Gender: Female
Age: 119
Sign:
Capricorn
Country: Iran
Signup Date:
June 26, 2011 |
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01/19/2013 03:27 PM
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STARTERS
Category: Stories
| STARTERS
NOTE: Let me know if you can work with any of the starters bellow as they are or if you want me to personalize them to better fit your character and story!
| ~* STARTER 1
The Roman Republic - the City of Capua
Relations between Rome and the Persian-Parthian Empire, collectively known as Iranians, had long been tense. While the once again united Iranian nation strove to regain the territories of their once vast empire, the largest the word had ever known, before being invaded by Alexander of Macedonia and divided by his general following his death, the emerging Roman force in the west also sought to bring under their dominance all the territories that Alexander had once claimed and then go even further. Yet, such concepts served only to further sway the men whose accord was needed for such endeavors and motivate the men who had to partake in the impending military campaigns essential in the completion of such goals. The main reason for conquest was a simpler one, which was the main reason for all wars, namely resources, and the east was a rich land overflowing with unique items and astonishing novelties.
For many years now Rome had eagerly drunk from the rich spring flowing from the east, to the point that it had become dependent on those luxurious commodities, especially the aristocracy which, in no way different from the aristocracies of other nations, better secured their position by constantly amazing their fellow citizens with some bewildering novelty that they alone had come to possess. As the Roman Republic continued to expand and develop, the task of securing a constant flow of the now much needed commodities from the east became a thing of great concern, especially since the Iranians had once again secured control over much of their former empire, except for the coastal regions of the Middle Sea and Anatolia, including the Kingdom of Armina, the northern neighbor of the Persian-Parthian Empire. To the west, the barrier between the Empire of the Iranians and the territories either directly or indirectly controlled by the Roman Republic, was the river Ufrātu River.
Long, arduous battles between the Romans and the Iranians, with grave casualties on either sides, made the two nations realize that they had met their equal and neither could be able to definitively defeat and subdue the other. Whatever victories either side might gain, it would only be temporary and the balance would soon shift, reverting the order of things to its previous state. This was due to the vastness of the territories controlled by either side and the diverse array of nations that inhabited those lands, with the people of the western and eastern hemispheres generally being at odds with each other in both culture, tradition and way of life, despite some similarities that proved the differences were merely the result of different contexts.
Continuous warfare would offer the people of both nations a tense and scarce existence, with the need to divert most resources towards sustaining military campaigns. As such, the primary means of assuring future prosperity and social development became trade, an emblem of civilization after all. To ensure the stability and security of trade routes, the Iranians and Romans first had to come to terms on a multitude of relating subjects and sign detailed treaties. Ambassadors from both sides were sent to the partner nation where they would be granted residence and the freedom to represent the interests of their nation, while respecting the laws of that land. On more important occasions, high representatives of each nation would visit their commercial partners in their homeland.
This type of visit brought Maniya to Rome for a second time, although the first time when the visit was an official one and of such high stature. Following her marriage to the second-oldest son of the King of Kings, almost two years before, Maniya kept her adoptive name of Mahtab and continued to perform the duties that came with being the heir of the House Kurush-Hakhāmanish, the oldest, wealthiest and most prominent Iranian dynasty. Due to her previous knowledge and experience in such matters, as well as being more familiar with the Roman world, mostly because of the tortures she had suffered at their hands - something she kept secret and no longer sought vengeance for, Maniya was allowed by the King of Kings, with the joint approval of the Royal Council, to head the diplomatic mission to Rome. She was the one who made the proposition for such an excursion, in light of recent events.
Back when the peace and commerce treaties between Rome and the Iranian Empire had not yet taken a final shape, military confrontations still occurred between the Persian-Parthian military contingents stationed at the western border of the empire and the legions assigned to the neighboring Roman province of Syria. One such confrontation had been delayed by means of foregoing negotiations and then averted altogether when Maniya discovered that the Legatus in charge was someone she was acquainted with, a Roman who had actually saved her life.
 
(Legatus Titus Flavius Virilus)
It happened years before, in Britannia, when she was a young woman in her early twenties, travelling the world alone so as to explore it with the eyes of a common individual. There she was mistaken for a Britton rebel, with whom she had sought shelter, and crucified together with all the rebels who had been caught. Titus Flavius Virilus, then a Centurion in rank, took notice of the peculiar looking boy with messy short hair and realized it was in fact a girl. She convinced him that she was not a Britton by addressing him in Greek after she realized that some Britton rebels were also familiar with the Latin tongue. After she was taken down from the cross, barely alive and with severe injuries for which she would find a cure much later and at opposite ends of the known world from where they stood, Maniya was left in the care of some Roman-friendly locals, while Virilus had to move forth and see to his own duties.
When Maniya and Virilus became reacquainted, they developed their bond into a lucrative relationship that became the starting point of military collaborations between the two opposing forces. Their combined efforts helped settle the major disputes between the Iranian-friendly and Roman-friendly people of the region, ensuring as much stability as possible. The fruitful outcome of their actions was seen by both Roman and Iranian officials as a solid foundation on which a stable alliance could be built. The final treaty outlining this collaboration was to be signed in Rome, by Maniya, on behalf of the Iranian nation. She had been authorized by the King of Kings and the Royal Council to act as representative and had with her the royal seal. Although the greatest part of the treaty presented the details of joint military engagements, its main purpose was in fact the securing of trade routes and commercial activities carried out between the two nations and their common allies. Military action was one of the means that contributed to the achievement of such end.
The Iranian delegation headed by Maniya set on a sea voyage towards Italia, departing from the eastern shores of the Middle Sea, travelling together with Legatus Virilus and a small contingent of soldiers who accompanied him to Rome. The Legatus too, left the eastern lands only temporarily, to assist in the discussions prior to the signing of the treaty, as well as to regroup some of his most trusted soldiers who had served with him in Britannia. Together with Maniya and her entourage, he would then return with the additional unit to supplement the legion left in Syria and also in the company of the new Governor of Syria, bound to replace the one in office, whose proconsulship was at an end. In Italia their vessels docked at Brundisium, a major center of Roman naval power and maritime trade, as well as the chief point of embarkation for Greece and the East.
(The Via Appia - white)
From there, the convoy comprising of horse-riders, marching soldiers and baggage carts made its way along the Via Appia and only made a one day stop at the family villa outside Capua, inherited by Titus Virilus. Although they had strived to keep a low profile during their march, Magistrate Sextus of Capua had gotten word of their arrival and on the very same day he and his personal escort went to greet the illustrious visitors at the Virilus Villa. His enthusiasm was not met by an equal response as the master of the house, Legatus Virilus, politely but rapidly sent him on his way, telling him that they were in a hurry to march on towards Rome. He did however had to promise the Magistrate that he and the foreign guests, together with the future Governor of Syria, would attend the celebrations that Sextus was eager to organize in their honour.
The political prospects the magistrate would be exposed to while mingling with the aristocratic elite partaking in such a gathering were practically boundless. Virilus was well aware of these well-known interests of politicians that were never among his interests, since he had always been a man of war. As such, he dismissed the man with a mildly obscured ironic grin and more or less closed the door in his face. Two weeks later, when they returned from Rome, it so happened that the eager Magistrate was once again there to greet them, this time having arrived at the Legatus' villa well in advance of the property's master himself. Unfortunately for Magistrate Sextus, his enthusiasm was once again dampened by the same ever changing whims of politics that he also sought to embrace more tightly.
The future Governor of Syria had not returned with the delegation all the way to Capua. Not too far from the premises of the city he and his own escort had broken away from the convoy with whom he had travelled from Rome and took the road to Neapolis. There he had to attend legal and military matters concerning the legions that either returned from or set sail towards the western territories of the Republic. Further on he was to travel to the city of Baiae, a fashionable Roman seaside resort west of Neapolis and one of the most famous gathering places of the ultra-wealthy aristocrats of the Republic. The city was also notorious for the hedonistic temptations on offer and for rumours of scandal and corruption.
Such was the double nature of the aristocracy, though not at all different from aristocracies of other nations: due to their high status they could discreetly engage in all the deeds and pleasures they themselves deemed immoral and punishable before the public they had to control, while very few dared to cast any accusations upon them, even with proof. Nonetheless, Roman learned men, some of whom genuinely adhered to the concept and deeds considered to be moral and decent within Roman society, described the city of Baiae in their writings or orations as being a "vortex of luxury", a "harbor of vice" or a "den of licentiousness and vice".
What had made Baiae such a famed resort for the wealthy, aside from its beautiful scenery and the elaborate, luxurious villas like no other in the Republic, built on the very coast and offering a superb view of the sea-side, were the topographical wonders of the city. Baiae was host to an important region for thermo-mineral bathing. Roman engineers had constructed a complex system of chambers that channeled heat beneath the land's surface into bathing facilities that acted as saunas. The baths were used not only for relaxation purposes, but often also as medicinal remedies for various illnesses. The future governor undoubtedly wanted to enjoy such delights once more before he would have to depart from his homeland but most certainly the purpose of his visit had more to do with the men of power he would encounter there, or possibly had set up a meeting there in advance.
Either way, because of his political standing no one beneath him in title could question him on his motives and when asking the governor concerning the date of his return, the party who had to wait for him in Capua had no choice but to accept his response along the lines of 'When I return you will see that I have returned'. Magistrate Sextus was the only one who found some joy in the news, hoping he would at least be able to meet the Consul and future Governor in person, upon his arrival, although the man had also instructed Legatus Virilus to be ready to depart immediately after his return. Taking into account the days to be spent on the road and speculating on the affairs the Consul would be attending to, the conclusion was that up to a week would pass before his return.
As much as she longed for home, Maniya was not displeased by the news. She would have loved to visit the city of Baiae as well and enjoy its delights but with circumstances being as they were, she had to settle with Capua that also had much to offer, despite lacking the wonders of Baiae. Capua was after all considered to be the second city of Italia, after Rome itself and was famous throughout the Republic and beyond for its bronze artifacts and exquisite perfumes. Maniya was also keen on exploring the city's cultural heritage but the Magistrate's offer, aside from the banquet at his villa to which he promptly invited them before they barely had time to dismount, comprised of a festival of games, organized in their honour, at the newly constructed Games Arena of Capua. These games that so many thrill-seeking Romans were so eager to attend comprised of none other than the renowned gladiatorial matches where slaves of the Republic and on occasions volunteering freedmen or even citizens, fought for coins and for the lives.
Maniya was by no means thrilled to see such grotesque displays as she strove to discourage violence and do as much as possible to reduce and if possible, abolish slavery in her homeland, where the notion had far less gruesome connotations than in the west. In the Persian-Parthian Empire slaves were mostly prisoners of war or citizens in debt but their treatment as slaves and the work they did was similar to that of a free citizen employed as a servant. Slaves also received payment for their work, although inferior to that received by a free servant and they could buy their freedom if they were able to raise the needed sum. The life of a slave was by no means pleasant there either, but it was considerably safer and slaves being used as sexual objects occurred only rarely. This was also due to the fact that over there a man could legally have more than one wife at the same time as well as publicly recognized mistresses and in some regions women could also have, legally, more than one husband at the same time.
Since she wanted to keep a low profile, upon their arrival Maniya and her entourage, together with the Romans who had returned with them from Rome, bound also to sail towards the east, rode directly to the stables and had yet to meet Magistrate Sextus face to face. Virilus had been the one who conversed with him each time, as was appropriate since he was the master of the villa. After having settled into the chambers they occupied during their stay at the villa, Maniya was informed that the Magistrate, together with his wife and a few more members of his escort were still in the main reception hall, awaiting to greet the foreign guests in person and offer some welcoming gifts they had brought. Seeing that the meeting was impossible to avoid, Maniya went to greet the guests but without making a grand entrance. She approached quietly, from a lateral corridor and without the company of any attendant.
(Magistrate Sextus and wife, Aemilia)
Magistrate Sextus and his wife, Aemilia, were both sited on a comfortable sofa, conversing and sipping the wine they had been served. Appius, the man who had been administering the Virilus villa for years, in the absence of its master whose military duties kept him away from home, had just parted with the couple with the promise that he would inform the foreign guest of their expecting visitors.
'Your excitement is rather exaggerated, don't you think?' Aemilia whispered to her husband through somewhat gritted teeth that were sustaining a forced smile, just in case. 'The Consul has yet to arrive and until then we must spend coin to entertain these... foreigners, and with what benefit to us?' she concluded with a rather smug grimace.
'I have told you, once cannot expect to gain coin without spending coin first, and unless you want to find the quality markets empty of fine silks and rare jewels, you'd do best to aid in keeping the stream flowing,' the husband instructed.
'And how precisely am I to do that?' the sneering wife retorted.
'By smiling and being a good host. We must make good impression and with that rewards will surely follow. Gifts of their own perhaps, to us, a good word to the Consul and even an invitation maybe, who known,' the Magistrate spoke with revived enthusiasm.
'A visit? Where? To them, in their land?'Aemilia scoffed.
'It is said to be a place of magnificent wealth and unimaginable splendors,' the Magistrate continued with the same enthusiasm.
'Have you not paid attention at the games to how that lanista of lesser note, Vibius I believe, described the place? Some wealth, indeed, but mostly ghastly and with odd people of questionable intent. He should know, his ludus is there and he practically lives there for over six month each year,' Aemilia rapidly replied, showing even more self-content upon expressing the unique knowledge she thought she possessed.
'The ludus of Vibius is in Damascus, in Syria, a different place altogether,' her husband calmly corrected her.
'He says there is nothing but arid land and deserts stretching further east. Is that where this fantastic land of fabulous wealth is supposed to be?' she inquired ironically, once more.
'Merchants and other travelers who ventured there, even scholars of Rome, describe it as such,' replied Sextus.
'So are they supposed to be Syrians of superior quality to those the Republic has subdued?' Aemilia questioned further, never losing the irony in her tone. 'From what I have heard and seen the notion proves difficult to be assumed as truth.'
At this point in their conversation Maniya decided to intervene and make her presence known. She had quietly amused herself with the couple's discourse but eventually grew tired of listening to it from the shadows.
'Those you generally call Syrian are nowadays mostly a mixture of Greeks and Arabs. We are Iranian, a different nation in its entirety.' With this unexpected intervention Maniya almost startled the couple whose attention was focused in a different direction, from where they expected the foreigners to appear. Magistrate Sextus was the first to stand up, followed by his wife who seemed to rise only because she knew her husband expected her to.
'Greetings!' the Magistrate spoke with a small, symbolic bowing of his head, a more polite tilt to be precise. 'We were merely speculating, hoping to learn more from our esteemed guests themselves. I assume correctly that you yourself are with the delegation?'
He assumed that by the robes she wore, which were evidently not of Roman fashion and neither what he would have expected a woman to wear. Maniya was dressed in a knee-long, black coat of sorts, with long, loose sleeves and golden embroideries along the edges of the sleeves, around the neckline and in a vertical line on the front, on either sides of the buttons that closed the coat. The coat was also tied around the middle by a golden-coloured sash and underneath she wore black trousers and knee-high leather boots. She wore no jewelry aside from a ring on her right hand that bore the insignia of the dynasty she belonged to. But what surprised both Sextus and Aemilia was that the foreign woman looked nothing like they had envisaged. In fact, if dressed in Roman clothing anyone seeing her would assume she was a Roman-born citizen.
'I am. The men and our attendants will join us momentarily,' Maniya replied.
'Splendid!' the Magistrate exclaimed. 'I am looking forward to meeting the honorable Mahtab who has fought alongside our brave Legatus Titus Flavius Virilus to vanquish the enemies that threatened both our nations.'
'It is an honor to meet you as well. I am Mahtab of the House Kurush-Hakhāmanish. Mahtab is a woman's name,' Maniya informed the Magistrate with a mild smirk masked into a polite smile and extended her hand in greeting.
'Ah... apologies, I did not know,' the Magistrate was so taken aback by the revelation that he failed to find the proper words with ease. 'I am Sextus, Magistrate of Capua,' he introduced himself and since the gesture of receiving an extended hand in greeting, as if from a man, confused him, Sextus courteously took her hand in his and kissed it. 'My wife, Aemilia,' he then introduced her as well, with a glance in her direction.
'It is a pleasure to meet you,' she responded on a much tempered voice and with a forced smile to mask her perplexed reaction to what she had learned while watching the conversation unfold. Maniya greeted her with a symbolic bow of her head and a smile.
| ~* STARTER 2
The Persian Empire - the City of Alamut
1 week after the Persian invasion of Alamut
Following the complicated affair regarding the wrongful invasion of the Holy City of Alamut, and the sudden marriage proposition made by Prince Tus in sign of reconciliation, Princess Tamina requested time to consider the proposition. For the sake of maintaining a peaceful relationship between the two nations, no one on the Persian side could request a quicker reply and risk spoiling the opportunity of subtly bringing Alamut under their sphere of influence and control, without any bloodshed.
In the meantime, the King of Kings himself, King Sharaman, had arrived in the Holy City and the princess had several diplomatic encounters with him, expressing her desire of ensuring the safety and prosperity of her people in the new circumstances that would arise following her alliance through marriage. King Sharaman assured her that she would retain her sovereign privileges and duties and like any other city-state allied with the Persian Empire, the people of Alamut would go one with their lives as before and the monarch of Alamut would retain the right of governing its people according to their own rules. The only change would be the recognition of King Sharman as their supreme ruler and the payment of the corresponding monthly tribute.
Much had changed in Maniya's life as well, unbelievably much to be precise. One week before, just after the invasion, she had snuck inside the city, on her way back from Hindustan, to meet her childhood friends, Dastan and Bis and now she woke in one of the lavishing guest chambers of the royal palace of Alamut, with the two men she loved, Tus and Garsiv, on either side of her. It was not a dream, but the manifestation in reality of a life-long dream. The people of Alamut had a strong belief in destiny and with all the incredible things that had happened since they arrived in the Holy City, Maniya found it difficult to ignore the proclaimed powers of the mysterious deities worshiped in that city. It seemed as if destiny had brought them all to Alamut to finally put their lives in order and end their emotional suffering.
With the overwhelming events off the past few days, Maniya had almost forgotten that she was in a foreign city that would get to keep its independent rule although it will be under the Persian sphere of influence. Now that she would openly assume the leading role of House Kurush-Hakhamanish, her adoptive family, and continue being the leader of the people living under the patronage of her house, Maniya would also have to meet with the princess and her advisors, to discuss political, administrative and military issues. She had spent over a year in Hindustan, covertly gathering information on the many dynasties that constantly fought for land, riches and power in that region and that were potential enemies of the Persian Empire, until proven otherwise.
Because of the knowledge she now possessed, her advice was crucial in any courses of action the King decided to take in the region and the support of Princess Tamina was just as crucial, since the Alamutians had century-old relations with the people east of the Hindu River. Political issues aside, there were also personal reasons for becoming acquainted with the princess, who would soon become family, the wife of the young adopted prince whom Maniya affectionately called her son, since she had taken care of him and his best friend when she was a young slave girl and the boys homeless orphans.
There had been however a slight incident the previous day, a misunderstanding that Maniya hoped would soon be clarified, as soon as she got the chance to talk to the princess. Overwhelmed with joy because everything that had happened, Maniya rushed to share the news with her life-long friend, Dastan. Their encounter was not different from any of the previous ones, Maniya acting as always like both one of the boys and a fun older sister. Still, the princess, who did not know Maniya nor her relationship with Dastan, had undoubtedly drawn a wrong conclusion when she saw her future husband having a joyful time with his arm around the shoulders of a beautiful woman, who in turn had her arm around his middle.
Maniya had drawn her own conclusion of what the Princess must have thought when she spotted her looking at them with a stern and slightly ironic look on her face, before turning around abruptly and walking away without another glance in their direction. At the time Maniya, Dastan, Bis and Roham were being shown though some public areas of the palace by a group of enthusiastic young Alamutians who were eager to receive the foreign guests, once the misunderstandings had been cleared and the Persians began to help the Alamutians in repairing the damages they had caused during the invasions.
The day ended with a banquet where the princess conversed mostly with King Sharman and Prince Tus and discreetly avoided Dastan, as well as discussions regarding her reply to the marriage proposal. When Maniya arrived later on, together with Garsiv, coming straight from a meeting with the Persian generals, her eyes met Tamina's once more and she saw the same expression on her face. Garsiv and Maniya did not linger much at the banquet and they left as soon as Tus joined them. Maniya had her arm intertwined with that of her husband to be and as they walked away she felt Tus's hand touching her lower back. She did not turn to search for Tamina's expression, in case she still had her eyes on them, but she nonetheless thought with a smile that it might have been amusing.
These thoughts returned to her the morning of the following day when a servant brought word from King Sharaman that she was to have an audience with Princess Tamina to discuss the pending political issues while Prince Tus would accompany him to Hindu-Alexandria, the capital-city of the Harauvatish Satrapy, which bordered Hindustan directly and therefore also the city of Alamut. The meeting was necessary in order to avoid any potential internal conflicts that might have arose as a result of the sudden invasion of Alamut, whom the eastern satraps had long wanted to subdue but were always ordered against it by the King of Kings.
'This should be quite interesting,' she exhaled with a snicker once the servant left, leaning back against the cushioned bench she sat on, in between Tus and Garsiv, as the three dined in the balcony of the guest chamber they were occupying. 'My first talk with my future daughter-in-law,' she added with a chuckle before bringing a dark-red, seedless cherry to her lips, which immediately enveloped it and took it in.
Garsiv, who sat on her left side, halfway turned towards her and with his right arm outstretched and resting on the back of the couch she leaned against, watched Maniya closely, the corner of his lips curling up into a smirk when the luscious moves of her lips and fingers made him relive in his mind scenes of the previous night.
'Be sure not to be too much of a shrew as a mother-in-law,' he then said with a muffled chuckle.
'I thought you liked me as a shrew,' she retorted on a seductive tone.
'I love you as a shrew,' Garsiv replied while leaning over to kiss her lips quickly but voluptuously. 'But don't scare the princess ... at least until she gives her answer.'
'I could not possibly wish for her answer to be anything but positive, although it worries me that this girl will have Dastan wrapped around her little finger.'
'You will make sure she does not cross any lines, I am certain,' Tus intervened and put his arm around Maniya's waist in a comforting gesture.
She turned to glance at him with an ironical grimace.
'That is unless your six wives combined don't drive me insane,' she retorted, referring to the four wives of Tus and the two wives of Garsiv.
The two men laughed in unison, each nodding in approval of what Maniya was saying.
'Then we should have Tamina meet Lida. A few hours with her and the princess will be the one driven to madness,' Tus added on a higher and joyful tone, trying to use amusement to help him cope with the thoughts of his difficult third wife, whom he would have to face soon enough, once they returned to Babylon.
'Or secretly plot to have us all killed and drive the empire to ruin,' Garsiv added sarcastically, with a scoffing grimace that he displayed often enough.
This time Tus's smile seemed forced and did little to hide his concern. Garsiv might have spoken in jest but they all knew better, given the trouble that Lida had caused ever since she had approached Tus with an alliance though marriage. At this moment they still knew too little about the Princess of Alamut to be certain of what they could expect.
Maniya cast a short glance in Garsiv's direction, her own smile also darkened by concern, then turned towards Tus who was visibly affected by the troubling suppositions. She leaned closer to him, putting one arm around his back and caressing his cheek with the other, then giving him a light kiss.
'Joking aside, I promise you no such thing will happen,' she assured him.
'Be wary when you speak to the princess. We cannot know just yet how well we can trust her,' Tus told Maniya on a much more serious tone.
'I always do that and if there are any secrets she is hiding, I will uncover them. Do not trouble your mind with this, focus only on your meeting with the Suren and secure your coronation.'
'If ever there will be one,' Tus turned his gaze from her, scoffing almost in the same manner as Garsiv, though still showing his own, different character.
'Of course there will be.' With her right hand still around his back, Maniya leaned even closer and placed her left hand on his upper chest, massaging him tenderly. 'The King is just overly concerned with everything that is going on throughout the empire. But the west remains the key to your glory. Drive out the Romans as you did before and make sure they don't return, secure the western border with more stationed troops and ensure the allegiance of Armina, undoubtedly wavering now with the death of Pakur. Once the western conflicts are resolved other issues will be much easier to deal with.'
'The people were on our side when we retook Anatolia, Syria and Iudaea. They will join us again if we march in better armed, better organized and in greater numbers,' Garsiv added, leaning into Maniya and reaching with his arm around her back to place his hand on his brother's shoulder.
Maniya turned to greet Garsiv's gesture with a smile and removed her hand from Tus's chest to take Garsiv's free hand in hers.
'My heart throbs at seeing you hacking Romans,' she smirked.
'Just your heart?' he smirked back.
'No ...,' Maniya trailed and gazed at him seductively while bringing his hand to her lips, which then lingered on his flesh for a few moments.
Simultaneously, Tus placed his own hand on top of Garsiv's, which continued to grasp his shoulder, thus both acknowledging and returning the gesture of support. Afterwards he moved his hand to gently grasp Maniya's chin and turn her gaze towards him, while at the same time slowly leaning forward.
'Then let us be done with this place and go home,' he half-whispered the last few words as his lips met hers, in a tender and lasting kiss.
'I long to return to Babylon,' Maniya whispered back. 'But first we have the Kushan to deal with here.'
'Barbaric cave-dweller, we'll scatter them like weeds,' Garsiv exclaimed with confidence, on his usual high tone, though at the same time he placed a rather tender kiss on Maniya's upper neck, just below her earlobe.
Their tender moments lasted only a short while longer, until the servant returned, at King Sharaman's command, to urge Prince Tus to hasten his departure. The three of them left the room together and after escorting Tus to his entourage Garsiv went to find Dastan and Maniya asked one of the Alamutian guards to show her the way to the hall where she was to meet with the Princess. Once there she was told to wait in front of two tall and beautifully engraved but closed doors. It was not a burden however because Maniya soon found herself mesmerized by the carvings that adorned the stone walls. There were also writings among the engravings, the language being that of the land and one of her favorite, Sanskrit.
She smiled when she saw her name written on the wall, although it was a mere coincidence, since in Sanskrit it translated as "glass bead". Maniya had known this for a long time and the detail was part of the very complex path that she thought to be her destiny. Noticing this on the wall immediately made her look down to the string of glass beads she wore like a bracelet wrapped around her right hand, the string that Tus had given her years back, when they were young. Her mind kept jumping from one detail to the other and since the glass beads that always made her remember Tus, when they came into view she inevitably started replaying the events of the past few days in her mind, still unable to fully believe that it was all real.
| ~* STARTER 3
The Persian Empire - the Makai Desert
After marriage, only Maniya's social position and degree of public exposure had changed, while her habits and desires remained the same. Although Maniya had found emotional fulfillment in her new life, marriage also did not ease her responsibilities towards her adoptive family and the people under their patronage, nor did she want them eased. Now more than ever she had every means at her disposal to ensure, among other things, the efficient training of the men who were compelled to come to arms when called by the lords they served, who in turn had sworn their allegiance to the House Kurush-Hakhamanish, Maniya's adoptive family. Other responsibilities included making sure the peace was kept in various regions under her patronage, by the people appointed for these tasks. When needed, she and the soldiers under her direct command, which formed a small army in effect, would march towards the conflict areas and intervene personally to solve them.
Such was the case when hordes of bandits, mostly escaped prisoners or vile, lawless criminals who had never been captured, began to rage havoc on the scattered settlements of the southern region of the Maka Satrapy. This region was covered mostly by the Makai (Greek: Gedrosian) Desert, where human settlements could only be built around the few scattered oases. Because of the environment they could not be large or thoroughly defended, making them an easy target for the desert bandits. They even took over some of the smaller settlements that were not near any major travelling routes. The entire satrapy of Maka was in fact a dry, mountainous region and aside from the few larger cities and the dispersed oases, small towns and settlements had been established on the coast as well. In that area, sea-bandits or pirates had also become notorious by frequently attacking trade ships, especially those sailing to or from Hindustan (India).
The Makai Desert was one of the largest barren regions of the empire and one of the least populated, as well as one of the most dangerous, primarily because of the harsh environment, and only in smaller proportions because of the bandits. Crossing this desert was a battle in itself and a most arduous one at that, so much so that many brave warriors of the past had made a goal of it, which, if achieved would have been a great victory in itself. The most notable of them had been the legendary Assyrian Queen Shamiram (Greek: Semiramis), King Kurush (Greek: Cyrus), the founder of the First Persian Empire and the most famous Macedonian King, Iskandar (Greek: Alexander), all of them trying to succeed where the other had failed in the past. All three had marched straight into the desert with a large army and barely made it to the other end with only a handful of soldiers. The others, together with the animals and the carts that had to be abandoned, all fell prey to the merciless desert.
Since the days of Iskandar, almost three centuries later, significant progress had been made to chart the approximate parameters of the desert and identify the areas that had to be avoided at all costs, together with those that proved to be significantly more hospitable, in comparison. The guides who accompanied Maniya's convoy were also versed in the art of finding their direction by the stars at night and by the sun in day-time, the same as sailors, and did not rely solely on landscape marks that were easily obliterated by the blown and drifting sand. In most areas there was nothing in the vast and featureless desert to determine what course one should take - no trees, as elsewhere, by the roadside, no hills of solid earth rising from the sand.
Still, there were ever-present hardships that could not be avoided such as the blazing heat and burning, sun-baked sand. In some areas there were only lofty hills of sand - loose, deep sand, into which one sank as if it were mud or untrodden snow and sources of water, aside from the few known oases, were very scarce. Even with guides, it was still more or less marching into the unknown, especially when it came to finding water sources, which were not permanent. Almost on a constant basis, old water sources dried up and new ones emerged or were formed by streams flowing from the rocky mountains bordering the desert.
In the Makai regions, the same as in the neighboring Hindustan, there were certain periods each year when it rained heavily. Rain fell not on the plains but on the mountains and the otherwise small streams could grow into overwhelming torrents able to sweep away everything in their path. Maniya and her troops were actually fortunate to not have been compelled to venture into the desert during such a period, when water in abundance was a curse instead of a blessing. Iskandar himself had met such a misfortune when his camp had been swept away during the night by the powerful torrents of an overflowing stream.
In pursuit of the bandits who had now mustered into a small army, though with the expected lack of structure and discipline, Maniya marched her troops along the outer rims of the perilous desert, heeding the instructions of the trained guides. Given the conditions, their own discipline during the march was difficult to maintain but still they went forth, following the trails left by the bandits, as few as there could be in the desert, such as lost object that had not been completely engulfed by the sea of sand.
One afternoon, after several days of travel, a scout ridding ahead broke away from the small party he was with and galloped back with speed to deliver urgent news to the commander.
'Mahtab Banu (Lady Mahtab), a small village up ahead, appears to have been sacked not long ago, a few days maybe,' the scout informed, slightly panting, mostly due to the pressing burden of the waves of heat that fell upon them. The blinding sun was almost halfway along its descending course and still it shone as powerfully as it had earlier in the day.
'Any survivors?' Maniya brought her mare to a halt upon noticing the approaching scout and raised her right hand to signal the riders behind her to do the same.
'Unlikely, but we are yet too far to be certain. Anyone who survived the raid had to hide well and they are most certainly still there.'
'Call the others back. We will regroup and advance in formation. We cannot rule out the possibility of this being some sort of trap.'
'Yes, lady,' the man complied with a swift bowing of his head and simultaneously stirred his horse to change course and ride off back from where they had come.
'Tiran�s,' Maniya called her bodyguard who also served as her second-in-command in this expedition. 'Have the archers form a line of three groups in a half circle covering the perimeter around the village from where we stand. We will advance separately through the two openings.'
Having advanced with his own mount so as to stand next to Maniya's, the seasoned warrior with the demeanor of an all-knowing hermit, was, as usual, not quick to form words, offering instead a prolonged stare. It was a look resembling those given by masters to students or by parents to children when they expect them to acknowledge their error. Here the problem was not the advance strategy proposed by Maniya but her intention to march alone, of which Tiran�s was certain even if she had not voiced it plainly. She did not have to, he knew her long enough to predict her intentions.
'You disagree?' Maniya questioned following a brief silence whose meaning was not unknown to her, but still she chose to purposely ignore it.
'Only with your intention of having me lead the other group instead of riding by your side.'
'We cannot keep arguing about this. If I appoint you for something important it is because I trust you above all others.'
'The only thing important to me is your safety,' Tiran�s responded with the severity of a dutiful protector. 'I swore to you and your honorable mother to always defend your life with my own if needed and now I also swore it to the King of Kings himself. Such an oath, I cannot break.'
Uncustomary for Maniya, her silent reply was one of compliance. A small smile spread her lips when King Sharaman was mentioned, her husband's father. The notion of having a husband was still new to her, especially since he was the man she thought she could never have, and she often found herself in need of being reminded that her life was now completely different, though apparently the same. The difference lay only in her emotions and the way she perceived her purpose in life. In the past her own survival held little meaning, only achieving the goal mattered and now, as strange as it may sound, she had to learn what it meant to care for herself, how to achieve a goal without sacrificing her life in the process.
'I understand. This is still new to me.' The smiled lingered on her lips and following a short glance in the distance ahead, she scanned the mounted men behind from the corner of her eye before returning her attention to Tiran�s. 'Have Arash lead the second advance party then.'
With Tiran�s ridding beside her, Maniya led one of the advance parties, simultaneously with that led by Arash, down the mildly steep sand and rock walls of the small valley, home to the ravaged village. In those lands, what was commonly referred to as village were in fact tent settlements raised along oases. Most communities were of pastoral nomads, sometimes also mixed with tribes of hunters. The village stood desert and even the remains of tents were torn and scattered. Desert winds had already set a thick blanket of bright-yellow sand over the remains, yet still proved inefficient in obscuring the most terrible of remains, those that once had life.
Had it not been for the layer of sand, the grounds would have been no different than those of a battlefield. There could not have been more than fifty people in the settlement, yet the massacre looked like that of thousands when they were all but piles of butchered corpses, some even with limbs and ruptured flesh or bone far from where their bodies lay. If the pools of blood had been absorbed or partially covered by sand, nothing could mask the horrid stench of rotting flesh, which the heat only made stronger.
The sight became clear to Maniya once they had marched halfway towards their destination. At that point she stopped and ordered the other party to do so as well. A soldier behind her, following her command, cried out the order to the group led by Arash. It appeared that the unfortunate souls were denied peace even in death. There was one vicious predator spread over them in great numbers. With another hand signal Maniya had the soldier behind her deliver another order. This time the man raised a flag whose purpose was to have the archers back on the hill take position and stand ready to fire. The soldier with a similar duty in Arash's party did the same and at Maniya's command they signaled the archers to release their arrows.
Many of the sharp missiles hit their target, impaling the hungry vultures to the corpses whose flesh they were tearing, while the rest caused the other birds of prey to swarm off in haste. The sight, though now less darkened by the cloud of birds, was in no way more southing. The parties went on further down and stopped just in front of the main scene of the massacre. Here Maniya dismounted and Tiran�s followed. Other soldiers did as well, while the remaining mounted ones were ordered to ride along the edge of the settlement and further scan the surroundings.
Once, such a sight would have scarred or shocked Maniya but that was a time long passed. Circumstances had forced her to expect anything at any time and always keep a straight face and a focused mind. As such, upon seeing the bodies up close she only sighed and shook her head before scanning the environment and doing a quick, visual assessment of the former conflict zone.
'Where do you think survivors could have hid to escape this?' she questioned Tiran�s as they both advanced through the corpses, one carefully placed step after another.
'There do not seem to be any such places,' he responded, yet squirted his eyes once more to prevent the wind-blown sand from entering his eyes while attempting to find in the distance areas he might have overlooked. A sand-storm had once again started, mild by comparison to what that desert often gifted its guests with but still dense enough to partially obscure sight from reaching too far into the distance. 'Perhaps over there,' he pointed to a stain of darker colour amidst the sand, far enough from where they stood, among a patch of desert vegetation and a semi-circle of palm-trees on the other side of the pool of now bloodied, water around which the oasis had formed. 'It might be a tent still standing.'
'Let us go see until this sand breeze turns into a full storm. We might as well be forced to take shelter here.'
The commander and her bodyguard encircled the water and hurried to investigate the remains of one of the largest tents, some of its vertical supporting beams still standing and holding in place the fabric that served as walls and roof. The curtain which had been a makeshift door looked as if it had been torn from its upper support in a brutish attempt to pull it aside. Only its left corner was still attached and the rest of the worn-out fabric was fluttering in the wind. Maniya left it as it was and only pushed it aside to step inside the tent.
'No bodies,' she commented, somewhat surprised by the clean sight.
'Those who took shelter here were dragged out to be taken or killed in front of the others,' Tiran�s pointed to some randomly thrown or shattered belongings and the remains of jewelry ripped apart, all indicating a struggle.
'Mahtab Banu,' Arash announced his presence when he too stepped inside not long after Maniya and Tiran�s. 'I have retrieved your weapon,' he explained his rather hasty arrival and extended to Maniya the sai he had come across.
She was about to question him on the nature of his find when her eyes met a replica of one of the dual impaling weapons she wielded. It was not a common weapon and its discovery spurred her curiosity.
'It is not mine. I have both with me,' she replied, pressing her right hand against the two weapons hanging from a belt by her left hip, in place of a sword. Still, she reached forward and took the weapon from Arash's hands and examined the design of the hilt, different from hers. 'Where did you find this?'
'Impaled in a corpse. It delivered a fatal blow,' Arash formed a new opinion after discovering it was not Maniya's weapon, while before he had been confused to discover her weapon in a long dead body.
'Show me where you found it.'
At the place in question nothing else out of the ordinary caught Maniya's eyes, not even the twin of the sai found by Arash. Not willing to give up on discovering the mystery of the one sai, Maniya ordered the two men to look for its pair while she ventured further, driven by an unknown impulse that told her there was more to be found there. Beyond the borders of the oasis, where only two or three solitary corpses lay almost completely covered by the sea of sand, a sudden brightness shone from amidst one of such sandy mounds. Maniya recognized it as the reflection of the sun upon metal, most certainly the polished surface of a weapon.
Disregarding the shouts of Tiran�s who urged her not to rush forward into open, empty terrain, Maniya did precisely that and struggled through the treacherous sand as if through tall snow to reach the place from where the light had come. Its source had been indeed a weapon and none other than the twin sai she was searching for. Clutching its hilt, a female hand by the looks of it stretched from beneath a lifeless male body, barely visible from beneath the sand covering it.
'Help me push this body,' she called to Tiran�s, once she saw him approach. When he reached her, Maniya had already brushed off most of the sand on top and began to roll the heavier body off that of the woman beneath. 'There is a woman's body beneath.'
'The sai was hers,' Tiran�s noticed the other sai in the woman's hand. 'Pull the woman from underneath when I lift the body,' he then instructed and Maniya complied.
For Tiran�s, lifting the dead body was far from difficult. He could have thrown him aside with one hand but used both so as not to accidentally bring more harm to the woman beneath, in the slim chance that she was still alive. When the body was lifted, Maniya moved to grab the shoulders of the woman lying on her stomach and pull her out.
'A Saka woman?' Tiran�s inquired after having thrown the male body aside. Judging from her yellow hair and her foreign-looking attire, his first assumption was that she might have hailed from a northern steppe tribe, generally referred to as Saka by the Persians and Scythians by the Greeks.
'It would explain the sais, but it is no certainty. The drawing on her back is a motif common in the far east, where the sais also originate. It might be that she visited the same distant lands I have and maybe even beyond,' Maniya reflected upon seeing the large, colourful dragon painted on the woman's back.
'It is not safe to linger here. If you desire it, we can take the body and give at least this woman a proper burial. There is no time for the others.'
Maniya then proceeded to inspect her for signs of life and found her breathing, though faintly and with a slow beating of the heart. 'She is alive!' The enthusiastic reaction took her as well by surprise, although it was a natural reaction to have when finding life among so much death. 'We must take her back to the tent. She is between life and death, her wounds have gone untreated for too long.' Aside from the harshness with which the sun had treated her body, leaving burns and even mild blisters, there was also slight bleeding from cuts evidently received in combat, although none too deep. A most severe wound was on the right side of her forehead, from where blood had flowed across the side of her face.
Tiran�s understood the order and took the woman in his arms to carry her back to the tent. Maniya had taken the other sai and could not help admiring the twin pair on the way back, glancing from time to time to her hip to compare them with her own. They returned to the tent they visited earlier and placed the injured, unconscious woman on a pile of blankets that served as a bed.
'We will take shelter here for the night and set off early in the morning. The guides say we could reach the canyon by nightfall. Bring the physician from Harauvatish (Greek: Arakhosia) to tend to this woman and have the men dispose of the bodies outside, before the storm gets worse.'
The man complied with a nod and left Maniya to tend to the woman before the physician arrived. She placed the blonde woman's sais next to the improvised bed she had been laid on and began to look around the tent for any items that might be of use. To begin with, water was needed and she was fortunate to discover a small waterskin still half full. She used half of what was left to soak a piece of cloth and with it she proceeded to wipe off the dirt and dried blood off the woman's face and arms. Special attention was paid to open wounds, which were carefully cleaned and prepared to be treated with medicine by the physician.
It wasn't long before the physician arrived, one of the few women taking part in the expedition. Already informed about her task, the woman only bowed her head to Maniya upon entering and went forth to where she was needed. A boy, her son and apprentice, came after her, carrying the required supplies.
'It will take time for her to awaken, days, maybe weeks. I would have to remain by her side, should there be complications,' the female physician informed Maniya.
'Do so. We will be taking shelter here for the night but tomorrow we move on. Perhaps, by some miracle she will awaken, if not, we will move her with a stretcher or some improvisation.'
'As you command, Mahtab Banu. In the meantime, I shall do my very best to bring forth that miracle,' the spirited woman assured her with a confident smile.
'I have every confidence you will,' Maniya returned her smile, knowing well that the woman's words were not in vain. She had proven her skills many times before. After one more glance at the blonde woman and her sais, Maniya left the tent to go find her mare, Devi. No doubt she had already been taken care by a soldier or another attendant but Maniya preferred to tend to her personally. Devi was not just an animal or nothing more than a means of transportation, she was a longtime companion.
While tending to Devi, whom she found near the water, together with the other horses, Maniya was approached by Arash.
'Has something happened?' she inquired.
'Nothing worrisome, Mahtab Banu, but we did find something we thought might interest you. Close to where you found the injured woman there was a dead horse beneath the sand. It might have been hers. The bags strapped to the saddle were full of written scrolls, Greek writing. I had them brought to your tent.'
'Thank you, Arash. Quite an interesting find.' The unexpected announcement came as a pleasant surprise that made Maniya eager to unfold the scrolls and uncover the mysteries. 'It seems we may discover much about my sai-wielding comrade before she even awakens,' she exclaimed with some enthusiasm, turning towards Tiran�s, who was tending his own horse close enough to hear what Arash had said.
'If they're even about her,' he commented plainly.
'They appeared as accounts of journeys, but I did not linger on them to be certain.'
'Now you have made me even more curious,' she replied to Arash's comment with a smile. 'Let us be done here and go uncover these new found mysteries. But, crucial matters first. Arash, once the men have set up camp here make an assessment of where we stand - casualties, wounded, supplies and report back to me by nightfall.'
Later in the evening, after a fairly optimistic assessment report presented by Arash, Maniya had freed herself from her light armour and unbraided her long hair to brush off the sand, then sited herself within the larger tent, close to the wounded woman. The recovered parchments were spread around her and Maniya unfolded each in turn to see if they were numbered or if any order for their succession could be established, perhaps after the chronology of the written accounts. However, such an ordering was difficult to establish so Maniya lingered on a parchment that caught her attention due to the mentioning of Hindustan. The following parchment she picked up described, as she had assumed earlier, a journey to the far eastern lands.
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