The Spring of the Ram - Dorothy Dunnett [260]
“No, Khatun,” said the black-bearded Ayyub, daring to speak to her direct. “The lord mistakes. The ailing camel was one of the Vizier’s. It is not our place to cure it.”
A voice said, “In the Grand Vizier’s camp, it is the duty of every man to serve him. Khatun. Are these the men you sent for?”
Tursun Beg, master of finance, senior secretary and favourite emissary of Mahmud, who had come with his master from Constantinople. Where in Constantinople, she had heard, he had boarded a certain ship. Sara Khatun said, “My servants are yours. That, there, is the man I sent for. Ilyas. He is mute. The other speaks for him. I am impressed with what he tells me so far.” Above the mouth cloth, the eyes of the mutilated man were pale and round on either side of a short nose, curled like a snout. Under the hairy brim of the other man’s hat you could see little but the tip of his nose, and below that a tightly curled beard, black as gall nuts. From a brass socket on top, a little squirrel tail bounced as he stepped back.
“Mute? Open his mouth,” said Tursun Beg. By now, men from all the neighbouring fires were looking round, their moustaches spread round their gapped, blackened teeth. Two of the secretary’s own men took the camel doctor by the shoulders and pulled down the cloth and with broad and capable fingers, opened his jaws.
Despite herself, she looked. Within the gaping mouth, lobes of red severed flesh glistened in the bright firelight. Blood welled and trickled down the man’s chin. The neighbouring soldiers, who had evidently already been granted a view, exchanged murmurs of gratification. At a sign, Tursun Beg’s men allowed the jaws to close and let the man go. He made retching sounds. Ayyub, his companion, said, “He coughs blood. It is not a sight for a lady. If the doctor might withdraw?”
“Doctor?” said Tursun Beg. He nodded his head and the sufferer, cloth to his mouth, disappeared noisily into the bushes.
“Of course, lord,” said the black-bearded one humbly. His squirrel tail drooped. “Would he not be dead with such maltreatment, had he not salved himself? If the Vizier wishes his camel attended to, none is wiser than Ilyas. For saddle galls, he burns the sore with hot irons; then rubs it with urine or pigeon dung. Camel urine, my lord will know, is efficacious in many ailments. To clear the head after drink, one need only stand below a pissing she-camel. I have heard Ilyas say so often, when he could speak.”
“Tell him,” said Tursun Beg, “to call upon me tomorrow. I may have work for him.”
“With a she-camel?” said the black-bearded man. “I would bring it tonight, if the case is a bad one. There is no quicker relief.”
“My lord Tursun,” said Sara Khatun, “you refer to the ailment of the Vizier himself? I am honoured that you think these men might be of help. You wish to see them both?”
“No,” said Tursun Beg. “No. Only the one who is mute. These are his ointments? Tell him to bring them. If he does well, he will receive his reward.”
“And if he doesn’t, he’ll still receive his reward,” Tobie said. “I can’t. Nicholas, I cannot stick that thing in my tonsils again.”
“You will not require to do so,” said Sara Khatun. “Your state has been seen, and will be reported on. Only it is necessary that you do not yawn. Or, of course, speak. Discretion in all things is needed.” She was reminding them, and she hoped they realised it, that they were not circumcised. The circumlocution expected of a high-born Syrian princess was sometimes a trial to Sara Khatun.
Discretion, of course, had also been required to smuggle them tonight for an hour into this, the innermost chamber of her tent. She could trust her own people. If matters went well, and the doctor was successful with the Grand Vizier’s wound, then a tent might be found for the two men, which would be even more convenient. Meanwhile, they sat crosslegged in her presence, and ate cinnamon dragees and green ginger and figs fried in sugar, and listened while she spoke with economy.
At the end, the leader, the boy she had already entertained at Erzerum, said,