Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [205]
But he had conquered. And he had built on what he had conquered. So the lord Hasan, nicknamed Uzum for his height as Timur had been nicknamed Tamurlane for his limp, looked at him and said, ‘Rise. Sit. I am told you have a proposition to place before us.’
He had: a well-constructed one to do with the purchase of gall nuts, insect dye, lapis and silks. He described, when requested, his present status as that of experienced dealer, working especially for the business of Julius of Bologna and his offices in Germany, Poland and Caffa. He agreed that he had access to mercenaries, bombardiers and artillery, of the sort Messer Josaphat had been prevented from bringing to Persia. He indicated, in a manner so oblique that only an Arab mind could have followed it, that it would be undesirable to undertake such an expensive commission without knowing how soon the goods would be wanted, and for what; and what certainty there might be of full payment. Or, in other words, whom are you going to fight? And will you have lost before my army could reach you?
‘And do you not think you already know the answer, Messer Niccolò?’ the prince asked. ‘You do not lack confidence, surely, in what we can do?’ The clerk, on a sign, had risen and gone.
‘I fear only,’ said Nicholas, ‘that your victories will be so great and so immediate that you will have no use for men or guns by the time they arrive. Further, by crushing the Turk, you will re-open the trading-routes, which would increase my purchases here a hundredfold. I speak, for example, of alum. All that depends on, and will be shaped by the events of coming months.’
‘You are very cautious, for a merchant,’ said Uzum Hasan. ‘Perhaps we may allay some of your fears. About payment, for instance.’
Boxes had appeared: precious boxes of silver and ivory which the clerk, returned, laid before Nicholas and then started to open. They all contained jewels. Dully glowing, piled without order, these were not the personal jewels of a shah, but the tributes of state: the ambassadorial gifts which poured into the Persian treasury from all those princes Arab and Oriental whose merchandise travelled these lands. Nicholas knew enough about gems to judge their weight and their quality: he had valued rubies in Trebizond, although none quite like these, round and solid as chestnuts. There were strings of balas stones here, of thirty carats, of eighty or even a hundred. There were emeralds, and pink and black pearls. There were also other objects, far more ancient: pendants and brooches, fillets and necklaces the like of which he had seen before only in papal collections, or in the villas of the Medici.
Uzum Hasan said, ‘Take one box. I trust you. And should you find Persia a desert on your return, then at least you can pay the costs of your army.’
No one spoke. The gems glowed in the sun. ‘My lord,’ Nicholas said. ‘I cannot take them. It would require an army to secure their safe passage. And even then, having arrived, I could not promise to find or send the men that you need, who may be committed elsewhere.’
The faintly Mongoloid eyes rested on him. Uzum Hasan said slowly, ‘I think perhaps you are wise. I do not see, then, any way in which we may serve one another?’
‘It is not impossible,’ Nicholas said. ‘My lord makes his needs known. The princes of the West contribute the payment, and my company is commissioned to fulfil your wants. Send your envoys to the Pope and the Emperor. Send them to Ivan of Muscovy. Depend on the good offices of the Patriarch of Antioch, who can pass between every faction. We have worked together before. We are friendly with Cairo, and have helped protect Cyprus against the Ottomans.’
‘We have heard,’ the Shah said. ‘We shall consider. We shall speak again.’ And he was dismissed.
The Patriarch, duly apprised, had seemed resigned, and not entirely displeased. ‘At least you weren’t fool enough to snatch at the treasure: that would have done for you and your Julius for good. As for the rest, what did you expect? He doesn