The Sultan's Eyes (10 page)

‘There’s no reason for them to wish me harm,’ I said. ‘They’ve been very courteous so far.’

The guards took positions on either side of Willem, waiting for a word from their master. Willem ignored them.

‘So why do they want me out?’

‘It’s customary, that’s all. And when in Rome, do as the Romans do.’

‘I’m sick of hearing about Romans.’

‘It’s just a saying.’

The Sultan clapped his hands. I spun back to face him.

‘It’s all right,’ I said.

The boy Sultan was unimpressed. ‘What is this? Your man argues with his mistress?’

‘No, no, he’s just —’

‘He doesn’t look very fierce for a bodyguard.’

‘He has his moments,’ I said. ‘Well, one. Once.’

I kept my eyes on the Sultan. ‘Willem,’ I said in Dutch, loudly, as if it was a command, ‘please just trust me and go or they will make you.’

‘I’d like to see them try.’

Which, of course, was exactly what happened.

After Willem was bundled outside, shouting, I took my place before the Sultan.

‘Forgive us, Your Magnificence,’ I said. ‘Our ways are different to yours.’

‘So I understand,’ he said. ‘It is a mystery to me how there are so many different peoples and traditions in the world. I wish to know all about them. You will teach me.’

‘Me?’

‘I wish it.’

‘But I am hardly qualified to teach an emperor. I haven’t even been very successful in teaching my friend.’

‘That boy?’

‘Yes. I’ve been trying to teach him Latin and Greek for three years now and it never ends well.’

‘He is stupid, then,’ said the Sultan.

‘Or perhaps insolent?’ said his sister.

‘Not at all,’ I said quickly, poor Willem’s reputation already being in tatters. ‘He’s much better at mathematics than I am.’

‘I also am excellent at mathematics,’ said the Sultan.

‘I’m sure you are,’ I said.

‘But I do not need you to instruct me in such subjects. I have other people who can do so.’

‘You must have the finest teachers in the world,’ I said.

‘Supposedly.’ He looked down his nose at Jamael Khoury.

‘And a great library.’

‘That is true. I will read all of the books in it.’

‘You are wise beyond your years, Your Magnificence,’ said Jamael Khoury.

‘Mademoiselle Hawkins will be my eyes,’ the Sultan announced in a loud voice. ‘She will read every book on earth to me. Through her eyes I will see the whole world. I will speak a dozen languages, understand the meanings of the stars and the ancient wisdom. I will know everything.’

He gazed at me, smiling expectantly. I felt as if I had been led deep into a labyrinth with no clear way out. I bowed as deeply as I could manage.

‘Your Magnificence,’ I began, ‘this honour is so unexpected —’

‘Not for me,’ he said. ‘I have been thinking of it since the day I heard you were on your way to my city.’

‘I am not a teacher,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure I have the temperament for it. My previous attempts have ended in arguments and tears.’

‘You will not argue with me,’ said the Sultan. ‘Nobody does.’

‘I argue with everyone,’ I said. ‘It seems only fair to warn you. Debate is one of the most important methods of learning and
teaching — that is how my father taught me. He believed that learning is about much more than reading and writing. It is also about questioning, and reaching conclusions for yourself.’

‘I see,’ he said. ‘That is not how I have been taught before.’ He paused thoughtfully.

‘Socrates argued,’ Ay
e said. ‘And all the ancient philosophers.’

‘So they did,’ I said. I looked more closely at her. How on earth did a child of the harem, a girl, know about Socrates and the philosophers of a different age, a different tradition?

‘Then I will permit debate of a philosophical nature,’ said the Sultan. ‘But I like reading best. My sister reads to me in the evenings, but she cannot read Greek.’

‘How many years of schooling do you have?’ I asked.

‘As many as my age,’ he said. ‘A sultan’s education begins the day after he is born.’

‘And you?’ I turned to the Princess.

‘None. It is not necessary to educate girls.’

‘But you learned to read?’

She nodded. ‘There are women in the seraglio — our grandmother and many others — who read and write. They must, or they couldn’t rule the harem. But we do not have a school. We teach each other reading and arithmetic and such things.’

‘I see.’

‘So.’ The Sultan crossed his arms. ‘You will teach me.’

‘It will not be easy,’ I said. ‘You’ll need to work hard, and for many hours.’

‘I am not afraid of that,’ said the Sultan. ‘My sister will help me, and you, Mademoiselle Hawkins. Together we will master the mysteries of the universe.’

I took a deep breath. How do you refuse an order from the ruler of half the world?

The Princess stepped forward. ‘You and your friends will be honoured guests in our city, under the protection of the palace.’

I bowed my head with genuine gratitude. ‘Then it would be my honour to read to Your Magnificence.’

The Sultan clapped his hands together and the sound echoed around the tiled walls.

‘Tell the Black Eunuchs that Mademoiselle Hawkins will come to live in the harem,’ he said.

Jamael Khoury stepped forward and kneeled before the Sultan, his head bowed. ‘I obey,’ he said.

I took a breath. ‘No.’

Jamael Khoury gasped aloud.

‘Forgive me, Your Magnificence, but I will not do that.’ I swallowed. ‘I am not one of your slaves.’

‘Don’t be absurd,’ said the Sultan. ‘Everyone is my slave. Except maybe my grandmother.’

I glanced at Ay
e but couldn’t read anything in her eyes. It was as if she’d drawn shutters across her face.

‘I’m not a slave and I never will be,’ I said. ‘But if you want me to read to you, to teach you, then I will do that because I choose to — not because you order me to do so.’ I forced a smile. ‘You see? I warned you that I would argue.’

‘Yes,’ said the Sultan. ‘I see that.’

He bowed his head to ponder the problem, while I wished with all my heart that Willem was still in the room with me.

At last, the Sultan raised his head, blinked and smiled.

‘Then you will choose to teach me of your own free will, as the philosophers would say?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘If I am free to come and go from the palace.’

‘I agree,’ said the Sultan. ‘That would be best. I do not believe you would like it in the harem.’

Behind him, Ay
e giggled.

The Sultan clapped again. ‘I have a new instruction,’ he announced. ‘You will send a chair for Mademoiselle Hawkins every day, and bring her directly to me after the Divan.’

‘I obey, Your Magnificence.’

Jamael Khoury didn’t dare to look up at the Sultan’s face, but he shot me a venomous sideways glance.

‘She will have anything she needs — books from the Imperial Library, slaves, anything.’

‘You have only to wish it, Your Magnificence, and I will make it so.’

‘I do wish it.’

‘Then it will be done.’

‘Please, there’s no need to make a fuss,’ I said. ‘I’m very happy to come here and read to you, as often as you like.’

The Sultan grinned, more like a boy in that moment than I had ever seen him.

‘I ask only one thing,’ I said.

‘Ask it.’

‘If I may, Your Magnificence, I would like to read to your sister at the same time.’

Jamael Khoury was so astonished that he jumped to his feet. ‘What are you saying?’

‘Her Majesty deserves to be educated, too,’ I said.

‘It is not our way,’ said the Sultan.

‘Perhaps not. It is not the way of the English, either. I am very unusual in my own country. But among forward-thinking people —’

‘I am very forward-thinking,’ said the Sultan.

‘I’m sure you are, Your Magnificence. As was my father. It was his opinion that girls could be educated just as effectively as boys, and here I stand before you as evidence of his claim.’

The Sultan glared in the direction of his tutor. ‘You! A ruler must think about all his subjects, is it not so?’

‘Indeed, Your Magnificence.’ Jamael Khoury suddenly remembered his place and sank back to his knees. ‘How have I displeased you, that you should cast me aside, Your Magnificence?’

‘Geometry, for a start,’ said the Sultan. ‘It’s so boring.’

‘That may be, but it is necessary.’

‘For what?’ asked the Sultan.

Jamael looked nonplussed. ‘Your Magnificence must be trained in all the sciences, all the arts, to become a good ruler one day.’

‘Am I not a good ruler now?’

‘Forgive me, that’s not what I meant.’

‘Then explain to me what use all this geometry will be to a ruler who may one day become good.’

‘If I may, Your Magnificence,’ I said. ‘I can think of several examples where it saved the day: in building bridges, or figuring out the trajectory of rocks hurled by war machines to break down a city’s walls.’

The Sultan nodded. ‘I can see that. But it’s still boring.’

‘Lots of things are, when you first start practising them,’ I said. ‘You have to do the basic exercises over and over. It’s the same with fencing or riding or learning a new language.’

‘Or playing music,’ said Ay
e.

‘That’s right,’ I said. We smiled at each other. ‘Although I’ve never been able to master any sort of musical instrument, myself. But if you have the aptitude and do it often enough, it becomes
a part of you, and then you can go on to perform the more complicated and interesting pieces or manoeuvres.’

‘I never thought of it like that,’ the Sultan said. ‘Jamael, why have you never explained these things to me?’

‘Your Magnificence, I … I didn’t think …’

‘No, you never think. You just teach me whatever is laid out for you by tradition. I’m sick of it. Sick of you.’

Jamael Khoury threw himself flat on the floor at the Sultan’s feet. ‘Forgive me, Your Magnificence, if I have disappointed you.’

‘You have.’

‘Your Magnificence, please,’ said Jamael, ‘you do not need this woman. If you wish to have a new voice to read to you, there are many scribes here in the palace, and a hundred scholars in the city. Learned men, of great wisdom. Loyal men, too, of our faith.’

‘A more traditional
mufti
, perhaps?’ asked the Sultan.