Tim Severin - Corsair

Hector and his companions were riding mules commandeered from the amazigh, while Ruis was mounted on a handsome cavalry horse of a breed native to the region. Somewhere far behind them Piecourt and the group of captives from the galley were on foot, herded along by the black soldiers. Hector did not feel sorry for the premier comite and his people though it had been cold and wet for most of the journey.

Luis Diaz swerved his horse to avoid a particularly treacherous-looking puddle. ‘When we get to Meknes, I’ll bring you to see the Emperor. He’ll reward me if I’ve done the right thing in fetching you to his presence. But if you anger him and he gets irritated, I’ll suffer. So listen carefully to what I have to say. First of all, take note of what Moulay is wearing. If he is wearing green, that’s all right because that’s his holy colour and Moulay prides himself on being a direct descendant of the Prophet and a good Mussulman. He always has a copy of the Qur’an carried in front of him, prays five times a day, observes the month of fasting, all that sort of thing. So if his clothes are green, he’s likely to be in a good mood.’

The Spaniard adjusted his plumed hat to a more rakish angle before continuing.

‘But if Moulay is wearing yellow, be very, very careful in what you say. That’s his killing colour. On the days he dresses in yellow, he tends to have people executed or mutilated. Of course I’ll try to avoid your meeting him on a yellow day, but it may be too late by the time we get an appointment. But whatever colour he is wearing, you must always treat him with the greatest deference. Fall down on your face before him, answer his questions honestly and clearly, and above all, don’t go so near to him that you touch him. The last time that happened, the unfortunate man had his arm instantly sliced off with a scimitar by one of the Black Guards. And watch out for changes in the emperor’s complexion. Though his skin is tawny, you can tell his mood by the reddish tinge that spreads right across his face when he is getting angry. If that happens, stand clear. Something terrible is going to happen.’

Hector decided this was the moment to ask the question that had been troubling him ever since Dan had told him about the Emperor’s harem. ‘Are there any women in the palace?’ he asked. ‘And is there any way of making contact with them?’

Diaz gave a yelp of sarcastic laughter. ‘You are looking to get yourself treated with something nastier than being thrown to the lions, like being stretched out on a rack and sawn in two parts, from the crutch upwards. That was the fate of the last person who meddled with the Emperor’s women. Of course there are women in the palace. Moulay’s harem is the largest in the known world, several hundred women according to rumour, and he considers himself a great stallion. He rarely lies with the same woman twice. One of the French doctors told me that in the space of three months no less than forty sons were born to Moulay in the harem. The palace grounds swarm with his children, and a pestilential pack of brats they are. Completely out of control as no one can lay a hand on them.’

Though shaken, Hector persisted. ‘Is it true that he prefers light-skinned women?’

Again, the sarcastic bark of laughter. ‘The Light of the Earth, as he is called, prefers virgins of whatever colour. But he’s not choosy. If someone’s wife takes his fancy, then he’ll make the necessary arrangements, for he pretends he follows the Qur’an in all things . . .’

Seeing Hector had not understood, the Spaniard went on, ‘The Qur’an forbids adultery, so the Emperor makes sure that the woman becomes a widow.’

‘The man sounds like an ogre.’

‘Oh, he certainly is,’ answered the officer blithely, and spurred his mount forward.

MEKNES CAME IN SIGHT the following afternoon, and the travellers paused to take in the view. The city was built on a spur of land overlooking the river Fakran, which flowed across their path on its way towards the Atlantic. The valley floor was intensively cultivated, the greenery of the fields and orchards rising up the slope to lap against the suburbs of the imperial capital. The nearest houses were unexceptional, low buildings in the natural colours of the mud and clay from which they were built, their roofs of tile or thatch. Behind them stood the city proper, a great number of more substantial houses huddled together in a dense mass with the domes and spires of mosques rising above the congestion. There was no sign of a city rampart. Instead, to the left from where the travellers stood, a great boundary wall reached to encompass what was almost a second city. This wall, painted white, was four stories high and seemed to go on for ever, curving away out of sight. Hector judged that it was perhaps three miles long, and beyond it he glimpsed the tops of pavilions and towers, turrets clad in shining green tiles, the domes of mosques, some of them gilded, and a series of edifices in blue and white whose functions he could not guess. Clearly the whole enormous conglomeration was some sort of gigantic, sprawling palace. Beside him Bourdon let out an exclamation. ‘That place makes even King Louis seem restrained!’ Luis Diaz looked across at him enquiringly, and the pickpocket added, ‘I mean the King’s new palace at Versailles. His builders had just made a start on it when I was last in Paris, so I went to have a look. It was vast, yet it was nothing compared to this. What manner of king could command such an undertaking?’

‘Not a king, but an emperor,’ corrected the Spaniard, ‘and the work never ends. Moulay wants his palace to extend from here to the sea, that’s more than eighty miles.’

‘He’s mad!’ muttered Bourdon.

‘Perhaps so. But that’s no consolation to the poor wretches who are building it. Squads of men are perpetually working on the wall. They are either heightening it or lengthening it, or painting it, or repairing it because sections of it are always cracking and crumbling or falling down. And inside the enclosure it is even worse. The Emperor is forever ordering some new building or other. Then he tears down one after only six months or wants it changed. It is mayhem. But come, you will see for yourself,’ and he rode forward down the hill.

Hector could not keep his eyes off the palace enclosure as he rode forward. Perhaps this was where his sister was to be found, he wondered. As he approached, he began to hear a curious sound. At first it was only the barking of dogs. He had never heard such a cacophony of howling and baying in all his life. It was as if the entire city was populated by the animals. Noticing his puzzlement Luis Diaz commented, ‘You’ll get used to that din. The city is plagued by dogs, most of them are strays and curs. They run in packs and eat the rubbish. Yet no one seems to do anything about it. Maybe because the Emperor is fond of animals, and the citizens fear his anger if they cull them.’

‘It’s not just the barking of the dogs,’ Hector answered, ‘it’s that other sound, the thumping in the background.’

‘Like I said, the building work is constant in Meknes, and nearly everything is made out of hardened clay. What you are hearing is the sound of that clay being pounded into position. Look over there, and you’ll see what I mean.’

They were passing along the face of the palace wall, close enough to see the work in progress. At the foot of the wall a gang of about forty men was standing over great wooden troughs and using shovels and heavy bars to mix what looked like a thick pinkish-yellow dough. Other men were then carrying buckets and baskets of the stuff up crude ladders propped against the wall. Reaching the top of the wall they tipped the mixture out in front of a third team standing on the summit. These men were creating the strange thumping noise by pounding down on the mix in unison, using great wooden mallets to beat it into shape between heavy wooden planks and adding to the height of the rampart. The scene reminded Hector of a colony of ants working to fortify their nest. Looking more closely, he noted that all the labourers were white men. They were dressed in ragged clothes, bare-headed and without shoes. They seemed half-starved and desperate. He realised they were slaves.