Siege

Chapter 9

MAY 1450: EDIRNE

Sitt Hatun sat cross-legged amidst a profusion of cushions, surrounded by an evening meal fit for a sultan. Low stools were arranged in a semicircle before her, and on each sat a copper dish heaped with food. To begin, there were roasted almonds, dried apricots and tangy dolma — vine leaves stuffed with onions, rice, dill and mint, all mixed in lemon juice. Then there were the side dishes that formed the backbone of any Turkish meal, prepared in the harem kitchen with unparalleled skill: a cool, creamy yoghurt dip; a basket of freshly baked girde, a crisp flatbread that melted in the mouth; and a huge platter of boiled rice drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with black pepper. The main dishes were a whole roasted chicken, with golden skin and tender meat falling from the bone, and Sitt Hatun's favourite, nirbach — a rich stew of diced lamb and carrots flavoured with coriander, ginger, cinnamon and pomegranate syrup. To drink, she had a pitcher of refreshing ayran, a mix of yoghurt and water flavoured with salt and mint. The mix of pungent smells made her stomach rumble, but she did not eat.

Anna sat across from Sitt Hatun. The Polish girl was even thinner than when Sitt Hatun had taken her into her service months ago. They always dined together, and Anna always ate first. For although Sitt Hatun had official tasters to check for poison, she did not trust them. They had already failed her twice, and both times Anna had come close to death. While Anna lay sick, Sitt Hatun ate nothing but fruit that she herself picked from the harem garden. Anna had just now recovered from the last poisoning, and Sitt Hatun was looking forward to her first full meal in weeks.

Before eating anything, Anna sniffed carefully at each of the dishes. 'I do not recommend the dolma,' she said as she put the dish aside. 'Nor do I trust the nirbach. It is richly spiced, perhaps to cover a poison.'

Sitt Hatun signalled for a servant to take the offending dishes away. She would take no chances. 'At least we shall not go hungry,' she said. There had been times when all of their food was tainted. On those days, her entire court went hungry, for they dined on whatever Sitt Hatun did not eat. Sitt Hatun would order the food sent back to the kitchen and force her servants to watch while her, or head chef, was forced to eat from every dish. It was an instructive lesson for the others in her court.

Anna now began to taste the food. She ate a few almonds, and they both waited while their stomachs twisted from tension and hunger. After several minutes, Anna handed the plate to Sitt Hatun. 'You may eat,' Anna told her. While Sitt Hatun ate the nuts, Anna tasted the rest of the food, pausing for several minutes between each dish. By the time she passed the chicken to Sitt Hatun, more than an hour had passed.

Sitt Hatun scooped up some of the thick yoghurt dip with a piece of flatbread and ate it with a morsel of chicken. She closed her eyes to savour the taste. When she opened them she found a eunuch standing at the doorway to her chamber. She recognized him as Davarnza, one of the secretaries to the grand vizier, Halil.

'I bring a message, My Lady,' Davarnza said. He bowed low and presented a folded piece of paper. Sitt Hatun took it and read quickly: 'Gulbehar has hired assassins to murder you this very night. The sultan himself has given his consent, and your guards have been bribed to let the assassins do their work. I will help you escape the palace, if you accept my offer.' The letter was unsigned.

'I am to wait for a response,' Davarnza told her. Sitt Hatun had no doubt as to the truth of what Halil wrote. She could try to flee on her own, but she would be lucky to escape the palace, much less the city. She could beg Murad for mercy, but this tactic was even less likely to succeed. Halil was the only person who could help her. Much as she dreaded the prospect of giving herself to him, Sitt Hatun knew that she had little choice.

'My answer is "yes",' she said.

'Then you are to have this.' Davarnza handed her another note. It read: 'My man, Isa, will come for you tonight. Pack nothing; he will provide. He will bring you to me. Afterwards, you will travel to Manisa and tell Mehmed what Gulbehar has done in his absence.'

Sitt Hatun dismissed Davarnza, and then tore the two notes into tiny pieces. She ate the pieces one by one, washing them down with the cool ayran. When she was done, she ordered all of her servants but Anna away, and then tried to sleep. She needed her rest. It would be a long night. Sitt Hatun woke shortly after nightfall. She armed herself and Anna with daggers, and they arranged pillows in Sitt Hatun's bed to mimic her sleeping form, before moving quietly into the adjoining room. They shut the door behind them and sat down on Anna's bed to wait. There was no moon, and the night settled thick and dark, so that Sitt Hatun could barely make out Anna sitting mere inches away. The busy noises of the harem slowly faded until Sitt Hatun could hear nothing but her own breathing and the racing of her heart. She sat wide awake, straining to hear the slightest noise. Outside, she heard the night watch change — the distant sound of laughing voices and tramping boots. That meant that it was midnight, and still no sign of Isa. Sitt Hatun began to have doubts. What if Halil had betrayed her?

At last, a noise — a boot scuffing against the floor — came from the hallway. Then, there was silence. Sitt Hatun and Anna looked at one another. 'Check the hallway,' Sitt Hatun whispered. 'It may be Isa.'

Anna rose in the darkness, and drawing her long, thin knife, moved to the door that opened to the hallway and peered through a spyhole. She turned back to Sitt Hatun and shook her head. There was no one there. Then another noise: the rustling of fabric from Sitt Hatun's bedchamber. Anna crossed to the door that led to the chamber. She looked through the spyhole for only a second before hurrying back to Sitt Hatun's side. 'Isa?' Sitt Hatun whispered. Anna shook her head, no. A voice barked out in the adjoining room — a harsh exclamation in a language that Sitt Hatun did not understand. 'The servants' passage,' Sitt Hatun whispered and rose, taking Anna by the arm. She led her to the wall, pressed a lever, and a small portion of the wall swung inward, revealing a narrow, inky-black passageway. They slipped inside and pushed the door shut. Sitt Hatun pulled Anna down the passage as behind them, she heard the door connecting her and Anna's rooms crash open.

Sitt Hatun quickened her step, moving by memory in the darkness. They reached a stairwell that led down to the main harem kitchen and hurried down it. Sitt Hatun froze just before she reached the bottom. A man was standing there, dressed in black and lit red by the banked fires in the kitchen. He wore a black scarf across his face and held a long knife in his hand. He had heard them and was peering up the dark stairs towards them. 'Chi va la?' he called out. Sitt Hatun did not move. 'Chi va la?' he asked again and took a step up the stairs towards them.

Sitt Hatun turned to run, but Anna stopped her. 'Wait here,' Anna whispered. She slipped by Sitt Hatun and down the stairs. When the man saw her approaching he stopped, but Anna only sped up. She met the man at a run, ducking under his thrusting knife and bowling him over. They tumbled over one another and into the kitchen, where the man landed with a thud, Anna sitting astride him, her knife plunged into his chest. She removed her knife, cut the man's throat to make sure that he was dead, and then rose and motioned for Sitt Hatun to join her.

Sitt Hatun led them down a side passage from the kitchen to the harem's central courtyard. She paused before entering the courtyard to make sure that it was empty, but when she stepped forward, a man's hand grabbed her, covering her mouth and pulling her close. She bit his hand and tried to scream. 'Silence,' the man whispered in her ear. 'It is I, Isa.' He let her go, and she turned to face him. His broad Asian face was smooth and his movements graceful and self-assured. He carried a small pack and wore nondescript brown robes. 'The assassins arrived early at your chambers,' he told her. 'We haven't much time. Follow me.'

He led the way down the side of the courtyard, through a door back into the harem, and through a series of storerooms until they came to a windowless room with a rug crumpled against the wall and an open trapdoor in the floor. Isa took a burning torch from the wall and motioned for them to climb down. 'Hurry,' he said. 'This is the way the assassins entered the harem — the only way out not guarded by a janissary. We must move quickly before they return.'

Once inside the tunnel, Isa removed his pack and produced two more brown tunics of the same type he wore. He handed them to the women and ordered them to put them on over their clothes. Then he led them down the tunnel at a jog, his torch guttering in the damp breeze that blew in their faces. The walls of the tunnel were rough-hewn, dripping with moisture, and the floor sloped gently downwards. Sitt Hatun guessed that they were headed towards the river.

They had travelled only a few hundred yards when they heard voices and footsteps echoing down the passage behind them. Isa dropped his torch, and they stumbled on in the darkness. The steps behind them grew louder, and soon they could see the faint glow of advancing torchlight behind them. Sitt Hatun felt something brush by her side, and then heard it skitter along the floor ahead in the darkness. 'Arrows,' Isa hissed. 'Stay close to the walls.' Ahead, Sitt Hatun could see a break in the darkness, a relative brightness that marked the end of the tunnel. A few seconds later they were through, running down a sandy slope towards the banks of the river.

On the shore sat a small boat, guarded by two men holding swords. Isa rushed straight towards the men. He stopped just short of them and flung a white powder into their faces. The men collapsed, clawing at their throats and eyes, and Isa stepped over them and into the boat, waving for Sitt Hatun and Anna to follow. They clambered in, and Isa shoved off. Sitt Hatun glanced behind her and saw five black-clad men rush out of the tunnel, gesturing and yelling. She was still watching them when an arrow sank into the prow just in front of her. 'Stay down,' Isa barked, as more arrows whizzed past. He took a few strokes at the oars and the current caught the boat, pushing it faster and faster down the river. Isa abandoned the oars and joined them in the bottom of the boat. After a minute, the arrows stopped, and slowly they all rose from their cramped positions. Isa took up the oars again, while Sitt Hatun and Anna moved into the prow.

'You are hurt!' Sitt Hatun cried, as she noticed that Anna's clothes were covered with blood.

'It is not mine, My Lady.'

'That man you killed…' Sitt Hatun said. 'Where did you learn to fight like that?'

Anna shrugged. 'My parents died when I was young, and I had to fend for myself.'

It was a cold spring night, and the two of them huddled together in the prow of the boat, looking back on the sprawling imperial palace, the white stone walls lit by hundreds of winking torches. 'The next time we see those walls,' Sitt Hatun swore softly, 'we shall enter in glory, and Gulbehar shall tremble in fear.' They had been on the river no more than a few minutes when Isa began to row for the shore. He docked the boat at a small pier in Manisa's river port. Then, once they were out of the boat, he pushed it back out into the river, letting it drift away. 'Come, we haven't much time,' he told them and led them into the dark, narrow streets of the city. Their short trip ended at the gate of an innocuous white house in the merchant's district. Isa unlocked the gate and led them through a small courtyard and into the home. They emerged into a round common room with several more passageways branching off from it. A low table sat in the middle of the room, lit by candles and set with food and drink. Halil, wearing a green satin robe with swirling patterns in gold, was seated on a cushion beside the table. It was the first time that Sitt Hatun had seen him in person. He was tall and spare, with long delicate fingers that had clearly never seen battle. His olive-skinned face was thin, but still relatively smooth despite his forty-eight years. He wore a well-trimmed moustache that curved downward into a tiny grey-flecked beard. He might have been called handsome but for the jagged scar stretching down from his right temple to his jaw, and his unnerving eyes. Large and palest grey, they were cold and unblinking, like the eyes of a dead man.

Halil rose and bowed as Sitt Hatun entered. 'Welcome, sultana,' he said. His smile — thin lips stretched back over sharp teeth — made him look like a wolf at hunt. 'I am so glad that you arrived safely. Your servant can make herself comfortable in there.' He gestured to a side passage. Anna squeezed Sitt Hatun's hand and left. Halil turned to Isa. 'Isa, you may go,' he said, and Isa retreated quietly. Halil gestured for Sitt Hatun to be seated at the table. 'Some refreshments for you? You must be famished after your adventures.'

Sitt Hatun shook her head. She was nervous, and her stomach rebelled at the sight of food. 'Excellent,' Halil said. 'We have little time to spare anyway. The assassins will be looking for you, and you had best be gone before sunrise. Come, follow me.' He took a candle and led her down a side passage to a small room that was dominated by a large, canopied bed. He set the candle on a table beside the bed, and then untied his robe and allowed it to slip to the floor. He was entirely naked, thin and lacking in muscle. He gestured for her to undress, but Sitt Hatun did not move. 'You understand the particulars of our agreement?' Halil asked.

'I do,' Sitt Hatun said. She chided herself for her squeamishness. Any sacrifice was worth making if it meant that her child would be heir to the throne. She could then deal with Gulbehar as she saw fit. Keeping that in mind, Sitt Hatun turned her back to Halil and methodically undressed. When she was naked, she stepped carefully past Halil and blew out the candle. The room went black.

Sitt Hatun suppressed a shudder of disgust as she felt Halil's cold hand on her shoulder. 'Do what must be done,' she whispered.

MAY 1450: MANISA

Sitt Hatun reached Manisa at dusk, eight days after her night with Halil. Halil had entrusted her and Anna to a Greek eunuch named Erzinjan, who had taken them on a merchant ship down the Maritza river and across the Aegean. Their voyage had been blessed with perfect weather, but it was a tense journey. Sitt Hatun had no illusions as to her ability to elude the assassins. If Mehmed did not protect her in Manisa, then they would find her and kill her.

That is, if Mehmed did not kill her first. Sitt Hatun was not sure that Mehmed would protect her, even after she told him of Gulbehar's infidelity. The news might well drive him over the edge. After all, now that she had fled the harem she had no protection, no rights. All she had was the kumru kalp, sewn into the folds of her silk caftan. Sitt Hatun prayed to Allah that it would be enough.

Veiled to avoid prying eyes, Sitt Hatun and Anna made their way through the sun-baked streets of Manisa to the palace. Sitt Hatun led Anna around to the side, where a small door protected by eunuch guards gave servants access to the harem complex. She walked straight to one of the guards. 'We wish to present ourselves to the stewardess of the harem,' she told him. 'We desire to serve the sultan.'

The guard examined them both closely. 'Let me see your faces,' he said at last.

Sitt Hatun shook her head. 'We show our faces to no man, only to the stewardess.'

'Very well,' the guard grumbled. 'Wait here.'

Sitt Hatun and Anna stood in the shade of the palace wall as the sun inched across the sky and their patch of shade shrank to nothing. Finally, the stewardess appeared. She was an older woman, but still striking despite the faint wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and the grey in her long black hair. As stewardess of the harem, it was her task to recruit and train the women who would serve the sultan. 'These are the ones?' she asked the guard, who nodded. 'Come with me,' she told Sitt Hatun and Anna.

They followed her down a short passage and into a round room, where the stewardess stopped and turned to face them. 'This is as far as you go until I get a good look at you,' she said. 'Take off your veils.' Sitt Hatun removed her veil, and the stewardess gasped. 'Sultana! What are you doing here?'

'Quiet,' Sitt Hatun ordered as she replaced her veil. 'I do not wish my presence to be known by any but the sultan Mehmed. You will tell him that I have arrived yourself. But first, prepare a bath for me and my servant in a private room. And bring me new clothes. I wish to refresh myself before I see the sultan.'

'Yes, Sultana,' the stewardess said. She led Sitt Hatun and Anna to a large chamber with a steaming bath set into the floor. Sitt Hatun undressed and lowered herself into the water, where Anna gently washed away the grime from her travels. Sitt Hatun dressed with care, slipping into a revealing gold silk robe, which looked as if it could fall off at a mere thought, and a matching veil. Yet, when the stewardess of the harem led her into Mehmed's reading-room, he did not even glance up from the book he held before him. Only when she had removed her veil and settled on the floor across from him did Mehmed look at her. 'Why have you come here, wife?' he began abruptly. 'Is it at my father's bidding?'

She shook her head. 'He does not know that I am here.' Mehmed set his book aside, his eyebrows raised. Sitt Hatun was glad to have surprised him; she had the advantage. 'I have come on my own. I bring news of your father.'

'Indeed?' Mehmed replied. 'The news must be quite important. You know what the punishment is for leaving the harem without the consent of the sultan?'

'I know, My Lord.' The punishment was death, just as it was death for those who entered the harem uninvited. 'But you are the sultan, My Lord. It is for you to decide my fate. Once you have heard my message, you will understand that I have only done a wife's duty in coming to warn you.'

'Warn me?' Mehmed asked. 'My father would not dare to move against me. I am the heir to the throne.'

'No, My Lord,' Sitt Hatun agreed. 'He would never raise his hand against his son. But he might place his hands upon his son's favourite wife.'

Mehmed's eyes narrowed. 'Careful, woman,' he said, his voice hard and dangerous. 'I will have your tongue if you speak false of Gulbehar.'

Sitt Hatun felt the blood drain from her face, but she did not hesitate. 'I do not speak false, husband. I have seen your father in the bedchamber of Gulbehar with my own eyes. But I do not expect you to believe me, though I swear four times by Allah. I have brought proof.' She took the kumru kalp from her robes and placed it before Mehmed.

Mehmed's jaw tightened when he saw the ruby. He picked it up and his hand clenched white-knuckled around the stone. Mehmed stood suddenly, and Sitt Hatun feared that he might strike her. But instead he strode to his writing desk and placed the kumru kalp there. When he returned, his features were calm once more.

'You are sure that my father does not know you are here?' Mehmed asked. 'He does not know that you have brought me the kumru kalp?'

'Nobody knows,' Sitt Hatun told him. 'Only your stewardess of the harem.'

'Good, then we shall keep it that way. You will stay in seclusion so long as you are here, served only by your maidservant and the stewardess.' Sitt Hatun nodded. 'You have performed a great service,' Mehmed continued. 'You have my thanks, Sitt Hatun. How may I repay your loyalty?'

'I have only done my duty as a wife, My Lord,' Sitt Hatun replied. 'And I only ask for my due as your wife.'

Mehmed studied her for a long time while Sitt Hatun sat breathless. Finally, he nodded his head. 'Very well,' he said. 'Come.' Mehmed took her hand and led her into the bedroom. Moonlight filtered through the curtains of Mehmed's bed, highlighting the sleeping face of Sitt Hatun. She looked peaceful, a faint smile curling her lips. Gazing on her, Mehmed almost felt sorry for his long-neglected wife. Almost. For although he had enjoyed making love to Sitt Hatun, he already regretted lying with her. He had done so not just to reward her, but out of anger and spite, directed both at his father and at Gulbehar. He had allowed his passions to rule him, and he knew that there would be a price to pay. But there were other things on Mehmed's mind as he rose from bed and padded across the soft carpet to his study. He picked up the kumru kalp by its golden chain and then hung it around his neck. He would wear the gem as a reminder of Gulbehar's betrayal, a reminder never to trust his heart again.

There was little doubt in Mehmed's mind that Sitt Hatun's accusation was true. The kumru kalp never left Murad's neck. It was one of his greatest treasures, a jewel that was said to have been worn by the Roman Empress Anna Comnena herself. Murad had seized it when he conquered Edirne and wore it always as a reminder of his greatest victory. He would never have given it to Sitt Hatun, much less to a mere gedikli. Only one woman could have led him to part with it: Gulbehar. Mehmed knew all too well the wild passions that she could spark. Besides, Sitt Hatun's story only confirmed a hundred suspicions of Mehmed's own. So this, he thought, was why his father had been so eager to send him away, why he had objected so strongly to Mehmed's relationship with Gulbehar, why he had insisted that she stay in Edirne. Anger flared up inside Mehmed, and he gripped the gem so tightly that its sharp edges cut into his hand. The old fool; did he really think that he could steal Mehmed's own kadin? It was time that he taught his ageing father a lesson. It was time that he resumed his rightful place on the throne of the Ottoman Empire.

Mehmed moved from behind his desk to the cabinet on the wall. He opened it and removed the Koran. It fell open in his hands, and Mehmed read: 'Believers, vengeance is decreed for you in bloodshed: a free man for a free man, a slave for a slave, and a female for a female.' Surely a god that counselled a man for a man would also approve of a sultan for a sultana.

Mehmed placed the Koran aside and pressed the hidden latch that revealed the cabinet's secret compartment. He slipped on a pair of tight leather gloves and then removed the box that Isa had brought him. He opened the box and took out the vial of poison. The liquid inside was slightly viscous, pale amber in the moonlight. Mehmed still did not know who had sent the poison, but he would deal with that detail later. For now, it only mattered what the poison could do. He would have his vengeance.