Bedazzled
Page 10
“Now, don’t you go fretting, m’lady, about the young gentleman,” Knox told her, feeling a little sorry for the girl now. “He’s locked in his cabin same as you. Captain says he might get ransomed. All the rest of the crew but for the captain, me, Mr. Bolton, the first mate, Mr. James, the second mate, and Will, the cook, has been sent over to the galley. We got a bunch of them heathen crewmen aboard us now.” He set down the tray he was carrying and peeled the napkin back.
India looked wanly at his offering, and sighed. “I don’t think I can eat a morsel,” she said.
“If ye eats every bit of this meal up, m’lady, I’ll carry a message to yer young gentleman,” he bribed her. “Cook killed and roasted the last of the chickens today, and made some fresh bread. There’s an artichoke, some grapes, and I’ve sectioned an orange for ye. Now, you eat it up. When I takes the gentleman his tray, I’ll take yer message to him as well. All right?”
India sniffled, but began to pick at the food the steward had brought her. She took a nibble, and then another, and discovered to her surprise that she was actually hungry despite her low spirits. She quickly stripped the meat from the chicken wing, chewing it vigorously and swallowing it down. “Is there any cheese?” she asked the steward.
“Beneath the bread, m’lady,” he answered her, masking a smile. The poor lass had not eaten in a day. Of course she was hungry. She had best eat now, for God only knew what kind of heathen food they would be offered when they reached port. I’m getting too old for this kind of adventure, Knox thought to himself. If I ever get back to England, I’ll find myself a nice widow with a bit put aside, and settle us in a cottage down in Devon, with a view of the sea from the windows, which will be more than enough for me. If I gets back.
When India had finished all the food on the tray, Knox picked it up to go, asking, “What shall I tell the young gentleman, m’lady?”
“Say I love him,” India began, “and that I’m praying for our deliverance. Tell him I wouldn’t consider it amiss if he would pray for all aboard the Royal Charles, too. And he should find a way for us to escape!” India concluded.
“Yes, m’lady,” Knox replied, thinking he would certainly leave off the last part of her message to Adrian Leigh. They didn’t need the young milord trying to be heroic and getting himself killed. Not that Knox thought the young man heroic. He was rather more of an opportunist, taking his chances when they appeared favorable. Still, a little caution never hurt.
Alone again, India sat in the window seat once more viewing the empty sea. The sun was beginning to set in the west, almost directly in front of her. Above, the sky was a clear sharp blue, streaked with wispy pink clouds. The western horizon was flame, and purple and gold, with just the faintest edging of pale green. As the sky darkened, a single bright blue crystal star appeared in the early night sky. India sighed. It was so utterly beautiful. She wondered if Adrian was watching the sunset, too, and did he think of her as she thought of him? The sound of the door being opened caused her to turn her head from the window. She expected to see her cousin, but it was Aruj Agha instead. India stiffened.
“Do not be concerned, my beauty,” he said in a reassuring voice. “You will not be harmed in my care. Let me light a lamp. It is dark in here.” He drew the oil lamp down, and lit it with a small wick from the lamp he carried. “Remain in your place, my beauty, and let us talk. Do you understand what has happened this day?”
“You and your bandits have pirated our ship,” India said sharply.
He chuckled, amused by her continued spirit. “It is my right to capture your vessel, girl,” he told her. “These waters are under the control of that most gracious servant of Allah—may he be blessed forever—Murad, the fourth of that name. He is but a young lad, but we hope he will one day be a great sultan. As an infidel ship, you are fair game, my beauty.”
“Who are you?” India asked, curious. “Are you a Turk?”
“I am a Bosnian, my beauty. It is part of the Ottoman Empire, but in Europe. I was conscripted into the corps of janissaries when I was eight years old. It was a great honor for my family. My uncle had been a janissary. I was educated by the corps, and nurtured by the corps. I worked my way up through the corps until I attained the rank of agha—captain, you would call it in your tongue,” he told her.
“What will happen to me?” India asked. “My cousin says I will be a slave now. I am not a slave! I am the daughter of the duke of Glenkirk. Two of my brothers are dukes, and one a marquis. I am an heiress of great wealth, and related by blood to England’s king.”
Aruj Agha’s brown eyes twinkled, and he stroked his russet beard thoughtfully. “ ’Tis a most impressive pedigree, my beauty, but it does not change the facts. Your cousin told you the truth.”
India jumped down from the window seat, and stamped her foot. “My family will pay you a fabulous ransom for my safe return. I could pay you the ransom myself. Don’t you understand, Arug Agha? I am rich! Why, I own two trading ships: the Star of India, and the Prince of Kashmir. They are on the East Indies run, bringing spices, silks, and jewels to England each year. All that in addition to a great inheritance left me.”
“I have listened to you carefully, my beauty, now you must listen to me. I do not have the right to make any decision regarding your fate. You, this ship, and everything on it, men and cargo alike, now belong to the dey of El Sinut, who rules in the sultan’s name here. It is he who will make the decision concerning your fate. It is my job to bring you all safely into the harbor of El Sinut, and with Allah’s help, guidance, and blessing, I will.” He arose. “Now, I will bid you good night. You need have no fears, my beauty. You are quite safe.”
“My cousin?” she asked.
“I will allow him to come and see you in the morning,” the agha told her. Then, with a bow, he departed the cabin, locking it behind him.
India paced the room. This was impossible. And none of it would have happened if you had heeded your parents, a little voice in her head said. “God’s nightshirt!” she swore, but the little voice was right, and she knew it. If she had listened to her family instead of allowing her foolish heart to rule her, she would be safe at home in Scotland, and not the captive of Barbary pirates. Her family wouldn’t force her to marry someone she didn’t really love. They could try, but in the end she would have gotten her way if she had just been a bit more patient, India decided. And as much as she loved Adrian, he had been wrong to cajole her into the elopement. Just look what had happened to them!
And he would more than likely be ransomed, but everyone seemed to be very sure that she wouldn’t be. There was a stigma attached to a girl finding herself in this position. Still, her great-grandmother, and her grandmother, as well as her aunt Valentina, had found themselves in similar situations and come home to lead respectable lives. But that had been years ago. Times were different then, and people certainly more reasonable and open-minded. Now, if it were known that Lady India Lindley had been captured by Barbary pirates, it would cause a scandal of great proportions, and no decent man would offer for her. And if Adrian was sent home ahead of her, and she later returned, why even he wouldn’t wed her! “God’s boots!” India muttered. What a headstrong damned little fool she had been!
What in the name of heaven was she going to do? How could she save herself? Could she convince this dey to ransom her along with Adrian? It seemed her only option. The only other course open to her was to kill herself, and India knew she didn’t have the courage to do that. Besides, if the truth were known, she didn’t want to die anyway. But what if this dey fellow decided to keep her? India smiled grimly. She would be the most difficult, the most impossible, the most awful creature he had ever known; and he would certainly send her home, having concluded that a ransom was a better bargain than an uncooperative and raging girl. She was not about to be any man’s slave! It was a totally unacceptable concept. She would not tolerate it!
She curled back into the window seat. The sky was dark now, and there was
a thin new crescent of a moon reflecting itself delicately into the black sea. Around it, the stars were bright. Was her sister looking at that same moon? Fortune, who was so accepting of their parents’ decision to find her a husband in Ireland, so content to settle herself at MacGuire’s Ford, and be mistress of her own lands. How much easier it would have been for all of us, India thought, if I had been more like Fortune. Yet her sister could certainly not be called docile. Fortune was anything but meek and mild; but she was of a far more practical bent of mind than her elder sibling.
How long will it be before I see my sister and brothers again; and our parents too, India wondered. “Damn it, I miss them!” she half whispered to the empty cabin. “I have been so foolish. I will certainly never be this foolish again.” She sighed, and continued looking out upon the sea, watching the wake of their vessel, just faintly silvered, as the Royal Charles sailed inexorably on toward El Sinut.
Part II
EL SINUT, 1626–1628
Chapter 6
“Would you like to come on deck as we enter the harbor?” Aruj Agha asked India on the morning they arrived in El Sinut. “Do you have a long, enveloping cape, my beauty?”
“I have two. The black wool with the fur lining I wore aboard in England, and a turquoise blue silk with a cream brocade lining,” India told him. “That one has a hood.”
“And is more suitable to our climate,” Aruj Agha said. “But I will need something to veil your features from public view as well.”
India rifled through her trunks, finally pulling forth a large, lace-edged handkerchief which she held up. “Will this do? And why does my face have to be hidden? Are you afraid someone will recognize me, and you will be forced to let me go?”
“No,” he said with a smile. She was a persistent wench, he thought. “In our society respectable women cover both their hair and their faces from public scrutiny. Such delicate discretion allows a woman a greater measure of freedom without being accosted by bold men in the streets. Women who allow themselves to be seen are obviously women of low repute attempting to sell their favors.” He helped her on with her long cape. “If you wish to appear in public in El Sinut, or anywhere else in the sultan’s domain, you must be cloaked and veiled.” He drew her hood up over her head. “We must affix the veil. Do you have any small pins?”
“In my jewel case,” India said. “Will my jewelry be taken from me, Aruj Agha? It was all given to me by members of my family.”
“I will intercede with the dey for you,” he said, “but it is his decision, my beauty. You must understand that.” He carefully pinned the white cloth across India’s beautiful face, concealing everything but her golden eyes and dark brows. Standing back, he appeared satisfied. “Now we are ready,” he told her with a broad smile. “I do believe that I could have a career as a lady’s tiring woman, my beauty.”
India giggled in spite of herself, and allowed him to lead her out onto the deck. The air was hot and dry. Ahead of them the great galley, its striped sails blowing gently in the slight breeze, rowed into an enclosed harbor, drawing its prey behind it. The harbor entrance was flanked by two square-towered lighthouses.
“They mark the ingress,” Aruj Agha told her, “and are also responsible for the great chain that for now rests beneath the surface of the waters, but in emergencies can be raised to block entry to the port.”
“They have a similar device across the Golden Horn in Istanbul,” Tom Southwood remarked, looking about the anchorage carefully. There were at least three more big galleys, as well as galleots, brigantines, frigates, and small fellucas which could accommodate only three to five benches with one oarsman each, as opposed to the galley that had taken them in tow, and had twenty-eight benches with two oars for each bench, and four to five men on each oar. This was a busy and formidable anchorage. It would not, he now realized, be as simple as he had thought to take back the Royal Charles and escape, but as an honorable man, he had no choice but to eventually try.
India wasn’t in the least interested in the harbor, its vessels, or its operations. It was this place, El Sinut, that fascinated her. It was a city like none she had ever before seen. The buildings were all white, and the hot midmorning sun glaring off them was almost blinding. They were not all of one height and most seemed to be terraced, each succeeding story set just slightly back of the one below. In what appeared to be the center of the city was a large building, the dome of which was overlaid in gold leaf, and glittered brightly.
“Is that your dey’s palace?” India asked Aruj Agha.
“No,” he told her, “that is the grande mosque of El Sinut.”
“What is a mosque?” she inquired.
“It is what we call our holy place, like your churches,” he explained to her. “Do you see the four towers surrounding the dome? They are called minarets. Six times each day the imans, our priests, ascend the minarets, and call the people to prayer.”
“You pray six times each day?” India said, incredulous.
“We are devout people,” he replied.
“What is going to happen now, Aruj Agha?” India questioned him as their ship was made fast to a dock.
“Why, we will go up to the dey’s palace. It is there.” He pointed.
Following the direction of his finger, India saw a large cluster of buildings on a low hill just below the grande mosque. They were as faceless and anonymous as all the other buildings in the city.
“A litter will be brought for you,” he said, answering what was obviously to be her next question.
“And the others?” she wondered aloud. “My cousin? Viscount Twyford? Will they go, too?”
“They will walk behind us, my beauty,” he responded. “I must now see to the arrangement,” he told her. “I will leave you in the company of your cousin.” Aruj Agha moved away from them, all business now.
“I am afraid,” India suddenly said, looking up at Tom Southwood.
“You must show no fear,” he warned her. “Especially among the women of the harem. You have to understand that these women are all vying for the attention of a single man, and hate each other. They will do whatever they have to do to destroy a potential rival.”
“I think I should rather be at an oar,” she told him with a small chuckle, as she attempted to calm herself.
“There is one thing I must insist you do, India,” he said. “Under no circumstances say you were eloping with Viscount Twyford. If there is the slightest suspicion that you are no virgin, you could end up being sold in the common slave market, and find yourself in a brothel. You will be safest in the dey’s household.”
“But what if he gives me to someone else?” India fretted.
“You are still securest in the harem of a wealthy man than in a whorehouse, Cousin, and I will be able to find you more easily.”
“But poor Adrian,” India said piteously. “He will think I have betrayed him, and it will break his heart! I cannot do it, Tom!”
“Adrian will certainly understand that your safety is our main concern,” Thomas Southwood told her. “It should be his concern, too, if he truly loves you. Please, India, promise me you will follow my instructions. Eventually I will get us all out of this situation, but you have to trust me, and do as I tell you.”
At that moment, Aruj Agha joined them once again. “Bid your cousin farewell, Captain. You realize you will not be able to speak with her again. Quickly! We are ready to depart for the dey’s palace.”
Tom Southwood hugged India, whispering urgently into her ear as he did so, “Promise me!”
“I’ll try,” she whispered back, hugging him.
“Come,” the janisarry captain said, taking India by the arm and leading her from the deck, down the gangway, and onto the first solid ground she had touched in weeks. She swayed just slightly as she regained her land legs, as the agha called them, helping her into a curtained litter. “Do not remove your veil, my beauty, or attempt to open the curtains once they are drawn,” he said sternly.
“Lie back against the pillows,” he advised her in a kinder tone, seeing her obvious distress, although she made a valiant attempt not to show that she was frightened. “You will find a small embroidered pouch tucked along one side of the litter. In it is a vial of water to assuage your thirst should you need it You will find you can see through the curtains, although no one will be able to get close enough to you to invade your privacy. The town is pretty, and you will enjoy the ride to the dey’s palace. It is not a great distance, my beauty.” He gave her a small smile, then he drew the litter’s curtains closed.
And he had not lied to her, India quickly discovered. She could see out!
Aruj Agha was dressed very handsomely this morning, she mused. He wore red silk pantaloons, a green-and-gold-striped shirt with a matching sash about his waist, and a handsome green silk cape lined in red. There was a curved sword hanging from his sash. His boots were of red leather, and upon his head was a small turban with a pearl pendant A rather handsome chestnut gelding was brought forth, and he mounted it easily, observing and directing the unloading of the Royal Charles from his perch.
The cargo was packed into mule-drawn carts and put into line behind the agha. India’s litter was then moved behind the cargo. Suddenly she saw the English crew coming down the gangway of the corsair galley. They were shackled by their legs, and around the neck of each man was an iron collar from which a chain was fastened to the man before him in the line of prisoners. Only Captain Thomas Southwood was permitted to walk free, ahead of his men, having given his word of honor not to attempt an escape along their route. India’s eyes anxiously scanned the shackled men, desperately seeking out Adrian Leigh. She gasped, horrified, to see him first in the line, next to Knox, pale, and treated no better than the common sailors. How could they!