7-2 Ambush
"Ambush!" cries one of the horsemen when two of the riders also fall victim to crossbow bolts.
There's utter confusion for what seems like an eternity. Hasan, Kemel and Mursel retreat to where Nur, I and the other four women are doing our best to hide in the bushes. Several horsemen have been hit by the steady stream of crossbow bolts being fired from the cover of the surrounding trees. Bekir is lying moaning where he fell, while Nebi and Yazid have moved off in a different direction and are out of sight.
Just as the surviving horsemen appear to be overcoming their initial shock, about twenty armed men come charging from out of the forest. In a short space of time the horsemen are all killed or wounded. Those with the wagons quickly surrender, and the attackers finally turn their attention towards us.
"Put up your weapons," says one of the men to Hasan, Kemel and Mursel. "You are safe now. The Count's ruse nearly worked because of Heyreddin Pasha's poor security."
"Count?" asks Hasan. "Which Count? What's going on?"
"Count von Erdödy," replies the man. "His wife is one of the hostages due to be delivered here in a few days time. The Count planned on replacing Heyreddin Pasha's servants with his own. He could then get his wife and the other hostages to freedom at his leisure."
"A daring plan," replies Hasan. "And who are you?"
"My name is Ozan. The Grand Vizier sent me and my men here as soon as he discovered the plot. We only just made it here in time. My men will take care of the prisoners and escort them back to Constantinople."
"What are we to do now?" asks Kemel.
"I suggest you get ready to receive the hostages and carry out your mission. I will leave half a dozen of my men with you for a few days in case the Count has more men in the area."
"What about Heyreddin Pasha?" asks Kemel. "Is he going to oversee preparations?"
"I'll inform Heyreddin Pasha of what has happened after I give my report to the Grand Vizier," replies Ozan. "I doubt Heyreddin Pasha will spare the time to travel here himself, but he may send one of his men to check on you from time to time. Now, we need to be on our way if we are to get the prisoners back to Constantinople before dark. Good luck."
Ozan's men quickly set about removing the injured and dead men, who are placed in one of the hastily emptied wagons. Bekir is brought over for us to attend to his wound. Ozan leaves the contents of the wagons which were laden with food and other supplies for the lodge.
"This isn't how I anticipated this job starting out," says Yazid.
"Nor I," adds Emine. "Who is in charge of us with Bekir injured?"
"Nur," replies Hasan. "She was employed as housekeeper, so she should take charge of everything inside the lodge. We should be safe enough with Ozan's men to swell our numbers."
It's not an ideal arrangement, but probably the best that can be done in the circumstances. Nur assigns Nefise and Safiye to the kitchen, while Emine, Huban and I are to be housemaids when we are not needed to help in the kitchen. I'm also placed in charge of attending to the hostages' needs once they arrive. The house and grounds maintenance is to be handled by Hasan, Mursel, and Yazid. Kemel and Nebi are left to sort out the guard duty roster with Ozan's men.
The lodge appears to be only used occasionally, and there's no permanent staff in residence. One of the first duties for the men is to gather firewood and light some fires. The main building of the lodge is chilly and damp from standing empty and neglected over winter. I dread to think what the small outbuildings are like.
We explore the main building. It has eight comfortable suites for guests on the upper floor. Each suite can also house up to two of the guest's personal servants. We don't know how many hostages will be arriving, or whether they have been allowed to bring any personal servants with them. Hasan says that it is customary for a hostage to be allowed one personal servant. I hope he's right, because we don't have enough staff to cope otherwise.
A man called Kosta is in overall charge of the men Ozan left behind. Kosta informs us that he and his men will take up residence in one of the smaller buildings, leaving the rest of us to sort out our own sleeping arrangements. Nur discovers a letter addressed to Bekir containing instructions from Heyreddin Pasha.
Bekir's wound isn't as serious as we first feared, although it will be a week or two before he can resume all his normal duties. He summons all of us together while he reads the letter aloud. The letter answers only a few of our questions, but it's better than nothing. As we feared, we are expected to use one of the ramshackle buildings for our own sleeping quarters.
As evening approaches all eighteen of us gather in the kitchen for a meal. The pleasant smell of food has even encouraged Bekir to hobble over to the table from his sickbed. This is the first time we have all gathered in one place at the same time, and it's our first opportunity to review what happened on our arrival.
"What if another troop of armed men arrive?" asks Emine. "If the Grand Vizier's men hadn't been here, we might all have been killed."
"Kosta and his men are here to help us. The Grand Vizier or Heyreddin Pasha will surely send more guards once they hear what has happened," replies Bekir with a level of confidence nobody else shares.
I too have concerns about what happened today, but Hasan's calm demeanour reassures me. I wait for him to say something, but he sits quietly next to me and allows Nur to take the lead. Kosta and his men aren't very talkative, so we learn very little about what happened today beyond what we saw with our own eyes.
To avoid arguments, Nur allocates the sleeping quarters for all of Heyreddin Pasha's servants. Most of the rooms in the smaller buildings are in need of repair, but between us we find enough which are habitable. Hasan and I have a small room in the same building as Nur, Kemel and Nebi. The other seven share two dormitories in the remaining small building.
While all of us are concerned about the violence which erupted on our arrival, the following two days prove uneventful. We are all kept busy preparing the lodge for the arrival of the hostages, so we don't have time to dwell on what happened. I can sense Hasan remains alert to possible danger, so I don't distract him with my intimate games. We have very little contact with Kosta and his men, who keep to themselves and seem to want nothing to do with us. They even start cooking and eating their meals in their own building, despite the limited kitchen facilities in there. Even Kemel and Nebi work independently of Kosta's men. According to Kemel, Kosta's men are unhappy because nobody has been sent from Constantinople to relieve them.
We aren't totally ignored by those in Constantinople. A rider delivers messages from Heyreddin Pasha each day, and returns with Bekir's report on our preparations. The message received today tells us to expect the arrival of the first of the hostages tomorrow. Nur doesn't consider us to be ready yet, but Bekir refuses to advise Heyreddin Pasha of Nur's concerns.
Nur's main concern is that we are too few in number. Bekir is still an invalid, and Kemel and Nebi refuse to lend the rest of us a hand when they aren't patrolling the grounds. Kosta and his men do very little, but at least they keep out of our way.
Later that afternoon a carriage arrives containing the first of the hostages. Bekir protests to the two guards escorting the carriage that they are a day early. The guards just shrug their shoulders and start to unload the baggage containing the hostage's belongings. The hostage is the countess Ozan mentioned, Anna von Erdödy. From the look of her, she must be about thirty years old. She has only one servant with her; Margit, a girl about my age who serves as her lady's maid. According to the guards who brought her here, the countess had attempted to escape from her former lodgings and did some damage to the property in the process. Rather than find new lodgings for one night, the countess was sent on her way here. Bekir reluctantly accepts the countess into his custody. The two guards who escorted the countess and her maid don't waste any time in leaving. The haste of their departure suggests that they are glad to be rid of their charges.
Nur shows the countess to one of the suites and leaves her and Margit to unpack their belongings. The countess and Margit refuse to speak any language other than Hungarian, so Bekir must call on Nebi to interrogate them since he's the only one of us who speaks fluent Hungarian. I don't witness the interrogation, but Nur and I come across Nebi later in the day. Under Nur's skillful and innocent appearing questioning, Nebi reveals more than he perhaps intended about the interrogation. It seems that the countess is being uncooperative and denies trying to escape from her previous lodgings.
"Do you understand Hungarian, Gülnihal?" asks Nur once we are alone again.
"A little," I reply. "Some of the girls in the harem came from Hungary. Many more after the captives from the war arrived in the harem, but I didn't get much opportunity to speak with any of them. Why?"
"If the other hostages will only speak Hungarian, then Nebi isn't going to be able to manage on his own. Heyreddin Pasha should have anticipated this problem."
"How would Heyreddin Pasha know that the hostages can only speak Hungarian? I always thought that the nobility and the wealthy are taught to speak several languages as part of their education."
"I'm sure many of the hostages can speak several languages," laughs Nur. "But why make life easy for your jailers. I think we will find that most of our hostages will insist on speaking Hungarian. Besides, their servants may only be able to speak their native language, and a lot of useful information can be gathered from servants."
I know the truth of Nur's words. In the harem, the tittle-tattle of the sultanas' maids sometimes unwittingly revealed things that their mistresses would have preferred to remain secret. An idea begins to form in my mind and I discuss it with Hasan that night in bed. Nebi is going to need an assistant, and I have a desire to improve my language skills. It will take me a few weeks to be of much help as an interpreter, but it should be a solution which helps us both. Hasan thinks that my suggestion is an excellent idea, providing we can get Nur and Nebi to agree.
Nur's approval is a mere formality, since it was probably what she had in mind when she asked me whether I understood Hungarian. Nebi is less enthusiastic since it will mean him spending extra time helping me to improve my Hungarian. The arrival of six more hostages and their maids ... most of whom can only speak Hungarian ... makes up Nebi's mind, and I become our assistant interpreter.
The rest of the hostages arrive in small groups during the next day. They have been kept at different locations until now. These women differ from those I saw in the Imperial Harem in that these are political hostages rather than women gifted to the sultan. They are the wives or daughters of prominent Hungarian military officers or civilian leaders. Their captivity is to ensure the continued cooperation of their husband or father. Each hostage has been allowed to bring one personal maid, who is effectively a hostage as well. Hasan says that the maids are probably in a worse situation, since there is no guarantee that they will be returned home when their mistress is eventually freed.