Harem (18 page)

Topkapi Saraya

There was a kiosk at the end of the long peninsula of Seraglio Point. Its silver-plated dome was decorated in arabesque with flower motifs in blue and white. The woodwork was inlaid with ivory and it had windows of stained glass in patterns of claret and pavonine. There were fretted gold sofas and even a conical bronze fireplace against one wall.

It was Suleiman's refuge from the furnace heat of the palace on these warm nights. The unseasonal storm had spent itself quickly and the days that followed it soon baked the city dry once more. But it was cooler out here, with the evening breezes from the Marmara Sea whispering among the plane trees.

Hürrem lay with him on the long divan, listening to Suleiman's musicians playing unseen somewhere in the garden.

She made a shadow play on the wall of the kiosk with her fingers. 'Look,' she whispered.

'A camel!' Suleiman laughed.

'Now this.'

'A sheep?'

'It's a horse!'

'It looks like a sheep.'

'Did you ever see a sheep with such a long nose?'

'I have never seen such a long nose anywhere. Perhaps Ibrahim,' he laughed.

Hürrem frowned in concentration as she manipulated her fingers. Suleiman watched her, smiling indulgently.

'What about this?'

'A cat?'

'The Kislar Aghasi's cat. See? It has nothing between its legs!'

This time he did not laugh. 'You should not make such jokes.'

'Why not?'

'You offend against Islam.'

'Oh, you're such a hypocrite.'

Suleiman was lost for reply. How dare she say such a thing to him? Did she have no sense of her place? But perhaps it was what he loved most about her. He would let no one else speak so freely in front of him.

In the garden tortoises with lighted candles on their backs ambled through the roses and carnations. A full moon threw long shadows through the trees. He closed his eyes to the music. Such peace here, I could stay here forever.

But then the breeze died away and in the stillness he heard the ringing of hammers on iron as the smithies at the Galata arsenal set to forging new cannon for the coming campaign in Austria. He was overcome with guilt. God forgive me. I should be going with them.

The Valide was growing old. Her once rich black hair was now dyed with henna to disguise the gray, and all her kohl and powders could not hide the pouches under her eyes and her chin. Her limbs trembled even when she was sitting down.

Abbas placed his forehead to the silk carpet in reverence before addressing her. 'Crown of Veiled Heads.'

'Abbas.' The Valide sounded breathless even though she had been resting here for at least an hour. Her time must be close. 'You wished to speak with me?'

'Indeed, on a matter which, I hope, will be of no import.'

'Come now Abbas, I know you better than that. If you have come to me it must be a matter of some weight.'

'It is merely a rumour that has come to me through my various sources.'

The Valide sat forward, suddenly young and viperous again. 'Concerning who?'

'Concerning the Lady Hürrem.'

'That one!'

'It is, as I say, only a rumour.'

'I have more faith in your rumours than the official pronouncements from the Divan. Tell me what you have heard, Abbas.'

'Soon the army will march against Frederick in Vienna.'

'The whole world knows that!'

'What they do not know is that the Lord of Life will not lead his army to the Lands of War this year.'

'What?'

'I am told the Lady Hürrem has persuaded the Sultan to remain behind - with her.'

For a moment he thought she was going to choke.

'This cannot …be true.'

'I only repeat what I hear. I felt it was my duty to report it.'

The Valide slapped the palm of her right hand against the divan. 'She presumes too much! I warned him about her. First Gülbehar and now this little Russian. My son has not the faintest idea about women!'

'I hope I have not caused you offence,' Abbas said.

'On the contrary, you have done me a great service.' She picked up a cushion from beside her and threw it across the room with surprising force. The effort exhausted her. Her two maidservants rushed forward but she waved them away. 'Get away from me! I am all right.' She took some while to get her breath back. Then she said to Abbas in a quiet voice: 'What happened to your face?'

'Madam?'

'Your face. What happened to it? Come now, Abbas, I have known you these few years now and I have never asked you before. I shall be gone soon and I should like to know before I die.'

Abbas contained himself only with difficulty. Until now the old woman had treated him respectfully. Why would she shame him now, just to serve curiosity? The imminence of eternity was no excuse. 'I received the injury in a street fight.'

'A street fight. What were you fighting over?'

'My manhood.'

She was silent for a long time, and he had the feeling that after five years she had seen him for the first time, as a man and not a slave. But it could have been just his imagination.

'I wish my son would fight as hard for his own manhood,' she said. 'Thank you for your service, Abbas. I will remember it. Leave us. I have business to attend to.'

Suleiman was dismayed when he saw his mother. She seemed to grow a little older, a little frailer, each time he came. He had always thought her indestructible.

But age had not dulled her mind - or her tongue. 'Have you seen your sons?' she snapped at him the moment he had settled beside her on the divan.

'I have seen them. Çehangir is still sickly, but the others prosper. Their tutor seems pleased.'

The Valide scowled. 'What do you think of Selim?'

Suleiman shrugged his shoulders.

'I do not like him,' she said. 'He is a sullen child. I do not trust him. He eats too many sweetbreads for a boy and he carps like a woman. He is cruel to Mehmet and Beyzid.'

'You have nothing better to say about him?'

'In all other ways he is a model prince.'

'Well his tutors have said nothing to me.'

'Of course not, they do not dare. It is his mother's fault, she spends no time with him. It is only a wonder that Bayezid and Mehmet are as pleasant as they are.'

'Ah! Do I detect some kind words?'

'You may laugh, Suleiman, but it is fortunate for you that you have a son like Mustapha. I should despair if Selim were our
shahzade
.' She tapped her finger on the back of the divan. 'You will leave soon?'

'The army rides within the week,' he said, avoiding her eyes.

'To look for Frederick?'

'Frederick? He is just a small man of Vienna. His brother Charles is the great prize but we do not expect to flush him out. He will skulk in his castle in Germany.'

'The preparations go well?'

'Ibrahim plans for thirty cannon to pummel the walls, provided the mud does not lay claim to them again on the journey north.'

She placed her hand on top of his. 'You will truly be the greatest of all the Sultans, my son! The gypsies prophesied as much when you were born!'

'I have done my best,' Suleiman said. He answered the pressure of her hand and was shocked by how frail she was, he could feel every bone and every knuckle, there was no flesh on her at all. He was suddenly afraid; he could not imagine coming to the Harem and not finding her here.

'I have heard whispers,' she said.

'From where?'

'A little bird flies through my window every morning and sings to me. This morning he told me that the army is going to leave here without a general.'

Suleiman tried to pull his hand away but the withered leaf of a hand was suddenly as strong and powerful as a man's. 'Of course they will have a general, the very best.'

'The best general in Stamboul is sitting right here with me. So the whispers are not true? You are going to lead your army into the Lands of War, as every Osmanli Sultan before you has done?'

'They do not need me. Ibrahim is my Seraskier and he will manage the campaign just as well as if I am there.' His mother fell silent. After what seemed like an eternity it was Suleiman who broke: 'Who told you about this?'

She ignored his question in favour of her own: 'When were you going to tell me?' she snapped. ' After they had gone? How long did you think you could keep this from me?'

Suleiman jumped to his feet. 'I decide matters of war, no one else!'

The Valide stared him down. 'Do not ever again shout at your mother here in the Harem,' she said.

He sat down again, white-faced.

After a moment, she said: 'There are some things that no Sultan, however great, may decide on his own. You are first of all a Muslim and you must surrender to the will of God.'

'I have had enough of these wars. It is pointless.'

'It is your duty to the Osmanlis and to God!'

'Which I have always, until now, put above all else.'

'Until now!' The old woman's eyes were suddenly hard. 'It's her, isn't it? She has done this to you.'

Suleiman turned away from her, stared instead over the roofs of the palace at the painted wooden houses that piled down the hill to the blue waters of the Horn. Suddenly the view did not look quite as pretty.

Someone had put her up to this, he thought. Whoever it was knew she was the only woman or man in the world who might speak to him like this.

'Down there in the bazaar they say she has bewitched you.'

'So I am told. If I find any man repeat this calumny I will cut out his tongue and make him eat it.'

'Then half the city would be mute, son.'

'I make sure there is bread on their tables and meat enough for every one of them. They live under my protection, safe from the ravages of the armies that enslave half of Europe. I have given them Rhodes, Belgrade and Hungary. What more do they want from me?'

'They want their Sultan.'

'They have him!'

'They do not! They have a Greek slave to listen to their complaints in the Divan and a Greek slave to lead their armies against the infidel. The only one who has the Sultan's ear and the Sultan's love is a Russian girl!'

'There are other things to life other than the petty quarrelling in the Divan and the endless, pointless spilling of blood! I tell you how I shall become the greatest of all Osmanli sultans, it will be by giving the people laws and mosques and schools. I want to build not to destroy endlessly and for no good reason!'

'You have abdicated your power to Ibrahim and your manhood to a woman!' She took his hand again and held it tight. 'Listen to me. I do not want you to be unhappy. Only you know what has passed between you and this woman. But you must remember also that you are a ghazi. Do not grow too fond of the ways of the Harem. Its purpose was to make us strong and to create sons; it was not intended for indolence and indulgence.'

'No, it is the law that makes us strong, the
kanun
and the
sheri'at
.'

'Suleiman, my whole life has been for you and for your Sultanate. I have been so proud of you. You are not cruel the way your father was cruel, and that has been your strength. But it has also been your weakness. I have seen it with Gülbehar and with Ibrahim, and now with Hürrem. You must learn to stand alone.'

'If I am alone, then what is left for me?'

'The world is what is left for you, the empire of the Osmanlis. Your grandfather's grandfather rode out of the desert so that you might live in a palace. Stamboul is not yours by right. It is a sacred trust and you must earn it by your devotion to God and to your people.'

'But I have earned it, not only for my lifetime but every generation to follow. I did it with my
kanuni
, by giving this city and this empire written laws. I send my armies against Christendom because that is what I am fated to do, so what does it matter if I ride with them or I do not, as long as they go? After all this, there must be something left for Suleiman.'

'Everything is left for you! The palaces, the finest Harem in the world, what - do you think you live like a beggar? Your ancestors lived in tents and ate from the saddle of a horse. You have grown soft!'

Suleiman gritted his teeth. 'They do not need me in Vienna!'

'Of course they do! Now take back your authority before it is taken from you!'

'What about Hürrem?'

'What about her? She is just a woman!'

Too late he realised what he had said. His mother smiled bitterly. 'Yes, just a woman. And what do you think I am, do you think I cannot read her better than you? You have allowed her to twist you to her own ends. Do you think I do not know this game?'

'What do you want from me?'

'I want you to be Sultan! You have hundreds of women to choose from here in this palace, why do you choose just one?'

'Because … because I can be myself when I am with her. Not the Sultan … not the Possessor of Men's Necks … just myself.'

'And what does she want - for you to be yourself or for her to be the next Valide?'

'Insh'allah!
Please, give me peace. I love her, let it be.'

'I cannot let it be, Suleiman. If you wanted peace then you should have been born a fisherman or a goatherd. You are a Sultan and your odalisques and your Cyprian wine and your pages do not come without a price. They are there to serve the Sultan and in return the Sultan must serve them. I fear for you. You have the soul of a poet but your Father's temper. It is a dangerous mix. You may one day be the greatest of all the Osmanlis or you may destroy us all.'

'It is time I made my own decisions.'

'Then let them be yours and not your wife's.'

'You mean let them be your decisions - don't you?'

'Do your duty, Suleiman. Or you will be damned in this world and the next.'