The Mara Chronicles

((......scenes Past & Future......))

"Mother, Jason gave Dizzy my orange!" Alexander's voice was high and very aggrieved. His older brother skidded to a halt beside him and glared. Dizzy lazed on the rug before the massive wooden block their mother used as a work table, and licked his whiskers with fine feline disdain.

"Jason," her voice was musical and bore tones of patience won by long practice, "did you do that?"

Equally aggrieved, "Alex gave him mine first!"

"That," Mara raised her head from the report she was trying to complete, "is immaterial. The fact of the matter, gentlemen, is that Dizzy's just gained another five pounds through no fault of his own. Right?"

"Well," Alexander turned that one over, considering, "yes, but he looked hungry, Mother."

Jason suddenly grinned. "Dizzy's always hungry. Papa says he was born that way."

"Papa is right. So, I'd say, in any event, that you're even, hmm? And, unless I'm mistaken, at least 10 minutes late for your afternoon lessons with Delos." Mara stood up and put an arm around each child, "Come on, I'll explain the circumstances and avert his wrath---this time."

"Mother," Alexander decided a slight diversion was probably the right tactic to employ, "what did you and Papa do before you had us?"

"Well," Mara sounded thoughtful, "I don't really remember, but it probably was very...er, exciting...."

"I remember the first time Papa found us," Alex continued.

"You were only a baby way back then," Jason objected, "how could you remember?"

"I remember lots! I even remember Persia, before we came here!"

Mara sighed; trust Bagoas to have brought home the five most imaginative children in the whole Empire. "That's enough. If you paid as much attention to your lessons, as you do to arguing, you'd be scholars working at the Library by now."

"Mother, you know I remember how we got you and Papa, don't I?" Alexander wasn't going to concede an argument without at least one final try.

"I know you do, Alexander," Mara ruffled the dark brown hair that always seemed mussed no matter how Livvie brushed and scolded.

"See," he told his brother triumphantly.

"Ha," Jason was unimpressed, "Mother knows all about it, you're just repeating what she and Papa have said. Children...." He pronounced the last with great disgust and shepherded Alex into the schoolroom without further ado.

"A slight contretemps with Disraeli," Mara told Delos, who frowned with effort, knowing all about Dizzy, and nodded.

"All right, boys, that's enough for today---now we settle down and study. Our first lesson will be the Gaugamela campaign; who can tell me..."

Mara, who knew all about Gaugamela, tiptoed back to her report, pausing to wonder what did we do before they arrived? She answered her question out loud; "I didn't have sticky little hand prints all over my desk, that's what we did. Kids...."

---

Menfe, 319 B.C. ((....Suprises....))

Calli sighed heavily; Menfe was a typical Egyptian village--timeworn and full of squabbling people. Just like the 15 or so others they'd been visiting, on this, the dullest of routine survey sweeps. This was the last of the lot, and he for one would be glad to get home, to his wife and daughter.

"And to think---I once thought Babylon was hot!

Bagoas grinned at the disgust in his friend's voice. "You're getting soft, that's your problem. You spend too much time lazing by the sea...."

"Now that," Calli protested, "is just too much. You know Janra and Alexa have to veritably drag me away from my work...."

"Drag you...that's a good one. More like you drag them. Now, for real heat, try Susa in mid-summer. The lizards refuse to cross the street for fear of being fried to a crisp."

Calli grinned. "Visit scenic Persia, land of the burnt reptiles."

"We have snow in winter," Bagoas told him, earnestly.

"The lizards must look forward to it."

"They hold festivals. There's even this religious institution that, of course, no longer exists. It--"

"Oh, get off! I suppose it included little umbrellas for the snakes?" Calli laughed.

"Chariots, actually, if you must know." Bagoas tried to keep a solemn expression and failed.

Calli, about to discourse on what he thought of snakes and chariots, stopped, seeing the expression on Bagoas' face. "What's wrong?"

"Look what's for sale this fine morning," Bagoas pointed.

Calli's own features hardened into an uncompromising mask. "Children."

They rode forward, stopping when they reached the edge of the rather boisterous crowd of onlookers and would-be purchasers. The auctioneer was making a spirited sales pitch. "Look at these, my good gentlemen! Have you ever seen such healthy, handsome young boys? I dare say one would have to search the whole of the Empire to find their equal! All brothers too---and straight from Persia, or Osiris strike me down." His florid, rather rat-like face gleamed in the hot sun; nudging the nearest, a child of about 4, he continued, "Not your common work slaves are these, good Masters--no! With these looks, they're fit to run a king's harem. Not cut yet, you understand, but that is easily tended to upon your request. Now--your bids?"

But whatever the bids would have been was to remain a mystery. Neferaten's spiel had barely ended when the startled cries of some nearly trampled onlookers roused him from contemplation of healthy profits. A gentleman was riding through the crowd, a look of such fury on his face that it made even Neferaten's cashbox of a heart cringe.

Bagoas had sat, trying to keep control, all through the harangue---after all it was one he'' heard before-- -it wasn't any different from the one used to sell him to the jewel merchant in Susa. Years of disciplining his emotions weren't quite enough to ignore huge, frightened eyes, standing out like bruises against too pale skin. The five of them clung together, yet there was a certain air of pride about them, for all their fear...and something snapped at the merchant's words, "easily tended to upon your request...." He'd see the creature in Hades first.

Gold (thoughtfully provided by Ptolemy to cover any "unforeseen" expenses), landed with a thud at Neferaten's feet.

"I trust this will more than cover their cost," The contemptuous tone sent an unaccustomed chill down the merchant's back. This gentleman, for some unfathomable reason, looked angry enough to kill. "And I trust," Bagoas was continuing smoothly, "that there will be no objections." Several disappointed buyers abruptly decided their health wouldn't allow the purchase of slaves anyway, and melted out of the crowd. The lethal looking sword that had appeared out of nowhere it seemed, and which Bagoas held in such a businesslike manner, helped to keep any braver souls quiet.

"No....None...er, no objections at all, my Lord," Neferaten's apprehension did not prevent him from estimating within a shinar the value of the bag lying at his feet. It was at least three tines the best price he could've gotten for this lot, and if the lord was crazy with his money as well as angry, so be it. As long as there was such a healthy profit.

"I thought not," Bagoas had a pretty good idea of what was going through the oily bastard's mind. No matter, though. "Calli," he dismissed the merchant and the rapidly thinning crowd from his mind, "help me with these little ones."

Calli nodded, looking serene as ever. "Right." He slid off his horse, and joined his friend, who was regarding the children with a rather bewildered look on his face. "What are you going to do with them?"

Bagoas shrugged. "Well...."

"Yes?"

"I don't know. I just couldn't let them."

"Of course not. I think...." Calli broke off as the oily merchant scuttled up to them.

"Great Lord, a thousand pardons for interrupting, but here are their documents. I have no doubt that you'll be very pleased with them," his rather knowing look wasn't lost on either man. "Er, Great Lord...."

Bagoas frowned. "What is it now?"

"Their great beauty my lord...will you have them cut now? My servants, I assure you, are experts at their craft, if I do say so myself...never a complaint from anyone-and very few deaths...of course, a replacement would be provided should something so unfortunate occur and. . ."

Calli stepped between Bagoas and the merchant, and put a hearty hand on the creature's shoulder. "Ah, no. Thank you, my good sir, but we prefer to make our own arrangements for these little ones." He took the sheaf of paper out of the slaver hands, "There is your servant, I see---a man of business like you must have other people to meet, appointments, we will bid you good day and take our purchases with us." He propelled the slaver out of his--and more importantly--- Bagoas' reach, and started shepherding the children towards the horses.

"Why didn't you let me hit him," Bagoas hissed at him. "I could have..."

"Exactly---and a fine thing that would have been--having to explain an "innocent" merchant's death to the local authorities AND Ptolemy. I don't even want to think about...besides, it wouldn't be a sight for the children, now would it?" Calli smiled at the rather forlorn faces watching them so intently.

"Why are you always right?" Bagoas sounded exasperated.

"Because I'm handsome, brave, loyal, true, conscientious and scared to death of Mara, that's why." Calli tried to look smug, and failed.

"Hah," Bagoas turned his attention to the children. "Um...can any of you speak Greek?"

The tallest of them glanced uncertainly at his brothers, as though for support, then ventured, "Yes . . .my lord. We all do."

"And your names?"

"Silenus, my lord. This is Lycius," he pointed to the child next to him, "and then Marsyas, Jason, and Alexander--he's the baby. He's only 4."

"I am NOT. You just tell everyone that because you're taller than me!" Alexander glared at his brother defiantly. Silenus, frightened that their new master would find such forwardness unacceptable, glared back. "Be silent," he ordered.

Bagoas just laughed. "It's all right. We should be going, though."

The one called Jason had been watching intently, now he spoke up. "Please, sir---what are we to call you?"

"I'm Bagoas and this is my friend, Callisthenes." He stopped, uncertain as to how to go on.

"What are you going to do with us, my lord?" Alexander, ignoring another black look from Silenus, asked curiously.

Now, how to answer that? Bagoas sighed---he knew little about children, having never had much contact with them. How much to say, when he really didn't know the answer himself?

Calli stepped into the breach. "For starters, we're taking you out of this place. First we'll get some decent clothes on you, and then we're going back home-- to Alexandria. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Yes, sir. Its a very great city, far from here." Lycius sounded doubtful, as though such a place might not be very pleasant.

"Are we to live there?" Silenus wanted to know.

Bagoas nodded. "Yes...I think you'll like it, there'll be a huge garden for you to play in..." And Mara, he added silently. What would she say to this? They'd never discussed children.... "We'd better get going."

Riding back through Menfe's narrow streets, Calli echoed his thoughts. "What are you going to tell Mara? It isn't every day you bring home five children."

Bagoas turned his horse with some difficulty because of his three extra passengers. "Gods of Egypt."

"That about covers it," Calli agreed.

Agias, former second in command to Arrybas and now---by the grace of a well-connected wife---governor of the District, was far too well-bred to show more than a tiny flicker of surprise at finding that Ptolemy's advisors had returned from the slave market with five young boys. Whose ownership papers they promptly shredded and burned.

"A...gift for Lady Mara?" He hazarded, eyeing the little group crowding into his entry hail.

"Something like that," Calli answered.

"Ah, I see," Agias said as though that explained everything. It didn't, but one also didn't question the King's agents, either. It wasn't his business to pry, and if they wanted to waste money on children.

"We'll need clothing for them, and baths as well." Bagoas' voice was firm, as he took command of the situation.

The governor nodded. "Of course, my dear fellow, of course...at once," he sent two of his own servants scurrying off for the required items, then continued, "er...whatever do you plan to use them for?"

Bagoas searched his mind for a suitably dampening non- answer. "I intend to leave that up to Lady Mara.

Calli kept his features composed with some difficulty. "We'd best take them to be cleaned up."

"Of course," the governor stood aside and watched the odd group until it disappeared down a corridor.

"WhatEVER was THAT," his wife, the Lady Epyaxa joined him, curiosity written all over her rather plain, horsey face.

"I haven't the faintest idea, my dear."

She tucked a rather long, stringy blond hair back up in its coil, and wrinkled her nose. An unfortunate action since it made her look about to whinny. Agias controlled the urge to wince, and settled for an expression of urbane discomfort instead.

"Distinctly ODD, if you ask me," she continued, "but then---you KNOW what they say about EUNUCHS...even if he is the favorite of the King's niece. I'm sure Ptolemy wouldn't APPROVE...."

Agias shrugged. "More like Lady Mara, m'dear. The stories I've heard about that one...." Still gossiping, they adjourned to the main lounge.

There was no moon and the stars hung overhead in a fashion Jimmy would have described as resembling flash bulbs at a press conference. The children, warmly wrapped against chills, and well fed, were safely tucked up and hopefully sound asleep. Calli and Bagoas sat up late, watching the fire holding off the black Egyptian night, and talking.

"They'll like Disraeli," Calli stretched, grinning at the mental picture of the huge, self-satisfied cat, "and Gladstone will have them in hand in no time, not to mention Olivia---she'll be ecstatic to have someone to feed besides you."

"Yes, I suppose so," Bagoas stared into the fire.

"Delos can tutor them---for all the front he puts on, he'll be putty in their hands. Look how he coos over Alexa."

"Everyone coos over Alexa. How could they help it? All those red curls, those big green eyes...."

Calli nodded. "True---but with two such perfect parents, how could she miss?"

"Not to mention such a modest father."

"Fortunate child, yes." Calli laughed, then watched as the abstracted expression settled on Bagoas' face. "Hey- --what's wrong? Are you sorry you rescued them?"

"No, of course not. Its just that...I don't know."

"You don't know what?"

"We never talked about children, you see."

Ah, Calli had no need, of course, to ask whom "we" referred to....But why should Bagoas so worried about Mara's reaction? After all this time he surely knew her well enough to realize she'd sweep them enthusiastically into their life without a qualm?

He said as much. "She loves children----not to mention animals, flowers, birds; you name it, and she's adopted it. Haven't you ever talked about having them?"

Bagoas raised an eyebrow. "It isn't something we were ever likely to have to discuss, is it?"

Damn, Calli swore silently at himself for treading right into very sensitive areas. "Well....I suppose not...I mean...I never think of you as not being....oh hell...."

"I know. And it's all right, but still...." Bagoas sat up, running an impatient hand through his hair. After a bit he went on, speaking almost dreamily, "In Persia, almost from the time you can walk, you take it for granted that one day you'll step into your father's shoes, head your own family, teach your own sons the skills that were passed on to you. It's absorbed in the very air we breathe. And then that was...taken from me. And as it's turned out...well, I'd never have known my lord or Mara otherwise. But the regret remains....I was even envious of you and Janra; still am every time I watch Mara playing with the baby. And now these."

Calli listened, thinking, not for the first time, that he wouldn't take his own life so much for granted in the future....He was about to say something when the sound, unmistakable as it cut through the silence, of someone crying came to them.

Bagoas was up and moving. "One of the boys..." Calli watched him go. Parenthood would suit him, he decided. The next few years were definitely going to be interesting

It was the oldest of them, Silenus. He tried to wipe the telltale moisture tracks away, but only succeeded in looking more woebegone than ever.

"What's the matter?" Bagoas sat down on the edge of the cot.

"Nothing."

"Hm...I cried when they sold me--of course that was a great many years ago. But I remember it still. I was about your age."

Silenus looked up into dark eyes, very like his own. "But you're a great lord!"

Bagoas smiled. "Maybe, but I was a slave until I was 16. First to a jewel merchant and then...with the King."

"Did the King free you?" Lycius piped up.

"No....I was, given to Alexander and he...freed me."

Silenus eyes widened in excitement. "I've heard of him! He was a great king, and had a winged horse named....I can't remember..."

"Bucephelus," Marsyas informed him loftily.

"Did the horse really fly?" Alexander wanted to know.

"No, I'm afraid not. But he was a remarkable horse, all the same. No one but the King could get near him."

Silenus considered that, earlier tears forgotten. "I think I prefer the wings."

"Sir," Alexander spoke up, "who is Lady Mara?"

"She's...." Well, Bagoas thought, what is she?

"Don't be silly," Jason looked down his nose at his younger brother, "she's his wife." Close enough, Bagoas decided.

"Is she?" Alexander ignored Jason's expression of profound disgust.

"Er, yes, I suppose so." Well, it was, he realized, how he'd come to think of her...or rather, it was a part of what she was to him.

"Will she like us?" Marsyas sounded anxious, "a gentleman who owned us in Persia would have kept us, but his wife didn't want us around. She said we were a corrupting...influence... what's a corrupting influence?"

"Nothing to do with any of you, that's for certain."

"Oh. I'm glad---it doesn't sound very nice. Anyway, she kept us by her always and scolded a lot. We didn't like her very much."

"Mara isn't like that. She's...small and laughs a great deal."

"What is it like---your home, I mean?" Lycius asked.

Smiling, he began to describe it, falling out of long habit into the soft tones he'd once used for telling stories to another ear equally in need of reassurance and rest. When they were nearly asleep, he stopped, tucked the coverings more securely about them, and then stood watching them with thoughtful eyes for a long while, before going to his own bed.

Mara eyed the handwritten letter with disfavor, wishing heartily for her electronic typewriter. Her scrawl had been tamed by years of necessity into something just past legible, but....

---

At least Bagoas was due home sometime today---this "business" trip he and Calli'd been sent on was the longest amount of time they'd been separated since first meeting. While she'd been far from pining away, Mara admitted to herself with not a little surprise, that she had been lonely with Bagoas gone. Without him there was no one to laugh with at the things everyone else missed, or to sit and talk with about anything and everything under the sun...she sighed loudly, rolled up the letter and sealed it, pausing to rub the bruise on her shoulder---acquired by falling out of bed while trying to snuggle against a body that wasn't there...."Barbara Cartland would love me," she muttered, then ordered herself, "Back to work. Reports don't write themselves...." And sighed again as she picked up her quill...."Blasted feathers...."

"You were doing that when I left."

She looked up some hours later to find Bagoas standing in the doorway, grinning.

"You're back," she said unnecessarily. And though even as she did, she was thinking oh god- -Pam could use this in one of her novels, nonetheless she leapt to her feet and ran straight into his arms.

"I've brought something back with me," Bagoas managed quite a bit later, and a trifle breathlessly at that.

Mara leaned back and raised an eyebrow at him. "Knowing you, it could be anything from a silver necklace to a water buffalo."

"Um, well, actually, there are five of them."

"Five," Mara said, "of what?"

Bagoas seemed completely at a loss for words. "They're very nice, and I...."

"Where are they? Whatever they are...."

"Outside."

"Come on then," Mara pulled him after her, determined to find out what had him so speechless.

They were the most anxious looking little group imaginable. Five of them, indeed, just as he'd said. All boys, none of them more than 10 years old. Five equally dark pairs of eyes stared at her, wary, and she struggled to gather her wits together. Finding that her stock of child knowledge could have been successfully engraved on the head of a pin, she simply crossed her fingers and plunged in headfirst.

"I'm Mara---Bagoas didn't tell me what your names are, but I expect I'll find out shortly. What on earth was he thinking about, leaving you by yourselves? Are you hungry? When I was your age, I was ALWAYS hungry--my mother used to have to roll me everywhere we went." Bagoas watched as one by one they succumbed to her spell, crowding to get closer to her when she somehow managed to get arms around all of them, sweeping them into the house as she did so, "I hope you like animals, because, as you see, we've got THREE of them---" Mara indicated Disraeli, Gladstone and Horace, who'd come to find out what all the commotion was about. "They're all rather large, but friendly. That overfed feather duster is Horace, and Dizzy is a cat, and we're not certain what Gladstone's antecedents are, but he thinks he's a cat and that Dizzy's his mother, so don't be alarmed when he tries to meow...."

Livvie had arrived on the scene, and turned from lecturing Bagoas about not eating, to find herself faced with the children. Nirvana. "And who are these?"

Boys, this is Livvie---don't be fooled by her for a moment. She's feather soft inside, and will overfeed you the first chance she gets."

"Humph...and in this household, I'm not surprised, not one of you eats properly...." She took over from Mara, "Come along, now, you can tell me your names and all about yourselves while I fix dinner...."

They allowed themselves to be herded lovingly away, followed closely by the animals, which were all delighted at the prospect of more humans to adore them.

When they were out of earshot, Mara turned to Bagoas. "They're darling. Where did you get them?"

"The slave market in Menfe. They were being offered as 'prime eunuch material'---no," he answered her question before she could put it, "they're all right. I couldn't leave them there."

"I should hope not." She could picture the scene well enough, as well as the emotions he must have felt...."You'd better tell me their names--I can't call them 'you' for the rest of their lives. They look Greco- Persian---do you suppose they're part of the Army's enthusiastic domestic forays into the Persian countryside?"

"Possibly. They don't remember much. From the sound of it, they were sold in Susa, then taken to Babylon and then Egypt....You don't mind?"

"Mind? NO! Did you think I'd say 'send 'em back?' I LIKE children, I just don't know very much about them. Still, I suppose we'll be learning soon enough....We'll put them in that huge room across from ours for the time being, then when they're settled in, we can let them have their own rooms....And Delos will tutor them--he'll enjoy that...though of course, later on, Ptolemy will probably...."

Laughing, he pulled her back into his arms. Hold on! You'll have them grown in another minute!"

"It pays to think ahead," Mara assured him solemnly, "Mother always said so."

"You never listened to her," he pointed out.

"No," Mara agreed thoughtfully, "but I'm beginning to think I should've....I wonder if they'll eat vegetables...she always said that was important..."

"Are you sure you don't want to marry them off right away, or can that wait until tomorrow?" Bagoas teased, delighted beyond words by her attitude.

"Oh, gods of Egypt!" Mara exclaimed in disgust, then spoiled the effect by kissing him.

((....Scenes Future & Past....))

They wanted a bedtime story, so Bagoas complied with the request; Mara gathered the boys around her to listen. "A long time ago," he began, "in a galaxy far, far away..."

"What's a galaxy?" Jason interrupted.

"Is this a good story?" Alex demanded.

"Shut up and let him tell the story," Silenus ordered.

"Hang on, kids, I've heard this one somewhere before and it's a good one," Mara grinned and they all happily settled down for the remainder of the story.

Later, she tucked them in and kissed then goodnight, then watched while Bagoas did the same. If I don't watch out, she thought, I'm going to end up sounding like one of THOSE stories...and what's worse, I don't mind.

---

"Of course, we'll have Liandros record the papers on them...tomorrow, don't you think? Better to do it at once..."

Bagoas rounded on her like a wounded lion and roared, "I've burnt their papers! And I thought you were too proud to own slaves!"

Mara dropped the hairbrush onto her dressing table and considered. After a few moments of introspection, wisdom and patience won, and she shouted pleasantly back at him: "Don't be half-witted! And if you shout at me again, I'll hit you with Dizzy! What I was referring to was legally adopting them---that IS what you had in mind, isn't it, you bird-witted Persian?" She walked over and threw herself onto the bed beside him with a flourish.

"Oh," he said.

"I should think so." She pulled the blankets over them, and lay back with a smug look on her face. "Just wait until they settle in."

"They're very well behaved," he sounded worried.

"God, I hope not. I hope they build moats in my dining room and use my best quill as a bit of head gear and tramp mud all over the floor...well, maybe not mud all over the floor...it's going to be fun."

He reached out and drew her close.

"Bagoas," she sounded thoughtful.

"What?"

"It just occurred to me---I don't think I've ever actually said it."

"What?" He could feel her smiling.

"I love you."

Three very simple words...funny that they had so much power....

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Mara said after some minutes of silence, "I do, you know. I think I have since Babylon." She rose up and caught the expression on his face, "you look positively fatuous---though I suppose I do as well. Are you all right?"

Bagoas reached up and traced a gentle finger along the side of her cheek. "Yes, very much so."

And proceeded to demonstrate in minute and loving detail that he was indeed, very much all right.

-- THE END --

(c)1983, Tales of the Blue Elf Publishing July 1983