The Whore of Babylon

Chapter 5 | part 2

The days fell into a steady routine. Samsu’s officers would visit several times a day – it didn’t take long for the girls to think of a way to spite them.

Mari began to wait near the door, listening for the distinctive ring of boot heels on tiles. She would give a signal when she heard the approach, and Eliana would dart out via the terrace quick as a startled rabbit and scamper up a tree to the safety of a high branch, hidden by the wide flat leaves.

They giggled amongst themselves at how this enraged the officers – particularly the Brute. His were the assaults that Eliana was keenest to avoid. The others were brusque and took what they came for – it was only he who seemed to take especial pleasure in added viciousness.

‘Where is she?’ he would demand.

‘Last I knew, she was heading off to the bath house,’ Mari would reply, sometimes varying it to ‘in the garden’ or ‘walking in the pavilion’.

Kisha kept quiet, still too timid to draw his notice if she could avoid it.

The Brute would bluster and rage uselessly, making his dire threats; but in the end, he always left without his prize, and Eliana would come down feeling smug and triumphant.

She didn’t always come down – it was pleasant up in the tree. She could stretch out along the branch, hidden from prying eyes by the foliage, and gaze up at the wide blue sky. For that short time, she could pretend that she was free as a cloud, could drift wherever she pleased... intangible, uncatchable. It was her favourite daydream.

Kisha laughed and called her a little monkey to prefer the tree-dwelling life over the comfort of a palace bed; but beneath the jest, she understood.

This little trick worked for five days as though the god of mischief himself had gifted it to them.

On the sixth day, the Brute would be cheated no more. When Mari gave her excuse, he narrowed his eyes as if to better see through her deception.

‘If the whore is unavailable,’ he growled, ‘I shall have to take my pleasure elsewhere.’

From up on her perch, Eliana heard Mari scream as he dragged her away. She scrambled down and sprinted back to the apartment, but it was too late for Mari. By the time he returned their maid, she was white-faced and trembling, her chin stained with blood where he had split her lip with a heavy blow.

He did not try to claim Eliana when he saw her stood in the middle of the room, staring at him as if daring him to take her. He merely gave her a triumphant look, dropped Mari in a shaken heap on the floor, and left without a backwards glance.

‘Mari!’ Eliana ran to her, dropping to the ground by her side. ‘What were you thinking? We agreed that if it looked like you were in danger, you should just give my hiding place away!’

‘I know,’ she said in a quivering voice. ‘But I thought you shouldn’t have to go through this alone...’ she tailed off.

‘You brave thing! I thought you said that you wished for more courage? That is the most courageous thing anyone has ever done for me.’

‘Well... I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. I was starving to death on the streets before you asked for my help in your work for your father. If not for you, I’d have come to this anyway.’

‘I won’t let it happen again,’ Eliana swore. ‘I can’t have you hurt on my account. They have taken my dignity and my freedom, but they’ll never take my pride. I couldn’t sleep at night if I knew you were being injured in my place.’

‘No... if this is what it takes to spare you just a couple of attacks, I’ll do it.’ Mari’s frightened eyes and pale face belied her plucky words.

‘You won’t.’ Eliana was resolute. She was serene on the surface, but underneath it all, she was seething – furious that he should stoop to harm a simple maid just to get to her. Though she was not sure why this should be surprising.

‘There’s more,’ Mari all but whispered. ‘Susa... she’s paying the guards. That’s why they’re coming so often.’

Eliana’s jaw dropped. That really was surprising. She knew that Samsu’s consort had taken an instant dislike to her, but this went beyond anything she could have imagined. If she had hoped for some feminine solidarity from another woman who had suffered at the hands of man and circumstance, her illusions were instantly shattered.

‘That’s low,’ she muttered. ‘What a revolting thing to do.’

‘I – I suppose she wants to get rid of you. If you fall pregnant, Samsu might marry you too, and her son will be moved yet another step from the throne.’

There was a knock at the door. For a heart-stopping moment, Eliana thought that the Brute had returned to claim her after all.

She calmed as she remembered that the Brute never knocked.

Kisha took a few tentative steps towards the door, but Eliana held up a hand and went herself.

She opened it a crack. There in the entrance stood a man in the military tunic of an officer of Samsu’s army, but there was something different about him. His eyes had none of the hardness and cynicism of the others’, and there was compassion in his gaze.

His black hair fell in tousled waves to just below his ears and what she could see of his body was finely honed. A strong jaw, straight nose and chiselled cheekbones made for a face that any girl would look twice at. Eliana was annoyed to feel an instant attraction in the twist of her stomach as their eyes met.

He bowed slightly, ‘apologies for disturbing you, my lady.’

She looked at him warily – this was not the treatment she was accustomed to. Expecting him to make a lunge for her any moment, she edged backwards.

Holding up his hands, he said, ‘I mean no harm. My name is Ashan; I came to let you know that Samsu will see you tonight. I’m to fetch you at sundown, and I thought you might appreciate some forewarning.’

Still suspicious and expecting a catch for this kindness, Eliana gave a brief nod. ‘Thank you, sir.’

He inclined his head, turned on his heel and strode off.

She closed the door behind him.

Confusion must have been plain on her face.

‘Ashan is a good man,’ said Mari. ‘You can trust him. He carried you here the night you arrived. He did not take advantage when you were at your most vulnerable, and you can be sure that he’s the sort of man who will never willingly hurt an innocent.’

‘A rare man indeed, at this court,’ observed Eliana. She fell silent as she turned her thoughts towards sundown.