Chapter 6
‘This is the life!’ Abu Abdallah set down the heavy goblet. Instantly, a silent Christian house-slave appeared and refilled it. Blood-coloured sherbet, made with pomegranates from Lisan al-Din’s estates and snow from Jabal Shulayr, winked in the light from a score of lamps. ‘I told you we’d be orbiting in high circles, my boy.’
Sinan, who was still sitting in the place on the floor where he had prayed the evening prayer beside Abu Abdallah, looked around. He’d never dreamed that such circles even existed below the seven heavens. The long wall of Lisan al-Din’s guest pavilion was a firmament of crystal lamps in niches, flanked by large gilded jars in alcoves. The side walls were hung with rich textiles – Egyptian velvets, Sicilian silks embroidered with leaping gazelles and loop
