The Kadin

by Bertrice Small

  He wanted to be near his family for a while longer. He had fathered sixteen children—ten boys and six girls. Now just the four boys and his daughters remained.

  Thinking back over his life, he chuckled to himself. It had been good back in those days at the Moonlight Serai. His aunt Refet running the household along with Cyra. Sarina buzzing about the gardens like an angry wasp, and forever berating him for not being able to tell the difference between her precious flowers and the weeds. His grandfather would have liked Sarina. The conqueror was a fine gardener himself.

  His mind wandering, he saw the children tumbling like puppies on the lawns. The kadins, their legs showing through their sheer trousers, tossing a bright ball back and forth. He could almost hear their silvery laughter and taste the salt tang of the air from the sea.

  How long had they been together? Almost twenty-six years now. He almost wished he could put down the burden of the sultanate and return to those carefree days; but if he had tried to turn back, he would have discovered behind him a vast, bottomless void across which glistened only fragile memories, both bitter and sweet. There was no choice but to go forward.

  33

  SELIM AGAIN left his capital to go on campaign. Aware that the capture of Rhodes would require special attention, he moved his army to a small peninsula facing the island. His purpose was twofold—to allow him to reconnoiter at his leisure, and hopefully to inflict a certain amount of psychological damage on the islanders, who, seeing the vast army, might not be overly eager to help the Christian defenders.

  In Constantinople the kadins settled into a familiar routine. Hassan and Nureddin had been sent to the army barracks at Scutari with the promise from their father that if the reports on them were good, they might join him when the invasion began.

  Only the three young princesses and little Prince Karim remained in the harem with their mothers. The sultan had suggested before leaving for Anatolia that Karim be given his own court, but Cyra had forestalled him, asking that Karim remain with her until the Rhodes campaign was over.

  It was summer, and the bas-kadin was twice a grandmother. Before Selim had departed, word had come from Magnesia of Gulbehar’s safe delivery of a son, and much to the sultan’s pleasure he was to be called Mustafa. Nilufer, too, had, just a week past, become the mother of a son, to be named Mohammed.

  The days passed quietly. When the first small hint of plague appeared in the city, those in the Eski Serai did not pay a great deal of attention. Plague was commonplace each summer when the weather got hot A few cases were reported among the slaves who worked in the stables, but as these men were never in contact with the harem staff, there was no concern.

  Then one day Anber brought word to the bas-kadin that the young princes at Scutari were ill. Had Cyra not lived so long with Firousi and Zuleika, she would, perhaps have acted differently; but the bond between them was too strong. Ordering the horrified Anber to have the princes brought home, she then broke the news to their mothers.

  The isolated, little-used Tile Court was prepared to receive the royal children, and both mothers would have rushed to nurse their sons had not Cyra, for the first time in their years together, wielded her authority. Only one might go, and she must be chosen by lot Zuleika won.

  Hassan and Nureddin were horribly ill. No plague boil had appeared yet and their suffering was terrible. Word was sent to the sultan that his sons were not expected to Uve.

  Remembering Hadji Bey’s dying words, Cyra realized that in a few days’ time, Selim’s ten sons would have shrunk to two—her eldest and her youngest A daring plan began to form in her mind.

  She could not allow Karim to become a political pawn and a threat to Suleiman; yet she knew her gentle oldest son would not be able to destroy his little brother, nor would she let him. If Karim remained alive, he could become the means of destroying Suleiman and the empire—or worse, become a puppet ruled by Western Europeans whose greed and fear of Turkey far outweighed their common sense.

  When Esther Kira came on her biweekly visit to the harem that afternoon, Cyra invited her to walk in the kadins’ private park. It was not unusual to see them thus, for the bas-kadin often walked and chatted with the little Jewess in this manner. Cyra, with unusual frankness, came right to the point

  “Esther, I have an enormous favor to ask of you.”

  “Dearest madam, I will do anything for you.”

  “Do not commit yourself so quickly, my friend. I am asking you to save a life and, at the same time, perhaps endanger your own and that of your whole family. No. Keep walking, and do not appear surprised at anything I may say. Even I am continually watched.

  “Prince Hassan and Prince Nureddin are dying. This leaves my lord only two surviving sons. With Suleiman heir, my little Karim is in terrible danger. I cannot allow him to be used against Suleiman, but I cannot see him ruthlessly killed to protect Suleiman. With your help, I plan to pretend he has died of the plague, and smuggle him to my homeland.”

  Esther bent to sniff a full red rose. “Yes,” she said, “it could be done, and fate must be with you, my lady. At this very minute there is a Scots ship out of Leeds in the harbor. My brother Joseph will be sailing on it in five days’ time. He goes to the Edinburgh branch of the House of Kira to bring them a reserve supply of gold and to learn their particular method of business. Dealing with the Scots is a very different thing from dealing with other Europeans.”

  Cyra laughed. “Remembering my early years, I would certainly think so.”

  “How long will the two princes live, madam?”

  “We have had no word since yesterday, but I would imagine that by tonight or tomorrow they will have joined their brothers in Paradise.”

  “Then Karim must become ill tonight” She dug into her robe. ‘Take this,” she said, slipping Cyra a small package. “Put it in his food or water. It will not harm him, only give him a fever for twelve hours. In the morning use your position as bas-kadin to have the two princes removed from the Tile Court, and take your son there to nurse him.”

  “Zuleika has been nursing the children.”

  “Say she is too weary to go on and must have rest You are the authority in the harem. She will obey. Remember to have the Tile Court disinfected before you enter it. Do not be afraid of the plague. They say Jews do not contract it and this is true. Isaac ben Judah, the old doctor in our quarter, says it is because we follow the law and are clean. He says plague comes from filth. The only cases you have had here in the serai have been in the stables—hardly a sanitary place. The two princes contracted it at Scutari, and what soldier—be he Turk, Christian, or Jew—stays clean? In three days’ time you will call for a coffin and announce Prince Karim’s death. On the evening of the second day I shall visit you to bring medicines. Instead, I shall smuggle the body of a child who has died a natural death. I shall take Prince Karim out as I brought the other child in—hidden in my basket”

  “He must be disguised, Esther.”

  “Yes. That carrot top is the only one of its kind in Constantinople. His skin must be darkened, too.” Again she dug into her robe and brought forth two packages. “The blue will turn his hair jet-black, the red will rid him of his fair skin. Put them in your other pocket so as not to confuse them with the fever medicine.”

  Cyra slid the colored packets out of sight as they turned back to the serai.

  “You will need someone to help you, madam.”

  “Marian and her young daughter, Ruth, will help me. Esther, the House of Kira must set up an account for Karim in Edinburgh. I will finance it secretly from here. He is to be known as Charles Leslie, and is to be taken to the Abbey School at Glenkirk, to be raised by the monks. I will send a message with him to the abbot, who was once our family’s confessor.”

  “I promised I would help you, dear lady.”

  “Ah, my friend! This is a very dangerous thing we do. If we are discovered, it will mean a terrible death for all of us. Are you sure you want to take this chance? Will your
brother?”

  “Yes, my lady,” said Esther Kira firmly. “When Joseph and I were orphaned and brought to Constantinople by our Kira cousins, we were simply poor relations for whom a duty was being performed. Your kindness and patronage have given us stature and wealth in our family. Joseph has now been given this important assignment, and I have been betrothed to the second son of the house. We would do anything for you.”

  “God bless you for it, Esther. You will never lack as long as I live.”

  The Jewess raised an eyebrow. “God, madam?”

  Cyra laughed softly. “When I was thirteen, Esther, and came to the harem, I decided that Allah was simply the Turkish name for God. It saved me a great deal of unnecessary trouble.”

  The little vendor chuckled. “Yes, my lady. I imagine it did.”

  When Esther had gone, Cyra dismissed her maidens and returned to the gardens with Marian and Ruth. They sat by the little lake, and the bas-kadin told them of her plans. Although Ruth was only nine, Cyra knew that she could trust her, and as the bas-kadin unfolded her plans, Ruth listened, solemnly and silently.

  Marian’s reaction was startling. “Thank God you’ve come to your senses and heeded the old agha’s warning.”

  “Hadji Bey spoke with you?”

  “A few days before he died, madam. I doubted he suspected you would solve the problem in this manner.”

  Cyra chuckled. “He would be most shocked, indeed. Were Karim not so Scots in appearance, I should not dare to do this.”

  “Have no fears, my lady. Ruth and I will help you and go with you into the Tile Court Give me the fever medicine. I will see that the kitchens bring Karim strawberry sherbet with his dinner tonight He loves it and will not refuse to eat it The medicine will be in it Will you tell him?”

  “Not until we are safely in the Tile Court He is a bright little boy and will understand.” She dipped her hand into the cool water. “Has Zuleika sent word yet about the two princes?”

  “There has been no word in over a day, my lady.”

  “Have the eunuchs not inquired at the gate?”

  “They are afraid of the plague.”

  Cyra frowned. “We must inquire. It is not like Zuleika to worry us. The crisis must have come, and she could not send word.”

  Moving quickly to the Tile Court, Cyra called out “Zuleikal It is Cyra. How are the princes?”

  Silence greeted her inquiry. She called again. “Zuleika! Are you all right? Please answer me!” Silence. “Marian, go to the main gate and call the eunuchs to come in here. Tell them the bas-kadin commands it and will flay the skin off their backs if they do not obey!”

  The eunuchs came fearfully but quickly.

  “Break the door down,” commanded Cyra.

  “My lady bas-kadin, the plague germs will escape!”

  Cyra’s green eyes narrowed angrily. “Open that door or I shall personally slit your fat belly and burn your innards before your very eyes!”

  It took but a minute to break the door down, and when it was opened, a sickingly sweet stench poured out Placing a perfumed handkerchief to her nose, Cyra stepped across the threshold, flagging the others back with her free hand.

  Within the chambers the lamps burned low, their oil almost gone. She moved from the small outer room into the main room behind it As long as she lived, Cyra would never forget the sight that greeted her. Hassan and Nureddin lay dead on their couches. Zuleika was on the floor, her lovely body contorted cruelly, her face darkened with blood. One arm was flung back over her head, revealing a swollen, unbroken plague boil. Cyra knew that unless the boil broke or was lanced, the victim died. Bending down, she held her mirror to the woman’s nostrils. Zuleika was dead.

  The bas-kadin rose slowly. Suddenly she felt very old. I can’t spend three days here with Karim, she thought She moved to the outer court and heard her own voice saying, The princes and Zuleika Kadin are dead. See that coffins are brought for their bodies. Burn everything within, and see that the entire Tile Court is scrubbed with disinfectant I do not want the plague to spread any further.”

  “But who is to do it my lady?” quavered the eunuch.

  “Do we not have slaves?” she shouted at him “Fetch them this instant! And you, you fat cowardly son of a female pig, will personally oversee them! See that you do this job in a better fashion than you guarded Zuleika Kadin and the imperial princes. Do not tell me she did not call for help when she realized she was herself stricken. May Allah help you when the sultan learns of this!”

  The eunuch gaped in amazement at her. Never had he seen or heard the sultan’s bas-kadin lose her temper. Mercifully for them both, Marian led her mistress away.

  The next thing Cyra remembered was Marian stripping off her clothes and saying to Ruth, “Burn them all.” Then she was in her bath, and Marian, having shooed the bath attendants out was scrubbing her with some evil-smelling stuff and boiling water. She protested weakly. “Good! You’re still alive,” said her slave tartly.

  “I can’t take Karim there,” she whispered.

  “You can, you will and you must Unless you wish to see him end on an executioner’s bowstring,” hissed Marian. “It is his only chance. Now be silent, lest the walls hear our foolish chatter.”

  A final splash of hot water, and she meekly followed Marian into the cool room. Stretching out on a marble slab, she allowed the woman to massage her numb body with oil of wild flowers. Then she fell into the blessed relief of sleep. Marian tiptoed out, speaking to the waiting bath attendants. “The bas-kadin has had a terrible shock. Zuleika Kadin and the two princes are dead It was she who found them. Wake her in two hours and see that she has her coffee.”

  The little woman pattered off down the hallway to Firousi’s apartments. Sarina was there ahead of her.

  “What has happened to Cyra?” asked the fourth kadin. “Gossip is racing through the harem like fire.”

  “My lady will be all right, Lady Sarina. She is resting now. I have taken it upon myself to bring you the tragic news before some gossiping slave does.”

  “The two princes are dead?”

  Marian nodded “Zuleika Kadin, also. My lady became worried when there was no word for over a day. She went to investigate, and it was she who found them.”

  Clinging to each other, Sarina and Firousi wept Marian quietly left the room.

  Next the little Englishwoman headed for the kadins’ kitchen, where she gave orders from Lady Cyra that Prince Karim was to have strawberry sherbet with his dinner this night The cook, who had already heard about the deaths from the kitchen gardener—who had it from a passing guard—marveled silently at the fortitude of the bas-kadin to think of her little son’s sweet tooth under such sad circumstances.

  When evening came, Cyra had recovered from the initial shock of her discovery and invited Sarina, Firousi, and the children to dine with her. It was a somber meal. The children were aware that their two older brothers and Zuleika Kadin were dead

  The bas-kadin had made it very plain that she was taking Zuleika’s little daughter, Mahpeyker, into her care. Curled up in Cyra’s lap, the child fully understood that her mother was dead Cyra, feeling the little one’s warmth against her, thought that God was showing his approval of her plan to spirit Karim away by giving her another child to raise.

  At meal’s end, the youngsters brightened with the arrival of the sweet liquid sherbet and almond cakes. Cyra did not even dare to glance at Karim, knowing that somehow Marian had slipped Esther Kira’s potion into his sherbet

  She could not sleep that night worrying about her son. Finally, at dawn, she rose to the muezzin’s call, said her prayers, and hurried to Karim’s room

  His little body bathed in perspiration, the child tossed upon his couch. She glanced at the nurse sleeping on the floor by the boy. Angrily Cyra kicked her.

  “Get up, you wretch! You have slept through morning prayers, and my son lies here ill!”

  The girl scrambled to her feet “Madam, I watched all the night and ha
d just dozed off for a moment”

  “Liar! Look at the prince! He is bathed in sweat! No fever could come so quickly. You have been sleeping for hours!”

  The frightened nurse looked down at Karim, then drew back shaking. “Plague,” she sobbed. “The prince has the plague!”

  “Stop that wailing and fetch the doctor!”

  The girl fled, to return a few minutes later with Alaed-din Cerdet Quickly the physician examined the moaning, unconscious child, noting his rapid pulse, high fever, coated and slightly swollen tongue.

  “Plague,” he said. “The prince has all the signs of the plague. He must be removed at once to an area of isolation, lest he infect the whole palace. I will send a nurse.”

  “No,” said Cyra. “I will nurse him myself.”

  “Madam, I cannot be responsible for your safety. The sultan would kill me if you should die as did the lady Zuleika.”

  “I shall be in no danger, Alaeddin Cerdet I had plague as a child,” she reassured him, lying smoothly. “I shall not go alone. My two slaves, Marian and Ruth, will accompany me.”

  “In that case, I cannot deny a mother the privilege of caring for her sick son. I shall inform the kitchens of the diet the prince must have. Try to get him to take some nourishment If a plague boil rises, give it several hours to break. If it does not, lance it Perhaps it will save him.” He handed her a small, sharp instrument from his case. “If there is no boil, then Allah have mercy, for the child will surely die.”

  The newly scrubbed and furnished Tile Court was ready within the hour to receive them. A procession made up of Cyra, Marian, and Ruth, who carried the prince on a litter, entered the building. At the gate Cyra stopped to speak with the cowardly eunuch. She graciously apologized for her anger of the previous day and gave him a small purse of coins for his diligence in cleaning the court Her eyes filled with tears when she said she had never expected to see it again, let alone under such circumstances. The eunuch was immediately sympathetic and swore to guard them with his life.