The Tournament by Matthew Reilly

Author:Matthew Reilly [Reilly, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: ORION
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE EMBASSY

AFTER TAKING A LATE SUPPER, my teacher called for Latif and asked the eunuch to escort him, Elsie and me on a stroll around the palace grounds. After the mental exertions of his match during the day, Mr Giles was fast asleep, snoring loudly.

I already knew that this was a ruse of Mr Ascham’s: to any observer, we would merely be visitors taking a late-evening tour of the palace, guided by an esteemed eunuch, whereas in reality my teacher had already asked Latif to take us to all possible vantage points from which he could observe Cardinal Cardoza’s embassy later that night.

Guided by Latif, the three of us strolled around the night-time palace.

We walked under a glorious full moon, and bathed in its silver light the palace was a magical place. With its high domes, vivid mosaics and intricate lattice walls that gave one tantalising glimpses of the adjoining courtyards, Topkapi Palace was as fantastical and exotic as English castles were cold and utilitarian.

‘Latif,’ my teacher said. ‘Have you discovered anything about the whereabouts of the dead chef’s son, Pietro?’

‘I fear not, sir,’ Latif replied as he walked. ‘The lad has vanished. My men have been making inquiries all day, but there has been no sign of the boy at all. He has not been seen since his parents’ bodies were discovered yesterday.’

I looked at my teacher. ‘A sign of guilt?’

‘Or fear,’ Mr Ascham said.

We continued our perambulations. For a time, I walked with Elsie a short distance behind my teacher and Latif.

I said, ‘Elsie, I have been thinking. About the awful things that people do to each other. Murder, torture, enslavement. Do you ever wonder why we do such terrible things to each other?’

Elsie thought for a long moment. Then she turned to face me, a look of sudden enlightenment in her eyes. ‘You know, Bessie, I think I should wear my hair up for tonight’s gathering with the Crown Prince. It will show off my neck all the more.’

I looked at Elsie as she continued walking and I said no more.

We arrived at the south-east corner of the palace, where we spied the white two-storey structure that was Cardinal Cardoza’s embassy.

‘Did the cardinal host the Sultan earlier?’ Mr Ascham asked Latif.

‘He did,’ the eunuch said. ‘The Sultan left an hour ago with his retinue. Now, only churchmen remain in the embassy.’

As Latif walked in front of us, pointing to the string of small islands in the Sea of Marmara directly to the south, we essentially circumnavigated the wide lawn surrounding the cardinal’s building.

Candlelight glowed within the embassy and we could hear voices and lute music playing inside. The curtains of all the ground-level windows were drawn.

‘But those on the upper level are not,’ my teacher observed.

The upper level of the structure bore four tall windows on its southern and eastern faces, designed to take in the view. My teacher looked around us and beheld a balcony at the very end of the nearby south pavilion from which one might be able to see into the embassy’s upper level.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.