Fall of Empires

Chapter 32

'And so you see, children,' Anna concluded the story of Daedalus and Icarus. 'Pride can cause us to fall. So you should always listen to your elders.' 

One of the bumptious little princelings sneered at this last statement, receiving a prod in the ribs from an older half-sister who smiled sweetly back at Anna.  

'Another story! Tell us another,' the girl piped up. 

'Tomorrow,' Anna replied firmly. 'Otherwise I shall run out of stories to tell you. I have already told you most of those I can remember.' 

Protesting to varying degrees, the children were rounded up by their attendant nurses and taken off for their mid-day meal, leaving the sunny courtyard which served as Anna's classroom suddenly quiet except for the nearby twitter of a captive songbird in one of the apartments. 

Since being charged by Semiramis with assisting in the education of some of the children born to the concubines of the royal harem, Anna had to admit that her fortunes had taken an upturn. She had a small if comfortable room and the run of the upper floor of the vast women's quarters, where the younger girls of the lowest rank were housed. Here she could enjoy the society of other young women. Each day she was also permitted to make her way to the lower floor where those concubines who had already borne children for the Great King lived with their offspring.  

Nevertheless, as she was left alone in the courtyard, Anna experienced the familiar sensation of feeling trapped by the walls about her and as the songbird trilled once more, yearning for the sky, she felt an affinity with the poor creature in its cage that brought tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. 

Whenever Anna felt herself overcome by despair she forced herself to remember Antonina, twisting the knife blade of her guilt and banishing all feelings of self-pity. She recalled Semiramis' cautionary words that she was no special case, that there were thousands of young women whom the ill fortunes of war had brought to this place. She remembered the terrible tale of her new found friend Irene with whom she shared her meals and who remained confined, like so many, in the young women's quarters. Irene had not set foot beyond their quarters in the three years since she had arrived following the brutal sack of Dara by Khusrow's forces. The girl, who was a year younger than Anna, had lost her father in the city's fall. She had seen her brother cut down defending her mother who had been raped and slain in her turn. Anna was lucky compared to many, she told herself. At least she had the consolation of hope that those she loved still lived, although the uncertainty as to their fate was often unbearable.  

She had also been lucky, for reasons she did not fully understand, to have been singled out by Semiramis. Having saved her from being sold into servitude in the market on the day of her arrival, Semiramis had further favoured Anna by appointing her to the privileged position of a tutor to the lower ranking royal children. That Anna's father had taken as much care over her education as that of her brother she knew made her a good choice for such a task and few of the girls shared her command of the Persian tongue. Even so she doubted that such considerations had been foremost in Semiramis' mind.  

Anna was about to make her way back to her own quarters, in search of some food and company, when she was interrupted by the arrival of Semiramis herself, breezing into the courtyard with a swish of silk and settling herself as lightly as a butterfly on the marble wall surrounding the small fountain at the courtyard's centre. She patted the stone next to her and smiled. 

'Come, Anna. Sit with me a while.'  

Anna obediently sat down beside the immaculate courtesan and wondered what had prompted Semiramis to pay her a visit. She determined inwardly not to allow herself to be manipulated. Whatever Semiramis had in mind for her, she would hold fast to the slender threads of her hopes for freedom.