Once Upon a Harem Boy Read online

  Once Upon a Harem Boy

  Tales of the Thasali Harem #0

  by

  Danielle Summers

  Published by Tulabella Ruby Press

  Copyright 2015 Danielle Summers/All Rights Reserved

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

  Other titles in the Tales of the Thasali Harem series:

  The Prince’s Assassin by Danielle Summers

  Stolen from the Harem by Jade Astor

  Editor: Cassandra Pierce

  Cover design: 3 Rusted Spoons

  Table of Contents

  Once Upon a Harem Boy

  A Brief Guide to the World of Oranto

  Chapter One of The Prince’s Assassin

  Chapter One of Stolen From the Harem

  About Danielle Summers

  Connect with Danielle Summers

  Once Upon a Harem Boy

  Tales of the Thasali Harem #0

  Duga Rigers slowly sipped the natash as he sat on the one small patch of cool, shaded ground outside his parents’ cave in the Mudflats district. He was sweating from the heat, but the fermented drink did little to cool him down. Natash was considered the cure-all for everything. It was said to bring health, love, money and luck, but he detested the sour, mealy liquid. And, honestly, it hadn’t brought him much of anything yet. He still sniffled from a lingering case of unbalanced fluids in his body. He hadn’t won the lottery, which would have given him and his family money to buy much-needed food, even though he played every day, even though he worked so hard to select the right numbers. He heard of other people winning and being able to buy food. They became fat and happy. He wanted to win too or at least find some way to leave the mudflats. He had so many dreams, but at the moment he was hungry. He couldn’t remember a day when he wasn’t hungry at some point.

  He remembered when he was younger there was even less food. He and his older sisters always seemed to be hungry. At bedtime, his mother would give them each a cup of natash and tell them stories of wondrous sights and heroic feats, astonishing things he yearned to see. He had always thought it was his mother’s soothing voice that put him to sleep, but he learned recently that in each cup of natash she gave them those nights she had stirred in a little sleeping powder.

  “It helped you and your sisters sleep without waking up hungry during the night,” she had confessed sadly a few weeks ago.

  The natash he drank now was free of sleeping powders but didn’t satiate his true thirst.

  He wanted to be more than a “mudflat rat,” one of those people who worked in the nearby crystal mines and never left the mudflats, who never saw the world. He had heard that the Thasali, the royal family, always had enough food to eat, was always cool in summer and warm in winter. He wanted all that and more. He wanted to live in a place where parents didn’t drug their children so they could sleep without feeling hunger, even if only for a few hours.

  If he couldn’t win the lottery, maybe he could end up in the Thasali harem. That was probably his only other option for a better life. His family had lived in the Mudflats district for generations, but he wanted to see the world and the Thasali royal family up close. He wanted to see what they looked like, taste their food, feel the cloth that covered their bodies. He wanted to learn how they stayed cool in summer and warm in winter. And if he became a harem boy, the Thasali royal family would pay his parents money. His mother would be able to go to the local market bragging about her son, the harem boy, as she paid for an entire sallabeast and a full thrashing of gilla grain. The meat and grain would feed her well. She wouldn’t even have to stretch it out with fuffer mash or natash to feed the family. She would no longer be hungry and ordinary and neither would he. Not only would he get out of the mudflats, he also would receive training for his life after harem service. He could become a physician, an artist, a metalsmith. Joining the harem was the only way for someone like him to get any additional education for a true profession.

  As the little sun shone orange in the magenta sky and the big sun disappeared behind a mountain, lowering the temperature a little, he felt some pebbles hit his shoulder as they fell down the rock face. When he looked up, he saw Shebi scrambling down from his own parents’ cave a few levels up. They had both recently turned 18 and left school. They weren’t quite sure what to do next, although most of their friends seemed to be heading to the mines.

  Shebi sat down beside Duga, who offered him some of his natash. Shebi took a sip and then they sat there silently for a moment. Shebi’s thigh pressed into Duga’s. They’d been friends for so long that sometimes they didn’t need to speak. Shebi placed his hand on Duga’s crotch and massaged his cock through his pants. They looked at each other and smiled. Shebi pulled down Duga’s pants. Duga’s cock emerged, and Shebi lowered his mouth on it and started sucking until it was wet and firm. Every so often Shebi would pause and pull his head back and look admiringly at his work. Duga’s cock was dripping with saliva and pre-cum. Duga lay down in the dirt, and Shebi maneuvered so his mouth could descend again on Duga’s shaft. Shebi’s cock entered Duga’s mouth. Duga swallowed like he had a hundred times before, hungrily and with gusto. He loved his friend. They came together, letting their juice flavor the earth. They lay there a few moments, panting in each other’s arms.

  Shebi was the first to break the silence. “Are you going to join your father working in the mine?” He propped his head up on his hand. His hair was long, fine and brown and flopped over one of his grey eyes.

  “I don’t want to, but I haven’t won the lottery,” said Duga. He looked at his hands. Despite the rough life in the mudflats, he had fine, delicate fingers. They would break in the mine and become gnarled and knotted. His body would become gnarled and knotted as well. He didn’t want that, but his choices were limited. He knew that. “Maybe I could become a harem boy?”

  “You know, the Thasali representatives are coming next week looking for new ones,” said Shebi. “We should both go and apply.”

  Duga got excited. His deep blue eyes went wide. “Krask! Really? How do you know? This could be our opportunity to get out of here. It’s what we’ve always talked about.”

  It was true. Duga and Shebi had watched their own fathers become more bent over every day from work in the mines, digging up the crystals that powered the trains they had never been on, that provided heat and cooling to homes they couldn’t get anywhere near. Some nights, Duga was awakened by the sound of his father coughing up dust. He wondered if his mother ever slept through the night.

  “There was a sign at the market,” said Shebi. “We could both go. I don’t want to go to the mines either, but if I don’t find something else, that’s where I will end up. And wouldn’t it be great if we were in the harem together?”

  “Yes, it would be. We must go,” said Duga, nestling in Shebi’s sinewy arms.

  A week later, Duga and Shebi showed up along with a few dozen other hopefuls at a temporary royal compound set up in an empty field for five days of harem tryouts. The compound was comprised of a series of tents dyed the most brilliant colors Duga had ever seen. He knew what the Thasali royal flag looked like. He recognized the particular mix of cobalt blue, purple and yellow that signified royalty. He had even once seen the Thasali royal family from afar, the one year they paraded around town in celebration of a recent victory in a w
ar against a neighboring noble family. Rumor had it that they were really standins, but he was only seven years old. He didn’t care. That day they glowed.

  Today, as he stood outside the harem testing compound, he was wowed by those brilliant royal colors that covered the walls. They even seemed to seep into the ground, tinting the dirt’s crust.

  The royal family members were not present, but they did send a group of representatives who stood outside the compound as gatekeepers. The oldest of the group, a man named Blanto, stepped forward. Blanto’s posture was straight, and his graceful, agile movements spoke of having lived a life free of the sort of work that aged Duga and Shebi’s fathers so rapidly. This Blanto person claimed that he was 40 years old, the same age as their fathers, but they barely believed him. His skin was so smooth, and he looked so young.

  Blanto explained to the assembled throng that the Thasali royal family had room for three new harem members. They were unconcerned about gender, but they liked their boys and girls docile, willing, open and versatile. Those selected and their families would be rewarded for their service to the royal court, but first they would be thoroughly inspected.

  One young woman was immediately eliminated from consideration for showing up drunk. A young man was barred from entering the compound for being too aggressive.

  As Shebi and Duga stood just inside what appeared to be the main tent, they were told to strip and place their clothes and belongings in straw baskets that would be returned to them when they left the compound. They stood there naked, and Duga counted thirty-six others vying for the three harem spots.

  They spent their days being measured, poked and prodded. A doctor measured their penises in various states of arousal, the hang of their balls and the depth of their anuses. A soothsayer looked in their eyes and prayed over them. One woman who said she was the palace artist had them pose for painted portraits. Those who fidgeted too much were sent home. They were grilled on their skills, talents and desires. They were judged on their appearance in the morning, midday, evening and the middle of the night. How good would they look roused in the wee hours of the morning by a member of the royal family with needs? Hour by hour, day by day, the group shrank in number. At night, Duga and Shebi slept curled up together. They were making it through every challenge. Duga didn’t know how, but he was happy they did.

  On the last day, Duga was led to a small tent on the edge of the compound. The harem’s sex trainer was standing there naked. He pointed to his cock, which was standing erect and perpendicular to his muscular body, but he said nothing. At first Duga wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do, but then he got on his knees and started sucking that cock. He’d had lots of practice with Shebi, and he put that knowledge to good use. He ran his tongue up and down the pale, delicate skin of the shaft. He took one of the man’s balls in his mouth and then the other. He must have done something right because he was sent back to the main compound where he met up with Shebi and Leuna, a girl. There were only three of them. Duga’s heart started to beat faster as Blanto approached them from behind a curtain.

  “We will celebrate tonight,” said Blanto. “You are our new harem members. Go home and tell your families. Bring them back here tonight. We will feast together. Good fortune to you all.”

  The three of them hugged. Tears came to Duga’s eyes. Not only was he going to be a harem boy, but Shebi would be one too. He wasn’t going to be a mudflat rat, and he was going to the harem with his closest friend. Duga and Shebi claimed their baskets of clothes, got dressed and ran home through the dirt roads to the caves holding hands. Duga felt like he could have jumped over all of their planet’s three moons, which were slowly rising in the sky as night was falling. He told Shebi he would meet him at the feast and burst into his parents’ cave.

  His mother was bent over a tub of washing, her arms immersed in the grey, soapy water. His father sat in a corner still covered in dust from his day at the crystal mine. His eyes were closed from exhaustion. Duga didn’t know where his sisters were. He took a seat on the dirt floor next to his mother and pulled her arms from the water. She looked at him with tired eyes.

  “Where have you been?” she asked.

  “We feast tonight,” said Duga.

  His mother gasped. His father suddenly looked alert.

  “You didn’t,” his mother said.

  His sisters had tried for the harem during the last tryouts a half dozen years ago but hadn’t made it. Duga was the youngest and the family’s last chance.

  “I made it. I’m going to the Thasali harem. Shebi is going, too. Tonight we all go to the royal compound, and we will eat like royalty.” Duga grabbed a nearby rag and dried his mother’s hands. His father stood up and patted Duga on the back.

  “You will do us proud,” said his father.

  “I will. I promise.”

  Duga found his sisters a few caves down, and they all went back to the royal compound. The feast was indeed magnificent. The food overflowed their plates, and they ate until they could not move. They had grain. They had piles of sallabeast meat. They had sugar from Omple tree syrup and milk from the burninga animals. It wasn’t just that they had a lot of food. They had food that was flavorful and rich, and their glasses were never empty. There was always someone nearby who would give them more wine or food even before they had finished what they already had. They didn’t even have to get up.

  This is how I will live, thought Duga. Blanto thanked Duga’s parents for giving their son to serve the Thasali royal family. Blanto thanked Duga’s sisters for letting go of their brother. Blanto told them they would all be richly rewarded.

  That night they all slept soundly in the royal compound in a sea of cobalt blue, purple and yellow.

  ~~*

  It wasn’t easy for Duga to say goodbye to his family the next morning, but he knew it was the right thing. He didn’t know when or if he would see them again, but he would have a better life if he was part of the harem, and so would they. At least Shebi would be with him.

  When his mother stroked his face and tousled his blond hair one last time, she said, “You are a man now. Go out in the world. Make your own way.”

  Duga’s father kissed his forehead and told him to always stand for what was right, to not be afraid to get his hands dirty if it meant doing the right thing.

  Duga said he would follow their words. He would also follow his heart.

  Blanto gave his parents a large bag of food and a small royal flag to hang outside the entrance to their cave. The flag had the Thasali crest the center of the royal family’s colors. Everyone would know that they were connected to the Thasali royal household, that they were connected to the harem.

  After their families left, Duga, Shebi and Leuna along with the royal representatives travelled in a series of carts. Each one was pulled by eight xoxobeasts over the rocky terrain.

  Slowly the mountainous, beige mudflats disappeared. The sky was still magenta. The big and little suns still hung in the sky, but the world had changed. Duga was farther away from his parents’ cave than he had ever been in his life. He may have even traveled farther than his parents. He had heard about the smooth road that existed just outside the Mudflats district, but he hadn’t believed it existed until now. The wheels of the cart no longer shuddered. He no longer rocked back and forth. The cart was moving, but Duga was still. It was amazing how fast a cart could travel on a smooth road, thought Duga.

  After several hours of travel, they arrived at a large wooden building with a sign that said, “train station.” Duga got even more excited. He had heard about trains. They were powered by the crystals his father mined and sped around and through the world. They were how rich people travelled.

  Blanto got off a cart first and directed the unloading. He turned to Duga, Shebi and Leuna. “Have you ever been on a train?” he asked them.

  Duga realized that he’d been sitting there with his mouth agape, and he was so awed that his words felt stuck in his gut. He shook his head.r />
  “Well, this will be the first of many new experiences for you,” said Blanto. His tone was kind, and he offered his hand to help the trio down off the cart.

  They stood there watching the carts roll off to a corral on the left side of the building, and then Duga heard a roar unlike any other. He had once heard a gaggle of sallabeasts stampede through the market, knocking over stalls and stealing fruit. This was nothing like that. It was a constant, deep roar, and then it stopped.

  “Our train is here,” said Blanto.

  Duga had long imagined what a train might actually look like. He had scratched pictures of what he thought were trains into the cave walls when he was much younger, but nothing could have prepared him for what appeared before him. The train came out of the ground like a giant mrow, those tiny animals that wriggled around in the dirt and came out every time it rained. It came to a stop just behind the train station. Its shiny skin reflected the magenta sky, big sun and little sun. It seemed large enough to swallow the eight carts, the xoxobeasts, the station and all the people standing there. Duga thought the royal compound was colorful, but it was grey in comparison to a train in real life. The walls of the train had more colors than Duga even knew existed.

  Shebi grabbed his hand. Both of them seemed to have lost their voices.

  “Oh, the royal family is really going to love you two,” said Blanto.

  He started pushing Duga, Shebi and Leuna through the station to the train. Duga continued to marvel at how smooth the floors were. They were so clean. Everything outside the Mudflats district seemed so shiny. So this is what the rest of the world looks like, he thought.

  Blanto got them settled in what he said was a private cabin, whatever that meant. The seats were soft and pillowy. The air smelled of jusubo flowers.

  “I have to take care of a few things,” Blanto said as he left the cabin. “Just stay here and get comfortable. We’ll be at the palace in a few hours.”