“What do you gain in all of this?” she suddenly asked.
“Power and riches,” was the equally frank reply. “What else is there for me? I will guide you, and protect you against all enemies, including your own self. When your son is safely born I will help you to plan his future so that he will one day take up the sword of Osman as did his grandfather and father.”
“And if Murad’s seed is potent?” said Theadora quietly. “Then what of his other sons by other mothers? He has told me, Ali Yahya, that he will take no wives in either the Muslim or the Christian sense, but rather he will choose favorites from a harem he intends to keep.”
“And it is I who will choose that harem, my princess. I shall choose the youngest, the loveliest, the most exquisite of creatures for the pleasure of my lord and master. Each maiden entering his bed will surpass her predecessor in beauty.” He stopped, and chuckled wickedly. “And each maiden will surpass her predecessor in stupidity. Murad may rail at you for your intelligence, Highness, but it is your mind that fascinates him, far more than he knows or is willing to admit. You will shine like the full mid-summer moon amid a group of minor, insignificant stars. Fear not the children of these other women, for there will be none. There are ancient ways of preventing conception, ways known to me.”
“And are these girls to be so free of brains that they will willingly permit you to render them sterile? Come, Ali Yahya! That is too much to believe.”
“They will never know, Highness. Eunuchs are not born, my princess, they are made. I was born free, far to the east of this land, in a place where the religion of ancient Chaldea was still practiced. And still is worshiped, even now. I was neutered by my own parents and pledged to those ancient gods. I served in our temple as apprentice to the high priest. Together we served Ishtar of Erech, the Goddess of Love and Fertility. The temple’s priestesses were trained to service the lusty male worshippers of the deity, for each maiden was Ishtar incarnated, and to couple with a priestess of Ishtar of Erech was to lie with the goddess herself. Fathers brought their sons to experience their first carnal act in the arms of Ishtar. Men with problems of impotence paid great sums to be cured by these skilled women. Bridegrooms spent the night before their wedding with priestesses in order to insure their own fertility and that of their brides.
“If precautions had not been taken, few women would have remained priestesses long. Those girls consecrated to Ishtar of Erech enter the temple school at age six for at least six years of training. Once they reach puberty they must serve the goddess for five years. Therefore, before they sacrifice their virginity to Ishtar, they are placed in a light trance by the surgeon high priest, and a pessary device is inserted within their wombs. That device is removed and replaced regularly, always when the girl is in the trance state.
“None of the girls is permitted to perform their duties without the protection of this implant, not until they have served their five years. At the end of that time the pessary is removed for the Spring Festival of Ishtar, and enough of the maidens become pregnant at that time to satisfy the worshippers of Ishtar as to her influence on fertility.
“I served ten years in the temple, beginning when I was seven. I learned the arts of putting another person into a trance, and of making and implanting these pessary devices.
“When I was seventeen a troop of Muslims rode into my remote village and destroyed our temple. The priest and high priestess were killed. The rest of us were carried off into slavery. I have used the skills taught me many times. I will use them for you, if you will agree to bear the sultan his sons.”‘
Theadora looked the eunuch over gravely. “You are indeed a powerful friend, Ali Yahya. But satisfy my curiosity in one thing. Why me? Why not some nubile, pretty, witless little thing?”
“It is your very intelligence that makes me choose you, Highness. You understand and quickly grasp situations. You will be loyal to the sultan-and to me. You are above the petty squabblings of the harem maidens and will be a stabilizing influence upon your lord. You will rear your children wisely to serve this empire well.
“A younger, stupid girl would inevitably turn out to be greedy for riches, greedy for power. She would try to play politics. We will have a certain amount of that as it is, Highness, but as long as you remain supreme in the sultan’s heart, the small influence of these girls will be like insect bites-occasionally irritating, but totally unimportant.”
She nodded. “Now,” she said worriedly, “I must consider best how to get back into Murad’s good graces.”
The eunuch’s eyes twinkled. “Why, you will weep, my princess, and you will fling yourself into his arms, sobbing your apology,” he said.
“Ali Yahya!” She was laughing. “He will never believe such softness from me. Rather, it will arouse his suspicions.”
“He will believe if you are clever, Highness. He is angry and beginning to lose patience with this battle between you. I will gently stoke the fires of his anger, telling him he did right this afternoon in asserting his mastery over you. Encouraging him to continue the lesson this evening.”
“And thus encouraged,” Adora took up the thread of the eunuch’s thought, “he will come roaring into my tent like an outraged bull. I will exhibit a momentary, small, defiant attitude before going to pieces.”
“Excellent, Highness! As I have said, you are quick to grasp the point.”
Again she laughed. “Go, then, old schemer, and rouse my lord and master to proper fury. But remember, to give me time to dress and anoint myself properly.”
“I will send two serving women immediately,” he said. Then he left her. The eunuch walked across the compound to find the sultan bathing in his tent.
“Ah, Ali Yahya,” said Murad, “there you are. Make arrangements for us to leave for Bursa by noon tomorrow. I will ride back this night.”
“I am sorry you choose to run, my lord, when victory is so near at hand. With your actions of this afternoon, I had thought you finally understood the situation and were prepared to handle Princess Theadora with firmness.”
“Understood what, Ali Yahya?” He turned to the slave. “Be careful with that hot water, fool! Do you wish to scald me?”
“I thought,” said the eunuch, “you realized that, to win the princess back, you must force her to admit your superiority. You have almost succeeded in taming her. I have just come from her, tent, where I left her in tears. She loves you! She hates you!” He chuckled broadly. “One more such lesson as this afternoon, and you will break her to your will, my lord.”
“Do you really think so, Ali Yahya? I will admit that I love her, but I can take no more of her constant defiance and wicked temper. I would have you stock me a harem of quiet, gentle girls. One spitfire in my house is more than enough!”
“That is true, my lord, but a meal without a little pepper is a bland one. Go to her again tonight. I know she will be contrite. If you do not weaken, she will admit her faults. If she does, then you must remain here several more days to reinforce your position with her. What a sweet victory, eh, my lord?” finished the eunuch, pleased with the look of longing he detected in the sultan’s dark eyes.
Murad rose up from his tub and slaves dried his big, well-muscled body. Finally Murad spoke.
“Very well,” he said. “You may delay giving the orders to return to Bursa. We will see just how obedient my lovely Adora is willing to become.” He stood, holding his arms out, allowing his slaves to clothe him in a black silk robe. It was embroidered with branches of golden mimosa and closed with delicately sewn-gold frogs. Soft black kid slippers lined in the tender fleece of unborn lamb were slipped on his feet. Then, without another word, Murad left the tent and strode across the camp toward Theadora’s tent.