CHAPTER 6 – A ROUGH ROAD TO MATHURA
16:13 (Central Asia Time)
Wednesday, July 31, 61 B.C.E.
Forested area northwest of Mathura
Northern Satrapies of Indo-Scythian Kingdom
‘’Damn! I wish that this rain would stop.’’
Nauca could only agree with Hiram’s annoyed remark: the last two weeks of travel towards Mathura had proved to be wet ones, with at least one day in three seeing torrential monsoon rains, making for an oppressive, hot and humid temperature that was quite debilitating. The saving grace for the caravan was that it was traveling along a road running on a flat plain, making it easier on their beasts and allowing them to go faster. The fields bordering the road looked very fertile and they had seen many small villages sprinkled around them, surrounded by cultivated fields. The caravan had also gone through quite a few forests along the way, in sharp contrast to the arid, semi-desertic and mountainous terrain of Bactria. Presently, the caravan was entering yet another dense forest, following the ancient road leading to Mathura, still some two days away. Nauca, always vigilant and on guard against possible dangers to the caravan, suddenly saw something that she didn’t like and pointed at the sky ahead.
‘’Vultures! Quite a lot of them. They are flying in circles over a point ahead of us, next to the road. This could mean possible trouble, Hiram. I will need to go ahead and check that out.’’
‘’Go, but take Timur with you, just in case.’’
Nauca nodded her head at that before waving at Timur to come with her, then pushed her horse to a gallop.
With Timur galloping a few meters behind her, Nauca kept a sharp eye on both sides of the road, scanning the dense foliage for possible ambushes while keeping track of the spot the vultures were circling over. With that heavy rain pouring for a number of hours already, she had kept her bow inside its protective gorytos,{7} as rain could damage her composite bow. If she ended up in a fight, then she would have to use either her Kontos long lance, her javelins, her sword or her battle-axe. Due to the suffocating heat and humidity, she didn’t wear her armored vest or helmet and wore only a light cotton shirt and trousers, plus leather boots, but carried her large rhino hide shield strapped across her back. Finally, she wore a Chinese conical straw hat to protect herself from the heavy rain and which also had the benefit of not being hot to wear. As for Timur, he was similarly dressed and equipped.
The duo soon arrived at the spot over which the vultures were circling. Seeing nothing on the road itself, Nauca then scanned the woods to the right of the road, over which the vultures were flying. Seeing some movement between the trees, some twenty meters from the road, Nauca jumped off her horse and unsheathed her sword.
‘’I’m going to check out the woods to our right, Timur. Keep an eye on my horse and be ready to gallop back to the caravan if this turns out to be some sort of ambush.’’
Timur simply nodded his head at that and made his horse trot forward, so that he could grab a hold of Nauca’s horse’s reins. While he fully realized how dangerous this situation could turn out to be, he knew that Nauca’s choice of action was the right one: as caravan guards, they were expected to run risks in order to prevent the caravan from falling into an ambush. Still, the young steppe nomad felt anxiety as Nauca disappeared among the trees and bushes: he felt strong emotions about that brave, skilled and also most pretty young woman.
Making as little noise as she could while advancing slowly and cautiously into the forest, Nauca soon arrived at a sort of small clearing where only long grass and bushes grew. A horrible stench struck her nostrils as a dozen vultures, surprised and scared by her arrival, flew off as one. The origin of the stench then became too obvious to Nauca: the bodies of at least fifteen men lay around the clearing. Cautiously approaching them, she saw that they had been stripped down to their loincloths, probably by bandits intent on taking anything of value. Fighting off her urge to throw up, she examined more closely each body in turn. From their state of decomposition, she judged that they had been killed only two or three days ago. As for their wounds, they were consistent with either arrow strikes or slashes by swords. Many of the dead had also been finished off with knives. Encountering the body of an older man with gray hair and beard, she looked at his hands and saw that he had previously been wearing a number of rings on his fingers. The fact that they were now gone confirmed what she had initially thought: this was the work of a large group of bandits, which in turn meant that the caravan was now facing a serious threat. As she finished reviewing the bodies, she stopped on seeing the naked body of an old woman. Like the dead men, she appeared to have been of local stock, with brown skin and black hair. Unlike the men, her loincloth had been removed. It was too easy for Nauca to understand why: she may have been old but the bandits who had killed her had still taken the time to rape her before killing her. Anger filled Nauca as she examined her naked body, trying to find some possible tattoo which could help identify her later on with the help of the local authorities. Something about the bodies then struck her: their age categories. Most of the dead men looked young and fit and could have been guards or servants, while only a couple of men were of a more advanced age. The old woman was also the lone female victim of the group. This didn’t look at all like the members of some caravan or small merchant party, but rather like a small party of possibly rich people traveling with servants and guards. After a last, sad look at the dead, Nauca returned to the road, where she examined the surface of the muddy road, hoping to find some telltale footprints as Timur looked on.
‘’What did you find in the woods, Nauca?’’
‘’Seventeen dead men and one dead old woman, all stripped of anything of value, including their clothes. They looked like local people and I don’t believe that they were traveling merchants.’’
‘’Maybe they were on some kind of religious pilgrimage? We saw many temples along our way, either Buddhist, Hindu or Zoroastrian ones.’’
‘’That is actually a very possible thing, Timur. Nice thinking! However, the main thing of importance for us is that this means that there is a large band of bandits operating in this region, possibly from within this forest. Many of the dead men looked like guards, which would mean that the band that attacked them was either numerous or skillful, or both. We have to go back and warn Hiram about this.’’
Mounting back her horse, Nauca then made Tamat pivot around before starting to gallop back towards the caravan.
The torrential rain stopped as abruptly as it had started at about the same time Nauca and Timur joined up again with the caravan, where Hiram questioned her in a worried tone.
‘’From your expression, I would say that you found something I won’t like, Nauca.’’
‘’And I would say that you are right, Hiram.’’ replied Nauca before taking a minute to tell him what she had found. As she spoke, Hiram’s expression grew more and more somber.
‘’By Mithra! Camping tonight inside this forest now sounds like suicide to me. Those bandits, especially if they are as numerous as you believe, would have an easy task of surrounding us and then swamp us before we could defend ourselves properly. We should get out of this forest now and camp for the night in an open field, so that we could see any bandits approach from a distance.’’
‘’I believe that would be the prudent thing to do, Hiram.’’ agreed Nauca.
‘’Then, let’s turn the caravan around and get it out of this forest.’’
While it involved a bit of a complicated maneuver, they soon had the caravan retrace its steps and emerge from the forest. Continuing on the road until they were a good 300 meters from the nearest patch of woods, Hiram then made his caravan form a circle with its beasts in an open field adjacent to the road. By the time that their tents were set up and their beasts had been unloaded, night was about to fall. Nauca, Timur, Gorudos and Igrid were about to discuss who would take which guard shift when Nauca’s piercing eyes caught on a faint point of light from deep inside the forest where she had found the bodies.
‘’Look! There appears to be a campfire somewhere deep in the forest: its light is reflecting on the top of the trees.’’
‘’You’re right, Nauca.’’ said Gorudos after looking for a few seconds in the direction pointed by Nauca. ‘’However, that campfire seems to be fairly distant, maybe about ten stadiums{8} away.’’
‘’Which is not very far from the spot where I found the bodies. Those bandits may have just shown us where their camp is.’’ replied Nauca, attracting a remark from Igrid.
‘’So? What are we supposed to do about them?’’
‘’Let’s go speak with Hiram about that.’’ answered Nauca in a firm voice.
21:41 (Central Asia Time)
Forested area northwest of Mathura, near a clearing
Nauca, followed in single file by Gorudos, Timur, Igrid and Talya, was advancing as silently as she could through the forest, orienting herself on the light of the campfire, which was now less than fifty meters away but was still half hidden by the trees. Bending to a crouch once within thirty meters from the clearing where the campfire was burning, she signaled by hand for her companions to deploy in extended line on each side of herself. All of them but Talya had their bows in hand, while Talya held one of the Chinese crossbows acquired by the caravan to arm its camel drivers and merchants and thus improve their prospects in defending against bandits. While shooting at a much slower rate than a bow, those crossbows had the benefit of being easy to shoot accurately, and this with very little training, while becoming a good archer took years of constant practice. Young Talya also carried two javelins, plus her sling, with which she had more than proved during the past months to be an excellent shooter with. This time, contrary to when they had been traveling with only light clothes on during the day, the five of them wore helmets and armored vests, with Nauca also having her large rhino hide shield, carried across her back, to supplement her scale mail armored vest, Hastaghna steel left forearm and hand protector and her bronze helmet. Thanks to them looting those dead Saka and Kushan soldiers in the Khyber Pass, all of them wore about the best types of armor one could buy around these days. In contrast, the bandits Nauca could see wore no armor and many acted and shouted like drunken men, which they probably were right now. She had a mean smile at that, as it could only make things easier for her and her companions. She went on all fours to cover the last meters of forest left before getting to the clearing, finally taking position behind a tree that could provide her some substantial protection. As she took off her large round shield and placed it at the vertical in front of her, her companions also took positions behind trees and readied their three bows and one crossbow. Now having a good view of the camp, Nauca counted 31 men visible around the camp, many of them sitting around the campfire and apparently telling each other stories while drinking from large flasks which probably contained wine. Then, she saw something that both shocked and enraged her: a nude teenage girl was attached to a tree, with her arms raised up and tied and with her front exposed. The reason for her position and state of dress became too apparent when one of the bandits walked to her and started raping her, making the girl cry in despair and humiliation. Making signs to her companions to be ready to shoot, Nauca then pulled her bow’s string before saying a single word in Greek.
‘’Shoot!’’
Aiming at a bandit who was standing away from the fire and thus could disappear from sight quickly, she let go her first arrow, hitting the man in his upper chest and dropping him. Three more arrows and one bolt flew in the air at nearly the same time, each hitting squarely a bandit. Using her nearly thirteen years of practice as an archer, Nauca then shot arrows at a rate of one per three seconds, with the short range and light from the campfire helping her to pick up her targets. The bandits, either drunk or tired, or both, took some precious seconds to realize that they were being attacked and were thus slow to react. Many of them had to run to their tents and shelters in order to grab their weapons, since most of the bandits around the fire had only knives on them at the time. That cost them dearly, as half a dozen of them got hit in their back by arrows. The bandit raping the tied up teenage girl was one of the first to fall, killed by an arrow shot by Igrid, while the apparent leader of the bandits ended up with an arrow through his open mouth as he was shouting orders and trying to rally his men. Nauca and her four companions showed no mercy to the bandits, shooting them down or, in the case of young Talya, knocking them down with her sling, as long as they were visible. Only a handful of utterly panicked bandits managed to run into the forest and disappear, leaving their equipment and weapons behind. Getting up from behind her tree, Nauca put her bow back inside her gorytos and grabbed both her shield and her sword before running into the clearing and going to the naked, sobbing teenage girl. First making sure that her rapist was dead by plunging her sword through his throat, Nauca then cut the ropes tying the girl’s hands to the tree. The teenager immediately hugged her with the strength of despair while crying and speaking in the local language, which Nauca could not understand. In response, she gently patted her back and spoke softly to her in Greek.
‘’Don’t worry anymore, girl: you are now safe with us.’’
To her surprise, the teenager then spoke again…in fair Greek.
‘’Thank you, whoever you are.’’
While surprised by that, Nauca lost no time in asking questions and went to a nearby tent, where she grabbed a blanket and wrapped it over the shoulders of the teenager, covering her nudity. Using her shield to protect the girl, she led her next to the treeline from where she had emerged and made her sit against a tree.
‘’Stay here and don’t move: we still have to make sure that all these bastards lying around are dead. Once we will be finished here, we will escort you to our caravan, which is camping outside of this forest. Are you from this region?’’
‘’Yes! I am from Mathura and was going to visit a temple further west when our group was attacked and massacred by those bandits.’’
‘’Then, you are in luck: our caravan is heading towards Mathura. We will thus be able to bring you home soon.’’
‘’Where are you from?’’
‘’Our caravan is from Samarkand.’’
‘’But you? I never saw a female warrior before.’’
‘’Well, you would see many of them if you were in the plains and forests of Sarmatia, girl. I am what the Greeks called an ‘Amazon’. I hope that you have heard about Amazons before.’’
‘’I was read stories about them by my preceptor but I thought that they were only legends.’’
‘’Oh, we are much more than a mere legend, girl. However, we will be able to talk further about that later on, after we finish the job here. Again, stay here and don’t move until I return.’’
Nauca then joined her four companions in scouring through the bandits’ camp, giving the coup-de-grâce to the wounded bandits, retrieving their arrows which were not damaged, grabbing the bandits’ own stocks of arrows and searching their tents. Then, Timur found something he had not been expecting behind one of the tents, where a number of horses were tied to trees: a sedan chair. Calling Nauca and Gorudos to him, he then showed them the chair, which was heavily ornamented and had to have cost quite a lot of money to build.
‘’Only rich or powerful people can afford such luxurious sedan chairs. Who were those people that you found dead, Nauca?’’
‘’I don’t know but I did suspect that they were not merchants and the girl told me that she was traveling to a temple west of here. I guess that I will have to ask her a few more questions once back at our camp. Let’s pack the weapons, armor and valuables lying around this camp and load them on those horses. We should also rip open these tents with our knives. I don’t want the bandits who survived to be able to find anything of use or value if they come back here after our departure. As for that sedan chair, we can rig ropes to make two of the horses carry it.’’
‘’A good idea!’’ replied Gorudos. ‘’I will take care of that. Timur can help me as well.’’
‘’Excellent! I think that we did good tonight. Now, our caravan will be safe from those bandits.’’
Some fifty minutes later, the five of them, with the teenage girl put atop one of the horses and the sedan chair lifted and moved by two horses, left the camp and walked to the road, which passed some 200 meters away. The girl was quite nervous at first, spooked by traveling like this at night on a dark road inside a forest, but she calmed down once they were in the open, with the caravan’s campfire in sight. On arrival at the camp, the caravan men there, who had been anxiously waiting for their return and praying for their safety, gathered at once to greet back the group. Nauca, who had progressively become the natural leader of the guards, spoke in a sober tone to Hiram when the latter came to her.
‘’We found the bandits’ camp and served them a lesson the few survivors are not about to forget, Hiram. We saw 31 of them, out of which less than five managed to flee in utter panic. We found at the same time this teenage girl, tied naked to a tree and being raped by the bandits. She is a local girl from Mathura but can speak Greek. In fact, I suspect that she is from a rich local family: we found this luxurious sedan chair, along with those five horses, at the bandits’ camp.’’
‘’You did well again, all of you! Go rest: I will take care of those horses and sedan chair.’’
‘’Before that, I believe that we need to ask this poor girl a few questions, in order to find out who she is exactly. She will also need to wash, to remove the stains on her body.’’
Hiram nodded in comprehension at that and went to the horse carrying the girl, then helped her down before caressing her head. She was actually fairly small but graceful and was in her early teens.
‘’I am Hiram, master of this caravan. What is your name, young girl?’’
‘’Babita!’’ answered the girl in a timid voice.
‘’Babita…that’s a pretty name for a pretty girl. You told Nauca that you were from Mathura, correct?’’
‘’Yes! My father rules Mathura. He had sent me with an escort and with my nanny to go visit a temple dedicated to Krishna, one day to the west of here.’’
Hiram couldn’t help exchange a shocked look with Nauca and the other guards at those words before he looked back at the girl.
‘’Your father rules Mathura? Is he a king?’’ Babita of Mathura
‘’No! My father’s name is Vishnumitra but he doesn’t wear the title of ‘King’. Rather, he is called ‘Governor’ and rules under the authority of King Hippostratus.’’
‘’Still, that makes you a person of importance, Babita. What title should I use to call you?’’
That question somehow seemed to pike the girl, who snapped her head up and looked into Hiram’s eyes.
‘’I don’t want to be called by some meaningless title! For my father, I am only a girl to be given away in marriage to a nobleman, in order to build up his power and influence. I have been promised in marriage since the age of four but now, having been soiled by bandits, my future husband will not want me anymore and I will probably be discarded by my family as being an embarrassment.’’
‘’An embarrassment?’’ said Nauca, pricked by those words. ‘’You were attacked, then raped by bandits through no fault of your own. How could your family consider you an embarrassment? Don’t they love you?’’
Babita lowered her head as tears started rolling on her cheeks.
‘’My nanny loved me, and so does my mother. However, this is how things are in and around Mathura. Boys are important, while girls are only good at helping their families earn money or influence through prearranged marriages. After this, I will have no value left in the eyes of my father.’’
‘’What a heartless bastard!’’ muttered Nauca to herself, positively angry and revolted. Hiram then put his hand on one of her shoulders and spoke softly to her.
‘’Nauca, Sarmatians may consider and treat women as equal to men, but they are the exception in this sad world, not the rule. I have heard before about such arranged marriages, and not only about India. Things are in fact worse in that matter with girls from the nobility or from rich families: they are too often considered simply as ways to advance the fortunes of their families through prearranged marriages, often planned from a very young age. I am afraid that Babita is right about the kind of reception she will get once back in Mathura.’’
‘’And what will her family do with her then? Simply disavow and abandon her? I can’t accept that kind of outcome.’’
‘’Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do in this matter, Nauca. We cannot risk alienating or insulting that girl’s father: it could cause the end of this caravan if he takes umbrage to our objections. I am sorry but that is the reality we have to live with. Maybe, with luck, that governor will have a softer heart than even her daughter believes him to possess.’’
11:06 (Central Asia Time)
City of Mathura, Indo-Greek Kingdom
The arrival of the caravan at the gates of Mathura created some consternation among the guards protecting the walls when they saw young Babita atop a horse and with the empty sedan chair carried by two horses. An officer then approached Babita, bowing his head in respect to her.
‘’What happened to your suite and escort, Lady Babita? And why are you back so early from your pilgrimage?’’
‘’My suite and escort are dead, massacred by bandits as we were going through a forest some two days away. Thankfully, this caravan was nearby and their guards attacked the bandits’ camp at night and killed most of the bandits, then freed me.’’
The officer nodded, impressed by that story, before looking at Hiram and bowing to him.
‘’You will have the forever gratitude of Governor Vishnamitra for this brave act, caravan master.’’
‘’Thank you but in truth we also acted for our self-preservation as well, as those bandits would have loved to loot my caravan. Could I ask one of your men to guide my caravan to the nearest caravanserai with enough space left to lodge us? You could then escort me and Lady Babita to her father’s palace.’’
‘’Of course! BINDI! GUIDE THAT CARAVAN TO THE NEAREST CARAVANSERAI ABLE TO LODGE IT! I WILL ESCORT LADY BABITA TO THE PALACE.’’
Leaving his associate Kasim to lead the caravan and take care of its lodging, Hiram then followed the officer, who had grabbed the reins of the horse carrying Babita, with Nauca trotting behind him, herself holding the reins of the horses carrying the sedan chair and the effects recuperated from the bandits.
The ride was not long, with the group soon arriving at the main gate of a walled palace. The palace itself counted three stories and was built of yellow-gray stone. Dismounting and leaving their horses in the care of servants, Hiram and Nauca entered the palace behind the officer and Babita after the officer had spoken briefly to a servant, who then ran inside. Another minute and the group arrived in what was obviously a throne room. The officer told Hiram and Nauca to wait where they were, then led Babita out by a backdoor. Hiram took that occasion to speak in Sogdian to Nauca, keeping his voice low.
‘’Remember: whatever happens, don’t show up anger or disapproval at what that governor may say or do. The safety and future of our caravan may depend on this.’’
Nauca could only nod her head at that, realizing how delicate the situation was. She was going to have to repress her feelings, in order not to endanger her travel companions, however frustrating this could prove to be. After some three minutes of waiting, the officer came back in the throne room, accompanied by a mustached man wearing silk clothes and rich jewels. The mustached man then went to sit on the large cushions piled atop a dais before addressing Hiram in Greek.
‘’You may come forward, caravan master.’’
‘’Thank you, Your Highness!’’
The governor seemed to be both surprised and a bit annoyed when Nauca came forward as well. Still, he kept a smile on his lips and spoke again in a magnanimous tone.
‘’I am the one who must thank you for saving my daughter Babita from those bandits, caravan master. What is your name and where are you from?’’
‘’I am Hiram, from Samarkand. My caravan is traveling to Pataliputra, where we hope to do some good trading. My companion here is one of my caravan guards, Nauca. She led the attack on the bandits’ camp and killed many of the bandits. By the way, she is a Sarmatian, one of the warrior women the Greeks called ‘Amazons’.’’
The governor raised an eyebrow in interest at that.
‘’Indeed! She must be the first one to come to Mathura in a long time. You have both my gratitude and my admiration, Nauca of Sarmatia.’’
‘’Thank you, Your Highness!’’ replied Nauca while bowing low. ‘’We also recuperated the sedan chair, horses and personal effects of your daughter’s suite from that bandits’ camp. They are now in the courtyard of your palace. Unfortunately, we were not able to bury or cremate the bodies of her guards and servants, which are still lying in the forest where we found them.’’
‘’A column of my soldiers will take care of that, Nauca of Sarmatia. Now, could you tell me in what state you found my daughter Babita?’’
‘Here we go!’ thought Nauca before speaking out loud, forcing herself to keep a straight face.
‘’When we approached the bandits’ camp, in which a campfire was burning, I saw your daughter tied with her back to a tree. She was completely naked at the time and I saw a bandit go to her and rape her. That is when I and my four companions started shooting arrows and killing those bandits. Once they were all down, I ran to your daughter, cut her ropes and covered her nudity with a blanket taken from the bandits. Then, we returned to our caravan’s camp with her.’’
The governor’s expression showed some dismay then despite his best efforts to stay impassive. Nauca knew then that Babita had been right about the reactions she expected from her family.
‘’That is a most sad and tragic story. You only delivered justice by killing those bandits, Nauca of Sarmatia.’’
‘’We would have done the same to help anybody who would have fallen victims to those bandits, Your Highness.’’
‘’And your bravery and compassion are to be commended. Let me show you properly my gratitude for saving my daughter, Hiram and Nauca.’’
The governor then loudly clapped his hands together, making a servant appear from the back door, carrying a medium-sized decorated box in her hands. The servant walked at small steps to Hiram and knelt in front of him while presenting her box to him. The caravan master opened wide eyes on opening the box and seeing that it was full of big, magnificent pink pearls. He then bowed deeply to the governor after closing back the box.
‘’You are too generous, Your Highness.’’
‘’Your good deeds merited no less, Hiram of Samarkand. Again, you have my undying gratitude for saving my Babita. May your trip to Pataliputra be both safe and profitable.’’
‘’Thank you, Your Highness!’’
Understanding that this audience was now over, Hiram and Nauca backtracked to the door and left the throne room, whose doors were then closed by two guards. Hiram took a moment to show the pearls to Nauca, who could only admire them.
‘’These pearls are truly beautiful, Hiram. With them, one could make a necklace worthy of a queen. The question I have now is what will happen to poor Babita after this?’’
‘’Unfortunately, that is not for us to decide or even worry about, Nauca. Let’s leave and go join our caravan.’’
When the two of them entered the courtyard of the caravanserai now occupied by Hiram’s caravan, it was to find that Kasim had basically finished taking care of their beasts and that Timur and Igrid were already guarding the storage shed containing the merchandises and valuables of the caravan.
‘’Good job, Kasim! You worked fast and well.’’
‘’Hey, I should be