Tamerlane's Boys 31

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire, Autumn, 1395)

Kiril’s harsh beating was being publicly inflicted in the courtyard of the spartan Janissary school barracks, or ‘acemi oglan’, after evening lessons in Islam. None of the young Christians had yet been invited to convert to the Muslim faith because they were not yet considered to have received sufficient necessary religious instruction. Consequently, none had attended the last prayers for the day, after which such punishment was normally inflicted by the quartermaster.

Nevertheless, Kiril had still been required, after being stripped naked in readiness to be immovably bound to the punishment post, to perform the customary ritual of kneeling to kiss the particular hand of the quartermaster that would hold the vicious horsewhip. The boy would also be required to pay the man for the privilege of being severely flogged by him. However, such dues would have to wait to be deducted from the otherwise impecunious 7 year-old’s tiny monthly living allowance, the first allocation of which he had not yet received.

(Samarkand, Transoxiana, same time)

It took Tamerlane’s Eldest Queen, or ‘Bibi Khanum’, over half an hour to come to the initial point of her meeting with Vissarion, during which, in order not to slight his formidable hostess, the young Georgian dangerously consumed some of her proffered fruit juice and sweetmeats. Fortunately for the 18 year-old eunuch, Shadi Mulk Aka’s hospitality had so far not proved poisonously fatal.

The first half-hour of Vissarion’s audience with the formidable woman, which court practice dictated could never have taken place with one of Tamerlane’s queens with just the two of them present if he had not been a eunuch, was taken up with relatively trivial conversation. However, the perceptive young Georgian recognised that there was a purpose to the chatter. The Bibi Khanum was asking diplomatic questions about the 18 year-old’s life and views to gain an insight not only into his history, much of which she undoubtedly already knew, but also his true character.

Like the person she was gently interrogating, Shadi Mulk Aka could correctly gauge people quickly. The Bibi Khanum also had a particular reason why she needed to do so in respect of Vissarion, and not just because of his influence in her husband’s life, which had finally been revealed in its true extent by the sad demise of Umarshaykh.

Vissarion, appreciating that the woman was studying and appraising him, carefully constructed his replies, as he was keen to establish good relations with Tamerlane’s Bibi Khanum, whom he knew his master held in great esteem. One of the reasons behind the conqueror’s rare respect for a female was the fact that, although childless herself, she had taken great interest in ensuring the welfare of her husband’s offspring by other queens.

"I understand," Shadi Mulk Aka eventually commented, "that you’ve established a special rapport with my grandson, Ulugbeg." The mentioned 1 year-old was not an actual blood relative of the Bibi Khanum but such familial titles, as she was now applying to the baby boy, had been customarily attached by her to her husband’s children for decades. However, Vissarion at first became uncomfortable about the practice, realising that the Eldest Queen must also have referred to Umarshaykh as her ‘son’. As the young Georgian had, albeit innocently, been responsible for this man’s death, he began to worry afresh about the food and drink that was being offered by an apparently very generous hostess.

Nevertheless, Vissarion managed to display in his still boyish voice and sublime face no disquiet about his situation when he replied positively to Shadi Mulk Aka’s comment. The 18 year-old Georgian was then to experience some relief when the Bibi Khanum advised "Good, as I’d like you to continue to play a special role in the child’s life, as well as that of his young father."

Shadi Mulk Aka then remarked "I believe you have beneficially intrigued my grandson with your own interest in stars." Vissarion was not surprised by the Bibi Khanum’s knowledge about this phenomenon, as he had needed to seek, for his own safety, the Eldest Queen’s permission to visit Tamerlane’s Samarkand palace every night in order to perform his nightly duty and tempt Ulugbeg to sleep.

Vissarion politely nodded in agreement with Shadi Mulk Aka’s remark. The Bibi Khanum then informed the young Georgian "I too am interested in the stars. In fact, I possess my own astrologers, who unfortunately had, at my husband’s insistence, like you once were, albeit for different reasons, to be castrated in order to perform their function for his Eldest Queen!" She then smiled, on revealing this fact and before commenting "Poor men, as if they could be interested in an old woman like me!"

Vissarion could not help but replicate the freshly revealed infectious smile of Shadi Mulk Aka, who now went on to confess "I’m told by my astrologers that both Ulugbeg and his young father, Shahrukh, are destined for greatness. However, I’m also advised that they’ll need a good guide to help them achieve such a destiny."

"My astrologers additionally predict," Shadi Mulk Aka then told a shocked Vissarion , "that you will be the guiding star for both Shahrukh and Ulugbeg!"

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire, same time)

Kiril’s lovely body had already suffered much profound discomfort since he had arrived in the acemi oglan, where no female was ever allowed and which was immaculately clean and ordered, as well as staffed entirely by seemingly highly sinister and sadistic Janissary staff. One of the most amazing facts about the latter, as far as the very pretty but currently deeply ashamed and agonised 7 year-old was concerned, was that the men must, to have attained their positions, somehow, as boys themselves, have survived the extremely harsh training in the establishment. The young Bulgar’s intensely aggrieved and pained mind therefore asked himself, as another exceedingly hurtful blow of a sturdy horsewhip publicly struck his pert, curvaceous and previously lustrous naked buttocks, ‘how could they perpetrate such sadism on the latest generation of young Christian recruits to their military order?’

Janissaries gained their name from the Turkish words ‘yeni’ and ‘çeri’, meaning ‘new troops’, which they were when originally formed by Mehmed’s grandfather, Murad I, who was himself called a Bey until he re-titled himself to become the first Ottoman Sultan. As his empire began to acquire the characteristics of a major state, he needed men to form his own, personally fiercely loyal, standing army, appropriately housed, rationed and paid. Such a force was required as much to resolve internal as external conflicts.

The need for Janissaries, who were commanded by a senior Aga, arose from the fact that existing forces, or ‘akinjis’, were unpaid, other than by booty, and were levied when needed from many different, widely dispersed Turkish tribal groups. The non-remunerative status and geographical spread might make some contingents reluctant or difficult to be summoned in time to perform the required function. The allegiance of these warriors was also normally to their own clan leaders, who sometimes might be in dispute with the Sultan.

Murad I originally enlisted Janissaries from adult prisoners of war. However, when this proved unsuitable to secure complete competence and loyalty, he began the practice of forcibly recruiting Christian boys for the corps and other aspects of imperial service.

Although such action was technically forbidden by religious scripture and therefore could definitely not be applied to Muslims, the proscription was ignored in respect of those not born of the true faith. A remark of the Prophet Mohammed, that "every human being carries from his birth a desire to embrace Islam", was used instead as an excuse for such compulsory conscription, with conversion of the boys from Christianity becoming an integral aim.

Murad I had come to believe that boys would be better recruits into his service than men because their minds and bodies could be moulded to serve him as he wanted, namely exceedingly well and with exclusive devotion. In order to achieve this result, the youngsters were taken from their homes at an early age, by means of the annual devshirmeth, which is Turkish for ‘gathering’.

In the process, which began with the initial recruitment of 1000 boys, the youngsters were completely cut off forever from contact with their families and original communities. The system remained embryonic under Murad I’s son, Bayezid I, but would be considerably improved, albeit not in lack of harshness, under this latter Sultan’s own ultimate sole successor. Over the next couple of centuries, approaching 300,000 young Christian males would be forcibly enlisted into imperial service through the devilish, often yearly human taxation of the devshirmeth.

A senior court officer, sometimes the ‘Keeper of Cranes’, protected by Janissaries, initially made rather indiscriminate tours of the provinces to enforce the devshirmeth, which required the ‘gathering’ of only the choicest boys. The head of each visited community, the ‘protegeros’, was required to submit the official register of the local Christian families and assemble the relevant fathers with all their sons.

From these, the visiting official chose, on average, a fifth, all aged between 7 and 14. Boys who were of particularly good appearance or strength, or who displayed certain skills or talents, tended to be the ones who were selected and taken away, with an imperial scribe recording their details. However, just one juvenile Christian recruit was originally removed from any one family and only sons and those of ill or infirm parents were excused.

Attempts at evasion of this inhuman blood tax were naturally common. As the law provided that only unwed non-Muslim boys could be recruited, some sons were married off or converted to Islam at very young ages, sometimes when they were still in their cradles. When such practices were quickly outlawed, and heavy penalties imposed for attempting to avoid the devshirmeth, Christian families became so desperate to save their own sons that some uprisings occurred, which were usually suppressed with much bloodshed, or they betrayed each other in order to try to save their own children. Alternatively, many, especially in border provinces, instead simply fled with their precious offspring, leaving behind their homes and many of their possessions.

Abuses by officials in respect of the devshirmeth also quickly arose. The recruiting officers would often furtively enlist a greater number of boys than required but the excess would not be delivered to the acemi oglan.

Instead, the officers frequently offered to sell the boys back to the wealthier parents at high prices. Alternatively, the surplus from poor homes were sold into slavery, often to traders from still independent and Christian Constantinople, where, in line with contemporary Byzantine fashion, many ended up as eunuchs.

There was, however, also another side to the devshirmeth, resulting from the severe oppression imposed by the Muslim overlords and the immense poverty prevailing in many conquered Christian communities. Some boys, in order to escape such miserable existences, and despite the prospect of years of initial harsh training, were actually glad to be selected for training in the acemi oglan. Some parents, in order to secure a better future for their children, also encouraged sons to enlist. The escape from penury and the possible great honours and riches that imperial service might eventually offer were particular attractions.

Ottoman officials rarely failed to advertise such possible advantages of imperial service before the often ragged and hungry Christian boys and their families. In fact, such benefits eventually led the Muslim Turks themselves to complain about the resultant monopolisation of many of the highest positions in the empire by men of infidel birth.

New recruits, called ‘ajami’ or ‘apprentices’, were instructed in the principles of Islam. They were not obliged to become Muslims but, through efficient indoctrination, most did so, many even more fanatically than those born into the faith. The promotion of the personal benefits to be gained from conversion, when those choosing to remain Christians would probably be discriminated against in their future careers, possibly to the point of eventual exclusion from imperial service, assisted the process.

Depending upon age at enlistment, apprentices could be trained for up to 17 years, generally in two completely separate environments. In the acemi oglan, which was commanded by an ‘Aga’, the cadets would be divided up into sections of 20 to 30 boys, each with its own section leader, or ‘Boluk-basi’. Here, formal instruction would be given in Islam, languages, character-building, leadership, physical prowess, science and a craft of their own choosing, as well as military matters.

The boys received a small monthly payment from which they maintained themselves by contributing a specified amount to the common household. Although clothing was distributed annually by the state, amongst their own responsibilities was the purchase of footwear. Rations of bread, mutton and candles were also furnished free by the government, whilst the apprentices were charged for their supplies of butter, vegetables and rice.

Life in the barracks was hard and the discipline severe. The boys slept in lit rooms, under the watchful eyes of eunuchs, who punished severely every noise or other impropriety. Attempts were made to suppress all freedom and individuality. Blind obedience to superiors was inculcated in the cadets, as well as a fanatical subservience to the Sultan, to whom they were made to believe they belonged in body and soul.

The fundamental laws, or ‘Kanun’, applying to Janissaries were promulgated by Sultan Murad I and were embodied in thirteen articles. First, they were to owe absolute submission and obedience to their superiors. Second, there must prevail amongst them perfect unity and accord, with their living conditions always the same. Third, they must abstain from everything that did not become a warrior, such as luxuries in dress. Fourth, they must never deviate from the sacred teachings of the Islamic prophet particularly venerated by the corps, Haci Bektas. Fifthly, only those raised by virtue of the law of devsirmeth, who had completed their classes in the acemi oglan, could be admitted into the order. Sixthly, punishments carrying the death penalty would, by privilege, be carried out in a special manner. Seventhly, they could only be admonished and punished by their own officers. Eighthly, promotion was rigorously observed by order of seniority. Ninthly, invalids would be retired with pension. Tenthly, they could not let their beards grow. Eleventhly, they could not marry before they left active service. Twelthly, they would sleep in barracks, which they could not leave without authorisation. Thirteenthly, they would perform the necessary exercises and manoeuvres for their military instruction.

The spartan upbringing of the boy apprentices in the acemi oglan was supposed to create perfect military spirit. The development of a common esprit de corps, involving unflinching discipline and absolute subservience to superiors, was designed to make the Janissaries the backbone of the Ottoman forces and the bedrock of support for the Sultans, the guardians of his empire.

The other training environment for apprentices, besides the acemi oglan, involved agriculture. Boys were sent to work on farms, sometimes for years and usually in Asian Anatolia, far from their original homelands. The idea behind such practice was threefold.

First, the experience, which, dependant on the people to whom they were allocated, could be harsher than at the boys’ school, was supposed to assist them to become better acquainted with the Turkish tongue, faith and culture. Second, the apprentices aided agricultural production by helping to overcome shortages of cheap labour. Third, the cadets helped to boost the imperial treasury, as farmers were expected to pay the state for the services of the youngsters.

At the age of about 24, graduates of the acemi oglan, who remained in perfect physical condition and were now thoroughly indoctrinated in the service of the Sultan and skilled in the use of arms, finally joined the corps of Janissaries. Those of weak constitution or deemed to have failed their lengthy induction for whatever reason were assigned to various alternative occupations, receiving in the process the dreaded title of ‘Cikme’ or ‘rejected one’.

The entire Janissary corps was known as the ‘Ojak’, or ‘hearth’, and did not number more than 20,000 during the first two centuries of its existence. The order was divided into ‘Ortas’, varying in size from 100 to 500 and, as the soldiers tended to remain in such units throughout their service, these companies often represented a kind of extended, surrogate family to them. The ‘Oda’, or ‘room’, was the name given to the particular barracks in which the soldiers were lodged.

Promotion was generally gained by way of long or distinguished service and was initially to the most junior rank of officer, ‘Odabashi’. Only the most able advanced to ‘Chorbaji’, which entailed command of a whole Orta.

At first, the Janissaries wore no particular distinctive clothing save a white felt cap. However, a red version with gold embroidery was substituted and later a uniform was introduced, consisting of a long coat, or ‘dolarma’, reaching down to the ankles, with a cowl which could cover the head, plus shirt and trousers. Commanding officers were distinguished only by the colour of their boots, being either red or yellow, depending on the type of Orta, whilst those of subordinates were black.

The main banner of the Janissaries was of white silk, on which verses from the Koran were embroidered in gold. This flag was planted in camp beside the commanding Aga’s tent.

Each Orta also had its own banner, half-red and half-yellow, placed before the tent of the Chorbaji. Each encamped unit additionally possessed some great bronze cauldrons, or ‘kazans’, which, under the protection of subordinate officers, boiled soup and pilaw rice rations and were occasionally proudly paraded at times of peace.

To the Janissaries the cauldrons were more important than flags and standards. Around them, the men assembled not only for their meals but also for important deliberations. On marches, the huge bronze pots were carried in front of each Orta and the greatest disgrace was to lose them in battle, for which all officers would be disgraced and the unit shamefully disallowed from exhibiting replacement vessels in public ceremonies.

Janissaries were stationed in most of the guardhouses of Edirne and other cities and large towns throughout the Ottoman Empire, as well as in border forts. It was customary for the Sultan and his senior officials to bestow largesse on the soldiers during visits.

In the towns and cities, no sentries were generally posted but instead policing patrols were sent out several times a day. During peacetime, only the border units were allowed ready access to arms and so such civic guardians generally only sported wooden clubs. Nevertheless, such weaponry, combined with their rightfully feared reputations, usually secured order, including the protection of Christian and Jewish minorities from the potential violence of Muslim mobs.

Kiril’s group of Bulgars, newly enlisted via the devshirmeth, had, in the end, somehow endured their initial, extremely shameful, freezing and wet experience in the school courtyard with quiescence and forbearance. However, the youngsters, who were aged between 7 and 10, even though recruitment could encompass boys up to 14, had had to use much mettle to survive their humiliation of being publicly naked for the first time in their lives. Their deep abashment at being so disported was compounded by the fact that the fierce instructor who inspected them was not the only person to do so, although he was the only one to perform the scrutiny of their forms intimately.

The school courtyard was ominously surrounded by menacingly tall, multi-storeyed buildings of foreboding dark stone, which were made to look worse by the black rain clouds above. The facades of these edifices contained many open windows, from where a multitude of faces of men and boys peered downwards.

The young naked Bulgars, already soaked and very cold, subsequently had to summon up even more courage to jump without hesitation into the waiting tubs of freezing rainwater. However, the willingness of the shivering, nude boys to perform this act was probably boosted by recognition that a painful blow from the instructor’s horsewhip, which a few had already received for being dilatory during the inspection process, would punish any who delayed.

All of the boys wondered later how they had managed subsequently to clean themselves thoroughly, but without soap or flannels, in the chilling rainwater in the manner ordered without becoming blocks of ice or contracting pneumonia. In fact, as a result of their treatment over the years ahead, some would subsequently suffer the latter illness and even die as a result.

Some other boys would fail their lengthy induction for alternative reasons, such as character faults or clear inability at the necessary skills. The severe training regime was geared, almost four centuries before Darwin proposed his theory of natural selection, to the survival of the fittest. However, few deliberately flunked in order to be transferred to an easier life, as the price they might have to pay was to lose their balls.

Failed apprentices who nevertheless had been judged to have tried their best to survive, and were otherwise deemed suitable, would be transferred to the palace to be trained as new white eunuchs for the Sultan. Their castration was permissible under Islamic law because they had all been born as Christians.

Some of the more capable failures were also kept at the acemi oglan, where they would be castrated to become the next generation of eunuchs charged to the help the Janissary staff with the on-going supervision of apprentices. Gelding was considered necessary to avoid temptation, as many of their young charges were exceedingly pretty. Their fate certainly appeared to enthuse the performance of their duties, in which they invariably exhibited great, sadistic proficiency, undoubtedly being jealous of the apprentices’ better burgeoning careers, as well as their intact balls.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the failures was despatched to the slave markets. There, given the common requirements of Byzantine traders from Constantinople, many also lost their balls.

Few considered running away as an alternative option to remaining an apprentice. The ability of the adult Janissaries to track and find young deserters was legendary, although this was undoubtedly aided by two factors. First, attractive rewards were offered to local people for the return of such escapees and, second, most of the boys had nowhere else to flee other than home, where they could easily be traced. The recaptured juvenile miscreants would then be severely punished.

After their awful initial experience in the school courtyard, the naked, freezing, copiously shivering, young Bulgars were finally led inside one of the sinister adjacent buildings, out of the horrible external elements. However, the interior of the acemi oglan, although thankfully dry, seemed even colder, being gloomy and completely unheated throughout, even in the midst of a Balkan winter.

The group of young nudes was eventually led to a large gymnasium because they were to be provided with no towels to dry themselves. Instead, in order to eradicate their bodily dampness and become warm, they were compelled, by the orders of their first instructor and his nasty horsewhip, to exercise to achieve such bodily comforts.

The boys could understand the man because he was fluent in the Bulgarian tongue, as he actually shared their ethnicity. However, such common heritage would not gain the new recruits any privileges, as they were to discover, for he was inflexibly tough on all apprentices regardless of background, as befitted his position of Aga of the whole acemi oglan.

The event in the gymnasium was to be the Aga’s first opportunity to judge who were the fittest of the new boy contingent and who would require special treatment to bring their young forms up to the required standards. Fortunately for the eventually completely exhausted Kiril, the 7 year-old was deemed in excellent physical condition for his tender age, someone who would require just two, exceedingly strenuous bouts of lengthy, daily gymnastic exercise. However, unfortunately for the young Bulgar and his compatriots, the sweat now garnered on their naked, juvenile bodies was then sufficient for the adult Janissary to insist upon an immediate return to the courtyard and the waiting tubs of cold rainwater.

Later, on re-entry into the adjacent sinister buildings by frozen young bodies, towels were finally awaiting the latest batch of recruits, along with an issue of clothing, uniform in all but size. There was the obligatory felt and hard wearing white dolarma coat, white shirt and red trousers, with shiny black boots. All were new and arraigned in piles comprising different sizes, from which the dried, fresh apprentices were expected to choose a selection, in duplicate except for the footwear, that was slightly too big.

The duplication was to permit one set of garments to be worn whilst the other was being laundered, responsibility for the performance and perfection of which was down to the boys themselves, with faults in appearance being subject to punishment. The acquirement of bigger sizes was to allow for boyish growth over the year ahead as, except in exceptional circumstances, such allocations of attire were only annual.

The boys were also issued with one metal dish and spoon, which they would need for their food allocations and were required to keep clean. No cups were issued, as the only drink they were permitted was water from wells.

The boys, now dried and dressed in their new cadet uniforms, were all very hungry, after their long and exhausting marches from their homelands, which had lasted many days, during which rations had been very sparse. The new apprentices therefore subsequently settled down eagerly, at tables in a huge canteen, to their first decent meal for a long time. In fact, for some of the fresh recruits, given their impoverished backgrounds, the fare presented to them, and quickly consumed with happy relish, represented their first-ever, proper repast.

After washing their dishes and spoons in the tubs provided for the purpose, the boys were separated by age because the multi-national dormitories to which they were now to be assigned were similarly segregated. Kiril therefore soon found himself being introduced, with a few Bulgars of the same age, to his new adult section leader, or ‘Boluk-basi’, who, with the aid of some eunuchs, was in charge of an Oda of almost thirty 7 year-olds.

The large, spartan, 2^nd-floor dormitory, in which a still apprehensive Kiril now found himself, comprised a long, wide room, with an open, unfettered window at the far end. The only furniture consisted of thirty simple bunks, aligned in rows of fifteen either side of the room and each equipped with only one blanket on top of a straw mattress.

As the boys were expected to sleep naked, the prospect of slumber during a Balkan winter under such a solitary cover, in a place unprotected from the external elements at one end, naturally did not encourage Kiril to believe that his new life might improve from its traumatic beginning. The 7-year’s assumption was only reinforced when he discovered that his allocated bed was close to the window. The young Bulgars were amongst the last of the new recruits from the latest devshirmeth to reach the acemi oglan and, as could be expected, the earlier arrivals had already chosen bunks as far away from the opening as possible.

As the sun had by now already set outside, the current young inhabitants were already under their blankets, knowing that sleep would be advisable, as they would be expected to rise long before dawn. However, the earlier watching of the spectacle in the courtyard below, involving the latest recruits, had, with the acquiescence of their stern supervisory eunuchs, delayed their intent, as had the advent of the new arrivals into their dormitory.

Many eyes focused, in the constant but dim lamplight, on the young Bulgars, as they placed their dishes, spoons and spare new clothes under their bunks, quickly followed by the garments they were wearing, before slipping naked, rapidly and rather shamefully under their own blankets. Despite such activity, utter silence prevailed within the dormitory, as no-one fancied experiencing the cane carried by the duty eunuch, charged with supervising the room overnight. Kiril tried his best not to break such quietude, as he subsequently cried himself to sleep.

Kiril first met Zoran the next morning, after the supervisory eunuch woke all of his young, naked charges and ushered them downstairs and out into the courtyard, around the lengthy perimeter of which they had to run several times. The boys were encouraged in their actions by their gelded overseer’s cane. Meanwhile, damp, chilly darkness, apart from moonlight and the illumination provided by a few wall torches, still prevailed in this external, rainy environment.

As the suddenly panting Oda of 7 year-olds subsequently left the courtyard, another assembly of similarly aged nudes arrived to take their place. The older age groups would enjoy the privilege of enduring such a welcome to each day slightly later, in order of seniority.

Kiril’s Oda of 7 year-olds then found themselves in one of several ground-floor bathrooms, where a deep cold plunge first awaited them. After the morning shock of this chilly amenity, the shivering boys then formed small teams to draw water from wells to pour into large tubs, in which they were required to settle themselves in order to bathe. To the new Bulgar recruits, the only improvements provided by these amenities, compared to those in the courtyard of the previous evening, were their less public nature and lack of exposure to wind and rain. It also became apparent to them that they would have to accept frequent nudity in front of others as routine in this harsh place.

Kiril quickly fell into the required routine that began every day, which culminated in a towelling of freezing young bodies, a return to the dormitory and a redressing in uniforms, as a prelude to a porridge breakfast in the huge downstairs canteen, with all the other inmates of the establishment. To consume their meals at relevant times, the boys collected their fare from a large retinue of adult cooks, standing besides immense cauldrons from which the food was ladled, and they then sat at tables allocated to their Oda.

After the washing of dishes and spoons, the boys were subsequently permitted a little time in their dormitories before attending their first classes of the day. The supervisory eunuchs would often not be present during this period and this was just such an occasion. Consequently, Zoran, who was a Serb and rather big for his age, made use of the opportunity to approach Kiril.

Zoran was accompanied by several sycophants because he was the dormitory bully. The current intent of the young Serb was therefore to intimidate Kiril, as well as the other newly arrived Bulgars. He expected them to acknowledge and defer to his power, showing him proper respect, just as he had already encouraged all of the other boys in the Oda to do.

Communication by the Serb with the Bulgars was initially rather awkward because of the current lack of a common language. However, Kiril quickly appreciated the gist of what the bully expected, and exhibiting much more brave spirit than the others, refused to be intimidated.

The bigger Zoran, after overcoming his surprise, therefore hit the impertinent newcomer but Kiril, despite his more diminutive size, retaliated. The ferocious fight that ensued drew raucous shouts from the suddenly formed crowd of more than twenty fellow 7 year-olds. Unfortunately, the loud noise also brought the return of the supervisory eunuch.

One of the ultimate consequences was Kiril’s public naked attachment to the punishment post in the school courtyard. The 7 year-old tried to display continued bravery, as his cute bottom now received a third hard blow from the quartermaster’s horsewhip. However, he could not prevent uttering a loud yelp in response and the flow of tears down his exceedingly pretty young face.

The quartermaster’s fourth strike, deliberately angled to cut across the three vivid stripes already created on Kiril’s lustrously curvaceous buttocks, was the most excruciating so far. A few drops of blood also appeared at the intersections of the latest violent hit with its equally fierce predecessors. The 7 year-old Bulgar now could not stop himself from dissolving into uncontrolled loud sobbing.

The quartermaster now turned his attention away from Kiril’s buttocks and began to whip the 7 year-old’s slim back instead, whilst maintaining the deliberate lengthy gaps between each blow. The man was very well practised at the art of ensuring that his boy victims, of whom there had been many hundreds over the years, including the majority of the current assemblage of young spectators, thoroughly appreciated the agony inflicted by each accurate strike before the next was delivered.

Kiril’s flagellation was concluded when four stripes had been created on his back, to match the vivid display on his bottom. The boy’s whip-marks were then treated with salt, causing the young Bulgar to scream more loudly than ever, whilst somehow avoiding fainting. The sobbing 7 year-old was then temporarily imprisoned in a dark, dank cell located in the school’s large kitchen.

Some crimes in the adult Janissary barracks, which was adjacent to the acemi oglan, were actually occasionally punished by incarceration for life in such a place, although flogging, invariably unwanted transfer to a remote border fortress or dismissal from the corps was more usual. The latter penance was often considered by the men to be worse than the death penalty. However, execution was imposed very rarely, with the most frequent sentence for serious misdemeanours instead being degrading banishment and associated confiscation of property.

Nevertheless, in wartime, desertion was sometimes punishable by mutilation and then strangulation, which was considered the most honourable form of capital punishment according to Turkish custom. Any death penalty in war would be carried out privately by the chief cook, after sunset in a special tent erected in the centre of the camp. The furtive nature of this practice originated because of the fear that a public execution might cause a mutiny, as a result of the close comradeship that invariably existed amongst the men. However, since no Janissary could, under any circumstances, be executed, it was customary first to expel the intended victim from the corps. Only after he was thus degraded to the position of an ordinary person could justice take its course.

Naturally, Kiril, as a result of his acute shame and the agony he was still feeling, currently gave no thought whatsoever to such matters, involving the now, to the physically and mentally intensely anguished boy, deeply hated Janissary corps. The 7 year-old instead prayed to his currently Christian God to bring to his sad life something that could help alleviate at least some of his present distress and undoubtedly unhappy future.

(Samarkand, Transoxiana, same time)

Vissarion now realised that Shadi Mulk Aka harboured no plans of vengeance against him, either for the role he played in her husband’s life or the demise of Umarshaykh, whom she described as being "Silly and full of his own self-importance." The Bibi Khanum went on to comment, in respect of Tamerlane’s recently deceased second son and rather self-depreciatingly, "Such attributes might be tolerable in us queen consorts but they’re potentially lethal in a ruler, and not only for himself but also for his empire and people. I tried my best to change the man’s attitudes but he never listened. I therefore believe that his early death, which was foretold by the stars, will, for everyone else, probably be for the better!"

"You," Shadi Mulk Aka had then continued, with clear admiration in her eyes, "are, however, an entirely different proposition. I truly see in you the needed guiding light, not only for my husband but also for his youngest son and grandson!"

"I therefore charge you, Vissarion of Georgia," the formidable woman then announced with immense, unarguable authority, "with ensuring that you fulfil your own destiny in this world, namely the safeguarding of all of my husband’s achievements after his death, for as long as you yourself live!"

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire, same time)

Kiril was later joined in his cell by a similarly chastised, sobbing and naked Zoran, whose own pleasant nude form had been tied to the punishment post after that possessed by the young Bulgar had been released. The eight, vivid whip-marks that now decorated the rear of the latter’s beautiful body were now matched on the young Serb’s own bare back and curvaceous buttocks. The pair of 7 year-olds had been formally punished in public before their peers as a warning to all, especially the new arrivals, that being caught fighting was not to be tolerated.

As Kiril and Zoran had previously been separately led, still nude and now very sore, to the kitchen cell, both hurting boys sported apparently incongruous erections. Their small, uncut cocks had become hard during their whipping and then remained so not only throughout the flagellation but also until they reached their tiny prison. However, no-one amongst the many spectators chortled or commented about such an embarrassing display. Their attitude did not arise just because breaking the universal silence that prevailed, apart from the sound of leather hitting boyish flesh and associated agonised yelps and sobs from young throats, could lead the perpetrators also to be similarly bound naked to the punishment post. Instead, the lack of reaction was due to the common nature of the penile phenomenon.

Boys under chastisement frequently became hard. Young erections were also commonly seen on more innocuous occasions, such as during the morning nude runs and bathing. The sights were simply dismissed as natural, although many of the apprentices, especially the older pubescent ones, attempted to minimise their still embarrassing occurrence by ensuring that burgeoning bodily lusts, caused by accumulating hormones, were manually satisfied nightly under the privacy of their solitary blankets.

The key words in the charges levied against Kiril and Zoran were ‘being caught’. The newly arrived 7 year-olds had not yet known that fights to settle disputes between acemi oglan apprentices were not actually frowned upon. However, the expectation was that they were not to occur spontaneously and carelessly but were instead to take place in efficient secrecy and in line with established codes of honour.

Of course, Kiril and Zoran now appreciated their error, having been told about the correct procedures to establish honour and suffered the painful consequences of their mistake. The boys also knew that they were to be subsequently offered the opportunity to resolve their dispute in the correct manner. However, the pair of 7 year-olds was to decline the chance, for a very good reason.

The sensuous, tearful eyes of Kiril and Zoran looked at each other, as they shared their painful misery in their tiny, cold cell. Here, their pretty pair of 7 year-old bodies was not only experiencing residual excruciation and humiliation, as a result of their recent public flogging, but also shivering because of the chill. It was eventually the young Bulgar who produced the solution to the latter problem.

(Samarkand, Transoxiana, same time)

Vissarion perceptively realised that there was a second issue that the formidable Shadi Mulk Aka might like to raise before she terminated the audience. After overcoming his natural incredulity, which resulted from his inherent but unwarranted modesty, the young Georgian appreciated that their meeting represented an attempt at forging not only an alliance, designed to safeguard Tamerlane’s achievements and dynasty, but also an unusual, burgeoning friendship. However, the 18 year-old also recognised that there was still a potential obstacle in the Bibi Khanum’s mind to such a development and decided to resolve the problem before he left the Eldest Queen’s quarters.

Shadi Mulk Aka smiled at Vissarion’s intuitive but no longer unexpected display of wise insight when the young Georgian subsequently remarked, after a short bout of resumed inconsequential chatter, "Lady, I believe that you still possess some doubts about me. Before I go, would you care to let me know what they are?"

"There’s only one further issue that I’d like to resolve," Shadi Mulk Aka replied, "and it involves your background." "What is it about my life, Lady, that’s problematical?" a puzzled Vissarion responded.

"Well, you see Vissarion," Shadi Mulk Aka answered, "I know who you really are!"

(Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire, same time)

Still looking at the quivering Zoran through damp eyes, the similarly aged and shivering Kiril suggested, in the Turkic language they were being rapidly taught to share, "I believe that, if we hold each other, it’ll help us to become warm!" The chilled young Serb needed no second invitation, especially as he had somehow garnered no hatred for the young Bulgar, as a result of his recent hurtful experience, but had instead acquired respect because of the smaller boy’s original brave act of defiance towards him.

As the normally stern quartermaster, who had beaten and then delivered Kiril and Zoran to their cell, retreated from the sturdy door of the tiny prison, having been a secret witness to the scene within through a spyhole, he smiled. The man then commented to a cook "Another harsh lesson learnt well!"

The quartermaster went on to order "Release the boys after another hour. Then feed them fittingly with extra rations, as a reward for becoming friends!"

The cook also smiled in response, as he remembered how he had made a lifelong friend, years previously in similar circumstances, in the shape of the still handsome quartermaster.

Ahmad Jalayir’s initial rule in Baghdad had ended with the westward thrust of Tamerlane and his first capture of the city. The conqueror extorted heavy ransom from the inhabitants and, when he subsequently left, after 2 months of revelry, to conquer the Kurds of Takrit, he, as usual, deported many of the local skilled artisans to help aggrandise his own capital of Samarkand.