The Sultanah Ch. 01

"Get back you...devil!" I shouted, trying to sound fierce. My voice cracked and broke, still exhausted from screaming into the night. I rolled over onto my back, trying to get away from my assailant. I was ready to kick and bite. I, like the men of Şehir, would die fighting.

"Quiet you fool!" a voice called in the darkness. I realized that the voice sounded familiar and was certainly not the voice of a soldier. I stopped thrashing and looked toward my assailant.

"Cin?" I asked. The priestess stepped out of the shadow cast by the stars and the bell.

"Yes, you must awaken," she said, without further ceremony. She walked over toward me and stuck out her hand. I grasped it and Cin easily pulled me to my feet. Her hand felt hot, almost like fire, and I broke the grip instantly.

"What has happened Cin? Have we been overrun? Are we to make our escape? Is Kardes with you? And Nislani?" I felt so terrified about all the things I did not know that I began asking them all at once. I listened out into the city, trying to make out where the looting was occurring, but it was quiet, a fog (or smoke) hung low over the city.

"Silence!" Cin stopped me. I took a deep breath and leaned back against one of the pillars holding up the tower.

"What is happening Cin?" I asked, more calmly now. The priestess nodded slightly.

"The militia arrived at the Duke's gate just as the guards were starting to falter. You father and brothers also arrived with their skilled troops. At the North and South gates, the enemies who had breached the walls were killed or driven back and the guards were able to close the portcullises. The free guards then rushed to the Duke's gate. The fighting there lasted for hours and ebbed and flowed both directions. About an hour ago, Prince Lider was slightly wounded and was pulled from the front. The enemy believed that King Sican had been killed and panicked. They escaped out of the gate, which was shut behind them. It is now less than an hour before dawn and the city is silent," Cin related the tale of night's battle in almost a bored tone, as though she'd known the results for a long time. Perhaps she did.

"So we won!" I said, "We threw the enemy back?" I giggled and clapped my hands. I could not believe it. They had maintained total surprise, but we'd managed to stop them anyway. Despite numbers, despite skill, despite everything! The Empire was not spent yet!

"They are not defeated. The enemy still camps outside the gates. They lost today, but they are still a mighty host and intend to besiege the city," Cin explained. A draw more than a victory. But, in this case, a draw was a victory. I breathed easily for the first time since my sister's party. Maybe earlier than that.

"It is hard to besiege this city. We still have access to the rivers. We can eat. Father will lead us through," I said, suddenly esteeming my father's abilities more highly than before. He had finally won a great victory, just as he'd always dreamed.

"Sultan Kral IV is dead," Cin said coldly, "As are his sons Ilkolu and Kafasiz, all died bravely in battle defending the city. They fought without armor for there was not time to get dressed. Had they paused to prepare themselves for battle they may have lived, but lost the city. Instead, they died but achieved at least a temporary victory. Ülke lives today, because they died."

For a moment, it was as if Cin had not spoken. The words reached my ears, but failed to penetrate my thoughts. Instead, I thought of Ilkolu, my older brother, carrying me on his shoulders as a small child during a fair so that I could see a man breathing fire. I thought of Kafasiz, my younger brother, as a tiny infant urinating on a nurse when she tried to change his diaper (sending me, a small girl at the time, into uncontrollable laughter). Finally, I thought of my father's final words to me before he left, "I love you all. Without exception." It was when I heard those words again, in memory, that the meaning of Cin's words struck me. They were gone.

"Dead?" I asked, but I no longer had doubts. My father and his sons were gone. The Sultan and the two heirs to Bütün Dünya were no more. I dropped to my knees on the platform. I felt tears in my eyes, but I lacked the strength even to cry. Victory was more demoralizing that defeat. The empire lived so that it might die shortly.

"Their troubles are over, but yours are just beginning," Cin said, walking around the bell until she was standing right in front of me, "There is no time for this, we must go!"

"My sisters..."

"They live, they are in the palace as we speak," Cin replied and I felt some comfort for that, "But you and your family are not safe. You must follow me immediately, down stairs to the Hall."

"What...?" I asked, sounding faraway (and still raspy). Cin reached down and slapped me hard. I shook my head, and looked up at her, my mouth open. I was desperately confused. Cin looked at her, her eyes shining brightly. There was no malice on her face, only anxiety.

"The 'great men' of the Ülke are meeting in the City Hall below us as we speak. They decided not to meet at the palace in light of the fact that you and your sisters should be there mourning. They do not know you are here. But it is well that they are not in the palace, for they seek to bury the Hanedan dynasty and the walls of that place would fall down on top of them. No one is there to speak for your family or for the Empire. You must follow me, we must prevent disaster."

"There are no heirs..." I said, "My father had no siblings, nor did his father. Distant cousins... I do not know..." I said.

"Let the lords make their arguments for themselves, you must get down there," Without further remonstration, Cin grabbed my hand. It still felt incredibly hot to the touch and was viselike. I had no choice; Cin quickly pulled me to my feet and then started to drag me down the stairs.

As we wound our way down the spiral staircase, I tried to come to terms with what Cin had told me. The changes that had been wrought in my life in a manner of hours were startling. My dynasty was at an end. My father and brothers were dead. Some sort of meeting was occurring in the room below and Cin wanted me to do something about it. What was I supposed to do? What was my purpose now?

In a few minutes Cin had led us down the stairs. Without pausing, she took me through a narrow hallway that led from the tower to the Hall, and she guided us towards the door. She then threw it open and marched inside. She dragged me in after her. As my eyes adjusted to the candlelight I could see that the hall, formerly a hall for the Sultans, had row upon row of ancient wooden benches. Upon those benches sat the Peers of the Realm. The heads of the great families of Ülke. Most lived in the city now, and those that did not had arrived for the wedding.

There must've been 400 men in the hall, most were bleeding, some severely. They turned and looked at me as I walked into the hall and I became acutely aware that I was nearly naked, wearing only my corset and bloomers. The men did not leer at me, they were far too exhausted and, I saw in their eyes, scared. Their world, it seemed, was crashing down on them as well. Their Sultan was also dead.

"Cin, what is the meaning of this? This is no place for women or girls," A voice from the dais in the front of the hall commanded. My eyes followed to the front of the room and I saw Duke Hain standing behind the City-Mayor's (as opposed to the Lord-Mayor, my late father) podium. He was a hulking man, nearly fifty but still built like an ox. His ugly mouth was curled into a snarl, exposing his crumbling teeth. He was the Duke of Şehir and therefore, the master of the city and the most powerful of my father's vassals. He was caked in blood and gore and did not appear happy to see me.

"Duke Hain, I am Priestess of Gunes and this is, of course, Princess Varis. We are not mere women and neither of us are girls," Cin said, "We as the representatives of Gunes and the Hanedan dynasty are here by right."

"There is no time for this nonsense," Duke Hain charged, "Sultan Kral IV is dead and so are his heirs. We, the Peers of Ülke must determine a course for the future." There was a low rumble of agreement within the room.

"What time? Why must we rush? When we rush, we make decisions we may regret," Cin stated and there was a murmur of agreement for her as well. Hain did not appear amused.

"There is no 'we.' You and that girl are not a part of this discussion," Hain replied, "And rush? This is not a rush, this is prudence. There is an enemy at the gate that outnumbers us 10 to 1. We have no Sultan. We are a broken people. This meeting must act quickly and decide on a course of action." Once again the crowd agreed. Cin, still holding my hand began to walk up through the narrow walkway between the benches in the hall. I saw the men's eyes follow me as we moved forward. I felt that I was in over my head and wanted desperately to leave. But Cin was insistent. In a matter of moments, we stood together on top of the dais, next to Hain, who fumed.

"What are our options?" Cin asked, once again implying that she and I maintained an interest in the deliberations. Before Hain could reply, a voice called out from the crowd.

"There are no choices. We are defeated. Perhaps we may ask Prince Lider to honor his betrothal and accept the Sultanate as his dowry," the man suggested. This produced hardy agreement.

"Anything else would surely be worse," Hain replied. This was the plan. To beg my father's murderers to fuck my sister. I felt my face becoming red. No one was willing to fight?

"We must fight," I said, not sure where the urge to speak came from, but I could not help it. The men turned their gaze to me. Some laughed, but most looked at me queerly. It was like they were...hopeful. Perhaps there was some fight in this room. They just needed someone to lead them. I hoped Cin was up to the task.

"We have no legitimate right to resist," Hain said, though he addressed the crowd, not me directly, "Our right to resist is based on sanctity of the throne. With no occupant, the throne is now open. The list of contenders is long, Princess Varis has many distant cousins. Sican has as good a right as many others. We might as well give it to his son and avoid further bloodshed," Hain said.

"Sican is not a member of the Hanedan Dynasty!" I said, scandalized by the thought that the insolent whelp would ever be considered for my family's throne. A historical throne going to the son of a backstabbing pirate! The absolute dishonor! I felt heat on my cheeks and spoke before thinking. But it needed to be said.

"His great, great, great grandmother was..." Hain began.

"I don't care if Tanri was his father, he is not of the Hanedan Dynasty!" I shouted back and I heard some sounds of support from the crowd. Once again, I was surprised to find myself speaking. I had thought Cin was going to speak the entire time, but I found that I could not avoid my position. My father and my brothers were dead and my sisters were not present. Someone had to speak for the family and, if there was no one else, that person had to be me. Cin was not a Hanedan either.

"The Hanedan Dynasty, despite its past glory, is extinguished," Hain said coolly. Now he was looking at me. His cold, lizard eyes driving the point home, "The line is dead. The empire is dead. We must cut our losses. There are no direct male descendants. No one can produce a legitimate heir."

I looked around the room now and saw eyes dart away from me as I found them. I had arrived at a funeral for my family and while most of the men in the room were sad to see the Empire die, they were ready to give up to save themselves. Besides, as Hain had stated, they lacked anything to rally around. They needed a leader and a symbol of sovereign legitimacy and they had neither.

My eyes now shifted from the crowd back onto the stage. I was thinking about Hain's last words. The need for heirs. Direct male descendants. I found myself looking directly at Cin. The world seemed to slow down for a moment. I could see her bright eyes staring directly at me. Her face was blank, but it seemed suffused with meaning. Like she was trying to tell me something but without words or motion. At that instant, the sun first peaked above the horizon. I felt the light hit my eyes as it leaked into the east-facing window of the hall. At first it was blinding and I almost shielded my eyes. But then, I felt something strange, and dropped my hands to my side. It was like the rays of the sun spread knowledge with its warmth. In an instant, I realized what it was that Cin was trying to convey to me. How did she know? But she must've known, what else could that look mean? I felt my stomach knot and my pulse quicken. But, without further spot, I spoke.

"I am a legitimate heir to the Hanedan Dynasty," I said in an impossibly small voice, "My heirs will be legitimate." I heard my words waft out into the crowd, carrying over the silence. For a long minute, nothing happened. Then I heard a snort, following by a guffaw. Hain was laughing. I turned and faced him. But even as I did so, I heard other men laughing. It seemed that the entire hall was laughing at me. Even those who had cheered in support of my earlier sentiments. Perhaps laughing harder than they would have otherwise because of the tension they felt in that moment. Hain wiped a tear from his eye.

"This is not Anaerki, only men can be Sultan of Ülke. No woman has ever sat on the throne, and none will" Hain replied and the men's laughter started to subside.

'Well you claim that Ülke is dead, perhaps it is better to break tradition that to die," I offered. I was not ready to fight yet. The men had all stopped laughing now and I hoped they were thinking about my words.

"Ülke is no longer land, it is no longer armies, it is no longer power. Ülke is tradition," Hain said solemnly, "Better to let it die with honor than let a little girl piss it away." The crowd nodded in agreement, though they did not seem enthusiastic. I turned and looked at Cin, feeling hopeless. If they wouldn't accept me as a female heir (and why would they I guess, I wasn't even the eldest daughter), I needed to do something further. My stomach, already knotted, flipped. I felt like I could barely breathe, my throat was tight. Cin looked back at me coolly. She made no movements, but she never took her eyes off of me. I knew what she wanted, any doubts about her knowledge evaporated now. She knew what I was. I knew what needed to be done. I just wished there was any other way. I felt I was pulling something open long sealed, and smelling the stench of decay. I didn't think too long about what I would say or do next. Thinking would impair what needed to be done.

"As it pertains to producing heirs," I said slowly, trying to breathe through a raw throat, "I am my father's... second eldest, and only remaining...son. I am the heir and, in light of my father's passing, your Sultanah." I said, using the feminine form of the word. Then, without worrying about their confused stares, I quickly tucked my hands into my bloomers and shoved them down over my hips. They pooled on my feet near the floor.

The men in the room were too shocked by my sudden movement to look away, as decency dictated. Instead their eyes were on me. Some men perhaps were looking initially at my face and their eyes would glide over my soft, pretty facial features, over my modest but well-formed breasts, along the gentle narrowing of my torso down to the womanly flair of my hips. Perhaps other men traveled up from my small feet, across my smooth, hairless legs and over my lady-like thighs to those same rounded, feminine hips. Regardless of where they started, all men's eyes found their way to the area between my legs. Where their eyes expected to find perhaps a patch of hair and a lady's soft cunny, they were confronted with a bewildering sight. My five inch cock and my large, chicken-egg sized balls. They could not see, because of the weight and size of my balls, but my cunny was there too, just shielded from view. The room was deathly silent.

"She...he is some kind of freak!" Hain said suddenly. I felt my face turn a deep red and I felt dizzy. It was like the nightmares I'd had since childhood were all coming true. Except I'd done it to myself. What was I thinking? What did I hope to achieve? They would likely murder me now as a witch.

"Varis is a man! She can produce an heir!" Another peer in the crowd, Lord Sadik, yelled almost immediately afterwards. Immediately the crowd descended into a tumult. It was hard to tell who was saying what. I could tell that some people, in particular Lord Sadik, were openly declaring me the Sultanah-elect, awaiting only coronation to continue the struggle. Others, including Duke Hain were calling me vicious, disgusting names. The vast majority of the crowd spoke loudly, but without content. They clearly did not know what to think. Confusion reigned. I was unable to do anything. I stood, mostly naked on the dais trying to determine what was happening. My small cock lay limp against my leg and I looked at the small, shriveled thing and its long history of mortifications.

I had, of course, been born with it. A cock as well as a cunny. According to my mother (who told me when I was very young and before she died), the doctor had never seen anything like it. My father had been disgusted by me, declaring that I was neither his son nor his daughter. He had the doctor executed so that he could tell no one. He shared my secret with only the empire's Chief Tanri Priest, Cardinal Rahip and (I had learned that evening) the High Priestess of Gunes, Cin (at the time only 14 years old and in her first year in the position). Or perhaps she had just known. Regardless, the priest suggested that I be killed. My father and mother refused (well, my mother did). Therefore, the priest demanded that my true nature be kept a secret. My parents wholeheartedly agreed.

They did not know if I would be a son or daughter. They claimed I was very sick and, for the first two years of my life, I lived within a few rooms in the palace. Some mystery about my sex existed, accentuated by my androgynous name of Varis. No one but my mother would bathe me, which was a very strange thing for a Consort to do. Eventually, my personality emerged and it was clear that I was a daughter. My father's dreams of a second son dashed, he hated me more than when I was first born. He suggested that I be castrated so that I could live as one of his daughters, my mother refused, noting that in all likelihood the procedure would kill me.

Therefore, I grew up as a princess. I occasionally saw other people naked, whether they were making love in the great hall after a feast or bathing in the river. (We royals were entitled to private rooms to sleep, everyone else slept in great halls with everyone else, sex and nudity were very often public). I knew that I was different, but I was told never to speak of it. No one was to ever see me without my clothing, not even Arkadas. As I grew and my body began womanly in all other respects, I grew to feel an intense shame about my body. I prayed that no one suspected my true nature and wanted desperately to maintain the secret my parents had created. I suppose that was a major reason my father had decided to make me a Tanril Virgin, to protect my secret.

But the secret, most assuredly, was dead. Now that the deed was done and my true nature was exposed to the crowd, I could not believe what I had done. I would never have thought that any power on earth or in heaven would ever get me to expose my cock to anyone. I wouldn't have told a family member about my true nature even if they promised on their death bed to never reveal it. But somehow, here, I had been forced into action. I had been thinking about Ülke, my family, and our glorious history. I couldn't let that die. It was more important than my individual fears or desires, it was everything my family had ever been. The throne meant more than my exposure.