winners will receive "endless favors". As the children approach Vathek for the competition, he throws them inside an ebony portal to be sacrificed. Once this is finished, the Giaour makes the portal disappear. The Samaran citizens see Vathek alone and accuse him of having sacrificed their children to the Giaour, and form a mob to kill Vathek. Carathis pleads with Morakanabad to help save Vathek's life; the vizier complies, and calms the crowd down. Vathek wonders when his reward will come, and Carathis says that he must fulfill his end of the pact and sacrifice to the jinn of the earth. Carathis helps him prepare the sacrifice: she and her son climb to the top of the tower and mix oils to create an explosion of light. The people, presuming that the tower is on fire, rush up the stairs to save Vathek from being burnt to death. Instead, Carathis sacrifices them to the jinn. Carathis performs another ritual and learns that for Vathek to claim his reward, he must go to Istakhar. Vathek goes away with his wives and servants, leaving the city in the care of Morakanabad and Carathis. A week after he leaves, his caravan is attacked by carnivorous animals. The soldiers panic and accidentally set the area on fire; Vathek and his wives must flee. Still, they continue on their way. They reach steep mountains where the Islamic dwarfs dwell. They invite Vathek to rest with them, possibly in the hopes of converting him back to Islam. Vathek sees a message his mother left for him: "Beware of old doctors and their puny messengers of but one cubit high: distrust their pious frauds; and, instead of eating their melons, impale on a spit the bearers of them. Should thou be so fool as to visit them, the portal to the subterranean place will shut in thy face" (53). Vathek becomes angry and claims that he has followed the Giaour's instructions long enough. He stays with the dwarfs, meets their Emir, named Fakreddin, and the Emir's beautiful daughter Nouronihar. Vathek wants to marry her, but she is already in love with and promised to her effeminate cousin Gulchenrouz. Vathek thinks she should be with a "real" man and arranges for Bababalouk to kidnap Gulchenrouz. The Emir, finding of the attempted seduction, bends his head and asks Vathek to kill him, as he is ashamed to have seen