by Tessa Afshar
“Oh my lady, if you are going there, perhaps your handmaiden would be willing to take the old man some food that I have set aside for him. He forgets to eat, sometimes. Before the new steward arrived, Bardia’s men came daily and picked up his rations for him. Now he has little help and is so concerned over his trees and flowers that he doesn’t give his stomach a thought.”
“We would be happy to help.”
We could not find Bardia in the orchards, however. I asked Pari if she knew where the old man lived and she led me to a small cottage built at the edge of a diminutive pond. We knocked and found no answer.
“We should leave the food inside, out of the heat of the sun,” I said. Feeling awkward at my intrusion, I walked in, intending to leave the bundle and go. What I saw froze me in place. The room stank of mold and was covered in dust. Walls, needing repair, had been left to crumble in spots and a large damp stain on the floor indicated the source of the moisture. There was only one chair, and when I examined it, I found it to be broken. His bedding, rolled neatly against the wall, had absorbed the smell of mold and needed a good washing.
I fumed over Darius’s lack of care for his faithful retainer. The old man deserved better.
“This place needs a cleaning,” Pari said, pulling up the hem of her skirt to keep it from touching the floor.
“It needs a great deal more than that. That poor man spends his whole time in the gardens of his master; he has no time left to care for his own home.”
I left the food on the lopsided chair and walked out. Back in the palace I bid Pari to gather together what cleaning supplies she could and we headed back to the cottage.
“My lady, you can’t scrub the floor! Why don’t you just go outside and let me do the work?”
“I want to finish before he returns; it will shame him to find us here, picking up after him. Even with the two of us we shan’t make much dent in this disaster of a cottage in one afternoon. This needs workmen, not cleaning women.”
“But my lady—!”
“Stop making speeches and join me. I can’t bear for that man to come home to such a mess one more time.”
We returned to the palace again to fetch clean sheets and a sturdier blanket, which I took off my own bed. I also brought a footstool made of mahogany and ivory—one of the gifts of the queen for my wedding. After several hours of labor, the cottage was cleaner, but we had not been able to rid it of the damp, which was seeping through the foundations.
We would have to find a more permanent solution to Bardia’s living conditions. Either the building would have to receive appropriate repairs or he would have to move to the palace. I had little hope of convincing him of the latter and resolved to find Teispes and force him to attend the situation.
In one of life’s inexplicable coincidences, on our final trek back to the palace we ran straight into Teispes. His jaw grew even longer as he gaped at me.
“Just the man I wanted to see,” I said, taking advantage of his surprise. “Bardia’s living conditions are deplorable. His cottage is overrun by damp and mold and must be repaired.”
“Bardia?”
“The head gardener, though head of whom, it’s hard to tell; he seems to be working the gardens and orchards almost single-handedly. He needs more help.”
“My lady need not concern herself regarding the running of the estate. That is my job.”
I bit the side of my mouth in an attempt to control my temper. “It is a job that comes with much responsibility. I am happy to assist you where I can.”
“No need for you to become involved.”
I noted the dropped title, the hardening of the tone, the crossed arms; it seemed wise to change tact. “I would like to go into the records chamber and examine the accounts.”
The steward took a long step back. “That chamber is locked.”
“So I found. You have the key, I presume?”
He did not answer, but gazed at me without flinching.
I took that as a yes. “Good. In that case, let us proceed.”
“I could not possibly open that door without his lordship’s permission.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I am his lordship’s wife. I demand that you show me the accounts.”
He had the temerity to smirk at me. “Then perhaps you should write your husband and ask for his permission.”
If my hair were not so dark, it would have turned red with the rest of me. Shame lashed me like a physical force. I had never felt so belittled. It was clear that Teispes knew of the state of matters between my husband and me. And he believed himself safe from any form of reprisal no matter how he treated me. It occurred to me that I was utterly vulnerable to this man’s power. In Darius’s absence, he controlled everything. I could not even send a missive without his approval.
Anger replaced shame. He had abused his position by mistreating so many. What I did not know was if his master stood in agreement with his methods or if he was guilty only of trusting the wrong man. In either case, I resolved not to give in to Teispes’s intimidating manner. There were people who needed me now; I could not afford the luxury of fear.
Chapter Eleven
I woke up to the sound of low giggles. Pari stood at the end of my bed, a hand covering her laughter without success.
“You let him on your bed,” she said, pointing at the hairy creature lounging at my feet.
I yawned. “He insisted. Anyway, as long as he stays on top of my bed and doesn’t try to get in it.”
“That’s what you said about him getting on your bed.”
“He cries. What am I to do, ignore him?” I bent down to pet the massive fawn-colored back. He turned his black tinged face to lick my hand. “Phew! He reeks.”
“He’s a hunting dog. He spends his time chasing animals in the woods.”
“He used to be a hunting dog. He sleeps on my bed now, so perhaps we should bathe him.”
“I will make a fair exchange with you, my lady. I’ll bathe Caspian if you submit to a few beauty treatments.”
That girl should have worked for the king as a royal merchant; her haggling skills were mind numbing. Within moments, she had me agreeing to her terms with benign good nature, as if I myself had come up with the idea.
Satisfied now that she had her way, Pari sat on the edge of my bed next to the dog and petted him with absentminded tenderness. “What are we to do with that awful Teispes? Perhaps the Lord will help you deal with him.”
Her odd non sequitur caught me off guard. “The Lord?” I leaned against an overstuffed pillow, astounded that she knew that name. “What do you know about the Lord?”
“When I was a little girl, a Jewish washerwoman lived in our neighborhood. She loved children and had none of her own. Sometimes, she would allow me to accompany her when my mother did not need me. She told me some of the stories of your people. My favorite was of the shepherd boy David who slew a giant with a slingshot.”
“Goliath,” I murmured.
“That’s the one. Perhaps you are David and Teispes, Goliath. He certainly has the jaw for it.”
I laughed. “I don’t think pelting him with stones will solve our problems.”
“No, but Teispes’s power is great, like Goliath. You are small in comparison to him. You don’t have riches or connections or the ear of your husband. The odds are not on our side, just as they weren’t on Israel’s. Yet sometimes the odds aren’t what matter.”
I was quite impressed by Pari’s sagacity. Nehemiah would like my servant, I decided.
A knock on our door reduced us to silence. I could not remember anyone seeking entry to my chamber since my coming to this palace weeks ago. Caspian raised his head, wrinkled his forehead, and then replaced his snout back on the blanket without a single objection. So much for his protective hunting skills.
Pari rose, straightened her skirt, opened the door. Bardia waited outside, his hat twirling in crooked fingers.
I pulled on a robe and rushed outside. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, my lady. I came to give you this.” He bent down and retrieved a bowl filled with delicate jasmine. I buried my nose in the scented heap of flowers and breathed deep. You can almost forget your troubles when your nose is buried in a bowl of freshly picked jasmine.
“My mother used to pick jasmine for me in the mornings. She would put them on my pillow while I was still asleep, so that I would rise to the scent of them.” I picked a tiny blossom and twirled it. “It’s been long years since anyone brought me jasmine.”
“I brought them to thank you.”
“Thank me? Whatever for?” I had hoped that he would not guess I was behind the change in his habitation.
“You cleaned my home. I’m sorry I allowed it to fall apart like that.” He would not look up as he spoke.
“I don’t hold you responsible for this, Bardia. As it is, you work more hours than two of the king’s servants together.”
The white head remained bowed. “It’s that arrogant steward, Teispes,” I continued, trying to coax him out of feeling disgraced. “I cannot understand what he gains by running the estate in such deplorable manner. If only I could examine his accounts, I might find some answers. But that crafty fox keeps them under lock and key.”
“Aye, and keeps the key on a chain around his neck night and day. I even saw him wearing it in the bathhouse once.” Bardia pulled on his white beard.
I heaved a sigh. “How can we convince him to give up his precious key?”
“I know this: he would be easier to convince on the third day of the week.”
Pari chortled. “How can one day of the week be different from another with regard to a man’s temper?”
“Well, for one thing, he sleeps sounder on Mondays.”
Teispes took every Monday off, leaving before sunrise and arriving in the middle of the night somewhat the worse for wear. No one knew where he spent his time, but it was clear from the lingering odor as well as his less than steady gait that wherever he had been was well-stocked with wine. So we picked Monday as the ideal day to borrow Teispes’s keys.
Bardia insisted that he should attend to the actual retrieval of the key, as it would be inappropriate for a woman to enter a man’s chambers. I told my accomplices that either I would deal with Teispes myself or else the whole plan was cancelled. I figured that if I were caught, the steward could not have me thrown into the streets no matter how Darius felt about me. Servants would be more vulnerable to his power.
When midnight came, Bardia, Pari, and I waited for the steward’s return in a dark corridor near his chamber. I lingered in our hiding place a good hour after he returned to ensure the steward was sleeping soundly. I had no lamp for fear that I might wake him as I entered his room. Having waited in darkness for over an hour my eyes had adjusted and I could see enough by the light of the moon to make out the form sprawled across the mattress on the floor.
A cracked tile flipped noisily under my bare feet as I stepped into the room. I stopped dead as Teispes turned on his side with a restless motion. What was I doing here? I had placed myself in a compromising position by being in a man’s room unaccompanied. Somehow, while planning this harebrained idea, such details had not seemed as important as they did at this particular moment.
If I were caught in the chamber of a strange man, I could be banished into some backwater part of Persia with an unpronounceable name and a winter that was longer than the river Nile. And that was if Darius were feeling generous. As if that weren’t bad enough, I had turned thief in my husband’s home. This venture marked a slippery slide in my character, I was sure; I had never stolen anything before that moment.
I considered turning around and walking away from this madness. Then I recalled the deplorable conditions of Bardia’s home and the cook’s empty cabinets and the lack of help for all of them, and forced my feet forward.
Too soon I stood over the steward. His face was turned away from me. One arm was flung across the bed, the other folded under his head. I knelt down and bent over him as quietly as I could. He reeked of sour wine. This close, I could see the glint of the chain around his neck. There would be no way, as long as he stayed in this posture, to remove the object from around his neck without waking him.
I could sit and wait, hoping that he would shift position. Or I could do something about it. Doing something seemed the lesser of two evils; at least it would end my torture more quickly. I lifted the hem of my skirt and held a small piece of the linen in my hand. Whispering a quick prayer in my mind, I tickled the end of Teispes’s nose with the fabric. His nose twitched like a rabbit’s and he raised a hand to swat my intrusion away. I managed to dodge his sleepy reach and tickled him again.
Teispes groaned and turned on his back. I froze, afraid to move a single muscle. He settled down and started to snore. His movement had made the chain accessible. With painfully slow movements I grasped the key to prevent it from jingling and drew chain and key up in one motion. Soon the key was over his head, but the back of the chain still rested against his neck, which was pressed into the pillow. To remove it, I would have to pull hard alongside his neck and head. He would not sleep through that intrusion.
I squeezed my eyes shut and stood so for a moment to bolster up my courage. Then I blew in his ear. He lifted his hand with unexpected vigor to swat me away. I barely managed to remove myself from the path of his backhanded slap. Just as I thought I would have to resort to more drastic and dangerous measures, he turned his head away from me on the pillow, releasing the imprisoned chain.
With more speed than I knew I possessed, I grabbed that chain and key and tiptoed my way out.
Our hope was to keep Teispes in the dark about the loss of his key. I would have a better chance of opposing him if I could catch him by surprise. This gave me a handful of hours to examine the records and find clues to his behavior. I ran to the chamber that held the family’s records and left Pari behind to keep an eye on Teispes’s room, while Bardia stood guard in the darkness outside the records room, where I settled to spend the rest of the night.
I compared the records pertaining to different aspects of Darius’s estates from one year before Teispes arrived with the three years following his stewardship. There were too many details belonging to a variety of properties to allow me more than a cursory examination. I would need at least a month for a thorough job. But I had enough training under my belt to pick up a few curious irregularities in the short hours I had. Just when my search was growing interesting, Pari and Bardia skidded into the records chamber.
“He’s coming! He’s coming!” they hissed in union.
I jumped to my feet, panicked for a moment. Then I grabbed two thick rolls of parchment, and placed the rest carefully on their shelves.
“Hurry mistress!” Pari hissed. “He’s coming this way.”
My heart pounded so hard in my chest, I could feel the blood roaring in my ears. “Get out! Get out right away,” I ordered. My accomplices rushed out and I followed suit, lingering long enough to lock the door.
From the opposite direction I saw Caspian bounding toward me. I had no idea how that dog had managed to loose himself from my room, where I had barricaded him hours ago for fear that he might give us away with an untimely noise. Seeing him now, I formed the germ of an idea. I had not time to think it through, for I could now hear Teispes’s heavy footsteps around the corner.
I bent down and offered the chain to the hound. “Take this to Teispes,” I said. “Teispes. Understand?”
He gazed at me with intelligent brown eyes and for a moment I was convinced that the dog spoke Persian as fluently as I. He took the chain obediently in his mouth, letting one long end dangle down his jaw with the key, and ran in the direction of Teispes’s footsteps while I ran in the opposite direction.
I stopped short of my own chamber and held my breath. In the darkness I heard the steward’s outraged voice. “You filthy beast. Where did you get that? You monster. Give it back tome.”
I
heard the dog’s low growl and feared for the fate of Teispes’s fingers. For a moment I thought that I should go and rescue him. Then I heard Caspian’s whimper and knew the steward had hurt him in some way. I saw red. Shoving the hard-won rolls of parchment into Pari’s hands I hissed, “Hide these,” and pointing to Bardia I said, “You help her.”
I followed the noise of Caspian’s barks and Teispes’s curses across the dark corridors of the palace until I came in sight of them. Feigning a huge yawn and sleepy manners as though I had just abandoned my bed, I came to a sudden halt.
“What on earth are you doing, you lout? How dare you hit his lordship’s favorite dog?”
Arrested mid kick, Teispes’s mouth fell open. “I … I … He is a thief! He stole my chain and keys.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! He’s just a dog. If you will leave your things around, he will play with them.”
“This chain never leaves my neck. The dog stole it from me, I tell you.”
“You’ve lost your mind, steward. Take your chain and give me the dog. Your master shall hear of this behavior. You can count on that.”
Without another word, Teispes disentangled his chain from Caspian’s toothy grip. The dog gave up his prize with innocent obedience while I stood near. Then he trotted over to me and we walked away.
Ensconced in my room and safe at last, I bent to pet Caspian. “Brave boy. Why did you let him beat you? You could have snapped his hand off.” It dawned on me that although Caspian had been trained to fight in battles, he must have also been carefully tutored to honor those he considered his masters. Extraordinary beast. I lay my head against him. “My valiant friend.”
“Won’t he find out that you stole those rolls?” Pari asked me, her voice worried.
“Chances are good that he will not. He is a steward, not a scribe, so most of his work concerns current accounts, and I took two older ledgers. Unless he goes searching for them for some reason, we should be safe.”