The Tattooed Princess

A Strange New Life

        As the weary party of warriors rode into the large Pazyryk encampment at the foot the Altai Mountains, the three captive girls were barely able to endure more, clinging to their soldiers on horseback with little strength left. The entourage included a herd of goats and several horses packed with the spoils the raiders had taken from the villages they raided after having destroyed them with fire and killing all the men and boys. The group on their war horses was greeted by small children as they ran out of tents with barking dogs playfully wagging their tails in the cool air.

            This was the large tented settlement of the Scythian tribe which over generations had grown in power and influence to rule the large territory sweeping up to the high peaks ruling the sky as far as the eye could see. The Scythian people were horsebound nomads, living off the plains through raiding parties, hunting,  and warfare with peoples to the west. They had no agriculture or permanent settlements save for Sharvur's rock fortress at the base of one steep mountain.  This present king had built his nation of warriors from a score of  competing clans of Scythians into a robust federation of generals under him—all of whom as the Pazyryk occupied their own tented town within a  kilometer of each other in the shadow of the great mountains.

            Leading up through the horsehide tents, corralled pack camels, and other younger horses with shaggy manes, the footpath went on up expanding into a wide path. It led from this lower tented city area, across the lower flatland and up toward the jagged, snow-covered peaks, framed by a clear blue sky. This nearby elevated rock outcropping housed the palace of Sharvur, King of the Pazyryk. He had carved it out of living rock and had it constructed with large gathered stones to form an impregnable fortress around a natural deep cave. In spite of the harsh life the people he reigned over had in these tented towns, his palace was clean and opulent, with tiled floors and many chambered rooms. They were decorated with tapestries and well-lit with bronze torch lamps.  There were naturally ventilated fireplaces in the palace and kitchens where slaves kept the king and his chosen subjects happy and well-attended to. His quarters were also well-guarded as no one passed by it's entry way without being stopped and questioned by sentries

            As the commander of the party released the tired soldiers of their duties to return to their families in the tent city, he escorted the captive girls and carried several boxes of refined objects to the entryway of the fortress. Allowed to pass freely inside, while accompanied by two armed men, the commander summoned the king to receive his gifts from their successful warring mission.  After some wait, the commander and girls were presented to the king in one of his chambers, well lit by torches and the walls covered by large bronze polished mirrors.

            As they were led into this great  living quarter, Sharvur the king was seated on a bed-like platform in the center of the room. It was covered by the soft pelts of wolves and on the floor many colorful rugs. He was surprisingly young-looking for such a heroic and fearsome warrior, and had the distictive tattooes on his arms and chest which distinguished him from the ordinary citizens of the Pazyryk. Those tatooes, earned for greatness, were a series of small leopards and eagles which together forme a dark pattern on his body in the torch light. His beard was yet black and the skin on is body still smooth and muscular. His long. slightly graying hair was pulled back and tied behind his head.

            "Bring them forward!" The king demanded of the commander.

            The three teens, tired, hungry and dirty were pushed out in front by the military commander nearer to the bed and in better view of the king.

            He nodded in satisfaction and his piercing blue eyes perused each of the girls' fearful faces. He then gave a wave of his hand across his robeless body, which signified to a woman standing off to the side to walk over and assist with the three. He gave the signal again, more emphatically, and the woman began to roughly remove the clothing of each girl until she stood naked before him in the warm room. The girls' tried with their hands to hide and preserve the great modesty they still possessed.

            "Bring Krido! The king shouted out,  and the attending woman quickly left the girls standing in their nakedness. She returrned through the stone hall way. In a matter of moments with  a thin, elderly man behind her. He wore a full length black robe with hundreds of little bronze ornamental of panthers sewn onto it. This man, with his long, gray hair flowing freely about his white-bearded face, walked up to the girls and stood before them. He took each of their hands one by one in his and carefully inspected  their palms. Then he looked into each of their faces closely, focusing on their eyes. Lastly, he reached down between the legs of each—and one by one he touched them gently there as they struggled to avoid his this rude invasion of their purity. Upon doing this with each he curiously brought his hand up to his face and smelled his hand. The girls were now trembling as to what would happen next to them. The elderly man then ceremoniously stood behind the three girls and slowly put his hand above the head of one of them—it was Zaria.

            Without knowing the meaning of any of this, the girls were approached by the attending woman again who had brought out fresh lengthy robes of soft deer hide for each of them at wear. When the king had pointed out to her that Zaria was the girl chosen by the elderly man, Krido, she then motioned for them to cover themselves quickly with the new clothing and follow her. Each of the girls was led to her own small chamber. Each had a wolf-pelted bed, much like the king's, a vented fireplace, a large ceramic bowl of water in the corner of the room, and a modest shelf area cut back into the stones to place perhaps clothing and other personal articles. As the girls entered these rooms one by one, an accompanying guard lifted a heavy iron, fitted cage-like door and dropped it into place from the outside. This soundly locked the room from the inside.

             No longer able to communicate with each other from their respective rooms, each of the beautiful girls--Zaria, Svetlana and Branka, had only the strength to climb upon her new bed and colapse into sleep, hoping the whole impression of this,  their strange new life, was only a dream. What kind of dream it was for each of them would only  be played out over time.

                                                                 *     *     *