Heir of Aurelian

Chapter 167 Chaos In Ctesiphon

?After escaping from her brother's villa, Mitra stalked through the streets of Ctesiphon in search of the safe house which the Frumentarii had established in the Sassanid capital. The sounds of conflict emerged from Narseh's palace. With all her heart, the Persian princess hoped her brother would survive. If not, she would have some explaining to do to her Roman masters.

While Mitra stealthily made her way through the streets of the city, Narseh was fighting against the guards of his cunning older brother. He honestly had not expected to be attacked in his own home, but when it came to matters revolving their little sister, Bahram was quick to lose reason.

With the slash of his sword, Narseh caught one of the hostile warriors in the neck, cutting through his jugular with ease. The man fell to his knees, his blood quickly forming a pool beneath his feet. Without the slightest hesistation, Narseh kicked the man into the sanguine body of liquid and shifted his attack towards his next target.

However, before he could engage, a shrill voice erupted from outside the palace.

"Forget about him. Mitra is getting away! Find her now! Or I'll have your testicles removed!"

With this said, Bahram's warriors disengaged from their previous target, and jumped out the window of the building before rolling on the dirt below. Where they proceeded to dash into the city in search of the missing princess.

When Narseh saw this, his heart instantly became filled with dread. If Bahram got his hands on Mitra, it would not end well for either her or himself. Thus, he immediately called out to his own guards, who were rushing up the stairs to the room where he stood.

"Find Mitra before Bahram does! I don't care how many men you have to deploy into the streets of Ctesiphon, you must find my sister!"

With this, a manhunt ensued throughout the capital city of the Sassanid Empire, where two prince's factions fought in the streets while searching for the missing princess. As for Mitra, she had since found her way into the Frumentarii's safe house, where a group of italic men stood watch.

Upon witnessing the approaching Persian beauty, the agents of the Frumentarii grabbed onto the hilts of their concealed blades and prepared to launch an attack. However, before they could do so, Mitra called out a coded message which signalled her as an ally agent.

"The unconquered sun rises with the dawn!"

Upon hearing this, the Roman agents released their grips, and walked towards the woman before speaking their own coded message.

"And with it a new era... Sister, have you been followed?"

Mitra looked behind her with caution before shaking her head. A pretty smile emerged on her face, as she responded to the man's question.

"No, I was discreet, but I need a place to lie low for a bit. My brothers are fighting to see who can find me first. If Bahram gets his hands on me, your masters will be very displeased."

Upon hearing this, the two guards looked at each other with a hint of worry in their eyes before the leader of the two men nodded his head and rushed the girl inside the building.

"In here, trust me, even if your brother's men come knocking, they won't find you."

After entering the building and thanking the two agents for their assistance. Mitra found a roman woman on the inside, who quickly moved a book case aside which revealed a door to a hidden room.

Having helped the Sassanid Princess inside. The roman woman smiled and nodded her head before exiting the hidden room, in doing so she left a message behind.

"You can stay here as long as you need. I promise you, even if your brother's men scour the entire city, they won't find you in here. When the time is right, we will escort you back to your brother Narseh's villa, where you should be safe."

Mitra merely smiled and nodded her head in acceptance of these words, before being left alone in the darkness of the room. There was a bed inside, ad as well as a table for eating. It would appear for the next few days, Mitra would be hiding in this dark place waiting for things to die down.

---

The search for Mitra was a nasty one, with men being interrogated by armored guards of the distinct factions. When Shapur had heard that his brothers were tearing the streets apart in search of his sister, he joined in the fun, hoping that he could use Mitra as leverage against his rivals.

He was not the brightest of men, but luckily he had intelligent advisors, who in reality were the true masterminds hoping to place a mindless puppet on the throne. They knew that Narseh and Bahram had already spilled blood in pursuit of their sister, and that her capture would be a clear indicator of which of the factions vying for the throne gained prominence in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Hayla was filled with distraught, and was doing everything she could to find Mitra. Should she fail to do so after causing such a mess, the consequences would be disastrous. Naturally with such a large manhunt underway, word of this matter quickly spread to the neighboring kingdoms and Empires.

Luckily for Marcellus, he had agents in the field, which were quick to inform him that Mitra was safe, and sound for now. However, if she were to return to Narseh, it would clearly be a declaration of war on her part against her other two brothers. One that would certainly lead to full scale armed conflict between the various factions vying for the Sassanid throne.

The Roman Emperor could hardly believe that one girl was responsible for so much chaos. If it came to war, Narseh was likely to lose. Thus, he would need the support of some powerful allies. Naturally, Marcellus could not deploy his legions in the man's defense, but he could hire some barbarians to act as mercenaries on the man's behalf. Naturally, upon coming to this decision,  he was quick to work on brokering such an alliance between the two foreign parties.