Siege

Chapter 18

SATURDAY 5 AND SUNDAY 6 MAY 1453, EDIRNE: DAYS 35 AND 36 OF THE SIEGE

Sitt Hatun stood at the window of her bedchamber and looked out over the imperial palace and beyond to the river. In the hazy morning light she could just make out the heavily laden boats setting out to resupply the army at Constantinople. Seeing them, she thought of her trip to Manisa months ago, but then shook the thought from her head. There was no sense in dwelling on past misery. Those times were over. Now she was the bas haseki, mother of the sultan-to-be, with more money and more servants than she needed. She had everything that she desired.

She turned from the window to watch her son. Selim sat in the corner, playing quietly with Bayezid. The two young princes were a study in contrasts. Bayezid, now nearly four years old, was a solidly built, athletic child with fair skin and sandy brown hair. Already, it was clear that he would excel as a hunter and a warrior. Selim, one and a half years Bayezid's junior, was thin and frail, with olive skin and black hair. His face was gentle, but he had Mehmed's intelligent, piercing eyes. Although he was small for his age, Selim already displayed an insatiable curiosity that delighted his tutors.

Sitt Hatun smiled to see them together. Fate worked in strange ways, and none were stranger than this: that the son of Sitt Hatun's most bitter rival should become a regular in her household and the playmate of Selim. Bayezid's visits had grown more and more frequent over the past months, since Sitt Hatun first showed his nurse, Kacha, the secret passage leading from his bedroom to her apartments. Bayezid preferred Sitt Hatun's apartments to those of Gulbehar, and Sitt Hatun could hardly blame him. Kacha told her that Gulbehar often slept until noon, and that she spent much of her day at the hookah smoking hashish. And since Mehmed had left for Constantinople, Gulbehar's tirades, which echoed all the way to Sitt Hatun's chambers, had become an almost daily event. Little wonder that young Bayezid was eager to escape his mother's presence.

At first, Bayezid had come only at night when Gulbehar's household was asleep, but lately he had come in the mornings as well. Kacha covered for the young prince in his absence and hurried to inform Sitt Hatun if Bayezid's mother called for him. Despite herself, Sitt Hatun had grown fond of the child. At first, she had seen the boy merely as a tool to be used against Gulbehar, and had cultivated his friendship in order to turn him against his mother. But now she found that she cared for Bayezid almost as if he were her own son.

Sitt Hatun moved to her bed and sat down to watch Bayezid and Selim. They were playing with a set of carved pieces intended to represent the siege at Constantinople. There were towers, gates and sections of the wall, all of which could be fitted together. In addition, there were dozens of tiny figurines of Christian knights and Turkish soldiers. The entire set was carved from ivory, and the workmanship was exquisite. Mehmed had sent the set to Selim so that he could follow the siege and begin to learn military strategy.

Sitt Hatun watched as Bayezid helped Selim to piece together the wall of Constantinople. They had only been playing for a few minutes, but already the miniature wall stretched for four feet across the floor of the room. 'Now we need a tower,' Bayezid said. Selim found the appropriate piece, and Bayezid took it and set it into place. 'Now a gate.'

After Bayezid set the gate into place, Selim took up one of the figurines — a Turkish bey on horseback — and placed it in the gate. He turned and gestured proudly. 'Look, anne!' he said. Selim always called her his anne, or mamma. 'Father!'

Sitt Hatun smiled. 'That is very good, Selim.'

There was a knock at the door, and Kacha entered through the secret passage. 'Excuse me, My Lady,' she said. 'But Gulbehar has awakened and is calling for her son.' Bayezid pouted at this and sat down, his arms folded across his chest.

'I don't want to go,' he said.

'You must,' Sitt Hatun told him. 'Your mother will be angry if you do not return soon. And if she learns that you are here…' Sitt Hatun did not need to finish. Bayezid understood that if his visits were discovered, he would never see Sitt Hatun or Selim again.

The boy frowned, but he rose and went to the secret passage. He stopped at the door. 'I am a prince,' he said. 'Why can't I choose where I live? Why can't I choose my mother?'

Sitt Hatun shook her head sadly. 'There are some things that even princes cannot choose,' she told Bayezid. 'Now go. Farewell, little prince.'

Kacha took Bayezid's hand and led him away. After a moment, Selim came over to Sitt Hatun and placed his hand on his mother's knee. 'What's wrong, mother?'

Sitt Hatun realized that there were tears in her eyes. She had hardened herself against such sentimentality, but Bayezid's words had moved her. The boy deserved better than Gulbehar for a mother. But how could Sitt Hatun play mother to this boy when he would have to die in order for Selim to take the throne? She knew that she should use Bayezid or send him away. Loving him was not an option.

Sitt Hatun wiped her eyes and lifted Selim on to her lap. 'Nothing is wrong, my prince,' she told him. 'Nothing at all.' Isa stood in the shadowy entrance to a narrow alley and watched as night fell on a busy street in Edirne. Across the street from him stood a row of houses and merchants' shops, crowded close together. In the centre, looking no different from any of the other dingy, stuccoed buildings, was the house where his family was kept prisoner. Isa had not seen his wife and two children for nearly a year, but tonight he would be with them again. And this time, he would take them with him, far away from this accursed place. He had only one task to complete first. Once the young prince Bayezid was dead, Isa and his family would be free.

The shadows deepened around Isa and the crowd thinned until only a few merchants remained, hurrying home down the dark street. The moon would not rise for several hours yet, and in his tight-fitting black clothes, Isa was nearly invisible. It was time. He turned his back on the house and slipped away down the alley. Keeping to the shadows, he made his way to the palace, where he stopped in an alleyway across from the outer wall. All around the palace there was a paved, torchlit space some twenty feet wide. At night the space was forbidden ground. Archers patrolled the walls, and anyone caught trespassing would be shot on sight. Isa would have to cross the open space unseen if he hoped to enter the palace.

From where he stood, he could see two guards talking on the wall above. He waited several minutes, but they did not move away. Isa drew his dagger and prised a stone loose from the wall next to him. He threw it far down the street to his left, and it landed with a loud crack and rolled clattering along the pavement. The guards turned to follow the sound, and Isa took the opportunity to dash across the open space. He flattened himself against the wall and waited, motionless. No alarm was raised. He had not been seen.

Isa crept along the wall and rounded a corner to the side that faced the river. He continued until he came to a rusted metal grate set low into the wall. The grate covered the mouth of a small sewage tunnel, some three feet across. He slipped on a pair of black leather gloves and then drew a pouch from his belt and carefully sprinkled a dark green powder around the edges of the grate where it joined with the stone of the tunnel. He took a leather water skin and splashed the powder with water. There was a hissing sound, and then noxious green smoke rose from the edges of the grate. A few minutes later the grate came loose in Isa's hands. He set it aside and crawled into the tunnel.

The bottom of the tunnel was covered with a slippery, foul-smelling layer of muck — the rotting refuse washed down the kitchen sewer. Isa ignored the smell, thinking of his family's freedom as he wormed his way through the filth. After a hundred feet the tunnel ended beneath another grate. He quietly shoved the grate aside and emerged into the empty, dimly lit harem kitchen. He replaced the grate, crossed the kitchen and entered a narrow spiral stairwell. At the top he emerged into a lightless corridor. He moved slowly down the corridor, feeling the walls with his hands. After a few feet he found a latch and pulled it. The wall swung open before him and he stepped into the reception room of Gulbehar's apartments. The room was dark, which meant that Gulbehar's household was probably asleep. That would make his job easier. With any luck, he could slip in and out without being noticed. Everyone would assume that the boy Bayezid had simply died in his sleep.

Isa slipped silently through the reception room and entered a long hallway that ran the length of the apartment. Halil had informed him that the entrance to Bayezid's quarters was at the far end of the hall. The boy's quarters consisted of three rooms: a reception room, a play room and his bedroom. Isa had almost reached the door to the reception room, when it opened and an odalisque stepped out. She screamed and turned to run, but Isa lunged for her and grabbed her by her long auburn hair. He yanked her towards him and slit her throat, cutting short her terrified screaming. Isa stepped over her and into the room. He shut the door behind him and locked it, then moved into the play room and again shut and locked the door. There were noises now coming from the hallway behind him. Isa would have to hurry.

He took a small vial from a pocket and kicked open the door to Bayezid's bedroom. The bed was empty. Isa quickly searched the room, but the boy was gone. In the next room, the doors shook as somebody tried to open them. Isa knelt and reached for one of the pouches that hung at his belt. Better to die here than to live and see his family killed for his failure.

Then he saw it: a thin crack running up the otherwise seamless wall on the far side of the room. It was the edge of a secret door, left slightly ajar. All was not lost. Isa slipped through the door and shut it firmly behind him. Sitt Hatun awoke from a troubled sleep to the sound of loud knocking. She jerked upright, suddenly wide awake. The knocking repeated itself — two knocks, a pause and then three knocks. It was the code that she had worked out with Bayezid and Kacha. She hurried to the door and opened it.

'Bayezid!' Sitt Hatun exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?' She stopped. Bayezid had not moved and his face was ghostly white. 'Are you well?' Sitt Hatun asked. 'What has happened?' Bayezid still did not move. Sitt Hatun crouched down and took the boy's head in her hands so that he was looking her in the eyes. 'Tell me what happened, Bayezid.'

'A man…' he began and then started crying. He buried his head in Sitt Hatun's robe. Now that he was talking, he could not stop. 'He killed Kacha. He's going to kill me. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.'

'Shhh, you're not going to die. I will protect you,' Sitt Hatun told Bayezid as she lifted him into her arms. She shut the secret door and turned to call for Anna, but she was already there.

'I heard the knocking,' Anna said. 'What has happened?'

'An assassin,' Sitt Hatun said as she crossed the room. 'He has come for the boy. Take him and keep him safe.' Anna nodded and took Bayezid in her arms. She left the room, and Sitt Hatun shut the door behind her. When she turned, she saw Isa standing in the doorway of the secret passage. 'You!' she exclaimed. 'What are you doing here? Did Halil send you?'

'I have come for the boy, Bayezid,' Isa said quietly. 'Tell me where he is.'

'He is not here,' Sitt Hatun lied. 'And you must leave now before you are discovered.'

'I will not leave without the boy.' Isa drew a small pouch from his belt. 'I do not wish to hurt you. The boy is here. Tell me where he is.' He took a step towards Sitt Hatun.

'Stop!' Sitt Hatun ordered, trying to control the trembling in her voice. 'All I have to do is scream and guards will come. You know the fate of men who are found in the harem. Your genitals will be cut off and stuffed in you mouth, and you will be tied in a bag and thrown into the river to drown.'

Isa took another step towards her. 'If you scream, you will die.'

Sitt Hatun met Isa's gaze and held it. 'Then we will both die,' she said. 'But you will not touch Bayezid.'

'Nor will you touch my mistress,' Anna said as the doors to the room swung open and she stepped through holding a sword. She stepped into the space between Isa and Sitt Hatun.

Isa looked from Sitt Hatun to the sword and back again. 'Do not be a fool, Sitt Hatun,' he said. 'Bayezid must die if your son is to be sultan. Better that it happen now, at my hand. I will be quick. The boy will not suffer. Or would you rather he be drowned in his bath by the palace guards on the day that Selim takes the throne?' Sitt Hatun hesitated, and Isa continued. 'All you have to do is step aside and your place as valide sultana will be assured.'

Sitt Hatun was torn. As valide sultana, mother of the sultan, she could have all that she wanted, including Gulbehar's head on a platter. And all she had to do was turn her back and let Bayezid die. It would be so easy. And Isa was right: the boy had to die sooner or later if Selim was to be sultan. But then she thought of Bayezid, and of the terror in his eyes as he begged her to protect him. She thought of her own son, Selim, and of what she would do if he were taken from her. 'No,' she said finally. 'I cannot. He is only a child.'

'So be it,' Isa said. He moved with surprising quickness, reaching into the pouch and flinging a cloud of white powder at Anna. But Anna was ready. She dropped to the ground, rolled under the cloud, and sprang to her feet on the far side, slashing at Isa with her sword. Isa managed to parry the blow with a small dagger, then he kicked out, knocking Anna's leg from under her. As he raised his dagger to finish Anna, Sitt Hatun started screaming. She grabbed the only weapon she could find — a heavy golden candlestick — and hurled it at Isa. It caught him square on the forehead, and he staggered backwards, bleeding.

Sitt Hatun stepped forward and helped Anna to her feet. From outside the bedchamber, they heard a crash as the eunuch guards burst through the main doors to the apartment. Isa looked towards the sound, then back at them. He hesitated, then turned and fled through the secret passage. The door had just swung shut behind him when the eunuch guards rushed into the bedchamber.

The guards paused when they saw that Sitt Hatun and Anna were alone, and that Anna was holding a sword. 'What are you doing here, captain?' Sitt Hatun asked calmly. She would not send the guards after Isa. After all, he had saved her life once, and besides, Isa's visit would be difficult to explain without revealing Bayezid's presence in her apartments.

The captain bowed low. 'We heard your screaming, Sultana,' he said. 'We came as quickly as we could. Are you all right?'

'As you can see, I am fine. Thank you for your vigilance, captain, but it was only a dream that startled me. You may go.' The captain looked dubiously from Anna's sword to the bloodied candlestick lying on the ground.

'An odalisque was killed tonight in Sultana Gulbehar's quarters, and the prince Bayezid is missing,' he said. 'Are you sure that you have seen nothing? The assassin may still be loose in the harem.'

'Then I suggest that you go and find him, captain.'

'Very well, Sultana. But I will leave a guard outside your quarters.'

'You have my thanks,' Sitt Hatun said. The captain bowed and led his guards from the room.

When they were gone, Bayezid appeared in the doorway. He ran to Sitt Hatun and buried his head in the fold of her dress. 'Is it safe?' he asked. 'I knew that they would come for me, just like my mother said. Are they going to kill me?'

Sitt Hatun gently stroked his head. 'There, there,' she told him. 'No one will harm you, Bayezid. You are safe.' By the time Isa reached the harem kitchen, the entire palace had been alerted that an assassin was on the loose. He just managed to squeeze into the kitchen sewer and pull the grate back over his head before a troop of eunuch guards came marching through the kitchen. Isa squirmed through the tunnel as quickly as he could. He emerged outside the wall and glanced above him. The archers were no doubt on high alert now, but Isa had no time to wait. He sprinted across the open space next to the wall, heading for the mouth of a nearby alley.

Arrows hissed past his head, but Isa reached the alley safely. Still, he did not stop running. The twisting, narrow streets of Edirne were an easy place to lose oneself, and he knew the guards would not catch him now. But it was not the guards that worried him. The news of his failed assassination attempt would travel fast, even at night. If Isa wanted to see his family freed, then he had to reach them before their keeper learned of his failure.

Isa ran without stopping until he reached the quarter where his family was kept. He slowed. The quarter was quiet, all dark streets and windows. There were no soldiers on the street. He had made it in time. He slipped back into the shadows and headed for the house where his family was kept. When he reached it he strode directly to the door and pounded on it. There was no response, so he knocked again. Finally, he heard a noise inside. After a minute, the door opened.

In the doorway stood a tall, well-muscled man with a bushy beard and a large birthmark on his forehead. He wore leather breeches and a close-fitting wool tunic. For three years this man had been the keeper of Isa's family. Isa knew nothing about him, not even his name, but he hated him all the same.

'What are you doing here?' the man asked. 'You were not to come until the prince is dead.'

'The prince is dead,' Isa lied. 'I have come for my family.'

The man's eyes narrowed. 'I have heard nothing of this.'

'I killed Prince Bayezid in his bed, not half an hour ago,' Isa replied. 'His death will not be discovered until morning.'

The scarred man yawned. 'Then come in the morning. Your family will be freed then, not before.'

The man began to shut the door, but Isa blocked it with his foot. 'I am through waiting. I have done all that Halil asked. My family is free now, and I will wait no longer. Take me to them.' He reached for a pouch on his belt. 'I will not ask you again.'

The man at the door took a step backwards at the sight of the pouch. 'Put that away,' he said. 'You will have no need of your poisons here. If you are in such a hurry then come. I will take you to your family.'

He let Isa into the house and led him down a corridor with several rooms opening off it. A dozen men lounged in these rooms — the guards Halil had assigned to keep Isa from his family. His family was confined to the upper floor, where it would be more difficult for them to escape. They reached the stairs, and the scarred man stopped and motioned for Isa to go first. He stepped past the man and hurried up the narrow staircase. The heavy door at the top of the staircase was unlocked. Isa pushed it open and stepped into the dimly lit hallway, which was a mirror-image of the one on the floor below. 'They are in the second room on the right,' the keeper said from behind. 'The door is unlocked. They are waiting for you.'

Isa needed no further instruction. He hurried down the hall and pulled the door open. The room had no windows, and it was very dark, lit only by the light from the door. Isa could not see his family. 'Jina!' he called. 'Children?' No response. He entered and was immediately assaulted by a powerful odour of decay. Something was very wrong here. 'Jina?' he called again in rising panic. He took a few more steps into the room before he saw his family. His wife and two children were slumped motionless against the far wall. He rushed across the room and knelt beside his wife. Her throat had been slit, as had the throats of his daughter and son. Judging by the decayed state of their bodies, they had been dead for several days.

'Halil told me to thank you for your service,' the keeper said from the door. 'But you are too dangerous to leave alive. As Halil promised, you'll be joining your family now, forever.' Isa ran for the door, but before he was halfway there, it slammed shut. The room went black. Isa heard a deadbolt slide to, and then another.

He stumbled back across the dark room to the door and pounded on it with his fist, but there was no response. 'You will pay for this!' he shouted. 'You will pay!' Still, there was no reply. He yanked on the handle, and then kicked the door hard. It did not budge. The door was made of solid oak. It would take an axe to bring it down. He was trapped.

Isa slumped to the floor and sat still. Despite all that he had done, despite all his years of working for Halil, he had failed his family. His life meant nothing now. But if he could not save his family, he would at least avenge their deaths. 'Halil,' he mumbled to himself. He repeated the name over and over again, like a mantra. It gave him strength. There was purpose in his life yet. He would see to it that Halil suffered as he had suffered.

But first, he would kill his family's keeper. And before he did that, he would have to escape. Isa closed his eyes and cleared his mind, forcing himself to ignore the putrid smell of the corpses of his beloved wife and children. He had time to think. The keeper would most likely leave Isa there to starve, but if Isa was lucky, then the man would come back to kill him. Isa could deal with him then. Even if he had to face every guard in the house, Isa was determined that his life would be dearly sold. If no one came, then Isa would simply have to find another way out.

He closed his eyes and meditated, trying to focus his thoughts on the task at hand. He had been sitting for only a few minutes when sweat began to trickle down his shaved head and he noticed that the door at his back was growing hot. He touched the wall next to the door and then the floor. They were all warm. He put his nose to the crack at the bottom of the door and smelled smoke. With alarm, Isa realized that the house was on fire. The keeper intended to burn him alive.

Isa rose and moved around the room, feeling the walls for any cracks, any weakness that could be exploited. There were none. He moved around the floor, stomping and checking for loose planks, but gave up after only a few seconds. If he did manage to make it through the floor, then he would probably only find himself in the fire. Isa moved back to the walls, coughing as smoke began to fill the space. He had to find a way out soon. He began to circle the room again, this time knocking on the walls. He moved along the wall to the left of the door, then turned the corner and moved to the back of the room. Still nothing. The smoke was thick now, rising up between the floorboards to sting his eyes and burn his throat. He raised his shirt to cover his mouth, but still he gasped and choked as he started out along the wall where his family lay. Again, he heard only the dull knock of his hand on the hard plaster. He was beginning to lose hope when he heard something different. At waist height, directly over the body of his wife, the wall reverberated with a hollow thumping sound. He put his head to the wall and listened as he struck it again, harder. Thump. The wall was not solid. There must have once been a door or a window there that had later been plastered over.

Isa drew his knife and scraped at the wall, but to little effect. A few bits of plaster came away, but nothing more. Desperate, he stood back and then kicked the wall as hard as he could. It trembled slightly. He kicked it again, and the shaking was more pronounced. He was about to kick again, when he turned and saw that the door to the room was on fire and that the flames were spreading to the walls and ceiling around it. He had no more time. He moved to the middle of the room, and then turned and ran towards the wall. He lowered his shoulder and hit the wall moving full speed. He heard a crash, felt the wall give, and the next thing he knew he was flying through empty space. He fell only a few feet before he landed with a painful thud on the roof of a neighbouring, one-storey house. He rose unsteadily, coughing from the smoke he had inhaled. He had separated his shoulder when he hit the wall, and it was pulsing with pain. But he was alive…

Isa staggered across the flat roof, away from the burning building. He reached the edge of the roof and dropped into the alley below. Then he leaned his shoulder against the wall of the alley, and with a wrenching motion, popped his shoulder back into its socket, clenching his jaw to keep from crying out. When the wave of agony had passed, he left the alley and circled around until he reached the street that ran towards the burning house. People were hurrying past, carrying buckets of water from the well to throw on the fire. Somewhere, a bell was ringing. At the house itself, a crowd of spectators had gathered to watch the flames. His family's keeper was standing amongst the onlookers.

Isa took a vial filled with a dark, viscous liquid from inside his tunic and carefully poured three drops on to the blade of his knife. He worked his way through the crowd, approaching the keeper from behind. When he reached him, Isa sliced the knife quickly along the back of the man's neck, leaving a small cut. The man grabbed at his neck and turned to face Isa. The man's eyes went wide with surprise. He opened his mouth but could not speak. The poison was acting too fast. Isa grabbed the man and pulled him close. 'The poison you are experiencing is taken from crushed cherry laurel leaves,' he whispered as he wiped his knife on the man's shirt. 'You will be dead in a few seconds. A better fate than you deserve.'

The man began to shake all over as Isa released him and stepped away, slipping back into the crowd. He watched as the keeper collapsed, shaking violently. A veiled woman screamed. The rest of the crowd backed away, frightened. 'What's happening to him?' someone asked. The keeper's entire body was contorted now. Foam ran from his lips. 'He's possessed!' someone shouted. Then the keeper froze, his body rigid, his eyes protruding. He twitched a few final times and then lay still. He was dead.

Two men dragged his body off to the side, where his family, the authorities or the dogs — whichever reached him first — would deal with him. The rest of the crowd turned back to watch the fire. Isa watched with them. Men continued to rush forward with buckets of water. Within an hour it was clear that the fire would not spread, and the crowd began to thin. Isa waited until the crowd had all long gone and the last ember had ceased to burn. Then, he walked over the ashen ruins of the burned house. He scooped up a handful of ash and placed it in one of the pouches that hung from his belt. This was all that he had left of his family. Dawn was breaking as he left the smoking ruin behind him and strode away towards the Maritza river to catch a boat to Constantinople, where he would find Halil.