loud gasp as if someone had been holding their breath for the whole two minutes taken to perform this strange ritual.

The palace slept. Some, like Naomi and Emilia uneasily, nightmares of uncertain futures haunting them. Some, like Kati and Fatima, exhausted from love making. Some, like Tomas and Gia, nervous and apprehensive.

Only the Vizier and the Sultan slept peacefully...for all in their worlds was as it should be.

XXX

Shorter than the last, but the next one will be a doozy...thats if anyone cares!