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TAMERLANE’S BOYS By Pueros Chapter 32 – Princes (Kutaisi, Imeritia, Georgia, Spring, 1396) Many people, of course, knew that Arman was the son of the Emir of Armenia, who had been deposed and beheaded by Tamerlane. The young Armenian had therefore been born a Prince, albeit to a family who were considered by many, not least the suddenly orphaned boy’s later master, to be usurping robber barons. However, the conqueror’s attitude was knowingly hypocritical because he could correctly be accused of being the same. The people of Armenia were primarily Christian and were therefore not keen to see the return of a Muslim Emir to rule their country. Consequently, Tamerlane’s salvation of Arman, from being decapitated like the rest of his family, had not appeared to anyone to be a particularly personally unwise move in respect of the conqueror’s own dynastic ambitions in the country. Such an attitude was strengthened by realisation that it was also inconceivable that the then boy Prince’s compatriots would want to see the later return, as their ruler, of someone who had been one of the dreaded conqueror’s catamites. Young Prince Georgi, great grandson of Bagrat V, senior grandson, and therefore rightful heir of the present eponymous King of Georgia, Georgi VII, and son of the late Duke Alexander Bagrationi, was another matter entirely. Their dynasty was old and still greatly respected, despite the country’s recent sufferings at Tamerlane’s hands and the consequent disappearance into safe, remote hiding by the incumbent monarch. On Bagrat V’s death in 1393, after 38 years on the throne, his eldest son became Georgi VII in a necessarily simple and secret coronation, attended by only a few, before remaining in obscurity. After the supposed demise of the new King’s own eldest son and all of his immediate family, outside the walls of a sacked Tiflis and again at Tamerlane’s bloodstained hands, several years previously, the official heir to the monarchy had become Konstantine. Konstantine was the now childless Georgi VII’s younger brother, who happily acquired his own son, Alexander in 1389, a few years after Tamerlane’s devastating initial raid on Georgia. The now 7 year-old child currently lived with his royal father and uncle in their secret place of refuge. Bagrat V and his two sons, the later Georgi VII and Konstantine, had been heavily defeated in battle by Tamerlane during the latter’s invasion. The shattered remnants of the Georgian army, including the King and his pair of middle-aged offspring, had then been forced to flee to safer parts of the country, leaving their capital, Tiflis, undefended, apart from its walls and small garrison. The governor of Tiflis, responsible for the city’s defences, was Duke Alexander Bagrationi, 27 year-old only son of the later Georgi VII. Although he organised resistance well and bravely, the walls of the capital were no match for Tamerlane’s siege engines, which were influentially assisted by crude but nevertheless efficient artillery pieces imported from China along the Silk Road. Consequently, the walls were quickly breached and Duke Alexander Bagrationi’s courageous but, in retrospect, unwise decision not to surrender Tiflis meekly to Tamerlane, in return for an original promise of lenient treatment for him, his family and people, was then severely punished. In order to provide a terrible example to the other cities and towns of Georgia, the conqueror allowed his victorious soldiers to go on a bloody rampage, raping, pillaging and murdering many of the populace in the process. More formal executions of the leading citizens took place outside the city walls so that Tamerlane could build a symbolic tower of skulls, as a further warning to the wider population of Georgia that his will was not to be resisted. Amongst those to suffer were the captured Duke Alexander Bagrationi and all of his immediate family, with one exception. Duke Alexander Bagrationi had taken the precaution of separating his only son and heir, 10 year-old Georgi, from the rest of the family in order to try to pass him off as the offspring, called Vissarion, of a noble, in a desperate attempt to save the boy from Tamerlane’s vengeance. However, the father’s desperate efforts on behalf of his only child seemed doomed to failure when the conqueror decided that his construction of the local tower of skulls also necessitated the decapitation of all of the captured nobility and their families. The sublime young head of Prince Georgi was therefore still destined for removal from his gorgeous torso until another factor saved the boy, namely his extraordinary, unparalleled beauty. Tamerlane luckily glanced the child amongst the huge crowd of bound captives, of both genders and all ages, awaiting execution. Subsequently, instead of allowing the 10 year-old to be decapitated, the conqueror decided that the blonde-haired, blue-eyed child should lose his balls to become one of his invariably exceptionally lovely catamites. At that time, Tamerlane liked to have the non-Muslims amongst his boys castrated, in common with contemporary Turkic fashion, partly in order to try to maintain the child’s impeccable boyish looks for as long as possible by delaying the 10 year-old’s later progression into manhood. Although this particular aim of gelding was actually only rarely achieved, with young Prince Georgi, also known as Vissarion, it seemed to work, given that now the immeasurably beautiful and diminutive young Georgian still looked at most 15 despite being currently 19 years of age. Fearful of the consequences of disclosure of his true identity, young Prince Georgi, great grandson of King Bagrat, maintained the pretence that he was Vissarion, son of a mere noble, now deceased. The subsequent acute shame, induced by his forced castration and introduction to Tamerlane’s bed, only served to increase his resolve to retain his secret, especially as, after the chaos, destruction and killings heaped on Georgia by the conqueror, no-one recognised him. Those who might have known the only son of Duke Alexander Bagrationi were either dead or had fled into hiding. The young Prince was also encouraged in his determination to retain anonymity because, despite his tender years at the time, he knew that Georgia would never want a eunuch catamite to assume the country’s throne. The shamed boy was therefore selflessly content to allow his great uncle, Konstantine, to become heir instead to Georgi VII, and was very happy to hear later that the man had sired a healthy male child, Alexander. This gladdening occurrence encouraged young Prince Georgi to be satisfied that his family line could continue without any contribution from him, which was, of course, impossible anyway because of his gelded state. Consequently, the boy was also subsequently comfortable with remaining Vissarion, although this contentment was, as shall later be revealed, considerably assisted by another development. Vissarion, as hereon he will again be called, because that is the name by which he became known to posterity, had not even previously advised his oldest and still best friend, Arman, about his real identity. The now 19 year-old, amazed Armenian heard the similarly aged Georgian’s startling revelation only outside the walls of Kutaisi. Vissarion had confessed his true identity now to save the people of Kutaisi from their foolishness in not surrendering their city and the false young Georgi. News had originally reached Samarkand that the local uprising had been instigated by the same-named older King. However, his real grandson, knowing the monarch for wise caution, considered this information either to be incorrect or indicative of the man’s insane desperation or of the fact that an impostor was posing as him. The forces, led by Shahrukh, subsequently despatched by Tamerlane at the beginning of the next campaigning season in the following Spring, quickly came to learn that the revolt had been stimulated not by Georgi VII but by his supposed eponymous grandson. Vissarion naturally knew that this princely claimant was truly an impostor. On hearing Vissarion’s remarkable announcement, only the robust, white-haired septuagenarian, amongst the Kutaisian intermediaries, did not exhibit incredulous scorn. He instead moved his horse closer to the magnificent black steed of the alleged Prince in order to gain a better perspective of the 19 year-old. The robust, white-haired septuagenarian then tried his best to concentrate his eyes on Vissarion’s beautiful face. Despite the man’s poor sight and the fact that he had not seen young Prince Georgi for over a decade, slow but clear recognition of the real identity of lovely youth then dawned in his mind. The robust, white-haired septuagenarian then, without initially speaking, dismounted from his horse, picked up Vissarion’s hand, which had been holding the bridle of his own resplendent Arabian steed, and kissed it. The man subsequently released his hold and fell to his knees. "Please, Prince Georgi" the robust, white-haired septuagenarian now requested, "forgive an old man’s poor eyesight and memory for not recognising you previously!" On hearing this plea, the rest of the stunned Kutaisian delegation also dismounted from their horses, having totally accepted their highly respected, senior colleague’s revised stance. They subsequently knelt similarly, whilst suddenly recognising the error of their ways and feeling immense regret and mortification at their own earlier thoughts and failures in respect of Vissarion. The beautiful youth might have become a eunuch catamite, albeit certainly not of his own free will, and had subsequently remained in the entourage of the hated Tamerlane. However, the delegates now suddenly appreciated that surely a prince of the royal house would only retain his apparently demeaning and treacherous status for selfless ulterior motives. Some of the wiser adult minds also recalled the conqueror’s recent, more benevolent attitude towards Georgia and realised who must have been behind such a change. They additionally recognised that the 19 year-old had probably remained with his dreaded master, sacrificially suffering the ignominy of being one of his boy whores, in order to secure such favours for his homeland, to where it would anyway be too shameful to return in his real guise because of what had happened to him. Such revelations, which were actually only partly correct, only made them further ashamed about their earlier attitudes. "I’ll forgive your poor eyesight and memory, Uncle Demetre," Vissarion announced to the still kneeling, robust, white-haired septuagenarian, and his similarly posing Kutaisian colleagues, "if you do as I ask. Surrender your city and the false Georgi to me. Tamerlane’s forces, led by Prince Shahrukh, have, at my suggestion, deliberately targeted the capture of the impostor as their first objective in Georgia. My advice was proffered without me having to tell them how I knew that the young man was a fraud. I firmly believe that the knave’s exposure as a phoney and his subsequent demise will quickly end, without too much further damage, the unwise uprising that has selfishly, for his own evil aim of usurping the throne, endangered my homeland. The conqueror’s army will then be merciful to all, including the people of your city, as long as they were not conversant with the charlatan’s true identity and wicked plotting!" Vissarion referred to the still kneeling, robust, white-haired septuagenarian as ‘Uncle Demetre’ despite the fact that he was not a blood relative. The man had instead been a senior adviser at the court of the now 19 year-old’s late great grandfather, Bagrat V. His wise counsel had been a major contributory factor in having this King posthumously awarded the suffix epithet of ‘the Great’. He had retired to the vineyard he owned near his home city of Kutaisi, on the River Rion in the province of Imeritia [120 miles northwest of Tiflis], before Tamerlane’s invasion of Georgia. As one of Bagrat V’s senior counsellors, Demetre had taken the trouble to spend a lot of time with those who should later inherit the throne of Georgia, namely successively Crown Prince Georgi, his son, Duke Alexander Bagrationi, and his offspring, the boy who would eventually adopt the pseudonym of Vissarion. The latter, as an infant, had already displayed much interest in the stars and the royal adviser had often sat alone with the delightful boy at night, introducing him for the first time to the names of the various constellations in the heavens above. Demetre had been rewarded for his stellar efforts, and for the many bedtime stories he usually mesmerisingly told the boy afterwards, with being called ‘Uncle’ by the exceedingly pleasant, beautiful and intelligent youngster. Of course, all of these tales, plus copious additions invented or researched by the later renamed Vissarion, would be subsequently retold, equally intriguingly, to certain others, whilst they all relaxed and readied themselves for sleep, usually after sex under a certain bearskin in a large, luxurious tent. In response to being kindly termed ‘Uncle’ by the third in direct line of succession to the throne of Georgia, Demetre began to call the boy, whom he otherwise knew as the younger Prince Georgi, ‘Stargazer’, because of the child’s apparent infatuation with the night-time heavens. The pair conspiratorially kept the nickname secret from anyone else. After Demetre now, given the recent revelations, and with the full agreement of his Kutaisian colleagues, quickly promised to surrender the city, the false Georgi and the impostor’s closest followers, he and the other delegates were ordered back to their feet and then horses by Vissarion. The latter then asked the men to promise to keep his true identity a secret. Only Arman and Teimuraz, of those otherwise present at the parley from Tamerlane’s forces, were privy to the recently revealed, very surprising knowledge. Vissarion obviously spoke to the Kutaisians in Georgian, but, amongst his own comrades, only the young Armenian and his 13 year-old groom could understand what he was saying. Arman was conversant with the local language because he had been introduced to it by Vissarion and Teimuraz, both of who were Georgians. Over the years, the young Armenian had become quite conversant with the native tongue, mainly out of respect for the heritage of his best friend and groom and because the former had reciprocated the cultural regard. Vissarion suggested that it would be better for the honour of Georgia and his people if his compatriots continued to believe that the real younger Georgi had been beheaded outside Tiflis years previously. The discovery that the rightful current heir to the throne had become, albeit originally involuntarily, a eunuch and catamite of Tamerlane might be too traumatic for many of the populace to endure without seeking the end of the monarchy. The wise 19 year-old, rightful Crown Prince of Georgia, sincerely and perceptively believed that his royal dynasty still had a constructively important role to play in the country’s future affairs. Consequently, he advised the Kutaisian intermediaries that it would be best if his great uncle, Konstantine, and this man’s young son, Alexander, remained unperturbed as the nominated successors of Georgi VII. Vissarion rapidly secured the oaths, to maintain his secret, of Demetre and the other, universally strongly royalist intermediaries, which were all reluctantly given but never subsequently broken. The 19 year-old considerately next suggested two explanations that the returning men could provide their people. First, the 19 year-old recommended how they explained their sudden confidence that the so-called Prince Georgi, who had been cornered in Kutaisi by Shahrukh’s skilful military manoeuvrings, which had actually been devised by Arman, was an impostor. The men were to advise their fellow citizens that the hated Vissarion had brought irrefutable evidence of the deception, comprising witnesses, including the actual executioner, to the decapitation, years previously, of the young son of Duke Alexander Bagrationi in front of Tiflis’ walls. Demetre in particular was confident that the citizens of Kutaisi would be eager to believe their intermediaries and not consider Vissarion’s evidence a trick. After all, Tamerlane’s hated eunuch catamite did not really need to instigate his own plan of deception to take the city. The forces of Shahrukh were so formidable in number, ability and equipment that the place should not take too long to assault successfully. In the circumstances, the people rightfully feared for themselves and their metropolis. They had also helpfully quickly grown to dislike the false Georgi and particularly his followers, who had treated them with great, disrespectful arrogance. The phoney had only previously retained loyalty to his cause out of nationalist and royalist sentiments, which were now heavily eroded by the reality of the dreaded conqueror’s proficiently besieging soldiers. The second explanation Vissarion recommended related to how the intermediaries could justify kneeling before the hated eunuch catamite at the site of the parley, which was visible from the walls of Kutaisi. The action would be considered humiliating in circumstances other than in front of the foremost members of the Georgian royal family. The 19 year-old therefore advised the men that they should describe their seemingly shameful deference to have been cruelly requested by Tamerlane’s treacherous boy whore in return for his agreement to saving the local city and citizenry from undoubted, imminent destruction. The delegation’s act would thereby be regarded not as demeaningly disgraceful but instead as sacrificially selfless. Gratefully armed with this pair of useful verbal defences for their actions, especially the agreement to surrender both Kutaisi and the false Georgi, Demetre and his colleagues returned to their city, where soon afterwards the gates were opened. On the subsequent peaceful entry of Shahrukh’s forces, Vissarion personally went to interrogate the young man who had impersonated him and who, along with his closest followers, had now been incarcerated in chains in the municipal prison. The cowardly but very handsome false Georgi did not take long to confess his deception to the complete satisfaction of the citizens of Kutaisi, with just the sight of the tools of torture proving sufficient motivation. However, despite the angered demands of the local people, who disliked being duped, Vissarion spared his fellow 19 year-old. The young eunuch had quickly recognised the true, evil brain behind the plot to usurp the throne of Georgia. The false Georgi’s main supporter was someone who had originally been an always ambitiously but ultimately unsuccessfully scheming Baron at King Bagrat V’s court. The man had also first confirmed the impostor’s legitimacy. The Baron had noticed the resemblance of one of his own young kitchen staff to the Prince he too regarded as truly dead, plus the possibilities this presented to further his own lust for power. He therefore persuaded the youth, mainly by use of threats, to become the impostor, and then instructed him in matters relating to the royal house. Consequently, the impostor had been able to answer at least some questions relating to his own supposed life at King Bagrat V’s court, which had allegedly ended 9 years before he professedly resurfaced, after supposedly hiding for almost a decade under the protection of the Baron. The phoney could also survive other queries by suggesting that he had only been 10 years old at the time of his disappearance amidst the chaotic devastation wreaked on Georgia by Tamerlane and, after the subsequent time gap, could not be expected to remember everything. The false Georgi revealed to Vissarion that the evil Baron had actually not expected to be able to defeat Tamerlane, on the conqueror’s inevitable vengeful return to Georgia, but had instead intended to hide again until the undoubted bloody storm of retribution had passed. However, the wicked noble had anticipated that his young stooge would, in the interim, accede to the throne, replacing Georgi VII, whose disposition he had hoped to manoeuvre because of the King’s unpopular caution towards the national uprising. After Tamerlane had subsequently departed the country, as he invariably did, the Baron then expected to assume behind-the-scenes real power after bringing the false Georgi back out from hiding to accept the throne. The position of King might not mean much at present but the conqueror, who was now a sexagenarian, would not live forever. His long wished ultimate death could result in complete freedom for Georgia and full restitution of the powers of the monarch, albeit to the wicked hands of the noble rather than those of his young stooge. The audacious but amoral plot, which could have only succeeded at the cost of many Georgian lives and the further devastation of much of the nation’s cities and countryside, had almost succeeded. However, the completely unexpected, lightening targeting by Shahrukh’s forces of the impostor, conducted in accordance with Vissarion’s wise counsel and Arman’s excellent military advice, had fatefully trapped the surprised phoney, the evil Baron and their close supporters in Kutaisi. Most of the wicked conspirators were now to pay the ultimate price for their infamy in customary Georgian fashion. They were stripped and impaled outside the undamaged walls of Kutaisi, with the unsympathetic local citizenry as witnesses. The evil Baron took many hours to die. However, the false Georgi was reprieved by Vissarion, who recognised that the handsome blonde, blue-eyed young man had been unable to avoid his role in the plot because his master would have murdered him. Word soon spread round Georgia that the miraculously reappearing Prince Georgi had been an impostor and so the revolt against Tamerlane’s suzerainty now rapidly collapsed everywhere. Shahrukh, receiving counsel from his usual young advisers, therefore chose not to extract full retribution against the whole populace for their impertinent uprising, as long as civic heads swore oaths of renewed fidelity and offered up those responsible for massacring his father’s local officials and garrisons. Given that few now had the desire or stomach to offer further resistance, given the probable alternatives, the men concerned were speedily produced to receive due punishment, which entailed the loss of their heads rather than impaling. The reasoning for this distinction was based on the fact that their underlying treachery, based on the assumption that the princely impostor was no fake, had been against the conqueror’s trust, whilst that of the evil Baron and his fellow plotters had really been against their own country’s true interests. Meanwhile, throughout the whole process of renewed national subjugation to Tamerlane’s suzerainty, Vissarion’s true identity had remained undetected by anyone, other than those now knowledgeable about the fact, who had kept silent. Georgi VII, his younger brother Konstantine and his 7 year-old nephew, Alexander, were also left alone in their supposedly secret, remote hiding-place. However, they did receive one fright that disturbed their furtive, normally tranquil lives. Georgi VII was immensely surprised to acquire a new 19 year-old kitchen hand, someone who had been compelled to arrive with his offer of service, as well as a note from the hated Vissarion. The alarming arrival of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed young man naturally revealed to the King that the treacherous eunuch catamite had somehow discovered where the remaining, living members of the Georgian royal family were concealing themselves. However, after reading the parchment, the monarch did not organise familial flight to another secret place of hiding. Georgi VII’s ageing eyes instead became rather tearful, whilst he learnt how Vissarion had guessed correctly where the royal family would be hiding. The now only formerly hated eunuch catamite had visited the remote but palatial fortress, high in the Caucasian mountains of northern Georgia, several times when a young boy, as it was a frequently used regal summer retreat. However, this revelation alone had not caused the King’s lachrymation. Instead, Georgi VII’s tears reflected his new appreciation that his only grandson still lived but had found a different occupation from being rightful Crown Prince of Georgia, a new role from which he could never retreat. The King had now learnt fully about his younger namesake’s life over the past decade and the reasons why the 19 year-old could never be deflected away from his current existence, not that, given the circumstances, his grandfather would ever want to attempt to do so. Vissarion’s secret would only be shared with the King’s younger brother, Konstantine, and one day, when the boy was old enough, with the sibling’s son, Alexander, who resembled to a remarkable degree, in both physique and character, the long-lost younger Georgi. This discreet sharing of the information would one day prove very fortunate for the 7 year-old and Georgia. (Samarkand, Transoxiana, about 6 months previously, Autumn, 1395) Vissarion did not dare try to bluff his way out of the Eldest Queen’s private exposure of him as really being Georgi, rightful Crown Prince of Georgia. The flabbergasted young eunuch instead asked how the formidable Bibi Khanum knew his true identity. Shadi Mulk Aka replied that she had sent investigators to Georgia to learn more about the background of a person who was rapidly gaining in status within Tamerlane’s empire. The cautious Bibi Khanum was not going to entrust matters of importance to someone about whom she did not possess all the facts. The Eldest Queen had done something similar in respect of Arman, although his origins, as the son of the late Emir of Armenia, were better appreciated than those of Vissarion, who was only known to be the offspring of an obscure noble. The investigators had encountered little luck until one day someone in Georgia recalled the occasion, years previously, when Tamerlane had returned to the country with his boys to tackle the raiding Mongols of the Golden Horde. During their stay, the conqueror had given Vissarion permission to visit a supposed uncle on the latter’s remote rural estate. The then 13 year-old had taken his similarly aged friend, Arman, with him. The two beautiful boys had then, for the first time, temporarily fallen into evil Mongol hands. (Kutaisi, Imeritia, Georgia, about 6 months later) After Arman finally managed to be alone with Vissarion, he asked his oldest and closest friend why he had never previously told him about his true identity. The young Georgian blushed at his deceit but truthfully confessed one of the reasons. "I was too frightened," Vissarion answered, "during my early days as one of Tamerlane’s boys, that revelation of my true identity might both anger and worry our master, causing him to kill me. I’m afraid to say that, when I was younger, I was cowardly and therefore prepared to do almost anything to stay alive." On hearing these words, Arman wondered whether his brave friend, who had demonstrated his inherent selfless courage on many occasions, had ever truly been selfishly timid. After all, personal survival is a strong instinct to resist, unless perhaps others might suffer at your expense. "Of course I trusted you," the young Georgian proceeded to inform his Armenian friend, "but was afraid that, if I told you the truth about my background, we might sometime become indiscreet about it, perhaps by being overheard talking about my history. Later, when I began to realise that Tamerlane would never harm me, regardless of my heritage, my past no longer seemed to matter. Only the present was real, and here I was now happily Vissarion not Prince Georgi!" "Were you never tempted to reassert your rightful role in Georgia," Arman next enquired, "as I’m sure that Tamerlane would have supported you?" Vissarion replied negatively, giving as his reasons his eunuch catamite status, which was a background that his compatriots would find intolerable in a King. "Anyway," Vissarion added, whilst his peerlessly blue eyes gleamed, "there’s also a much more important reason!" "What’s that?" asked Arman. His friend then proceeded to give the young Armenian the same answer that he would later provide to someone else of great significance in his life. Arman subsequently enquired "If your late father had no brothers, who was the uncle we visited in Georgia almost 7 years ago?" (Tiflis, Georgia, almost 7 years previously, July 1389) Tamerlane had arranged for the treasures stolen from Tiflis’ ancient Sion cathedral to be returned from Samarkand. He wanted to honour his beloved 13 year-old Vissarion by allowing the boy personally to oversee their restitution to their rightful places, and even the restoration of infidel religious services. No-one had ever seen the dreaded conqueror display such kind largesse or forbearance previously. Vissarion went conscientiously about his duties, overseeing the restitution work conducted by the various Georgian craftsmen, most of whom had been captured and exported to Samarkand, along with the plundered religious artefacts, 3 years previously. Tamerlane had, as was his custom, spared such artisans from his wrath and resultant decapitation to go instead to adorn his own capital city. They had now been returned to their homeland to perform the restoration of the great cathedral. Vissarion had initially been pleased that no-one appeared to appreciate his true identity. As a young prince, he had led a sheltered life, closeted in various palaces and rarely being seen in public. Those who might have known him from the royal court seemed to be either dead or in hiding. However, he was then suddenly taken aback when he could tell, from the astonishment on the relevant face, that one of the ecclesiastical craftsmen had unfortunately recognised him. The awkward situation became even more potentially dangerous when the craftsman began to make moves that indicated that he was about to pay reverence appropriate to an important member of the Georgian royal family, by kneeling before Vissarion and kissing the Prince’s hand. Fortunately for the maintenance of the boy’s secret, the artisan spotted the 13 year-old’s urgent negative nod and was perceptive enough to realise the furtive gesture’s intended meaning. Vissarion then ushered the craftsman to a quiet corner of the cathedral in order have a private, whispered conversation with him, which had to be short to avoid suspicion. The boy then briefly appraised the artisan truthfully about his situation and the need to keep his identity secret. The craftsman, highly unusually for his profession, was himself of noble birth. However, as a younger son, his liberal father had not minded him following his artistic leanings, especially as they concentrated on works devoted to God. Consequently, the aristocrat had become a renowned producer of ecclesiastical paintings and similar church adornments, although, for the last 3 years, he had been compelled to turn his talents towards mosques and other public buildings in faraway Samarkand. The craftsman did not particularly recognise Vissarion from King Bagrat V’s court, which the noble rarely frequented, as he much preferred art to politics. The aristocratic artisan had instead become acquainted with the boy during the early stages of Tamerlane’s siege of Tiflis 3 years previously. The immensely pretty Prince had been given by the boy’s father, Duke Alexander Bagrationi, to the safekeeping of the noble craftsman’s older brother, who was to try to pass the then 10 year-old off as his own son. Unfortunately, the ruse had, of course, failed after Tiflis’ walls had been breached and Tamerlane’s army, matching their leader’s anger at the city’s defiance, had poured inside to wreak vengeance for the earlier civic resistance. The noble craftsman, after he was captured but then, for his professional expertise, spared and transported to Samarkand, had believed, like virtually everyone else, that the young Prince had been sadly killed along with the rest of the family of the aristocratic artisan’s brother. However, this day in Tiflis, 3 years later, had corrected this misconception. After subsequently leaving the cathedral to return to Tamerlane, Vissarion chose the perfect moment to ask his master for a favour. Th request was made as the conqueror awaited the nightly bedtime story from the rosy lips of the beautiful boy, whom he had just eagerly sodomised, albeit with as much gentle care as the man could muster. Vissarion told Tamerlane about the noble craftsman he had met that day in Tiflis’ great Sion Cathedral and claimed that the aristocratic artisan was his uncle. In the mind of the boy, who always hated telling lies, this particular nightly story was not entirely a falsehood, given that the artist concerned had been playing such a role 3 years previously. As a result of the beautiful boy’s subsequent, perfectly-timed request, the noble craftsman was later excused service in Tiflis’ Sion Cathedral and was allowed to return, with his immediate living family, to his father’s estates, now restored to the younger son by Tamerlane. It was to those lands that Vissarion later made a courtesy visit with Arman, secretly filling in the gaps for the benefit of the aristocratic artisan regarding what had happened to him, which he had been forced to omit from their earlier brief conversation in ecclesiastical surrounds. The noble craftsman naturally maintained, during the boys’ unexpected but nevertheless welcome visit, the pretence, in front of Arman and the military bodyguards of the two young guests, that Vissarion was his nephew. The aristocratic artisan had also primed those members of his own family, who knew the then 13 year-old’s true identity, not only to act similarly but also to keep their secret thereafter. (Western Georgia, about 6 years later, Summer, 1395) Unfortunately, the former artisan, now major landowner, subsequently discovered 6 years later, when the Bibi Khanum’s investigators also called on him, that he could not keep his pledge of secrecy anymore. The visitors already knew, from questions asked in Tiflis, that the man’s deceased elder brother never had a 10 year-old son, especially one with blonde hair and blue eyes. The whole family was noted for their dark features. The investigators therefore demanded to know Vissarion’s true origin, threatening the aristocratic landowner and his family with grave retribution if he did not answer truthfully. The man might have still been prepared to resist telling what he knew, if his interrogators had not reassured him that the subject of their questioning currently possessed an unassailable position in Tamerlane’s life and court. They simply needed to clear up matters about the now 18 year-old’s history if he was to be given extra responsibilities by the conqueror’s Eldest Queen. The landowner had tracked Vissarion’s career and was satisfied that the investigators were probably telling the truth, which, of course, they were, and so he finally revealed to them the reality about the young Georgian’s history. The man’s interrogators were greatly surprised about the disclosure, having earlier believed, because of all the apparent secrecy, that there might be something dishonourable or sinister about the 19 year-old’s origins. However, they also realised that they had accomplished their mission and so returned quickly to faraway Samarkand to report their amazing news to their queenly mistress. The former artisan and his family were left behind unharmed and able to continue to keep their secret from others. (Samarkand, Transoxiana, 2 months later, Autumn, 1395) To the investigators, Shadi Mulk Aka subsequently received the startling news about Vissarion with surprisingly serenity, which nevertheless also hinted at great pleasure. In fact, the Bibi Khanum, although she had not yet actually met the young eunuch, had already come to the opinion, from other accurate reports about the 19 year-old, that there was something very special about the young Georgian. The information she now acquired about him only happily confirmed her view. Shadi Mulk Aka swore the successful and now very well-rewarded investigators to keep their news to themselves, on pain of horrible death. The Bibi Khanum also intended to remain utterly discreet about Vissarion’s true identity, at least for now. Shadi Mulk Aka’s attitude arose from the fact that she had gained an even better appreciation of Vissarion’s character, one that now only needed to be confirmed by commanding the young eunuch to come to his first private audience with her. After this meeting had taken place, the Bibi Khanum was content. Shadi Mulk Aka was content because she now fully appreciated that her astrologers’ prophecy in respect of Vissarion was likely to prove true. The young eunuch, whose immense physical beauty clearly matched that of his character, certainly possessed the attributes to ensure, as long as God continued to grant the Georgian life, the future wellbeing of not only her husband’s achievements but also the later welfare of those of Shahrukh and Ulugbeg. The latter pair were beloved by the formidable Bibi Khanum, who considered them to be of her own bloodline, even though Tamerlane’s youngest son had actually been born to one of the conqueror’s more junior queens. The highly astute Shadi Mulk Aka also now instinctively knew that Vissarion would, one day, confess his true identity to Tamerlane. The perceptive Bibi Khanum also guessed correctly how the young eunuch would answer her husband’s inevitable questions of "Why didn’t you tell me before?" and "Why won’t you let me restore you to your rightful position in Georgia?" Shadi Mulk Aka additionally recognised that the young eunuch’s reply to the second query would have nothing to do with the original shame of being castrated and becoming a catamite to the main enemy of his homeland. "So," Arman, whose very handsome, clean-shaven face suddenly displayed clear annoyance, accused Vissarion "you’ve deceived me for years about your true identity. You never trusted me enough to be sufficiently discreet to keep your secret!" Arman then grumpily turned his back on Vissarion and strode several paces away from his friend. The two 19 year-olds were currently located in the guest bedroom of the palace of the governor of Kutaisi that had been allocated to the former for an overnight stay. Sibur and Shahrukh had remained encamped with the army outside the city walls, whilst the young Georgian and Armenian tried to resolve outstanding local civic issues within the captured metropolis. Arman’s groom, Teimuraz, was loyally waiting in his master’s adjacent bedroom, ready to be called to perform any menial duties for either him or Vissarion and hoping that he would also be summoned next door to share their bed overnight. The 13 year-old boy had already thought that he recognised the common signs that usually indicated that the two 19 year-olds proposed to indulge in sex and wanted to join in the fun. He was not, of course, aware that the young Armenian’s current show of petulant annoyance threatened the whole delicious scenario. "But I’ve given you the reasons why I kept my secret until now," Vissarion pleaded, whilst hoping that his lack of candour had not truly upset his oldest and still best friend. "Are you sure that you simply didn’t trust me?" Arman then turned to ask face-to-face, very sulkily and accusingly. Vissarion now really was worried that he had upset the handsome young Armenian and began to stutter nervously "I....I....promise....I....I only thought....it....it....best...." However, that was to be the extent of the young Georgian’s explanation, as a completely disarming smile appeared on the handsome face opposite him, whilst he now saw clear mischief in the sparkling brown eyes. Vissarion belatedly realised that he had fallen into the same type of trap he had laid for Arman, about 6 months previously in Samarkand. The beautiful eunuch, who still looked no older than 15, therefore decided to react in a similar manner to the way that his friend had done half a year previously. "You naughty Armenian," the grinning Vissarion now exclaimed loudly as he rushed towards and then embraced Arman, "you’re going to pay for your tease!" His smiling friend decided to join in the fun of the reversal of their previous roles. "And how are you going to extract payment from me?" the young Armenian eventually managed to enquire, once his lips emerged for air after a long bout of passionate kissing and bodily groping by his fellow 19 year-old. "Well," the eager Vissarion answered, "we’ll begin by removing these!" However, the young Georgian now proceeded rather more efficiently to deprive Arman of his clothing than the young Armenian had achieved with the reverse task in Samarkand during the previous autumn. Sadly for Teimuraz, as a consequence of the subsequent, all-consuming, lengthy and repeated passions experienced on the nearby bed, the 13 year-old groom never received the call to join the 19 year-olds overnight. (Tabriz, Persia, same time) One of Ahmad Jalayir’s closest bodyguards performed castrations for his cruel master, as a sideline to his normal profession. The ugly, scar-faced man did so not because he had earned any medical qualifications for the practice but rather because he sadistically enjoyed depriving pretty boys of their balls. The bodyguard’s young victims were invariably beautiful because Ahmad Jalayir liked to have gorgeous boys adding to the human scenery of his female harem. The Sultan therefore appointed a number of such delicious male creatures to serve as menial slaves to his very large retinue of women concubines. The boys concerned naturally had to lose their testicles so that they were never tempted, by the impressive feminine forms for whom they dutifully had to perform their tasks, to satisfy the natural, libidinous, masculine lusts that would otherwise inevitably be aroused. Nevertheless, their genital loss did not disqualify them from also sharing Ahmad Jalayir’s bed, sometimes in tandem with one or more of the female concubines, who, like their master, often liked playing with the young eunuch’s gelded genitalia. To Ahmad Jalayir, it appeared only rightful justice to have the boy dancer’s miscreant sexual organs converted for such service. The cruel Sultan’s sadistic attitude persisted despite the fact that the 14 year-old was somewhat older than normal to suffer castration. Ahmad Jalayir had first allowed his eager-to-learn, ugly, scar-faced bodyguard to geld some boys a few years previously, under the supervision of the palace physician, as he owed his protector a favour for uncovering an assassination plot. The Sultan’s thoughtfulness was assisted by the fact that the initial youngsters practised upon were considered expendable, as they were the pretty sons of some of the plotters. The ugly, scar-faced bodyguard had made a few early, clumsy mistakes, which had resulted in the demise of some young patients through shock, excessive blood loss or infection, or a combination of all three. However, thereafter, he had become quite adept at the operation and so, in order to retain the loyalty of such an efficient protector of his person, the Sultan had permitted the man to continue to perform the function on an occasional part-time basis. Consequently, the boy dancer now found that he was imminently to be the next poor victim of the bodyguard’s well used, extremely sharp castration knife. The 14 year-old was currently lying face-up, naked and firmly strapped, in a spreadeagled pose, on top of a table in a gloomy cellar of the Tabriz palace. The gagged, nude boy’s present display of shivering did not just result from the pervading environmental chill. A glance down his own beautiful but helpless, horizontal form, by the 14 year-old’s petrified, tearful eyes, had substantially added to his bodily quaking. The blade of the ugly, scar-faced and now happily grinning bodyguard was approaching his young imminent victim’s vulnerable, perfectly smooth genitalia, which were currently tightly bound around the base by thin leather cord. The appalled boy also observed something else, which was intensely humiliating and, given the circumstances, incongruous. His own engorged, circumcised cockhead, drooling precum onto his slim belly, was pointing rigidly back towards his gorgeous but obviously terrified face. The penis was fully erect and throbbing in natural tandem with the 14 year-old’s understandably ever increasing heartbeat. The boy’s beautiful, gagged head shook negatively in desperate entreaty when his erection was finally grabbed in order to protect the unruly young cock from the knife being introduced to the vulnerable, smooth scrotum underneath, just at the base of the vibrating penile shaft. In response to the 14 year-old’s forcibly silent plea, the bodyguard laughed before spitting accurately at his imminent young victim’s sublime face and declaring "There’ll be no mercy from me, slut. Instead, you’ll suffer your due desserts for shooting your cum at our mutual master, as you’ll soon never be able to repeat your crime!" Copious phlegm now besmirched the boy dancer’s lovely but also already tearful and rightfully frightened face. However, the 14 year-old gave little thought to such facial desecration, as the ugly, scar-faced bodyguard ruthlessly sliced open his smooth scrotum. However, the young victim’s inattention to the humiliating display of spittle was not just caused by the shame and agony of the deed now being perpetrated on his wondrous young form. His entry into immediate orgasm also contributed substantially to his disregard. The bodyguard laughed again, as he expertly directed, towards the boy’s face, the resultant arc of cum, which shot vigorously from the 14 year-old’s cut cockhead. Young, white ejaculate was quickly mingling shamefully with colourless, manly phlegm on the soon-to-be-eunuch’s sublime visage, which exhibited a strange mix of emotions, including incongruous ecstasy, as well as the dread, distress, despair and degradation that were only natural in the circumstances. Not long afterwards, the freshly created eunuch fainted, during the excruciating cauterisation of his scrotum wound, and just as his newly extracted testes were being sent to the palace cook. (Delhi, India, same time) Mahmud Tughluq was chastising his oldest son, the now 9 year-old Ahmed, whose character was nothing like that of his adult near-namesake, the Sultan of Baghdad. "For your deceit, you will receive 100 lashes!" the boy’s father advised sternly. Mahmud Tughluq had finally discovered why the castration wound of his oldest son’s similarly aged 9 year-old slave had looked so fresh when he had inspected the relevant genital scene. One of the adult Hindu slaves, who had assisted Ahmed to nurse Krishnan back to recovery, after the young servant’s sacrificially selfless voluntary gelding, had become indiscreet about the matter and word of the event had finally filtered back to the Sultan of Delhi. After pronouncing his oldest son’s awful fate, Mahmud Tughluq turned to Krishnan. "For your own deceit," the Sultan now declared to the young Hindu, "you will receive your freedom, enough gold to live on very comfortably for life and a luxurious residence, with many servants, in the best part of Delhi!" Mahmud Tughluq then gave Krishnan permission to speak to him. "Lord," the 9 year-old Hindu replied, "I thank you for your offer but I’d prefer to remain in the palace as Prince Ahmed’s slave!" Mahmud Tughluq subsequently turned back to his oldest son, who, despite the appalling sentence hanging over him, was displaying a fearlessly broad and totally disarming smile. "It seems," the Sultan now commented to Ahmed, "that you inspire tremendous loyalty in your servants!" "I therefore obviously take after you," was the cheerily truthful reply from the boy. Mahmud Tughluq was delighted at Ahmed’s latest comment, as well as Krishnan’s continued sense of sacrificial loyalty towards his young master. The Sultan’s pleasure was boosted by recognition that such devotion must be inspired by excellent character traits on the part of both boys. Mahmud Tughluq then made another announcement, which Ahmed had been expecting, fully appreciating that his father had been trying to tease him. "I shall, of course," the Sultan advised his oldest son, "suspend the sentence of 100 lashes until such time that you deceive me about another slave’s castration!" The still-smiling Ahmed immediately hugged Mahmud Tughluq, knowing that, even if he did somehow become involved in similar mischievous intrigue again, his very attractive, princely body would never feel the pain of the whip, at least at the command of his loving and devoted father. (Edirne, Ottoman Empire, same time) Vladimir was never offered any generous reward from Mehmed’s father, Bayezid I, for saving this particular Sultan’s youngest son from the typhoid bacillus. The young eunuch Slav was simply considered to have performed his assigned duty. In any case, the now 7 year-old slave considered that preventing his similarly aged master from contracting the awful disease was sufficient personal compensation, as the very grateful Prince continued, perhaps more emotionally than ever, to be his best friend. The incident had also produced someone else whom both delightful boys believed that they could really trust in a difficult world, which increasingly appeared full of dangers, not least as a result of potentially deadly sibling rivalry and intrigue. The pair of 7 year-olds now realised that the Sultana Olivera was a true friend too. The woman was subsequently happily to prove worthy of such a description. (Tabriz, Persia, next day) Ahmad Jalayir was preparing to leave Tabriz to return to Baghdad, where, despite the outbreak of bubonic plague during the previous year, he thought that he would now be safer. There were four reasons for the Sultan’s belief. First, the dreaded disease had abated in Baghdad but could perhaps finally arrive soon in Tabriz. Second, the Mesopotamian city possessed better fortifications than the Persian one, especially as the citadel of the latter had not yet been fully repaired after a recent earthquake. Third, if ever needed because Tamerlane’s forces again threatened him, escape back to the protection of the Mamluks in Syria or Egypt was much easier from the metropolis alongside the Tigris. Fourth, his current host, the local ruler, an ally who had reclaimed his municipality from the dreaded conqueror’s suzerainty, in line with similar simultaneous attempts elsewhere, such as in Georgia and Armenia, had decided to abandon his domain once more, literally to save his neck. Although Shahrukh’s forces had by-passed Tabriz on the way to what was considered the more important problem of the uprisings in Georgia and Armenia, the local ruler realised that Tamerlane’s youngest son would soon return to give his city undivided, vengeful attention. Ahmad Jalayir’s Persian ally had originally hoped that such a nasty scenario might not arise if the revolts in the lands to his northwest caused major problems and casualties, and perhaps somehow miraculous defeats, for the dreaded conqueror’s troops. The local ruler’s hopes were partly based on the fact that Tamerlane’s feared army had been divided between his pair of remaining sons, Shahrukh and Miranshah, who were both inexperienced and unproven in battle. The former, only 19 years of age, was attacking Georgia and Armenia as a matter of priority, hence the speed and audacity of the military deployment, whilst the latter was proceeding more sedately to try to recapture Baghdad. The ruler of Tabriz’s hopes that Shahrukh’s forces would somehow flounder, and be tied down or even defeated in Georgia and Armenia, were, however, to be shattered by the quick collapse of the uprisings in both countries. The people of Arman’s homeland, fearful of the ability of Tamerlane’s intact troops to concentrate on them after the rapid and relatively painless suppression of the revolt in the adjacent Kingdom, had speedily adopted the policy of capitulation adopted by their neighbours. The ruler of Tabriz knew that Shahrukh was now heading towards his city, after suitably punishing those responsible for starting the uprising and murdering Tamerlane’s officials and garrisons in Armenia and restoring his father’s authority over the country. Ahmad Jalayir’s Persian ally therefore did not want to remain in his metropolis to greet the conqueror’s apparently highly able youngest son, as he believed that his head would not subsequently remain attached to his neck for long. Ahmad Jalayir took a similar view of the scene in Tabriz. Consequently, despite the slow advance towards his own city of Baghdad by the other half of Tamerlane’s army, led by 30 year-old Miranshah, the Sultan set off to return home. To return to Baghdad and reclaim control there from his puppet governor, whom he had left in charge whilst he fled the plague, Ahmad Jalayir left Tabriz with his huge baggage train, which contained much of his copious wealth, including his many concubines of both genders. The Sultan guessed correctly, from intelligence reports, that he should easily be able to reach his destination before contingents of the armies of Shahrukh or Miranshah could intercept him, if either somehow found out about his journey. Ahmad Jalayir’s final act before he again fled a city, this time Tabriz, was to visit a certain boy dancer, who was accompanying the baggage train inside a wagon, whilst the sad 14 year-old recuperated after his recent gelding. The Sultan kindly took a little present with him. "Here are your balls," the cruel Ahmad Jalayir advised the new 14 year-old eunuch, whose now empty scrotum was still bandaged. "One of my chefs has ground them, mixed them with herbs and cooked them in oil," the sadistic Sultan then informed, "just for your delectation!" Before turning to leave the new, recovering eunuch, Ahmad Jalayir reminded the boy that he would be fed no more food until he had consumed the specially prepared dish now presented to him. As the Sultan then departed, his uncaring mind did not realise that he had never even bothered to discover the name of the now crying and deeply grieving young dancer, whom he had so unkindly converted into a young eunuch. In fact, the name 14 year-old, who was a Muslim Kurd, was Haluk. Ahmad Jalayir would eventually twice have immense cause to regret that he had ever met the boy. (Janissary school barracks, Edirne, Ottoman Empire, same time) Haluk was not the only boy to be suffering from genital soreness at this time. The now 8 year-old Kiril, in distant Edirne, was experiencing similar excruciation. However, unlike the young Kurd in faraway Tabriz, the young Bulgar had not been strapped to a castration table for the removal of his young balls but rather to lose something else. After being subjected to intense indoctrination for many months, Kiril, like all of the other new recruits into the acami oglan, had succumbed to conversion to the Muslim faith. His young, malleable mind had appeared superficially to have been brain-washed into accepting that the Islamic God and not the Christian version was the only true one that existed. However, in reality, the very clever but, after all that he had recently suffered, deeply aggrieved and now agnostic 8 year-old actually privately believed that any supreme-being probably looked on both religions with equal contempt. What had therefore been removed, during Kiril’s painful and humiliating time on the acami oglan’s castration table, as a result of the boy’s supposed conversion to Islam, had been the foreskin from the 8 year-old’s previously uncut, little cock. Circumcision was essential to be of the true faith and the ancient, bloodstained furniture, on top of which the naked young Bulgar had been spreadeagled, doubled for both this operation and the occasional gelding that might be required. Kiril had been shocked by his loss, as his Islamic teachers had not advised any of the latest recruits into the acami oglan of the requirement for such a deed. Neither had any of the existing apprentices seen fit to enlighten the newcomers about the matter, albeit for a good reason. They had been ordered by the resident Janissaries, on pain of severe punishment for miscreants, not to spread unnecessary alarm, which might frighten the new boys so much that they declined to convert to the true faith. Kiril’s new closest friend, the similarly aged, petrified and nude Zoran, had soon followed him onto the castration table, to have extracted foreskin and not balls subsequently dangled before his alarmed, tearful eyes. (Lake Urmia, Persia, a few days later) During the journey south to Baghdad, Ahmad Jalayir’s baggage train was skirting the huge, shallow and saline Lake Urmia, the largest in the northwest of Persia, when Haluk finally dutifully ate his ground and spiced cooked balls. The young Kurd had initially considered starving himself to death, so ashamed and appalled was he at being both converted into a eunuch and ordered to consume his own extracted testes. However, thoughts of securing eventual vengeance for what had been perpetrated on him then encroached instead into his young aggrieved mind, encouraging him finally to perform the literally distasteful task. (Tabriz, Persia, 3 months later, Summer, 1396) Tamerlane had finally ventured away from Samarkand and his queens to go to Tabriz, retaken bloodlessly by Shahrukh after the city had readily opened its gates for him. As the previous local ruler had long since departed the scene, with all those responsible for his earlier return, no executions of the remaining regretful population were performed. Instead, as in Georgia and Armenia, even greater tribute than before was, on Vissarion’s advice, extracted from the people in penance. Tamerlane himself would never have agreed to such relatively merciful policies, as his thirst for bloody retribution would undoubtedly have overcome him. However, the conqueror had perceptively and self-sacrificially refrained from attacking Georgia and Armenia personally because he had realised that he might go too far in his quest for revenge, upsetting his beloved Vissarion and Arman in the process. Nevertheless, Vissarion believed that Tamerlane would still think that the eventual retribution actually inflicted should still have been harsher and bloodier, despite probably also appreciating how foolish this attitude was, given the key advisory presence of the wise and compassionate young Georgian at Shahrukh’s side. However, the young eunuch hoped that the conqueror would ultimately come reluctantly to accept the settlements, if only because a certain beautiful 19 year-old face, crowned by lengthy, silky, straight blonde hair and adorned by peerless blue eyes and sweet rosy lips, convinced him about the wisdom of the policies. Vissarion also astutely organised a sweetener to aid Tamerlane’s acceptance of the agreements reached to end the various uprisings against his master’s suzerainty. This did not involve the young Georgian’s sublime 19 year-old body, which the now 60 year-old conqueror, having finally escaped his queens, would enjoy for free anyway. Instead, the compensatory sweetener was the increased tribute, about the size of which Tamerlane, always avaricious in order to fund his army and ambitions, was both very happy and surprised. The conqueror had not believed that the extraction of such sums had been possible. However, the sagacious Vissarion had recognised that they were eminently payable without too much hardship, especially when compared to the alternative option, by cowed people whose improving economies had remained basically undisturbed because of the relatively generous peace agreements reached. After happy receiving and accepting in Tabriz the campaign reports of his youngest son, Shahrukh, delivered proficiently with the aid of the 19 year-old’s chief political and military advisors, respectively the similarly aged Vissarion and Arman, Tamerlane retired to bed. This unusual happening in the middle of the afternoon was not as a result of tiredness but because the 60 year-old felt an urgent need to reacquaint himself with the young Georgian’s perfect body. The conqueror had had to endure, with only occasional respites, enforced abstinence in respect of this particular highly delicious form since his return to Samarkand in autumn of the previous year. Tamerlane had managed very infrequently to escape his palace in Samarkand to enjoy secret and all too brief reunions with his boys, including Nicolai, Rezan and Rahu, in their residence on the outskirts of his capital. However, although such rare occurrences with the latter trio had continued after Vissarion had left to go on campaign with Shahrukh, to the conqueror they were never of the same distinction without the presence of the young Georgian, despite the undoubted qualities of the young Muscovite, Persian and Zoroastrian. Throughout the previous decade, Tamerlane had rarely been without the presence of the delightful Vissarion in his life, apart from the notable exceptions when his favourite boy had succumbed to amazingly frequent abduction and capture. As soon as the young Georgian had left Samarkand at the beginning of the latest campaigning season in Spring, the conqueror had begun to regret his generously selfless, and therefore unusual, decision not to accompany him because he quickly began to miss him so much. However, he somehow resisted the temptation to follow immediately. Tamerlane instead remained in his capital, compensating himself with occasional furtive visits to Nicolai, Rezan and Rahu, which were inspired almost as much by surrogate parental concern for their welfare as by libido. Then, one day, couriers finally arrived bearing glad tidings. The messengers advised Tamerlane that Shahrukh’s campaigns against Georgia, Armenia and Tabriz had been successfully concluded, and that his youngest son now victoriously awaited him in the latter city. On hearing this news, the conqueror did not waste much time saying his farewells to his queens before riding off, with Nicolai, Rezan and Rahu, to the retaken Persian city. As Tamerlane left Samarkand, his mind, relieved that the recent uprisings had apparently been safely and efficiently suppressed at very low cost, was particularly joyous about the prospect of soon rejoining Vissarion. However, the old proverb that absence makes the heart grow fonder had not again been verified, for the intensity of the conqueror’s feelings towards the young Georgian were already at their maximum possible level. It was impossible for his heart to become even fonder of the divine boy. What recent months had instead again proven to Tamerlane was how very deeply he loved his favourite, as well as missed him when he was not around. The conqueror therefore did not now intend to allow the latter situation to be repeated for as long as he continued to live. The conqueror took a lot of time over reacquainting himself with Vissarion’s sublime form. He made long awaited and eagerly practised love to his favourite over many hours, ironically in the same palace bedroom in which Ahmad Jalayir had sodomised Haluk. Tamerlane’s other boys, cleverly recognising their master’s desire and need to be alone with the young Georgian whilst his keen passions were satiated, diplomatically spent their time elsewhere. Later, because the sun was beginning to set, Vissarion left the bedchamber to fulfil his usual nightly duty. Because of the special relationship that the young Georgian had established with the now 1½ year-old Ulugbeg, Shahrukh had taken the unusual option of taking his baby son on campaign with him. Shahrukh’s motivation did not just relate to considerate kindness in granting those left behind in Samarkand peaceful nights. The Prince was also emotionally deeply attached to his son and liked the boy with him, especially as his wife exhibited no interest whatsoever in fulfilling maternal childrearing duties. Whilst campaigning, Shahrukh admitted Vissarion into his large tent every evening and not just to receive inevitably sage counsel. To ensure undisturbed nights for Tamerlane’s youngest son, under the canopy the Prince shared with his own offspring, Ulugbeg, the young Georgian would eventually take the child outside for the usual view of and chat about the stars. Shortly afterwards, the 19 year-old eunuch would return the boy, now invariably soundly sleeping, to his cot, where the 1½ year-old would remain slumbering happily until long after everyone else had risen with the dawn. The travelling retinue of wet-nurses, who otherwise cared for the conqueror’s most recent grandson, had still not learnt this particular trick. When later, after successfully performing his pleasant nightly chore once more, Vissarion returned to the bedroom of the palace in Tabriz, where Tamerlane had most recently made passionate love to him, the young Georgian noticed that the conqueror was no longer alone. Peering above the bedclothes, alongside the unmistakable, bearded, grinning visage of the conqueror, were three other heads, albeit all much smoother, younger and boyishly gorgeous. Four smiling heads, belonging, of course, to Nicolai, Rezan and Rahu, as well as Tamerlane, now shouted in practised unison "Tonight’s story please, Vissarion!" (Near Baghdad, Mesopotamia, 2 months later, Autumn, 1396) Not much of the campaigning season remained when Tamerlane himself once again approached the stout walls of Baghdad. These formidable fortifications had been proficiently repaired since the conqueror’s previous devastation of the ancient city. Tamerlane was arriving from Persia with only a small element of Shahrukh’s forces, as he had sent most of the latter, laden with copious tribute from Georgia, Armenia and Tabriz and under the leadership of his youngest son, advised by the very able Sibur, back to Samarkand. Meanwhile, Miranshah, with only half of his father’s full army, and anyway nowhere near as personally competent in military matters as his parent, had been fruitlessly besieging Baghdad for several months. However, the conqueror believed that his own presence on the scene might change matters for the better. Unfortunately, Tamerlane’s westerly approach to Baghdad coincided with that of a much superior Mamluk force, intent on breaching Miranshah’s besieging lines to reinforce Ahmad Jalayir’s civic defenders. Conflict between the confronting sides was inevitable, given the local geography, if at least one side refused to retreat whence they came. Although withdrawal from the scene was undoubtedly the better option for Tamerlane’s smaller force, and was recommended by the current leader of his cavalry bodyguard, Arman, as well as Vissarion, such restrained action had rarely featured on their master’s military agenda. The conqueror therefore ordered an immediate attack against the Mamluks, although not with the unrealistic aim of routing them. He was instead attempting to sweep through the enemy in order to conclude his journey. In so ordering, Tamerlane’s aroused angry bloodlust had caused him to become forgetful about something very close indeed to his heart, namely his boys. Vissarion, Nicolai, Rezan and Rahu were accompanying their master and now had to enter battle with him. In normal circumstances, Tamerlane would have tried his best to avoid any danger whatsoever threatening his beloved catamites. However, the sight of the enemy had allowed the strong war-loving, as opposed to boy-loving, element of his persona now to take over his senses. In equal combat, Tamerlane’s men, rightfully renowned throughout the known world for their fighting capabilities, would invariably defeat Mamluks, despite the reputation of the latter for military prowess. However, no numerical equality between the opponents existed on this occasion. The subsequent fight was extremely ferocious and lethal for many, especially amongst the Mamluks. Nevertheless, Tamerlane’s men did suffer casualties. It eventually actually took all of Arman’s own, immense, brave, tactical abilities, and not those of the suddenly blood-crazed, thoughtless conqueror, to prevent his master and his force from being overwhelmed. The young Armenian was considerably helped in his task by the astonishing Rahu. The diminutive, now 13 year-old Zoroatrian had fatally pierced, with arrows and spear, or hacked, with small sword, several Mamluks who had dared come close to Tamerlane. The conqueror was easily distinguished from ordinary mortals by his splendidly rich military apparel. Vissarion and Nicolai courageously tried to protect their master similarly but, despite being older and bigger, neither could match the ferocious, skilled defence displayed by ‘The Little Limpet’, Rahu. Meanwhile, Teimuraz was attempting to perform similar protective duties at the side of his own master, Arman Unfortunately, after eventually and thankfully successfully breaching the enemy defences to gallop safely through to the other side of the Mamluks, Tamerlane, Arman, Vissarion, Nicolai and Rahu, on regrouping with the other survivors, discovered in alarm that they were missing an important pair of 13 year-olds. Rezan and Teimuraz had been lost amidst the recent chaos and fury of battle. (Inside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia, later, same day) The horses of Rezan and Teimuraz had been killed under them and the boys then trapped under the dead animals, allowing the Mamluks sadly all too easily to capture them alive after the short, sharp, bloody skirmish. The boys were then hastily bound, thrown over enemy steeds and, after a successful charge through Miranshah’s lines of somnolent besiegers, taken inside Baghdad’s city walls. The original Mamluk idea was to gather information from boys who had been in the conqueror’s entourage. However, Ahmad Jalayir quickly appreciated that he had been brought something much more precious than mere intelligence data, although only one of the 13 year-olds was sufficiently richly dressed to be obviously one of Tamerlane’s boys. The bound Rezan, sturdily held by two strong Mamluks, blushed when Ahmad Jalayir felt the boy’s groin, currently covered by his colourful, baggy silk trousers. "Hmmm," the Sultan then commented, quite proficiently in the conqueror’s own Turkic dialect, "you must be the young Persian, Rezan, who’s the only one of Tamerlane’s current retinue of four catamites to still possess his balls!" Rezan did not reply. Nevertheless, Ahmad Jalayir could tell from the boy’s expression, as well as his still intact testes, that he had identified the 13 year-old correctly. Ahmad Jalayir then turned to other 13 year-old, who was restrained by his own pair of Mamluks, and, whilst reviewing again this boy’s simpler attire, asked "And who are your?" The young Georgian was, undoubtedly imprudently, too immensely proud of his station in life not to answer truthfully "I’m Teimuraz, groom to Lord Arman!" "Ah, Arman," Ahmad Jalayir responded, whilst again acquainting his young captives about the accuracy of his own intelligence about Tamerlane and the dreaded conqueror’s entourage, "a former boy whore of my enemy!" Teimuraz unwisely became angry at this slur and retorted "Regardless of his background, my Lord’s a much better person than you!" However, the Sultan did not over-react to the insult, as he knew that he would secure vengeance quickly enough. Consequently, he just made the quiet remark, which was nevertheless thoroughly sinister to the suddenly quiescent 13 year-old Georgian, "You’ll soon regret ever saying that!" It was then Teimuraz’s turn to blush, as Ahmad Jalayir felt his covered groin. "Hmmm," the Sultan subsequently commented, "you too are genitally whole!" Ahmad Jalayir then stood back to address both 13 year-olds. "Boys," the Sultan suggested, "you have brought me the salvation of Baghdad and my own position within the city!" "I heard," Ahmad Jalayir continued, "that Tamerlane was once prepared to retreat from Shiraz rather than assault the city that threatened, if he attacked, to kill his captured slut, Vissarion. I’m now going to ask your master to do the same in return for your lives. I doubt that he’ll need much persuasion to save sweet Rezan here but I’m also sure that, if he does require a little more coaxing, Arman will assist my aim by pleading for his own bumboy, Teimuraz!" "Nevertheless," Ahmad Jalayir added, with clear sadism now displayed on his bearded face, "in order to make sure, I’ll send Tamerlane some souvenirs to indicate my seriousness." The cruel Sultan then turned to the ugly, scar-faced bodyguard at his side. "Have Teimuraz flogged for his earlier insult," Ahmad Jalayir now commanded of the happy bodyguard, "and then castrate the boys. Later, have their balls sent to Tamerlane, with the threat that, if he and his army do not retreat forever from Baghdad, more vital parts of the anatomies of the pretty pair will follow, bit by bit!" (Inside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia, still later, same day) A naked and petrified Rezan lay firmly restrained in a spreadeagled position on the castration table, with his completely smooth but seriously threatened genitalia already darkening in colour because of the effective tourniquet tied round the base of his scrotum. Sharing the gloomy, torch-lit cell in the dungeons of Ahmad Jalayir’s Baghdad palace was a similarly nude Teimuraz. However, the latter 13 year-old was suspended vertically from the ceiling by rope, harshly applied to his slim wrists. The equally terrified Teimuraz could hear and feel the draught from the swish of a whip, as the ugly, scar-faced bodyguard practised use of the implement before attempting to land his first agonising blow on the boy’s vulnerable rear. (Outside the walls of Baghdad, Mesopotamia, same time) Vissarion was comforting Tamerlane alone inside his master’s tent. The conqueror was exhibiting much remorse for his recent stupidity in thoughtlessly endangering his boys and Arman’s Teimuraz. The young Georgian wisely did not believe that his master’s tearful reaction should be on public view. "Rezan and Teimuraz will be alright," Vissarion again tried to reassure, "as Ahmad Jalayir wouldn’t dare harm them!" The fact that the boys had been captured alive by the enemy appeared obvious, as Mamluk cavalry were not in the habit of carrying away dead corpses. "I pray so," Tamerlane once more commented, "as their capture is entirely due to my inconsiderate, bloodthirsty idiocy." The conqueror subsequently added, needlessly as far as Vissarion was concerned, "I dearly love Rezan and I know how much Arman likes Teimuraz!" Tamerlane then remarked, in relation to something that he had noticed since rejoining Vissarion in Tabriz, "Teimuraz also seems to have recently acquired even greater affection for you, judging by the immensely respectful way that he now treats you. Your young compatriot seems to regard you lately almost like he would a king!" Vissarion appreciated that Tamerlane’s remark was innocent and that his master still did not know the truth about the young Georgian’s background. However, the 19 year-old also realised that the conqueror’s phraseology seemed to be a positive invitation to do what he knew he sometime had to do. The highly astute Shadi Mulk Aka had instinctively known that Vissarion would, one day, confess his true identity to Tamerlane. The perceptive Bibi Khanum had also guessed correctly how the young eunuch would answer her husband’s inevitable questions of "Why didn’t you tell me before?" and "Why won’t you let me restore you to your rightful position in Georgia?" Shadi Mulk Aka had additionally recognised that the young eunuch’s reply to the second query would have nothing to do with the original shame of being castrated and becoming a catamite to the main enemy of his homeland. The Bibi Khanum was now to be proved entirely correct in her presumptions. Tamerlane rather stuttered his question of "Why didn’t you tell me before?" In contrast, Vissarion replied unhesitatingly "Because originally I was frightened of you and then later, when that was no longer the case and I loved you instead, my real identity seemed irrelevant." Tamerlane, heart fluttering as this pleasant revelation, nevertheless exhibited more calmness when he next enquired "Why won’t you let me restore you to your rightful position in Georgia?" However, the conqueror’s composure did not last beyond receipt of the response, when he could not prevent his eyes from erupting with yet more tears and his arms from embracing his beloved Vissarion, who had answered his master with complete veracity. "With all due respect to my family and homeland, instead of being Crown Prince of Georgia," Vissarion had stated with clear, true conviction, "I much prefer being one of Tamerlane’s boys!" (To be continued in chapter 33 - ‘Kurds’)
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