All day and all evening until late in the night the fedayeen talked about their three comrades’ visit to paradise. They discussed every fine point and kept asking questions about this or that detail.
“So the animal that leapt at you was called Ahriman?” Naim asked. “Then it must have been one of the tamed demons. It has to serve your houris as punishment.”
“Possibly. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find out more about it. But there were so many unusual things that there wasn’t time for all of them.”
That night none of them could fall asleep for a long time. It was humid and hot. The fedayeen tossed and turned in their beds, their thoughts revolving around paradise, and their imaginations portraying in vivid colors the delights awaiting the chosen ones there. They saw half-naked girls singing and dancing around them. They imagined they could feel their warm breath, that they were lying beside them on pillows and that they were there to serve them. There were sounds of muffled moaning and teeth being gritted.
Soon after midnight the moon peered into the room through a window. Ibn Tahir looked to his right and his left. Suleiman and Yusuf were fast asleep. They’re doing all right, he thought. He felt anxious, though. Agonizing doubts assailed him. Could everything he had experienced the night before have just been a dream? But could he doubt that Miriam, whom he loved with all his soul, was real?
It was almost morning when he made a decision and got up. Carefully he crept over to Naim’s bed.
“Are you asleep, Naim?” he asked quietly.
“No, I can’t sleep. What is it?”
He sat up in bed and looked warily at ibn Tahir.
“Can you keep a secret?”
Naim almost got frightened.
“Don’t worry. There’s no danger in it for you. I just want to tell you something.”
“I won’t tell, you can count on me.”
“Swear by the holy name of Ali?”
“I swear, ibn Tahir.”
“Good. Come to the window with me.”
At the window ibn Tahir showed him Miriam’s tooth marks.
“Do you see it?”
“Yes. It looks like someone bit you.”
“Look closer.”
“O Allah! What a small mouth!”
“Those are her tooth marks, Naim.”
“Miriam’s?”
An icy chill ran down his spine.
“Yes, that’s what she left me as a keepsake. Before long it will fade away. Take a piece of candle and soften the wax. You’re going to help me make an impression.”
“Glad to help, Avani.”
Soon the wax was ready. Ibn Tahir kneaded a sheet out of it, and when it was soft enough, Naim pressed it onto his chest. Then he slowly pulled it back off. On its surface the imprint of Miriam’s teeth appeared like a gentle breath.
“O Allah!” ibn Tahir exclaimed. He was beside himself with happiness. “As of today, this is my most precious treasure. I’ll guard it like the relics of the Prophet himself.”
Then he embraced Naim.
“Thanks, friend. You’re the only person who knows my secret. I’m depending on you.”
“You’re lucky,” Naim sighed. “I’d like to have a love like that too.”
“Maybe it’s best that you haven’t had those feelings. This love is heaven and hell all at the same time.”
They parted and each lay back in his own bed.
“You’re a horrible master,” Miriam said when Hasan came on his nocturnal visit. “You command over the lives and deaths of all of us. What are you going to do with yesterday’s visitors?”
Hasan looked at her pensively.
“I don’t know. Circumstances will decide.”
He noticed her sunken cheeks.
“It looks like last night was strenuous for you,” he said, with barely concealed mockery.
“You force me to think too much, ibn Sabbah.”
“When a woman starts thinking, she becomes dangerous.”
“I wish I were, now.”
“And what would you do?”
“I’d shout to the fedayeen to watch out for you.”
“Then it’s a good thing my tower separates you from them.”
“I don’t know about good. But that’s how it is. And I’m powerless.”
“Oh, woman, woman. You’re wonderful with words, but when it comes to action, you get the shakes. Once I thought we were so close. It made me so happy. Now I’m alone again.”
“I can’t help it. Your actions terrify me.”
They were silent for a long time.
Then she asked, “What will you do with the girls if there are any results from last night?”
“Apama knows substances and herbs that can take care of that. If that doesn’t work, we can just let nature take its course. We can always use fresh blood.”
“Poor children, without any fathers!”
“They won’t be the only ones, dear Miriam.”
He cast a stern look at her.
“I sense you’d like to ask me something,” he said, smiling.
“I don’t want you to take this wrong.”
“Go ahead, speak.”
“How is ibn Tahir?”
The blood rushed to his face.
“Do you care for him that much? I think he’s daydreaming and suffering from heartsickness.”
“You’re cruel.”
“Cruel? All I did was answer your question as precisely as I could.”
“Do something for me.”
Hasan looked at her. He said nothing, just nodded for her to speak.
“Please be merciful to him for my sake.”
“Merciful? What do you mean by that? I’m neither cruel nor merciful. I’m just carrying out my plan.”
“I understand. All I ask is that when you decide about ibn Tahir in connection with your plan, you keep my request in mind.”
“You’re asking too much. What would be the point of these two decades’ worth of preparations?”
“Look. I’ve always obeyed you and I always will. Just promise me this.”
“I can’t promise you anything. It’s beyond my powers.”
“And what would you do if, for instance, he figured things out on his own?”
He cast her a distrustful look.
“How do you mean?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t give anything away, even though it might have been best that way.”
“If he figured things out on his own? What you mean is, if he’s already half-grasped my plan? Then he’d understand me. He’d be a son of my own spirit in that case. No. No. He’d see me as a fraud. He’d proclaim to the whole world that I’m a cheat. How could he understand at his age what it’s taken me a whole lifetime to see?”
“Still, what if he did?”
“You ask too many questions. We’re both tired. It’s late.”
He got up. His face was gloomy.
Tears glistened in her eyes.
“But he’s still just a child!”
Wordlessly he went toward the water’s edge, where Adi was waiting for him with the boat.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The results of the defeat of the sultan’s vanguard outside of Alamut became evident almost immediately. Reports on the evolving state of affairs began streaming into the fortress from all sides. On the day after the battle, Abdul Malik set out with twenty horsemen for the fortress of Rudbar. That evening they waited at a reasonable distance. Their scouts reported that there were no more than a hundred Turks. At dawn he gave the order to attack. Hawk-like, they raced down the hillside and cut down almost half of the enemy in the first assault. The rest fled to all sides.
Abdul Malik then dispatched his scouts to intercept the sultan’s army, and with his own detachment, he set out at a swift gallop toward Qazvin and beyond, to Rai. From there he returned to Alamut, bringing along some thirty prisoners that he had captured on his campaign. In all, he was on the road for four days.