The Whore of Babylon

Chapter 6 | part 3

'I do apologise, my lady,' he said formally. 'I have suddenly remembered an urgent duty that I must attend to.'

He bowed and left so quickly that Kisha was quite concerned. 'I hope he's alright,' she murmured.

Only Eliana was positioned to see Ani's smug expression as he departed.

Ani took Ashan's seat, covered Kisha's hand with her own and began to give detailed instructions on what she must and must not eat in these crucial final weeks of pregnancy.

Eliana, trying to put her suspicions aside, picked up the lyre and began to pluck out a tune. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Ani shoot her a venomous glance – it was so fast that she could scarcely be sure she'd seen it.

The next morning, two of the lyre strings were broken.

'Oh, such a shame,' commiserated Ani. 'You must have been too vigorous with them yesterday. If you like, I can get you some more when I next send a slave to the market.'

Eliana said nothing, studying the ruined strings. When the woman was out of earshot, she confided to Mari, 'these strings are not broken through overuse. See how neat the broken ends are? They have been cut deliberately, not frayed in normal use. It could only have been her.'

'It's just a couple of strings,' said Mari. 'Let it go – it's not worth the trouble of arguing over now.'

The lyre strings were just the beginning of a series of unfortunate mishaps that befell Kisha's belongings.

When she sat down at her loom a couple of days after the lyre incident, she found that the threads were all knotted and tangled. Ani offered her sympathy, suggesting it must have been the wind, and insisted on helping Kisha to detangle everything.

The following day, a wine stain was discovered on her favourite ivory silk gown. It had been a costly item, and one Samsu was always pleased to see her wear.

Ani took the gown away, vowing to scrub the stain out if it took her all day.

These events began to take their toll on Kisha's nerves. 'It's ill-omens,' she whispered to Eliana, barely able to give voice to her fears. 'The gods are telling me that the baby's cord will be tangled, or there'll be a stain on his birth, or...'

'Hush!' exclaimed Eliana. 'It means nothing of the sort. It just means that someone is trying to frighten you, and you're letting them succeed.'

'I wish I could be as sceptical as you, Elly. But there's only the four of us here, and I trust you all completely.'

Her jaw dropped, 'even Ani?'

'Even Ani,' Kisha was firm. 'I had my doubts about her at first, but she is so sweet and helpful that I cannot think ill of her. Why would she offer to remedy all the things that have gone wrong if she was the one to cause them? She'd just be creating more work for herself.'

Eliana was far from convinced, but she tried to avoid arguing with her sister at the moment. Kisha was normally so gentle, but the pregnancy was beginning to fray her nerves.

There was no doubt in Eliana's mind that Ani was acting on Susa's behalf, and reporting everything back to her. She also suspected that her own health was mentioned in the reports – after a week and a half of blessed peace, Samsu's officers renewed their visits to the apartments with more vigour than ever before.

It was no longer a shock to her when they arrived – it had become part of daily routine. Eliana no longer fought them; she was tired of injuries and bruises. When she submitted, she felt that a little part of her spirit had died. She was almost as disgusted with herself as with the soldiers.

One in particular didn't always remember to remove his belt and dagger beforehand. While he used her, Eliana would stare at the blade with a fervent longing, imagining how satisfying it would be to grab it, swift as a striking snake, and plunge it into the belly of her assailant. When he spilled his seed, she pretended that the warm liquid bathing her was his blood.

It seemed that she spent so much time in the bathhouse during these days that her hair was never truly dry before she felt unclean again and had to go back.

It was as Kisha had said – Eliana learned to bear the things she could not change, though it made the whole situation no less repellent for her. She could not grow used to it, but she could bear it.

She would always take a careful look at the face of her tormenter before he began, storing it away in her memory in case of any future chance of revenge. For now, she must submit, but she dared to hope for a time when she would have the power to punish them.

Many of the soldiers spoke to her almost politely before they used her, now that she no longer made life difficult for them. The only one who remained perpetually unpleasant was the Brute. Whether she fought or surrendered, he still hit, grabbed, stripped and humiliated her in every way that he could. Once, he had burst in whilst she was styling Kisha's hair, forced her to her knees by her sister's side and taken what he wanted there and then.

Kisha had held her hand throughout. There was a bizarre comfort in that.

Eliana was sure that he would rape her if he were not so loyal to Samsu – she found herself almost grateful that he had reserved her maidenhood for himself. At least it delayed the inevitable.

After that event, Ani had insisted on taking over many of Eliana's duties. She would not risk it happening again, she said. Kisha must not be distressed by the sight of her whore sister servicing the men of the army.

Eliana had clenched her fists and gritted her teeth at this, but kept her silence only for the sake of her sister's pleading eyes.

She never saw Ani acting suspiciously, and she certainly had no cause to complain that the woman ill-treated her sister. It was sickeningly clever. Eliana longed to catch her in the act of vandalising something, just for the satisfaction of having solid proof with which to accuse her.

Mari always counselled caution. She was wary of Susa, and would give her no opportunity to remove Kisha's protectors from her service.

However, even Mari's tact could be sorely tested.

Ani had been with them for a fortnight when Mari went to change the sheets on Kisha's bed. She drew back the hangings, stripped the blankets and picked up a pillow to take it out for airing.

There, underneath, was the little amulet meant to protect Kisha in childbirth, the eyes of Pazazu staring up at Mari from two distinctly separate pieces.

Someone had broken the charm in two and replaced the halves carefully beneath the pillow.

When she saw what had happened, Kisha became as pale as the broken ivory, her eyes filling with tears; her voice remained steady. 'Such a pity – and all the sadder because of what it meant to the giver of the gift. Do you know how it happened?'

'No, my lady,' Mari bowed her head. 'I just lifted the pillow and the pieces were there, broken.'

'What nonsense!' scoffed Ani. 'Even amulets do not magically break themselves in two. You must have been careless and knocked it to the floor while you were removing the blankets.'

'I did not!' Mari was indignant. 'I'm no liar! I tell you true, Kisha – I found it like this under the pillow.'

'It doesn't matter,' Kisha was tactful as she could be – not blaming her maid or correcting Ani. 'It is broken, and that cannot be undone. Please store the pieces away in my jewellery box, Mari.'

She turned back to the loom, shoulders bent in sadness.

Watching from across the room, Eliana was sure she glimpsed anxiety in her sister's eyes. Kisha hated conflict, she knew, and was beginning to work herself into a panic over the omens for the birth.