She became silent again. After a moment she ventured, “How
came I here?”

“You were brought to me by Capitan Rais el Abdul. Tell me
now, my beauty, what is your name?”

“My name is Skye,” she answered him.

“And where do you come from?” he probed.

Her enormous sapphire-blue eyes seemed bewildered, then filled
with tears. “I don’t know,” she sobbed, “I don’t know where I come
from. Surely this Capitan Rais el Abdul must know.”

Khalid el Bey shook his head. “No. You were transferred to his
ship from another. The first vessel was just going out on a voyage
and hailed the Capitan, who was homeward bound.” Then seeing
the fear in her eyes he spoke soothingly. “Do not be frightened,
beautiful Skye, I am sure your memory will return soon. We know
you are European, for we are speaking French, though your accent
is not that of a native Frenchwoman. Rest now. We will talk again.”

But her memory still had not returned. His Moorish physician
had examined her throughly. Her age was between eighteen and
twenty. She was not a virgin. In fact, she had borne more than one
child. She was free of disease, and had all her teeth. Because the
physician could find no evidence of a head injury, he concluded that the memory loss was due to some terrible emotional shock, and that
her mind refused to remember.

Her beautiful blue eyes, which changed from sapphire to blue-
green as her moods changed, opened now and looked at him.

“My lord Khalid.”

He smiled. “How are you feeling, my beautiful one?” Sitting
down beside her, he caressed her dark hair.

“I am ever so much better, my lord.”

“We must talk now, Skye.”

“Of what, my lord?”

“You know that my name is Khalid el Bey. But I have another
name, Skye. I am called the Whoremaster of Algiers. I own many
houses filled with beautiful women whose very reason for existence
is to please the men who come to visit them. I own the women-
as I own you.”

“You do?!” She was incredulous. “You own me?”

“Yes, Capitan Rais el Abdul bought you from the fust Capitan,
and men he sold you to me.”

“Why did you buy me?”

He smiled. Her memory loss had affected so many areas, in-
cluding her knowledge of worldly things. “I bought you, Skye,
because I intend to train you to be the finest courtesan Algiers has
ever known. Then I will place you in my best house, which is called
Felicity.”

“What must I do, my lord?” “Do you remember nothing of lovemaking?” he shook her head.
He sighed. “I will have to have Yasmin instruct you in certain
matters. Then I will personally instruct you. We will begin tomor-
row, for the doctor has assured me that you are well enough.”

“Yasmin does not like me, my lord Khalid.”

“Yasmin is a slave, like you, Skye. She will do as she is told.
If she should distress you in any way you will tell me.”

“Yes, my lord Khalid. And thank you,” she said softly. “I will
endeavor to learn well so you will be pleased.”

He mused later on her answer. If, as he suspected, she was a
highborn European, then she was also a Christian. Yet the loss of
memory had left her free of both her religion and its ethics. If he
could introduce her to the physical delights of lovemaking and make
it pleasant for her, he could make her the most famous courtesan
since Aspasia. It was a magnificent challenge, and one he was
looking forward to with great enthusiasm.

That evening when Khalid el Bey had finished his meal, he dis-
missed bis “laves and, giving orders to his majordomo regarding his
bed partner of the evening, welcomed the woman who oversaw his most famous brothel. When Yasmin sat opposite him he marveled
at her beauty. He knew she was close to forty. Still, she was a
Circassian, and they were famed as the most beautiful slaves in the
world. He had purchased her over twenty years before from a breed-
ing farm. She had been the first of his special women. Thanks to
her, he had been able to place his business above his competitors.

Brothels in Algiers, for the most part, had been confined to the
waterfront and served sailors of all nations. The wealthy residents
of the city had private harems, and needed no such services. But the
flesh peddlers of the city had overlooked one important market.
Algiers, being the chief city on the north African coast, entertained
many wealthy visitors. These had no women available to them.
Khalid el Bey was the fust to meet that need, and he became famous
doing so.

The women in his House of Felicity were the most beautiful, the
most skilled, and the most entertaining in all of Algiers. There were
no two alike, for Khalid el Bey especially prided himself on offering
variety. Though others had tried to imitate him, they had all failed
miserably, leaving him with the undisputed title of “the Whore-
master.” Not only did he own the House of Felicity, he now also
possessed full or part interest in almost every house of prostitution
in the city.

He was admired and respected by the other businessmen for,
though very shrewd, he was scrupulously honest. Still, few men
really knew the man, and his origins were a mystery. Though many
thought him a Moor, he was actually Spanish. He had been born
Diego Indio Goya del Fuentes near the city of Granada, the second
son of an old and noble family. He was well educated for his time,
and might have gone on to marry and lead the circumspect life of
a sixteenth-century Spanish nobleman. Then fate, in the guise of a
beautiful Moorish girl named Noor, had intervened in the young
man’s life. They had been desperately in love, but Noor had been
as firm in her faith, Islam, as any devout Christian was in his.

Diego Goya del Fuentes had long been betrothed. Now his sisters
took malicious delight in teasing his fiancee about Noor. The fiancee,
a prim, religious girl, felt it her moral duty to inform the Inquisition
of the existence of the Moorish maiden. On the day that Noor was
burned at the stake as a heretic, Diego stood helpless on the edge
of the city square, his hooded face wet with tears, watching as the
gentlest, kindest person he had ever known was burned to death.
She was tortured cruelly, yet as the flames licked her graceful body,
her sweet voice lifted in a song of praise to her god, Allah. That
day, Diego Goya del Fuentes disappeared from Spain forever.

He wandered for several years through Europe and the Middle

East, finally settling in the city of Algiers. He changed his name to
Khalid, the title “el Bey” being his by virtue of a journey to the holy
cities of Mecca and Medina. He converted to Islam in honor of
Noor’s memory, though he felt no strong religious leaning.

His feelings for women were ambiguous. On one hand, he re-
membered his lost love and her gentle sweet ways. On the other,
he recalled his sisters’ malice, and the cruelty and ignorance of his
fiancee. Perhaps this explained why, though he enslaved women
into the profession of prostitution, he was a kind and good master.

Skye had touched him as no woman had since Noor. Her help-
lessness appealed to him, and this was why he now carefully in-
structed Yasmin about her care. But Yasmin argued, “Why do you
fuss so over this one girl, my lord? She is like a thousand others.”
The Circassian voice was spiteful, and Khalid el Bey hid a smile.
Yasmin had been in love with him for years but he felt no more for
her than he had for the others. No woman had claimed his heart
since Noor.

“Skye is like a child now,” he explained patiently. “Although she
recalls some things, her loss of memory has wiped out all carnal
knowledge. She knows nothing and has no prejudices. If we handle
her carefully, we may mold her as we desire.” He cleverly empha-
sized the we, and Yasmin leaned forward eagerly.

“This would really please you, my lord?”

“Yes, Yasmin, it would. Skye is not simply a pretty face or body.
I sense a good mind behind those lovely blue eyes, and that is what
her specialty shall be. Like the courtesans of ancient Athens Skye
shall entertain the gentlemen with a skilled body and with her in-
telligence as well. She will not be used for those of our clientele
whose tastes run to the bizarre, but rather for elegant men, men of
culture-such as the Ottoman commandant of the Casbah. Or perhaps the sea captains who come to us from the Italian states, France,
or England. Together, Yasmin, you and I will make Skye an intriguing, exciting, much-sought-after woman.”

“I will do my part, my lord Khalid. I will teach her all I know.
Even certain things I have kept from the others. Skye shall be unique,
and she shall be perfection.”

He smiled his wonderful smile at her. “You have always exceeded
my faith in you, since the very beginning, Yasmin. Thank you.” He
twice clapped his hands sharply, then sent the answering slave for
coffee. Turning back to the woman, he asked, “The women now in
the House of Felicity are satisfactory?”

“Except two. The English girl, Sweet Rose, has fallen in love
with one of her gentlemen, and consequently is balking at her job.

With your permission I can correct that, for the gentleman involved
wants to buy her and add her to his harem.”

“Sell, but accept only the highest price for her. After all, we’re
losing a good investment. What of the other girl?”

‘The gypsy Rhia is not adjusting, my lord. I think I must rec-
ommend severe punishment in her case.”

“Why?”

“I sent her along with two other girls to a party of half a dozen
young Turkish officers. They had requested they be allowed to play
the rape game. We assigned them to the Suite of Clouds. It was
arranged that, as the girls sat at their leisure, the Turks would break
in and ravish them. It is a harmless game, and the officers involved
are regular customers of ours, all highly recommended. While the
other two girls fell in with the spirit of the game, shrieking and
protesting prettily before yielding, Rhia screamed in earnest and
fought wildly, severely scratching two of our guests about the face.
Naturally they subdued her, and I am pleased to say that all six of
them enjoyed her despite her protests. But the other girls, of course,
felt slighted. They were angry that she should draw all the attention
to herself in such a fashion. The officers complained, too, that
afterward she wept as one demented. I finally had to remove her
from their presence, and send in another girl.”