Skye O'Malley: A Love For All Time Part 27

"So," chuckled Murad. "The gossip is true, Javid Khan. You really do wish to avail yourself of our famous slave markets. The Great Bazaar offers more beauty, and more variety than any slave market in the world. The women are incredible! Everything from virgins of twelve to women of more experience. There is something for every taste. Sometimes I go there in disguise not just to buy, but to gaze upon the lovelies displayed there."

"I have never known you not to come back with at least one purchase to your credit," chuckled the valideh. "My son is a connoisseur, and a collector of beauty. Is it not so, my lion?"

He smiled a smile of great and genuine affection at her, looking somewhat like a boy who has been caught stealing fruit from the orchard. "Alas, Javid Khan, my mother will allow me no illusions. She is right."

"Your reputation precedes you, my lord. My father is kept busy seeking the most perfect maidens to send you in tribute each year," the prince answered.

"When we learned that you had come alone to us but for your servants," said the sultan, "we decided that we would help you to build a new collection of beauties. Just today a s.h.i.+p arrived from the Dey of Algiers and among the gifts he sent me was a lovely woman whom I am going to present to you." Murad looked up at the agha kislar who was stationed just behind the throne. "Have the woman brought in now, Ilban Bey," he ordered. "She is a rare creature," he said turning back to the prince; "an English n.o.blewoman, captured by the Barbary fleet. Because of my love for my bas kadin I am always being sent women with red hair who are a rarity here in our empire. Of course it is done to please me, but no one can possibly replace my perfect pearl of purity," he finished, stroking Safiye's hair.

Javid Khan smiled, and with warm words thanked the sultan, but he was thinking that right now a woman was the very thing he did not need, or even want. Nonetheless he could not refuse her under the circ.u.mstances.

"Do not thank me until after you have seen her," said the sultan with a broad smile, "but then thank me you will, and when she gives you a son, you will thank me even more. The English are said to be a hardy, beautiful, and intelligent race. Some of them have been coming to the Levant to trade for years now, but I will shortly be allowing their first amba.s.sador to come. Did you know that they are ruled by a virgin queen? Is that not odd? Yet they seem very much like you and me."

"I know little about the English," answered Javid Khan. "They do not come to the Crimea."

Suddenly the sultan's crier began shouting to the a.s.sembled guests, "Silence! Silence! Our lord, Sultan Murad III, the Defender of the Faith, and the Shadow of Allah upon this earth, would present to the new amba.s.sador from the Khanate of the Crimea, Prince Javid Khan, son of the Great Khan Devlet, ruler of the Crimea, a token of his esteem. All be silent! Look and admire the generosity of our great Sultan Murad III. Let the gift be brought forth."

"Let the gift be brought forth," echoed the entire harem.

From the darkened far end of the garden, down the center path between a row of Flame of Persia roses came the sound of thick-soled feet crunching upon the gravel. Then in the first dim light, and finally into the brightness of the lanterns that lit the lawn came four exceptionally tall, and very proud, elegant black slaves wearing white pantaloons and leopard skins slung across one shoulder, and bearing an enclosed litter of pure silver about which fluttered pale gold draperies of metallic silk gauze. Padding up before the divan where the sultan and his guest awaited they stopped, and carefully set the divan upon the ground in front of their lord and master. As if from nowhere Ilban Bey appeared like a genie, and slowly walked over to the litter he extended a birdlike talon of a hand, and drew the curtains back from one side of the littet.

There was an expectant hush over the garden as the agha kislar reached into the litter, and drew forth from it the heavily veiled form of a female. Bringing her forward so that she stood directly before both the sultan, and the prince he allowed them a moment to look upon her before he drew away the sheer golden veil covering her face, and the matching veil that covered her glorious hair. Next the chief eunuch removed Aidan's long pelisse, and finally her little short bodice to bare her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Then he stepped back.

"Well, my friend," said the sultan, "is she not everything I promised you she would be?" There was a smile upon his lips, and his voice was jovial to the a.s.sembled, but both the valideh, and the bas kadin heard something the others did not. Murad was not pleased. Casting a quick look at her son Nur-U-Banu saw his eyes but briefly skim over Marjallah l.u.s.tfully. He obviously regretted the loss of the lovely Englishwoman, but there was little he could do about it now.

Javid Khan looked but briefly at Aidan. "She is very fair, my lord, and you are most generous in your gift," he said.

"You will take her to your palace with you this evening, my friend," said the sultan. "She is not a virgin, I am told, and so you may enjoy her without delay." He waved his hand to Ilban Bey. "See she is ready to travel," he commanded the eunuch.

The agha kislar bowed, and refitting Aidan with her bolero he signaled a slave to pick up the other garments, and hurried her away. Once they were out of hearing of the guests he said to her, "You will travel with the prince in his caique. His palace is located on the sea outside of the city to the north. Jinji has already been dispatched with your things. I will leave you in charge of Omar," he said waving to his shadow, "for I must hurry to find a special maid to share my lord Murad's bed tonight. He was most put out by his loss of you. In that the valideh and I have made a small miscalculation. You would have found favor with the sultan quite quickly. Perhaps it is because you are so statuesque, Marjallah. Good fortune to you with Prince Javid Khan, and remember that you are a gift from the sultan. If the prince is content with you then you will find you have powerful friends among the harem. Do you understand what it is I am saying to you?

"Yes, my lord agha, I understand," Aidan replied.

To her surprise Ilban Bey patted her hand, and then he hurried off. "He is a good friend to have," said the eunuch Omar.

"And, I think, a dangerous enemy," she replied.

Omar nodded. "You are not unintelligent, my lady Marjallah," he said, and then he helped her into her pelisse, replacing the long gold gauze veil that covered her hair, and refastened the veil across her face. Leading her through a maze of darkened gardens, a little white page boy lighting their way with a large, blazing torch that was almost as big as he was, he brought her to the royal boat basin where the prince's vessel awaited him. "You will be safe here," said Omar, helping her down into the boat. "Good fortune to you!" Then he turned away from her, and spoke sharply to the prince's boatmen, and she caught the phrases, prince's woman, and guard her well, and the sultan's wrath. Then Omar was gone, hurrying back up the sloping, hilly gardens to the palace.

To all intents and purposes she was now alone. The boatmen did not even cast surrept.i.tious glances at her for she was their master's property, and as such not meant for their eyes. There was nothing to do but sit back and wait for Prince Javid Khan, the arbiter of her fate. She had not gotten a particularly good look at him for she had been warned by both Nur-U-Banu and Safiye to keep her eyes modestly lowered when she was presented to the men for Murad was a fanatic about good manners, and in the Ottoman world a woman of breeding kept her eyes lowered in such a situation. From beneath her lashes, however, Aidan had stolen a look at the prince, but her only impression was that he was neither old nor ugly.

She gazed about the vessel in which she was seated. The torches from the marble quay at which it was moored gave her some visibility. She hadn't gotten a good look at the outside of the caique but from what she could see it appeared to be painted in a dark lacquer, its decorative carvings overlaid in gold leaf. The oarlocks of the boat were silver, as were the handgrips of the oars. Looking up she saw that the canopy was striped in a light blue, a midnight blue, silver and gold. The low divan within was upholstered in deep blue silk, and strewn with pillows in the same colors as the canopy. Aidan sighed, and wondered how long she would have to sit here waiting for Javid Khan. Unawares she was soon lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the boat.

Javid Khan stared down at the woman who slept so peacefully in his caique. The dark silk of the divan showed her fair skin to perfection. A smile crossed his usually stern features. How untroubled her sleep was, but then she could not possibly have the cruel memories that haunted his dreams. He stepped down into the vessel, and said quietly to his galley slaves, "Let us go." Expertly the boatmen maneuvered the caique out into the main channel of the waterway called Bosporus. Then with a smooth and rhythmic stroke they began to row north toward the end of the Bosporus where it emptied into the Black Sea. It was there on a point of land that Prince Javid Khan had his palace, facing toward his homeland of the Crimea.

He looked down on Aidan, and reaching out lingered one of her curls. Hair like molten copper, and it was soft to the touch. He hadn't seen the color of her eyes, but the sultan's mother had a.s.sured him that they were light. Not the sky blue of his own, but nonetheless of a light hue. Fair skin, red hair, and light eyes. He had never seen a woman like her before although he had certainly seen plenty of blonds. His own mother had been one, but hair the color of this slaveghTs was truly unique.

He liked her face, he decided. She was not a great beauty like the valideh Nur-U-Banu, or the bas kadin Safiye. She had not the pouting, childlike prettiness of many young women. No, her face was much more interesting with its high cheekbones, and dimpled chin. She was a tall woman although not big-boned. He wondered what her voice was like, or if she even spoke a language that he understood. A new woman was like anything else new; full of unknowns and interesting to explore. It was a pity, he thought, that at this point in his life he was not interested. He wished he could have told the sultan so, but one did not refuse the gift of the greatest monarch in the world, especially when it had been obvious to him that once Murad saw her he was loath to part with her.

Poor Murad. He chuckled, a deep sound, and Aidan awoke with a start, sitting up suddenly, her cheeks flushed, her generous mouth an O of surprise. Javid Khan reached out, and undid the sheer little sc.r.a.p of fabric that barely s.h.i.+elded her features. He cupped her face in his hand for a moment, his fingers smoothing over the soft flesh, his thumb running over her lips. Wide-eyed she watched him, and he saw now that her eyes were a silver-gray. "Do you speak Turkish?" he asked her quietly.

"I am learning," she answered him slowly.

"Tell me what language you do speak."

"I speak several. My own which is English, French . . ."

"I am conversant in French," he said switching to that tongue. "My mother was a Frenchwoman."

"Then that is why your eyes are blue!"

Javid Khan felt his face breaking into another smile. "That is why my eyes are blue," he agreed.

"Where are we going, my lord?" Aidan had suddenly remembered her manners.

"Your new home is a palace on a point of land at the end of theI Bosporus. You will be able to see the Black Sea, too, from it."

"All of it is strange to me," she said quietly.

"Have you a servant? You will be the first woman in my house here."

"The Dey of Algiers sent me to Istanbul with a eunuch called Jinji. If I might, my lord, I should like some women about me. I find it strange to be dressed, undressed, and bathed by one who looks like a man even if he isn't."

"We shall send this Jinji to the slave markets tomorrow to buy you some handmaidens," Javid Khan answered.

"My lord? Would it be possible for me to go to Istanbul also? It is not that I don't trust Jinji, but if these women are to be my companions, I should prefer to choose them myself. Jinji does not know me well enough to do that."

"I see no harm in it," he answered her, "as long as you are properly chaperoned. What kind of women would you choose?"

"I am not certain, but perhaps women who like myself are new to slavery, and frightened."

Her words gave him pause for thought. He was rather charmed by her soft heart. "Are you frightened of me?" His blue eyes searched her face curiously.

"Yes," she admitted honestly.

"You have no need to be, but tell me, why are you afraid?"

"I do not know what is expected of me, my lord. A year ago at this time I was a virgin daughter mourning the death of my father who was my only surviving parent. Seven months ago my queen had me married to my husband. Less than three months ago I was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Everything has happened so quickly for me in the last year. Before that my days were calm and orderly. Now I find myself seated in a boat next to a strange man who I am told is to be my master. I am afraid, my lord. Can you understand why?"

"You need not fear me, Marjallah. I will be quite frank with you when I say that had you not been a gift of my liege lord that I would not have accepted you. As it is I did not have the choice. You will live in my house, and I will try to see that you are as happy and as comfortable as you can be under these circ.u.mstances."

The words slipped out before she could think. "Do you not like women, my lord?" She had heard of men like that.

Rather than being offended Javid Khan was amused. "Are you asking me if I prefer the Temple of Sodom to the Temple of Venus? The answer is no, I do not. I very much enjoy women."

"Oh." Aidan's face fell. He didn't want her. Here was the final humiliation. Once again she was a loser in this game of life. It seemed that only Cavan FitzGerald, d.a.m.n his black soul to h.e.l.l, had been a winner. Then she had a brighter thought as the hurt of his rejection began to fade. "If you do not want me, my lord, would you consider applying to my family for a ransom? We are very wealthy, and my husband would pay well for my return." It mattered not what Safiye Kadin had said earlier. She would rather face the shame of her captivity in England than chance being sold from Javid Khan's household because he did not want her.

"To sell the sultan's gift to me, even back into her own land, would be considered an appalling breach of etiquette, Marjallah." The tone of his voice indicated that the matter was closed. He sat staring straight ahead, and did not touch her, or speak to her again until they had reached his palace. Then he escorted her from the caique through darkened gardens into the building where Jinji was waiting.

As the eunuch bustled forward, br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with his own self-importance, the prince tipped her face up to his, and said in a quiet voice, "Good night, Marjallah. I hope you will sleep well."

Watching him disappear down a hallway she felt a tiny pang of regret. What kind of man was he? What did he really want of her? If he did not want her then why did he insist upon keeping her? Would the sultan be that offended if Javid Khan ransomed her to her family? Would such a great monarch even know, or care about such a trifling matter as a slave-girl?

"Why are you not to go to him? Have you angered him already?" Jinji fumed about her. "You cannot offend a great prince."

"Be silent!" she ordered the startled eunuch, speaking sharply, and showing spirit for the first time since her capture. "The prince does not want me tonight. Perhaps he is courteous enough to want me to get some rest after my long voyage."

"Of course, my lady Marjallah, of course! Why did I not think of that in the first place myself." He was all smiles again.

"Why indeed, Jinji? Now where are my rooms? Why are you making me stand here like a beggar at the gates ?" She almost laughed aloud as he tumbled over himself to escort her to her rooms. If she had learned one thing today it was that in the strange world of the harem the woman must be in charge else the eunuch overrule her. She had watched both Safiye and Nur-U-Banu today with their servants, and they had both kept the upper hand. "Tomorrow," she continued, "my lord Javid Khan has said that you and I may travel to the slave markets in the city and obtain a bevy of maidens to serve me, and to keep me company. This household is naught but men. Take this heavy pelisse from me, and give me my sleeping garments. Did you bring the kittens that the valideh promised me? I would see them before I sleep."

He scurried about like a small bug, desperately trying to keep up with her. Removing her clothing he pa.s.sed her a comfortable caftan, exclaiming at the marks that the heavy golden girdle with its baroque pearl decoration had left upon her hips. "The valideh's chief eunuch said that the kittens would be sent to you within a few days, my lady, and not a moment too soon, I say. This palace has been closed up for many years, and I have seen mice."

"Not in my apartment, I should hope." She moved quickly through the haremlik of the palace exploring the s.p.a.ce that had been set aside for the women of the household. There was a very large salon with a center fountain off which were a dozen, windowed cubicles. There was a good-sized tiled bath, as well as the small tiled bath that was attached to her private apartment within the harem which consisted of a small salon, her bedroom, and several small servants' rooms. Since it was night she could not tell what was outside of the windows in the harem but when morning came she discovered that her salon windows faced both onto the sea, and onto a private garden. It was much too big a s.p.a.ce for one woman, she thought, but perhaps the prince would eventually fill it.

They traveled the following morning to the city by water in a larger caique than had been used the night before. The prince had not forgotten his promise to her, and had supplied Jinji with a more than generous purse.

"He said," the eunuch said excitedly, "that you were to purchase anything else you so desired. You have caught his eye, my lady Marjallah! I know you have!"

Their vessel was big enough to hold her litter as well as the four black slaves necessary to carry it, and once they had arrived in the city, she entered her transport, and was brought thusly to the slave markets of the Great Bazaar. They went to a market that dealt in women only, and there Aidan realized how truly fortunate she had been not to have been sold at public auction from the block. The entire place reeked of misery, but then how could anyone be content in the state of slavery? she thought. She was soon to learn that many slaves were precisely that: content. For many it was a perfectly acceptable way of life for they had been born to it. For others it was an escape from poverty, but there were enough captives, formerly free, and enough women being sold from situations in which they had been happy, to make for an air of discontent.

The women's slave market was mostly peopled by men although there were a few heavily veiled women like herself, carefully chaperoned by their servants. She concluded her business as quickly as possible for it disturbed her greatly to have to stand helplessly by and watch as other women were stripped naked, and minutely examined by their prospective buyers. She saw some tears upon the faces of these women, but saddest of all was the look of utter hopelessness in the eyes of too many.

By having Jinji obtain the ear of the owner of the slave market she was able to quietly voice her needs. She wanted, she explained, three servants, European if possible, for she sought to rescue in her own way at least a few of her sisters in captivity.

The bazaar owner smiled, showing yellowed teeth that somehow reminded Aidan of a dog's teeth. "Please tell your gracious mistress that I have exactly what she seeks," he said for Jinji. He would not speak to Aidan for she was only a woman, but she was also socially above him by virtue of belonging to Prince Javid Khan. The bazaar owner clapped his hands, and gave instructions to a slave who came running. "I have a mother, and her two daughters," he said to Jinji. "They do not speak Turkish, and they appear totally incapable of learning it. They are also extremely stupid, and although I had high hopes for the two daughters it has been impossible to separate them. Each time we have tried they have created the most terrible trouble. They have even tried suicide. I wish to Allah I had never laid eyes upon them, but perhaps your lady can do something with them. I have told you this openly because I am an honest merchant. Unless I can sell them together into a situation like this one, I might as well strangle them for they are costing me a fortune in food!"

Aidan held up her hand to Jinji when he went to repeat what the merchant had said. "I understood him," she said. "Let us see these three."

The trio who shuffled into the room were indeed a discouraging-looking lot. They were tall, big-boned women with dark blond hair that was now matted, and filthy. Sullen-looking creatures she could see the mutinous light in their eyes. It did not look very promising she thought.

"Do you speak French?" she asked them.

No answer.

"Are you German?"

No answer.

"Are you Venetian?"

"No, lady," said the elder of the three, "but we understand the tongue of the Venetians as they trade with our people. We are from a place near the city of Dubrovnik."

"You were not born slaves?"

"Never! We were free-born women! My husband was the owner of a factory that processed fish. We lived in a house with four rooms, and my daughters had respectable dowries, but business was bad last year. My husband could not pay his taxes to the sultan. Soldiers came, and took our daughters. When I protested they laughed, and said if I was so concerned about my girls I could come with them. That is how we came to be here."

"If I purchase you," said Aidan, "will you serve me faithfully? I cannot free you for I, myself, am no longer a free woman. I belong to Prince Javid Khan."

"What would you want us to do, my lady?"

"Be my servants."

"You will buy us all, my lady?"

"Yes," said Aidan. "I would not separate a mother and her children. How old are your daughters?"

"Eleven and thirteen, but they are hard workers, my lady."

Aidan turned to Jinji. "Pay the slave merchant for these three, and let us return home. This place depresses me."

Jinji looked her choice over critically. "They aren't very pretty," he said, and then smiled knowingly. "Of course, my lady Marjallah! How clever you are! The prince will not even see them! You would be foolish to bring rivals into your own house until you have secured the prince's total and undying affection." He chuckled, and set to work bargaining for the trio of females with the slave merchant who now having a buyer had decided that his merchandise was valuable.

"What are you called?" said Aidan turning back to the woman.

"Marta. My daughters are Iris and Fern."

"I am called Marjallah," said Aidan, and to her surprise the statement didn't seem strange to her, and she realized that she was beginning to accept the situation in which she found herself.

"The bargain is concluded, my lady Marjallah," said Jinji. "This robber who calls himself an honest man has been bested by my superiority."

Aidan laughed. "Jinji, Jinji!" she scolded him gently. "Have you no shame at all in your quest for high position?"

"None, my lady," he told her with an engaging grin. For the first time since he had been made her eunuch he was beginning to feel that the venture might be a successful one. She had just teased him, and to him it indicated that she was beginning to feel more comfortable in her position. "These females will need more suitable clothing," he said to Aidan. "Let us go to the Street of the Clothing Vendors, and purchase something more suitable for the servants of a prince's favorite. We will also visit the cloth merchants' quarter, and obtain material for other garments for both yourself and your women; but first let us take them to the Women's Hamam so they may be bathed. We cannot take them with us into the prince's caique as they are. They are ridden with vermin, and I suspect it has been months since their hair was clean."

Looking closely at Marta and her daughters Aidan had to agree. They were absolutely filthy which she found rather interesting since the Turks seemed to pride themselves upon their cleanliness. Why they would allow healthy slaves to get into such a condition was curious. She shortly had her answer to the puzzle.

"I am going to find you clean and decent clothing," she said to Marta, "but first I will leave you and the girls at the women's baths. They will see that you are washed. You do not look as though you have had a bath in weeks, and your hair is a disgrace."

"A bath?" Marta looked uncomfortable. "We have been taught by our priests that bathing is unG.o.dly, that only through mortification of the flesh can one truly find G.o.d. Please do not make us bathe, my lady."

G.o.d's toenail! thought Aidan. What incredible foolishness, but then she said to the woman bluntly, "Your priests are wrong, Marta, but I will not argue the point. You promised me if I purchased you and your daughters that you would serve me faithfully, and obeying me implicitly is part of that service. I am taking you to the baths where you will be thoroughly washed, and groomed. If you cannot obey this simple first command of mine, how will you obey me later on? The choice is yours, however. You may refuse, and I will see you returned to the market; or you may obey, and be happy and safe in my service. I will not tolerate disobedience amongst my servants, nor will I tolerate the sin of un-cleanliness." She looked sternly at the woman, and Marta was thoroughly cowed.

"We will obey you, my lady, and go to the baths."

Aidan nodded, but said nothing more.

They left the woman and her daughters at the public baths set aside for women only. Jinji had gone into the building with them, and instructed the head bath attendant as to what was desired by his ill.u.s.trious mistress, the beloved of Prince Javid Khan. Aidan would have laughed had she heard the tale that he spun to the not easily impressed bath attendants who were quite taken in by the eunuch. He exited the baths with an enormous grin upon his face, and said to Aidan, "We may return for them in two hours' time. They will be in perfect order then, my lady Marjallah."

Then he moved proudly through the crowded streets, making room for Aidan's litter and her slaves to pa.s.s. They first went to the Bazaar of the Cloth Merchants where with Jinji's help she picked some pretty, but practical cottons, light wools, and linens for her new servants. She tried to find attractive colors for even if the three were servants, they had female souls, and it was such little trouble to help bind them to her. Having made her purchases they moved on to the shop of a merchant who sold only the finest fabrics, and Aidan chose for herself a turquoise-colored silk with little silver stars woven into the fabric, a gra.s.s-green silk with wide stripes of gold, and a pale gold silk gauze.

The merchant was eager to be of help for Jinji quickly informed him that this was the favorite of the Sublime Porte's new amba.s.sador from the Khanate of the Crimea, and if her master, the very ill.u.s.trious Prince Javid Khan was happy with her purchases, then the lady Marjallah would be returning. His fortune would be made for the prince could not be too generous when it came to his favorite.

Aidan understood enough of what her eunuch was saying to dissolve into laughter, but she did not embarra.s.s her servant by reprimanding him before the merchant. Besides it amused her, and she was laughing more now than she had in months. However when they had exited the shop she said, "You are really quite wicked, Jinji. Be careful lest your galloping tongue lead you into a pit from which you cannot dig yourself out, my friend. It is only fortunate that the prince cannot hear you for I do not think he is the least bit interested in me at all right now, and if it continues where will we both be?"

"I learned something this morning, my lady, from the cook in the kitchen. Hammed says that the prince mourns his wife and his sons who are but recently dead. I was not able to learn anything more for I did not wish to pry lest I compromise your new position in the household. At least we know he is a real man, my lady. You will help him recover from his grief in time, and in the meantime, your position in his household will be secure from other women. We need that time, my lady Marjallah, so do not fret that the prince seems cool to you."

"Poor man," Aidan said. "I know just how he feels," and she remembered not only her father, but the deaths of her mother and little sisters as well.