The Lake of Sorrows (13 page)

“I cannot presume to know my master’s plans.” Roche emptied his wine-cup and his mouth felt parched. A fly had settled on Zoitsa’s bare collarbone and was crawling, ever so slowly, downwards, inwards …

Alhi poured more wine. “The Sultan made me Pasha because I was becoming a thorn in his side. Had I been no threat to him, he would merely have crushed me. Were I to become my own man, I would and could be the perfect ally for your master to keep the Ottomans - and the English - busy while he conquered Egypt.”

The fly was now halfway to Zoitsa’s navel, moving leisurely across silken skin. The Frenchman seemed to have some difficulty focusing his eyes. Nevertheless, when Roche discovered the wine in his glass, he drank gratefully. “A … magnificent offer, your highness.”

“I trust your master will agree with that, too, when you inform him of it. Waste no time, do it soon.” Alhi emptied his coffee cup and rose abruptly.

Zoitsa from Kalamata rose even more quickly and disappeared among the garden’s trees and bushes. Roche looked almost hatefully at Alhi, but then hurriedly, if unsteadily, rose to his feet.

The Pasha beamed at him. “But enough talk of affairs of state. You must be tired after your journey. I hope to make your stay here as memorable and worthy as the good name I have in the Ionian Sea and France. If they have heard of me, that is.” He smiled in poorly pretended humility.

“What are you saying, your highness? The people that matter in France know you well, and they admire you. You are considered the greatest power in the East.”

“The feelings are mutual, then. I myself consider the people that matter in France the greatest power in the West. And I believe that, with enough victories, Bonaparte will become the one that matters most.” Frenchman joined comfortably in Alhi’s laughter.

“First, you must rest.” Alhi once more clapped his hands and Tahir appeared instantly. “My guard captain will take you to your wing of the palace. Then you must allow us to entertain you. I want you to relax and enjoy. All the pleasures of my house will be at your disposal. All of them.”

“P
erhaps your work on Roche will be no work at all, my son.” Alhi let himself collapse onto his sumptuous bed, laughing up at his son, who had been invited - or ordered - to accompany his father to the Pasha’s bedchamber. Alhi stretched luxuriously; perhaps he would allow himself to sleep tonight. If Hamko would let him …

He wrenched his thoughts back to more pleasant subjects. “Bonaparte’s lap dog fell like a ripe fruit for Zoitsa already in the garden. Tonight’s dancing was just prolonging his agony. Did you see how he was ready to fall on his knees and kiss my hand when I let him know she was a gift for him?”

Muhtar stood more stiffly than the guards outside the bedchamber door. “I am glad to hear my flesh-peddling days promise to be few.”

Alhi glowered at him. “They may be over already. Zoitsa must be in his arms by now, unless the little minx plays innocent to inflame him even more. I have heard these westerners write stories about brave warriors rescuing innocent, fawning girls from a fate worse than death in the harems of horrible despots such as me.”

Laughter convulsed the Pasha. “Nothing swells larger in a man than his pride at protecting helpless women, if he is foolish enough to let women be his passion in the first place. In a week or so, at the most, we will have a wedding to celebrate, and Bonaparte’s errand-boy to me will have become my errand-boy to
him
, you mark my words. Your lesson has become a far too easy one, but I hope you will take it to heart nonetheless.”

Muhtar’s nostrils flared and he tossed his head back without looking at his father. “Is there anything else you need me for?”

“Why? Are you in a hurry to go someplace?” Alhi’s mocking tone made his son’s face take on the color of fine mahogany.

“Yes. I am in a hurry to go to sleep. Should I not be? I am a mere mortal who sleeps at night, unlike my divine father who is above such weaknesses of the flesh.”

Alhi’s merriment soured. “Run along and sleep, lad. But same way as last night — by your wife’s side.”

“You spy on me even when I am in bed?”

“No need to.” Alhi’s smile no longer reached to his eyes. “Your wife’s face each morning is the best spy I can ask for. Pashou smiling and happy like a lark in the morning — Muhtar has slept at home. Pashou’s face like thunderstorm clouds — Muhtar has slept somewhere else. If he has slept at all.”

Muhtar finally looked at his father, but now he no longer spoke to him.

“Oh, stop sulking, lad. You did obey the order I gave you last night. I am very pleased with you. Well done.”

Yet Muhtar did not catch the bait. He looked pointedly towards the door.

“Very well. Go. Run along and sulk. But I will see a smile tomorrow, mind you! I want Roche to go back to his master and tell him that the splendors of the Pasha’s court in Yannina exceed even those of the emperor’s in Vienna.” Alhi waved his hand dismissively.

But when Muhtar had opened the door, his father rose on one elbow and called after him. “Oh, and I have ordered your friend Meço Bolno to leave the palace and go live in his house again. I know you invited him to stay at the palace for a while, but it is said that strangers meet in his house at night. It is past time he occupied it again. And I have told him to let me know about
anyone
who might blunder in there again, if they should not know that the house’s rightful owner has returned.”

Muhtar gave him a poisonous look and left, slamming the door with all his might.

Yulebahar was summoned again to the Pasha’ chamber that night, to her utmost delight. Except it rekindled her hatred for the woman the Pasha so obviously saw instead of her when he took her in his arms.

Y
ulebahar woke at dawn. To her surprise, she saw her Pasha already dressed and ready to leave.

“I love you.” She spoke lightly, with a pouting smile, taking courage from her nakedness and the situation.

Alhi laughed derisively. “Ahh, ambitious already, are we?”

She blushed, then pouted, and he laughed again. “Do you women really think your thoughts are so secret? That a man cannot see into your pretty little heads where you keep such precise ledgers of the favors handed out to your menfolk? I, for one, can almost hear the sound of a pen scraping across paper just now.”

Tears of frustration dribbled down her cheeks. “I love you!”

His mirth gave way to irritation. “That is not enough, Yulebahar, to make you strong in the harem. It works the other way around. It takes
me
loving
you.
” Alhi did not waste time waiting to see her reaction, he was already marching out the door.

She whispered after him. “Do you think me offended or hurt, my Pasha? I knew how much to expect - or how little. I am patient. I wanted to be summoned to your chamber. Now it has happened. I want more. That will happen, too.”

Lying back on the soft bed, she ran a hand over her abdomen, caressing it. “These are my fertile days, my Pasha and I may already be carrying your next son in my womb. No woman in my family ever bore a daughter, you know. Or did you?”

She pulled a silken sheet on top of her naked body and let herself drift back towards sleep. “Allah willing, you will know soon enough. And then we will see what it takes to get stronger in your harem.”

A
lhi barged into the guards’ barracks like a hurricane, waking everybody up on his way.

Tahir followed him almost running, and the night guards, who had dozed off in the morning cool, jerked upright and prayed they had done so in time.

“Summon Vajas immediately! We need to write a letter to Bonaparte. Get Muhtar here, too. And send a message to my commander at Bokovo to muster his forces for marching on Souli.”

“Be calm, my Pasha.” Tahir, rubbing sleep from his eyes, was still only half-dressed. “Why are you in such a hurry? The day has hardly begun.”

“I wasted my night, Tahir. I aim to make double use of the day.”

“You did not waste your night in a bad way, my Pasha. Or so it is said.” The captain of the guard ventured a very male smile.

Alhi smiled back, man to man for a moment. “The things you know. Have I no privacy in my own palace?”

“Your guardsmen envy you, my Pasha. They tell stories.”

“Let them do so. In the years to come, historians might call me a satyr as well as a tyrant, Tahir. With five hundred women in the harem. And perhaps a hundred pretty boys, too? It is not hard for giddy imagination to go wild.”

“Ahh, if only I were in your shoes.” Tahir stretched and sighed with envy, then smiled again, even more improperly. “Although five hundred women might be beyond me in my old age.”

“You will fight many a war for me yet, Tahir. And I would as gladly be in your shoes.” Alhi’s eyes grew distant for a moment. “You have all the time in the world, to spend as you wish.”

“To work and fight to get all that I desire, Allah willing. But you already have everything you desire.”

“Women, sons and gold, yes. But not much time to enjoy any of it. A few nights is all I have had to spare for that woman. Once she wakes up — “

“You mean Yulebahar.” Now it was Tahir’s eyes that went distant. “Her name means scent of spring roses and a rose indeed she is. She sings like a nightingale.”

“Wake up, Tahir. You are daydreaming.” Alhi nudged his guard captain playfully. “Once she wakes up, send her back to the harem. But detail a eunuch to watch her closely. She is the ambitious kind.”

“I see.” Tahir’s good mood faded. “Who knows what sort of schemes she has in mind. That poor soul has moved closer to becoming food for the eels of the lake.” He sighed. “What a waste, though.”

“Nobody will touch her for the time being.” Suddenly, the Pasha’s voice bit like a scourge, and his captain almost jumped. “Just keep a close eye on her. And summon Karayannis to examine her, just in case she gets pregnant. Arrange for her to come to my chamber again tonight.”

Y
ulebahar was in the harem bath - and in a state of rapture.

“He has people watching me now.” Yulebahar’s washed her treasured body lovingly, and playfully slapped Shouhrae when the girl moved to help her. “Only the Pasha may touch.” She giggled. “This means Alhi cares for me.”

“Be careful, Yulebahar.” There was genuine concern in Shouhrae’s voice. It made Yulebahar pout.

“You merely envy me, Shouhrae!”

“Noone should hear you speak his name. You talk too much.”

“I do not care.” Yulebahar raised her dainty nose very high and admired her splendors in the mirror beside the bath. “Alhi will never forget about me. You will see. I am going to be the one who will bear him another son.”

“If that was true, even worse.” Yulebahar forgot her delights at the alarm in Shouhrae’s gasp. “Have you got any idea how many women in here would wish to be in your shoes? They will poison you.”

“Let them try! Alhi is watching over me. Let them dare try anything.”

Shouhrae cringed. “I see there is no talking sense to you. At least do not forget my words.” She carried on washing Yulebahar’s hair in silence. But at least Yulebahar did not slap her hands away again.

“Y
ou went to the Pasha’s chambers unprepared!” Eminee’s voice was severe.

Shouhrae fled the harem bath as hurriedly as dignity would allow. Yulebahar, still standing naked in the flower-scented water, gulped. “I was summoned in haste, my lady.”

Eminee waved her off. “This is never to happen again. You will be given by the chief eunuch a small wooden box with powder. Use it well.”

“Forgive me, my lady, but what for? What is it?”

“Hashish. You will use it carefully.”

“But … how?”

“Silly peasant girl! Have you learned nothing while you have been frittering away your time here? Rub it into your skin. All over. Once you start sweating, the fumes will increase his pleasure. Never go unprepared again. He wants to see you again tonight.”

Yulebahar could not hide her delight; the Pasha would summon her again! “I will not go unprepared, my lady. I promise.”

“You will also be examined by Karayannis, the doctor.”

“W-why?” Yulebahar shifted her feet uneasily.

“Because that is the Pasha’s order.” The scorn in Eminee’s voice was replaced by regal sternness. “The shadows whisper that you have promised my husband another son.”

“I — “

“Have you not learned that it is not wise to make promises to lunatics and children?”

Suddenly, temper flared in the young harem girl. She looked straight into her mistress’ eyes and spoke without shame or submission. “And which of those is the Pasha -
our
Pasha?”

“At times, all men will behave like one or the other - or both.”

Yulebahar bristled, but wisely bit her lip before her temper got the better of her.

Oddly, this made Eminee’s gaze soften, her voice slip into a motherly tone. “May Allah protect you from this point on.”

“Am I in danger, my lady?”

“Very much so.”

“From whom?”

“Yourself. Mostly yourself, my poor child.”

Now Yulebahar seemed truly uneasy for the very first time.

“Your fate has completely changed, Yulebahar. For better or worse, noone can tell yet. Just open your eyes.”

Eminee paused to let her gaze sweep around the harem. “Most of the women that were your friends just two days - and nights - ago have already started to envy or hate you. They wish they were in your place. Envy thrives like a weed.”

Eminee paused a moment to let the words settle deep into Yulebahar’s mind. “You should have your eyes wide open all the time from now on and be extremely careful. Even the glass of water that you drink, you must have to inspect twice, to make sure that nothing has been slipped into it. Do you understand?”

Shivers swept over Yulebahar and her mouth quivered so much she could not form the words of an answer.

“If you manage to survive, you might give him a son. But even then, do not expect to feel the joy of motherhood.” The Pasha’s wife became sad and distant, seemingly lost in memories of unaccomplished wishes. But gently though she spoke, this only seemed to only increase the young girl’s shivering.