Lilah Page 7

  She pulled her shawl across her chest. She felt a knot in her throat. Her astonishment and curiosity turned to fear. There were more gates, arches and courtyards. At last, they entered a huge garden. From here, Lilah could see the ceramic friezes and the multitude of characters decorating the steps leading up to the Citadel.

  To her surprise, their escort turned left, away from the Citadel walls, and they entered a copse of pines, palms and cedars. The east bank of the Shaour appeared between the tree trunks. The wheels of the vehicles and the hooves of the horses again echoed on flagstones. In front of them rose a huge palace, built on a terrace at a lower level than the river. The windowless outside wall of white bricks stretched as far as the river’s east bank. It had only one gate, coloured scarlet, which opened as the party approached, leaving them just enough time to pass before it closed again with a muffled sound.

  The horsemen, the chariot and the wagon came to a halt in a long, narrow courtyard, lined with cowsheds and water tanks. Beyond a porch and a metal gate, Lilah made out a series of smaller courtyards, arches, colonnades and patios. Servants approached, all dressed in green and purple striped tunics. Their smooth cheeks and short hair indicated that they were eunuchs.

  The third cupbearer got down from his chariot. ‘Take her to the cleansing room,’ he ordered, without looking at Lilah. ‘She needs to be ready as soon as the Queen has finished her meal.’

  Lilah could not help recalling the rumours that circulated about Queen Parysatis, stories that, once heard, could not easily be forgotten, of the kind that people whispered to each other, fearing the very words they were speaking.

  The Queen was surrounded by a host of servants – handmaids and eunuchs – over whom she held the power of life and death, which she exercised according to whim. Some had to apply her ointments and scents to themselves before she used them, others had to taste her food and drink. She feared poison, although she was an expert in the use of poisonous plants. Sometimes she had a eunuch’s tongue cut out if he had accepted a less than perfect dish, or a maid’s hands were cut off for not rejecting an ointment the Queen found less than smooth.

  Parysatis, it was said, had only two loves: her sons and the power she enjoyed as a queen and the mother of the King of Kings. It was whispered that her pleasures were as refined as they were cruel, her whims infinite, her desires unusual and never sated. The lords of the Apadana would break out in a cold sweat whenever they had to share her meal. Two of the wives of her eldest son, Artaxerxes the Second, had died because they had opposed her. And Lilah had heard Antinoes express surprise that the most powerful generals were more afraid of the Queen’s hatred than they were of the massed armies of the Greeks.

  And now Parysatis had brought her here from Mordechai’s house. A young Jewish woman from the upper town – little more than an insect in the Queen’s eyes.

  But an insect whom Antinoes, son of Artobasanez, the late satrap of Margiana, wanted to marry …

  Did Parysatis wish merely to satisfy her curiosity?

  The voice of a eunuch drew Lilah out of her reflections. He presented her with a basket of bracelets and necklaces.

  ‘Take these jewels and put them on. You will soon be taken to our queen.’

  Rather than obey, Lilah looked out through the wide window. A low sky, swollen with clouds, hung over the plains and hills to the west of the Shaour. It was not easy to tell what time of day it was. Lilah felt as though she had been in the palace for a long time, but that might have been the result of waiting and the long process of washing and dressing to which she had been subjected.

  How pointless it had been for Aunt Sarah and Axatria to fuss over her clothes and hair before she left Mordechai’s house! Saying little, treating her with neither formality nor familiarity, a number of handmaids and young eunuchs had led her to a small room where her clothes had been removed before she could protest.

  The handmaids had pushed her, naked, into a narrow pool, into which the eunuchs had then poured the warm, scented contents of two big jars. To her shame, they had washed her as if she stank like a girl from the lower town. Then they had taken her into an adjoining room, where laurel and eucalyptus leaves burned in braziers. They had dried her, and scented her with a thick, oily golden cream. She had had to wait for her skin to absorb it.

  Shocked as she was to be stripped, prodded and smeared in such an unrestrained way, Lilah had soon realized that the handmaids and eunuchs performed their tasks with unmistakable coldness.

  She could not even look them in the eyes. Their expressions remained distant and indifferent. As they worked, they spoke no more than was strictly necessary. They seemed to be thinking about nothing and seeing nothing. In their hands, Lilah was not a person, merely a duty to be fulfilled.

  At first Lilah was ill at ease and fearful, but she had exploded with anger when they brought her a white linen tunic so thin as to be transparent. It left her right breast and most of her back bare, and ended mid-thigh. Her cheeks scarlet with shame, she had demanded to put on the tunic in which she had arrived. Her fury had raised barely a smile from the handmaids.

  ‘No woman appears before the Queen in her own clothes unless she is the wife of a lord of the Apadana. That is the law. Queen Parysatis has ordered you to wear this tunic, and you must obey. Have no fear. You will be given back your clothes and jewels when it has been decided that you may go home.’

  Then they had given her a shawl to cover what her tunic revealed, and had made her wait – for so long that she had had plenty of time to think of the moment when she would be displayed to Parysatis in this shameful attire.

  Now the eunuch was pressing her to put on the bracelets of silver and ivory. ‘Do not look at the Queen before you bow,’ he advised her. ‘And do not speak except to answer the questions you will be asked.’

  The handmaids led her into a small square courtyard that was like a well. A eunuch in guard’s uniform stood at the entrance to each of the several corridors that led off it. Four of the eunuchs came and took up position around Lilah. Together, they plunged back into the vast labyrinth of the palace.

  In the dark corridor Lilah had the curious impression that they were walking in a circle. Suddenly she was blinded by the white light of day. A few more steps, and they were on the threshold of a strange room. The high ceiling was supported by thin cedar columns covered with brass, and between the capitals of these columns brightly coloured ropes were stretched. From the ropes there hung, parallel to each other across the room, a dozen immense transparent lilac veils.

  Although each veil was very thin, together they obscured the far end of the room from view. They swayed gently in the breeze, iridescent and shimmering in the daylight.

  Lilah was aware of the sound of voices, and a few tenuous notes played on a harp. Then there was a bang, and the eunuchs stepped aside to let her pass. One of them took hold of her shawl and, without a word, ordered her to walk towards the veils.

  Holding her arms tight across her half-naked chest, Lilah stopped before the first veil, uncertain what to do. With the tip of his spear, the guard lifted it and signalled her to continue.

  She had to go through the remaining veils herself. They brushed against her, enveloped her, blinded her. Soon, she no longer knew in which direction she was moving.

  Again, she was startled by a bang and stopped, as if she had been caught doing something wrong. At that moment a voice rang out imperiously: ‘What is the name of the one who approaches?’

  Stunned, Lilah murmured her name, and the voice repeated the question.

  ‘Lilah,’ she said again, as loudly as she could. ‘Lilah, daughter of Serayah.’

  ‘Come two veils closer.’

  She obeyed, looking up at the beams on the ceiling to orient herself. Few veils separated her now from the rest of the room, and she made out a colonnade leading to a garden.

  ‘Why have you come here, Lilah?’ the voice asked.

  She could not reply. A shiver of fear went down her s
pine, insidious and clinging. Her hands were shaking. She closed her eyes to regain her composure and not let emotion overcome her. The strangeness of this situation was only there to impress her, to make her imagination run riot, to show her how weak she was. The veils were only veils, not monsters or wild beasts. Lilah rose to her full height and opened her eyes. ‘I have been summoned by the Queen,’ she declared.

  ‘Come closer.’

  Heart pounding, Lilah lifted the veil in front of her. Only two remained ahead. She made out a dais between the columns, with a few figures on it. In the middle a long bed stood beneath a canopy.

  The notes of the harp were now distinct. Lilah caught a glimpse of the musician – a woman – beside one of the columns. Armed guards stood at the edges of the room, the grey daylight reflected in their metal breastplates.

  ‘Come closer, girl, come closer,’ a woman’s voice, different from the one Lilah had previously heard, ordered.

  Lilah realized that the Queen had spoken.

  Breathless now, she lifted the last veils. Still trying to hide her exposed breast with her free hand, she moved forward a few steps. The floor here was of marble. The cool air from the garden made her shiver. She remembered the eunuch’s injunction and bowed briefly, bending one knee. She held her right hand in front of her, palm upwards, and raised it to her lips as she rose.

  A deep laugh came from the bed. ‘Well, well. Come closer.’

  Supported by pillows, Parysatis was half lying on the bed, which was covered with a green and purple silk rug. She was surprisingly small, her body almost hidden beneath a kind of cape embroidered with gold threads and precious stones. A silver band with strips of coloured silk attached to it held her hair in place. Her face was like that of a prematurely aged child. Her skin, as clear and fine as highly polished ceramic, was furrowed with deep lines on the brow, cheeks and neck. She was smiling, but her large sky-blue eyes, flecked with gold, were fixed and expressionless.

  In a clatter of bracelets, her hand appeared, as white as milk. She waved her ringed fingers impatiently. ‘Come closer! Let me see you in the light.’

  Lilah obeyed. Two very young handmaids were kneeling on the bed, staring at her impassively. Beside it, on a wide stool, the third cupbearer sat, smiling the same ironic, self-satisfied smile he had worn when he had first seen Lilah in Uncle Mordechai’s house. Behind him, other handmaids and a few eunuchs, all very young, knelt on the dais, waiting. One of the eunuchs held on his knees the cedar planks whose banging had punctuated Lilah’s progress through the veils.

  ‘Come on, show yourself!’ Parysatis cried.

  Lilah hesitated. She could not be any closer to the Queen’s bed. What more did she want?

  ‘Turn her,’ the third cupbearer commanded.

  The two young handmaids glided to the foot of the bed and each seized one of Lilah’s wrists. Holding her arms apart, they began to spin her round like a top.

  Now Lilah understood why she had been forced to wear this tunic that left her half-naked. The handmaids continued to turn her round. She closed her eyes, as dizzy with shame and anger as with the spinning. She had no need to see the Queen’s eyes, or the cupbearer’s. It seemed to her as though every inch of her skin was being flayed to satisfy their curiosity.

  ‘Well, Cohapanikes, what do you think?’

  ‘She’s beautiful, my queen. A beautiful girl, that much is obvious.’

  Parysatis nodded. They watched Lilah as she whirled, the short tunic lifting to reveal her thighs. Then, with a click of her fingers, the Queen ordered the handmaids to let go of Lilah’s arms.

  Lilah had to make an effort to keep her balance. Mustering all the courage she could, she raised her eyes and looked at the Queen.

  The fine network of lines around Parysatis’ eyes creased. The blue eyes narrowed, cold and calm, as impassive as the eyes of a snake waiting to strike. ‘Beautiful, but full of pride, that’s obvious, too,’ she observed, without raising her voice.

  ‘You have to admit Antinoes has good taste,’ the eunuch said, amused. ‘They say also that Jewish women are prudes in lovemaking, but not without skill.’

  ‘Quiet, Cupbearer!’ Parysatis cried. ‘Keep your tongue for my wine!’

  Cohapanikes’ smile froze. The notes of the harp vibrated like a threat. For a few moments longer, Parysatis continued to stare at Lilah. Suddenly she pushed back the cape and reached out her hands. The young handmaids rushed to support her as she got out of bed.

  Standing, Parysatis was not much taller than the girls serving her. Her thin tunic, visible now through the open cape, revealed a body that was younger and firmer than Lilah had imagined, which made the marks of age on her face seem all the stranger. Parysatis became aware of her surprise and looked at her mockingly. ‘You thought me older than I am, didn’t you, girl? Typical of the young! They see lines on a woman’s neck and think she’s old.’

  ‘My queen—’

  Parysatis silenced her with a gesture. ‘Be quiet. If you aren’t, you’ll lie. And you must never lie to me.’

  Her face relaxed. She came closer still, lifted her ringed hand, and touched Lilah’s bare arm lightly. Her fingers were soft and warm. She moved them from Lilah’s shoulder to the back of her neck. Lilah gave a start, and had to make an effort not to retreat. The Queen’s fingers glided over Lilah’s chest, pressing as if she were searching for the bones beneath the skin. It was not so much a caress as an inspection. Lilah felt as though she were being examined like an animal.

  ‘You have beautiful skin,’ the Queen said. ‘How old are you?’

  ‘Twenty-one.’

  ‘And you have no children yet?’

  ‘No, my queen.’

  Parysatis chuckled, and her mouth opened to reveal small teeth, many of them as black as coal. She turned to the third cupbearer, who had joined her and seemed huge beside her.

  ‘Do you hear that, Cohapanikes? Twenty-one! Not much younger than this palace! She should have been married long since. When I was your age, girl, the great Darius sought the gold of his throne between my thighs every night and I had already given birth to the King of Kings who is your master today.’

  She gave a high-pitched laugh that shook her chest. In a gesture that seemed surprisingly friendly, she took Lilah’s hand. ‘Follow me.’

  She drew Lilah between the columns. The handmaids, the eunuchs, the cupbearer, the musician and the guards followed at a distance of a few cubits.

  ‘Your father and mother are dead,’ Parysatis said.

  ‘Yes, my queen.’

  Still holding Lilah’s hand, Parysatis descended the steps leading to the garden. Lilah had the impression that she could tell lies from truth merely by the touch of her hand.

  ‘And you have known Antinoes a long time,’ the Queen said.

  It was not a question. Parysatis was simply demonstrating the strength of her curiosity, as well as her royal power. But there was no longer any room for doubt in Lilah’s mind: Antinoes was indeed the reason for this strange encounter …

  ‘I’ve known him since we were children, my queen,’ she replied.

  Without slowing down, Parysatis chuckled again. ‘Since you were children! And you have no child yourself? You’re surely not a virgin?’

  ‘My queen …’ Lilah hesitated, her voice muffled by shame.

  Parysatis waved their joined hands brusquely. ‘Don’t lie, I told you! And don’t be a prude! Of course you’re not a virgin. Parysatis can tell if a girl is a virgin as soon as she looks at her.’

  For a while, they advanced in silence. Lilah made an effort to conceal her fear and her humiliation at being almost naked in front of everyone.

  Letting go of Lilah’s hand as abruptly as she had seized it, Parysatis turned into a path lined with bamboo. The garden, enclosed by the outer walls of the palace, was extremely dense in the middle, the undergrowth tangled. As they passed, thick clouds of butterflies flew up from the clusters of amaranth and buddleia and whirled above their heads.

>   Adapting her pace to the Queen’s, Lilah wondered what mad questions Parysatis would ask next. Would she get out of this palace alive? What should she answer and not answer? What did the Queen want? Was Antinoes in danger?

  The path sloped gently towards the centre of the copse. A strong smell, pungent and feral, came from the undergrowth. It grew stronger and more unpleasant as they advanced. It was a smell such as Lilah had never known, but it did not seem to trouble Parysatis.

  The undergrowth thinned, and a clearing appeared. Here, the bamboo trunks were merely a low hedge bordering a pit a dozen cubits deep and with sides as sheer as if they had been cut with an axe. At the bottom, Lilah was surprised to see thick bushes, ponds, stunted trees with torn trunks, and the ground furrowed with well-trodden paths of soft earth.

  Not much more than twelve or so feet from the path along which Parysatis was advancing, a platform of logs jutted out. Black carrion birds were sitting on it and as the two women approached, they flew off, screeching, on heavy wings.

  ‘Come closer, Lilah,’ Parysatis ordered, without turning. ‘Let me introduce you to my friends.’

  As if in response to her command, a roar split the air. It was answered by another, then another. Down in the pit, the bushes moved. Lilah glimpsed flashes of fur, and cried out. Simultaneously, two lions with waving manes leaped onto the platform, and stood there, mouths open to reveal shiny yellow fangs. With their huge paws, they stamped on the logs as if they were about to launch themselves into the air. Lilah was unable to hold back another cry, certain they were about to leap at her.

  But it did not happen.

  One of them tipped back its head and raised its muzzle towards the sky. Its flowing mane spread over its breast like a corolla of fire. It gave another terrible, ear-splitting roar, while the other, whipping its tail, growled and turned in a circle.

  Lilah was petrified. Her teeth chattered and her bare skin was covered with gooseflesh. The lion roared again, not as loudly this time – perhaps it was becoming bored. Its mouth opened threateningly and its ink-black pupils fixed on the newcomers, whose smell excited it, but it lay down. Behind it, with the humility of a lesser male, the other lion followed suit.