Mika Waltari - The Wanderer

I shared these solemn thoughts with Andy as we wandered quietly among the heaped-up bodies of the dead, emptying purses and collecting the jeweled daggers of officers. The superstitious Moslems dared not seek out the bodies of even their own dead after dark, but Andy and I had no such scruples, and even though our business might appear to some people a little unbecoming, it would have been worse to behave like Turks and burn Christian prisoners alive. We also tended the wounded as well as we could, and ended our work of mercy by helping a moaning subashi into camp.

Having thus come safely past the guards we returned to Sinan the Builder’s quarters-and only just in time, for he was already preparing to leave, and one of the Sultan’s bodyguard had come thither to bring Andy and me before the Seraskier. So startled was I at this unexpected summons that the burden I bore beneath my kaftan fell to the ground with a crash. With or without reason my conscience pricked me; I feared that the Grand Vizier might have heard of our little excursion to the battlefield and would have us hanged for looting the dead.

A moment’s reflection showed me that this was not possible, however, and having stowed away my booty in a chest I entrusted this to Sinan, who alone had porters at his disposal. Yet I might have saved myself the trouble, for before we reached even Buda on our homeward way all our baggage was lost in a bog. We had no time to remove our bloodstained garments, for the hour was late and the Grand Vizier was pacing impatiently up and down his tent. Seeing us he halted in surprise and cried bitterly, “By Allah, are there still men who do not fear to bloody their clothes in their sovereign’s service? Are renegades to restore my faith in Islam?”

It was clear that he put a wrong construction on our appearance, yet I would not venture to correct so exalted a lord. With almost unseemly haste he dismissed his servants from the tent, made us sit beside him and began speaking in a whisper. As he spoke he glanced about him continually, as if afraid of eavesdroppers.

“Michael el-Hakim and Antar! Sultan Suleiman has come to the conclusion that Allah will not yet permit us to capture Vienna. Tomorrow therefore he will strike camp and start for Buda with the main army, leaving me with the five thousand spahis to follow as rear guard.”

“Allah is Allah and so forth,” I said, with unfeigned relief. “May his angels Gabriel and Michael protect our flight. The decision is indeed wise and I cannot sufficiently praise the Sultan’s prudence.”

But the Grand Vizier ground his teeth and said, “How dare you talk of flight! Not even in error must you pronounce so loathsome a word, and any man who dares distort the truth about our great victory over the unbeliever shall receive a hundred strokes of the rod on the soles of his feet. But the game is not yet over, Michael el-Hakim; if Allah permits I will yet lay Vienna at the feet of the Sultan.”

“And how in God’s name is this to be done?”

“I shall send you and your brother Antar into the city!” His brilliant gaze transfixed me as he went on threateningly, “If life is dear to you you’ll not return with your mission unfulfilled. I am giving you a unique opportunity to serve the cause of Islam.”

Believing that adversity had bereft him of his wits I answered soothingly, “Noble Seraskier, I know what faith you have in my talents and Antar’s valor, but how are we two to capture a city that two hundred thousand men and a hundred thousand camels have failed to take?”

Andy too looked doubtful, and said, “It’s true that I’ve been compared to Samson-though far be it from me to vie with any holy man of Scripture-and Samson, they say, brought down the walls of Jericho by blowing a horn. But I have no such horn and humbly beg you to find some worthier man for the task.”

But Grand Vizier Ibrahim said, “You shall not be alone in Vienna, for I’ve chosen and bribed a dozen men from among the German prisoners, and I shall send them two at a time into the city on the same errand as yourselves. You too must dress like German lands- hnechts and mingle with the others. On the third night from now you must set fire to the city as a signal to me that you’ve succeeded in your task, and then open the Carinthian Gate so that in the confusion of the fire my spahis may ride in. If I should see no fire I must submit to the will of Allah and ride after the Sultan, hoping one day to meet you and your bold brother Antar in Paradise.”

He paused for breath, but presently continued, “I’ve litde confidence in the Germans I have bribed, but you I trust and I shall ask a certain loyal Jew named Aaron to help you. You will find him in a quarter called by Christians the City of Affliction, where the Jewish inhabitants of Vienna are penned up behind boards and barricades. Embittered by Christian persecution Aaron pins his faith on the Sultan whom he regards as his deliverer. Therefore he will certainly help you if you show him this ring.”

The Seraskier raised his shapely hand and spread out his fingers to choose one of the splendid rings upon them. From his little finger he drew a diamond no larger than the tip of a child’s finger, but so pure and brilliant as to emit blue fires as he turned and twisted it in the light.

“Aaron knows this stone. He can give you no active help for fear of injuring his fellows, for Christians commonly visit the fault of a single Jew on all others in the city and sometimes on those of other cities as well. But he will advise you and if need be hide you. Tell him I will gladly redeem the ring for two thousand ducats. You shall wear German clothes and be escorted with blows to the prisoners’ enclosure. Go in peace, then, and be assured of my favor if you succeed and I find you alive among the charred ruins of Vienna.”

But now both Andy and I spoke with firmness, and I told Ibrahim that if he were so anxious to be rid of a faithful servant he would do better to strike off my head at once. Ibrahim saw he would gain nothing by that, and after vain attempts at persuasion he said, “Very well, let it be as you wish. But why do you think I spared you circumcision if not to send you on just such an errand as this? Since you refuse, I can no longer delay the fulfillment of my religious obligations and must have the matter attended to at once.”

So saying he clapped his hands for the guard and sent him to fetch a surgeon. He then expressed satisfaction that Sinan the Builder had drawn his attention to a circumstance which his many duties and cares had caused him to forget. Andy and I had barely time to exchange a despairing glance before the surgeon appeared with a tube and a knife, which he began to sharpen, assuring us meanwhile that all would be over in a moment and that we should find it no more painful than the extraction of a tooth. Yet I felt the most intense repugnance to the operation and to the loss of my last link with Christendom, where I might yet seek refuge were disaster to overtake me in the Sultan’s domains. Andy also fidgeted and at last said, “I think I prefer to serve Islam by going into Vienna, so long as there may be no further talk of mutilation if I survive. Good Moslem though I am, I cannot believe that on the Last Day Allah will have nothing better to look at than-”

I said quickly that as ever I would share my foster brother’s fate for good or ill, and as for circumcision, I would defer it until I felt it a matter of conscience, and then submit to it of my own free will.

The Grand Vizier dismissed the disappointed surgeon and said smiling that he relied upon us and was persuaded that we should do our best like honest men. He then handed each of us one hundred German and Hungarian gold ducats, in the worn leather purses common among mercenaries. In his presence we changed into clothes taken from fallen Germans, and as soon as Andy had drawn on the familiar striped breeches the old German oaths rose unbidden to his lips and he was aware once more of the unassuageable thirst of the mercenary. The wine that the Grand Vizier then offered us sustained us under the blows and buffets with which we were driven into the pen of captives, though our escort seemed to me overconscientious in obeying Ibrahim’s order to treat us like the rest and thus allay suspicion.