(1)
We were bathing in the river with Queen Asparia when the raiders came. The few guards who were assigned as our protectors stood no chance. They were destroyed to the last man with sword and pike and lance until their noble and valiant blood stained the ground.
I was rounded up along with the queen and her other handmaidens. We remained silent and did not give identity to the presence of our queen for which her eyes showed gratitude. Thankfully the raiders did not recognize when royalty was among them. We were all taken away with nothing more than the chitons on our backs.
It was a long journey to a faraway land. I despaired that I would ever set eyes upon my Hellas again, my homeland. But Queen Asparia carried herself strongly and we in turn vowed to return that strength to her in time of need.
I feared the worst when we came upon a band of Babylonian soldiers. They needed slaves in that great city and we soon discovered the purpose of the raid upon our land. It was the way of the raiders to make coin for themselves by pillaging the countryside and gathering the inhabitants to bring to Babylon.
We were turned over to the soldiers but amazingly we were not abused. We were wanted as nothing more than slaves for the city. The raiders never spoke to the Babylonians of where we were captured and Asparia’s secret remained safe. As her handmaidens we vowed that it would remain so until such time as brave warriors might be sent to rescue us, a faint hope at best.
We soon settled in to our hard labor in the city of Babylon. The days were long, the work hard. But Queen Asparia never once complained and she became our pillar. And we kept her secret.
It would prove to be an impossible secret to keep…
(2)
The King of Assyria came to call upon the King of Babylon. He offered up untold riches in exchange for all the slaves of Babylon. The king suspected ulterior motives and therefore had his wife ply him with strong drink to get him to divulge the reason for such a request.
In a drunken stupor with the seductive Taneal he foolishly revealed his true purpose. He had learned of the raid upon Hellas and that the raiders had unknowingly taken the queen of the Hellenes. He wished to locate her and to force her to become his wife and thereby meld Assyria with Hellas into a powerful empire.
The king denied the request and returned the riches, sending the King of Assyria on his way. It became his desire to identify Queen Asparia and take her for himself, putting away his own wife. We knew none of this of course… only that one day the king came down to our slave cavern unannounced.
“I have learned the Queen of the Hellenes is down here!” he told us sternly and we all stiffened involuntarily with alarm. “She will identify herself to me at once.” But Asparia did not speak.
“Freedom to the slave who will identify her to me!” the king proclaimed. “She will be given safe passage back to her country if only she points out the queen to me now!”
I steeled myself for the betrayal to come. But no betrayal was forthcoming. We all remained silent… resolute.
“Very well,” the kind declared, and I could tell his anger had been provoked. “You will tell me in due course. For now you will be excused from your labors for the rest of the day.”
Instantly I sensed this “rest” would not be welcome once we learned of its true nature…
(3)
The king knew of the group of women taken from the country of the Hellenes. It made it easy for him and the palace guards to round us up and march us out of the city. We were taken to a rocky hillside and tied one by one to numerous posts imbedded in the ground.
“Speak now and you can prevent what is to come!” he called aloud. But no one spoke a word. I was proud to be associated with such noble handmaidens.
Asparia was tied to a post not far from my own. I caught her eye and saw the love and great pride reflected there. I was determined that if anyone did betray my queen it most certainly would not be me!
“Very well!” the king announced angrily. “You will stay here with no food or water.” Then he told the captain of the guard, “Make sure none of them die. A slave can only take so much. Soon they will tell me what I want to know!” Then he went back to his palace along with most of the guards, leaving a small detail to take word back to the king should there be loose lips among us.
We were left there in the hot sun to reflect on our decision not to give away the identity of Queen Asparia…
(4)
We stood out there all day upon the rocky hillside. The sun beat down mercilessly upon us and the posts were uncomfortable. But no one complained.
There was the occasional moan and a head would be turned in that direction. But a gallant smile was the only response. We held up courageously all through the day.
The heat of the day gave way to the chill of the night. It was impossible to sleep but for a few moments here and there. There were more moans and sighs of weariness. But there were no words of complaint, nor were there any requests to give in to the demands of the king. And once again there were no betrayals to the ever present guards.
In the middle of the night the palace guard came out with torches. They walked among us, listening intently for some sort of word, some betrayal from a body weakened by hunger, thirst or cold. But none among us gave such a word. In that darkest hour I never felt such kinship as I did among the queen’s handmaidens…
(5)
I sensed danger when the king came out with his palace guard the next morning. Surely by now he must have known we were not going to divulge the identity of our queen! The presence of two men with cruel whips confirmed as much!
They wasted no time randomly picking out a girl! Her name was Dianthe, meaning god-flower. I gasped in alarm as Queen Asparia recoiled in horror.
Dianthe said not a word until they began to beat her with the whip upon her chest and belly. Her screams penetrated my heart and I saw the queen wince in agony. But still Dianthe did not betray her mistress.
Asparia could bear it no longer, could not bear the beating of one of her beloved handmaidens. “I am queen of the Hellenes!” she cried out, and I feared the cruel tactic had worked.
Scant moments later another female voice cried out, “I AM QUEEN OF THE HELLENES!” Then another… and another!! The guards looked around in confusion and dismay and I nearly laughed as I lent my voice along with all the others. We were all proclaiming ourselves to be the queen of the Hellenes!!
Queen Asparia could not bear the thought of them returning to Dianthe’s beating. So she cried out again… “NO – I AM QUEEN OF THE HELLENES!!” Others loudly took up that same cry, I among them… “NO – I AM QUEEN OF THE HELLENES!!” We were determined not to give her up to these barbarians! Even Dianthe lent her voice to the cry!
I saw Queen Asparia look all around with tears in her eyes. I was never so proud to be called among her handmaidens as I was at that moment. Together we had made that terrible place a noble hillside.
The captain of the guards looked around admiringly. He was a handsome man, and a strong warrior I could tell. “Surely they ALL are worthy to be the queen of the Hellenes,” he acknowledged. But the King of Babylon was furious.
“FETCH THE OIL!” he roared. “I will teach these Hellenes what it is to make a mockery of the king!” Our voices fell silent and I felt a terrible dread…
(6)
Men were quickly dispatched back to the city. We could not help but look at each other, wondering the meaning of this new development. There was alarm in Queen Asparia’s eyes when they locked with mine, and I knew she feared for her handmaidens.
The soldiers returned with a large barrel of oil. Torches were lit as those two with the whips returned to Dianthe. There was a loud gasp among us when her chiton was cruelly ripped from her shoulders, leaving her fully exposed to the elements.
Those horrible men dipped their hands into the oil and proceeded to massage it all over into the skin of poor Dianthe. She moaned and whimpered as they roughly handled her fine breasts with their dirty, oily hands. One of them even fingered her womanhood deeply, making her writhe and moan in total humiliation. Then the king handed over a torch.
There was a pause as though those barbarians were awaiting her final answer. But Dianthe gave none. There was fear in her eyes but she proudly lifted herself up to her full stature. Then the king angrily cried out, “BURN HER!” and a torch stretched out to touch her skin.
Dianthe began to shriek in absolute horror. Then the flames caught the oil on her body and she was totally consumed, becoming as the flame of a giant candle! She began screaming in absolute terror, causing the rest of us to wail in grief and horror.
Queen Asparia was beside herself, unable to stand the loss of one of her handmaidens in this manner. She began to scream, “NO – NO; I AM THE ONE – I AM THE ONE!”
I was sure this would identify her; I was also certain this would doom the rest of us to a similar fate. But scarce had she gotten out the words before others began screaming, “NO – NO; I AM THE ONE! I AM THE QUEEN OF THE HELENES!!” “NO; IT IS I!!” “NO – NO; IT IS I!! I AM THE ONE!!” By then Dianthe’s screams had abated and she had slumped against her post, her entire body aflame.
The king motioned and those two moved to another girl at random, one I knew as Eugeneia. She stiffened and shuddered as her chiton was ripped off her body. The others continued the chant of “NO – NO; I AM THE QUEEN OF THE HELENES!” even as they rubbed oil all over her body, making sure to work it into her womanhood.
Queen Asparia let out a wail, causing others to cry out the same. Even now they refused to identify her at the cost of their own lives! The torch touched Eugeneia and she lit up as a large flame on the morning hillside in the midst of horrible, anguished screams.
A third handmaiden was set aflame… and then a forth. The king raised his hand to pause the proceedings as though expecting the identification to be made at any moment. But there was nothing forthcoming save crying and sobbing now.
I saw Queen Asparia look around at her handmaidens, saw the anguish in her eyes. But she nodded proudly at them and refused to cry out after that. The others settled down to whimper and await their turn, for surely that was what the king intended.
He did not disappoint…
One by one we were stripped of our chitons, oiled up and then set on fire. No sooner would the screams of the dying be silenced when new screams of the burning would fill the air. But we no longer chanted that we were the queen of the Hellenes.
It no longer mattered…
The hillside grew warm from the flames of the burning handmaidens. All I could do was pant heavily for breath as the terror grew at awaiting my turn. I could see now we were all doomed to destruction.
It was horrible when Queen Asparia faced her turn. But she stood resolute upon that hillside. I could see she was determined to go out proudly along with each of her handmaidens. The heaviness of living with this upon her conscience would be too much even for her to bear. So she did not give herself away… not even then!
I watched as they molested her naked body with oil, watched as they fingered her womanhood. Then they set her on fire with the torch. Those of us remaining screamed right along with her until we were all screamed out.
One by one I lost my friends: Frona the self controlled… Kalliope the beautifully voiced one… Lois and Lysandra. The hillside grew intensely warm from the flames, although bodies were beginning to burn out and crumple into small piles of embers upon the ground. They all went until I alone was left.
By then the king had departed in a rage. It had become quite clear to him that the only thing he had succeeded in doing was destroying valuable slave labor. Only a handful of the soldiers remained to conclude the day’s work, along with the captain of the guard who had been entrusted to complete the gruesome task.
He finally came to me when I was the last. I was all but devastated, a despairing shell of the woman I was. Seeing all my friends burn, seeing my queen in fiery agony and death, had almost been more than I could bear. He seemed to sense this in me.
“Babylonians,” he breathed in disgust, shaking his head. “What name is that now but one of barbarism and cruelty? What have we become that we must stoop to such evil?” Then he looked at me with a strange kindness.
“What is your name? You need not tell me if that is what you wish.”
“What does it matter now?” I sighed with a heavy heart. “You have destroyed my queen and my friends. I am Talitha.”
“Talitha,” he repeated as though searching his mind for some meaning. “Damsel… maiden…”
“Young lamb,” I added quietly, “…like a lamb unto the slaughter.” It was ironic and I had to smile.
One of the soldiers came to oil me but the captain roughly pushed him aside. “I will do this one myself!” he said angrily. Then he dipped his hand into the oil.
He was not rough like the others. He touched me with a fondness… a certain affection. “You are a noble people,” he said softly, “…perishing on a noble hillside. Truly we are barbarians. Our reign will not last long.” He seemed almost regretful.
He massaged my breasts like a lover and I felt soothed. He was tender with me as he rubbed the oil all over into my body. Then he reached in to oil his fingers.
“Forgive this intrusion,” he said apologetically. But I felt I had found someone worthy of soiling me. If it had to be a Babylonian then I wanted it to be him!
I willingly spread my legs for him. “You may have it,” I said submissively. There was a fondness in his eyes as he began to finger me.
There was something gentle in his touch, the way one is touched by a lover. I sighed and whimpered as I thrust against his fingers. He let out a little smile and nodded as though it was the only small gift he could think of to bestow upon me before carrying out his grisly task.
I glanced at his belt and noticed the dagger that hung there. “Kill me with the blade,” I murmured quietly, hopefully. “Then you may burn me. I wish to join my friends and my queen. All I ask is that you do it quickly.” Then I thrust my breasts outward, offering myself to him.
He looked around as though seeing who might be watching. But I despaired as he hefted the torch. Then he surprised me when his hand reached down for the dagger.
“It will be done, little lamb,” he said softly. Then once more he glanced around to make sure no one was watching closely.
I felt a small joy at his kindness and I became thankful he was the one who had oiled me… the one who had given me a very small pleasure. For now it was enough. Then I thrust out my breasts even more.
He furtively glanced around one last time before quickly plunging the blade into my left breast. It pierced my heart and I sighed with gladness. I was barely aware of the torch touching my body a few moments later – the fire beginning to consume me – before my soul left to be with my noble and exalted queen…
(written for Hitomi Apr 20 ’14 by riwa)
(Inspired by, and vidcaps taken from, Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon. Vidcaps are used for illustration purposes only.)