In the short time Murad had been sultan, the Turks had gained effective control of Thrace, its key fortresses, and its rich plain which spread to the very foot of the Balkan mountain range. They had spread terror of the Ottomans throughout southeastern Europe by their deliberate massacre of the Chorlu garrison, whose commandant had been publicly beheaded. Adrianople had then fallen and was now the Turkish capital.
The Ottoman armies next moved westward. They bypassed Constantinople, but their emissaries were already with the emperor. Once again, John Paleaologi was forced to sign a treaty that bound him to refrain from regaining his losses in Thrace. He could not support his fellow Christians, the Serbians and the Bulgars, in their resistance against the advancing Turks. And he must support Murad militarily against his Muslim rivals in Asia Minor.
And though his own church condemned him, his ministers wailed, and his wife raged at him, John knew that he had bought more time for his city. He realized that Murad could probably take Constantinople. By acquiescing to his brother-in-law’s demands he saved the city. The Turks now went on to tougher challenges, thus allowing John the opportunity to secretly seek help elsewhere.
But he could not seem to convince the rulers of western Europe that if Constantinople fell, they themselves would be in grave danger. The old and foolish rivalry between the Roman and the Greek churches was partly at the bottom of western Europe’s reluctance to aid Byzantium. Then too, the Latin Christians fought among themselves. The great Italian banking houses which had financed everything from trade with the East to religious crusades began to fail. Recession and social crisis followed in Europe. The peasants revolted against their landlords whether these were feudal or monastic. Workers disputed with their merchant masters. The bubonic plague appeared from the East to ravage all of Europe. Discovery of the new world turned the youth of the old world westward, leaving Europe open to the Ottoman conqueror.
Murad’s armies penetrated deeper into Europe, to Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia. Then, suddenly, they appeared in Hungary, a stronghold of the Roman Church. Pope Urban V made several desperate attempts to unite the various Christian powers under his banner, even going so far as to include the Greeks, in his effort to defend Christendom. A mounted force of Serbs and Hungarians foolishly crossed the Maritza River heading toward Adrianople. They were swiftly wiped out. Further combined efforts were hampered by the conflict between the Greek and the Latin Churches.
“The Osmanlis are merely enemies,” wrote Petrarch to the Pope, “but the schismatic Greeks are worse than enemies.”
“Better a sultan’s hat than a cardinal’s hat,” was the Greek reply.
Murad moved back and forth between the various battle fronts and his capital, Adrianople. He had planned his expansion carefully and had several competent generals who followed his orders to the letter—thus, he had the freedom to pursue his goal of building a carefully chosen and disciplined infantry force which would serve the sultan alone. Recruited from among his young Christian subjects, they were to become the Corp of Janissaries, began first by his father.
Murad now developed and enlarged this force, begun by Orkhan as a personal bodyguard. It became a small army designed to maintain his law and order and to defend his newly conquered European territories. They were loyal to Murad alone.
In each area held by the Ottomans the non-Muslims were offered the opportunity to convert. Those who did were granted all the privileges of Turkish citizenship, including the right to exempt their sons from military duty by the payment of a one-time head tax. Those who retained their original faith might gain Turkish citizenship, but their sons between the ages of six and twelve were liable to be drafted into the Janissaries. Twice yearly the Ottoman authorities selected Christian boys from among the available recruits. Once chosen, the boys were immediately taken away from their families and brought up as Muslims.
Hand-picked for intelligence and physical beauty, they were trained strictly and disciplined harshly.
They were heedless of hardships of any kind. Their duty was to serve the sultan alone and to depend on him personally, to dedicate their lives to his military service. Like monks, they were forbidden to marry or to own property. For all this, they were paid on a scale higher than any other military unit in any army.
The great religious sheikh, Haji Bektash, gave the Janissaries his blessing and presented them with their standard. It was the crescent moon and the double-bladed sword of Osman emblazoned on scarlet silk. Predicting the Janissaries’ future, the elderly sheikh said, “Your visage shall be bright and shining, its arm strong, its sword keen, its arrow sharp-pointed. You will be victorious in every battle and will never return except in triumph.” He then presented the new force with their white-felt caps, each of which was adorned with a wooden spoon instead of a pom-pom.
The spoon, along with a big stew pot, symbolized the higher standard of living of the Janissaries compared with other military units. The titles of their officers were taken from the kitchen. First Maker of Soup, First Cook, First Carrier of Water. The great black pot was not to be used only for cooking. In later centuries the pot was turned over and drummed upon when the elite corps was displeased with the sultan. It was also used to measure the Janissaries’ share of booty.
In western Europe there arose great indignation that the Turks would impose on their Christian subjects what in effect amounted to a blood tax. It was immoral to tear young boys from their families, forcing them to follow an alien religion and to serve a barbaric master.
Murad laughed at the outcry. His Christian counterparts were often far crueler to their Muslim or, for that matter, their Christian captives. His new contingent amounted to fewer than five hundred fighting men and perhaps that same number of young trainees. He had larger units of hired Christian mercenaries now fighting against their fellow Christians in the Balkans! At no time were his armies without large numbers of Christians fighting for him against other Christians. The Corp of Janissaries would grow, but eventually the Christian peasants would embrace Islam rather than lose their sturdy sons who were needed to help work the land.
Murad and his people were now faced with an enormous challenge. The Ottomans were a nomadic people who had come out of the dawn of time to wander the steppes of non-Muslim central Asia. As they had moved westward they had assimilated other cultures, had even been enslaved and converted to Islam under the Abbasid caliphate. In Baghdad they had been trained as soldiers and administrators, raised far above the common domestic slave. Hence they felt neither shame nor fear of slavery as did the Christians. The power of the Ottomans grew until they overthrew their masters and replaced them with a slave dynasty of their own. Still, they were nomads. And again they moved west, conquering everything in their path.
Now, however, they had begun to think of settling down. Now they must become rulers of men rather than shepherds of sheep. Other nomadic groups had tried and failed: the Avars, the Huns, the Mongols.
The mistake these others had made had been in believing that by leaving the conquered on their own land to remain economically productive they would cooperate with their conquerers. The conquered did not cooperate. They instead became unproductive parasites. This resulted in the rapid decline and fall of most nomad empires.
The Ottomans were not going to be flim-flammed by a wily peasantry. Already they had evolved the practice of training human watchdogs to keep their human cattle obedient and their enemies at bay. The enslaved Janissaries were the beginning. Now there rose a vast civil service made up of superior slaves loyal to the sultan alone. The Christian subjects of the sultan found their lives being administered by men who were almost all Christians. Those who did not produce, from the level of the peasantry on upward, were quickly replaced. And Murad was free to pursue his military conquests and enjoy his growing family.
Though he kept a harem and was not averse to using other women, his tendency was to remain relatively monogamous. He was true to Adora. She did not begrudge him his other women, pro
vided his interest in the harem remained mild.
Five months after Bajazet’s birth, Murad’s seed again took root in the fertile soil of Adora’s womb. And when their son was but two months past his first birthday he was joined in his nursery by twin brothers, Osman and Orkhan. The sultan was jubilant. He had three healthy sons! Surely Allah had showered him with blessings.
Thrice-secure, Adora sought out Ali Yahya and asked to be free from pregnancy for a time. The master of the sultan’s household agreed with the princess that to retain Murad’s interest now she must again become more the lover and less the mother. As her sons were all outrageously strong and healthy, he saw no reason for her to bear children until she wanted to.
To amuse her lord, Adora learned the sensual oriental dances currently being done by a troupe of Egyptian dancers who were performing in the city. Each day she practiced with her teacher, Leila, a full-breasted, full-hipped woman with almond-shaped gold eyes. After a few weeks, Leila said, “You could earn your living at this, Highness, and have not one, but half a dozen sultans at your feet.”
Theadora laughed. “I desire no one but my lord Murad, Leila. For him alone will I dance.”
“He should be honored, Highness, for never have I seen anyone perform with such grace, such passion. How well you feel the music! Dance for him tomorrow as you have danced today and it is he who will be your slave! You will rouse his desire as no woman ever has! I can teach you no more.”
Theadora was pleased. On the morrow Murad would return from two months at the front, and Adora had planned his homecoming in meticulous detail. When he arrived at the nearly completed Island Serai she greeted him lovingly, her three sons about her like chicks about a hen, the twins just barely able to stand. This reminded him, should he chance to have forgotten, of her position in his life.
The children were taken by their nurses and Adora escorted her lord to his own quarters and helped remove his travel-stained garments. “Your bath awaits you, my lord,” she said. “I have prepared an evening which I hope will please you. I have a small surprise.”
Before he could answer, she was gone. And he found himself in his bath, attended by six of the most exquisite, nubile young girls he had ever seen, all completely naked. They went calmly about the job of washing and shaving him. He was gently patted dry with fluffy towels and then massaged with sweet oils. His natural lust began to exhibit itself in a delicious tingling. But, before he could take advantage of the delights around him, the skillful fingers of the pretty masseuse put him to sleep.
An hour later he awakened, delightfully refreshed, to find a fully garbed older woman offering him a tiny cup of hot sweet coffee. He gulped it down. Standing up, he was quickly surrounded by slaves who anointed his body with musk and then dressed him in a deep-blue velvet robe embroidered at the hem, wrists, and collar in silver thread, turquoises and pearls. The robe was closed with silver frogs over turquoise buttons. It was lined inside in alternating bands of silk and soft fur. The effect on his naked skin was sensuous and delightful. His slippers were of lambskin, dyed blue to match his robe and lined with lambswool. A gold chain with a jeweled medallion was put over his neck. Several rings—a large baroque pearl, a sapphire, and a turquoise—were slipped on his fingers.
The older woman who had given him the coffee seemed to be supervising, and when he was dressed she said, “If my lord will follow me, his meal and the entertainment await him.”
“Where is the Lady Theadora?”
“She will join you eventually, master. In the meantime she asks that you eat and pleasure yourself as it pleases you, my lord.”
The woman led him into his salon where a low table had been set up. He seated himself amid the brightly colored cushions and was immediately joined by two beautiful girls. One speared raw oysters and placed them in his waiting mouth. The other carefully touched the side of his mouth with a linen napkin, stopping the juices before they ran.
Never had any Ottoman been served in such a luxurious manner. These were Byzantine customs, and Murad decided he liked them very much. The girls who served him were nude from the waist up, and their pink silk trousers were so sheer that nothing was left to imagination. Both were blue-eyed blondes. Their hair had been braided into single thick braids, their heads topped with thin gold chains. A single teardrop pearl lay in the center of each of their foreheads.
A tass kebab followed the oysters: tender chunks of baby lamb with cooked onion and love apples on a bed of rice pilaf. Now the other girl fed him while the first girl plied the napkin. She mopped the juices of the meal up with pieces of soft, flat bread which she then fed him. Honeyed yogurt and coffee ended his meal. Murad was enjoying himself hugely. He was clean, warm, relaxed, and well fed. He was beginning to feel quite mellow.
The dishes were cleared away and the entertainment began. Sprawled back amid the pillows, each arm cradling a girl, he chuckled as a group of small dogs was put through their paces by their elderly trainer. He very much enjoyed the three female jugglers who also did acrobatics.
Then, from behind a carved screen, music began. Six maidens in red and gold skirts and blouses began to dance for him.
They danced well, but suddenly the tempo of the music shifted subtly and the six girls disappeared. One veiled dancer appeared, swathed in black, silver, and gold silks. She clicked her brass finger tals in a challenge to the hidden musicians. Slowly and sensually, the woman’s body weaved to the music. The sultan realized, as the woman discarded the first silk, that she was about to do the dance of the veils.
The first veil had covered her hair which was in itself a long, dark, shining veil. The second and third veils bared her back and then her breasts. Snowy, coral-tipped cones of firm flesh moved provocatively as she danced.
The sultan’s breath caught in his throat as he watched the twin temptations and he leaned forward, completely unaware that his hands were hungrily kneading a breast belonging to each of his companions. As the dancer excited him further he felt his manhood rising hard and throbbing beneath his luxurious robe. He cruelly pinched the nipples of the breasts, but the young slavegirls dared not cry out for fear of displeasing their master.
The music became more insinuating, and the dancer writhed her beautiful body in an obvious imitation of aroused passion. Beneath the shimmering veils that were falling one by one, her legs were becoming visible.
As his desire mounted, he wondered who she was and why she had never danced for him before. She must be new in the harem. Was the face as fair as the body? Releasing his two companions from his cruel grasp and sitting cross-legged, he allowed his hunger to take complete possession of him. The two maidens were dismissed with a wave of his hand, and he was alone with the mysterious dancer.
The music began to mount in intensity. The dancer whirled, the remaining silks billowing out like the petals of a flower about its stem. The woman moved nearer, teasingly brushing him with the nipples of her full breasts. He could feel the heat of her lovely body, and smell her scent. It was hauntingly familiar. Her eyes above the black veil glittered like jewels in the flickering lamplight and he reached for her. With a low laugh, she eluded him.
His black eyes narrowed dangerously, but then his mouth twisted in a smile. He would let her finish her performance. But then… The woman’s lush body weaved the taunting final movements of the dance. Suddenly all the remaining veils but the one that hid her face were gone. She stood proudly naked above him for a moment before sinking to the floor in a gesture of submission.
He rose, his whole body throbbing with lust. Walking over to the dancer, he raised her and tore the dark veil from her face.
“Adora!” His ragged voice was incredulous.
“Did I please you, my lord?”
He pushed her to the cushions and, tearing his robe open, flung himself on her. Her warm hands caught at his aching organ, and guided it home. He drove deep, his hands beneath her buttocks, kneading them. “Bitch! Sweet! Tempting! Little! Bitch!” he murmured, thrusting i
nto her again and again.
She opened herself wide to him, reveling in the bigness, the hardness, of him. She had been too long without him, and if he were hungry for her, she easily matched his passion. From deep within her she felt the cry well up and, sobbing his name, she yielded herself totally.
Aware of her surrender but completely lost in the warmth and sweetness of her, he groaned his delight and set about to reach his peak. They were both so keyed-up that the blazing climax left them drained and shaken.
They lay, exhausted, breathing heavily. Finally Murad managed to find his voice. “Woman!” he said fiercely, “You are a never ending source of wonder to me. Is there no end to your variety, Adora? When, in Allah’s name, did you learn to dance like that?”
She laughed shakily. “There has been a troupe of Egyptian dancers in the city for some weeks now. The lead dancer, Leila, taught me here in the palace. She says I have a natural talent. Did I truly please you, my lord?”
“Allah! Could you not tell?”
“Do you ravish all the dancers who please you so?” she teased.
“No woman ever danced for me as you have, beloved. I will allow you to dance for no one else. Not even the most honored guests will ever see you perform.” He drew her into his arms and kissed her, his tongue gently thrusting between her teeth to caress, to rouse, to stoke the fires of her passion. She sighed deeply and returned the kiss, her mouth soft and yielding, provocatively sucking on his tongue.
When at last they breathlessly ceased their kissing, he murmured into her little ear, “There is no one like you in the world, Adora. You are unique among women, a priceless jewel among the many grains of worthless sand. The others I desire occasionally, for a man requires variety. But I love you, my darling. I must never be without you.”
Adora Page 27