by Anne Herries
‘So you are stil a coward?’ Suleiman’s mouth curved in a
sneer of contempt. ‘You are brave when you hold the whip and
the woman is defenceless, but when it comes to fighting a man
you have milk in your veins. You are not worthy to be my
brother and I shal not treat you as one. You wil be sent to the
galeys for five years, and you may earn your freedom by the
sweat of your back—it is more than you granted to those
women you sold into a life of misery in the lowest brothels.’
Suleiman turned away to pick up a bel that would summon
the guard, and in that moment Abu sprang for the knife. He had
it in his hand and was aiming for his half-brother’s back when
Suleiman turned, grabbing Abu’s forearm and jerking him so that
he went flying over his shoulder. The movement was so fast and
so unexpected that the eunuch lay winded and bewildered
wondering what had happened, the knife now in his half-
brother’s possession.
‘Kil me, then,’ he cried. ‘Kil me now. You intended it al the
time.’
‘I do not lie or cheat,’ Suleiman said. ‘You had your chance
to fight me fairly. Had you done so, I would have spared you
and set you free even had I won—but now your punishment is
set. Take him away…’
Three guards had come into the room as they spoke, and
they laid rough hands on Abu, dragging him to his feet and
carrying him off as he screamed abuse at Suleiman’s back, which
was now turned against him.
‘May Alah curse you…may you never reach paradise…may
your entrails be eaten by wild dogs.’
your entrails be eaten by wild dogs.’
Suleiman ignored Abu’s curses as he was taken away. A
swift death by beheading would perhaps have been kinder than
five years in the galeys, but Abu deserved his punishment. Yet
even so the whole incident left a sour taste in Suleiman’s mouth.
Had there been another way…but to have simply banished Abu
would have been considered weakness in the eyes of others.
Suleiman understood the nature of the world in which he
lived; it was often cruel and even savage as Eleanor had claimed,
but a firm hand was needed to keep order. Caliph Bakhar had
told him that it was not always easy to hand out the harsh
punishments necessary, but it had to be done if the order of the
empire was to stand.
For how long would such an empire continue to flourish?
Suleiman Bakhar had pondered it often, for although Suleiman
the Magnificent was a just and wise ruler he was no longer young
—and after him, what? The Ottoman Empire had ruled by blood
and fear, and when weakness was added to that it could become
corrupt and brutal.
The Caliph’s son might never have left his father’s palace, but
he knew that there was hatred between the outside world and
the empire. This hatred was grounded in differences of religion
and culture, but it had been compounded by the many victories
of Suleiman the Magnificent over his rivals and enemies—yet one
day he would be gone and then the empire would begin to
crumble. It had been predicted by astrologers and it would come
to pass if no lessons were learned from the past.
to pass if no lessons were learned from the past.
It was Suleiman Bakhar’s opinion that the time had come to
try and make peace with the Christian world. If this were not
attempted, one day the forces of Christendom would unite to
drive their enemies from the sea. Perhaps not while the Sultan
lived, but after his death. The Sultan’s son Selim was rumoured
to be weak and marred with the cruelty of his kind, and if he
were to rule in his father’s place it could lead only to the gradual downfal of the empire.
Yet there was nothing to be done, for Suleiman Bakhar was
tied to his father’s palace, kept from any valuable work he might
have done for his country by his father’s fear of losing him.
Besides, his opinion counted for less than a single grain of sand
and there was none to heed it.
‘May it be as Alah wils it,’ he murmured to himself and
dismissed the problem from his mind. There were far more
pressing problems to be solved for the moment…not least the
delicious one of how best to tempt Eleanor to his bed.
Eleanor pored over the book Suleiman had sent her. It had
come from the great Venetian printing presses and concerned the
benefits of mixing astrology with medicine. Certain remedies
were said to be more effective if used when the stars were in a
particular conjunction, and although she did not realy see how
this could be so, it made fascinating reading. How she wished
that she might consult her father, for he had known far more on
the subject than she. She wished that Sir Wiliam could have
the subject than she. She wished that Sir Wiliam could have
talked to Suleiman, and believed the two men would have found
pleasure in each other.
Once again her thoughts returned to her brother. Richard
hated Suleiman and al he stood for.
Knowing her brother was in the palace and attending the
school was both a pleasure and a torment to her. As children
they had spent much of their time together, and even when they
were older they had shared the same delights and pastimes.
Richard had often come to seek her out when she was at some
female duty and coaxed her into going out with him.
How it must irk him now that he had no freedom to do as he
pleased. Like her, Richard would find life very different here to
the one they had known at home. They had been fortunate in
their father, their lives rich and fulfiling…but at least they were
luckier than many who had suffered a fate similar to their own.
Eleanor was growing more content with her lot, though her
defiant spirit stil struggled against the fact that she was a slave, the property of her master. Yet she knew that she must make the
best of things and count her blessings.
Besides the book, Suleiman had also sent her a new journal
to replace the one she had almost filed with his own work, and
she had transcribed passages of the book she thought might
interest him. She thought that he was stil concerned about his
friend in the Janissaries who had developed a lump in his side,
for he had marked one section and she paid particular attention
to this so that she could discuss it with him when he sent for her
as he had promised.
as he had promised.
She could hardly wait for the afternoon to come, and was
conscious of excitement when Karin told her that she had at last
been sent for.
‘You are to take the book you have been studying.’ Karin
looked at her in a slightly puzzled way. ‘Al this is most strange,
Eleanor. I have never heard of it happening before—older
women are sometimes asked to become an adviser in domestic
matters, but never a woman of your age and beauty.’
‘I think the lord Suleiman likes to talk to me,’ Eleanor said.
‘Beside
s, I have been able to help him with some texts he found
difficult to read.’
Karin nodded. ‘Yes, I see that, but it is stil a little strange.’
She frowned and looked thoughtful. ‘I tel you this in confidence,
Eleanor—and beg that you wil speak of it to no one else. It is
my lord’s wish that none of the concubines should know this… I
have been told that Abu has been sent to the galeys as a
punishment for what he did—and they also whisper that he tried
to kil the lord Suleiman.’
‘No!’ Eleanor felt a sudden shaft of fear. ‘Was he hurt—the
lord Suleiman?’
‘No, not at al. He disarmed Abu instantly.’ Karin smiled at
her. ‘You have never seen your lord fight, have you? He is both
clever and strong, and he always wins in the arena.’
Eleanor nodded, her cheeks warm. She had heard this from
others, and found herself thinking that she would enjoy watching
such a test of skil. ‘Does he often fight?’
‘It is one of his main pleasures to train and fight with the
‘It is one of his main pleasures to train and fight with the
Janissaries,’ Karin told her.
Eleanor made no reply. It seemed to her that Suleiman
Bakhar was a man of extreme contrasts—the fierce competitor
who delighted in the arts of war and the clever, studious man
who had made his eyes ache looking for a cure for a sick friend.
She knew that this man interested her as no man ever had
before, and the thought of seeing him, of being with him, made
her heart beat faster so that she walked more quickly. By the
time she arrived at his apartments she was flushed and a little out
of breath.
‘You look warm, my lady,’ Suleiman said, offering her his
hand. ‘Come, we shal walk in the shade of the garden for a
while before we begin our studies. If you would like it, I shal
show you my hawks.’
‘Do you go hawking, my lord?’ Eleanor asked. ‘It is a
pastime my father greatly enjoyed when in the north of our
country. We did not live there, for as I have told you our estates
were in the west—but my father had a sister he dearly loved and
her husband had a great estate in the north. My uncle had a
wonderful falconry, and sometimes he would let me stroke the
birds.’
‘Did you fly the hawks, Eleanor?’
‘Once,’ she replied, smiling at the memory. ‘My cousin was
training a new bird and he showed me how it was done. I was
thriled when the bird came to my lure.’
‘It is truly a magnificent sight to see the hawk fly free and then
‘It is truly a magnificent sight to see the hawk fly free and then
have it return to your hand,’ Suleiman said. ‘Perhaps one day we
shal ride out into the countryside together, Eleanor. You might
like to hunt with me when I fly my birds?’
‘It would be a pleasure and an honour, my lord.’
Suleiman had been leading her towards a door that opened
out into an enclosed garden. She caught a glimpse of shaded
walks and fountains playing into little pools, very much as in the
gardens of the harem. But now he stopped and glanced at her, a
flicker of amusement in his eyes.
‘What has caused this transformation, my lady? Have you no
objections to my plans today? No obstinacy?’
‘Why should I object when you suggest only that which
would give me pleasure, my lord?’
‘I am glad that you share my pleasure in the hawks, Eleanor.’
He smiled at her, and they continued on in silence until they came
to the falconry at the end of a shaded walk. This was a
magnificent structure with both open and closed areas, so that
the birds might fly free as wel as perch inside when night fel.
Suleiman took a key on a chain he wore on his person and
unlocked the door, going inside to bring out a fine peregrine
falcon. ‘How do you like my darling?’ he asked in soft husky
tones, stroking the head of the bird with his finger. ‘Is she not
beautiful?’
Eleanor looked at the glossy feathers and dark, glittering eyes
of the female falcon, and knew that she was perhaps the most
magnificent she had ever seen. Female peregrines were faster
and stronger than the male of the species and much prized for
and stronger than the male of the species and much prized for
their strength in hunting.
‘Very beautiful, my lord. What is her name?’
‘Scheherazade,’ he replied and looked at her expectantly.
Eleanor laughed and met his look with a sparkling one of her
own. ‘I have heard the name,’ she said. ‘It is a legend long told
amongst the peoples of Arabia, is it not?’
‘It has been told for centuries past, and I believe was Persian
in origin, though the story is set in India. As perhaps you know, it is the story of the betrayed Sultan who vowed to cut off his
wife’s head at dawn and take a new one every day,’ Suleiman
said. ‘By her cleverness in teling stories Scheherazade was able
to prolong the day of her execution for one hundred and one
days, by which time the Sultan had falen in love with this clever
woman and could not bear to be parted from her.’
Eleanor nodded, recognising the humour and wit shown by
his choice of the name for the bird. ‘Is your peregrine so clever
that you could not bear to part with her?’
‘She is both brave and clever,’ Suleiman replied, ‘and yet she
has learned to love her master. She wil fly free and return to me
without a lure.’
‘Then she is an exceptional bird,’ Eleanor said. ‘I do not think
my uncle had such a hawk in his aviary.’
‘It is very rare to find such loyalty, such devotion—in any
female,’ Suleiman replied. ‘That is what makes her beyond
price.’
He lifted his wrist suddenly, giving the peregrine her freedom
to circle the gardens. She flew high and circled several times
to circle the gardens. She flew high and circled several times
before settling in a tree high above them, but when Suleiman held
out his arm and caled to her in the soft husky voice that held
such fascination for both the bird and the woman who watched,
Scheherazade flew back to him.
‘I have never seen that before,’ Eleanor said and there was a
kind of awe in her words. ‘Always, the birds come for the lure,
for food—but she came to the sound of your voice.’
‘She knows that I love her,’ Suleiman said softly. ‘And she
has learned to love her master—though at first she longed to be
free. Now she rejects freedom for love.’
Eleanor felt her spine tingle as she met the dark intensity of his
eyes. What was he teling her? That she too would have a certain
freedom if she gave herself to him in love? To be truly loved
would be a wondrous thing. Her heart seemed to catch with an
odd pain, and she knew a deep longing within her, but she
suppressed it fiercely. She was a woman, not a bird of prey!
She turned away to inhale the perfume of a musk rose and
Suleiman left her to
return the hawk to its perch in the aviary.
When he returned to her, it was as if the incident had never
happened.
‘Wel, my lady,’ he said in his mocking tone. ‘And what have
you learned since we met? I hope you have not been idle?’
‘No, my lord. I have been translating the work you set me
into English and trying to discover exactly what circumstances
are necessary for the cure to work.’
‘And what have you discovered?’
‘It seems that the stars must be in a certain alignment when
the powder is applied—but I fear that particular conjunction wil
not come about for some weeks yet.’
‘That is a pity,’ Suleiman said, and his expression was grave.
‘The surgeons tel me that if they are to cut it must be soon or the
sickness wil be too advanced. I had hoped to spare my friend
the knife, but I fear there is no hope for it. I shal give the order this evening.’
‘I am sorry, my lord.’
‘Yes, so am I. Too often the knife leads to infection and
death—besides the pain of bearing it.’
‘But if there is nothing else to be done…’ She saw that he
was distressed by the idea of his friend’s suffering. ‘I have
copied out a recipe for an ointment that I know to be helpful in
the treatment of wounds. It is made from cobwebs and might
prove useful…if your physicians would care to have it made up.’
‘Give it to me,’ Suleiman replied. ‘We shal try everything that
may help him—for he is a brave soldier and does not deserve to
die in such a way.’
‘Surely no one does, my lord. Medical science can do only
so much—the rest is in God’s hands.’
Suleiman nodded, his expression thoughtful. ‘But whose god,
Eleanor—yours or mine?’
‘Who can know that for certain?’ she asked, wondering that
he should voice his thoughts so openly to her, for surely it was
forbidden to him to think in such a way? And even a powerful
man could be brought down by the jealousy and spite of others.
man could be brought down by the jealousy and spite of others.
To discuss such matters with her was to make himself vulnerable
to bigotry and prejudice. ‘When the ship I was on almost
floundered in a storm I prayed to al the gods for help—yours,
mine and the god of the sea.’
‘You should not say such things,’ Suleiman warned her,
though he himself had begun the discussion. ‘Do you not know
