The Love Slave (39 page)

“Hasdai will find the answer,” the caliph promised his beloved, enfolding her in his loving embrace, which caused Zaynab to weep all the harder.

It was poison without a doubt. Within just a few days the baby was healthy again, but her mother and Oma sickened further.
How was it being administered to the favorite and Oma
, the physician wondered,
yet not to Naja and Aida?
Their clothing was removed and replaced, but there was still no change. Hasdai examined all the foods being prepared by Aida, but the food was fresh, and they all ate from the same pots. What was it?
What?
What did Zaynab and Oma do that the others did not? Then Hasdai knew.

It came to him like a bolt from the blue.
They bathed together!
They bathed twice daily in Zaynab’s private bath. Immediately the physician ordered a sample of the water to be
brought. He forbade Zaynab and Oma to enter the bath again until he was certain. Testing it, his suspicions were confirmed. The water flowing into Zaynab’s private bath had been poisoned! The poison was being absorbed through their skin, and slowly killing the two girls. He prayed his discovery was in time, and began administering theriaca.

The caliph was told, and he knew without a doubt who was behind this attempt on Zaynab’s life, and probably the first attempt as well. There was only one person in his harem who had the kind of power to arrange such harm. He set a trap, and sprang it.

“I found the slave who poured the daily dose of poison into the cistern serving Zaynab’s bath,” he told Hasdai ibn Shaprut. “I had two of my most loyal guards wait in the shadows until she came. She needed little persuasion to tell me that the lady Zahra was behind it. They strangled the slave afterward.”

“What will you do, my lord?” Hasdai asked.

The caliph sighed as deeply as a man in pain. “I cannot protect Zaynab from Zahra, Hasdai. In order to do so I must cast Zahra off publicly. She is the mother of my heir, and should I divorce her, I will cause a wedge between either Hakam and his mother or my son and me. I cannot do it. I decided years ago that Hakam would follow me as caliph. Because I did not vacillate in my choice, I have built the loyalty of his brothers and uncles, and his male cousins. There is no doubt, no confusion, nor has there ever been.
Hakam is the heir
.

“If I repudiate Hakam’s mother, there are those who will be convinced it is but the first step to renouncing my eldest son. There will be nothing that I can say that will induce them to believe otherwise. Factions will form about my other sons. Four of them are, as you are well aware, old enough to be encouraged to sedition. Power is the greatest tempter of all, Hasdai. Gold, victory in battle, beautiful women; they all fade before the specter of ultimate power. My father was murdered by a brother who could not accept my grandfather’s decision in the matter of the succession. I cannot even remember my father, but my grandfather chose me over his other sons to
replace him, and then lived long enough to raise me to an age where I might grasp the reins of al-Andalus strongly.

“I have ruled this land for over thirty years now, and we have been at peace most of the time. Peace encourages prosperity. Al-Andalus is the most powerful and prosperous country in the world today. It will remain that way, my friend, because I will not permit any dissension to form that I cannot personally control. Sadly, I cannot control a war within my harem without it going beyond the walls of my gardens. Twice Zahra has attempted to murder my beloved Zaynab. To prevent any further attempt, I must either rid myself of Zahra or send Zaynab from me in order to protect both her and our child. I have no other choice in the matter.”

“Will you free her, then, my lord?” the physician asked. He didn’t like the way Abd-al Rahman looked at the moment. The caliph was pale, and his skin was shiny with sweat. He was obviously very distressed by this situation.

“I cannot free her, Hasdai,” the caliph said. “Even though women are permitted under Islam to own their own property, a woman without the protection of a man, or a family, is helpless and in danger. No, Hasdai, I will not free Zaynab. I am giving her to you. You have no wife to object, and I shall be very generous. She will have her own house on the river outside of Cordoba, and her servants, and an income to support her, and our child; but she belongs to you from this moment on, Hasdai ibn Shaprut.”

The physician was astounded. He could not quite believe what the caliph was saying to him. “You will visit her, of course,” he ventured.

Abd-al Rahman shook his head. “Once she leaves Madinat al-Zahra, I shall never see her again. She will no longer be mine.”

Hasdai’s head was spinning with the implications of what the caliph was saying. “What of the little princess?”

A spasm crossed the caliph’s face. “I will, of course, want to see my daughter from time to time,” he said. Then he staggered.

“Sit down, my lord,” the doctor said, reaching for the caliph’s wrist and checking his pulse. It was fast and erratic. Reaching into his robes, he drew forth a tiny gilded pill. “Put this beneath your tongue, my lord. It will ease the pain in your chest.”

Abd-al Rahman did not ask Hasdai ibn Shaprut how he knew of the pain in his chest He simply took the pill and followed his instructions. Finally, when the ache began to subside, he said, “How am I to tell her, Hasdai? How am I to tell this girl I love that I will never see her again?” His deep blue eyes were moist.

“Let us move her from the Court of the Green Columns today, my lord,” the physician said quietly. “We will tell her nothing except that it is for her safety. In a few days, when she and Oma are well again, you will come to her and tell her, but not today. You need time to regain your strength.”

The caliph nodded slowly. “No one must know where she is, Hasdai. It will be enough for Zahra that she is gone. I will speak to her myself. You will be good to Zaynab?”

“My lord, I will respect her greatly,” was the reply.

“Respect her if you will, Hasdai, but you must love her, too,” Abd-al Rahman said. “She needs to be loved, and she will give you great pleasure, my friend.”

To the caliph’s amazement, Hasdai ibn Shaprut blushed. “My lord,” he said, “I have little experience in matters of the heart. I have spent my life in the pursuit of learning, that I might be of value to my country. The delegation from Byzantium is expected any day. They are bringing the
De Materia Medica
for translation, so we may soon have our medical school in Cordoba. My time must be spent with their Greek translators. I will have time for little else. This is why, to the despair of my father, I have never taken a wife.”

The physician’s words cheered the caliph, for he realized that after her disappointment lessened, Zaynab would eventually want to be loved again. Hasdai ibn Shaprut had little chance against her seductive wiles.

“You will do your best by Zaynab, I know,” Abd-al Rahman said, thinking, and she will do her best by you. “I will give
orders to have her removed with all her possessions this day. Then I will go to see the lady Zahra. Accompany Zaynab, my friend.”

The physician bowed low. His patient’s color was better now. “Do not allow the lady Zahra to upset you again, my lord.”

The caliph nodded, and departed from the Court of the Green Columns. He would have it torn down and destroyed when she was gone. No woman should ever inhabit it again. Like Zaynab, it would be but a sweet memory. Finding the Mistress of the Women and the Chief Eunuch, he gave them his instructions concerning Zaynab.

“I warn you both,” he said grimly, “that should you speak of this to
anyone
, I will know it, and your tongues will be torn from your heads. You will be of little use, Walladah, to the lady Zahra then. As for you, Nasr, remember your first loyalty is to me,
and not to the lady Zahra
. I rule in all of al-Andalus, especially in this harem, not she.”

He left them amazed by his hard words, and found his way to his first wife’s chambers. Entering it, he dismissed her maids, all of whom were startled to see him in these environs, which he had not entered in years.

Zahra looked up, her face bland and smooth. “How may I serve you, dear lord?” she asked him.

“I know what you have done,” he said harshly. “I caught your slave. She needed little persuasion to tell me the truth before she died. You are a wicked woman, Zahra!”

“If I have done something wrong,” Zahra said sweetly, “then it is up to you, my lord, to correct and chastise me.” She smiled at him.

“You might have killed Moraima too,” he said.

“You have other daughters,” she responded coldly, all pretense gone. Her eyes were icy. He had never known her like this. He suddenly realized he was really seeing her for the first time. “Did you think I would let you replace my son? Supplant Hakam with one of
her
brats? I will die first, my lord!
I will die!
” she shrieked.

“I wish you would die,” he said brutally. “Hakam, I know, has no part in your treachery, Zahra. For his sake, for the sake of our country, I will not divorce you. I know there is nothing I can say that will convince you that Zaynab and her daughter are no threat to you. To preserve peace in al-Andalus, I have sent the woman I love and our child from Madinat al-Zahra. I shall never see her again, for I know I cannot protect her from you if I do. For Hakam’s sake, and for al-Andalus, I have deprived myself of happiness in my last years. It is, Zahra, the greatest sacrifice I have ever made,
and I will never forgive you for having forced me to it
.”

“Ohh, my dear lord, you have done this for me!” The pinched look was suddenly gone from her face.

“
For you?
Do you not listen, Zahra? I have done nothing for you, nor will I ever again. I held you in my high esteem. I named a city for you, but you have, in your selfishness and pride, destroyed any feeling I might have had left for you. If you truly loved me, you would have wanted my happiness. All that concerned you was your position. I never want to see your face again. To ensure that, you will be confined to diese rooms and your garden for the rest of your days. You will go to the baths at night when all are sleeping, so you may not contaminate any of my other women. You will be treated with deference, and you may have guests, but your reign is over,
my wife
.”

“You cannot—” she began.

“
Cannot?
” he thundered. “Lady, I am your lord and master! You may continue to sit like a spider in your gilded web, shooting your venom,
but you will obey me
!” So saying, he turned on his heel and left her.

“I do not care,” she whispered to herself. “
I do not care!
I have saved my son’s place from Zaynab, and she is gone from here. I will endure whatever punishment I must. He will relent In a few days his anger will cool and he will come back to me with some charming little present. He is too old for maidens now. He needs me.”

The caliph next went to his eldest son and told him of Zahra’s deceit. “I have sent Zaynab and Moraima to safety. I
shall not see them again,” he told his heir. “The union of al-Andalus must be maintained at all costs, Hakam. Even if it means my own personal unhappiness. Do not be angry at your mother, my son. Tarub tells me that Zahra truly believes Zaynab, and any children she might have, would be a danger to you. She is half mad now. She honestly believes that she is protecting you.”

“And you want me to take wives, and form a harem of my own?” Hakam said. “I think, Father, that I prefer my books.”

“It would be better, my son, if when you have concluded your life’s course, you were followed by your own son, but if you do not take a favorite and father a child, then choose your heir almost at once upon your ascension. Let there be no doubt as to who will lead al-Andalus when you are gone. When my father, Prince Muhammed, was murdered by his own sibling, my grandfather, Emir Abdallah, did not hesitate. He had other sons, but he had chosen Muhammed to follow him. So he chose me next, even though I was not yet three years of age. He educated me, loved me, and taught me to rule. So you must do with your heir even as he did with me and I have done with you. The people need to know that they will be in safe, sure hands. The governmental bureaucracy needs a strong rein. Do not allow
anyone
else to rule in your name for you, Hakam. I never have.”

“I am ashamed of what my mother has done,” Hakam said quietly. “I know that she loves me, but I would not have believed her capable of such evil.” He took his father’s hands and kissed them in a gesture of submission and affection.

“A mother’s love is the strongest bond of all, Hakam,” Abd-al Rahman told his eldest son, and then he embraced him. “Praise Allah that you have grown into a fine man!”

Cha
p
ter 14

“Y
ou are sending me away from you forever?” Zaynab’s aquamarine eyes welled with tears. “Ohh, do not send me from you, my lord!”

Abd-al Rahman, looking into those eyes, felt the bands tightening about his chest again. “My precious love,” he said, “I have explained it all to you. I had no other choice. I could not protect you as long as you remained at Madinat al-Zahra.”