“I’m going to make you more powerful than any king,” Hasan said.
He beckoned them into the chamber that he normally used to descend to the bottom of the tower alone. He gave a signal and they suddenly started to sink. Abu Ali started waving his arms and almost pulled his companions down.
“Damned magic!” he cursed when the first fright had passed. “You’re not thinking of taking us into hell?”
“You surround yourself with things that make a person feel downright haunted,” Buzurg Ummid said.
“There’s nothing unusual about this machine,” Hasan explained. “It was invented by Archimedes. Its essence is a pulley mechanism, such as you often find at desert wells.”
A detachment of the commander’s bodyguard was waiting for them in the vestibule. The soldiers were wearing armor and helmets and were armed from head to foot. Strapped around their waists was a sword, over their shoulder they held a mace, and in the other hand was a heavy spear. Drummers and trumpeters walked ahead of them.
They lowered the bridge and crossed over into the gardens, where they were greeted by eunuchs and ferried along the canals to the central garden.
CHAPTER TEN
The girls rushed to their bedrooms and quickly prepared for their audience. They changed clothes and put on various adornments. Then they assembled in front of the building. They were terribly excited. Some of them were shaking from head to toe. Miriam arranged them in a broad semicircle and calmed them down. Apama, beside herself, was running back and forth in front of them and desperately grabbing at her head.
“Look at them! Just look at them!” she sighed. “They’ll be the ruin of me. What will Sayyiduna say? He’s such a strict and exacting master.”
Suddenly she came to a stop in front of Halima.
“O all the Prophets and Martyrs! Look at you, Halima! One pant leg down to your heels and the other barely covering your knee.”
Frightened, Halima quickly adjusted her clothes.
Some of the girls looking at Apama began to grin. She had done a poor job of fastening her pant belt, leaving half her belly visible. Miriam went over to her and quietly brought her attention to the mistake.
“I knew it! They’ll ruin me.”
She ran into the building and adjusted things there. She came back with an expression of great dignity.
The boats landed and Hasan disembarked with his entourage. The eunuchs arranged themselves four abreast, drums beat, and horns and trumpets sounded.
“Whoever is addressed by Sayyiduna, kneel and kiss his hand!” Apama whispered angrily.
“Should we fall to our knees when he appears?” Fatima asked.
“No,” Miriam replied. “Just bow deeply and stay there until he orders you to straighten up.”
“I’m going to faint, I know it,” Halima whispered to Jada.
Jada said nothing. She was pale and swallowing hard.
Along the way, Hasan and his retainers inspected the gardens.
“Neither Khosrow nor Bahram Gur installed such luxurious gardens,” Buzurg Ummid observed.
“Nushirvan could have learned from you,” Abu Ali remarked.
Hasan smiled.
“These are all just preparations, means to the end that we’re planning to test this evening.”
They reached the middle of the garden and caught sight of the girls gathered in their semicircle in front of the building. Apama and Miriam stood in front of them. They gave a sign and the girls all bowed to the waist at one time.
“That old woman is the famous Apama,” Hasan said to his friends and laughed.
“Such is the end of worldly fame,” Abu Ali sighed quietly and with a slight sneer.
“Enough bowing!” Hasan proclaimed. “Greetings!”
Apama and Miriam approached him and kissed his hand.
Now Hasan and his friends inspected the girls.
“What do you think, will this look enough like paradise?”
“If anybody had sent me among houris like these when I was young, I wouldn’t have needed that ashash of yours to believe in paradise,” Abu Ali grumbled in response.
“It’s true, all perfect beauties,” Buzurg Ummid remarked.
The musicians fell silent, and Hasan signaled that he was about to speak.
“Girls from our gardens,” he began. “Your superiors have taught you what we expect from you. We will tell you right now that we will know no mercy for any one of you who violates our commandments. But to all of you who faithfully carry them out, we will be merciful and magnanimous. This morning our army defeated the sultan’s forces, which are in service to the false caliph. The whole castle has celebrated the victory with us. We have come to give you a treat as well. Wine and other delicacies will be made available to you. But we have also decided to send you the three young heroes who most distinguished themselves in yesterday’s battle. Welcome them as your husbands and lovers! Be gentle with them and deny them no kindness. We are granting them this favor at the command of Allah. One night God’s messenger came for us and led us through the seven heavens to the throne of God. ‘Ibn Sabbah, our prophet and vicar,’ the Lord said. ‘Take a good look at our gardens. Then return to earth and build an exact replica of them behind your castle. Gather young beauties in them and in my name command them to behave as houris. Into these gardens you will send the most valiant heroes who have fought for the just cause. As a reward, let them believe that we have received them into our dwelling place. For it is given to no one, save the Prophet and you, to cross over into our domain during his lifetime. But because your gardens will be identical to ours, the visitors to them will be deprived of nothing, if they believe. When they die, a resumption of those joys will await them in our realm for all eternity.’ Thus spoke the Lord, and we have carried out his order. We expect that you will behave toward your visitors like real houris. For only if that happens will their reward be complete. There are three of these heroes: Yusuf, fearsome to enemies, good to his friends. Suleiman, handsome as Suhrab, bold as a lion. Ibn Tahir, brilliant as Farhad, solid as bronze. And a poet, as well. Yesterday these three seized the enemy’s flag. Yusuf cleared the way, Suleiman attacked, ibn Tahir reached for it. They are deserving that we send them to paradise. If you should reveal yourselves and disillusion them, you will be beheaded this night. This is my immutable will.”
The girls trembled in fear. Everything was spinning before Jada’s eyes. She dropped down to her knees and passed out. Hasan pointed to her. Miriam ran for a jug of water and brought her to.
Hasan called Apama and Miriam aside.
“So, the three gardens are ready,” he said. “How are things going with the girls?”
“They’re all ready,” Apama replied.
“Good. In each of the gardens one of them is to be the leader and assume responsibility for success. Which are the bravest and most capable ones?”
“I would name Fatima first,” Miriam said. “She’s adroit and skilled in all the arts.”
“Fine. And after her?”
“I’d say Zuleika. She’s first in dancing and isn’t bad in other areas.”
“Excellent. She sounds made to order for Yusuf. Suleiman should get Fatima. The third one will be you, Miriam.”
Miriam went pale.
“You’re joking, ibn Sabbah.”
“Today’s not the time for jokes. It will be as I’ve said. Ibn Tahir is as quick as a snake, and if I trusted him to anybody else, he’d see through the deception.”
“Hasan!”
Tears welled up in Miriam’s eyes. For Apama, satisfaction battled with sympathy. She withdrew.
Hasan continued with mild irony.
“Who told me recently that nothing in the world gave her joy anymore, and that only some risky game could allay her terrible boredom?”
“So you’ve never loved me in the slightest?”
“Far more than that. I’ve needed you and still do. But why don’t you answer my question?”
“The game yo
u’re playing with me is painful.”
“But think what a unique opportunity I’m giving you tonight,” Hasan went on in the same ironic tone. “You’re going to need all your intellect, all your skill, all your charm if you want to ensure that this young man believes in paradise.”
“You’ve destroyed me.”
“I didn’t think my feelings were that important to you. But what’s decided is decided. I expect you to carry out your assignment. Otherwise I won’t be able to make an exception.”
Miriam collected herself. I’ve got to be strong, she told herself. I can’t let him see all of my weaknesses.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Thank you.”
He returned to the girls.
“Zuleika!” he called out. “Pick seven companions. They’ll help you welcome Yusuf, and you’ll be responsible for your success.”
“Yes, Our Master.”
She turned to face the others and began boldly calling out.
“Hanafiya! Asma! Habiba! Little Fatima! Rokaya! Zofana!”
“And take that little one that fainted too,” Hasan said. “Then you’ll have enough.”
Next it was Fatima’s turn.
“Zainab! Khanum! Turkan! Shehera! Sara! Leila! Aisha!”
Halima looked beseechingly at Fatima. When she didn’t call her, she insisted.
“Take me too!”
At the same instant Hasan spoke.
“That will be enough.”
But when he heard the girls laughing at Halima’s plea, he said with a gleeful grin, “Go on, take her too, Fatima.”
With Fatima, Sara and Zainab, whom should she be afraid of now? She rushed up to Hasan, fell to her knees, and kissed his hand.
“Just be smart, tadpole,” he said.
He patted her kindly on the cheek and sent her back to join the others. She got back in line, blushing and dizzy with happiness.
Miriam checked to see who was left. Safiya, Khadija, Sit, Jovaira, Rikana and Taviba were still there. Now she had herself under control again.
Hasan called the leaders to join him.
“The eunuchs will bring the heroes to the gardens while they’re asleep. Fortify them with milk and fruit to begin with. Before the visitors arrive, each girl is allowed to drink one cup of wine for courage. No more than that! You can have more after the youths are drunk themselves, but don’t overdo it! You’ll report to me about everything in detail afterwards. Listen for the signal to wrap things up. The horn will sound three times. Then you should take a cup of wine and dissolve a substance in it that you’ll get from Apama. The youths are to drink it immediately. They’ll fall asleep and the eunuchs will carry them back out.”
When he had made all these arrangements, he looked toward the girls one more time. Then he bowed slightly in farewell. Adi and Apama were waiting for him by the boats. He gave them his final instructions.
“Give this to the leaders. Don’t let the visitors see you. But keep an eye on Miriam. She mustn’t be left alone with her hero.”
Then, with his entourage, he returned to the castle.
Once in the castle, Hasan dismissed his two friends. He had himself hoisted to the top of the second tower, where his bodyguards, the eunuchs, lived. A horn announced his arrival. Captain Ali came running toward him and reported that everything was ready.
Fifty black giants stood in two rows the length of the hallway. Armed, motionless and erect, they stared fixedly ahead. Hasan reviewed them without saying a word. Every time he stood before them, a sense of danger came over him. It wasn’t a disagreeable feeling, in fact it gave him a peculiar kind of pleasure. He knew that if a single one of those hundred arms reached out, he would never again see the light of day. And yet, why didn’t any of them do that? Because all fifty eunuchs had been prepared to execute his every order blindly? Where did he get this power that he exerted over people? “That’s the power of intellect,” he explained it to himself. These castrated beasts feared nothing in the world, except strength of character.
When he had finished reviewing all his men, he called Captain Ali aside to issue orders.
“After last prayers wait for me in the cellar with nine men. I’ll bring you three sleeping youths from my tower. You’ll take them to the gardens on litters. Adi will be waiting for you there. Tell him the names of the sleeping heroes, and he’ll show you where to take them. Don’t let it bother you if they moan or toss and turn on the way there. But if any of them lifts the cover or gives a sign that he’s woken up, have whoever is accompanying that litter cut his throat. The same holds for the trip back. You can turn any corpses over to me. Do you understand everything?”
“I understand, Sayyiduna.”
“After last prayers, then.”
He gestured to the captain farewell, walked back past the motionless rows of guards, and took one lift down and the other up into his tower.
Abu Ali lived in rooms within the center of the supreme command building. He had given one of his rooms to Buzurg Ummid when the latter had arrived at the castle. When they returned from the gardens, they changed clothes and then locked themselves in Abu Ali’s quarters.
For a while they looked at each other silently, trying to guess each other’s thoughts. Finally Abu Ali asked, “What’s your feeling about this?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
“Ibn Sabbah is a great man, no doubt about it.”
“Yes, a great man …”
“But sometimes I think … this is just between the two of us, what we say here. Agreed?”
“Absolutely.”
“Sometimes I think he must be terribly overwrought, that maybe he’s not completely right in the head …”
“Indeed, sometimes his ideas strike me as insane … at least the ones that are alien to us ordinary mortals and even provoke horror in us.”
“What do you think of his plan, this unusual testament that he plans to leave us as his legacy?” Abu Ali queried.
“King Naaman comes to mind for me in this case. Senamar built the magnificent palace at Habernak for him. In gratitude, the king ordered him thrown over the battlements of his own building.”
“Right, the fedayeen are going to get Senamar’s reward for their devotion.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Me?”
Abu Ali thought for a moment. His life had been empty since he had lost his two wives and his two children. Some fifteen years ago, because of his proselytizing, he had had to flee Qazvin for Syria. He had left two wives at home: Habiba, who had borne him two children, and the younger Aisha, who was the joy of his life. Three years later he went back. Habiba told him that during his absence Aisha had had an affair with a rich youth from the neighborhood. Abu Ali went mad with jealousy. First he slaughtered the seducer, and then his unfaithful wife. He also hated Habiba for revealing Aisha’s unfaithfulness to him. In his first flush of anger he loaded her and the two children onto camels and took them to Basra. There he sold them into slavery. Later he searched everywhere for them, but in vain. Finally Hasan had called on him to unite with him. Now his work for the Ismaili cause was the entire substance of his life.
He replied, “It’s not for me to choose. I’ve said ‘a’ and that means I’ll say ‘b,’ as well.”
Buzurg Ummid stared gloomily at the floor. He was a tough soldier at heart. In Rudbar he had once ordered fifteen men beheaded for breaking their vows and trying to leave the Ismaili ranks. Against an enemy he found any trick, any violence permissible. But pulling a trick like this on your own most faithful adherents?
“What does he plan to do with the fedayeen when they come back from the gardens?” he asked.
“I don’t know. If the experiment succeeds, I imagine he’ll use these ‘ashashin’ as a terrible weapon against his enemies.”
“And do you think he’ll succeed?”
“That is written in the stars. I think his idea is crazy. But his plan for taking over Alamut s
eemed crazy to me too. And yet, he succeeded.”
“He’s so alien to me that I can barely follow him.”
“The madness of great men works wonders.”
“I have a son who is dear to me. I’d been planning to send him to Hasan’s school. Allah himself has guided me not to do that. Now I’m going to send him to the opposite side of the world. A messenger should reach him tonight.”
Buzurg Ummid loved his life and his wives. His first, Mohammed’s mother, had died in childbirth. He had been disconsolate for many years. Later he took a second one, then a third and a fourth, and now he had a whole haremful of them in Rudbar. The favors of all of them put together barely compensated for his grief at the loss of his first one. He was from an Ismaili family and so was unable to advance in the sultan’s service. He had traveled to Egypt, and the caliph there had sent him to Hasan, who provided him with means, position and power. He was an outstanding commander, but he lacked any creativity, so he needed someone from whom he could get precise orders.
“It’s true, we have no choice but to stand by Hasan. If he perishes, we’ll perish with him. But if he succeeds, that success will offset the harshness of his means.”
“I don’t suppose we really have any other choice. I admire Hasan, which makes it easier for me to go through thick and thin with him.”
Following this conversation, Buzurg Ummid hurried to his room and wrote his son a letter.
“Mohammed, my son, joy of my life! I urge you not to come to Alamut. Leave for Syria or, if possible, for Egypt. Look up my friends there and tell them I’ve sent you. They will take you in. Listen to a father’s love speaking. My heart won’t rest until I know that you’ve arrived there.”
He found a messenger and dispatched him to Muzaffar in Rai.
“Keep to the east,” he warned him, “so that the sultan’s vanguard doesn’t take you captive. Muzaffar will tell you where you can find my son Mohammed. Seek him out and give him this letter. If you do this, when you return you’ll get a handsome reward.”
He gave him some money for the road. When he saw him leaving the castle, he felt a great weight lifting from his shoulders.