Chapter 35: Trickery

Kosta refuses to send any more of his men to search for the fugitives. This leaves Bekir with no other option but to send Hasan and Mursel in pursuit. It leaves us dangerously under resourced should any of the other hostages decide to take advantage of the situation. The two men Kosta sent with Kemel return an hour or so after Hasan and Mursel depart. They make their report to Bekir and Kosta. Apparently the fugitives were met by men with horses, and the group rode off through the forest in a south-westerly direction.

“Where’s Kemel?” asks Bekir.

“The riders split up after a few miles. He followed one set of tracks, while we followed the other. We lost the trail when we reached a river, so we returned here.”

“The two guards who delivered Anna and Margit here could be the accomplices who met Anna and Nebi in the woods when they escaped,” says Nur when she and I are alone.

“Yes, that’s possible,” I agree. “Hasan thinks that the guards who brought Anna and Margit here hastened their journey so as to arrive before we were properly organised. Our disarray improved the chances of the identity switch going unnoticed.”

“But why didn’t they simply all escape during the journey here?” asks Nur.

“If they did that then a full scale search would have followed almost at once,” I reply. “Their plan was much cleverer than trying a sudden break for freedom. Margit, in the role of countess, was a decoy to keep us distracted. They were probably hoping that she could keep up the disguise for longer than she did so that Anna would be long gone before anybody followed them. Even so, Anna and her helpers have over a full day’s head start on any serious pursuit.”

“All this points to a well organised plan,” muses Nur. “Far more complex than I think Nebi is capable of organising on his own.”

“Could it be something Anna’s husband or her family has arranged?” I speculate.

“Possibly. If we knew more about Nebi’s past we might have a better idea,” says Nur. “Unfortunately the person who might be able to tell us more is locked in the cellar and is unlikely to cooperate with us.”

There’s a sudden commotion from the main hall. Nur and I quickly go to investigate. To our surprise Kosta and his men have drawn their weapons and are holding Bekir and Yazid prisoner. The few women in the room are sheltering in the corner of the room, out of harms way.

“What’s going on?” demands Nur.

“Bring the countess here,” orders Kosta. “We shall take care of her from now on.”

Nur looks at him with a confused expression on her face. Kosta mistakes the cause of her surprise to be the sudden change of circumstances. Nur regains her senses and goes to fetch Margit from the cellar. I’m briefly puzzled by Kosta’s demands until I realise that he doesn’t know that Anna and Margit have switched identities. Nothing Hasan said today alerted Kosta to the switch, and Bekir merely asked Kosta for more men without saying why.

Nur returns with Margit. I hold my breath while I wait to see what happens next. It seems that the countess is the subject of two separate rescue attempts, neither of which seems to be aware of the other. It would be comical if it wasn’t for the deaths that have occurred.

To my surprise, Margit plays the role of countess without alerting Kosta to her real identity. I don’t understand why. She’s either protecting her mistress, or she’s hoping that by pretending to be Anna von Erdödy, she might escape back to Hungary.

“Am I to assume that my husband has arranged for your intervention,” says Margit to Kosta.

“Yes, countess,” replies Kosta. “Gather your belongings. My men and I will escort you to freedom. You will be back with your husband before the week is out.”

Margit does as she is bid and within minutes she, Kosta and his men are riding off. Bekir moves as though he intends to give chase, but he quickly realises that it’s a futile gesture.

“I don’t understand what is happening,” cries Emine, badly shaken by the experience.

Ozan, Kosta and his men weren’t sent by the Grand Vizier,” replies Nur. “They are in the Count von Erdödy’s employ. The men they killed when we arrived here were Heyreddin Pasha’s men. We’ve been tricked.”

“But we’ve received dispatches from Heyreddin Pasha and I’ve sent reports to him,” says Bekir. “A supply wagon has been arriving every few days. Surely Heyreddin Pasha ... or someone in Constantinople ... would have realised something wasn’t right.”

“Perhaps not,” replies Nur. “Ozan could have posted men between here and Constantinople to intercept the messages. A rider from Heyreddin Pasha wouldn’t necessarily think it strange to be stopped by a guard and made to hand over his message. Particularly if he is given a return message to deliver to Heyreddin Pasha. The man arriving at the lodge with the messages is likely to have been one of Ozan’s men.”

“But wouldn’t the injured men have raised the alarm?” asks Emine.

I don’t need Nur to tell me that it’s unlikely the injured men ever reached Constantinople. We are fortunate that Kosta and his men didn’t kill us before they left. I presume they didn’t want to do so in front of the other hostages.

There’s not much we can do until either Hasan returns, or the daily messenger ... hopefully the real one ... arrives from Constantinople. Emine and several of the hostages are in shock and our initial efforts are directed towards comforting them.

I’m relieved when Hasan and Mursel return an hour later; much earlier than expected. Nur and I quickly tell Hasan what has happened and he asks Bekir to call everybody together in the central hall. Bekir is dejected, knowing that Heyreddin Pasha will undoubtedly blame him for what has happened.

“We need to search the lodge and the immediate grounds,” says Hasan. “Everything Kosta’s men told you about their search is a lie. The forest around the lodge was being watched by Ozan’s men, so Nebi and the countess couldn’t have escaped on horseback as Kosta’s men claim. I came back here as soon as I realised that Ozan’s men were leaving.”

“What about Kemel?” asks Bekir.

“I didn’t see any sign of him, but it’s possible that he’s been killed,” replies Hasan. “Ozan’s men can’t have failed to notice him, and they couldn’t risk him seeing them and realising what was happening.”