Pawn in Frankincense - Dorothy Dunnett [278]
Míkál looked up at the Vizier and over his shoulder at Lymond’s bent head. Then turning politely, he addressed the assembled officials. ‘I would,’ he said charmingly, ‘if I could: but how can I say what is not true?’
Lymond’s head came up at that, his eyes blazing; and Míkál looked into them and laughed, and against Gabriel’s voice, beginning a sudden startled tirade, Míkál added, ‘I regret to deny it when Jubrael Pasha has paid me so much; but while my conscience is clear I can conquer the world: the waterless desert fills me not with awe or with fear; I ride over it when the male owls answer one another at dawn, and I am not afraid. This I would keep. Therefore I say it is not true. The tales of the Meddáh were told, as you have heard, in all innocence, though many spoke of them afterwards who were not innocent, arid these the Meddáh listened to, and questioned, for the truth he desired. Likewise in the rooms of Jubrael Pasha he sought what he sought for the sake of Roxelana Sultán, and not to her detriment. I have taken thy money, but in truth I must say it. He found at length what he had been seeking. That from Jubrael Pasha and none other had the rumours of Roxelana’s complicity come.’
Gabriel’s voice was no less threatening for its extreme softness. ‘Whore! What has he paid you to lie? Or did he pay you in something other than gold? He found a cheap coinage, they say, for the Aga Morat in Gabès to prevent him from spreading his favours.… My lords, the boy is corrupt as the man.’
‘Then you had better,’ said the Grand Mufti against the hum of excitement, ‘call another witness who is incorruptible? Or perhaps the prisoner should speak? What of this proof he claims, incredible though it appears, against the Vizier himself?’
‘I would call,’ said Lymond, his eyes on Míkál, ‘… I think I would call … the Agha of Janissaries.’
Then for the second time Gabriel rose to his feet. A big man, splendidly built, he stood in majesty by his throne, the rubies answering with their fire the dull fire of the brazier; his gold-sewn crimson sweeping the floor. He spoke, with all the weary charitableness of which he was capable. ‘Lords: how can I stand, your Vizier, your appointed head of administration and supreme judge, your presiding head of Divan, and while judging find myself under attack? This court is no longer a court but a strutting-place for those who wish to be notorious.… I close the session. The case, if there is still a case, must be reopened and tried elsewhere. The accusations against myself, if anyone entertains such, must be placed in the proper way, in the proper quarter. The prisoners meantime will return to their rooms, the man Míkál with them. Make way.’
He had got to the door and the Janissaries in a sweep of blue had stood out of his way when the daylight was blocked by a massive figure: the person of the head of the black eunuchs, the Kislar Agha himself. Gabriel hesitated, and the eunuch, looking at no one else, addressed him direct.
‘Lord, I bear a summons from Roxelana Sultán, for thyself and thy prisoners, together with the women and children and all concerned in this accusation today to present themselves forthwith in the selamlìk, in the Hünkâr Sofasi. There is an escort outside.’
There was, of eunuchs and Chiausi. Gabriel hesitated. The Mufti, his green robes rustling, rose gently and stood at his side. Tray do not hesitate