by Purple Hazel
Ludmilla yelled at a woman halfway across the crowd from her and said, “Tell her to be brave! Tell her to stay alive! Tell her I’ll come looking for her!” The woman could not understand her completely and formed a confused look on her face, yelling back “What? I can’t hear you!” So Ludmilla found a woman even closer and asked her instead to relay her words.
“Comrade, please pass the message to her!” Ludmilla begged, but the woman was already doing so the moment Ludmilla made eye contact. Gradually, the relay system established itself in the desperately packed crowd of prisoners, but the two lovers finally got their messages sent to each other. Tatyana replied, “Okay…I will, Lyev! I’ll wait for you!” and eventually that message got relayed and passed across the crowd to Ludmilla.
Fully a hundred people were participating now, and when the last message “I will find you, Darling, I promise!” got passed across the throng of people to the lovely Tatyana, Ludmilla could see her nodding and holding her hands to her cheeks. Ludmilla waved one last time and smiled. Nothing else needed to be said. The men next to her holding her legs gently let her down to the ground. The last thing Tatyana could see was Ludmilla’s outstretched hand as she descended into the sea of bodies.
After that, the crowds of prisoners on both sides of the cage settled down, and reality began to set in once more. The scene with the boyish-looking “Lyev” bidding goodbyes and assurances to his beautiful Tatyana soon faded from everyone’s mind. It was all the excitement anyone could handle that day anyhow and not long after the romantic exchange was finished, most people simply returned to awaiting their respective fates on the auction block. Few people spoke anymore as they suffered in the midday sun.
A little while later, the clock overlooking the plaza began to chime noon. The slave auction was about to begin.
Chapter 13
Bursa
Tatyana was sold later that same day to a Turkish merchant. He had traveled to Caffa looking for beautiful white virgins to bring back to his private mansion in Bursa—a city located southeast of Istanbul.
The merchant's name was Can Ozgunduz, but he went by “Tuccar” (which means “trader”) and had done so ever since he was a young man. Only his mother called him Can growing up. Besides, the nickname Tuccar suited him well because he was one of the best in the business.
Though technically a silk trader, Tuccar's primary talent was in identifying beauty—enduring beauty—which would impress the Great Sultan in Istanbul. His specialty was in finding talent capable of gracing the monarch’s harem for years to come with a lovely girl that might someday become one of the monarch’s favorite wives. That's precisely what he was looking for in Caffa that day as he continued his season-long tour selling silk robes, pillows, pajams, stylish silk hats, and silken gowns, then taking his profits from those sales to purchase what ended up totaling 106 Russian females.
For Tatyana, just like hundreds before and after her during that humid afternoon, the experience of being auctioned off like a prized race horse at the Main Hall was a humiliating ordeal. Stripped completely naked and led out before a crowd of jeering, leering, and shouting men vying to place a bid on her, she ascended the small platform in the center while the auctioneer pinched and groped her body, demonstrating the firmness and tautness of her skin. This was what buyers were looking for—young, firm, ivory white flesh; and despite being well over seventeen, Tatyana still appeared to be in her early teens; so this was quite appealing to the hundreds of mostly Turks, Arabs, and Tatars in the audience. The auctioneer was quite businesslike and thorough in his methods, too.
Covering her privates with one hand and holding her other hand across her breasts, Tatyana tried looking down and squinting her eyes shut until the dreadful scene was over, but the auctioneer simply wouldn't tolerate this. He swatted her bottom with a long, thin, wooden rod yelling repeatedly at her in angered Turkish, “Ellerini indir! Ellerini indir! (Get your hands down)” But she didn't understand this phrase, so he motioned with his own hands and hips to demonstrate how she should stand. Cruel laughter and chuckles emitted from the crowd, watching him showing her how to stand in an alluringly statuesque pose.
This she did try to emulate by dropping both her hands to her sides, revealing her naked breasts and private area; but when she did so and her sex was exposed at last, a wave of lustful gasps could be heard from the audience along with crude remarks about her pristine body.
“Iste…O bir bakire! (Behold…a Virgin)” cried the auctioneer and the murmurs in the crowd rose, while the auctioneer gestured toward the embarrassed girl's midsection and thighs, framing her naked body irresistibly while he grinned toward the audience of lusting men. Tuccar, however, kept his cool. He merely held up an index finger to let the auctioneer know he'd buy her that day. After that, once the auctioneer saw the well-known trader was interested, he knew he was about to fetch a fine price for her.
The auctioneer started the bidding, receiving a few meager bids from five or six minor league traders who were likely testing the water to see if they could make a deal on this gorgeous beauty. It was all for show really—after ten or twelve bids and the price was starting to rise a bit, the auctioneer then unexpectedly raised the bid request significantly to a level that wiped out most of the small-time players. This left Tuccar in full control. That had been the auctioneer's intent all along once he'd seen the wealthy merchant wanted her.
Tuccar then dramatically entered the bidding by stating a price even higher than that of the auctioneer—a price which he'd already planned on paying by the way—and after a few moments of silence, the auctioneer gleefully announced, “Satildi! (Sold)”
Of course, there likely were potential buyers there who could have topped Tuccar's price; but when they saw how the savvy merchant had waited until a few low-level traders had made their play—only to have Tuccar Ozgunduz step in to squash their feeble bids—they relented. This was out of respect mainly. Clearly this was a girl Tuccar desired, and if they went up against him he'd more than likely resent the interference. He had status as a well-known and respected businessman in Caffa, and crossing him was never a good idea.
What's more, the auctioneer's interaction with the audience had markedly changed when Tuccar made his initial bid. They'd be wiser to just let this one go. And why worry? There were many more to choose from. At least twenty more naked white women remained—and hundreds more would be following her—awaiting their own degrading turn on the auction block. Better to relent and let Tuccar get what he wanted.
* * * *
Tuccar was born and raised in Bursa. He'd worked his way up from a lowly street vendor at the town market to develop a lucrative business in silk clothing and pillows, which Bursa was already world-famous for. After the Ottomans had moved their capital to Istanbul, Bursa continued to thrive as an international market for these same luxuries, and it was also quite famous for its food!
“Turkish Delight” (or Lokum as the Turks called it) came from there; and Tuccar made it a habit of bringing large crates of it with him whenever he travelled abroad to trade his silks. It was a confection based on the gel of starch and sugar to create a spongy, gooey center which could be flavored with nuts and fruits. It would then be dusted with colorful icing sugar to prevent clinging so it could be served in small bite-sized blocks. Many a deal he'd struck while serving this confection to prospective buyers in far-away kingdoms. His reputation was well-known.
Selling bolts of cloth made from raw silk, the man had made quite a good living for himself, and his entourage of bodyguards and mistresses traveled with him all over the Ottoman Empire. “Kule Ticareti” or slave trading, was merely a specialty he'd added to his repertoire over the years. It stirred his passions and occasionally enabled him to amass quite a fortune whenever he made just the right purchases; because when he did find that pure maiden, or what he preferred to call a beyaz safir, he had the resources, staff, and facilities for turning most any “white sapphire” into a dazzling harem girl.
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br /> Tatyana was just one of many lovely white sapphires he purchased that day; and Tuccar's intent was to bring them home to Bursa where they could be trained. The best of them, when training was concluded, would be sold into the harems of the mightiest and wealthiest Askeri (the ruling aristocracy of the Ottoman Empire). However, those who failed to meet Tuccar's exacting standards might simply be sold to abusive lower-class slave traders on the streets of Bursa; and their lives would be miserably short at best.
Girls who ended up there were often forced to work in brothels (or Meyhanes, as they were called). Meyhanes were illegal, but it was easy to bribe officials to look the other way. Worst of all, since they were not Muslim, women sold to the owners of Meyhanes were not subject to or protected by the Sharia—or Muslim Law. A white female prostitute working in conditions such as these did not fare very well, especially once her beauty began to fade.
* * * *
Tuccar was essentially a fair man; and had a good reputation in the world of business. The rules of service and the expectations he had for his newly purchased slaves were made abundantly clear to Tatyana and all the others right from the start. When they were collected down by the pier and being readied to set sail for Bursa, Tuccar himself spoke to them from atop a small crate. He addressed them in Turkish, with a young male servant standing next to him, translating into Russian for them:
“You have been chosen by me,” he began, “…because of your beauty…much like a bolt of fine silk cloth I might purchase from Persia or China…and many of you I will eventually turn into a lovely garment…a raiment which might someday adorn the palace of a powerful and influential man whom I might sell you to…once I believe you're ready. However, you must understand me…your lives as you knew them are behind you now. You will never see your homes again. Serve me well and embrace your new existence…those of you whom I choose to keep…for only the very best of you will ever see the inside of an imperial harem…of that I can assure you.” He then paused a while and looked at several of the girls directly, adding, “Mark my words well, ladies, and you will enjoy a happy existence. Fail me and you will be discarded.”
Several of the girls wept and even a few glared defiantly at the well-dressed Turk. Some ignored the wealthy man entirely and prayed with their heads bowed. However, Tatyana and most of the others nodded obediently. That was the proper attitude. Those who did so were very wise to show respect and willingness to cooperate, as everyone else would soon find out.
By then, of course, all the women and teenage girls had been bathed by Tuccar's staff of female concubines, cleansed thoroughly and their bodies scrubbed to remove the last of the grit and filth accumulated from their ordeal on the long march south to Caffa. Given new clothing made up of assorted cotton salwar (trousers), pirihan (chemise), and an ankle length entari (robe), most were also given a fur lined yelek (jacket) to keep them warm on the voyage across the Black Sea. This journey would have in normal circumstances taken them seven long days even with favorable winds—but Tuccar first wanted to make a few stops along the way.
At the Balkan port of Varna for instance, Tuccar left the ship with a couple of bodyguards to go into town. He was gone for several hours while the slave girls—as well as about twenty concubines and remaining guards—awaited his return. Then after a long while (perhaps the whole morning—Tatyana wasn't quite sure) a number of men returned to the ship to gather crates full of luxurious silk scarves, silken undergarments, and neatly-packed wooden boxes full of Lokum. Sent by local merchants to fetch these products, they were dressed in traditional Turkish garb—but many were clearly Caucasian slaves or servants employed by the local market. Nevertheless, that was clearly not all they'd come back for.
A conversation was going on between one of their representatives and one of Tuccar's tall African bodyguards sent back with them as an escort. Tatyana and the rest of the girls, huddled in a mass of bodies inside the hold of the ship, wondered at what they might have been discussing, but within a few minutes the subject matter became abundantly clear: the guard had been sent back to select some of the slave girls to be taken into the town! They knew it, too—the moment the men looked down at them in the hold of the ship through the cargo bay opening.
Terrified, the girls nuzzled up against one another and held each other tightly as the brutal bodyguard climbed down and snatched several of them from where they were sitting on the floor. He then pulled them screaming and whimpering from the ship, yanking them by the arms—and in more than one instance whipping them on their backsides with a long thin cane to frighten them into submission. Several of the female concubines in Tuccar’s entourage could be seen by Tatyana pointing out several more slave girls among the group for selection. These they'd somehow identified as less desirable or unlikely to perform well. Evidently Tuccar had sweetened whatever deal he'd made in town by throwing in twenty slave girls as a bonus.
Oh, the ghastly fate those girls must have faced! Looking through small port holes in the sides of the large ship, Tatyana and the others watched in horror as the girls could be seen being led down the pier crying and sobbing; marched in a long line into the ugly gray town full of weather-beaten wooden houses, dilapidated buildings, and ancient stone churches.
Sailors and dock workers stood by laughing and snickering callously at their plight as they were pulled along, tied together by the wrists, and then driven with heads bowed like helpless children into the city. No one had any doubt they'd be forced into a life of sin. It made their skin crawl at the very thought of this. Tatyana and the other girls sobbed and grieved for them, even cried out oaths of courage, but soon the remaining guards on the ship began screaming at them. “Otur! Otur! (sit down)” they yelled. One of the more heartless female concubines working for Tuccaar chided and even mocked them viciously. “Salla gitsin! Coktan gitmisler! Salla gitsin! (Forget them, they're long gone).”
The remaining girls learned a lesson that day: Their fates rested in the hands of these cold-hearted people who could dispose of them in any way they wished, and at any time they wanted to. Best to remain obedient and silent for the time being. Don't argue. Don't defy. Cooperate. It was just like “Lyev” had told her. Whatever they did to her, she must endure it. Someday, God willing, she would come for her. That's all Tatyana could hope for.
And so it went, in three more port cities following Varna, as the ship worked its way along the Black Sea Coast trading silks and unloading selected slave girls along the way. At Istanbul, the ship cruised through the mouth of the Bosphorus and into the Turkish Straits leading to the city. By now their numbers had dwindled to only fifty-seven; and no doubt when they stopped in Istanbul, even more would be chosen, sold off to some merchant or traded for food and supplies. Their lives, it would appear, were essentially worth nothing to their captors and by now Tatyana and the remaining girls had resigned themselves to this. At any time, and for reasons known only to the selectors themselves, any one of them could be whisked away to some woeful fate on shore. They could only hope that a selector’s finger never pointed at them.
Would Tatyana also be traded away, or given as a gift to some awful pervert? Or would they keep her for Tuccar's training facility back in Bursa where she could be made into a fine harem girl for some Pasha or Sultan? It was an unpropitious situation no doubt, but Tatyana wondered how it could be much worse than this, sitting below decks in all this filth. She was tired of the stinking ship and the smell of sea water—the odors of the ship’s hold in the heat of the day and freezing in the cold night air blowing through port holes. What's more, the further south they traveled, the further she was from “Lyev.” And being found by her lover was all she had left to dream about. It saddened her at times, but she wisely kept these thoughts to herself. In fact, as the voyage continued, she began to work diligently toward improving her chances.
After a day sulking and feeling sorry for herself when they first docked in Istanbul, Tatyana found herself sitting with a group of young women who’d seemingly
embraced their new lives as potential concubines; and once she’d listened to them talk a while, she began to see their point of view. These enthusiastic and quite worldly young girls (about twelve of them initially) had spoken with several of Tuccar's concubines during the voyage and learned about what they might become once they got back to Bursa. There, she learned, they would be trained as Kadins (harem wives). Tatyana started befriending these girls while the ship sat in the harbor.
“Kadins is what we must strive to become,” said one of them, and when the girl explained this to Tatyana, she realized that's exactly what she needed to aspire to. Sex was clearly going to be expected; and it mattered little what her personal desires were—or for that matter what she even thought of herself by providing this service. That was one thing the twelve girls emphasized repeatedly. Tatyana understood. That was the way it would have to be. If her master desired her in his bed, she must comply.
Survival was her chief goal, and advancing from lowly servant to the rank of Kadin meant relative freedom, opulence and comfort, she was told. “It also means having your own slaves and attendants, plus Eunuchs to protect you—even your own private apartment within the palace,” said another girl. “Everything hinges on our performance in achieving our master's pleasure—as often as he requires it and as best as we can accomplish it for him.”
Yet another was more direct. “No thought can ever be given to your own personal desires or wishes, by the way. Our very lives depend on our master's favor.” She went on to say any mistake or even a foul whim of the master's mood could lead to a girl’s demise; and whatever disposal of her the man chose (whether execution, torture, or even worse) she had to live with those possibilities every day. That’s what the girls had learned from the concubines. But to Tatayana it meant something even more important: every day she stayed alive was one more day that “Lyev” could search for her.