The Devil's Pope by Adrian Lumenti

Author:Adrian Lumenti
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789814358705
Publisher: Monsoon Books Pte. Ltd.

Chapter 24

Over the next ten days, Gerbert went to the library only rarely, and only met with his teachers from the university a few times. He spent most of his time making preparations for what was to be a dangerous undertaking.

In the evenings, however, he kept his assignations with Ghalib. He and the teacher managed a kind of reconciliation and picked up from there.

For the first few lessons, Ghalib did not go anywhere near his jug of wine. But towards the end of that week, he again began imbibing halfway through the lesson. Soon he had a pleasant buzz. But it was pleasant, and he was an amiable drunk that evening.

The next lesson, two days later, was similar. And as he left Ghalib’s home that evening, Gerbert knew that on his next visit, he would try to put his plan into play.

That last fateful evening, Gerbert arrived with a number of cakes wrapped in a cloth cover. He had intentionally chosen the cakes that Ghalib liked to accompany with wine. The suggested pairing worked. Indeed, when Ghalib invited him to join in with a cup of wine, Gerbert readily accepted. He wanted to lull Ghalib into a sense of security.

Gerbert had only taken a few sips by the time Ghalib had drained his whole cup and then poured himself a second. He also topped up Gerbert’s cup, but it was maybe two fingers of wine. They toasted each other and started drinking again.

Gerbert was enthusiastic that evening, but also nervous. He made a number of technical mistakes with the abacus and had to start all over. But Ghalib remained in a good mood and this time encouraged his student, assuring him he would get the calculation right on the next try.

At one point, Ghalib rose and went into his sleeping area to fetch something. That was when Gerbert yanked out the cloth with the powder and quickly pulled it apart. Before adding it to Ghalib’s wine, he looked at it closely. Then he put in just a bit of the powder, scarcely one quarter of the amount Hassan had given him. He wanted Ghalib to slip into a heavy sleep, but he didn’t want him completely knocked out for … who knows how long?

When he returned with a treatise on mathematics by Ahmed al-Qasim, Ghalib seemed to have settled back into the role of dedicated teacher. He didn’t touch his wine for a while, which made Gerbert a little nervous. The monk decided he had to become pro-active.

After Gerbert had solved a difficult math problem, Ghalib congratulated him. At this, Gerbert clutched his cup and raised it to toast his success with that problem. Ghalib joined him with no hesitation. Gerbert sipped a little of his wine, with one eye fixed on his teacher. To his relief, the teacher was not modest in his enjoyment. He finished off at least half the cup before laying the deep vessel back down. A short time later, he had finished the whole cup and was looking bleary-eyed.

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