THE seraskier walked briskly across the First Court of the palace and stepped out through the Imperial Gate, the Bab-i-Hümayün, into the open space that separated the palace from the great church, now a mosque, of Aya Sofia. After the unnatural stillness of the palace he was struck by the returning noises of a great city: the rumble of iron-hooped cartwheels on the cobbles, dogs worrying and growling at scraps, the crack of a whip, and the shouts of mule drivers and costermongers.
Two mounted dragoons spurred their horses forward and brought up his own gray. The seraskier swung up gracefully into the saddle, settled his cloak, and turned the horse’s head in the direction of the barracks. The dragoons fell in behind him.
As they passed beneath the portico of the mosque, the seraskier glanced upward. The pinnacle of Justinian’s great dome, second in size only to the basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome, stood high overhead: the highest spot in all Istanbul, as the seraskier well knew. As they jogged along, he scanned the lay of the land for the hundredth time, mentally setting up his artillery batteries, disposing his troops.
By the time they reached the barracks, he had made decisions. To scatter his forces through the city would be futile, he reckoned; it might even increase the danger to his men. Better to choose two or three positions, hold them securely, and make whatever forays were necessary to achieve their ends. Aya Sofia was one assembly point; the Sultan Ahmet Mosque to the southwest would be another. He would have liked to put men into the stables of the old palace of the grand vizier, just outside the Seraglio walls, but he doubted that the permission would be forthcoming. There was a hill farther west that provided a clear trajectory toward the palace.
It was the palace, essentially, he had to think about.
Having regained his apartments, he summoned a dozen senior officers to a briefing.
He followed the briefing with a short pep talk. Everything, he said, depended on how they and their men conducted themselves over the next forty-eight hours. Obedience was the watchword. He had every confidence that together they could meet the challenge that had presented itself.
That was all.