15:50 (Central Asia Time)
Friday, November 28, 61 B.C.E.
Near the eastern gates of Mathura
Indo-Greek Kingdom, Northern India
Sajith Singh was about to lead the caravan into the city of Mathura when he noticed that Nauca, Igrid, Talya and Babita had broken away from the long column or horses and camels and were now trotting down a side road which followed the external side of the city walls. Surprised, he threw a look at Hiram, who was riding next to him.
‘’Hey! Where are they going? Aren’t they going to enter the city with us?’’
‘’No, because they can’t, Sajith: young Babita promised to her family that she would never reenter Mathura after leaving it with my caravan. Nauca and her group will go establish a camp outside the walls of the city, near its western gates, and will wait for us to leave Mathura before joining back with us.’’
Sajith, who had heard Babita’s sad story from Hiram, watched the women and girls trot away before shaking slowly his head.
‘’To reject his own daughter because she was raped by bandits… That governor has neither shame nor honor. I hope that young Babita will live a good life in the years to come.’’
‘’She won’t be neglected, Sajith, that I promise you. Nauca is treating her like her little sister, while I find her services as a translator and assistant accountant most valuable. People who can read, write and count are too rare around to be wasted. Besides, that girl has a heart of gold and has proved to be quite tough, even though she is not very strong physically, even for a girl of her age. She was barely able to stretch and load one of our new crossbows when I made her try it.’’
‘’Talking about those new ‘Indian’ crossbows, they are truly great weapons. Before, I had my own caravan guards, plus a couple of my camel drivers, who knew how to shoot a bow accurately. Now, all of my men can shoot an attacker at up to fifty paces or more, something that tremendously improves the safety of my caravan. I must thank you again for sharing their secret with me, my friend.’’
‘’What are friends for, if not for helping and defending each other?’’ replied in a philosophical tone Hiram before going through the city gate with Sajith.
Trotting along the walls of Mathura, Nauca saw that Babita was silently crying while riding next to her. Bending sideways, she gently patted the shoulder of the teenage girl while speaking softly to her.
‘’There is no need for you to cry, Babita: your family was at fault, not you.’’
‘’I know and that’s what is hurting me: their selfishness and lack of care. Now that I am with you and the other girls, I know what true care and kindness are. It took that tragedy with those bandits to show me how my father considered me simply as a possession to trade away for more power and money. In contrast, the men of our caravan have been treating me with respect and genuine care. Just look at how Amara is treated by our cook like his own daughter. Now, that’s true fatherly love.’’
‘’Indeed! Askhat may be illiterate but he is a good, decent man. By the way, I noticed that you and Liu Han are now good friends. I am happy, for both of you.’’
Babita, her tears having dried up, nodded slowly her head.
‘’I like his mind, which is truly out of the ordinary, and I feel comfortable discussing complex ideas with him around the campfire. He has also started to teach me Chinese.’’
‘’Has he? Now, that’s something that could prove very useful to you in the future…and to this caravan as well. Good interpreters are always useful to have around on long trips.’’
‘’And I like my job with Hiram’s caravan. It is certainly a hard life physically but it is also a most stimulating life: there are so many new things to see and learn along the trail.’’
‘’And that is why I love my life as a nomad, Babita.’’
A day later, time for the caravan to buy fresh food and animal feed supplies in Mathura, their group reunited with Sajith and Hiram and continued on towards the Northwest and Indraprastha. However, as the caravan was going through the same forest where Babita had been taken by bandits, Nauca decided to go check with her and Igrid the forest clearing where the bodies of Babita’s escort and suite had been dumped by the bandits. She expected those bodies to have been gathered and given proper funerals, as promised by Babita’s father but, instead, found hundreds of human bones still littering the clearing, with some skeletons having obviously been dismembered by predators. That sight, while it horrified Babita, made Nauca utterly furious.
‘’That fucking governor didn’t even bother to send his soldiers to retrieve the bodies of his own guards and servants. What a piece of shit he is!’’
‘’What do we do now with those remains, Nauca?’’ asked Igrid as she also eyed the bones scattered around, her expression hard.
‘’Unfortunately we will have to leave them here: those bodies certainly attracted many wild animals and some could…’’
A ferocious growl coming from her left then interrupted her and made all three of them pivot around to see what kind of beast had approached them. Babita’s eyes opened wide with fear at the sight of a big feral feline with a resplendent orange, white and black stripped coat which was now slowly advancing on them.
‘’A TIGER!’’
Nauca, who had never seen a tiger before, understood at once that this could be a very dangerous animal for her and her companion and lowered at once her long Kontos lance, pointing it at the beast.
‘’BABITA, STAY BEHIND ME! WE ARE GOING TO SLOWLY BACK OUT OF THE FOREST AND JOIN BACK THE CARAVAN.’’
‘’BUT THAT TIGER IS LIABLE TO FOLLOW US AND THEN ATTACK THE CARAVAN, NAUCA.’’
Nauca was mentally agreeing with Babita when the tiger pushed a fierce and terrifying growl and jumped at her, demonstrating impressive strength and agility. If she had been armed with her bow or had taken out her sword, she would probably have been killed by the beast before it could be killed but her decision to enter the forest with her lance actually saved her life and that of her companions. Fighting her fear, she stood her ground and planted the butt end of her lance in the grass while raising its point in order to meet the tiger’s charge. The long, wide blade made of tempered Hinduwani steel penetrated the beast at the base of its throat, sinking a good fifty centimeters inside the tiger before the side lugs of the lance stopped it from penetrating further. Despite being mortally wounded, the tiger’s momentum and mass was enough to push Nauca backward and make her trip and fall on her back. She however managed, barely, to keep a grip with both hands on her lance, preventing the beast from landing directly on top of her. Her heart now beating furiously, she watched as the tiger took its last breath before becoming still. Babita promptly helped her go back on her feet as Igrid cautiously probed the animal with her sword.
‘’It’s dead! That beast was utterly terrifying, I must say.’’
‘’It certainly was, Igrid. Now that I can detail it at leisure, it is also a magnificent beast. Its coat must be a prized one around here.’’
‘’It is, Nauca.’’ replied Babita while staring at the dead animal. ‘’Few hunters can brag about having killed a tiger, while many peasants and travelers have been killed and eaten by them. Its hide is definitely worth keeping.’’
‘’Then, I will start skinning it on the spot while Igrid will escort you back to the caravan. Then come back with Gorudos and Timur, so that they could help me: that beast looks quite heavy.’’
‘’Alright, Babita, follow me and stay close to me.’’ said Igrid before leaving the clearing with the teenager. Taking out her hunting knife, Nauca paused for a moment while admiring the dead tiger: it was certainly a magnificent animal, but it also had been a very dangerous predator. If she would not have killed it, she probably would be in the process of being eaten alive right now. Nauca repressed a shiver at that thought before starting her skinning job.
When Igrid returned two minutes later, she was accompanied by Gorudos, Timur, Hiram and Sajith. Looking first at the dead tiger being skinned by Nauca, Hiram then looked with growing horror and anger at the bones lying all around the clearing.
‘’That damn governor never had the bodies of his own servants and guards recovered? What kind of man would do this?’’
‘’A man without honor or shame.’’ replied grimly Sajith while also looking around the clearing. ‘’Unfortunately, if these corpses attracted one tiger to this clearing, then more predators may show up, or already did. Staying here for any length of time would be very dangerous.’’
Sajith then approached the dead tiger to admire it from up close.
‘’A really nice beast that you killed here, Nauca.’’
‘’A nice beast? I nearly became its lunch, Sajith!’’
‘’It is still a nice beast…once it is dead. You will now have quite a trophy with this hide.’’
‘’I will certainly keep it as such, Sajith. I don’t think that anybody west of Samarkand has ever seen a tiger before.’’
‘’I can vouch for that, Nauca.’’ replied Hiram. ‘’This will make for a most memorable trophy for you and will signal you as a great hunter and warrior.’’
‘’I can live with that!’’ said Nauca, a big grin appearing on her face.
The caravan resumed its trek one hour later, once Nauca had finished skinning the dead tiger and had scrapped its inside surface with the help of Gorudos and Timur. While Babita appeared to feel better once they were out of that forest, Hiram saw that she was still traumatized by the discovery that her nanny’s body and those of her escort had been abandoned to wild beasts by her own father. Hiram thus promised himself to be extra caring to her in the days to come. He also promised himself to never again make trade with Mathura as long as that governor Vishnumitra would be ruling it.