Chapter 12: Sihr and the House of Osman

“Yes. Sihr means Black Magic. That is better known in Islamic religion. No one knows the depth and strength of its powers. It’s pure evil,” Kent answered for her and nodded to his friends.

“Meaning, that Jinn is Black Magic itself? Aside from being a shape shifter?” Eric’s face twitched with discomfort upon knowing it. He thought this was definitely not good at all.

They turned to the sultan who got up from his throne and walked closer to their group.

“You are welcome to stay in my royal house for as long as you wish. But please do entertain my entire family tonight.” The sultan smiled at them kindly.

The five of them beamed back at the sultan. The latter instructed one of the servants to show them their assigned room. He left them afterwards to go out of the royal house.

The servant motioned to them to follow her and she led the way. The five of them followed as if they were having a tour. The hallways were wide and colorful—reds, blues, oranges and pinks made the place lively.

They all looked up at the superb designs of the interior of the royal house. It was almost as if every pillar, wall and ceiling had been imbedded with gold.

“Are these for real?” Eric asked.

“Yes, of course,” Mazoi answered quickly. He could just assess the authenticity of it with his trained eyes. He grinned and was excited by the look of his face.

“Wow!” Diana exclaimed.

“Really beautiful!” Elise was generally appreciative of interior designs and architecture. And she definitely admired all of this they saw.

Kent looked at her and whispered. “You are really beautiful.”

Elise looked at him and just smiled, heart fluttering and feeling giddy.

****

The royal house, House of Osman, wherein the sultan lived was grand. It was an administrative structure that consisted of three elements: the servants, Imperial Harem and the Palace School.

The five foreigners entered the servants’ quarters. The room was of medium size compared to Kent’s grand bedroom in Belmont.

“All of us here?” Diana asked the servant in Turkish.

The room was empty. There was no single furniture inside. At all. Nonetheless, there were colorful draperies for the windows, which gave the room some life.

The servant nodded without a word, without looking at them.

“Uh, well, it is fine,” Eric said, gesturing his hand in the air, and looked around.

The servant retreated and left them inside the room.

“It is fine!” Eric shrugged and faced his four companions.

He snapped his fingers and five single beds appeared. The mattresses were covered with blue and green linens. Diana also snapped her fingers and decorations appeared to make it more habitable and look pretty. There were vases of red roses placed near the wall. Immediately, their floral scent wafted in the air magically, giving them a whiff. Also, a table and six chairs appeared out of nowhere. They were made of wood and high backed with cushions for comfort.

Elise smiled at the two childish people in front of her.

“Beer wine!” Mazoi declared, and five root beer in cans appeared on the table.

Eric and Kent chuckled.

They all helped themselves and got one each. They drank from it and were contented to sit on the chair each, while Mazoi and Elise were left standing and drinking their own can of beer.

“I wonder what Radu’s plans are,” Eric wondered aloud.

“Of course, he wants to take the throne of Wallachia from what we know through history.” Kent shrugged.

“Hmm… Well, he has the right to have it if Dracula is dead. But he’s not yet dead at this time,” Diana spoke.

“That’s it. He wants his brother killed so that he can have the throne of Wallachia!” Elise interjected in realization as though she just had a eureka moment that the others chuckled mockingly.

“Radu’s pretty powerful with Ottoman Turks on his side. He’s very close to the sultan. We just witnessed it,” Kent muttered and drank his root beer.

“But the sultan is just going to make him a puppet if it happens to be him on the throne,” Diana said like she was reviewing a lesson.

“I bet he knows the consequences. However, he wants power,” Kent replied logically.

“I think he is just an ambitious brother,” Elise uttered with disappointment.

Everyone looked at her.

“You see. From the history, everyone wanted the crown or the throne. It becomes the reason for jealousy, obsession, crime and other negativities. They think that the throne or crown is power. It is the same for our modern time in which presidency is an example—that is for democratic countries. Of course, that’s true, I mean the power. But…” she trailed off with a shrug and sad face.

“Right. If Dracula did not have Wallachia and he chose to live with Radu together with the Turks all their lives, they could be nobody,” Kent agreed quietly.

“So, it is the Ottoman Turks’ fault that the brothers became enemies?” Eric queried.

“Yes. And the brothers are victims of politics. Religion is a form of politics, too, you know,” Elise stated unenthusiastically.

“Try to follow the logic, Eric.” Diana sighed. “They lived in a time where thrones or crowns were such very powerful symbols. Everyone bowed to these. It meant power! Uh, well, I think it still means power in our time. But you see, before…” Diana checked herself. “I mean right now, it is truly a fight worthy of their lives and blood. They would absolutely do everything to get that power in their hands!”

“Well, we can’t really do anything about it. It’s their way of living at this time. And we have our way of living, too,” Eric said.

They were silent when Mazoi asked. “What is politics?”

They all sighed. Elise went to one of the beds and sat on it. No one answered the Egyptian guy who was looking from one to the other.

“Seriously, Mazoi? Think about King Hor-Aha governing all Ancient Egypt,” Diana retorted.

“But he wants a unified Egypt,” he protested.

Diana looked at the others with bored gaze. “I don’t want to explain to him.”

The boys sniggered, except Mazoi who looked at Diana with a frowning face.