A Feast in Exile Read Online Free PDF

aware of it. If he is not troubled by that, you should not be." She motioned him away from her and stood still while the steward obeyed her, leaving her alone with her lamp in the dark corridor.
     
     
    * * *
Text of a letter from the manservant Rojire to the spice-merchant Tas Sarnga.
     
     
    * * *
To the most excellent merchant Tas Sarnga who has long sold spices and other rare plants, woods, and medicinal substances in the city of Delhi, this order given on behalf of my master, the distinguished foreigner Sanat Ji Mani, who lives in the Foreigners' Quarter near the North-Eastern Gate. This brings with it six measures of gold and two of silver, in fulfillment of our agreement.
     
     
Ten vials of lotus-oil
     
     
Ten vials of quicksilver
     
     
Ten measures of myrrh, powdered
     
     
Twelve measures of camphor-gum
     
     
Twelve measures of musk-flowers, powdered
     
     
Fifteen measures of longevity root, dried
     
     
Sixteen measures of bellweed, dried
     
     
Sixteen measures of thirst berries, dried
     
     
Sixteen measures of black-flower, dried
     
     
Eighteen measures of cured century-dung, powdered
     
     
Eighteen measures of flax-seed oil
     
     
Eighteen measures of saffron
     
     
Eighteen haws
     
     
Twenty measures of hemlock
     
     
Twenty measures of pheasants' eggs, dried and powdered
     
     
Twenty measures of milkweed thistle, dried
     
     
Twenty measures of cardamom seed
     
     
Twenty measures of rose-hips, dried
     
     
Twenty measures of willow-bark
     
     
Twenty measures of royal-face, stems and flowers, dried
     
     
Twenty-one tamarind pods
     
     
Twenty-two measures of beggars-cowl, dried
     
     
Twenty-five measures of poppy syrup
     
     
Twenty-five measures of grain-pod, powdered
     
     
Twenty-five measures of juniper berries
     
     
Twenty-five measures of spider-breath preserved in honey
     
     
Thirty large hands of ginger
     
     
Thirty measures of ease-root, preserved
     
     
Thirty measures of tiger-spike, dried and powdered
     
     
Thirty measures of syrup of aloe
     
     
Thirty measures of spirits of grape wine
     
     
Thirty measures of olive oil
     
     
Have these delivered to my master's house at the end of the Street of the Brass Lanterns, and you will receive another token for your service
     
     
    Rojire

2

Prostrated before his sacred lamp, Rustam Iniattir prayed to Ormazd to keep him safe through the night that had just fallen. A Parsi, and a follower of Zarathustra, he was keenly aware of being alone in a strange country, one of a small community of Parsi living among those who did not share his language or his faith, his ties to Persia stretched to the breaking-point, in a place that was increasingly dangerous. He tried to think of his family, of his wife and four children, but when he did, panic began to rise in him and he was unable to keep his mind on his rite. "What is it that comes out of darkness, but Ahriman, and all that is given to evil?" he asked ritualistically, and made reverence to the lamp again. "O you Soul of Light, guard me from the perils of darkness, lest I am lost." He looked up, hoping to see the little flame brighten as a sign his prayers had been heard, but instead he saw it waver as a door was opened somewhere in the cave-like shrine. Iniattir rose to his knees, shivering from what he told himself was cold.
     
     
"Rustam Iniattir," said a pleasant voice behind him; he had to be inside the shrine, for his words echoed hollowly and made it difficult for Rustam Iniattir to locate this intruder who was beyond the reach of the half-dozen lamps hung around the disk of the altar.
     
     
Terrified, the Parsi turned, almost stumbling as he rose to his feet. "O Ormazd, give me your beams of light for swords, and your brilliance to put the manifestation of Ahriman to flight. Guard me with your luminous presence."
     
     
"And bear me to your realm where darkness is banished forever," said the voice, finishing the