Harem by Colin Falconer Read Free Book Online

to prayers along the Divan Yolu to the Aya Sofia, in procession with his Grand Vizier, his astronomers, his Chief Huntsman, his Chief Keeper of the Nightingales, the Master of the Keys, the Master of the Stirrup and four thousand of his Yeniçeris and Spahis of the Porte, his regular cavalry.
    Afternoons: a short nap, required by custom, tired or not, reclining on two mattresses, one of silver brocade, the other of gold. He was attended at all times by five guards, deaf-mute eunuchs.
    Within the confines of state, such small rebellions as a glass of wine were great victories.
    Ibrahim was his greatest scandal, of course. During the siege they had slept in the same pavilion, had worn each other's clothes. He knew he outraged the whole court by showing such favour to a slave but then, for him, he was not a slave; he was confidant, confessor and counsellor. If anyone helped him shoulder the burden it was not Gülbehar or Hafise, nor even the Grand Vizier. It was Ibrahim.
    After they had the wine, Ibrahim sat cross-legged beneath the window. They were the same age, but somehow Suleiman felt so much older. Careworn might be a better word. But this betrays our heritage, he thought. I am the son of a man they called The Grim; Ibrahim is the son of a fisherman.
    He had been born in a village on the western coast of Greece. He was stolen by traders and taken to the slave markets in Stamboul, where he was bought by a widow from Manias. She raised him a Muslim, and when she discovered his flair for music and languages, she had arranged for him to have a good education. He learned to play the viol and he could speak Persian, Turkish, Greek and Italian.
    Later she sold him for a handsome profit into Suleiman's service when he went to Manisa as the new governor of Kaffa province.
    When he became Sultan in 1520 he brought Ibrahim with him to the Porte and made him his hasoda-bashi , head of household. He sought him out for counsel now more often that he did Piri Pasha, his old Grand Vizier. After Rhodes he even made him one of his counsellors, just below Piri Pasha himself in rank.
    This is why we Osmanlis are glorious, Suleiman thought. Even a Christian slave can rise by his own merits to become almost pre-eminent in the greatest Islamic empire the world has ever seen. What was it the Fatih had said?
    'Our Empire is the home of Islam, from father to son the lamp is kept burning with oil from the hearts of the infidels.
    'So solemn, my lord?' Ibrahim said, setting the viol aside.
    Suleiman sighed. 'Do you ever have regrets, Ibrahim?'
    'Of course not. Look us here tonight. Good food. Good wine. What is there to regret?'
    'But do you not sometimes wish you were someone else? Do you ever wonder what might have happened if the pirates had not come to the village that day and snatched you away?'
    'I know what would have happened. I would be eating fish for breakfast and supper and mending nets on the beach all day. Instead I sleep in a palace, drink the best Cyprian wine and am held in favour by the greatest Emperor on the earth.'
    'Your life would have been simpler.'
    'My life would have been worthless.'
    'You enjoy all this, don't you? You enjoy going to war and you relish the endless politicking in the Divan.'
    'We are at the hub of the world, my Lord. We are writing history!'
    'We are serving Islam.'
    'Well yes, that too.' He picked up the viol again. 'We are Islam's greatest servants.'
    Liar, Suleiman thought. You do all this for its own sake. That is why I love you and envy you so much. I wish I was more like you.
    'I think sometimes you should have been Sultan and I the son of a Greek fisherman. We might have been happier that way.' He got to his feet, rubbed his face with his hands.
    'Shall we sleep now, my Lord?'
    'You may sleep, Ibrahim. Your life is simpler than mine. I have yet one more duty to perform.'
     
    ***
     
    Hürrem had been escorted to the Keeper of the Baths to be bathed and massaged. Her nails were dyed, her hair perfumed