Those caught with weapons, soldiers and citizens alike, were immediately put to the sword. The first night the city rang with screams as every woman and girl, ferreted out by the sultan’s soldiers, was raped again and again. Neither age nor vocation nor status was any protection. Little girls as young as six suffered, as did nuns, who were dragged from their convents to satisfy the furious lust of battle-weary soldiers.
By morning of the fourth day there wasn’t a woman in the city who had escaped the sultan’s army. They and the children and the other survivors were herded into the marketplace to be sold into slavery. Eager bidders had arrived from the surrounding Muslim territories.
It was each soldier’s right to sell any captive he had caught unless that person converted to Islam. There were few conversions. Not all the captives were sold, as many of the soldiers who had fought with Murad would now bring their families to recolonize the city. They would need slaves.
A percentage of each sale went into the sultan’s coffers. The remainder was split between the soldier and the merchant who conducted the sale.
All the valuables found within the city were confiscated for the sultan’s treasury. The churches were emptied, purified, and turned into mosques. Both the governor and the religious patriarch who had so boldly defied the emperor and the sultan were beheaded for causing Murad trouble and for inciting
Adora had viewed the battle for Philadelphia and the ensuing pillage with a stoic interest that fascinated Murad. Finally, unable to control his curiosity, he asked her her thoughts on the campaign. She toyed with a pillow before answering.
“You were more than fair, my lord,” she answered.
“Have you no feeling for your people, Mother?” asked Bajazet.
Murad stifled a smile at Adora’s frown of annoyance. “My dear son,” she replied, her voice dripping sarcasm, “though I am but an infidel dog, and a lowly female at that, I am still an Ottoman. Your uncle John legally ceded Philadelphia to your father for certain aid and favors. Its governor chose not to obey his overlord, and incited the people to resistance. They have only reaped the rewards of their disobedience. If we had chosen to let them defy us until they chose to stop, it would have cost many Ottoman lives in the future. Though it is not so, many people believe that to show mercy is a sign of weakness. Therefore we can rarely allow ourselves that gentle luxury. Remember, Bajazet, always strike quickly, before your enemies have a chance to think, else they defeat you.”
Murad nodded. She had learned a great deal of battle strategy from him, he thought. He was surprised and flattered. “Listen to your mother, my son,” he said, and his eyes twinkled teasingly, “for though she is but a woman, she is a clever Greek. And her words are given weight by virtue of her vast age.” And he laughed as she launched herself at him.
Prince Bajazet looked horrified as his parents wrestled together amid the pillows. He was a grown man with a pregnant wife and did not think of his mother and father as being physical with each other. To be sure, his father kept a harem, and his mother was yet young, but-they were his parents!
“Scoundrel!” hissed Adora, yanking at Murad’s thick silver-black hair.
“Witch,” murmured the sultan, “how is it you still have the ability to inflame me?”
“My
He laughed again. Then he found her angry mouth and kissed it thoroughly before moving on to more interesting parts of her anatomy. Adora began to make soft, contented noises. Flushing crimson, Prince Bajazet fled the room. His parents never noticed that he had gone.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Ottomans now ruled Asia Minor, except for the emirate of Karamania and the small Greek Christian kingdom of Trebizond. Murad now turned his eyes back to Europe. He saw that he needed three additional cities if he were to secure his position in the Balkans. These were Sofia in northern Bulgaria, which would extend his rule to the Danube; and Serbian Nish and Monastir, to establish his rule west of the Vardar River. Murad and his entire household returned to his European capital, Adrianople, from there to direct the new campaigns.
While he occupied himself with his campaigns, Adora occupied herself with their growing family. Zubedya had quickly produced four sons who were named Suleiman, Isa, Musa, and Kasim. Adora did not like the Germiyan. The closeness she had hoped would develop between them had not. The Germiyan was a proud, cold woman who gave only what she had to and no more. She did not love her husband. In fact, Adora did not believe she had any affection at all for Bajazet.
Her son was a brilliant, mercurial man very much like his maternal grandfather, John Cantacuzene, but with a dangerous streak of pride and rashness that worried Adora. He had, she knew, never felt anything but the mildest affection for any woman. Yet she knew that he had never had a man for a lover, either. There had never been any grand passion in Bajazet’s life. And Adora felt that he needed the stabilizing influence of a beloved woman. Neither Zubedya nor the few silly girls he kept in his small harem filled this need.
It seemed that, unlike his parents, Bajazet was not a sensual man. He did not seem to feel the lack of a passionate love. His life was completely taken up by the military.
This did not bother his wife. She seemed to have no interest in anything having to do with Bajazet, and that lack of interest applied to his sons. No sooner had she produced them than they were turned over to wetnurses and slaves.
Bajazet returned to Asia on his father’s orders in order to help Murad take Karamania. Germiyan had been Zubedya’s dowry. Hamid had been purchased from its ruler who preferred gold and peace of mind to the nervous strain of having the Ottoman Empire on his doorstep. To the south, the emir of Tekke had fathered a son in his old age. He fought hard with the sultan to retain his lands. The result was that Murad gained Tekke’s uplands and lake region, leaving the emir, for the present, with the southern valleys and the lowlands between the Taurus mountains and the Mediterranean.
Only Karamania stood in Murad’s way. Despite his large army, the left wing of which was under Prince Bajazet’s command, the battle of Konya ended in a draw. Both sides claimed victory. Murad had gained neither territory nor booty, tribute nor military aid. The emir of Karamania kissed his hand in a public gesture of reconciliation, but that was all Murad achieved.
Murad had fought his war on two fronts, and had been generally victorious. But he had met his match in one Muslim ruler, and could not extend his dominion any further into Asia. He had, however, gained his objective in Europe: Sofia, Nish, and Monastir, along with the city of Prilep to its north, were now Ottoman strongholds.
Back in Asia Minor, Murad had trouble with his army. In an effort not to irritate the Asian Muslims, he ordered his troops to refrain from looting the countryside about the city of Konya. The Serbian troops fighting with Prince Bajazet were furious. They considered themselves cheated, as looting and rape were a soldier’s reward. They disobeyed the sultan. Murad could not allow such a breach of discipline in his ranks. The Serbian contingent was lined up, and every sixth man executed on the spot. The rest returned to Serbia raging over what they considered unjust treatment.
Never one to miss an opportunity, Thamar’s uncle, Prince Lazar, emerged from hiding. Using the incident at Konya, Lazar fomented Serbian resistance against Murad. With the Ottomans in control of Nish, upper Serbia and Bosnia were now threatened. Lazar and the prince of Bosnia formed the Pan-Serbian Alliance.
Murad’s younger son, Yakub, had been left in charge of the Ottoman troops in Europe. His answer to Lazar was to take his army across the Vadar and invade Bosnia. Unfortunately, the majority of the Ottoman army was in Asia with the sultan. Prince Yakub, badly outnumbered, was defeated at Plochnik. He lost four-fifths of his men.
There was wild rejoicing among the Serbs, Bosnians, Albanians, Bulgarians, and Hungarians. The invincible Turks had finally been defeated! Immediately the Balkan Slavs rallied about Lazar’s banner, determined to drive the Ottomans from Europe.
Murad showed no great haste to avenge Plochnik.
“How long will they remain united?” he asked Adora. “They have never before been able to stay together. Soon one of them will be insulted by another, or else they will start fighting over religion.”
“But you cannot ignore the insult these Slavs have given us,” she fumed.
