‘A Muslim empire.’
‘An Eastern one,’ Hamza countered. ‘And as for your faith, keep it. Keep it as you want it, not … compromised by Romans. In Islam, we do not force any to convert. You may worship as you please – though you will have to pay a little more in taxes. And what man wants to do that?’
‘Few that I know.’ Theon found he was grinding the dice between his fingers. He set them down. ‘And how do you think I can help you in this? Should I choose to?’
It was there. A hook baited, dangling before the eel’s mouth. Hamza took a breath. ‘There are those already in your city who know, if it comes to war, that you will lose. Align with them. Raise your voice when the time comes.’ He leaned forward, placed a hand on Theon’s. ‘Come, man of the East. See your destiny. Save your faith, your city, your family. Help us.’
Theon let the hand rest for a moment, then gently lifted it, turning the Turk’s palm upwards. With his other hand he reached, picked up the other’s dice, the ebony ones, and placed them in Hamza’s hand. Closing the fingers over them, he said, ‘It’s your turn to throw.’
Hamza leaned away. ‘Mine? I thought I just did. No, you are right.’
For silent minutes, they took turns. At one point it looked like the Turk might escape. But then the Christian rebuilt the wall six deep, impossible to jump over. With a counter off the table, Hamza could only watch as Theon threw – and remember the subtlest weapon he had not yet used. ‘If only the Hexamilion had been so strong,’ he murmured, not too softly.
Theon, who was enjoying the conquest, held his dice. The mention of the Hexamilion, that six-mile wall in the Morea that was meant to be unbreachable and that the Turks had destroyed with cannon in six days in 1446, brought memories he’d tried to forget. Of terror. Of betrayal. But Hamza was staring, so he swallowed and spoke. ‘Were you there?’
‘I was Murad’s cupbearer. I was always at the sultan’s side.’
‘Always?’ The slightest smile came, but Hamza did not let it provoke him.
‘Were you?’
‘I was. Beside my emperor as well.’
‘I see.’ Hamza studied the board. ‘And your brother?’ he added softly. ‘Was he beside your emperor too?’
‘My brother?’ The smile vanished. ‘What do you know of him?’
Hamza looked up. ‘Little enough, sure. All I know is that brothers can be problems. I have five, and they compete with each other in stupidity. They …’ The look on Theon’s face halted him. ‘But I can see the mention of your brother causes you grief. We will not talk of him.’
‘Not grief, I …’ He stopped himself. Why had Hamza brought Gregoras up? He needed to know, spoke carefully. ‘My brother … was deemed to be a traitor at the Hexamilion. Some say he betrayed the wall to … you. A postern gate left open at night.’
‘So he is dead. A double sadness to you.’
‘He may be dead now. Not then. Then he was … disfigured. Battlefield justice by men crazed with anger. I arrived in time to save his life but, alas, too late to halt his … punishment. To …’ Theon paused. He’d been drawn into a conversation he did not want. Been forced into lies when he did not even need to discuss this.
‘Disfigured?’ Hamza said, his voice all sadness. ‘How?’
Theon made his reply casual. ‘The usual way. They cut off his nose.’
Hamza watched the Greek’s eyes. He had taken him off guard. But it was enough, for now, to know the wound was there. He did not need to probe it … yet.
‘I am sorry for your sorrow.’ Hamza let pity show on his face, then picked up his dice. ‘My throw again? No, your Hexamilion still stands.’
‘Yes.’
Theon won swiftly. But thereafter he did not seem to be fully concentrating, and his luck was not as strong. Hamza took the next two games with ease. When he swept the last of his counters off, Theon leaned back, throwing his dice down. ‘This victory is yours,’ he said.
‘And what was the stake? Ah yes.’ Hamza grinned. ‘That beautiful cat.’
Theon stood. ‘I will call my wife.’
Hamza rose too. ‘A moment.’ He leaned in, rested his hand on Theon’s arm. ‘I am glad we have had this chance to get to know each other a little. Friendship will be a good thing in the days that lie ahead. If it comes to war … well, perhaps I will be able to help you and yours when the city falls.’
‘If it falls.’
‘If indeed. But if it does, there will be the customary three days of pillage. Have you seen a city taken?’ On the other’s head shake, he shuddered, continued. ‘It is horrible, to watch men turn to ravening beasts. To slaughter. Despoil. Enslave. Ravish.’ The glance to the bedroom door was slight but clear. ‘Should it come to that … should luck and guns and above all Allah, most exalted, be with us, it would be good to have a friend among the conquerors.’
Theon squinted at the man so near him. ‘And what must I do for this … friendship?’
‘That shall be as you decide, brother of the East.’
The word was barely inflected. Just enough. ‘Well, I will think on this.’ Theon moved away a pace, turned to the door. ‘Sofia,’ he called.
She came out, cat in her arms. ‘Good, he is there,’ Theon said, gesturing to the board. ‘I wagered your cat at tavli. I lost. Give him to our guest.’
She could not restrain a shudder. But Hamza marvelled at the speed with which she mastered herself, diving behind the veil of her long lashes. She crossed the room. ‘Here, sir,’ she said, holding him out, ‘he is yours.’
But Hamza did not reach to take him, just stretched out a hand and scratched the purring animal between his eyes. ‘Nay, lady. I won him – and now I offer him as a tribute to your beauty.’ He bowed. ‘He is yours. I just wanted to see Ulvikul once again.’ He picked up his satchel, went to the door, took off his slippers, put on his boots.
‘You have forgotten your board,’ Theon called.
‘I have forgotten nothing. It is a poor return for your hospitality,’ said Hamza, ‘though I …’ He crossed back, bent and picked up the ivory dice. ‘I will take these. They are my lucky ones. I am surprised that you won even once with them.’ He held them up. ‘Traitors,’ he murmured. Then he crossed the room, bowed and left.
Theon followed him down the stairs, but the Turk gave him nothing more save a smile as the door was unbolted, opened. Silently, he left.
Theon returned. ‘What did he seek?’ Sofia asked.
‘Hmm? Nothing. Nothing that need concern you. Leave me.’
‘Our city concerns me—’
‘Leave me,’ he roared, so loudly the cat was startled and jumped from Sofia’s arms to scurry under the table. For a moment, Sofia’s brow wrinkled in anger. Then she turned, and walked slowly into the bedroom.
Theon went to the chest, pulled out a flagon of wine. He wasn’t going to drink wine if his guest didn’t. Now he was alone he would probably drink it all. He sat, gulped, stared at the board before him. It was exquisite, as beautiful and expensive an object as he had ever possessed. Yet the Turk had given it to him as if it were a bauble. No, thought Theon, taking another deep swig of wine, this Hamza had known exactly its value. And he thought he knew Theon’s, the price of board and man, matched. The only thing he hadn’t left were his dice. But he’d left a word in their place.
‘Traitors,’ he whispered.
He felt a push against his leg. Ulvikul was there, nuzzling, purring. Picking him up, Theon turned to the open window and hurled the cat through it.
– FIVE –
Masks
Ragusa (Dubrovnik)
Early December 1452
It was not unusual to hear a woman scream on the streets of Ragusa.
Yet what she screamed was. For it was actually a curse, in Osmanlica, language of the Turk. Before it was cut off, her assailant was being encouraged to perform a deviant act on a camel.
It made Gregoras smile, even as he turned to find a different route home. Then it made him stop, and lo
ok at the flagstones. It was unusual for him to care. But he’d spent the night alone again in a tavern … and suddenly he decided he’d like to hear how the curse ended.
He did not have to go far. He heard a grunt of pain, hissed words: ‘Hold her legs, damn you.’ He leaned round the wall, glanced, leaned back.
Five of them, if you included their prey, who was held off the ground by the biggest man there, one arm wrapped around the woman’s chest, a hand around her mouth. Her legs were flailing, trying to land kicks, obviously succeeding with some.
He considered. Four men. All of them young. Him coming swiftly from the darkness. Four was not bad odds, he’d faced far worse. Still, he hesitated. What was this to him – a Turkish woman, raped? Even if he succeeded in helping her, he could be hurt, which would hamper him in his mission, the one that would change his life. Why risk his future? For what? Instinct told him to walk away.
Then, from round the corner, he heard a louder yelp of pain – and the curse completed, as if the woman had held her breath this long only for that purpose. Smiling again, he drew his cudgel and stepped round the corner.
The big man had dropped the woman. He was clutching at his ear, trying to stem the blood flowing there.
It was his time. ‘Heya,’ Gregoras called softly, moving forward.
The one who turned swiftest to his call was the one Gregoras hit first, a blow delivered with half-force but at the temple, dropping the man on the instant. The youth on the left was reaching to his belt, but the one on the right cleared his scabbard. Grabbing the sleeve of the man on the left, Gregoras jerked it down hard, off-balancing him, at the same time sweeping his cudgel in an upwards arc and hitting the other man’s dagger hand just as he was thrusting the weapon forward. There was the crack of bone, a wail, steel clattering against the alley wall.
Gregoras still had the sleeve in his grip. He braced and pulled it again, swinging the youth into the one whose fingers he’d just broken. They locked together, tripping and falling in a heap, clearing the space before Gregoras and the last man standing, the biggest one, with the bleeding ear, just now drawing a sword, bellowing as he raised it above his head.
There were three paces between them. One too many. He raised his cudgel for a throw … and then before he could, the last figure before him moved. The woman leapt, dagger leading, its point entering the man’s arm just as it was beginning its descent, just above the elbow, the force of the two blows driving the steel in to the hilt.
The man screamed, kept screaming as he dropped his sword, reeled back against the wall. ‘God’s mercy! Help, help, for a son of Ragusa. For Christ’s wounds, help!’
His voice was high-pitched for a large man, but it carried, and shutters were flying open. The three youths on the ground were untangling themselves, screaming too. ‘This way, and swiftly,’ Gregoras commanded, stepping past the sprawl.
‘A moment.’ The woman answered in the language he’d used, the one she’d cursed in. She bent to her assailant, who slid down the wall, raising his arms to protect his face, whimpering. But she did not strike him. Instead she grabbed the hilt of the dagger Gregoras saw was still buried in the man’s arm, and jerked it out.
The cry was piteous. More were coming from windows, from the labyrinth of alleys ahead. ‘Come now,’ Gregoras said, turning away. If she did not, he had done all he could.
She came. They did not run. Cries sounded from behind them. ‘Thieves! Murderers!’ When iron-shod feet came towards them, Gregoras stepped into a doorway, throwing his cloak over both of them, pulling her close. She did not resist, as four of the town guard ran past. And she did not move away as their steps receded.
‘Here,’ he said, setting off again, turning left, right, right again, left, climbing ever upwards. The uproar faded, blended into the noise of a tavern, a drunken song, the clatter of dice on several boards. It was his local one and he’d planned to stop. But he was known there, as far he ever let himself be known. And he would not want to explain the woman.
In this, the poorer quarter of the city, there was no paving as yet, the city’s new edicts not reaching so far. They squelched through the puddles left by the autumn squalls, climbing ever higher. When he felt the sea breeze on his face, saw the night-sky darkness ahead, he felt along the wall to his left. Stone gave onto wood under his fingers. Lifting the latch, he pushed the door in.
He was breathing heavily from the rapid steps, the sudden violence. Leaning against the table, he fumbled for the lamp, nearly spilling it. It was oil-fuelled, its wick kept low, and he turned the wheel that raised it, opened the metal gate. Flickering light made a passage between them. They were both masked. Between scarf and veil, between hat and doublet, their gazes moved, each over the other. The stillness, the silence lasted a few heartbeats before he broke it. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘No. You saved me from that. Thank you.’
‘Well …’ He was suddenly uncomfortable. ‘A woman, alone on the street at night. Speaking in Osmanlica. It was …’ He paused.
‘Did it shock you? I have always been told my language better suits the barracks.’ She laughed, a deep sound of sheer pleasure that had him staring harder.
‘Shock? No. I have been in a few barracks myself.’ He halted, surprised that he’d revealed something about himself. He never did. It was how he lived. ‘Why were you alone? Unprotected?’
‘I was not unprotected. As you saw.’ She lifted the knife she still held. ‘Have you water? I would wash that pig’s blood from my companion here.’
The sight of blade and blood did shock him. And reminded him. It had been so long since anyone but himself had been in his house. ‘I am sorry. Yes, water. For yourself. For your … friend. To wash. To drink. Or I have wine for that? Though you …’ He shook his head. ‘Being Turkish, you may not drink that.’
‘Can I if I speak Greek?’ She’d switched languages, her accent as faultless in each.
It was his turn to laugh – and to reply, also in Greek, though he wondered how she had penetrated that mask so quickly when he thought his Osmanlica as flawless as hers. ‘Of course. And I will join you.’
He placed the lamp on the table. The room was small, and he barely strayed from its light-spill to fetch what was required. A basin for water, a rough cloth for drying hands and weapons, which she promptly used for both. A stoneware jug of wine. He poured some of that into his only goblet, handed it to her. Raising the flagon, he toasted her. ‘To midnight adventures,’ he said. Both lifted their masks to drink. Both let them fall again.
‘So,’ he said, placing the flagon down, leaning on the table. ‘I must apologise for my city. It is usually a civilised place. But like most cities it has … uncivil elements. And young men are young men anywhere.’
‘Young men like you?’ she said, raising the empty goblet.
He refilled it. ‘But I am not young.’
‘It is hard to tell behind that mask.’ She sipped, stared. ‘Do you ever take it off?’
He pushed himself off the table. ‘I have some bread. Some cheese.’
He reached to a bag suspended from the ceiling. From it he pulled a wheel of dense, rough bread, a round of pungent goat’s cheese. ‘I have no plates,’ he apologised.
‘It matters not,’ she said, breaking off a hunk of each, taking bites. ‘And you didn’t answer my question.’
‘Which was?’
‘Do you ever take off your mask?’ When he did not move, did not answer, she wiped her fingers on the cloth, then raised them to her veil. ‘Come. We have broken bread, drunk wine and fought together on the streets. We speak each other’s languages. Why, we’re practically cousins. So I’ll shock you with my face if you’ll shock me with yours.’ With that, she removed the silk. Laying it by, she leaned closer to the lamp.
He did not move, scarcely breathed. If she did not have Sofia’s nobility, she was pretty for all that. Prettier perhaps, if less beautiful, her almond eyes deep-set, her eyebrows a plucked line of hair, her mouth full,
the lower lip swollen as if bruised.
It was her nose he stared at. They always fascinated, their variety, their complexity, the ones that just sat upon a face, the ones that joined with the other parts in expressing the person. Hers did. It was large yet not overly so, her nostrils flaring the challenge that echoed in the raised eyebrow, in the dark eyes. In the words that came now.
‘Your turn.’
Those words returned him to himself. He had never had a woman in his house. Had only twice had a woman since his disgrace, fumbling, drunken acts of brief satiation and lasting regret. He lifted the lamp, moved away from the table, causing the light to spill onto the horsehair mattress on the floor. ‘You may sleep here,’ he said, hanging the lamp from a ceiling hook, moving to the door.
‘Where do you go?’
He did not turn round. ‘Out. To the tavern. I can sleep in a corner there easier than on this floor.’
Her urgent words halted him. ‘So I have driven you from your house, from your bed, all because …’ She took a step towards him. ‘I am sorry. My mother warned me against my unceasing curiosity. There are many reasons why a man would want to remain masked. I shall not presume to find out yours again. Unless, somehow, I earn your permission.’
She had come close as she spoke. He’d turned back and she was there, as near to him as she’d been in the doorway of that alley. He breathed in – and caught her scent.
When the saw-toothed dagger had first descended to take his nose, and his wound clotted with blood and ripped cartilage, he’d believed he would never smell anything again. Eventually he’d discovered he could, if the scents were strong, as hers were. They were a mix of sweetnesses – cinnamon was there, clove. But there was something else too – sandalwood, he realised in a rush of memory. He had not smelled that since his last day in Constantinople, the day he’d set off for his first war … and said goodbye to Sofia. That same scent rising from this woman, fragrant, spiced, reminding him of all he’d lost. Her eyes were dark pools and he thought there would be nothing better than to dive into them, swim deep, never come up for air.