Pueros

Tamerlane's Boys

Chapters 34-35

Chapter 34
Pilgrimages

As this saga gradually approaches its conclusion, the number of principal young characters, all of whose fates will be inter-linked, broadens somewhat.

(Outside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia [modern Iraq], Autumn, 1396)

Arman also knew that his beautiful, beloved Vissarion found such scenes necessary but distasteful and would not therefore wish to witness the sanguine spectacle. Consequently, the young Armenian recognised where his oldest and best friend was likely to be and he was not to be proven wrong.

Arman spied Vissarion sitting alone, cross-legged on the floor of the tent, on top of a rich Persian carpet and writing something onto parchment placed on a low table in front of him. The young Armenian very carefully and silently approached his fellow 19 year-old from behind, knelt and then gently placed his right arm around his beautiful friend's shoulders.

Despite the gentleness of his embrace, the young Armenian fully expected his fellow 19 year-old to jump in surprise, believing that the young Georgian could not possibly have detected his extremely furtive approach, honed by extensive military practice. However, his beautiful friend simply carried on writing, reacting only by whispering, without looking to see who had arrived, "Hello, Arman!"

"Damn! I thought that was my most careful approach ever," Arman announced, with clear exasperation, "and yet you still sensed me coming. How do you that?"

Arman was rewarded for the question by a turn of Vissarion's sublime head, crowned wonderfully by a long, silky mane of straight, golden hair, and the appearance, sparkling in the tent lamplight, of peerlessly sensual, shining blue eyes. The young Georgian's still resplendently boyish face exhibited one of his famous, totally disarming smiles.

"As usual in such circumstances, dear Arman," Vissarion declared, "I didn't detect your approach with any of my normal senses. Something deep inside instead told me that you were here. You encounter similar peculiar feelings about me, for example whenever I'm out of sight but in danger. Mine simply manifest themselves in happily knowing that you're close!"

"What do you think causes such feelings?" Arman enquired, although he had asked the same question before and already knew the answer. However, the young Armenian always relished Vissarion's reply.

Vissarion's disarming smile grew broader, revealing his full array of perfect white teeth. The young Georgian, still looking not much older than a 15 year-old, then obliged his oldest friend by responding with one word.

Vissarion answered "Love!"

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], same time)

Zoran had even relocated his bed to be alongside that of Kiril, which, the latter boy being a late arrival at the acemi oglan, was in the least favoured position, adjacent to the large, open window at the end of the dormitory. Although such a situation was pleasant enough during the hot Balkan summers, the reverse was more than true amidst the severe local winters.

Ironically, Zoran's sudden change in attitude towards his fellow 8 year-olds immensely increased their respect for the biggest and strongest boy in the dormitory. This regard also extended to the young Bulgar who had so obviously been responsible for the happy transformation in the Serb, despite the traditional rivalry between the two respective nationalities. Consequently, the pair, who, like all of the rest, had been freshly circumcised only 6 months previously in official confirmation of their conversion to Islam, inexorably became the natural de-facto leaders of the dormitory.

These developments, along with the obvious intelligence, capability and fortitude of Kiril and Zoran, did not go unnoticed amongst their adult supervisors, who were always attempting to identify future officer material, either in terms of military ranks or palace officialdom.

(Outside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia [modern Iraq], same time)

Arman then asked, whilst glancing at the papers inscribed in Vissarion's neat handwriting on the table, "What are you doing?" "Why not read it to try to work out the answer?" was his friend's teasing suggestion in reply.

Arman therefore took up Vissarion's challenge. He read his best friend's last written sentences, which stated "The forces of the Transoxianan Barlas tribe and their allies, the Qarauna, were defeated by the Mongols at the Battle of the Mire in 1365. The battle was fought during a thunderstorm, when the ground was bad for the tribes' big, clumsy, shod horses but good for their enemy's small, mobile, unshod steppe ponies."

Arman then looked back into Vissarion's sparkling blue eyes and commented curiously "Isn't the Barlas our master's tribe?" "Yes!" his friend answered succinctly but with otherwise further mischievously teasing brevity. However, the young Armenian was bright enough to work out quickly what his fellow 19 year-old was engaged on without further clues.

"You're writing our master's biography!" Arman suddenly shouted, excited at both his own correct conclusion and at the project upon which Vissarion had begun. The young Armenian then asked, whilst referring to Tamerlane, "Does he know?"

"Of course," Vissarion replied, "and he is delighted. As you appreciate, our master has never taken the trouble to learn to read or write...." However, the young Georgian was interrupted when Arman, whilst displaying an artificial frown, remarked "And yet he made us suffer all those tutors!"

"You know that was for our own good," Vissarion responded, with equal good humour, "as we can't all neglect education in favour of conquering the world. Anyway, our master now says that he deeply regrets not being literate."

"You know that he's talking rubbish," Arman, however, commented, whilst his handsome face restored a broad grin, "because our master thoroughly enjoys having beautiful boys do the chore for him!" Vissarion smiled back, appreciating the truthfulness of his friend's retort. He nevertheless then continued his description of the reasons for Tamerlane's delight at the project upon which the young Georgian had embarked.

"Our master," Vissarion advised, "says that he would like his history to be recorded by someone whom he can really trust. However, he also states that he wants no sycophancy, just a fair and objective appraisal of his life and times, warts and all."

"Are you sure such an approach to the project is wise?" Arman next enquired in respect of Vissarion's literary pilgrimage, his previous grin having been replaced by a genuine expression of concern for his friend's welfare. "We know that he has a terrible temper," the young Armenian remarked, "and might react dangerously to criticism of some of his past actions, even towards someone he loves!"

"I don't think so," Vissarion replied. "How do you know?" Arman responded, still with worry etched on his very handsome face.

"Because we've already talked, usually in bed, about his life in depth," Vissarion answered, "and I've often condemned actions he has confessed to perpetrating before we knew him." "And you still lived to tell the tale?" Arman exclaimed, but with relief rather than incredulity evident in his voice, as he realised that Tamerlane's reaction had obviously been at least benign if not supportive.

"Only just!" Vissarion announced, swiftly wiping the renewed smile from Arman' face. The young Armenian then asked, with restored alarm, "Was he very angry?"

"Often sufficiently so to tickle me until I surrendered once more to his manly needs!" Vissarion declared, making Arman realise that his friend had kidded him once more. "You cheeky Georgian, you're going to pay for your tease!" the young Armenian yet again declared, as he usually did in such circumstances before setting out to achieve the customary revenge.

When Tamerlane subsequently returned to his tent, with Nicolai, Rezan, Rahu and the new beautiful recruit to his intimate service, Haluk, respectively 15, 13, 13 and 14 years of age, he found the naked 19 year-olds, Vissarion and Arman, asleep, in each other's arms in his huge bed.

"It seems," the conqueror smilingly whispered without jealousy to the four boys who were still awake, "that my young Georgian scribe didn't write much of my history tonight!"

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], same time)

Word had filtered through to the pupils of the acami oglan that a large army of Christians from the west had set out on a Crusade. The military pilgrimage had been promoted by Pope Boniface IX and King Sigismund I of Hungary in order to try to expel the infidel Muslim Turks from Europe. They had been stimulated into such Christian militaristic zeal partly by anti-Islamic fervour, partly because of alarm at further Ottoman expansion in the Balkans, this time into Wallachia [in modern Romania], and partly at the request of the beleaguered Byzantine Emperor, Manuel II Palaeologus.

The Crusaders were initially targeting Wallachia and neighbouring Bulgaria, Kiril's homeland, for rescue from the Ottoman yoke. The Christians then intended to move on to relieve Manuel II Palaeologus' Constantinople, which had been blockaded by Bayezid I's Ottoman forces for 2 years.

Although all of the 8 year-olds had been in the acami oglan for over a year and had been subjected during that time to much harsh treatment and intense indoctrination, converting to Islam and being circumcised in the process, none had yet completely forsaken their original national and religious allegiances. Some secret sparks of loyalty to their ethnic birthrights still remained deep within the boys' souls, and this was as true of Kiril as anyone else.

Accordingly, Kiril hoped that the Crusaders would be victorious and that defeat for the Ottomans, and the consequent liberation of Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans, would somehow result in his own freedom and return to his homeland and family.

(Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], same time)

Ottoman-dominated domains now surrounded the formidably fortified Constantinople, whilst the whole of known civilisation waited for the anticipated, apparently logical, ultimate denouement in the region between the rival ancient Byzantine and new Ottoman Empires. The great city had been blockaded by Bayezid I's Muslim forces for 2 years and many people wondered for how much longer the ancient metropolis could last as the final bastion of Christian suzerainty in the area.

Constantinople's survival so far had only been the result of earlier humiliating vassalage, payment of hefty tribute and provision of hostages to the Turks, plus the reluctance of the latter to assault the city's virtually impregnable walls. The later ability of the metropolis to survive the blockade was mainly as a result of the shortcomings of the Ottoman navy and the willingness of Christian allies with superior maritime capabilities, such as Genoa and Venice, to sail in supplies. Such provisions were supplemented by smuggling activities, many of which actually originated in enemy territory.

Mehmet, Vladimir and their large party of guardian Janissary soldiers and attendants, including several formidable black eunuchs, embarked on a resplendent Turkish galley, or 'kadirga', fit to host the Sultan's son, in the port of Gallipoli. This town is located on the eponymous peninsula, which was to become very important 520 years later, during the 1^st World War, to Australian and New Zealand history in particular.

The Gallipoli peninsula is situated on the Dardanelles, which is the 45-mile long, 1 to 5 mile wide strait that connects the Aegean with the Sea of Marmara. The latter is, in turn, linked to the Black Sea by the 18-mile long, ½ to 2½-mile wide Bosporus.

The Sea of Marmara and the connected respectively southern and northern straits of the Dardanelles and Bosporus separate Europe from Asia. Gallipoli had been, 40 years previously, in 1356, the first place on the European mainland to be conquered by the Ottomans.

Mehmet, Vladimir and their protective entourage were about to sail north up the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara to the port of Mudanya on the Anatolian shore of Asia. Their galley was a long, low, narrow ship of shallow draught, which was propelled, when becalmed, entering or leaving harbour or in battle, by oars protruding from apertures associated with 26 benches, or 'thwarts', of rowers on each side. However, in normal breezy cruising conditions, the vessel relied on a pair of triangular lateen sails.

Mehmet's galley sailed in a little fleet of similar ships, provided as protection for the Sultan's son against Byzantine or other blockade-runners and raiders. After eventually disembarking in Mudanya, the prince's party would then make the short inland journey south across the fertile coastal plain to Bursa.

Bayezid I had decided to despatch his youngest son away from Edirne to the relative safety of Anatolia because of the advance into the Ottoman European lands of the Christian Crusade. The Crusaders included 10,000 Frenchmen, 1,000 Englishmen and 2,000 German Knights, who all joined up with the 30,000 strong Hungarian army. There was also an assortment of Austrians, Croats, Lombards, Poles and Knights Hospitallers from Rhodes to support the local Wallachians and Bulgars in their quest for liberation. An Italian admiral additionally commanded a fleet of 44 galleys supplied mainly by the maritime mercantile powers of Genoa and Venice.

Amongst the leaders of the Crusade alongside Sigismund I, the King of Hungary, were John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, Philip of Artois and Jean II le Miengre dit Bouciciault, respectively the Constable and Marshal of France, and Friedrich, German Prince of Hohenzollern,. Meanwhile, amongst the ordinary ranks was a very handsome, blonde, blue-eyed 16 year-old from Bavaria, called Johann Schiltberger.

(Outside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia [modern Iraq], same time)

Despite their different and varied ethnic origins, Nicolai, Rezan and Rahu were all using instruments long associated with Central Asian nomads. As the conqueror often liked to be soothed by music, all of Tamerlane's boys were instructed by expert tutors in the use of at least one such device, the choice of origin resulting from the Mongol cultural background influencing their master's travelling court.

Nicolai was playing a type of wooden flute called a 'limbe'. The beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed young Muscovite's sweet, rosy lips and fingers had to contend with nine holes along the length of his instrument, one of which was the main blowhole, whilst the others were reserved for tuning. The boy was currently indulging in a technique termed 'circular breathing', whereby one note is blown whilst the musician inhales through his nose to collect air inside his mouth. This is then exhaled by the pressure of his cheek muscles, whilst the base of the tongue is used as a valve. The procedure is basically the same as for bagpipes.

Rezan was using a bow of willow and horsetail hair, coated with cedar resin, to play a type of lute, with two strings made of sheep sinew, called a 'morin khuur'. The body and neck of this instrument was carved from wood, culminating at the top end in the shape of a horse's head. The sound was similar to that of a violin or a cello.

Various Mongol legends surround the morin khuur, which was originally made from horse ribs and skin. One concerned the origins of the instrument. A famed musician supposedly possessed a beloved, magical steed that could fly. However, one day an evil sorcerer killed the precious animal and the bereaved owner then made a lute from the beast's remains for remembrance. Some people also say that ewes that initially reject lambs will begin to suckle after being soothed by the music from the device.

Rahu was playing a round, shallow, wood and hide, bass frame drum called a 'hingerik', which resembled a large tambourine and could be tapped with hand or stick. The instrument also possessed a detachable pole to enable it to be played standing or sitting.

Despite being, immediately after his enslavement, originally acutely ashamed of his new work as an erotic boy dancer, Haluk had eventually come round actually to relishing and excelling at the role, at least on most of the occasions he was required to perform his duties. His original owner was accustomed to servicing rich, refined clients, and so his young star performer primarily displayed his striptease skills and ultimately naked body only at elegant all-male dinner parties catering for Baghdadis of highly discerning homosexual tastes.

At such select soirées, Haluk would generally be destined only for the bed of the host or sometimes, if the nature of the occasion demanded, principal guest. It was not considered correct etiquette to share one boy around, regardless of his splendours, and his owner also disdained such arrangements, recognising the importance of maintaining the exceptionally beautiful and skilled young slave's relative sexual freshness for future valuable commissions.

Haluk's owner knew full well, from unfortunate previous experience, that exposing a boy to too much libidinous manly attention could soon damage the child's appearance and demeanour, and he had no intention of allowing such a major source of income to be so ruined. Naturally, part of the compensatory supplementary services he provided for his clients was the provision, if needed, of other pretty but less choreographically skilled youngsters.

Haluk had quickly come to appreciate that he was truly very beautiful and attractive to the eyes and groins of the men for whom he danced. The boy also realised that he had a degree of power over many of them, for most of those for whom he performed his exotic gyrations, and who clearly lusted after him, could never have him unless he secretly agreed.

Although Haluk was only a slave, he had sometimes been greatly flattered to be wooed with big compliments and small gifts by adult male admirers, despite his owner's attempts to discourage such attention. The boy had also occasionally and very selectively succumbed to such obsequiousness, or more succinctly to the presents on offer, and allowed the men concerned to have their wicked ways with him. The child did not consider himself to be a whore in so doing, because he was already that, albeit one of the highest class, but instead an enterprising business person.

Then came the fateful day when Haluk danced for the first time for Ahmad Jalayir. The Sultan of Baghdad subsequently made the boy's original owner an offer to buy his exceptional young dancer that the man could not refuse, as it involved not only a decent price but also the ability to retain his head. However, the child was initially not displeased by this alteration in proprietorship over him, mistakenly believing that the change might actually result in an improvement in his fortunes.

'Perhaps', Haluk thought, 'sometime, after I have lost my looks, my new owner might find me a good job within his palace.' The slave boy maintained this notion until the day the Sultan condemned the young Kurd's balls to oblivion.

Haluk, of course, now had yet another new master, namely the dreaded Tamerlane, whom the boy had actually found to be surprisingly nice for a person of such appallingly fearsome reputation. The young Kurd initially thought that the conqueror's pleasant disposition towards him might only have resulted from his role in saving Rezan and Teimuraz from Ahmad Jalayir's evil intentions. However, the 14 year-old's early supposition was later disproved when he realised that the man was always very kind and devoted to those steadfastly loyal to him, which the recently created eunuch fully intended to be.

Tamerlane had asked Haluk how he wanted to be rewarded for the salvation of Rezan and Teimuraz. The boy appreciated that the conqueror expected him to request gold and comfortable resettlement somewhere amongst his fellow Kurds. However, the 14 year-old was more adventurously ambitious.

Recognising from the lustful look in Tamerlane's eyes, which Haluk had seen many times on the faces of other men, that the conqueror fancied him, the boy had answered "I would like to serve you, Lord!" The comely 14 year-old then added something that would dispel all doubt about what he meant.

Haluk announced "I'd like to become one of Tamerlane's famous boys!"

(Damascus, Syria, Mamluk Empire, same time)

"If I ever have that eunuch brat, Haluk, in my hands again," Ahmad Jalayir muttered venomously to no-one in particular, "it'll be much more than his balls that I'll have extracted from his body!"

(Outside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia [modern Iraq], same time)

Despite turning 60 years of age, Tamerlane's sex drive was as strong as ever, having been effectively maintained by the rejuvenating presence in his life of his universally gorgeous boys. Whenever campaigning permitted, the conqueror would seek to orgasm at least twice every night. He would usually first cum inside the rectum, previously carefully cleaned by enema, of one of his catamites before having his flaccid penis later revitalised by the skilled lips and tongue of another, who would ultimately swallow the resultant ejaculate without complaint or problem.

Tamerlane had viewed Haluk's erotic dancing whilst lying naked on his bed, adjacent to Vissarion and Arman, whom he had discovered there earlier. The conqueror had no need to play with his excited cock whilst he watched the young Kurd's delightful gyrations, as the hands and mouths of the now similarly nude 15 year-old Nicolai and 13 year-old Rahu and Rezan had taken turns to perform that particular task.

In initial response to Tamerlane's question, Vissarion's immaculate face acquired a reddish hue. The young Georgian then confessed "I'm afraid, Lord, that it is the turn of my bottom to entertain your manhood but unfortunately, at present, it's somewhat soiled!" The 19 year-old was, of course, referring to the copious sperm that Arman had kindly impregnated him with earlier.

Seeing Vissarion's abashment, Tamerlane could not prevent his frequently mischievous sense of humour from tempting him to laugh loudly, and he was soon joined in his chortling by the others present. Even the young Georgian subject of the conqueror's hilarity eventually saw the funny side of his predicament and began to giggle.

When the laughter finally subsided, Nicolai announced that it would have been the turn of his bottom to entertain Tamerlane next and so volunteered to substitute for Vissarion, if the latter fulfilled the oral duties the 15 year-old was due to perform later overnight. This suggestion was soon agreed and shortly afterwards the beautiful young Muscovite eunuch, who was truly looking forward to having his own prostate imminently and deliciously tickled again, could feel the conqueror's eager, cut cockhead pressing against his pink sphincter.

Meanwhile, Vissarion had gone elsewhere in Tamerlane's huge, luxurious tent to wash and dress himself. Nicolai's kind substitution for him as the sexually eager conqueror's bumboy for the night meant that the young Georgian could go earlier than expected to the tent of the conqueror's youngest son, 19 year-old Shahrukh. There, he would collect Ulugbeg, who was now a 2¼ year-old toddler and had newly arrived from Tabriz, and tempt the child to sleep, whilst ultimately cradling him under the stars.

The baby prince had followed on slowly from Tabriz in a large, well-protected caravan, after the rapid departure from that Persian city of his father, Shahrukh, grandfather, Tamerlane, and most efficient but unofficial night-nurse, Vissarion, to assist the stalled siege of Baghdad, led by his 30 year-old uncle, Miranshah. The boy's real nurses had not managed a decent sleep since the young Georgian had departed and were now extremely grateful that the 19 year-old could resume his customary evening chore.

The task would take Vissarion away every evening from the understanding Tamerlane's tent only for a short period. The beautiful young Georgian would then reward the conqueror for his kind consideration by narrating his always fascinating nightly tales.

On this night, Arman returned to his own canopy, knowing that the arms and delights of either the 26 year-old Sibur or 13 year-old Teimuraz or, more likely, both of them would be waiting for him. In Tamerlane's tent, the gelded Haluk now lay naked alongside his busily occupied new master and, wanting to do something, began to fondle the similarly beautiful, prone and unclothed Rezan's intact genitalia. The 14 year-old was soon rewarded for his efforts by the appearance of a full erection on the happily compliant boy who was a year younger. The nude Rahu, unperturbed by such activities or by displaying his own nullified state, sat adjacent on the floor, close to his discarded clothing and weapons. The 'Little Limpet' was as content as ever simply to be watchful about the conqueror's security.

Rahu's lovely eyes and ears were, however, momentarily distracted by the almost simultaneous sounds of climaxes being attained. Tamerlane, reaching the culmination of his first sexual pilgrimage of the night, was shouting the word "Yes" repeatedly, as his cock erupted deep inside Nicolai, whose prostate-inspired orgasm was more quietly exclaimed. Adjacent to this pair, Rezan had grabbed hold of the bedcovers on either side of him and was groaning, as Haluk's fingers and now mouth expertly brought the young Persian's groin to the boil. The resplendent 13 year-old then uttered a vociferous "Ahhhhhhhh", whilst the young Kurdish eunuch was gently rubbing his penile shaft and licking his intact balls.

The young, brown haired and eyed Persian's cock shot a thin stream of white semen into the air, which landed on his cute boyish belly and chest, only to be quickly licked away by 14 year-old Haluk's efficient tongue. Vissarion arrived back from his ablutions just in time to see this spectacle and profusely congratulate the 13 year-old. The young Georgian then spoke to Tamerlane, who had removed himself from being astride Nicolai's rear to collapse instead onto the bed in order to recover from his own intense orgasm. The conqueror had in the process closed his eyes and so had missed the intriguing action taking place next to him.

"It seems, Lord," Vissarion smilingly declared, "that our dear Rezan is now a man. He's just produced his seed for the first time!"

(Delhi, India, next morning)

Mahmud Tughluq proposed to journey southeast from Delhi to the ancient city of Banaras [also now known as Kashi or Varanasi], where he had commissioned the building of a mosque to sit alongside the many magnificent local Hindu temples, which he had left undisturbed and active. Despite his Muslim beliefs, the Sultan was always liberal about and interested in other faiths, which was a characteristic that had upset Tamerlane's more fervently Islamic ambassador.

Mahmud Tughluq's trip was a mixture of business, to check on the progress of the mosque construction and continued efficiency of his local administrators, and pilgrimage, as he wanted to revisit the local sacred sites, and not just those precious to his own Islamic beliefs. By this era, Banaras had attracted pilgrims from near and far in search of divine blessings for about two millennia. According to Hindu belief, the 'City of Light', which would one day be temporarily renamed Muhammadabad by one of Tamerlane's Muslim descendants and was sandwiched between the rivers Varuna and Ashi as they join the Ganges, was the cosmic centre of the universe. By dying there, a believer gained instant salvation. The place was also a great cultural centre, especially in the fields of music, learning and the craft of silk weaving.

Banaras was already old when Rome was nothing more than a small hilltop settlement and had been a well-established, flourishing trade centre when Buddha had come to nearby Sarnath in 500 BC to make his first sermon. The renowned American novelist Mark Twain would later suggest that the city was "older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together!"

This autumnal season of the year was the ideal time to make the journey from Delhi to Banaras, as the weather was usually dry, sunny and warm. Winters were often foggy and chilly, whilst spring ushered in the torrential monsoon rains and summer was almost unbearably hot.

Amongst the many interesting sights in Banaras that Mahmud Tughluq was looking forward to showing to his oldest son for the first time were the riverside ghats, which were sets of paved steps leading down to the sacred waters of the beautifully meandering Ganges. Each was associated with a temple, with those dedicated to the more powerful gods of the Hindu pantheon forming a serenely lovely backdrop to the whole wondrous setting.

The Sultan particularly looked forward to showing his son the thousands of Hindu pilgrims who climb down the ghats every dawn to offer salutations to the rising sun god. They stood waist-deep in the sacred Ganges to do so, and then bathed in the holy water. The bathers are convinced that their action will be auspicious for them, as the muddy river will wash away all the accumulated sins of their lives. Later, at dusk, oil lamps, or 'diyas', and flowers set afloat also make a fascinating sight.

Amongst the other interesting sights in Banaras that Mahmud Tughluq was looking forward to showing to his oldest son for the first time were the local naked holy men, the 'Sadhus'. Some of these saintly people ceremonially mutilated their own publicly exposed genitalia, as a demonstration to their gods of their faithful chastity.

(Outside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia [modern Iraq], same time)

Vissarion could still taste Tamerlane's cum, which he had lured into his throat from his master's revitalised cock by skilful and well-practised oral manipulations several hours after the penis concerned had erupted ejaculate into Nicolai's curvaceous rear. The naked young Georgian therefore now quietly climbed out of bed, trying not to disturb anyone and intent on acquiring a drink to eradicate the salty flavour in his mouth.

Vissarion's magnificent, nude, gelded form then shivered noticeably, as the autumn nights in Mesopotamia were cold. By the time that the young Georgian had secured his drink and returned to the bed, he was freezing. However, this discomfort did not last for long.

Regardless of Vissarion's best efforts not to disturb anyone, both Tamerlane and the ever-alert Rahu were now awake. Both could also see, despite the dimness of the tent lamplight, that the returning young Georgian's divine form was not only shivering but also covered in goose pimples.

The smiling Tamerlane, revelling again in the fine spectacle of his favourite boy's impeccable physique, lifted up the bearskin bed cover to invite Vissarion to lie once more alongside him. The bearded 60 year-old's hirsute body was then soon proficiently warming the completely smooth frame of the young Georgian.

As Vissarion experienced Tamerlane's warm embrace, he felt a little droplet fall from the conqueror's face onto his sublime body. The shedding of a tear temporarily worried the young Georgian and he asked his master in a whisper "Are you upset about something, Lord?"

"No," Tamerlane answered, as he held Vissarion even closer to him, "it's just that I love you so much!" The young Georgian rewarded his master's comment with a kiss and a tightening of his own hold.

At that moment, both Tamerlane and his favourite boy wished that their loving embrace could last forever.

(Nicopolis [modern Nikopol], Bulgaria, shortly afterwards, 28^th September 1396)

In a reversal of the situation over a year previously, Nicopolis was now occupied by the Muslim Turks and being besieged by the Christian Crusaders. The objective of the latter was to take the fortress, along with that of Dorostolum, and use them as strongholds from which to chase the Ottomans out of Europe.

The Tukish garrison of Nicopolis, however, successfully withstood the siege for a few weeks, which allowed Bayezid I time to come to their relief with an enormous army of about 130,000, including Serbian, Albanian and Arab mercenaries. The Sultan's forces eventually took up a provocative defensive position, inviting attack, about 4 miles away from the fortress, straddling the local main road and with the flanks protected by ravines.

The imminent battle between the two sides in the vicinity of Nicopolis was to be the first major engagement in which the Ottomans encountered a western European army. The impending clash was also to be one of the most important in history.

At a military council before the battle, King Sigismund I of Hungary advised a cautious approach, proposing use of his own horse-archers in the first attack, with the other Crusader cavalry in reserve, waiting to deliver a decisive later blow against the Ottoman lines. However, the French arrogantly refused any role that denied them the glory of being amongst the first to enter combat.

Ignoring the local advice of the Hungarians, as well as that of the native Bulgars and Wallachians, who all had recent, sobering experience of fighting the Turks, the French, conceitedly fancying their chances in battle against foes who were supposedly mere Islamic infidels, attacked the enemy head on. They charged the centre of the Ottoman forces, initially brushing past the first of the enemy defensive lines, which mainly comprised horse-archers and Arab light cavalry. They then approached the second defences, which consisted of Janissaries.

The first encounter between western European forces and the redoubtable Janissaries was to end in disaster for the former, for they rushed straight into a trap, involving enemy archers well dug-in behind several rows of sharpened wooden stakes. Ottoman arrows rained down on the French Crusaders, causing large numbers of casualties amongst both men and horses. Many of the latter had to be finished off by their riders in order to put the poor, fatally wounded animals out of their misery.

Nevertheless, much gallant and bloody fighting against the fearsome Janissaries continued. Despite taking heavy casualties, some Crusaders even broke through to the third Ottoman line, whilst holding off an attack by Turkish cavalry. However, skilful use of his reserves by Bayezid I ensured that the Gallic Christians became effectively surrounded, cut off from the main part of their multi-national army. Attacked from all sides, and despite fighting with immense religious fervour and courage, many of the cream of French chivalry were then either massacred or captured.

Meanwhile, far to the rear, Sigismund I's army and the other allies finally entered the bloody battle. During the later ferocious combat, Bayezid I was wounded and his horse killed under him. Nevertheless, the Sultan continued to lead his forces amidst the horrendous fighting and eventually managed to break the enemy, whose resistance ended when the banner of the Hungarian King was captured and he fled the field, ultimately to escape the sanguine scene by riverboat.

The military pilgrimage against the Ottomans, preached by the Pope, apparently did not have the blessing of the Christian God, whilst the Islamic version of the omnipotent deity had inspired the Muslim forces to victory. Boniface IX's Crusade was to be the last of its kind in history. The defeat, caused as much by Crusader disorganisation, disunity and selfish bravado as by the worthiness of the Turkish forces and Bayezid I's leadership, also condemned much of the Balkans, including Bulgaria, to half a millennium of Ottoman rule.

The defeat was also most foreboding for the future of Constantinople.

(Banaras, Sultanate of Delhi, India, same time)

Ahmed maturely justified his desire to do so by advising his astonished father that he believed that there was only one God, but that the almighty was worshipped in different manners by different people and that these ways must all be both respected and revered. The 9 year-old felt that, by his action, he would be paying homage to Allah, who just happened to be represented locally by the pantheon of Hindu deities. After considering the matter carefully, Mahmud Tughluq concluded that he could not fault his clever son's enlightened religious perspective. Nevertheless, the Sultan initially refused to countenance the boy's request.

Mahmud Tughluq's initial refusal stemmed not from Islamic distaste for a Muslim performing a ritual of another faith, as his attitude towards religion was too liberal to permit such a stance, but rather from a desire not to affront the sensitivities of local Hindus, who might not be so tolerant. However, the Sultan's denial was also short-lived, as his young son's completely disarming smile, which only that of Vissarion could match in the opinion of those who eventually came to know both boys, easily overcame parental objections.

Consequently, as Krishnan subsequently bathed in the sacred Ganges, covered only by a little loincloth, Ahmed, similarly sparsely attired, was standing alongside him, waist-deep in the holy water. Mahmud Tughluq and a large entourage of bodyguards and courtiers, as well as local dignitaries of both Muslim and Hindu faiths, looked on from on top of the adjacent ghat, which had one of the most resplendent riverside temples as an immediate backdrop.

Mahmud Tughluq had had no need to worry about Hindu sensitivities. The key local personalities associated with that religion had fully understood and accepted Ahmed's desire to perform the ritual with his slave. Their attitude was aided by considering the delightful boy's wish to be pleasantly symbolic of the peaceful co-existence that currently existed between the two faiths within the Sultanate ruled wisely by his father.

As Mahmud Tughluq proudly watched the serene spectacle, in a setting made even more beautiful by the sight of the two lovely boys bathing in the river, the Sultan silently prayed to his God that such religious harmony and tranquillity would become universal and last for ever.

(Nicopolis [modern Nikopol], Bulgaria, next day, 29^th September 1396)

Nevertheless, a few young Christians did survive, mainly because of their youth, and were instead enslaved. Amongst them was the 16 year-old Bavarian, Johann Schiltberger, who was now to embark on an adventurous life of servitude in the Muslim east.

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], a few weeks later)

The school's various adult supervisors, as well as those older pupils who had now been completely brainwashed in Janissary ethics and Islamic beliefs, were naturally exultant at the news, especially as their corps had played such a vital role in the victory, albeit at high cost. However, those boys, like Kiril and Zoran, who still possessed a modicum of their former national, Christian personas, felt somewhat different, although they knew better than to display such emotions publicly.

Kiril's hopes for the liberation of Bulgaria, and his own return to his homeland and family, had sadly been dashed. Meanwhile, Zoran, whose country was still nominally independent, whilst being an Ottoman client state, had been acutely embarrassed to learn about the key role Serbian mercenaries had played in Bayezid I's immensely important victory.

The boys were, of course, not to know at the time that their loyalties in such matters would someday radically alter, and not just because of the indoctrination that was an integral part of their existence within the acemi oglan. Rather, the advent into their lives of one particular person, who was actually younger than them, would be the main cause of such transformation.

(Great Palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], same time)

Constantinople's Great Palace was like a city in miniature, being a vast collection of highly impressive buildings, courtyards and gardens. It was close to the ancient hippodrome and adjacent to the great cathedral of Saint Sophia, whose tall, golden dome dominated the city skyline and could be seen glistening in sunlight far out into the Sea of Marmara. The palatial complex sloped down in terraces towards, aside the sea, a large, colonnaded forum, whose towering columns were also prominent from a maritime perspective and which was adorned, like the harbours and quays, with copious statuary.

Continuing astutely to avoid detection by the many officials, soldiers and servants present in the palace, John eventually entered a huge audience hall, or 'magnaura', which was currently empty apart from a bearded man sitting on a prominently located throne, with his head buried, apparently despairingly, in his hands. The suddenly worried boy would have recognised the adult form anywhere. Consequently, temporarily forgetting that he was engaged on a forbidden pursuit, the very concerned 6 year-old rushed towards the 46 year-old shouting "Father, are you well?"

Manuel II Palaeologus looked up in surprise to see his lovely second son running towards him. Despite the appalling news that he had just received and appreciation that the boy had again naughtily escaped from his quarters to explore the vast palace, the Byzantine Emperor could not help but smile at the pleasant vision.

Soon afterwards, after mildly scolding the boy for embarking once more, without permission and dangerously alone, on an expedition around the Great Palace, Manuel informed John, who was now sitting on his knee, about the basics of the terrible news that he had just received from Nicopolis. The long hoped for relief from Ottoman encirclement had been dashed. In response, the 6 year-old tried to comfort his parent by suggesting "Don't worry, father, God is on our side. Constantinople will still be safe from the infidel Turks!"

Manuel II Palaeologus, however, was too wise an Emperor to believe that issues could be so simple and that divine blessing alone could save his great Christian city, whose 2-year blockade by Muslim Turks would surely now continue remorselessly and probably gradually become more effective. He thought that the Ottomans were bound to try to eradicate the clear deficiencies in their navy and that therefore other, more worldly factors would eventually need to intervene to rescue Constantinople.

Manuel II Palaeologus was to prove partly correct in his assumptions. The Emperor was, of course, not presently to know that one of the major factors that would result in the salvation of Constantinople during his lifetime was currently sitting on his knee. He was also understandably ignorant of the fact that the boy must truly have been cherished by the Christian God, as the deity was to grant the child's wishes in respect of his city for as long as he too lived.

(Bursa, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], same time)

Bursa, sometimes called the 'Emerald City', was renowned for its verdant gardens and parks, in one of which stood the mausoleum of Osman, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. One of Mehmet's first actions after arrival was to take Vladimir, as well as the compulsory large protective escort, to pay his respects at his ancestor's tomb. The boys then ventured to see one of the warm mineral springs for which the environs was also famous and which fed several of the local baths.

Mehmet, as well as Vladimir, would have loved to strip in order to frolic adventurously naked in the warm water and freedom of one of the open-air springs, as opposed to the privacy of a sheltered bath. However, the prince's supervisory black eunuchs had diplomatically dissuaded the 7 year-old, advising that the act would have been entirely unsuitable for the nominated heir to the Ottoman throne, even if the area had been cleared of the public.

Mehmet was currently now free from hands-on parental control, as his mother had remained in Edirne whilst her husband campaigned further north in the Balkans. The boy's black eunuchs were therefore now responsible for the princely child's daily welfare in Anatolia.

Mehmet appreciated that the black eunuchs had been given a degree of authority over him by his parents. However, the clever boy also realised that such command had limits and he intended gradually to test these to the full.

The disgruntled Mehmet currently believed that the authority of his adult gelded servants over his actions should not extend to denying him innocent playful pastimes, even if they were conducted outside the security of the palace. The boy therefore thought that the mineral springs might be a good starting point to demonstrate defiance of his eunuchs' rulings, although not so soon during his stay in Bursa. The 7 year-old was prepared to bide his time and await a suitable chance to show his independent spirit by sometime secretly bathing naked, with his similarly aged slave, Vladimir, in the warm waters.

Mehmet regarded his transfer to Bursa, from his palatial but highly closeted, parentally controlled existence in Edirne, from which he had rarely been allowed to emerge, as an invitation to indulge in adventures previously denied to him. The boy also had a companion audacious spirit, in the delightful shape of Vladimir. Unfortunately, the 7 year-old's previous sheltered life had not properly prepared him for how truly dangerous the wider world could be, although he was to remedy this deficiency, albeit in a manner not to his liking.

Mehmet's daring spirit was someday to lure him into serious trouble.

(Ikhtiman [in modern Bulgaria], Ottoman Empire, 9 months later, Summer, 1397)

The newly built 'zaviye', which was a lodging house for members of the Muslim Sufi sect and was later converted into a mosque, was unusually, for a Balkan Ottoman structure, t-shaped. It had actually been constructed by local craftsman, skilled in late Byzantine techniques, and accordingly additionally possessed irregular but attractive exterior brick and stone work. The nearby domed baths, or 'hamam', also recently erected and containing walls decorated by colourful pictures, added to the attractions of what was otherwise originally a rather dreary, small provincial town.

Most of the local Bulgar aristocracy, who still lived after the conquest and crushing of the subsequent Crusade, had been deprived of their landholdings, which were instead given to Turks loyal to the Sultan. Many of the native nobles, who might otherwise form a focus for discontent and revolt, had then been dispersed to Ottoman territory in Asian Anatolia.

Bulgars whom the Ottomans found useful were contrastingly nurtured, especially the more prosperous peasants and merchants. The latter became local intermediaries between the new Turkish authorities and the native poor, who comprised the bulk of the population. These collaborating 'squires', or 'chorbadzhi', in Ikhtiman included an ugly, obese, middle-aged man called Dimitŭr, much of whose prosperity actually stemmed from secretly arranging the smuggling of goods into blockaded Constantinople.

For such illicit trading, Dimitŭr's new Ottoman overlords would undoubtedly have beheaded him if they had discovered his two-faced perfidy. However, in Constantinople's beleaguered circumstances, his wares fetched exorbitantly high prices.

Dimitŭr therefore felt that the associated risk was worthwhile. His viewpoint was encouraged by the obvious current inadequacies of the Ottoman navy and the fact that the recent combat against the Crusaders had necessitated the withdrawal, in order to face the new enemy, of many of the Turkish forces blockading Constantinople. The consequent substantial weakening of the city's isolation had been temporarily increased by the terrible losses of Bayezid I's forces in the war and subsequent forced defensive military redeployments on the northern borders. However, such a change in circumstances, which made the detection and deterrence of smuggling into the great metropolis even more difficult, was, like the naval inadequacies, likely only to be temporary until the Muslims re-organised. Consequently, the fat merchant proposed to enrich himself whilst the window of opportunity allowed, with his motives owing nothing to any interest in the welfare of beleaguered fellow Christians but everything to his love of money.

Dimitŭr had recently returned to Ikhtiman, having fled when the Crusaders looked as if they might capture the town. He had believed, probably correctly, that the surviving remnants of the Bulgar nobility who would be accompanying the Christian army might not like the chorbadzhi, who had so demonstrably collaborated with the Turks. The fat merchant had been amongst many of his class who had feared aristocratic retribution and therefore run away until Bayezid I's victory at Nicopolis had made return safe.

Dimitŭr's central business, as a merchant of agricultural produce, provided him with the core of the goods he smuggled. However, he did not restrict himself to such items, as he supplemented these wares with other types, acquired legitimately at low cost in Bulgaria to be re-sold at high prices in Constantinople's needy markets. As was soon to be proved, his voracious desire for profit would also encourage him to traffic in the occasional human being.

Dimitŭr shared Tamerlane's taste in boys, although his parsimony encouraged him to recruit into his service only one such delectable young creature at a time. His current catamite, who acted publicly as his indentured trainee assistant, was the very pretty, fair, blue-eyed Petŭr, who would have run away from the horrible adult long ago to return to his family if he had not been so selfless. However, the 13 year-old knew that his parents, who had thought that they were doing the best for their offspring by apprenticing him to the fat merchant, not knowing the man's sexual tastes, had enough mouths to feed in the form of his many siblings. The child's considerately sacrificial attitude had not even changed after he had learnt that he had lost a younger brother to the dreaded devshirmeth.

Petŭr had been in the ugly, fat Dimitŭr's service for 2 terrible years, during which time his lovely body had suffered much abuse, from the man's leather crop as much as his short but wide cock. The naked boy was now attending to his master, who had adopted several Turkish lifestyle practices, in the new hamam, helping to wash the similarly nude merchant's repulsive, obese, hairy body.

As Petŭr performed his distasteful chore, which he considered a complete waste of time because the ugly, fat, hirsute form would invariably quickly return afterwards to its usual sweaty and smelly state, Dimitŭr noticed another patron of the Turkish baths closely eyeing the boy's delectable frame. The merchant was not someone who liked to miss out on a commercial opportunity. Consequently, he entered into conversation with the obviously lustful spectator, intending eventually to bring the chat discreetly round to selling him some of the 13 year-old's time, to be spent in a quiet, discreetly steamy corner of the warm, wet and misty hamam.

Dimitŭr was good at concluding profitable commercial transactions and so Petŭr soon found himself in such a quiet, steamy corner. The boy's hands rested on the wall just above him, whilst he leaned against the brickwork, having adopted a posture, bent slightly at his slim waist, which nicely presented the lustrous curves of his bottom for the imminent attention of his customer's rampantly large cock.

As Dimitŭr inspected the coins that his fellow bather had presented to him in return for Petŭr's temporary services, he could hear grunts from nearby, amidst the misty water vapour pervading the atmosphere. Some of the sounds clearly suggested a man's gradual progression towards ecstatic orgasm, whilst others reflected a boy's intense discomfort, as a large penis was thrust in and out of his anguished and shamed body.

Nevertheless, Petŭr was also experiencing other emotions because, simultaneous to sodomising him, his current debaucher was masturbating the boy's own cock, which had consequently become vigorously hard. Then, as the 13 year-old, ultimately impaled on the man's penis, eventually felt his insides being impregnated with much adult ejaculate, his own divine body began to vibrate ecstatically. Some of his own more youthful sperm, which he had recently managed to start creating, subsequently splashed onto the wall in front of him.

Dimitŭr detected the change in tone of his fellow bather's grunts, which had reached an apparent crescendo, indicating that he had fulfilled his aim of having his wicked way with Petŭr. The fat but perceptive merchant also noticed an alteration in the boy's vocal modulations that alerted him to the fact that the young whore had also orgasmed and undoubtedly cum. The sadistic man would, of course, check the scene for visual proof for his belief and then use his harsh crop on the brat's tender backside for his impertinence in seemingly gaining, without permission, some pleasure from his demeaning assignment and despoiling the new hamam in the process.

(Tashkent [in modern Uzbekistan], Timurid Empire, same time)

Tamerlane also did not linger long with his wives in the Samarkand springtime, for he possessed the perfect excuse to depart with his boys and a protective contingent of his best bodyguards. The now 61 year-old conqueror intended to embark upon a pilgrimage, for which he first set off northeast from his capital to go to Tashkent. The latter was another important city within his vast empire, located on the very ancient, arterial trading route from Europe to China called the 'Silk Road'.

There had been a settlement at the green oasis on the Chirchik River, fed by mountain melt-water, for at least twelve hundred years, although it was not to be known as Tashkent, or 'stone town', until the 8th century. Here, within sight of the foothills of the western Tian Shan range, Tamerlane paid his respects to the local head of the city's main 'madrassa'.

A 'madrassa' is a Muslim school, occasionally residential, attended by both boys and girls, albeit in carefully segregated classes. The curriculum invariably involves the interpretation of the Koran, as well as the frequent requirement to memorise the whole of the holy book. Instruction in the 'Hadith', which is a body of highly meaningful stories about Mohammed's life, plus Islamic history and law, is also generally compulsory. Depending upon the liberality or otherwise of the particular establishment, the likes of literature, languages, mathematics and science might additionally be taught. Some male pupils progress into religious careers, becoming Imams and Mullahs, although many others are often destined for service in government or the judiciary, a practice that Tamerlane respected for the purposes of his local bureaucracies, as long as the graduates remained loyal to him. Hence, the conqueror's interest in Tashkent's Islamic educational institution.

Later, Tamerlane sat in the resplendent gardens of the palace of his local governor. He was attended and fussed over by the now 16 year-old Nicolai, 15 year-old Haluk and 14 year-old Rezan, whilst being guarded by the ever-wary 'Little Limpet', 14 year-old Rahu.

Tamerlane was watching some of his bodyguards indulge in bouts of 'Kurash', which is a type of wrestling. Amongst the competitors, who only wore trousers, cut off just above the knee, were the soldiers' principal officers, Sibur and 20 year-old Arman. Even Vissarion, who was also now a 20 year-old although he still looked boyishly much younger, managed to drag himself away from writing his master's lengthy biography to watch the spectacle. The young Georgian joined those many warriors who were not participating but were enjoying both the sport and, at their leader's expense, the copious array of food and wine generously provided for the spectators.

Arman's eventual opponent liked the Armenian, an attitude he shared with all of Tamerlane's other bodyguards, despite the fact that the young man was of different ethnic origin and was unusually youthful to be the holder of a senior military command. The soldiers appreciated the 20 year-old's well-proven skilled and brave leadership, which was sensibly not reckless but infused instead with genuine interest in the welfare of his troops.

Nevertheless, the clean-shaven Arman's older, taller and apparently stronger, bearded opponent was today intent on not only beating his young officer but also embarrassing him. The man wanted to do so not out of dislike, spite or a desire for increased personal glory but rather in support of traditional ways. He longed to tell the young Armenian, once he had humiliated the 20 year-old by easily tossing him to defeat, that he might fight better if he grew some facial hair rather than espousing his modernity by daily using a razor. He knew that most of his military colleagues of similar age or above, who were all of similarly conservative attitude, would support his aim.

If the clean-shaven Arman expected any of Tamerlane's other boys to give him unquestioning support when he now faced his motivated and proud opponent, he was to prove mistaken. As the young slim Armenian tackled the bigger, sturdy warrior, all the 20 year-old could hear from his friends, amidst the loud, raucous shouts from the many spectators, was mischievous criticism.

"You can do better than that, Arman!" and "Pathetic, Arman, you'll soon be flat out on the ground at this rate!" were typical of the unhelpful remarks uttered from the amused, sweet rosy lips of Nicolai, Haluk, Rezan and Rahu, as the young Armenian struggled with his opponent. Even Tamerlane and, the ultimate betrayal, Vissarion joined in such commentary, albeit associated with much laughter. In fact only Sibur, awaiting his own bout, provided the younger combatant with unflinchingly positive support.

As the red-faced and almost exhausted Arman was eventually entrapped in a strangling headlock from the rear by his apparently superior opponent, the young Armenian managed to glance firmly at the grinning Vissarion and croak "You'll pay for your attitude, you treacherous Georgian!" He was rewarded by an even broader, disarming smile on the immaculate face of his fellow 20 year-old, plus the retort of "I'll pay up only if you win!"

Vissarion and Tamerlane then exchanged amused glances. However, their temporary distraction from the fight made them miss the sudden denouement, despite quickly looking back towards the scene when the loud crash of a body thudding onto the grass, plus related vociferous cheering from all around, alerted them to a momentous happening.

To their mutual amazement, Vissarion and Tamerlane now saw Arman still standing, whilst his dazed opponent lay prone at his feet. The young Georgian eunuch and feared conqueror were later to discover that the young Armenian had somehow contrived a manoeuvre that had somersaulted the formidable soldier over his shoulders.

Having being declared the winner of the contest, Arman now considerately helped his recovering and shocked opponent back to his feet, checking that only the man's pride remained hurt and receiving his generous congratulations in return. The young Armenian, sweat oozing from his very handsome bare upper body, then approached Vissarion in triumph. He had previously furtively sought with his eyes and obtained the nod that indicated that Sibur was happy for his younger lover to enjoy some more intimate time with another very close friend, whilst the older officer fought to maintain his own wrestling reputation.

"As I said," Arman, who was now the one to be smiling, announced as he came close to Vissarion, "you'll pay for your attitude, you treacherous Georgian, and you're committed to paying because I won!" The young eunuch glanced again at Tamerlane, whose eyes looked up into the cloudless blue sky above, as if to say 'Here we go again!' However, it was the conqueror's simultaneous broad grin that alerted both 20 year-olds to the fact that they had obtained their master's permission to indulge in another bout, albeit one not involving combat but rather something much less violent.

Vissarion smiled back at Tamerlane before looking again at Arman, to whom he then extended his hand. "Come on then and let me pay you," the young Georgian declared, not without eager anticipation, to his oldest and best friend. Soon afterwards, the two 20 year-olds disappeared into the innards of the gubernatorial palace, whilst holding hands and being totally unconcerned about the associated, loud, ribald commentary from the conqueror's observing soldiers. After all, their master's bodyguards were well accustomed to such scenarios.

"It seems," the conqueror smilingly declared without jealousy to the four boys who were still with him, "that my young Georgian scribe again won't be writing much of my history today!"

(Ikhtima [in modern Bulgaria], Ottoman Empire, same time)

Dimitŭr wanted to intensify Petŭr's imminent anguish by beating the boy whilst he was still nude and in front of an appreciative audience. The fat merchant believed that his fellow bathers would recognise his right, as well as the occasional need, to inflict appropriate chastisement on an unruly or clumsy child, and might additionally be interested in viewing the activity. In the event, the sadistic man had judged the similarly towel-clad spectators well, not only in relation to their respect for his authority and action but also for the secret delight many gained from the spectacle that was now to unfold in front of their intrigued eyes.

Dimitŭr had already collected his crop and now raised the stout leather implement into the air. The petrified and degraded Petŭr knew better than to beg for pity, as his cruel master was not the merciful type. The very pretty boy therefore just closed his sensuous blue eyes in anticipation of the first agonising blow.

The 13 year-old fully appreciated that Dimitŭr was expert at chastising boy's bottoms, his master having attacked Petŭr's backside with his crop on many occasions, as well as undoubtedly perpetrating the same on the previous male children who had been unfortunate enough to enter his service. The obviously sadistic man knew how to land his blows with comprehensive precision across the full curvature of the young buttocks in order to extract the greatest pain whilst causing no lasting damage. The fat merchant was keen not to inflict any permanent harm, as he did not want to lessen the future pleasures of sodomising lustrous posteriors. He also now had another good reason why he did not want to injure his current indentured apprentice's bodily delights too much.

Despite having suffered on many occasions from Dimitŭr's crop, this was the first time that Petŭr had endured such punishment completely naked. The nude boy's degradation was increased by the presence of the spectators and the sudden, unexpected, shameful and apparently incongruous re-growth of his own uncovered cock. To the 13 year-old's intense mortification, as he was forcibly presented with the sight of his own dangling, completely smooth genitalia, by virtue of his bent-over stance, he found that his penis was rigidly pointing back towards his blushing face. The unruly member was even still dribbling some residual cum from his earlier ejaculation, which had earned him this appalling treatment. Petŭr, however, had little time to consider this further humiliation because his whole form was then literally shaken by the first, excruciating strike from Dimitŭr's crop, which created a vivid crimson stripe across his divine buttocks and caused the boy to yelp in anguish. Meanwhile, the reaction from the adult spectators was somewhat different, as laughter reverberated round the steamy hamam.

Petŭr subsequently tried to exhibit bravery in front of the adult watchers, several of whose covering towels began to bulge in the groin area, as they observed the pretty boy's chastisement. However, Dimitŭr's expertise in inducing agony was to prove too great to enable the 13 year-old to show quiet fortitude for very long.

Dimitŭr delivered his blows with harsh accuracy and expert timing, which enabled each painful hit to be fully appreciated by the young 13 year-old victim before the next was inflicted. The aim of the sadistic, fat merchant was to maximise Petŭr's shame and suffering, which eventually reached a visible nadir when, after the fifth strike, the boy's delectable body ecstatically vibrated again and his unruly throbbing penis energetically erupted yet more sperm.

The stream of semen flew across the short intervening void to besmirch the very pretty inverted face currently degradingly situated just in front of the engorged, exploding cockhead. Meanwhile, even if Dimitŭr had not already spotted Petŭr's further penile naughtiness, his attention would have been brought to the event by the increased chortling and ribald commentary of the spectators.

In order to double-check the extent of the fresh genital misdemeanour, Dimitŭr took a closer look at the bent-over boy's cum-splattered face and the guilty young cock, still incongruously hard and dribbling with residual semen. The fat merchant subsequently appraised the acutely abashed and pained Petŭr of the consequences of his further penile ill-discipline. "I was going to stop at twelve hits, perverse slut," the cruel trader advised, "but you've just earned yourself another dozen!"

Soon afterwards, much of the sperm on Petŭr's lovely inverted face was being slowly washed away by copious tears. The boy's attempt to display some bravery had been shattered by both intense pain and shame, along with the knowledge that the strange reactions of his genitalia to his beating had doubled his distressing and degrading punishment. The 13 year-old instead sadly dissolved into abject, agonised misery, sobbing comprehensively and now instinctively but fruitlessly pleading for mercy, as his thrashing proceeded remorselessly.

Petŭr's ears were now oblivious to the continued laughter and rude remarks from the spectators, as Dimitŭr's crop was wielded again and again with proficient deliberation and precision. The boy's tearful eyes also failed to recognise that his slender uncut cock, which had brought him so much trouble, somehow remained throbbing and rigid throughout the remainder of his torment.

(Near Yasi [modern town of Turkestan in Kazakhstan], Timurid Empire, a few weeks later)

Tamerlane sincerely believed that he could justify his many terrible actions to any God, for the only difference between him and many other rulers of his time was the scale of his massacres of those who had defied him. The 14^th century of the Christian calendar, which was soon to end, was a particularly dark time in history. Life was frequently short, unhappy and cheap, whilst plague was rampant and ruthless barbarities were regularly perpetrated, even by so-called civilised people and often in the name of national glory or religion or both. The conqueror's record therefore needs to be viewed in this context.

As a result of the increased awareness of his own mortality, Tamerlane now sought to acquire some insurance against the possibility of there being an afterlife, as he wanted a decent reception in any heaven. The conqueror therefore began to devote a little more of his time to matters of faith. Such engrossment did not just attenuate to the building of his great mosque in his resplendent capital of Samarkand, which he proposed would be the biggest in the world but which had not yet progressed beyond the foundation work. His regard also extended to showing proper respect to the religious heroes of his core subjects, foremost of who was Sheikh Hodja Ahmad Yasewi.

Hodja Ahmad was a Sufi poet and teacher who had died in 1166 in the town of Yasi, which gave him his posthumous surname of 'Yasewi' and was located north of Tashkent at the intersection of several important and ancient caravan routes. By his death, he had been credited with the conversion of the Turkic-speaking people of Asia to Islam, and had accordingly become commonly known as 'Father of the Turks'. As Tamerlane's Transoxianan Barlas tribe possessed such ethnicity, the conqueror had begun to exhibit interest in somehow honouring the dead religious hero, although this attitude possessed selfish elements. The conqueror knew that, by honouring the Sheikh in some magnificent way, he should not only please Allah but also possibly gain reflected glory and the esteem of the devout.

As well as being the scene of Hodja Ahmad Yasewi's death over two centuries previously, Yasi had also been the setting in which the Sheikh had conducted many of his holy activities. As such, the town was a place of mass pilgrimage for many Turkic Muslims, especially as completing the journey three times was a religiously-sanctioned alternative to the Hadj, the once-in-a-lifetime, potentially perilous trip to Mecca that all adherents of Islam are supposed to try to make.

Tamerlane was currently paying reverence at the rather small and insignificant mausoleum built for the deceased Hodja Ahmad Yasewi just after his death and which represented the main focus of pilgrimage. It was actually at the subsequent suggestion of the astute Christian, Vissarion, who was now 20 years old but still magnificently boyishly beautiful, that his master ordered the replacement of this tomb with one much more resplendently grand and suitable for such a Muslim saint.

Meanwhile, as the masters of Vissarion's fellow Christians and Georgians, Teimuraz and Tedor, were accompanying Tamerlane to the current mausoleum, the two brothers felt free to explore the surrounding arid plain under the hot summer sun. The siblings, now respectively 14 and 17 years of age and whose brown haired and eyed beauty had refined even more of late, were riding their magnificent Persian horses, tall steeds which contrasted markedly to the smaller but hardy local steppe ponies.

Eventually, Tedor considered that it was time for him to return to his master, Shahrukh, for whom he acted as squire. However, Teimuraz, who served in a similar capacity for Arman, demurred at immediately proceeding back to Yasi, believing that the young Armenian would not yet need him, as he knew that the 20 year-old was scheduled to spend a few hours about now with Vissarion. The pair was due to continue reviewing personal reminiscences of their early lives with Tamerlane for the purpose of the young Georgian eunuch's biography of the conqueror.

Teimuraz was happy instead to extend for a little longer his exhilarating horseback ride on the magnificent expanse of steppe near Yasi. Tedor therefore left his younger brother alone, happy to do so in an almost empty environment of stark beauty, which had long been subdued by Tamerlane.

Teimuraz was later intrigued to come across an encampment, comprising a group of round tents made of felt and surrounded by a variety of domesticated animals and a number of adults busily at work and children happily at play. The boy, to whom the whole setting on this arid plain was quite foreign but very interesting, felt no unease at approaching the camp, ostensibly seeking some of the customary local hospitality, albeit only for his horse, which he felt might appreciate a little water. In fact, another, more furtive motive for the 14 year-old's advance was curiosity about the lives of these people, who appeared to be steppe nomads.

The encamped people spotted Teimuraz's approach and greeted his eventual arrival with apparent friendly enthusiasm, especially the children for they had never previously seen such a big horse. However, the boy's reception was initially hampered by an inability to communicate verbally because of a lack of common language. Fortunately, this was resolved when the apparent head of the tribal group emerged from his tent and amicably addressed the 14 year-old in a Turkic dialect, which was recognisable because it was that of Tamerlane's court.

Teimuraz subsequently felt unable to refuse hospitality for both him and his horse from such seemingly friendly people, especially as he discovered that their elderly leader was also a shaman. The boy was interested in learning something about the rites and renowned medical practices of the priest's religion. The 14 year-old had therefore initially been very happy to drink the milk tea, or 'suutei tsai', offered to him.

Teimuraz's attitude lasted until he later awoke from drug-induced sleep and found himself stripped naked and immovably bound in the back of a covered ox-driven wagon, which was already heading north, deeper into the vast Central Asian steppes.

Nearby, unknown to Teimuraz, the shaman, now riding on the 14 year-old's horse, was already working out precisely what he would do with the fresh young body parts that he had just acquired. Naturally, the boy's balls would be earmarked for the sacred medicine that was supposed to cure impotency.

(Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], same time)

In fact, Dimitŭr's wares were loaded onto a large, lateen-rigged, sea-going barge. The captain and crew of the usually shore-hugging vessel had been bribed, with a promised share of the ultimate profits, to take the fat merchant's cargo to Constantinople. They were to succeed in their task, after the fulfilment of which they were to return much wealthier.

Unfortunately, Petŭr was not to be so lucky, as Dimitŭr revealed to the horrified boy, after their arrival in the inadequately blockaded Constantinople, that he considered the 13 year-old to be part of the cargo. Like the rest of the fat merchant's goods, the child was to be sold in one of the city's markets.

Amongst the imports of which the citizens of Constantinople were short were slaves and Dimitŭr knew that he could secure an excellent price for such a pretty 13 year-old in the beleaguered city. Of course, the fat merchant would have to ignore certain facts in order to do so.

First and foremost, Petŭr was not a slave but a free boy, who had merely been indentured to the man as an apprentice merchant by trusting parents. However, Dimitŭr was not put off by such considerations, and neither would be the citizenry of Constantinople. If the child tried to argue his status, the slave-traders and ultimately his new owner would simply flog him for irritating them.

The slave traders would be annoyed at any threat to the lucrative commission that they stood to gain from selling such a high-value boy. Later, Petŭr's new owner would dislike paying a lot of money for someone who turned out to be a moaning brat.

Dimitŭr would cover his tracks for his perfidy towards Petŭr by advising the boy's parents that their child had sadly died of fever on a trading mission. The fat merchant also did not mind losing the 13 year-old's physical attractions, as he had tasted them to the full and was now ready to move on to the allures of another carefully chosen but very unfortunate young apprentice.

As a consequence of this further traumatising development in his young life, Petŭr now found himself standing naked and deeply ashamed on one of the auction blocks of Constantinople's main slave market. The sparse trade of late had actually encouraged the place to be even more packed than usual with would-be buyers. The boy's sublime nude form was therefore being thoroughly examined, by means of much intimate prodding and probing, by many prospective purchasers. However, in line with proper decorum, the relevant degrading manipulations were perpetrated for women viewers by accompanying males.

Petŭr's final price would obviously be affected by the fact that he was clearly not a virgin, judging from the opportunity most interested parties took to bend the 13 year-old over for a close inspection of his sphincter and anus. However, the boy's current scarcity and natural beauty and liveliness, the latter attribute apparent by his exhibition of a fulsome erection throughout the demeaning examination process, was easily to compensate for this blemish.

As Petŭr tearfully endured the debasing experience of being sold as a slave, his greatest worry actually did not concern his current degradation but what might follow. The 13 year-old was not ignorant of the fact that many boys enslaved in Constantinople were subsequently castrated, particularly if they were destined to serve in households containing females.

In fact, Petŭr had already been well reminded of this fact, as plenty of those who manually explored his delectable naked form lingered when fondling his scrotum, apparently sizing up the work that might be necessary to geld him and sometimes debating the subject with companions. The 13 year-old Bulgar knew sufficient of the language of his nation's southerly neighbours, the Greeks, with whom Dimitŭr had regularly traded, to be able to gain the gist of these, to him, appalling conversations.

Petŭr's tears of shame and fear became even more bountiful when, during one of these alarming debates, he entered orgasm. Although the 13 year-old almost doubled-up during the humiliating climactic process, he nevertheless managed to spray his possible new owners with his youthful seed. For the latest naughty penile misdemeanour, the boy then received several hard swats of the supervisory slave-trader's own crop across his bottom, a lustrously curvaceous surface that had previously happily been restored to pristine perfection after the recent thrashing by Dimitŭr for similar mishaps.

Petŭr's display of young virility, and the resultant reward of several scarlet stripes across his pink buttocks, did not, however, discourage prospective purchasers, many of whom were actually stimulated by the sight to want to emasculate the miscreant boy forthwith.

(Bursa, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], same time)

In fact, Mehmet's reply would normally have been correct. However, local parents always kept protectively close watch on their offspring whenever a trading caravan passed through Bursa on its way to the port of Mudanya from the Anatolian hinterland. Children had been known to disappear mysteriously from the streets at such times, presumably to end up in a faraway slave market.

Unfortunately, Mehmet, being a prince, was completely unaware of such travails sometimes experienced by ordinary parents, or that he and Vladimir, two very pretty and extremely well groomed and attired boys, would stand out like sore thumbs to avaricious merchants. The 8 year-old was instead totally transfixed by the notion of soon frolicking naked with his slave and best friend in one of the quieter warm mineral springs on the outskirts of Bursa. This pleasant, natural feature of the 'Emerald City' should now be deserted during the time of the afternoon siesta.

Mehmet was also unaware of the greedy eyes that had spotted the beautiful boy's presence, and that of the equally delectable Vladimir, in the virtually empty streets of Bursa. The brain behind these rapacious ocular organs was already calculating the price the lovely young pair of 8 year-olds would achieve at market.

(Bursa, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], 2 days later)

The patrol of soldiers to which the attractive new military runner, Johann Schiltberger, had been attached had not yet found any trace of the missing Prince Mehmet, or the boy's slave, Vladimir, in the countryside around Bursa.

(Bosporus, same time)

This particular dhow was supposed to sail with its cargo south from Mudanya and along the Dardanalles into the Mediterranean, which was indeed the course along which the boat set out. However, once out of ready sight of land and under cover of evening darkness, the vessel had turned round to sail north in order instead to make a short voyage that would attempt to break the currently porous blockade of Constantinople.

Amongst the cargo below deck were two very pretty 8 year-old boys, now deprived of their rich clothing, which was far too good for their anticipated new status in life in Constantinople. The Arab merchant, who had been responsible for their abduction, had hardly been able to believe his luck at coming across the pair, who, by their appearance, obviously represented the son of a rich Ottoman lord and his slave. The circumstance of the latter child had been obvious from his Slavic nationality and the discovery, once he had been deprived of his attire, that he was a eunuch.

Mehmet and Vladimir had obviously protested their kidnapping but had been astute enough to do so without disclosing the prince's true identity. Despite their tender ages, the boys had perceptively realised that such revelation probably would not frighten their Arab abductors into releasing them but rather into cutting their throats.

Being found guilty of trying to kidnap Bayezid I's son would surely lead to a prolonged, horrible demise and the Sultan would undoubtedly not rest until the perpetrators were detained. Such arrest would also certainly be made virtually inevitable through the aid of both terrible threats and immense rewards, designed to ensure that few would shelter the treacherous criminals, whilst many would be glad to try to find and capture them.

Consequently, the clever boys had recognised that, if their abductors knew Mehmet's real identity, the men would probably attempt to cover their tracks by murdering the 8 year-olds, who would be far too dangerous to retain. The Arab kidnappers would thereby hope to escape justice by avoiding later identification through the descriptions that might have been given by the young pair if they had instead been released.

The Arab merchant, still ignorant of Mehmet's true identity, finally spied on the horizon the great city of Constantinople, which had been built, like Rome, on seven hills. The fast dhow had already successfully bypassed the small cordon of blockading Ottoman galleys and was now beginning to enter the metropolis' magnificent harbour, called the 'Golden Horn', which was actually an inlet of the Bosporus.

The immense chain that protected the mouth of the harbour from intrusions by enemy ships had already been lowered to allow the dhow, which had signalled its trading intentions, to enter the huge anchorage. The Arabian vessel would soon be alongside a quay and discharging cargo, including a pair of gorgeous, naked young boys, who were destined for the same market in which Petŭr's similarly delightful, older nude form was currently being sold.

As the merchant viewed the famous skyline, dominated by the glistening, golden dome of the cathedral of St. Sophia, he again pondered the value in Constantinople of his particularly choice young captives. He knew that slavery in the city was very much a seller's market at present and therefore already expected to reap a substantial reward for his enterprise. However, he was still happy to speculate in his greedy mind precisely how big the anticipated largesse would be.

The merchant also wondered whether the Byzantines would make the young son of an unknown Ottoman noble a gelding, just like his Slav servant.

Chapter 35
Saints

Boys in general might not be saints but occasionally they need saintly assistance to rescue them from the perilous scrapes they sometimes fall into!

(Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], Summer, 1397)

Naturally, the supervisory slave-trader tried to terminate Petŭr's protestations by ordering the boy to be quiet and then beating the naked 13 year-old again with his crop when the young Bulgar naughtily declined to obey. However, the man's actions were unsuccessful. The watching Dimitŭr's prior confidence that the citizenry of Constantinople would not be put off from buying such a complaining child was additionally now to remain temporarily unproven because the market superintendent, who was also a spectator, intervened.

The market superintendent stopped the auction of Petŭr and ordered to his office both the naked boy and the merchant who was selling him. There, the distressed 13 year-old was the first to be invited to speak so that he could try to relate to the official why he should not be sold as a slave. The child tried his best to do so, within the restraints of his ability in the Greek tongue. Simultaneously, the deviously lying Dimitŭr, using his better local linguistic skill, constantly attempted to refute and ridicule the young nude's arguments.

A prolonged debate later ensued between the market superintendent and Dimitŭr about the right of the latter to sell Petŭr, who now constantly tried to hide as least some of his shameful nudity by covering his smooth genitalia with his hands. However, the fat merchant eventually began to realise that the official with whom he was dealing was as deviously corrupt as him and was not really concerned about the boy's rights but was much more interested in the bribe that would encourage him to ignore them.

By the time that the superintendent had successfully negotiated his cut from Petŭr's eventual selling price, the slave market had emptied, as business for now had concluded. The annoyed Dimitŭr would therefore have to wait another couple of days for his next opportunity to realise the boy's auction value. Meanwhile, for a further smaller fee to the official, the naked 13 year-old could be incarcerated in one of the large holding cells with which the basement of the retail establishment was equipped.

Of course, in the circumstances, Dimitŭr did not propose to allow Petŭr to escape punishment for causing the delay in his sale into slavery. The fat merchant also intended to make sure that the boy would not cause another disturbance when the next attempt was made to trade him. However, the sadistic man also appreciated that the methods of both chastisement and persuasion he now chose must not damage the 13 year-old.

The stripes on Petŭr's back and buttocks, created by the slave-trader's crop and now darkening from the original crimson into various shades of brown, were enough temporary visible disfigurement for now. Dimitŭr appreciated that any more similar injuries might adversely affect the boy's selling price. However, the fat merchant sadistically knew how to inflict pain without obvious marking. Suffering the intended cruel experience, along with suitable psychological intimidation, should encourage the 13 year-old to be quietly compliant when finally sold into slavery.

The market's basement holding cells were large, dark, dank rooms, with big, barred and locked entrance gates. The amenities of each were very basic. They included a few smelly round holes in the ground that were directly linked to the rat-infested city sewers, which were the ultimate source of many of the local outbreaks of plague. The apertures acted as the toilets. There were also some troughs through which ran fresh water for drinking and washing. No bedding or food was provided, as those being sold within the establishment were not expected to remain for long in the facility and the superintendent was not the type of person to waste money on luxuries.

The naked Petŭr eventually found himself alone in one of these cells, the previous temporary residents having been sold that day. Few of these had been like the 13 year-old Bulgar, a fresh arrival into Constantinople. Despite the porous nature of the Ottoman blockade, priority for imports was afforded to essentials and slaves were not classed as such, despite the fact that many of the local elite would think their quality of life intolerable if such servants did not exist.

Instead, most of the poor souls offered for auction were being sold by previously prosperous local families, who had been impoverished as a result of the economic consequences of the blockade imposed by the hated Ottoman Turks. Because of the lack of slave imports and the resultant excellent prices presently obtainable for such human chattels from those still somehow rich, familial destitution could at least be delayed by the money accrued from such sales.

Petŭr's slim, bare ankle had been manacled to a sturdy metal ring resolutely embedded into the cool stone floor of his cell, with sufficient length of connecting chain to enable him to reach one of the toilet holes and a trough. The market superintendent had himself escorted the naked boy to his chilly, dark prison, which was illuminated only by a few oil lamps attached to the damp walls. The nude 13 year-old, acutely unhappy that the official had ignored his desperate pleas for freedom in favour of a share of the young Bulgar's eventual selling price, was then left alone in the sinister place.

The weary Petŭr eventually sat on the cold stone, the chill from which quickly ran through his bare bottom to affect his whole form, which consequently began to shiver. In order therefore to try to retain some bodily warmth, the sorrowful, naked boy pulled his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms round his legs. The 13 year-old was to remain in this position in his solitude until finally he mercifully cried himself to sleep, after tearfully praying regularly for salvation from his miserable situation to the patron saints of his Bulgarian homeland, the Greek brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Both saints had, perhaps ironically given Petŭr's current circumstances, lived, studied and taught in Constantinople before being sent by the Byzantine Emperor to covert heathens in the Slav lands, including Bulgaria. In order to help spread the faith in such previously infidel countries, the two Greeks had invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which was named after Cyril.

Unfortunately for the boy incarcerated about 500 years after these events in the one of the holding cells of Constantinople's main slave market, the ears of the saints in heaven appeared to be currently deaf to Petŭr's desperate entreaties. In fact, the 13 year-old's life was, in the short term, to become even worse.

Petŭr's present dejection did not just stem from his current, very sad situation but also from alarm at a promise made to him by Dimitŭr before the fat merchant had left the slave market. The cruel trader had told the fearful boy "I'll be back, slut, to punish you for your insolence in protesting your right to freedom!"

Petŭr appreciated that Dimitŭr was not promising another beating, or the fat merchant would have inflicted that on him before he had departed. The highly intelligent boy astutely realised that, presumably because of the need not to cause visible damage and a possible resultant reduction in the 13 year-old's auction value, the cruel trader intended instead to hurt him in some other way. The clever young Bulgar also recognised that the sadistic man would be impatient to fulfil his foreboding vow and had therefore undoubtedly only left the slave market to collect some equipment from elsewhere before returning as quickly as possible.

The uncomfortable environment in which Petŭr now found himself, plus trepidation about Dimitŭr's sadistic intentions, caused the 13 year-old to sleep fitfully and experience nightmares. The latter tended to involve the terrible torture of his lovely boyish body through the use by the fat merchant of many exotically heinous devices.

In fact, Petŭr initially still thought that he was in the middle of one of these nightmares after being awakened from his slumber by a boot harshly tapping his bare young bottom. The boy's sleepy sensuous eyes had subsequently been looking for several moments at the instruments that were about to give him much grief before, to his utter horror, he finally realised that he was now truly conscious and that the tools concerned were not just a figment of his literally tortured imagination.

Petŭr was still remembering these traumatic events 2 days later, when he once more found himself on the auction block, with his freshly washed and groomed naked body again being intimately inspected by many eyes and prodded and probed by many hands. The boy possessed little obvious sign of recent, severe chastisement anywhere on his delightful nude form, apart from the fading marks of the slave-trader's crop, inflicted for insolence whilst last standing here. Nevertheless, the 13 year-old was not now protesting at his treatment, as he had previously done. The young Bulgar instead stood compliantly, eyes focused with seeming resigned disinterest on the far wall and whilst displaying his now usual humiliating fulsome erection, as the pre-sale examinations proceeded. The child had learnt a severe lesson and was therefore succumbing with meek silence to his fate.

"Yes, slut," a smiling Dimitŭr had declared in the holding cell 2 days previously, as he showed the instruments of penance to Petŭr, "these are indeed the tools that will fulfil my promise to punish you for your recent insolence!" As the boy later recalled these chilling words whilst later standing on the auction block, his naked body trembled with fright, a reaction noticed by the man currently inspecting and talking to a female companion about the nude 13 year-old.

The man had been feeling Petŭr's scrotum to check the whereabouts and nature of the balls within in order to judge the difficulty of castration. At 13 years old, the boy was older than normal for conversion into a eunuch but the servant suggested to the lady, in whose prosperous household he was employed, that the pretty young Bulgar's sexual organs should give up their testes with little problem.

On observing Petŭr's bare body tremble, the servant incorrectly suggested in Greek to his mistress "The boy must understand what we intend!" In fact, the 13 year-old was so resigned to his fate that he had not been listening.

Petŭr's mind, still traumatised by the events in the holding cell of 2 days previously, was instead focused on the long, sharp needles that Dimitŭr had then held in his hands.

(Bursa, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], same time)

The black eunuchs and their military colleagues back in Bursa now wondered how they were going to tell Bayezid I about his youngest son's disappearance without subsequently being horrifically put to death for their efforts. Many began to pray at local mosques and shrines of Muslim saints to encourage Allah to grant them mercy.

(Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], same time)

Fair-haired, blue-eyed Vladimir was leading dark-featured Mehmet and both were completely absorbed by the utter shame of arriving in Constantinople in chains and in the nude. The boys' extreme abashment and dejection at such a circumstance was compounded by the ribald remarks they received from many sailors and dock workers who crowded the dhow from which they were disembarking, as well as adjacent moored vessels and the quayside.

The abject humiliation of Mehmet was further compounded when his little cut cock rose to erection in response to the bawdy commentary. The boy could not fully understand the cause of this peculiar, disgraceful, physical phenomenon. However, the 8 year-old was astute enough to realise that his shameful genital display had somehow literally arisen because of incongruous excitement at appreciating the essence of the lewd remarks, which, despite being spoken in largely alien tongues, was obvious through associated body language. Meanwhile, Vladimir's similar distress was intensified not by penile unruliness but instead by the exposure of his gelded state.

Mehmet and Vladimir were coincidentally destined for the nearby slave market, where Petŭr was now being auctioned. The 13 year-old Bulgar was still thinking, as he was undergoing his shameful pre-sale scrutiny, about the horrors that Dimitŭr had inflicted upon him 2 days previously.

Each of Dimitŭr's slender needles possessed tiny metallic heads, rendering them similar in appearance to particularly thin and finely polished nails. The wickedly grinning fat merchant had held them up in the lamplight so that his appalled imminent young victim could fully appreciate their awful, cruel splendours.

On observing the glinting metal more fully, Petŭr, who was still sitting on the cool stone floor, had begun to beg for mercy, although he appreciated that his pleas would certainly go unheeded. The boy's supposition was quickly proved correct when Dimitŭr issued orders to the two sailors he had brought with him from the coastal barge that had transported them all to Constantinople. The men were as aggrieved as the fat merchant that the 13 year-old had been the cause of a 2-day delay before they could return home. All of the other goods that the smugglers had brought to the city had found eager buyers just after arrival.

"Hold the brat firmly now," the sadistic Dimitŭr ordered, "whilst I work out what part of his body I'm first going to use my needles on. There's so many I can select where the torture will leave no readily visible marks. For example, there's the slut's lips and tongue or even gums, where I'm sure I can locate a tender nerve. There are also his nipples, armpits and earlobes, as well as the ultimate highlight, his anus and sexual organs!"

"I'm sure, slut," Dimitŭr commented to the aghast Petŭr, as the petrified naked boy was dragged to his feet by the strong sailors, "that you're really looking forward to having one of my fine needles pricking your sphincter, penetrating your cock or piercing one of your balls!" Naturally, the horrified 13 year-old did not reply positively but instead engaged in even more desperate but fruitless entreaties for compassion.

The grinning Dimitŭr had happily responded "There'll be no pity for you, slut! Instead, I'll tell you what I'm about to do. I'm going to use my needles on all of the body parts I've mentioned. You'll then be too busy screaming to be begging for mercy!"

By now and despite Petŭr's struggles, the boy's lovely naked form had been presented by the two sailors for Dimitŭr's sadistic attention. The fat merchant, having temporarily laid all but one needle to the side, then gently ran his free hand over the 13 year-old's chest before harshly pinching the child's right nipple.

Petŭr now felt the point of the first needle pressing against the rosy papilla. This encouraged the boy to attempt to make one final plea for clemency. However, his intended words were never fully uttered, as a vociferous shriek instead emerged from his sweet lips when thin metal pierced his nipple.

The happy Dimitŭr then left the first needle firmly and cenrally embedded in Petŭr's anguished flesh, as a sort of trophy decoration, before picking up another and diverting his attention towards the boy's left nipple. Another scream soon resounded round the dark, dank cell, as this other papilla was fitted with its own metallic adornment and whilst little droplets of blood spilled from each fresh piercing.

Despite the fact that Petŭr's agonised eyes were now awash with tears, the boy then managed to notice the third needle being presented to his lachrymose face. "I'd now be very compliant and certainly wouldn't struggle too much, slut," the smiling Dimitŭr subsequently suggested, "or I might take one of your eyes out instead of piercing your lips, gum and tongue!"

Petŭr somehow managed to summon enough courage to follow Dimitŭr's suggestion, whilst the fat merchant attacked the boy's rosy lips with the needle, piercing them in several places before moving on to the 13 year-old's gums. However, although causing great pain, the penetration points were so diminutive that they would not have been discernible if minuscule droplets of blood had not been simultaneously created. The tiny wounds would also heal quickly and invisibly.

Petŭr, wary of accidental damage to his pretty but presently lachrymose face, eventually even obeyed Dimitŭr's demand for him to stick out his young tongue for further attention by the cruel needle. The fat merchant and his sailor accomplices later laughed at the sight of the metal tool penetrating right through the organ, preventing the soft, fleshy, muscular protuberance from returning to its oral home.

Fortunately for Petŭr, unlike his nipples, which were still decorated by needles, the cruel trader did not leave this latest instrument of torture in place for long. The sadistic man instead slid the thin metal carefully out of its temporary location and ordered his equally sadistic and amused sailor allies to lift the arms of the unhappy sobbing boy into the air.

The holding cell quickly resounded with yet more of Petŭr's shrieks, as the needle was subsequently harshly thrust several times into different parts of the boy's exposed armpits, from which some blood soon dribbled in several narrow lines down the sides of the 13 year-old's sublime torso. Foregoing his promised attack on the child's earlobes because of sudden impatience at wanting to attack more private parts, the excited Dimitŭr, hidden manly cock hard and throbbing within his trousers, then ordered his sailor accomplices to bend the young Bulgar over. "Now for some attention to your hole!" the fat merchant subsequently announced with happy relish.

The later pricking of Petŭr's delicate pink sphincter was as agonising as anything that the boy had suffered so far in this awful place but, as he endured the painful and abasing torture, the child correctly worried that there was worse to come. What the youngster rightly feared most was Dimitŭr giving his undivided sadistic attention to completely smooth 13 year-old genitalia.

When Dimitŭr eventually knelt before the relevant enchanting set of young male sexual organs, having finally become bored with torturing Petŭr's now slightly sanguine anal entrance, the fat merchant was instantly delighted, whilst his victim was again aghast. They both now realised that the associated penis was not only fully erect and almost vertically inclined but also drooling copious precum. To add to the boy's obvious intense abashment at this situation, the cruel trader teased "You seem, perverse slut, to be thoroughly enjoying your punishment. Well, let's see how much pleasure you gain when I pierce your penile skin and stick a needle into each of your balls!"

Petŭr's lovely but currently tortured body now really struggled against the firm hold that the sailors had gained on his arms but to no avail. The pretty boy also tried to raise his legs from the floor in an effort to protect his vulnerable and threatened sexual organs.

Unfortunately, the manacle fixed to one of Petŭr's slender ankles and connected to the ring embedded in the ground prevented that particular leg from rising very far. The fat merchant was also not put off his intended task by the elevation of the boy's other lower limb, which creeping tiredness would anyway soon lower.

Ignoring the one raised leg, Dimitŭr grabbed hold of Petŭr's erection with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, whilst, with his right digits, he guided the point of his now bloody needle towards the tender pink skin under the boy's rigid shaft. A subsequent scream and drop of blood falling onto the stone floor indicated that the fat merchant had pierced some of the penile under-surface near the engorged cockhead, which was currently busy dribbling more precum. However, the later careful withdrawal of the cruel trader's sharp instrument and its immediate repositioning further along the underneath of the young, throbbing member clearly demonstrated that the sadistic man was not to be satisfied with one such act.

In fact, the sadistic Dimitŭr punctured Petŭr's delicate penile underskin four more times before moving his attention to the upper surface of the agonised, tearful boy's erection. The fat merchant was to be rewarded by another loud chorus of anguished shrieking, as he now caused some droplets of blood to fall from this side of the 13 year-old's hard cock as well as from the underneath.

Such a noisy reaction to the penile torture encouraged the happy Dimitŭr to comment "I don't know why you're making so much clamour, perverse slut, as these pricks are just gentle teasing compared to what I'm now going to do to each of your balls!" Soon afterwards, Petŭr felt the fat merchant release the boy's still incongruously rigid young cock and instead rest the 13 year-old's smooth scrotum in his fat, manly palm.

Dimitŭr then began to fondle Petŭr's twin ball sacs in order to isolate the first testicle that was imminently to receive the attention of his needle. This chore was soon achieved. The fat merchant subsequently firmly held the little orb, hidden from view but not from his feel, between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand whilst he once more guided with his right the sharp and now bloody metal point towards the latest target.

"No, please no!" Petŭr now yelled as loudly as he could, whilst he felt the needle come to rest on the smooth young scrotal skin that now barely covered his left testis. "Yes, oh yes!" was Dimitŭr's sadistic reply, as he ignored the desperate entreaty and began instead to push the metal point into the boy's small ball. However, the 13 year-old, much to the disappointment of the fat merchant, was not to experience the full excruciation of such testicular torture, as he now fainted.

After the annoyed Dimitŭr had used some palm-carried water from the nearest trough to reawaken Petŭr, the boy almost lapsed into unconsciousness again, such was the extreme agony now experienced in his groin, where a needle was now firmly embedded in his scrotum. However, such a mercy was not to be permitted to the 13 year-old.

Instead, Petŭr was to witness Dimitŭr, who had left the first needle in the agonised boy's left ball, present another similar metal object to the appalled 13 year-old's right testicle. The young victim was also to experience the full excruciation of the penetration of this second testis, as this time he did not faint whilst the awful deed was done. Neither did he scream but he instead bit his already wounded tongue so much that more blood than was created by his earlier oral torture flowed from the sides of his lips.

Petŭr's body also gushed another fluid. In the midst of this terrible testicular torture, the boy's pretty form once more shook, this time with strange pleasure rather than pain, and the young Bulgar entered incongruous orgasm, with his hurting penis again spurting several thin streams of white ejaculate. However, probably fortunately for the 13 year-old's further welfare, Dimitŭr was now accustomed to and expectant of such genital unruliness and, noticing the signs of the child's imminent climax, managed to avoid being splashed by the resultant sperm. The fat merchant also decided that his young victim had suffered enough if permanent harm was not to be done and that he should therefore ignore his former apprentice's resumed sexual ill-disciple.

Dimitŭr eventually proudly backed away from the distraught, sobbing Petŭr to examine the results of his sadistic work. Some blood continued to dribble down the boy, from the 13 year-old's chin, chest, armpits, bumcrack and genitalia. The gradually softening cock of the child, whose nipples and scrotum were still decorated by needle piercings, was also dripping residual cum.

Dimitŭr then decided to inflict upon the acutely suffering Petŭr a psychological coup de grace in order to ensure that the child now proceeded compliantly to his enslavement in 2 days. The fat merchant proposed to achieve his aim by threatening the 13 year-old's entire boyhood.

"Now, perverse slut," Dimitŭr announced, "if, in 2 days, you still protest your right not to be sold as a slave, I'll not only return you here for a repeat punishment but also arrange to sell you privately. I understand that there's some Chinese merchants in Constantinople, who've journeyed all the way from their homeland to trade their silks."

"They usually like to return along the Silk Road with pretty boys," Dimitŭr advised, "whom, because of the nature of the Chinese market, the merchants always convert into eunuchs by cutting off the whole of their genitals. If you don't want me sell you privately to such merchants so that you end up as one of these nullified slaves on the other side of the known world, I suggest that instead you let yourself be sold quietly in this place in 2 days' time!"

Dimitŭr now recognised that he did not need to await Petŭr's reply to his suggestion. The fat merchant could tell, from the tearful boy's current abject facial expressions and body language, that the 13 year-old had now accepted his ultimate fate, for the child's mannerisms indicated final complete surrender to the cruel trader's will.

Dimitŭr instead advanced towards the deeply distressed Petŭr again in order finally to remove, to accompanying loud whimpering, the four needles still piercing the boy's nipples and balls. The restraining sailors then immediately released their tight hold on the acutely anguished 13 year-old, who reacted by crashing to the cool stone floor in spiritless misery and pain.

Soon afterwards, the disconsolate Petŭr felt splashes of gooey fluid drop onto his hurting, naked body, which was now lying on the cold ground. The boy looked up and was just in time to receive several more spurts of similar creamy liquid fall onto his lachrymose face.

Dimitŭr and the sailors had released their manly cocks from within the confines of their untidy trousers in order to masturbate over Petŭr's nude prone form. The trio had cum almost simultaneously, with the fat merchant gaining the satisfaction of further despoiling the boy's face, this time with his adult semen as opposed to the child's own tears and blood.

Having returned their softening cocks to their smelly trousers, Dimitŭr and his companions then left the sobbing, naked boy alone to enjoy his enduring shame and suffering and await his destiny. However, as Petŭr stood humiliatingly nude on the upstairs auction block 2 days later, the 13 year-old had not been so traumatised by his humiliation and torture in the basement holding cell to forget the prayers that he had whispered to himself during the lonely aftermath.

Petŭr had prayed to the patron saints of his homeland to give him the opportunity, someday and somehow, to gain appropriate revenge against the evil Dimitŭr. The perceptive boy appreciated that his wishes were unlikely to be granted. After all, the fat merchant would be returning to Bulgaria, further enriched, whilst the 13 year-old would be remaining as a slave in Constantinople.

Nevertheless, the young victim of the cruel trader's wickedness believed that there was no harm in at least pleading and hoping for a saintly miracle.

(Delhi, India, same time)

Ahmed had occasionally mischievously teased his eunuch slave and best friend, Krishnan, with the title of 'Sadhu' ever since they had both seen the eponymous naked, saintly, holy men of Banaras, who ceremonially mutilated their own publicly exposed genitalia, as a demonstration to their gods of their faithful chastity.

"But you're a saint to me," Ahmed protested in reply, whilst displaying another of his completely disarming smiles.

Naturally and as usual, Krishnan could only instantly lose his annoyance, as a result of Ahmed's kind comment and heavenly grin.

(Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], same time)

Consequently, the Arab merchant speeded the two young nudes through the dockside area, guiding the boys by a chain lead attached to the metal collar now temporarily sported by the leading boy, Vladimir, who was similarly connected to another such adornment on the trailing Mehmet. The journey was short but nonetheless still deeply shameful to the pretty 8 year-olds because of their maintained nakedness and the continued obscene ribaldry from many passers-by.

Mehmet was especially distressed that his body, which was that of the heir to the Ottoman throne, should be so disgracefully exposed to such viewing and lewdness and that his little cut cock was still rigidly unruly, as he endured such opprobrium. Vladimir, who had been accustomed to some public nudity when originally sold as a slave, was more anguished about the dishonour of having his gelded genitalia exposed to public gaze.

Reaching the enclosed confines of the slave market brought Mehmet and Vladimir no comfort. The scene was very crowded and the naked boys astutely realised where they were and that they would soon undoubtedly appear on an auction block for intimate scrutiny by prospective purchasers.

Mehmet and Vladimir were not to be proven wrong. The Arab merchant quickly made the appropriate arrangements for immediate sale of his young nude charges with the market superintendent. Coincidentally, the scene for the eventual sale of the two boys was to be the same as for Petŭr's recent, finally successful enslavement.

Petŭr had eventually pleased Dimitŭr enormously, partly by behaving and ultimately fetching a very high price. The boy had been bought, on behalf of an enormously rich and important master, by an exceedingly well groomed and dressed elderly eunuch, who was afforded much respect by other prospective purchasers, as well as by the market officials.

As well as obtaining an excellent price for the 13 year-old, the other part of Dimitŭr's pleasure in eventually selling Petŭr was sadistic enjoyment gained from certain local knowledge. The fat merchant presumed that the eunuch buyer would soon be overseeing the conversion of his new boy purchase into someone like himself, without balls.

The eunuch had manhandled Petŭr with expertise, knowing how to appraise boy flesh skilfully from decades of experience. However, he also knew how to assess other characteristics well and it was this type of judgement that really resulted in his decision to buy the 13 year-old.

Despite the virtual disappearance of the various minuscule wounds caused by Dimitŭr's needles, the eunuch could tell that Petŭr had been recently carefully tortured, presumably to make the boy stand compliantly today on the auction block. He also noticed something in the 13 year-old's blue eyes, as he subjected the child to the indignity of intimate manual and visual examination, including the most careful scrutiny and fondling of the young Bulgar's currently intact and rampant genitalia.

In fact, the look in Petŭr's eyes had been the prime reason for the eunuch's decision to buy the boy. Coincidentally, Mehmet and Vladimir now displayed similar ocular traits, as they took turns to stand on the same auction block on which the 13 year-old Bulgar had so recently been sold into foreboding slavery.

When Mehmet and Vladimir had still been incarcerated in the hold of the Arab dhow, they had agreed that it would be best for their own safety to continue for as long as possible not to tell anyone about their real identities. Their decision had not just arisen because, if the truth was revealed, their abductors would undoubtedly secretly kill and dispose of the boys in order to try to protect themselves against Bayezid I's wrath. The 8 year-olds were also concerned that their ultimate destination might be somewhere like Constantinople, where the population would be very hostile, not least because of local suffering endured at the hands of the belligerent Ottoman Turks.

On eventual discovery that Constantinople was their destination, Mehmet and Vladimir fully appreciated that a son of the hated Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid I, who had been responsible for much recent humiliation and distress in the city, would not be welcome. In fact, knowledge of the boy's capture might cause an angry mob to seek instant, horrific vengeance on the young prince and his similarly aged eunuch slave.

Mehmet and Vladimir were clever and mature enough to realise that the Byzantine Emperor himself would undoubtedly adopt an entirely different attitude to that of his aggrieved people. Manuel II Palaeologus would not kill the boys but would instead sensibly use the young captives as bargaining chips in negotiations with Bayezid I. However, the 8 year-olds recognised that, if they prematurely revealed their identities to someone whose reaction they could not trust, they could first fall into the hands of a resentful mob. The great city was known to have experienced such murderous crowds quite often throughout the millennium of its existence as an Imperial capital.

Mehmet and Vladimir understandably wanted to be sure that they would live long enough to secure Imperial protection. The boys also entertained some hope that somehow they could escape from captivity whilst their true status was still unknown, and so not further disgrace themselves by becoming Manuel II Palaeologus' hostages. However, both also agreed that they could not maintain their secret if a threat arose to them staying together. Despite their tender ages and the mutual dangers, the intensely close friendship between the two 8 year-olds meant that they were unwaveringly prepared to risk death rather than be separated.

Later, as the now unchained Mehmet was made to suffer the same intimate inspection and handling as Petŭr had endured earlier in the same location, the 8 year-old, still firmly erect Ottoman prince felt that his degradation could not possibly ever become worse. However, Vladimir, standing adjacent on the auction block to be simultaneously examined, was slightly less disturbed, as the young Slav had already experienced the demeaning procedure elsewhere.

Over 4 years previously, the fresh young Slav captive, Vladimir, had been bought at auction by one of Bayezid I's eunuchs. The newly enslaved infant had subsequently been castrated himself in order to serve Mehmet in the Sultan's inner palace in Edirne, which was closely associated with the harem.

As Vladimir's unchained, pretty, naked, gelded form was now once more being closely prodded and probed, the selfless boy's worries did not concern himself but rather his young master and friend. The young Slav naturally hoped that he and Mehmet would not be sold separately, which would prompt the dangerous disclosure of their real identities. However, the 8 year-old's bright mind was currently concentrating on another serious worry that could trigger the same perilous revelation.

Appreciating the Byzantine taste for eunuchs, the thoughts within Vladimir's mind entirely focused on the ability of Mehmet to retain his young balls, which might be very important for future Ottoman lineage.

(Great Palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], next day)

If John had opened and looked through the door, he would have noticed two, newly purchased, naked young slaves being readied for their castration in order to begin lives as palace eunuchs. However, the prince, alarmed and a little frightened by the noise, decided that what was happening inside the room was none of his business. The 7 year-old therefore walked on past the scene of the young duo's imminent gelding.

Petŭr, who was already immovably bound to the bloodstained castration table inside the room, was not the source of the loud entreaties, which had been overheard by 7 year-old John whilst the Imperial castrator had simultaneously introduced his well-used knife to the 13 year-old Bulgar's genitals. The vulnerable scrotum of the proficiently gagged, gorgeous anatomy of the older boy was already dark in colour, as the twin ball sacs had previously been tightly tied round their base with thin leather cord.

A petrified Mehmet, who was nearby, firmly held between the resolutely strong arms of a pair of Imperial guards whilst waiting his turn on the sanguine tabletop, was instead the source of the desperate pleas. The threat to the 8 year-old's boyhood had, of course, caused the young prince to reveal his real identity to an elderly palace eunuch. The young Ottoman's willingness to reveal his true status was assisted by the fact that he was obviously in the residence of the Byzantine Emperor and therefore safe from any vengeful mob.

The elderly eunuch had bought Mehmet, Vladimir and Petŭr for palace service. Pretty slave boys were fairly commonplace at market. However, much rarer were youngsters whose eyes revealed some residual lively spirit regardless of their degrading situations.

Despite the superficial quiescence displayed by Mehmet, Vladimir and Petŭr whilst being auctioned, the elderly eunuch had been attracted by this, to his expert gaze, clearly mutually shared vivacious characteristic. The attribute would be important for the specific Imperial role for which the trio had been purchased.

Unfortunately for Mehmet's boyhood, the elderly eunuch ignored the 8 year-old's entreaties, even though Vladimir had supported the desperate child's assertion about his true status. The young Slav slave's sexual organs, unlike those of the Ottoman prince, would not, of course, currently have need of the castration knife, as he was already without balls.

The elderly eunuch would probably have dismissed Mehmet's revelation as a desperate, immaturely silly attempt to avoid castration, even if the palace official or any of his colleagues had understood any of the Turkish spoken by the unilingual boy and the similarly aged and linguistically restricted Slav purchase. Vladimir had forgotten both the identity and language of his original homeland, having been captured and enslaved at only 3 years of age.

The palace officials knew none of the Turkish tongue and so the revealing pleas of both Mehmet and Vladimir were incorrectly misinterpreted as being mere begging for mercy and therefore went completely unheeded. Despite the fact that the intelligent young boys involved in this dilemma had recognised the reason behind their frustrating inability to communicate their message, they could not formulate a resolution to the problem. Moreover, their personal situation was now made worse by their temporary separation, as the presence of the already gelded 8 year-old Slav slave was, of course, not required in the Imperial castration chamber.

As the sorrowful Vladimir therefore waited elsewhere for the return of his prince, the young Slav, who had been converted to Islam after his original enslavement, begged Allah and various Muslim saints to somehow protect Mehmet. Meanwhile, the young Ottoman was coincidentally, but perhaps quite naturally in the circumstances, similarly praying, as was Petŭr, although the 13 year-old's pleas for similar salvation were to sacred Christian entities.

Petŭr's anguished mind was then suddenly distracted from prayer, as his lovely, firmly bound 13 year-old body again entered incongruously pleasurable, vibrating orgasm. The boy's frequently unruly cock, which was now hard and throbbing, whilst being held for safety reasons by the Imperial castrator, once more erupted with much sperm.

Nevertheless, the gushing, creamy ejaculate was guided harmlessly out of the way by the expert castrator, who was both unconcerned about and expectant of such a penile event. The man caused the copious, white orgasmic product to splash inoffensively, in a fountain-like arc, onto Petŭr's cute belly and chest.

The gelding knife of the Imperial castrator then proceeded to slice further into Petŭr's smooth scrotum.

(Great Palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], 1 week later)

"Have you done as I suggested?" 46 year-old Manuel asked gently of the much younger and beautiful Helena, whom he truly loved. The Empress replied affirmatively.

"Well," Manuel then commented, "let's hope that the result is an end to John's little adventurous escapades or one day our lovely second son could encounter real trouble when he wanders off alone from his rooms!"

(Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], shortly afterwards)

The first great church on the site was built in the 4^th century AD by Constantius, the son of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, but, after a short troubled history, this was finally burned down completely during riots in 532. The building was then rebuilt in essentially its present form over the next 5 years under the personal supervision of Justinian I, and is a supreme example of early Byzantine religious architecture.

The architects, Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, professors of geometry at the university of Constantinople, topped their great building with a central dome, representing the vault of heaven. This feature was 110 feet in diameter, and was therefore deliberately wider than that of the Pantheon in Rome.

The architects cleverly solved the problem of resting such a circular dome onto a rectangular base using four 'pendentives'. The latter are concave triangular sections of masonry that pass the weight onto to massive piers at each corner.

Between the pendentives, the dome appears to float upon four great arches, whilst an associated arcade of 40 arched windows helps to flood the interior of the cathedral with light, adding magnificently to the ornate, colourful scene within. Smaller half-domes are situated at the western and eastern ends of the basilica, such spectacular roof arrangements making the building unique in antiquity.

The exterior of the cathedral displayed simple stuccoed walls, designed to highlight the splendours of the domes and vaults. Meanwhile, all interior surfaces were sheathed with polychrome marbles, mainly green and white with purple porphyry, and magnificent mosaics and iconic wall coverings. In fact, the basilica was so richly decorated that Justinian I is alleged to have boasted "Νενίκηκά σε Σολομών", or "Solomon, I have surpassed you!"

By Manuel II Palaeologus' era, the great cathedral, with its predecessor church, had been for over a millennium the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and a principal setting for Imperial ceremonies. The architecture of the basilica had also been the model for many other places of worship throughout eastern Christendom, most notably in Russia, where soaring but narrower domes top many beautiful buildings.

The reason for such architectural copying was that the ecclesiastical see of Constantinople was the mother church of eastern Christianity. The early organisation of the faith had involved five patriarchies, namely that of this city plus those of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. However, the latter three metropolises had subsequently fallen to Muslim invaders and in 1054 the Roman Church had broken away in the 'Great Schism'. The liturgies evolved locally within the ceremonial splendours of the Imperial Byzantine court provided the distinct elegance and grandeur that Orthodox ritual possesses to this day, in contrast to the more restrained sacraments of other traditions.

The splendid, currently crowded cathedral was now the venue for another of these elaborate rituals, as the Emperor and his wife slowly walked down the wide central nave beneath the basilica's main dome, the centre of which was about 210 feet above their crowned heads. Amongst those also present alongside Constantinople's other elite were the 80 priests, 150 deacons, 60 sub-deacons, 160 readers, 25 cantors and 75 doorkeepers, who all served in the Hagia Sophia. Some of these church officials were chanting, whilst others rang bells and swayed incense burners to pervade the holy atmosphere with exotic sounds and scents.

John, dressed in appropriate, rich and colourful princely vestments with bejewelled Imperial diadem, whilst accompanying his similarly attired father and mother as they marched slowly up the nave in ceremonial formation, was, as usual, fascinated by his surrounds. However, the boy with the sky blue eyes was not looking forward to the long rituals that were to come. Instead, the very pretty fair-haired 7 year-old could hardly wait to return to the palace, where promised presents from his parents would be awaiting him.

John was not supposed to have any idea as what the presents were to be because his father and mother had teasingly declined to tell him. However, the lovely boy did not mind too much, as not knowing usually made the waiting all the more exiting.

(Palace of the Ming Emperor, Nanjing, China, same time)

The resplendent palace in which Chi Le served was located in the current capital of China, Nanjing, where he now expected to remain for life in the closeted world of the Imperial residence. The 11 year-old did not, of course, presently know that his future was to prove far more adventurous, thanks to his eventual acquaintance with a couple of historically significant people, one of whom was now resident in Beijing, whilst the other led a rather more nomadic existence.

(Near Yasi [modern town of Turkestan in Kazakhstan], Timurid Empire, same time)

Tamerlane had ordered the search as soon as he had been told by a worried Arman that young Teimuraz had not returned from his horse-ride. However, the conqueror had been travelling only with a relatively small escort and so the numbers of cavalrymen involved were not great, especially when compared to the vast plain on which the 14 year-old had disappeared 9 days previously.

The first theory relating to the missing Teimuraz was that the very pretty 14 year-old's horse might have become lame or he might have fallen from the steed and injured himself. However, no sight of boy or animal had worryingly so far been found.

Capture by raiding Mongols had then become the second theory. However, no such raiders had been reported by anyone living in the locality, and the destructive presence of such a force would surely have been revealed by now.

Some peaceful nomads had been reported in the area but they were not known for being unfriendly. Consequently, the reason for Teimuraz's disappearance was currently a complete mystery to Tamerlane and his boys, all of whom prayed for the 14 year-old's recovery alive.

As it seemed appropriate to do so, even the Christians, Vissarion, Nicolai and Teimuraz's older brother, Todo, and the Zoroastrian, Rahu, included prayers to the local Muslim saint, Hodja Ahmad Yasewi.

(Palace of the Prince of Yan, Beijing, China, same time)

The Prince, however, was much too ambitious to be happy with ruling a mere province and so, as he rather impatiently awaited his ageing father's death, he was already formulating plans to become much more powerful.

(Central Asian steppe, north of Yasi [modern Kazakhstan], fringes of the Timurid Empire, same time)

To check on his captive's welfare, the shaman had entered the back of the covered ox-driven cart, which carried Teimuraz and was heading, with the rest of the small nomadic group, north into the vast steppe towards distant tribal summer pastures. Then, in order to give the boy some water, the man had removed the gag, placed in the almost immovably bound 14 year-old's mouth to ensure silence when he woke from his drugged sleep. The summer sun overhead meant that the inside of the covered cart became very hot indeed, as the vehicle bumpily rolled across the immense plain.

After consuming the much-needed water, Teimuraz had taken the opportunity of the removal of his gag to protest his kidnapping, as well as the humiliating loss of his clothing. In response, the shaman apologised almost politely for his action but then excused it by advising the horrified boy that the 14 year-old's lovely naked body was needed to make medicines for his people.

"When we reunite with the rest of our tribe at our traditional summer pastures," the shaman informed, "there'll be various ailments for me to treat. I'll therefore need at least some of your fresh body parts to make the relevant medicines. For example, your testes will certainly be used to cure infertility, which is a tribal curse at present amongst many of our women. Meanwhile, your empty scrotal sac and now suddenly virtually useless penis will be used to produce a potion to improve virility!"

The shaman then took the precaution of re-gagging the aghast, loudly protesting Teimuraz in order to restore tranquillity, at least in terms of noise if not in respect of the terrible thoughts now searing the boy's distressed mind, before happily continuing to provide information about the 14 year-old's destiny. "Naturally, the elderly man subsequently disclosed, "I'll keep you alive for as long as possible, in order to keep your organs as fresh as possible, after I begin to extract important bits of your insides. You see, child, I'll do so in such a way that your vitals are only removed last!"

"Rest assured though," the shaman concluded before clambering back out of the wagon, "your sacrifice, like that of all of the abducted children who've predeceased you over the years at my sacred hands, will be greatly appreciated by my people and gods. Oh, and by the way, thank you for my new horse. It's a splendid steed!"

The nude, sobbing, petrified Teimuraz was somehow not comforted by the departing shaman's assurance or thanks. The 14 year-old Georgian instead began to pray to the patron saint of his homeland, St. George, to influence the Christian God to secure his salvation.

(Near Yasi [modern town of Turkestan in Kazakhstan], Timurid Empire, same time)

(Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], same time)

Bayezid I did not, however, remain long in Edirne. The Sultan quickly set out for Bursa to take personal charge of the search for his young heir and the execution of those responsible for the prince's disappearance, who had been demonstrably incompetent enough to allow the event to happen in the first place.

Because most of Bayezid I's army was either still in the Balkans or guarding his large empire, for his search the Sultan could only call upon his personal white eunuch and Janissary bodyguards, supplemented by some soldiers gathered from garrisons encountered en-route to and in Bursa. Consequently, whilst in Edirne, the Ottoman ruler, knowing that he might need as much help as possible, summoned the instructors and pupils from the local acemi oglan to help him.

Accordingly, a certain multi-national group of highly excited 9 year-olds, who had only just learnt to ride, soon found themselves on the backs of ponies, heading southeast towards the port of Gallipoli. The unofficial but now natural joint leaders of this particular assemblage of boys were, of course, Kiril and Zoran.

On the way to Bursa, Bayezid I, with his unusual military entourage, passed some Tűrbes, which are cenotaph tombs of Muslim saints. Although in a hurry, the Sultan nevertheless spent a little time in respectful prayer at each, begging Allah to ensure the wellbeing of his youngest son.

(Great Palace, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [modern Istanbul in Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Coincidentally standing beneath an ornate icon of the 9^th century Ignatius of Constantinople, who was the first undoubted eunuch saint, an elderly emasculated official introduced John to his gifts. The man announced "The older slave, Majesty, speaks improving Greek. The younger two are slowly learning our language but all have been instructed in the proficient performance of their duties and the potential unfortunate consequences of any ineptitude."

"Their names, Majesty," the elderly palace eunuch advised, "are respectively Petŭr, Mehmet and Vladimir. However, you, Majesty, can, of course, call them anything you want!"

(Central Asian steppe [modern Kazakhstan], north of the Timurid Empire, 1 week later)

Teimuraz prayed again to Saint George for salvation, although somehow the boy knew that he was not going to be lucky on this third occasion that his masculinity was seriously endangered. The 14 year-old gained this perspective from his current position, immovably strapped naked, spreadeagled and face-up, on a sturdy, heavily bloodstained trellis table, whose wooden legs were carved with the shapes of exotic mythical animals.

The table had been situated under the hot overhead sun in the clean open air of the vast steppe pasture on which the nomads, who had abducted Teimuraz, had met and encamped for the summer with the rest of their large Mongol tribe. The frightened, bound and now gagged boy could hear the sounds, incongruously peacefully pleasant in the circumstances, of bellowing animals and excited young children playing nearby, all of who were completely disinterested in his harrowing predicament. However, the 14 year-old was also surrounded by many people of the opposite attitude, who were thoroughly looking forward to watching their shaman castrate another fresh, healthy young captive.

Teimuraz's penis was humiliatingly hard and throbbing, whilst pointing vertically towards the cloudless sky, with a little clear precum oozing out of the cockhead. The base of the boy's smooth scrotum had already been tightly bound. The local anatomical scene was therefore much darker in hue than normal by the time that the shaman, grasping the rampant penile shaft to safeguard the young erection during the imminent ritual, introduced his own, very well used knife to the middle of the 14 year-old's genital sac.

The shaman, expert in the procedure, was then too alert to allow himself to be sprayed by Teimuraz's ejaculate when, to much accompanying laughter from the large crowd of appreciative spectators, his imminent young victim's gorgeous body now shook in intense, productive orgasm.

NEXT PART