India giggled in spite of herself, and allowed him to lead her out onto the deck. The air was hot and dry. Ahead of them the great galley, its striped sails blowing gently in the slight breeze, rowed into an enclosed harbor, drawing its prey behind it. The harbor entrance was flanked by two square-towered lighthouses.

"They mark the ingress," Aruj Agha told her, "and are also responsible for the great chain that for now rests beneath the surface of the waters, but in emergencies can be raised to block entry to the port."

"They have a similar device across the Golden Horn in Istanbul," Tom Southwood remarked, looking about the anchorage carefully. There were at least three more big galleys, as well as galleots, brigantines, frigates, and small fellucas which could accommodate only three to five benches with one oarsman each, as opposed to the galley that had taken them in tow, and had twenty-eight benches with two oars for each bench, and four to five men on each oar. This was a busy and formidable anchorage. It would not, he now realized, be as simple as he had thought to take back the Royal Charles and escape, but as an honorable man, he had no choice but to eventually try.

India wasn't in the least interested in the harbor, its vessels, or its operations. It was this place, El Sinut, that fascinated her. It was a city like none she had ever before seen. The buildings were all white, and the hot midmorning sun glaring off them was almost blinding. They were not all of one height and most seemed to be terraced, each succeeding story set just slightly back of the one below. In what appeared to be the center of the city was a large building, the dome of which was overlaid in gold leaf, and glittered brightly.

"Is that your dey's palace?" India asked Aruj Agha.

"No," he told her, "that is the grande mosque of El Sinut."

"What is a mosque?" she inquired.

"It is what we call our holy place, like your churches," he explained to her. "Do you see the four towers surrounding the dome? They are called minarets. Six times each day the imans, our priests, ascend the minarets, and call the people to prayer."

"You pray six times each day?" India said, incredulous.

"We are devout people," he replied.

"What is going to happen now, Aruj Agha?" India questioned him as their ship was made fast to a dock.

"Why, we will go up to the dey's palace. It is there." He pointed.

Following the direction of his finger, India saw a large cluster of buildings on a low hill just below the grande mosque. They were as faceless and anonymous as all the other buildings in the city.

"A litter will be brought for you," he said, answering what was obviously to be her next question.

"And the others?" she wondered aloud. "My cousin? Viscount Twyford? Will they go, too?"

"They will walk behind us, my beauty," he responded. "I must now see to the arrangement," he told her. "I will leave you in the company of your cousin." Aruj Agha moved away from them, all business now.

"I am afraid," India suddenly said, looking up at Tom Southwood.

"You must show no fear," he warned her. "Especially among the women of the harem. You have to understand that these women are all vying for the attention of a single man, and hate each other. They will do whatever they have to do to destroy a potential rival."

"I think I should rather be at an oar," she told him with a small chuckle, as she attempted to calm herself.

"There is one thing I must insist you do, India," he said. "Under no circumstances say you were eloping with Viscount Twyford. If there is the slightest suspicion that you are no virgin, you could end up being sold in the common slave market, and find yourself in a brothel. You will be safest in the dey's household."

"But what if he gives me to someone else?" India fretted.

"You are still securest in the harem of a wealthy man than in a whorehouse, Cousin, and I will be able to find you more easily."

"But poor Adrian," India said piteously. "He will think I have betrayed him, and it will break his heart! I cannot do it, Tom!"

"Adrian will certainly understand that your safety is our main concern," Thomas Southwood told her. "It should be his concern, too, if he truly loves you. Please, India, promise me you will follow my instructions. Eventually I will get us all out of this situation, but you have to trust me, and do as I tell you."

At that moment, Aruj Agha joined them once again. "Bid your cousin farewell, Captain. You realize you will not be able to speak with her again. Quickly! We are ready to depart for the dey's palace."

Tom Southwood hugged India, whispering urgently into her ear as he did so, "Promise me!"

"I'll try," she whispered back, hugging him.

"Come," the janisarry captain said, taking India by the arm and leading her from the deck, down the gangway, and onto the first solid ground she had touched in weeks. She swayed just slightly as she regained her land legs, as the agha called them, helping her into a curtained litter. "Do not remove your veil, my beauty, or attempt to open the curtains once they are drawn," he said sternly.

"It is difficult to breathe," she complained nervously. Where was he taking her? What was going to happen to the others? And Adrian? She had not seen him in several days. Was he all right?

"Lie back against the pillows," he advised her in a kinder tone, seeing her obvious distress, although she made a valiant attempt not to show that she was frightened. "You will find a small embroidered pouch tucked along one side of the litter. In it is a vial of water to assuage your thirst should you need it You will find you can see through the curtains, although no one will be able to get close enough to you to invade your privacy. The town is pretty, and you will enjoy the ride to the dey's palace. It is not a great distance, my beauty." He gave her a small smile, then he drew the litter's curtains closed.

And he had not lied to her, India quickly discovered. She could see out!

Aruj Agha was dressed very handsomely this morning, she mused. He wore red silk pantaloons, a green-and-gold-striped shirt with a matching sash about his waist, and a handsome green silk cape lined in red. There was a curved sword hanging from his sash. His boots were of red leather, and upon his head was a small turban with a pearl pendant A rather handsome chestnut gelding was brought forth, and he mounted it easily, observing and directing the unloading of the Royal Charles from his perch.

The cargo was packed into mule-drawn carts and put into line behind the agha. India's litter was then moved behind the cargo. Suddenly she saw the English crew coming down the gangway of the corsair galley. They were shackled by their legs, and around the neck of each man was an iron collar from which a chain was fastened to the man before him in the line of prisoners. Only Captain Thomas Southwood was permitted to walk free, ahead of his men, having given his word of honor not to attempt an escape along their route. India's eyes anxiously scanned the shackled men, desperately seeking out Adrian Leigh. She gasped, horrified, to see him first in the line, next to Knox, pale, and treated no better than the common sailors. How could they!

Before she might voice her protest to Aruj Agha, her litter was lifted up by four of the janissaries who had come off the galley. The procession moved off the docks, and onto the narrow, winding streets of the city. Realizing that there was nothing she could do to help Adrian, India took the agha's advice and lay back amid the brightly colored silk pillows in the litter. She could see that the white walls of the buildings were devoid of windows on the street level. Some of the structures had lattice-covered windows on the upper levels, but most did not. Looking into the courtyard entrances she saw tubs and ceramic jars of flowers in a riotous profusion of shapes, sizes, and colors. Sometimes she saw a bubbling fountain. The streets were amazingly clean, and the populace appeared very orderly, going about their daily business without much ado. India quickly realized that the veiled figures were females, but there were actually very few of them. They passed through a large, open market square. There were stalls set up selling all kinds of produce and flowers; meat, poultry, and fish; household goods; fabrics; leather goods; song birds in wooden cages, and live animals. Then she shuddered seeing a block upon which slaves were even now being auctioned off. The people in the market jeered at the captive seamen, but made no other hostile move toward them.

The street they entered on the other side of the market square was slightly steeper, and gently terraced with wide stairs. The houses along it were larger, obviously belonging to a more affluent class of citizen. The street itself began to widen as they moved up it. India could see the dome of the grande mosque, and realized if the dey's palace were just below it, they must be getting closer. The procession entered another square; this one empty of people. There were no buildings on either side of the square; it was walled, and above it was nothing more than cloudless blue sky. The square was paved in blocks of cream and red marble. Ahead of them stood the dey's white marble palace.

They passed beneath a deep, wide entry arch into an open courtyard. Armed guards lined the entry and the courtyard. Their procession moved through another wide archway flanked with heavy wooden doors entering into another courtyard, this one planted, with a tiled fountain in its center. India's litter was set carefully down, and a moment later Aruj Agha opened the curtains and offered her his hand, helping her out. He looked at her a moment, and then nodded as if satisfied.

"You will follow me, my beauty. Do not speak unless the dey gives you his permission to do so. If he questions you, you may answer him. Now, let us go. The time of the dey's audience is almost over."

India looked quickly about her, but her cousin and the other English captives had been already taken away… but to where? She couldn't be afraid. She must not be. She genuinely believed her life depended upon her being strong, and so she followed quickly after the janisarry captain. He led her down a wide corridor, and finally into a large, pillared room with an opaque dome through which sunlight filtered softly. The room was crowded, and hot, but she shivered nonetheless. Seated cross-legged on a pillowed dais at the far end of the room from the entry was a man garbed all in white but for a cloth-of-gold sash about his waist. His broad pantaloons were white with wide embroidered bands of gold and pearls, and, most extraordinary, his feet were bare. He wore an open-necked white silk shirt, and she could see a heavy gold chain with a pendant upon his smooth bronze chest. A white satin cape lined in cloth-of-gold was fastened about his neck with a thin gold chain. On his head was a small, low turban, from whose front and center wrapping sprouted an aigrette feather set in a perfectly round diamond.

"Aruj Agha, my lord," the large black slave who was the doorkeeper boomed in stentorian tones.

"Stay here," the janissary commanded her. "When I call you, you may come forward, my beauty." The he hurried up to the foot of the dais, and, falling to his knees, kissed the dey's foot.

"Arise, Aruj Agha. You have returned sooner than I expected. You have had good hunting then, I assume?"

"Indeed, my lord Caynan Reis, I have." The agha scrambled to his feet once again, bowing as he did so.

"What have you brought us?" the dey asked. His face was an oval, and a short, well-barbered black beard fringed his jaw, making a circle about his mouth.

"A fine English round ship, my lord. It is not even a year old, and was meant for the East Indies run, but its captain was breaking it in gently by sailing it between London and Istanbul for the last few months. Its cargo, I regret, is not particularly valuable. Just Portuguese hides, English wool, and tinware, oranges and lemons from Cadiz, and a number of barrels of sherry from Malaga, which we dumped into the sea, remembering the prophet's admonition on wine. Its crew, however, is made up of well-disciplined seamen, quite a cut above the usual scurvy creatures we generally take off these ships. Many, including the captain, have already said they are willing to convert to Islam, and sail beneath the flags of the sultan's government, and El Sinut. And, the vessel carried two passengers. A young English milord, who will undoubtedly fetch a respectable ransom, and the captain's cousin, a young noblewoman, said to be an heiress of great wealth. She was being escorted to visit her grandmother in Naples. I am assured she is a virgin, my lord Caynan Reis. She is, I believe, quite a prize."