“By Mohammed’s beard!” Abu Ali shouted. “With you an honest Muslim never knows where he stands. I’d like to hear you speak directly for once.”
“Fine, I’ll give it a try. Didn’t I mention to you a while ago that I not only have the key to paradise up here, but that I can also watch what’s going on in paradise? You already know what’s on this side of the tower. But haven’t you ever had the urge to see what’s on that side? Go ahead, step up to the battlements.”
The grand dais hurried quickly to the edge of the terrace. They leaned out over the battlements so they could look down. They were struck dumb with astonishment. They saw beneath them, as on a huge map, lovely groves and gardens in full blossom. Two arms of the river embraced them in a huge arc. Canals cut through and divided them, so that they were surrounded by water on all sides, like islands. Pebble-strewn paths shone white across them. Amid stands of cypresses, glass-covered pavilions glinted like crystal palaces. Round fish ponds with fountains were set inside them. Running around one of these were little creatures that seemed as buoyant as butterflies.
“A miracle, a real miracle,” Buzurg Ummid whispered at last.
“The poet of the Thousand and One Nights would be envious,” Abu Ali agreed.
Hasan rose and joined them. A satisfied expression came across his face.
“Imagine that you were with me at that prince’s house in Kabul,” he said. “You’ve swallowed the balls of hashish, you’ve experienced alongside of me all those wonderful delights of the spirit that I described to you, and now you’ve lost consciousness. Then you wake up, and you’re no longer in the dark room where you fell asleep. Instead you’re in these gardens below, surrounded by beautiful maidens ready to serve you in precisely the ways described in the Koran. What would you think?”
“You’re incredible, ibn Sabbah!” Abu Ali exclaimed. “If I were young and inexperienced, by the beard of the martyr Ali, I’d think I’d really wandered into the gardens of paradise.”
“But how and when did you create all of this?” Buzurg Ummid asked.
“The kings of Daylam who built Alamut also laid the foundations of these gardens. The castle’s later owners neglected them. They vanished in an overgrowth of grasses and vines. Apparently my predecessor, the noble Mehdi, didn’t even know how to get to them. But I had heard some rumors about them, and since the notion of using gardens like this had long since occurred to me, I put all my effort into getting the castle. Then I measured and calculated everything myself. I drew up a precise plan, and when the eunuchs came from Egypt, I carried it out with them. So, piece by piece I created this paradise. Apart from the eunuchs and me, the two of you are the only ones in the castle who know about it.”
“Aren’t you afraid the eunuchs could betray you?” Buzurg Ummid asked.
“You don’t know them, these eunuchs of mine,” Hasan replied. “They talk to no one but me. Their commander, Captain Ali, is blindly faithful to me. Besides that, each of them knows that if he blurted anything out, it would be his death sentence. I depend on them.”
“Don’t you think that the victims your paradise is meant for will see through your deception?”
Abu Ali gave Hasan a cunning glance.
“That’s why I’ve chosen youths who haven’t yet tasted love with a woman. There’s no one more gullible than a boy like that. Because only a woman can turn a male into a whole man. She confers knowledge on him, makes it possible for him to mature. He loses his spiritual innocence together with his physical innocence. This is why everything drives a boy toward that fateful event. Blinded by this unfamiliar passion, he’s ready to believe in anything just to attain his goal.”
“And who are these youths?”
Hasan smiled. He looked at him without responding.
“The fedayeen?”
“Your words.”
A chilly silence fell over the tower. The grand dais gazed down into the gardens. Hasan watched them with a kind of indulgent scorn.
“Can’t you speak?” he asked. “Yesterday we lost twenty-six of our men in battle with the sultan’s vanguard. If we take on the main force of his army, we’re all finished. All I need is several heroes who will make the kings and rulers of the whole world tremble. I summoned you today to show you how these men are going to be trained. Tonight you’ll join me for an experiment in altering human nature. Abu Ali, you know the fedayeen. Name the three of them who are most different from each other in terms of their abilities and character. We first have to test what kind of person is most useful to our purposes. Three gardens are waiting for their visitors.”
Abu Ali looked at Hasan and went pale.
“How do you mean, ibn Sabbah?”
“Bring me three fedayeen with completely different personalities.”
Abu Ali stared at him, unable to get a word out.
“I’ll help you. Who was the stalwart who attacked the Turks first?”
“Suleiman.”
“Who is the strongest in the group?”
“Yusuf.”
“Ibn Tahir will make three. I’m particularly curious about him. If he doesn’t see through it, nobody will.”
Buzurg Ummid broke out in a cold sweat. He recalled wanting to send his son Mohammed to the school for fedayeen as a way of demonstrating his unwavering trust in Hasan. Now he only wanted to get him as far away from Alamut as possible. He would send him to Syria or Egypt.
Hasan looked at them askance with concealed derision.
“Have you got a bone stuck in your throats?” he said. “Don’t get scared prematurely. I’ll provide you with such an argument for my actions that you’ll be the envy of any classical lover of wisdom. Now to my wardrobe! We’re going to deck ourselves out and go visit my paradise like real kings.”
He led them into a smaller space next to his room. Two eunuchs had laid out clothes. Hasan retained one of them and told the other to go give the inhabitants of the gardens a sign that Sayyiduna was approaching.
Wordlessly and with the help of the eunuch, the three of them changed clothes. They pulled on cloaks of heavy white brocade. Hasan draped a scarlet cape around his shoulders, and the grand dais put on blue ones. The capes were edged in precious white fur. Hasan set a gold tiara with various embedded jewels on his head. The grand dais put on turbans, with gold, conical caps in the middle. Hasan put on gold sandals, his companions, silver ones. They strapped on long, curved sabers with intricately carved handles. Then they returned to the commander’s room.
“By the beard of the martyr Ali,” Abu Ali exclaimed when they were alone. “Decked out like this I could actually start believing I was a king.”
“I’m going to make you more powerful than any king,” Hasan said.
He beckoned them into the chamber that he normally used to descend to the bottom of the tower alone. He gave a signal and they suddenly started to sink. Abu Ali started waving his arms and almost pulled his companions down.
“Damned magic!” he cursed when the first fright had passed. “You’re not thinking of taking us into hell?”
“You surround yourself with things that make a person feel downright haunted,” Buzurg Ummid said.
“There’s nothing unusual about this machine,” Hasan explained. “It was invented by Archimedes. Its essence is a pulley mechanism, such as you often find at desert wells.”
A detachment of the commander’s bodyguard was waiting for them in the vestibule. The soldiers were wearing armor and helmets and were armed from head to foot. Strapped around their waists was a sword, over their shoulder they held a mace, and in the other hand was a heavy spear. Drummers and trumpeters walked ahead of them.