"After suffering the slings and arrows of many adventures," "Angélique was at last reunited with her husband," "Joffrey de Peyrac, the "Rescator", the Mediterranean's most feared man." "A long hoped-for happiness seemed at last possible." "But the pirate Escrainville set fire to Peyrac's ship and abducted Angélique." "Finish clearing the deck." "Get ready to cast off." "But..." "Do as I say!" "Twenty men to repair the damage to the main mast!" "Carpenters to the planking!" "Sail makers to the hold!" "Make a new mainsail, a top and a foresail!" "Hoist the jib!" "By nightfall we'll be up to eight knots." "But going where?" "Algiers." "I'm sure that's where they're taking her." "ANGÉLIQUE AND THE SULTAN" "Ship in sight!" "On the starboard bow!" "A brig with a rectangular foresail." " That's it!" " At last!" "Xebec astern to port!" "So soon." "I'd never have thought it." "Tighter!" "Are we gaining?" "No." "The mainsail." "But the stays aren't finished." "We could lose the mast." "They're gaining!" "Haul on the topgallants!" "Set course for Sicily!" "If we tack, we're caught!" " It's a huge risk." " I know." " Ready aloft?" " Aye aye, Sir!" "Hoist the mainsail!" "Xebec gaining!" "Tighten the mainsail, hail the Captain!" "This time we'll have to fight." "We'll lose." "We have no choice." "Battle stations!" "Open the scuttles!" "Ready to tack to starboard!" "To your stations!" "We'll cut him off!" "Two inches to the left." "Perfect!" "To port!" "Fire!" "The rudder!" "Divers into the sea!" "Divers into the sea!" "Helm to starboard!" "Again!" "He's lost his wits!" "We'll sink him!" "Gunners to your stations!" "Fire!" "Battle stations!" "Everyone to battle stations!" "Everyone to battle stations!" "Ready with the grapnels!" "Prepare to board!" "Surrender." "Don't let them all die needlessly." "Surrender!" "Surrender!" "I saw you take her on board." "Where is she?" "Jason!" "Search the ship to the bottom of the hold." "Come on!" "Five men below!" "Search the hold!" "If she's dead, I'll kill you." "You will anyway." "Jason." "Where is she?" "She's not on board." "She's on her way to Algiers." "He sold her to Mezzo Morte." "We transferred her last night." "What the fool didn't tell you is that she'll be sold to the King of Meknes." "He will rape her, just as I did." "Go on, kill me!" "That would be too easy." "You'll die slowly." "And nastily, as you lived." "Take the wounded aboard the xebec." "Tie him to the main mast." "I'm leaving you alone on your ship with the dead." "Farewell." "No!" "Rescator!" "Don't do this!" "Don't do it!" "Rescator!" "Kill me first!" "Have mercy!" "Kill me first!" "Cast off!" "Kill me!" "Kill me!" "Kill me first!" "Set course for Algiers." "It's madness." "They won't let us in the port." "Set course for Algiers." "No one has ever jumped from here." "Nature abhors a vacuum." "Islamic scholars knew that two centuries before Europeans." "Where am I?" "At my home." "In Algiers, the "White City"." "Don't tell me you are my new master." "I could not afford you." "I am but a merchant." "May I know in whose bed you plan to offload me?" "You will be honored by the King of Meknes." "You are no doubt unaware that I am the Rescator's wife." "He'll seek vengeance." "I hope so." "It will be his downfall." "That madman sets slaves free." "He could totally ruin trade in the Mediterranean." "He'll free me." "No, Madame." "Being neither Turk nor Arab, his ship cannot dock at Algiers." " He'll come anyway." " No, Madame." "Between your husband and his greatest Muslim friends there's an impassable barrier, that of religion." "Tomorrow I shall hand you over to Osman Ferradji," "Grand Master of the King's harem." "He has no peer in the taming of women." "Out!" "I am Osman Ferradji," "Grand Master of the harems of the King of Meknes." "So this is the woman loved by the King of France." " Who told you that?" " No one." "But I know everything." "You are Angélique, Marquise de Plessis-Bellieres." "You are also the wife of two men, who are in fact but one:" "Joffrey de Peyrac and the Rescator." "You are very well informed." "France and its culture are a continual marvel to me." "I have instruments sent to me, books, materials," "women..." "Anything that can refresh my master's sensual pleasures." "I could have used you to run my household." "What a funny little firuze!" "I beg your pardon?" "It's a word we use for Frenchwomen." "Well, not just French, but charming and exquisite, too." "I've brought some material with which to make your robes." "If you'd like to choose." "I also have some sweetmeats, brought especially from Persia." "As there are salons in France where one drinks chocolate," "I would value your opinion." "Shall I have a dress made for you in this Lyons silk?" " Good?" " Exquisite." "But this material is silk in name only." "Sorry?" "It is nothing like the astonishing tissues from Mr. Colbert's manufactories." "It's a vulgar brocade." "You are perfect!" "If not for you, I'd have lost face." "Do you know that thieving from me is tantamount to thieving from the King!" "Have mercy, Lord!" "Spare me!" "You can't kill him for a piece of cloth!" "Thank you." "What strange sensitivity for a woman who watched an execution with the Ambassador of Persia." "You know that, too?" "When my master sees you in Meknes, he'll be delighted with you, and with me." "I won't go to Meknes." "Oh, Madame!" "Do not force me to force you." "You are too charming." "It would upset me." "I shall send you a hairdresser, robes, books, musicians..." "All you need while you wait for our departure." "And I shall leave you my personal bodyguards." "Unfortunately for you, Madame, one does not escape from me." "Vessel in sight!" "Slacken the pace!" "Launch the boat!" "I was dying of thirst." " Christian?" " Yes." "Not a man of war but a merchant." "I'll pay for my freedom." "A Knight of Malta, eh?" "You'll wish you'd died of thirst!" "Take him away!" "They don't like you much!" "I'm Simon Bolbec, from Saint-Malo." "Tomorrow we'll be in Algiers." "Once there, we'll disembark." "And we'll be chained in the citadel." "A real holiday!" "If you do as I tell you, tomorrow you'll be free and rich." "Say that again, Breton!" "I will!" "You're all scum!" "That's enough!" "Four days in the dungeon, with no food or water!" "Now what do we do?" "We wait." "Can't we get some sleep?" "What does he want with us?" "Guards!" "The jailers will only take a minute to calm them down." "Take this and come." "Him, too." "Go to the usurer Takim tomorrow for your 5,000 sequins." "Five thousand!" "You're as rich as the Rescator himself." "I am the Rescator." "So what are you doing here?" "You'll find out." "Go!" "I'll hold them back!" "Come on, Simon!" "Open the door!" "What is it?" "How did he get in?" "Your Excellency, don't you recognize me?" "Is it the clothes I'm wearing?" "You!" "Me." "Come." "Open up!" "Open!" "Your Excellency." "A Christian galley slave has escaped." "We saw him come in here." "No one came in here." "Your Excellency, don't force me to search the house." "You are not in Algiers here." "This embassy is Turkish territory." "Thank you." "Going to a fancy-dress ball?" "No." "I rowed my way here." " Rowed?" " To remain incognito." "If the Rescator had asked to dock at Algiers, everyone would have known, and they must not." "What can I do for you?" "First of all, help me become the Rescator again." "If your wife is still here, and in the hands of Mezzo Morte, you could try to snatch her." "However, if she is already en route for Meknes, guarded by Osman Ferradji, you cannot do a thing." "And even I will not help you." "Do you so fear the King of Meknes?" "It's a question of religion." "The King is descended from the Prophet." "Once your wife became the King's property, she'd be sacred and untouchable." "You couldn't count on anyone's help." "Yes, I could..." "On hers and on my own!" "Make sure no one strays in the sandstorm!" "Go on!" "Give the women water every hour." "You want for nothing?" "Yes." "My freedom." "What would you do with it?" "I would be gone!" "You have the devil in your body." "You haven't seen anything yet!" "Careful with the King's horse!" "If he gets hurt, you'll have me to answer to!" "How is the horse?" "I hope he isn't sunburned." "The King has two passions:" "Women and horses." "Women and horses, or horses and women?" "Even in Europe women didn't have souls until the Ecumenical Council of 620." "Where did you learn that?" "I like reading your Church Fathers." "Leave it to me." "What a delicate neck." "I believe that my sovereign will prefer you to his horse." "He'll be wrong to." "You dislike love?" "I love the Rescator and will remain faithful to him." "Though it cost me my life." "We are getting close." "You know Versailles." "You will now discover Meknes, the "Queen of the Desert"." "The King!" "Stay hidden." "I don't see why." "You are still untamed." "I shall have to install you in the lower harem." "That will suit me!" "I doubt that." "Hail, Osman Ferradji." "Welcome, Omnipotent Lord!" "So what have you brought me?" "A little of everything." "And the rarest treasure I could find." "Some beautiful books, a harpsichord, some spices, materials, a mathematician captured in Cyprus," "German blades, a choice of pistols..." "A watch." "A watch?" "The size of an egg." " What would I do without you?" " And I, without you?" "As well as all these rarities, do you, as usual, also have a surprise for me?" "Yes, Lord, and of a rare beauty." "Even the King of France would envy you." "What is it?" "An English stallion." "So you come from the English Isles?" "You have crossed France, the Mediterranean, the desert..." "A saddle!" "He's a god!" "You've broken him, Lord." "He'll love me." " Well?" " Well what?" "Isn't he handsome?" "Yes." "Did you see the stallion?" "He didn't want to submit, either." "Yet now he loves his master." "Impressive, eh?" "Who is that?" "Colin Paturel, leader of the Christian slaves." "Who ordered that?" "The King." "What did he do?" "It is his habit to disrespect the King." "Here is your palace." "The King never comes to the lower harem." "It's a stable!" "The upper harem is a paradise." "The King chooses his bedfellows there?" " If you want..." " No!" "Some of these women must have pleased him." "Why does he treat them so badly?" "Because they are no longer good in bed." "Then why not set them free?" "No woman who becomes the King's may leave here alive." "A lovely perspective!" "For them, perhaps, but not for you." "I shall explain later." "He didn't want her!" "Beautiful as you are, your legs must be twisted." "Show us!" "Why are they afraid of you?" "I've been sentenced to death." "He says I was unfaithful to the King." "Yet the King has never bedded me." "He didn't want you?" "But you're beautiful." "The harem master, Osman Ferradji, wouldn't show me to the King." "Why?" "I arranged a tryst with a Venetian gentleman, a captive like myself..." "It was at night, in the gardens." "They caught us and tied him to the horses." "They dragged him until he was just a bloody mess." "Evening prayers!" "The time they carry out executions." "Come this way, my little firuze." "You've just come from hell." "Cast your eyes on paradise." "Those women mustn't see your beauty." "Your life would be in danger." "Let me go!" "No!" "Let me go!" "No!" "Let me go!" "Help!" "Murderers!" "Why did you make me witness that?" "An unfortunate coincidence." "I wanted to show you the gardens, the upper harem, paradise..." "You're lying!" "You wanted to show me what will happen if I don't obey." "Obedience is a subtle pleasure." "Agree to leave the lower harem, for your own good..." "Never!" "No one escapes from here." "Outside the town there is only desert and death." "I prefer that to the King!" "Inch'Allah!" "Where's the Frenchwoman?" "She's beautiful." "Too beautiful." "Leave her!" "What's going on?" "It's the end of Ramadan." "Our Lent, if you like." "The King is offering his women an entertainment outside the palace." "How nice of him to let them out once a year!" "I'll take you." " I don't want to be noticed." " You're under my protection." "Last night two women came and looked at me." "I know." "Leila, his number one wife, and his favorite." "What did they want?" "To kill you, probably." "Your beauty scares them." "Aren't there rivalries in the French Court?" "Yes, but there I was free." "I was able to defend myself." "And here you're a slave by your own choice." "If you listened to me, you'd have nothing to fear from anyone." "You'd be the Queen of this land and of this garden." "Don't keep me waiting." "Let me introduce you." "You are the one I've been waiting for." "If you listen to me, the King will love you kindly." "You will enslave him with your beauty." "You're dreaming!" "Never in political matters." "He is a powerful monarch." "He sees clear and far and is decisive in his actions." "But he has an insatiable appetite, and could easily be influenced by a weak and petty mind." "With your help to discipline his dreams, he could assume the supreme rank of Commander of the Faithful." "Help me." "Help me, I beg you!" "You would rule through me?" "I want nothing for myself, but everything for him." "I'm sorry, my friend, but I cannot help you." "I love the Rescator." "Who knows?" "Tomorrow, perhaps." "No." "There is an old Arab proverb:" "Never say, "Fountain..."" " "I shall not drink of thee."" " You know it?" "It is neither old, nor a proverb, nor Arab." "It's by Jean de la Fontaine, a French poet." "You read too much, and too quickly." "You'll end up confusing the Bible and the Koran." "Hail, My Lord!" "How are you bearing up?" "Better than you, dog!" "The time has come for you to pay for these years of insolence!" "Very well, Lord." "I had hoped that manacling you to a cross would have curbed your pride." "Demanding justice is not insolence." "I take no pleasure in seeing you die." "I shall give you one last chance." "Renounce your religion, become a Muslim and I'll spare you." "That's impossible, Lord." "I cannot pluck my faith from my heart." "Then you shall die." "Yes, Lord." "Why wouldn't the tiger eat you?" "You should ask him, Lord." "I prefer to ask you, Christian sorcerer!" "You have a secret." "Tell me the secret and I shall spare you." "Give me my life first, then I'll tell you the secret." "So be it!" "You have my word." "Come here." "Also, Lord..." "Let the Knights of Malta come and buy the Christian slaves." "Your request is an insult!" "Then I'll die with my secret." "Come here." "Very well, Lord." "Does that feel better, Lord?" "Your secret?" "I'm hungry." "Sit down." "Maybe you know, Lord, that I often feed the big cats." "Yesterday, knowing I was to be eaten today," "I gave them so much to eat that the sight of raw meat now makes them sick!" "So you confess in public that you have made fun of me?" "You can't kill me, Lord." "The King has given his word." "I like you, Colin Paturel." "I like you, too, Lord." "Your worse fault is your arrogance, pretending to be greater than I." "There's only one cure for that." "Chop my head off!" "This time you have gone too far!" "So I shall use that cure!" "No!" "Who dares?" "At last." "You were hiding her from me?" "I wanted to surprise you, Lord." "She is beautiful." "Very beautiful." "Colin Paturel." "This woman has saved your life." "I believe you know, Madame, what the ruby ring means?" "That I'm to enjoy the King's favors?" "A compliment!" "I have no choice." "You maneuvered admirably." "You win!" "Quite." "All you can do now is follow me to the upper harem." "This is where the King's favorites wait for him every evening." " You seem very calm." " Should I be shaking?" "Why did you cry out?" "I don't like seeing the innocent killed." "You knew what would happen if you drew the King's attention." "It's what you expected." "And he'd have seen me eventually." "I thought you wished it to be as late as possible." "I'm starting to understand your philosophy." "Life is but a rite of passage." "You don't intend to kill yourself?" "Then you are preparing some trick?" "I'm separated from the man I love, and I have no desire to play tricks." "You are resigned?" "I never have been." "I don't like what's afoot." "Neither do I." "But you can do nothing to delay it." "Nothing." "Then it is in Allah's hands." "So this is my fate, to spend the whole day among squabbling females, waiting for the King." "That hope keeps them alive." "They love him." "I don't!" "Where are we going?" "You seem nervous." "Not at all." "I am calm and determined." "The King's apartments." "Now it's up to you." "You can escape both harems for ever by becoming Queen." "You are beautiful." "Very beautiful." "Louis XIV desired you." "Why did you refuse him?" "I didn't love him." " And he?" " He loved me, I think." "That is all that matters." "In France, enlightened minds believe that love must go both ways." "Absurd!" "Perhaps you don't know how to make yourself loved." "Why didn't he take you by force?" "Too much pride." "He'd only have had my body." "What else is there?" "My heart and soul." "Women here have no soul." "That is what your friend, the Ambassador of Persia, said." "Why did you try to stab him?" " He wanted to rape me." " Did he succeed?" "I was rescued in time." "No one will rescue you here." "But here, there is no one to rape me, is there?" "Is there?" "Just a second." "Is this some French trick to make me desire you more?" "I shall not be yours!" "Ever!" "You no longer amuse me." "Women have no right to attempt suicide." "Osman!" "Take this woman." "She dared to offend the Commander of the Faithful." "Stop!" "The King has mercifully consented to forgive your unprecedented act, if you swear to bow down before him and embrace Islam." "Do as I say, it's your last chance!" "Renounce!" "Save your life!" "Renounce!" "You were supposed to be her friend!" "What have you done?" "You were very brave." "My determination to die was so strong that I barely felt the whip." "Such pride!" "I impregnated the lashes of the whip with a powerful narcotic." "With each stroke you became more numb." "And the tongs?" "Check your body." "It's intact." "But how?" "Because I told the King that you were ready to submit." "You have time to come to your senses." "You will see the King at the next moon." "Don't you understand?" "I will never yield." "You will!" "Now you can meditate on the fate you have chosen." "You have twelve days to prepare for your next torture." "Make way for the King's guard!" "Back!" "Back!" "It's pure gold." "I've had it counted, and it comes to over three million sequins." "Three million!" "Where did you steal it?" "Speak or I'll have you tortured." "Just one second, Lord." "Open your mouth." "His tongue was torn out a long time ago." "He may be dumb but he's not deaf or blind." "Where did you steal this gold?" "Was it given to you?" "He's mocking us!" "Is the place far from here?" "Two hours?" "Two days?" "Two days by horse?" "Is there still a lot of gold?" "Make way for the King!" "That's no simple outing." "No, they've taken a good supply of water with them." "Tonight, then?" "Try and find a third horse." "For her." "You've found it!" "The King and Osman Ferradji are both absent." "We'll never have such a chance again." "No man has ever left the harem alive." "This time you will die." "I thought you were clever, Leila." "If you kill her, you will be killed, too." "But if you help her escape with me," "I alone will be responsible, and you will be rid of her." "Not a guard!" " Leila kept her word." " Let's hope so." "Thank you." "You saved my life." "Well?" "Are you the mighty Moulay Rachid," "King of Meknes?" "Yes." "And who are you?" "He's the Rescator." " I was expecting you." " Where's the gold?" "Here." " Is this a joke?" " It all comes from this." "From that?" "Lead, perhaps!" "Just a moment." "One pound of pure gold, or fifty thousand sequins." "He has supernatural powers!" "No, just the power of science." "The secret of the Philosopher's Stone." "I want the secret." "On one condition." "You don't bargain with me!" "Accept, and I'll give you the secret." "You'll be the equal of anyone." "But kill me and you'll know nothing." "I know what he wants, Lord." " He wants a woman." " A woman?" "My woman!" "You're holding her captive." "Only one woman could drive a man like you to such folly." "The one who resisted me." "Angélique." "Do we have a deal?" "Water!" "There's no one there." "I'll check, just to be sure." "Wait here." " Still far from the sea?" " Two more days." "If we find water on the way." " We will." " If the horses bear up." "We should have taken camels." "Too slow." "They'd have caught us." "Whereas we're safe now, eh?" "Count Vateville, it's sad how five years of slavery have robbed you of your courage!" " Who do you think you are?" " Your leader." "In France you will be a lord again, and I shall be a peasant." "In the meantime, fill the skins." "The mountain will be the hardest." "I'll make it." "Sorry." "Take some salt." "It helps your body retain the water." "Colin..." "I beg your forgiveness for yesterday." "It's nothing." "Lord!" "Paturel and the Frenchwoman have run away." "What?" "I've punished those responsible." "But take my life, Lord." "I am ultimately responsible." "The Rescator gave me his secret, and I promised him his wife." "I must keep that promise." "You have compromised your King's honor." "Stop!" "Stop, Lord!" "Stop!" "Stop, Lord!" "I beg you, Lord!" "Stop!" "Mektoub." "My country is vast, but I shall find your wife." "On the King's order..." "Forward!" "It's too wide for a horse." "We'll never get across." "He's the least skittish." "I'll try to get him across." "Come on!" "Now for the other horses." "And then, tomorrow at noon, we'll be at the sea." "A skiff with a sail will be waiting." "Are you sure?" "I hope so." "I'll go on ahead to scout the terrain." "If I see an ambush, I'll shoot in the air to warn you." "No, I'll go." "You'll defend her better." "But you'll have no chance." "No Vateville has ever died in his bed!" "Farewell, Madame." "If we don't meet in Versailles." "Versailles!" "That must be nice." "All I know of France is the sea around it and my hometown, Saint-Valéry-en-Caux." "The sea in front, then the town and the port, and behind, all of Normandy..." "So green!" "Not barren like Africa." "Since I met you, I've regretted being a peasant." "Why?" "I wanted to tell you..." "If we are caught, knowing the torture that awaits you," "I won't let them take you alive." "I say that not to frighten you, but because I love you." " You love me?" " Hopelessly." "If we're taken, we'll die." "If we escape, I am just a peasant." "Saved!" "Dead?" "Yes..." "But of exhaustion." "No." "The King's soldiers killed him." "As you well know." "They'll get us at the next ambush." "And the skiff?" "It'll be hidden behind the rocks until we step onto the strand." "Then let us try!" "Look!" "Keep your promise!" "Kill me!" "I don't want to fall into the King's clutches!" "Kill me!" "No..." "Shoot!" "Shoot!" "Shoot!" "Angélique!"