Tamerlane's Boys 11

By Pueros

Chapter 11 – Jealousies

(Samarkand, Transoxonia, November 1391)

Shadi Mulk Aka, Tamerlane’s Eldest Queen, or ‘Bibi Khanum’, remained aggrieved, on behalf of herself and the other female consorts who lived in the conqueror’s huge resplendent palace in his capital city of Samarkand. After several years away, her husband was not only spending much of the day with his ministers and generals, discussing state affairs and future campaigns, but also spending every night with his young male catamites, who accompanied him everywhere. Such an affront to Muslim womenfolk of such high standing in their own residence was an unprecedented insult. The middle-aged woman therefore decided to do something to eradicate the problem.

Tamerlane had always previously been very discreet about his sexual preferences when resident in one of his many palaces. However, the conqueror’s desire to have Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai constantly with him and to share his bed with his boys rather than his jealous wives was not sensible, a fact that he would learn the hard way.

It was mid-afternoon, almost three weeks after the return to Samarkand, and as usual at this time, Tamerlane was in council with his advisers. Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai had attended on their master and his guests, providing them with drinks and snacks but no longer tasting the fare. Other servants were present to perform that function as, after the experience of Isfahan, where Arman had been poisoned, the conqueror considered such a chore too dangerous for his boys. The latter were now considerately lounging in an adjacent room to permit the conqueror to conduct his affairs without distraction, although they were proficiently ready to be of further service when required. All knew from experience that the close proximity of his beautiful catamites often caused the Great Lord’s attention to wander from the subjects being debated.

Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai were in turn served refreshments by palace servants and one of these brought them a tray of delicious-looking sweet delicacies. As with all boys of all eras when presented with such treats, they could not resist and began to eat.

Tamerlane was currently discussing his plans for the further development of his capital city with a large group of administrators and builders, including the poor stonemason, now very rich senior construction engineer, who had saved Vissarion and Arman in Isfahan, when several ear-splitting screams reverberated around the palatial room. It did not take long for the shocked and deeply concerned conqueror to appreciate that the seemingly agonised noises were emanating from the chamber next door, where his boys were located.

Tamerlane rushed into the adjacent room to see that Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai were all writhing on the floor, their mouths foaming and apparently in great pain. Each of the boys was being attended by a servant but without any success in alleviating their distressed conditions. The conqueror shoved to the side one of the attendants, who was trying fruitlessly to assist the young Georgian and who was deeply apprehensive, not only for the boy’s welfare but also his own if any permanent harm befell the 14 years old.

Tamerlane instantly recognised the signs of poison and noticed the tray of sweet delicacies on the table around which Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai had been sitting cross-legged. “Fetch my doctors,” the conqueror commanded the servants before ordering the officials with whom he had been in discussion, now gathered at the doorway between the two council chambers, to help him carry his boys to their sumptuous quarters. The expression on the former stonemason’s face was as crestfallen as that of his master as they quickly complied.

Tamerlane’s face displayed tears, something that shocked his officials even more than what had inflicted the boys, as the men struggled to carry the young trio to their own rooms. Their burdens were not helped by the constant agonised bodily convulsions being endured by the still-foaming speechless white-faced young Georgian, Armenian and Muscovite.

A quintet of Tamerlane’s doctors quickly arrived but it soon became evident that there was little that they good do. They placed fingers down the boys’ throats to make them vomit the contents of their stomachs but to little avail. It appeared that the poison was too well engrained in their systems to stop it fulfilling its undoubted fatal work.

Many people in Tamerlane’s position, observing the three people dearest to his heart slowly die in excruciation before his eyes, would have panicked as a result of the resultant dreadful emotion. However, the conqueror had not attained his status in life by succumbing easily to such a feeling. He instead remembered the tray of sweet delicacies and, more importantly and perceptively, the look of disgust on his Eldest Queen’s face whenever she saw his boys.

Tamerlane immediately rushed back to the council chambers to collect the tray and then, with equal speed, went to his Bibi Khanum’s quarters. There he found the Queen seated on a throne, attended by two handmaidens and dressed in an all-enveloping formal robe, as if she had being expecting her husband’s visit.

Tamerlane unceremoniously went straight up to Shadi Mulk Aka and thrust the tray of sweet delicacies into her face before firmly commanding “Have one!” However, the Queen, who came from an ancient noble family boasting many warrior ancestors, was not easily cowed. She just smirked and answered “No thank you, I’ve just eaten.” This infuriated her husband even more, his face as a consequence turning bright red before his mouth ordered, this time in a loud shrieking tone, “I insist, have one!”

Shadi Mulk Aka was apparently still not perturbed, despite the damage that Tamerlane’s atrocious temper had reeked on others in the past. She maintained her smile and replied “No thank, I need to watch my weight!” Her husband then threw the tray onto the marble floor and raised his right hand to smack the wilful woman’s face, which was, apart from her hands, the only part of her anatomy visible. However, in response, the Queen did not try to shelter her endangered visage but instead defiantly presented it to receive the man’s anguished angry admonishment.

The sight of Shadi Mulk Aka’s brave defiance instantly assuaged some of Tamerlane’s fury and he lowered his hand before declaring “You know what’s happened because you’re responsible. If my boys die, so will you!” However, the Queen’s retort was not as anticipated. “I would sooner die,” she announced with clear bitterness, “than suffer the shame of you disporting yourself with and enjoying the bodies of your male whores in my own home, whilst totally disregarding your consorts!” This statement immediately caused her husband to realise the error of his ways, the conqueror always being willing to recognise personal mistakes, if only to eradicate such fallibility in future. A profound but, as usual, calculating calmness therefore suddenly descended upon him.

“Well then,” Tamerlane advised, now with quiet authority, “as soon as the boys are well again, they shall be removed permanently from the palace to permit me to conduct myself as I should. I apologise for my behaviour and I shall, of course, hereon perform the proper duties in respect of my Queens. However, that will only happen once my young servants have recovered and I’m sure that you’ll find a way for that to happen. Otherwise, I’ll be seeking new consorts, the previous incumbents having been walled-up in their rooms!” The conqueror then turned on his heel and departed Shadi Mulk Aka’s presence.

Tamerlane was taking a gamble, hoping that the Bibi Khanum would be aware of an antidote to the poison currently killing his boys. However, his threat against his Queens was not idle, as Shadi Mulk Aka fully appreciated. The conqueror would have been prepared to risk the probable rebellions from the women’s powerful families, which would have resulted from their lingering executions in awful revenge for the deaths of his beloved young Georgian, Armenian and Muscovite. It was why she did indeed have knowledge of a cure to the deliberately slow-acting poison contained in the sweet delicacies, now strewn round the floor of her quarters.

Shadi Mulk Aka sent for her own doctor and gave him a little jar containing a colourless liquid. She suggested to the physician that her husband’s young servants, currently in some distress, might benefit from an infusion of the substance. After the man had gone, the Queen’s smirk returned as she relished her win in the battle to secure greater respect and attention from Tamerlane. However, it was later to prove a pyrrhic victory, one that did not win the war.

The antidote proved effective immediately and soon the sedated Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai were sleeping soundly, Tamerlane personally watching over them in the company of the doctors before, finally content that his boys were safe, he went to pay his overdue respects to his various Queens. The conqueror was a man of his word, which was one reason why he frequently inflicted terrible vengeance on those who were not.

Tamerlane extended his duty to one particular young Queen by spending the night with her. It had been a very long time since the man had experienced the body of a woman and he enjoyed the experience sufficiently to perform his function adequately. However, the conqueror still preferred young male forms, especially those belonging to a young Georgian, Armenian and Muscovite, even though he now regretted that two of this trio had been gelded.

Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai were still somewhat queasy next morning but were sufficiently well to be moved out of the palace for their own safety. Their new accommodation was a splendid riverside house amidst large gardens, hastily vacated by one of Tamerlane’s ministers when the conqueror decided to requisition the residence for his quickly recovered boys to spend the winter in, carefully watched over by a new set of bodyguards and many servants.

Vissarion and Arman, in particular, had persuaded Tamerlane to release the previous bodyguards from service. They had been part of the conqueror’s army for many years and had recently served his boys well and loyally, but all now wanted to retire to live with their families, spread around various parts of Transoxonia.

The soldiers platonically loved their young and gregariously pleasant energetic charges and were still immensely grateful for the fact that the young Georgian and Armenian had saved them on two occasions from Tamerlane’s fury. However, they were all now feeling their mortality and wanted to settle down with their own loved ones before it was too late. The retiring warriors were therefore sent on their way with many mutually tearful hugs and expressions of future happiness from the youngsters, as well as much gold from the conqueror in recognition for good service for his boys. This largesse, and the importance of their previous roles, would enable the men and their families to become very wealthy and important members of their communities.

There was eager competition to become the new bodyguards amongst the remaining army, now being replenished with many fresh recruits eager to seek their own fortunes with the conqueror. The keenness for the role stemmed not only from the boys’ popularity but also from appreciation, from what the retiring soldiers had just received, that the rewards for good service could be great.

Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai now experienced their own jealousies as Tamerlane kept his word to Shadi Mulk Aka and spent most of the winter in his palace, dutifully giving some of his time and passion to his wives. The conqueror did manage to escape for an occasional night from the female clutches but these were rare. His boys therefore had to content themselves with play in each other’s not unpleasant company, both within the house and gardens, as well as in bed, where by necessity Arman had to take the lead for his two gelded friends. The young Georgian, Armenian and Muscovite also enjoyed riding around the local vicinity on their magnificent horses with their bodyguards, although they found the profound respect that they were paid by the people they came across, all of whom seemed to know who they were, rather embarrassing.

The main aspect of the winter months of 1391-1392 that Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai least liked was a product of their master’s love for them. Tamerlane had been concerned that his boys’ education was being neglected and so he sent them some of the best scholars and tutors in Samarkand to remedy the situation, being considerately careful to avoid too much Islamic influence in the studies, given that the two young eunuchs were Christians. The young Georgian, Armenian and Muscovite might not have welcomed the distraction from more fun pastimes but appreciated the conqueror’s motives and decided to apply their best efforts to absorb the instruction. It was something that all three proved adept at, thereby considerably assisting their future lives and welfare.

Tamerlane did not seek awful revenge on Shadi Mulk Aka for poisoning Vissarion, Arman and Nicolai. This was not only because he did not want to start an internecine civil war that could tear his Empire asunder but also because the bold resourceful woman, whom he could not help but admire, perhaps because she seemed so like himself, had taught him a valuable lesson, albeit by unorthodox and, for his boys, temporarily very distressing means. However, milder vengeance was extracted the following spring, by which time the conqueror had become very bored with life in Samarkand, not least because of his separation from his young catamites.

Persia had never been completely subdued and so Tamerlane set off at the head of his rested, replenished and reinvigorated army to rectify the situation, leaving his Queens without the man in their lives again. In fact, the conqueror would now rarely return to Samarkand and then only briefly. Shadi Mulk Aka had to occupy her time instead with supervising her husband’s command to build a great mosque in the capital.

Tamerlane wanted the mosque to be the biggest in his empire, if not the world. The conqueror also, gallingly for the Eldest Queen, wanted the construction of the building to be recognised as being in deep gratitude to Allah for the miraculous salvation of his young servants from mysterious illness over six months earlier.

The Bibi Khanum now knew that Tamerlane’s boys had won after all as she watched her husband ride off, at the beginning of May 1392, on another campaign, with three happy excited youngsters at his side.

(To be continued in chapter 12 – ‘Persians’)