Xunpadshahannama: Game of Crowns
| Xunpadshahannama: Game of Crowns | |
| |
| Original title | Xunpadshahannama |
| Language | Common Tongue |
| Author(s) | Gustaaf Vermeylen |
| Genre | Historical narratives |
| Location(s) | Çakaristan |
| (main) characters | list of characters |
| Timeframe | 1728 and onwards |
Xunpadshahannama: Game of Crowns is the first part in the story series Xunpadshahannama. This Book of Xunpadshahan is the official chronicle of the reign of Xunpadshahan. It contains various stories surrounding the Shahanshah, the third ruler of Çakaristan.
Starting at the beginning
"Your majesty, you had summoned me," Abu Turbati spoke, taking a bow. "Yes, grand vizier, I have made a proposal to amend the constitution," said Xunpadshahan, handing over a paper. The grand vizier took it and read it. "Your majesty, your father would be proud of you." Xunpadshahan immediately interrupted the grand vizier in a rage, "My father...". Snorting heavily, the Shahanshah searched for words. "My father, was too weak to tackle that Hrithik!" he roared. The grand vizier bowed his head and thought quickly. "Your majesty, you know best. Your proposal reflects your wisdom in denying that opponent the prospect of the throne. But..., your majesty, forgive me. Not the entire house of Çakar is disloyal to you".
Xunpadshahan stood before the grand vizier and poked his finger on his chest: "You take this proposal to the Congress and you make sure it is passed. If not, I will dismiss you as grand vizier." The grand vizier raised his head in amazement: "But your majesty, am I not loyal to you?" "You are, if you do not obey my orders," Xunpadshahan responded. The grand vizier bowed his head and stepped back to leave the room.
•••
The investigation into Jaaguzan's murder was at a standstill. Zahra had scolded the chief detective in charge of the investigation so harshly that the man resigned his post. The grand vizier then appointed Herkül Armut, a detective. Herkül had an unorthodox way of working and had a good reputation for taking difficult investigations to a legitimate outcome. This did not sit well with Zahra at all, as she and Aurangzeb were also questioned by this detective. She insisted that their testimonies were joint and that the detective did not make a report. The detective was upset at this attitude and argued that the interrogation was meant to exclude them. But this did not change Zahra's attitude.
At the Red Fortress in Agra, even the palace staff was not allowed to go near the room, where the interrogation took place. No one else was allowed to know what was said. For three hours, the interrogation lasted. At a later press conference, the detective did not mention the interrogation; the media did not know that the interrogation had taken place.
Only the Red Fortress had secret corridors. Knowing about this, Zahra had chosen a room where she knew there was no secret corridor running along it. In addition, she had had the room checked for any eavesdropping material. Yet the conversations were overheard. Someone was listening to the conversations in the room through a small hole in the wall, behind a painting. From a cleaning room, the hole could be opened.
•••
Several men gathered at a manor house on the island of Rulak. Through different modes of transport, they arrived at different times. In this way, they tried to conceal the meeting from the public. The different men were bank executives. The host of the meeting addressed the men, saying, "You know why you are here. This country has no central bank, no centralised arrangement for money circulation. The currency is gold or silver, so its value is not determined by circulation. In short, no control. As you know, Akbar stopped the creation of a central bank. And even now, the United Green party in the Congress will vote against it. Still, now is the time to make preparations for a central bank." The other men had listened approvingly, until the last sentence. Then unease arose.
"How can it be? There is not enough support in Congress for a central bank" said one of the bankers. Others fell in with him, but after a while the host said, "Gentlemen, I will settle the political side of this matter as long as we are going to act now. If we can come to an agreement to set up a central bank in private hands, our hands, we will finally start bringing this country under control." The bankers were not yet comfortable. But a paper was handed out, on which a proposal for a central bank was written out. Some bankers saw their own names listed as members of the Board of Governors, others as President of a district bank. The mood improved among the bankers. After drinks, the agreement was signed and a toast was made to the future central bank in Çakaristan.
Crash course
"It is good that you came to me first," Zahra said after reading the paper. "Your highness, Congress is not going to accept this proposal," the grand vizier responded. "You are right about that," Zahra replied. "But maybe we can use this to our advantage," Zahra continued. The grand vizier was puzzled and asked, "How then, your highness? The prestige of the throne will be affected by this, there simply still too much loyalty for the House of Çakar". "That's right," Zahra replied, "when the time comes, you can spin it that the Shahanshah in his youthful forwardness thought to make this proposal. That it might be good to at least exclude the opponent through an amendment. But that it is also good to still educate the Shahanshah and leave ruling to the ataliq". The grand vizier bowed: "you know best, your highness".
•••
As the fireplace burned, he stared into the flames. He thought about the interrogation for three hours. Thinking about that detective made him angry. Furious. How dare he doubt the innocence of his mother and himself? Then he remembered that his father had been found in the arms of Delara. That concubine had seduced his father to be unfaithful to his mother. And then two other concubines. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Inside!", he shouted. The doors opened and the kizlar agha entered. Standing in the middle of the room, as the doors closed again, he bowed his head and said, "Your majesty".
The Shahanshah stood up, walked towards the kizlar agha and said, "You know what to do?" "Whatever you command," the kizlar agha replied. Aurangzeb handed the kizlar agha a rolled-up paper and said "This is the list". The kizlar agha opened the list, after reading the list, he said "May I?". Aurangzeb gestured in agreement. The kizlar agha put the paper in the fire. Aurangzeb looked puzzled. "Your majesty, forgive me. It is better that there is no proof of the order you gave me". Aurangzeb nodded understandingly and asked, "When is it done?" The kizlar agha replied and said, "Your order will be executed as soon as possible. Better careful, than hasty".
•••
"Mutahadith, on behalf of the Shahanshah, may I offer you a proposed amendment to the constitution," the grand vizier spoke. He handed over the paper containing the text. The speaker of the Majlis al-Nuwaab read it and said, "With all due respect to His Majesty and to you, Your Excellency, but is this a serious proposal?" The grand vizier sighed and said, "It is not for you to judge proposals, take it up and let the Congress judge." The Mutahadith excused himself and moments later, the plenary hall was opened by him. The proposal was read out and then distributed by the clerk to the group leaders.
After a suspension, the meeting was reopened and the Mutahadith gave the floor to United Green's group chairman. "Mutahadith, in no way will United Green agree to this proposal. Despite the open rebellion of Hrithik Çakar against the Shahanshah, we will not agree to the removal of the House of Çakar from the constitutional scheme of succession." The chairman of the Arbor Loyalty Party said, "Mutahadith, we would not support the proposal in its current form. We do believe that the previous Shahanshah ensured succession sufficiently, but he was taken away from us too soon. Therefore, we would like to amend the proposal to put all male descendants of the late Mahmud bin Alsalam and Fatima of Arbor in line of succession." The Mutahadith had to call to order, due to protests from the audience. The group leader of the National Democratic Congress spoke and said, "Mutahadith, this proposal is ridiculous. We are voting against it." After several other groups had their turn, the Hilal Party's group chairman also spoke up: "Mutahadith, a proposal to exclude only Hrithik Çakar from succession, we could support that."
Despite all these serious substantive responses, Majlis members in the media were not so serious. The proposal was ridiculed. Cartoons appeared in newspapers and satirical skits on television. There were even protests at the Red Fortress by sympathisers of the House of Çakar.
Snakebite
Zahra entered the room and saw in amazement the mess in the room. Broken glasses, overturned tables and a smashed chair. "My son, what have you done?" The boy sat sobbing in a corner. "They just laughed at me, the whole congress!" he sputtered. Zahra approached and knelt by him. "My son, not the whole congress was against the proposal." Xunpadshahan interrupted her and said, "The grand vizier, I am going to dismiss him! He was talking about 'youthful rashness'" The grand vizier had not said so, but Zahra did not react to it. "My son, ruling a state is not easy. Congressmen sit for a few terms and then they move on to something else. But the Shahanshah stays in his post and serves for life. Those politicians will never understand that. You have the state on your mind, your proposal is really noble and progressive". "But the Congress has rejected it," Xunpadshahan replied. "The Congress is not looking beyond next elections," Zahra replied. "Come", continued Zahra, "perhaps it would be good for you to leave this snake pit of politics". Moments later, Xunpadshahan sat drinking a shabat on the balcony. His mother, reached out to him a piece of paper. "My son, sign this firman and tomorrow you will leave for Suryapur." Xunpadshahan, still full of emotion, did not read the paper but signed the firman. Zahra looked on with satisfaction.
•••
The detective was anything but satisfied with the course of his investigation. He had discovered that Delara, Jaaguzan's concubine, had administered the lethal powder. Thinking it was crushed viagra. But who had given her that powder, she had not told him. She was afraid to tell. Afraid of the consequences. The deadly powder was cyanide mixed in the coffee. The woman wanted to flee, away from mischief. Herkül had her arrested; she was being held captive in the basement of the Sahil Sarayı. He was not very comfortable with it, because the person who had given her the powder could still walk around the palace.
All the staff he had questioned. But to no avail. Now he sat typing his report. From his hotel room, he had a view of the forecourt in front of the palace. He saw a car approaching, admitted to the palace grounds. He got up and walked to the board, on which he had hung all the people with a picture on it. He had written on it who had which access, whether those persons had been outside the palace on the day in question. Then he said aloud: "But what if that powder had been in the palace for a long time? What now if that person was never investigated for what they took with them?" He walked to the window again. On the forecourt, nothing happened. Again he said aloud, "What if the person himself had no interest, but was working on commission? Everyone in the palace works on commission."
He went back to typing: 'It is my belief that Delara did not know about the kind of powder she was given. Her intention was to have intimacy with the victim. She was misled, so she was not an accessory to murder. Her desire did not make her suspect to be suspicious about how she obtained the viagra.' Then he jumped up from his chair and shouted, "That's it!" On the board, he wrote the question, 'Who does she trust?' He drew some lines between Delara's picture and pictures of other people.
•••
Looking out over the valley, Hrithik stared ahead. When Jaaguzan died, he faced a solid attack by the Çakari Armed Forces. That attack was titled 'Zahra's fury' in the media. Hrithik had moved into a palace, but it was bombed. Now he is back in a cave, hidden in the mountains. His Müşir Yeŋiçeri, Bayram Qoyunlu, approached and said, "Your grace". Hrithik grabbed Bayram by his collar and pushed him to the edge. The man screamed and started begging to prevent Hrithik from pushing him off the mountain edge. "Your grace, have mercy on your servant!" Hrithik roared, "You! You failed to protect your sultan from that attack by Zahra! You!" After a few moments, Hrithik pulled Bayram back again. The man sighed with relief and fell to his knees. "Your grace, how can I regain grace with you?"
The sultan gestured for Bayram to follow and the latter walked into the cave after him. On the table was a detailed map of the area. "Look, where it goes wrong in your strategy is the common approach to armies. You approach our battlefield as if you were playing chess. But in chess, the armies are equal to each other, the terrain is flat and the turns are equal." Bayram looked up and asked, "Which strategy suits our battlefield? To our terrain?" The sultan picked up a large map of all of Çakaristan, placed chess pieces on it. The black king represented Aurangzeb and was placed by Hrithik on Agra. The white king in the mountainous area of Khelaq Parade.
