Befutig Safiza Uj-alet flies above the city as Efreet do, and lets the slave-girl, Pilar Pineda, look down to witness it, that she may be duly awed by the grandeur of the Efreet.  This is the world, and he is showing it to her.

To his mansion he takes her, a noble mansion befitting a noble Efreeti.

To his bedchambers he takes the slave-girl, and makes her scream with pain and pleasure both.

Then Befutig Safiza Uj-alet finds a new flame lit in him, for this mortal whose lust is not quenched by all his cruelty.  He has taken many who did not want him, to whom he was cruel, and he gloried in it.  But to have them yield in desire to his cruelty is something he did not want before, for he did not know he could have it.

He bids Pilar Pineda stay by his side all her mortal life, then.  She is a born slave, and he her natural master; they are destined for one another.

But the slave-girl shakes her head and says, nay, for she already has a natural master; and she must return to the Prime Material to serve him when the night is done.

Then his jealousy is kindled, and Befutig Safiza Uj-alet takes her again and makes her scream for him again.  The stamina of a noble Malik of the Efreet is, if not unlimited, great enough that no mortal woman can challenge it whatever magics are about her.  He is not spent.

And when he is done and she lays there panting and thoroughly yielded of herself to him, he does carry her into his mansion's treasury and show her the wealth of a noble Malik of the Efreet.

Silver and gold do lay there in heaps great enough that a magicless mortal could not lift them, and a dozen and a dozen and a dozen things of power, swords and armor lit with jewels: this is his hoard, the hoard of Befutig Safiza Uj-alet, greater than the wealth of some mortals who call themselves kings.

A slave must have a price: let her name it.

But Pilar Pineda does reach into her Bag of Holding and pour out platinum bars and faceted rubies, and rods and belts of magic, until their sum is greater than all the wealth that he shewed to her.  And at the end she takes out a crown wrought of Hell, whose fair price would be greater than both those hoards together.

"My own wealth is greater," says she, "and my true master's wealth is measureless."

Then his wrath is kindled in truth, and Befutig Safiza Uj-alet seizes Pilar Pineda about her hair and drags her back to his bedchambers.

"O small and foolish mortal who thinks to defy an Efreeti," he says to her, "I will break you, now, and have you pledge yourself to me when you are broken. That does not transgress the bounds you laid on this night."

"If you can break me you can have me," says she. "Show me the wrath of a Malik, and the cruelty of the City of Brass."

All his wrath does he pour out onto her, then, though he may not kill her.  Slaves he sends forth from himself with wealth, and they return bearing instruments of great cruelty.

Three times the slave-girl nears death, and three times she heals herself and presents herself to him again.

After the third time he can hardly bear the strength of his desire for her, and so he takes her back into his treasury and shows her a hidden door.

In the room beyond lie three Wish diamonds he has accumulated through ages, waiting for five, as is the clock that ticks ever so slowly to measure the long lives of Efreet.  Strength and Constitution, Splendour and Wisdom, Intelligence and Dexterity, do Efreet gain in this way.  A millennium might pass between one diamond and another; and they agonize whether to become stronger today to accumulate their gains faster tomorrow, or wait today to cast in longer sequences later.

"Swear yourself to me and I shall grant you your Wish," he says, as is folly and madness in truth, for a Wish is wasted on a mortal that passes away in a century.  But the desire in Befutig Safiza Uj-alet is such that he cannot bear it.

Not from her Bag of Holding, then, but seemingly from nowhere, Pilar Pineda brings forth a Wish-diamond, and lays it beside the other three.

"My wish is one that only my true master can grant," says she, "though I did enjoy this night."

Then his pride is pricked and skewered, for Efreet do not know gratitude to mortals.  He bears her to his bedchamber a final time and tries his very best to fucking ruin her.

After the last encounter he himself lies panting; and Pilar Pineda is a wreck, but not, alas, a broken one.

"O greatest flower and jewel among mortals," he says to her then, "there is a secret passed down through ages, which is forbidden and death to both of us if any learned that it had been used by those not royalty."

"I," the slave-girl croaks, and pauses to heal her throat.

"I will speak of it to none who do not already know," says she.

"I cannot bear to ever be parted from you, o Pilar Pineda; pledge yourself to me for-ever, and I shall use a threefold wording passed down in secrecy through ages, to spend three Wishes and make you an Efreeti everlasting.  All the splendors of the City of Brass shall be yours for eternity, and you be not only my slave but also my wife; I will make you scream for me every day without fail."

"O noble Malik of the Efreet," she says, "I have received the cruelty of a sensuous priestess of Asmodeus, of the seventh circle, and been used by her; I have been captive and tormented of a mortal queen who bound an Erinyes to herself, who sought to break me.  Yet your cruelty and lust is greater than any cruelty and lust I have felt, and I do not know if I will ever again receive its like.  Know that you have satisfied me."

"And yet - I must return to my master."

"O Pilar Pineda, tell me who is your master!  From them I shall purchase you, though it cost me a thousand years of service."

But she bows her head, and says, "My master is Lord Asmodeus, the Prince of Hell; only when I am passed into His possession will I know true cruelty and at last be broken."

Then does Befutig Safiza Uj-alet know despair.

Pilar Pineda heals herself a final time, and Restores herself, and rises up though rather wobbily so.

"I shall send you back to the Material, then," says Befutig Safiza Uj-alet. He is tempted as never before to shatter his honor, but it is stronger than he.

"I must gather my things.  And then -"

"Let us wander your City first, for a time."

He does as she bids, though after watching her try to take a few steps he laughs and carries her again.

Then he shows her one splendor after another of the City of Brass, for he is not so in despair that he does not hope at all.

There are gardens of such flowers as bloom in Fire, and also Elemental conservatories where you can see those flowers that bloom in Air and Water and blossom in the darkness and pressure of Earth.  There are flowers that bloom in Heaven and flowers that bloom in the Abyss; and Befutig Safiza Uj-alet shows them all to Pilar Pineda, as though to say: this is how many wonders our fair City could show you, if you asked for flower-gardens alone!

And did she cast off her mortal flesh and become Efreet, she could see the gardens of a thousand other planets from other stars and planes, piercing then the veil that lies about the City of Brass by which travelers from different planets may never meet; as the gods demanded when this place was made.