Mukhannath

Chapter 1: Frustrated Emir, Annoyed Viziers

"Can you imagine that!" Emir Nureddin snapped,for he could neither curb his anger nor tolerate the silence anymore. "He sent me a mukhannath in a dress as a 'symbol of his loyalty and respect'! I almost shared my bed with a man because of that accursed blasphemer! Oh, Allah, save your slave and forgive his sin! To think for a moment, Sheikh Hakim was never an obedient man, almost insolent, he always considered me his equal in spite of being my slave, but this is an outright insult! And what's worst of all, is that since none of you rascals can keep your mouths shut, rumors about me will reach Baghdad and very soon the whole umma will be aware of that accursed incident! If Allah wills it, I will end that deceitful lon-bearded rat!"

For many people, that was just a regular, hot summer morning in the city of Sana'a, the biggest city in the province and a place where the governor of Yemen resided. The same clutter on the bazaar, the same guards in easter armour and with light-green ponytails on pointy helmets, the same merciless heatwave, a heatwave so strong one could cook an egg by burying it into the sand. But inside the Qasr-Al-Taqwwa it was hotter by far at the moment, in spite of an exceptional design that was supposed to always keep the temperature on a moderate level in the residence of the Yemeni emirs. But the heatwave didn't bother the courtiers as much as the tension created from a looming conflict that no power in the universe could prevent.

The walls of the Palace of Piety, the extravagantly decorated walls of the biggest palace in the vicinity would tell an epic of human brutality, backstabbing, laziness, ignorance, hedonism, hypocricy and intrigue if they could speak. The number of horrible things were witnessed by those walls in mere two hundred years of their existance would shake even the strongest mind. But those walls have never seen a person, more arrogant or injust than Emir Nureddin, a person whose wealth was fully built on exorbitant taxes and utter impoverishment of the peasants. However, he managed to position himself right among his soldiers, and none of them could doubt him.The military were fanatically loyal, and not a single one of them could be bribed or blackmailed into treason. That, alongside with his paranoia, short temper, and sadistic inclinations of his chief executioner, sowed fear into his viziers' hearts. Maybe this is why three of them had been listening to his rants for two hours then, and not a single one of them showed any signs of objections. Yelling at his subjects disturbingly early in the morning was a regular thing in Emir Nureddin's routine, but that time the advisors felt like that day was a special occasion. And they were not wrong.

"Whoever dares to badmouth my lord will be executed right away!" Jaleel Ibn Imran, the head of the palace security spoke up, adding power to his words by shaking his fist. Parted from his family and forcefully converted to Islam in the childhood, the old head of security was brought up as a slave and knew no duty but to serve his master. This blind submissiveness made him unpopular among the viziers but granted him Emir Nureddin's favour. Nobody knew whether he was just a suck-up or his loyalty to the governor of Yemen was sincere. Either way, everyone at the court constantly gossiped about him and called him either a lunatic or a weasel, depending on whether the gossipers considered his ostentatious submissiveness real or fake. This is why his statement was met coldly by the Grand Vizier and the court astrologist, but caused a completely opposite reaction from Emir Nureddin.

"The moment my brother-in-law was proven guilty of commiting zina, the news spreaded so fast noone could ever react to it.And you have been coming up with anecdotes about him sleeping with women he is not married to for a whole damn fortnight! It does not matter, even if it is so, someone will spill the beans sooner or later. I will only be calm for my secret if I slaughter every person whose foot stepped on the blessed floor of the Qasr-Al-Taqwwa, " Emir Nureddin replied. "I am not going to lie, I fear nobody in this castle. I am completely honest with you, for none of you sodomites is worthy of my lies. I repeat, I fear nobody in this castle. Nobody... Except him...Sheikh Hakim is my court Imam, he is a Sayyid and a Al-Hajji. Not only that, but he also contols the southern part of my realm. My father blindly granted him a huge piece of land,making him a power to be reckoned with. Also, following our traditions and laws, we do not tax mosques and lands of waqf, which make up the majority of his possesions, and that means that all of the income goes straight into his pockets!"

'At least he can objectively rate his opponent. Maybe it will stop him from commiting idiocy,' the Grand Vizier pondered.

Fear kills respect. Everyone in the palace pretended to obey the Emir just because they had to, just because they were afraid of tortures and executions, but most of them were slipshod and negligent when it came to executing his orders. They treated him like a psychopath: they tried not to anger him and make him feel like he was always right, just so that he wouldn't roughhouse. But starting a war was a serious issue,because when a war is started, there is no turning back.

"My Emir, we should call him back to the court and arrest him." The Grand Vizier spoke.

"We can not just arrest him. He is the the most influental person in the emirate after me. Men like him aren't just thrown into a prison cell like rogues. The southern part of my flef is highly rebellous. The peasants there are going to support him, not me. Only Allah know how he spends his money. Buying weapons from the kaffirs and bribing government officials, I presume. A snake in the ground..."

Emir Nureddin was correct. While he was squeezing out every coin from his peasants and wasting the money to soothe his hedonism,Sheikh Hakim was carefully taxing his peasants and still managing to profit.

Suddenly, the door creaked open and the chief eunuch named Haleel entered the room. His regular attire:the azure robe, the turban of the same colour and a single round ear ring made of iron in his ear was a great reminder of his position at the court. Castrated at the age of three, he grew up with Emir Nureddin and became his only true friend and the only person he shared his secrets with. They had a strong, almost brotherly friendship even in spite of the Yemeni governor's rather complicated character. These days, Haleel had little work since most of the Emir's concubines died of an unknown plague and thus he was busy entertaining his liege instead of overwatching the affairs of the now empty harem.

"My Emir, the smoking room is ready. The shisha is waiting for you."

"Call everything off, I do not have time for that."

That was the moment the viziers knew that the games were over for real. Emir Nureddin never skipped out a chance to smoke, even when frustrated.

After hesitating a little and wiping sweat off his forehead with a silky handkerchief, the ruler of Yemen spoke: "Leave us, I want to have a personal talk with Haleel Agha."

The Grand Vizier was so happy to leave the room at last he couldn't hold a sigh of relief in. Luckily, Emir Nureddid did not notice.

Having made sure he was left alone with his chief eunuch, Emir Nureddin stood up and approached Haleel.

"Now tell me, does anybody else know that I've kissed her- Astagfirullah, him?"

"No, your lordship."

"Maybe he was telling the guards something about

"I swear, Haleel, the devil is strong! He looked exactly like a woman! I fell in love with his face! I thought that Sheikh Hakim sent me a pearl that would seal a friendship between us..."

"Your lordship, you have been posessed by a jinn. But there's Allah's will for everything, you have defeated the force of evil," Haleel tried to cheer his lord. "The mukhannath has been thrown into a prison cell, where he'll rot and await his fate.

"Can you..." Emir Nureddin struggled to say the words. "Can you... arrange a secret meeting with him? I want to... I want to look him in the eye..."