"Then think you I could as well save the king's money and not buy omens?"
"I think you could. Of course, you will still have to tell your men the omens are good, for less worldly in such matters than we are they."
I spent a day counting our money and casting accounts. The results of my reckonings filled me with forebodings.
Despite his boasted connections, Thraitaunas had learnt nought of the whereabouts of Menes and Harpalos. Therefore I bade Thraitaunas and his family a decorous farewell at dawn on the morn of the twenty-third of Poseidon. To feast my eyes on Nirouphar once more, I stretched out my leave-taking until even old Thraitaunas, for all his love of ceremony, became uneasy. That something was amiss in the family I could divine from the formal way they addressed one another.
At last Vardanas said: "Be off, Leon; I have another leave to take and will ride after. Rakous will catch up with you in no time."
He winked. Thinking that this farewell was with a sweetheart, I demurred not. I clasped hands in the Persian manner with Thraitaunas. Then, followed by Beliddinos and his servants on mules, I rode to the west gate to meet the hipparchia. We all trotted out through the gate, over the bridge of stone that spans the Chavaspes, and across the plain towards Babylon.
It was a misty morning. As I rode, I pondered on the mysterious ways of Fate, which forestalls the union of couples, otherwise attracted to one another, by causing them to be born of different nations. The pathos of it all made a tear run down into my beard. Thyestes said:
"What ails you, body?"
" 'Tis but the tail end of my cold," I said, which was not altogether false.
Then I squared my shoulders and put all that behind me. What little I knew of Nirouphar implied that she would be at best ill-suited to me, even supposing the many obstacles to a closer relationship could have been overthrown. Although my years of living with Hyovis had made me think well of Persian women, I desired no foreigner for a legal wife, let abee one who took such a vigorous part in familial disputes.
Fate had been kind after all. I was lucky to have escaped entanglement. Not even a god, they say, could be at once wise and in love. What I really needed, I told myself, was a good long canter in a whorehouse in Babylon.
The sound of hooves at a run brought me round. Three figures loomed out of the mist. One, I saw, was Vardanas, another his Kolchian slave, who had been with him since erst I knew him. The third was a Persian woman. So, I thought, has he brought his sweetling along? And did it mean we should have a vengeful husband or outraged father on our trail?
"Who's this?" I said.
"You know her," said Vardanas. The woman pushed back her hood and behold! It was Nirouphar. "She could not bear the old man any longer, let alone wed him. He is a terrible tyrant in his family, you know. So she has run away to see the world, trusting to my protection."
Book Six
BABYLONIA
"By the gods and goddesses!" I exclaimed. After a moment of stunned silence, I nodded to Nirouphar and said: "Greetings, lady!" Then I turned upon Vardanas and said in Greek: "Herakles! Man, are you out of your mind?"
"What mean you, Leon?" said he, bristling. "If your men can drag a train of concubines all over Asia, why cannot I travel with my own sister, a virtuous and respectable maiden?"
"Gods! Dinna you see that sic a plan will fair ruin our expedition? We have no facilities for highborn ladies, and this running away from home will cause us untold trouble. It may bring disaster dire upon us. Take the lass back to Sousa; I'll not have her hung around our necks like an anchor stone."
"It is you who are mad, Leon. She will cause us no trouble—"
"Take her back, I say!" I shouted. "That's a command!"
"I will not."
"And who commands this hipparchia, my fine callant?"
"You do. You can dismiss me from your service. In that case, I will seek what employment I can find. But under no conditions will I return my sister to Sousa."
"What for no?"
"In our last quarrel we broke all filial ties. My father struck Nirouphar and would have beaten her had I not held him off by force.
She swore she would never look upon him again, and I promised her I would not compel her to do so."
I almost burst out, consigning him and his pestilential sister to Arimanes and telling them to get out of my sight. Howsomever, caution held my tongue in check whilst I pondered the matter. Not only was Vardanas dear to me as a friend, but I had found him of priceless help in translating dialects, charming officials, scouting to find the best route, commanding the Dahas, and plying his mighty bow and deadly mace against our ill-wishers. Without him, our expedition had come to grief ten times over.
As bullying would plainly do no good, I resorted to reason. "Hearken, my dear friend. I have nought against the lass, who'd be a splendid ornament to any household. But suppose your father write the king or one of his governors, saying we've kidnaped his affianced bride and demanding punishment? Our mission were placed in peril, for I gather he's a man of influence."
"Fear not; he does not carry so much weight as he likes to pretend. And as officers of the king we are not without influence ourselves. I will say it is a private family quarrel, in which no outsider may meddle. Nought will come of Father's protests, if he make them."
"But even if you be right on that score, where shall she sleep? We have no lordly pavilions to assure her due comfort and privacy."
"That is simple. I will give her my tent and move in with you."
"Auramasdas save me from Persian generosity! I'd be blither of it if you did it the other way round; if—ah—"
He laughed. "You mean if I kept my tent and commanded her to occupy yours, you slavering satyr!"
He translated the jest into Persian, whereat Nirouphar laughed heartily, too. Persians, men and women alike, while far more modest than we about their persons, and no more incontinent, are extremely free with their speech. I have heard well-bred Persian ladies tell jokes that would shame a Corinthian bawd.
I made one more effort to regain the reins of our affairs. "But what shall she do for service? You brought no lady's maid with you, unless you can buy one in Babylon."
"I fear I shall never have enough money for that. Kerketas the Kolchian can do her heavier personal work, and mayhap I can hire one of the soldier's women to wash and tend her garments."
With a sigh of dismay and foreboding, I said: "So be it, then. But I take no responsibility for the dame or for any disaster that befall us on her account."
"I understand," he said.
Around the campfire that evening, I broached the subject to Vardanas again. Not that I had much hope of turning this headstrong chariot team from their course, once they had taken the bits in their teeth. Howsomever, every furlong's added distance from Sousa would make the maiden's return less likely. Therefore, this was my last chance.
"Vardanas," I said, "have you thought deeply on the upshot of this adventure of your sister, as regards your own future?"
"What mean you?"
"Will not your wrathful sire disinherit you, or whatever they do in Persia to offspring who flout them?"
"I suppose he might. I had not considered."
"A good family property," I went on, "is not lightly to be cast aside. With it one always has a place to go if all else fail. If you're moneyless, the family can send silver to fetch you home. If you're taken prisoner or seized by pirates or slavers, they'll redeem you. Many a good body has ended up chained to a galley bench or sweating in a mine for want of property to ward him."
"Mithras! I never thought of that." Vardanas sighed. "Perhaps I shall make it up someday with my father, who really loves us in his crabbed way. But I see not how or when this will come to pass."