The Legend of the Star Stone

Contents

1. 
   Prologue

   The Tear of the Iron Stake

   One night the nail at the center of the sky wept. The tear that fell would, centuries later, become the cornerstone of a palace.

2. 
   Chapter I

   A Light in the Snowy Mountains

   Aybars, a young lord who has lost his father, climbs into the mountains to flee his loneliness. A gray she-wolf leads him to a light burning beneath the snow.

3. 
   Chapter II

   The White Swan

   Umay Ana appears in the form of a white swan and reveals the secret of the stone: it must be carved, and the place to carve it is beneath the great dome that imitates the sky. Erlik's shadow attacks for the first time.

4. 
   Chapter III

   The Tulpar in the Ice

   Aybars finds a winged horse frozen inside a glacier and frees it with the hearth ember. At a crossroads he shares his bread with an old traveler, who leaves him a riddle.

5. 
   Chapter IV

   In the Shadow of the Dome

   Aybars reaches Konstantiniyye and finds Sina Hoca in his house of learning in the shadow of the great dome. The sage tells him the stone can be carved only with the secret of the four colors and a blade made of light.

6. 
   Chapter V

   The Four Colors of Şahmeran

   In the caves beneath Tarsus, Aybars meets Şahmeran, queen of the serpents. Şahmeran does not give her secret; she tells it. Each of the four colors is the name of something people share.

7. 
   Chapter VI

   The Emerald Feather of Mount Kaf

   For the first time, Akyel's wings open to the sky. On the summit of Mount Kaf, Zümrüdüanka asks something of Aybars: not to carry a burden, but to share one. In return she gives him a feather made of light.

8. 
   Chapter VII

   One Hundred and Six Tiles

   For forty nights Sina Hoca and Aybars carve the stone. Four colors, thirteen numbers, two of every tile, and two false okeys bearing the mark of Hızır: one hundred and six tiles. Racks are made from Fatma Nine's walnut tree, the first table is set, and the meaning of "one hundred and one" comes to light.

9. 
   Chapter VIII

   Erlik's Bargain

   Erlik Han comes in person and offers to buy the table. His offer is gold; his condition is that the tiles be played for money. Aybars refuses. In revenge, Erlik steals the two false okeys and carries them down into the underworld.

10. 
    Chapter IX

    Lost Stones in the Grand Bazaar

    Erlik hides the stolen stones in the House of the Golden Dice, which he has opened in the depths of the Grand Bazaar. With Rıza Bey, a merchant who has lost everything, the honest Mehmet Paşa and Kahveci Mustafa, Aybars finds a way to win the stones back: not with a sword, but with a table. This is how the first Kahvehane was born.

11. 
    Chapter X

    The Paper Palace

    Nilüfer Sultan, who draws cards in her pavilion at Kâğıthane, sends Aybars a challenge. A single night's game gives birth to the bid, to trump, and to the sinking of whoever fails to keep their word. This is how Batak begins, and how Nilüfer and Doğan Ağa join the story.

12. 
    Chapter XI

    Sixty-Four Squares

    Sissa Dede, a sage from Hind, arrives with a board of sixty-four squares and a handful of rice. After a game that lasts seven days, Erlik calls him to play. Erlik's defeat comes not by the sword but by patience, and the chessmen are carved anew from the dust of the Star Stone.

13. 
    Chapter XII

    The Black Winter

    Ill news comes from the north: Erlik has loosed the Black Winter upon Aybars's lands. The people have shut themselves in their houses and forgotten one another. The friends return north, and in Kara Toğrul's hall of forty chairs they fight their last battle against Erlik: not with the sword, but with the table.

14. 
    Chapter XIII

    The Door That Never Closes

    Kara Toğrul's hall becomes a palace. Every friend is given a hall: the Kahvehane, the Grand Bazaar, the Palace Garden, the Has Oda, the Divan-ı Hümayun, the Chess Pavilion and the İznik tiled hall. Aybars becomes North Sultan; the custom of the palace is written down, and its doors never close again.

15. 
    Epilogue

    An Empty Chair at the Table

    Centuries passed. The palace is still there, its doors still open. And at one of its tables, tonight as well, a chair waits empty.

Characters

• Sultan AybarsNorth Sultan
• Sina HocaThe sage in the shadow of the dome
• Nilüfer SultanSultana of the Paper Palace, mother of Batak
• Doğan AğaThe janissary who found trump
• Fatma NineGrandmother of the walnut tree
• Hasan EfendiThe memory of the house
• Kahveci MustafaKeeper of the first Kahvehane's stove
• Sissa DedeMaster of the sixty-four squares
• AsenaThe gray wolf, the guide
• AkyelThe tulpar freed from the ice
• Umay AnaProtector of the hearth and the traveler
• HızırThe traveler of the crossroads
• ŞahmeranShah of the serpents, sage of the colors
• ZümrüdüankaThe great bird of Mount Kaf
• Erlik HanKhan of the underworld and of loneliness