Spartans 10

By Pueros

for Tom

Chapter 10 – Alliances

(Susa, Persia, June 478 B.C.)

Xerxes did indeed choose the beautiful 17 years old Hadassah to be his new Queen but the marriage ceremonial would take a number of months to arrange. Like the great banquet during which the previous consort had been banished into obscure luxurious imprisonment, the important from all corners of the vast Empire were to be invited and had to be given time to tidy their affairs and travel. Also largesse would need to be gathered to give to the ordinary people in celebration of the day, which would be declared a public holiday.

Meanwhile, the opportunity arose for Hadassah to become even more acquainted with her new surroundings and imminent role, unencumbered, through sacred custom, by not having to consummate matters sexually until after formal wedlock. Her delighted cousin and, unknown to the Great King and his court, real guardian, Mordecai, took on the responsibility of explaining to the Chief Eunuch, Hegai, and other royal officials why none of the future Queen’s relations would be attending the rituals. He utilised the excuse that she had none because they were all now either dead or unknown to her, which, apart from himself, was true. However, the Jewish gatekeeper’s enemy within the royal household, the Amalakite chamberlain, Haman, was not convinced about the veracity of the elucidation.

During the period leading up to the wedding, the lack of a new Queen for the Great King’s bed meant continued overnight sexual duties for Xerxes’ catamites, especially his current favourite, Lysander. However, the man also now spiced his sex life up with the occasional female concubine, seemingly reacquainting himself with the taste of the feminine form in readiness to enjoy the lovely Hadassah.

Hadassah was now escorted everywhere by a couple of young pretty handmaidens and a pair of old wrinkled eunuchs. The former were to attend to her every need whilst the latter were to provide nominal protection against harm, although within the well-guarded royal citadel this was obviously not needed. In fact, everyone knew that the ancient emasculated servants were constantly in the future Queen’s company, whilst she toured the massive palace, as chaperones, ensuring that nothing untoward occurred, especially when the girl came across young men.

Hadassah was fascinated by her magnificent new environment, which, unlike before, she now had temporary full reign to explore. After she had formally become Queen, court etiquette would require her to be much more circumspect.

Hadassah used her newly found freedom with energy, appreciating that it was to be short-lived, to inspect the whole of the huge complex and to see as many as possible of the thousands who worked and lived within its walls. As the future Queen did so, she hated the prostrations that everyone, who came into her presence, now had to perform before her but appreciated that it would be impertinent of her to seek to change age-old custom. However, such respect for tradition did not prevent the girl from wanting to view the palace harem and meet its occupants, an unprecedented desire that appalled her eunuch escorts, who felt that they had to secure the permission of Hegai before such an event occurred.

The Chief Eunuch was similarly taken aback by the request and initially refused it until overruled by Xerxes himself. The Great King, still resident at Susa but planning to return to Persepolis after the wedding, and the Queen-designate were not supposed to meet again until the marriage ceremony. However, Hadassah was so annoyed at Hegai’s refusal that she interrupted, despite desperate worried entreaties from her eunuchs, a private repast her future husband was enjoying with some old friends.

It was an unprecedented and dangerous action to take for it was possible that Xerxes could take great offence, both at the breach of court etiquette in interrupting the small intimate all-male gathering and the request to be made. However, in the event, Hadassah’s beauty and charm had instantly disarmed the Great King, who took his future Queen to one side to hear her plea, which was delivered diplomatically and without malice to her eunuchs or Hegai.

Hadassah explained that she thought that a good consort should, in order to fulfil her duties to her husband to the fullest, be fully acquainted with all activities within the palace, even the most private. She was so convincing with her argument that she overcame Xerxes’ own serious reservations.

Hadassah was intrigued to learn about the lives of the many female concubines whose initial uneasiness at her presence, and the motives for her many intimate questions, were quickly subdued by the new young Queen-designate’s pleasantness and obviously genuine wish to learn. They rapidly came to acquire empathy with a girl who was really much like themselves, although more innocent, a state of ignorance, she declared, that she wanted to correct, adding “After all, I too will have to share the Great King’s bed soon!”

Hadassah ascertained that the lives of female concubines were spent in luxury, their every need looked after by eunuchs led by Shaashgaz, no other males being allowed anywhere near them. However, existence was usually very boring, especially of late when their royal master had seemed to prefer his boy harem, as the women actually looked forward to breaking the monotony by sharing Xerxes’ bed.

Hadassah discovered that the lack of frequent attention from Xerxes caused most of the beautiful bored female concubines to engage in lesbian relationships, something known about and tolerated by their eunuchs and probably others, even the Great King himself. Some, during previous reigns, had managed to engage in secret liaisons with some of the young men to be found around the palace. However, after a few had been caught to die horribly, security around the Harem had been significantly increased and motivation to indulge in such danger substantially reduced.

During her long, often amusing and gossipy, conversations with Xerxes’ concubines, Hadassah also learnt the secrets of the Great King’s bed, including his styles of lovemaking and sexual preferences when with a female, including his liking for frequent fellatio. She also garnered a lot of information about what he was supposed to do with his boy catamites.

Some of the eunuchs who attended the concubines had also previously, until they had become too old for such duty, served in Xerxes’ bed, although most had been bumboys to his father, Darius. All were often happy to compare experiences with the women to help alleviate mutual boredom. However, Hadassah looked forward to acquiring updated information concerning her new husband’s homosexual practices from the mouths of the current catamites.

“Please stand,” Hadassah requested to the prostrate Lysander, “and come and sit next to me.”

At the same time that the beautiful 13 years old Spartan was having his audience with the equally gorgeous 17 years old Queen-designate, Haman was in secret discourse with his fellow anti-Semite, Artabanus, in another private part of the palatial citadel. “Are you sure?” the royal chamberlain asked the deputy gatekeeper. “I’m positive,” was the reply, “as my enquiries have been thorough. You were right to suspect her background but I’m sure that you’re as amazed as me to discover that she’s not only a Jew but Mordecai’s cousin!”

“Delicious,” Haman declared, “as we now have the information, if used correctly, to destroy not only Mordecai and his whore of a cousin but also all of his people as well. However, in order to achieve the latter, we’ll need to present the secret infiltration of a Jewish Queen as a conspiracy by her race against the Great King and the purity of Persia. Timing will be important and I don’t believe that now is the moment to disclose the deceit. No, we’ll instead let the traitors become even more entangled in their intrigue by letting the marriage proceed. I’m sure that Xerxes will afterwards be even more furious at the conspirators, for they’ll have despoiled sacred Persian ritual and he’ll have found himself with a wife of impure blood.”

“I don’t know how Mordecai and the tart could possibly have thought that they could get away with such deception,” continued the royal chamberlain with a sneer, “but I’m happy that they tried. I’ll quietly prepare the declaration that I’m sure that I can persuade the Great King to issue very soon after his wedding. It’ll order the deaths of the new Queen, as well as of Mordecai and all other Jews living within royal domains!”

"Do you agree with my proposals?” Haman asked Artabanus, who did. The latter also smirked at the prospect of imminent promotion plus the riches that would be acquired during the subsequent requisitioning of Semite property throughout the Empire. He fully intended to secure his share of the largesse, assisted by foreknowledge of what was to happen and the chamberlain’s anticipated gratitude for their alliance that would produce the destruction of the hated Jews.

When Artabanus eventually emerged from Haman’s rooms, he met up with another officer of the palace guard, apparently walking past the chamberlain’s quarters. The man was one of several Greeks who had recently transferred from Xerxes’ large contingent of Hellenic mercenaries to royal protection duties. Lysander had often seen them around the citadel at Susa. Some, including the one now walking with the deputy gatekeeper, had smiled at him in an apparent gesture of friendliness, to which the boy had invariably responded with a deliberate disdainful frown. The 13 years old considered such men to be traitors, although most of the hired soldiers had actually emanated from the northern Greek city states that had formed reluctant alliances, mainly through fear of despoliation, with the Persians to fight the southern states that were resisting conquest, such as Athens and Sparta. However, the lad knew that those who moved across to serve the Great King more intimately were usually from the south of Hellas, having been forced permanently to settle faraway from their homelands, where they would indeed be regarded as treacherous renegades.

“I understand that your name is Lysander,” Hadassah said with an enchanting smile, designed to help remove any apprehension and inhibition that the boy might have in meeting the future Queen. The young Spartan had been present on the occasion of the girl’s interview with Xerxes and had taken an instant liking to both her personality and appearance. The latter had been illustrated then and now by discomfort in his groin, caused by the genital cover denying the space for his cock to grow.

Lysander’s present distress was made even more acute by sitting next to the lovely 17 years old on a long couch, albeit at the decent distance required by court etiquette. They were, of course, also supervised by the watching old eunuchs, ever present, especially when a young male with testicles intact, even if imprisoned in leather as now, was conversing with the Queen-designate.

Lysander noticed that the gorgeous future Queen was much more splendidly attired, as befitted her new status, compared to when he had last seen her, now being resplendently dressed in rich flowing pink and white robes. Hadassah, for her part, had been very impressed with the immense attractiveness and pleasant personalities of all of her future husband’s young male catamites, having already talked individually to the others, including Alexias. However, she considered that the beauty of the boy now sitting next to her surpassed that of his colleagues and was looking forward to finding out whether such a superior countenance also applied to his character.

Lysander had been told, by the other members of the Great King’s boy harem, what to expect during his conversation with the future Queen and had planned out how to respond. The young Spartan, shy about talking about his background and himself with all others except Alexias, proposed, whilst being polite and honest, to try to say as little as possible. However, the 13 years old had counted on using his natural intelligent acumen to resist being comprehensive in response to the 17 years old’s delicate and tactful questioning. This intent was confounded when, like the others, the lad's wits were befuddled as he was gently and skilfully manoeuvred and prompted by the girl’s unparalleled charms and diplomacy into confessing even more than he had so far told his best friend, Alexias.

Hadassah learnt all about Lysander’s childhood and upbringing. The boy had described for her the incident with his puppy, how he had trained the animal for weeks to perform little tricks that he could show off to his father, only for the brute to smash the dog’s head against the wall before thrashing his son. The 13 years old told the 17 years old all about his parents, his loving mother who tried to protect her offspring from the monstrous attentions of her awful drunken husband, only to receive regular beatings as well. The young Spartan advised the future Queen that, when he became a man, he hoped that his character, away from the battlefield, would be the complete opposite to that of his hated male parent.

Lysander also informed Hadassah about the terrible years in the military barracks of his homeland, including how he had failed to try to alleviate the regular sufferings of his then best friend, Miltiades, for which he still felt much guilt and now proposed never to repeat with new close acquaintances. His shameful capture and subsequent humiliating happenings were also related in detail, including his racking in Plataea, public whipping in Susa, deflowerment in Persepolis and time in the royal bed.

Lysander finally confided his current worries for the maintenance of his boyhood and that of Alexias. Hadassah was already aware of these concerns, having spoken to the young Athenian earlier. The future Queen sympathised with the boys’ plight and told both that she would see what she could do to dissuade the Great King from eventually following tradition in respect of his currently whole catamites. However, she also added that her husband-to-be might not be persuaded easily.

The boy’s innate modesty led him to keeping certain incidents secret, in particular the risk he took to save Alexias from the whip. However, unknown to the young Spartan, the grateful and admiring young Athenian had already reminded the future Queen proudly about his friend’s brave and dangerous intervention, of which she had previously been appraised by Mordecai, who was supposed to carry out the punishment. Hadassah’s growing admiration for Lysander was increased by the 13 years old’s reticent humility over the matter.

Lysander also did not disclose that he had told untruths whilst being tortured in Plataea, but this was more for reasons of self-preservation. Nevertheless, Hadassah had gained an accurate impression of the boy’s character, recognising its purity and nobility, as well as why the military prowess and courage of the Spartans were so renowned.

It was not until Lysander had later returned to the opulent accommodation that he shared with Alexias that he realised how fulsomely frank and open he had been with the future Queen, so disarmingly overcome had he been by her graceful charisma. He had even forgotten that her eunuchs and handmaidens were listening. However, the 13 years old’s initial embarrassment at his candidness with the consort in front of others was quickly subsumed by recognition that the 17 years old had genuinely appeared to like him, an emotion reciprocated by him and seemingly confirmed by the sumptuous girl’s last words. “I’ve enjoyed our conversation,” she had declared with a smile, “and I hope that we meet often in future and become firm friends and allies. After all, we shall be sharing a lot in common.” The young Spartan instinctively knew what she meant by the latter phrase, the Great King’s bed!

Lysander hoped that the establishment of such a platonic amicable alliance would indeed help to save young Spartan and Athenian balls. Little did he know at the time that the new Queen’s later attempts to save the boys’ testicles would, with her downfall and the young Greeks’ known camaraderie with the disgraced consort, only place them in more peril than ever.

(To be continued in the penultimate chapter 11 – ‘Purim’)