Mary Reed - Five for Silver

“That’s the one.” Gaius indicated the room from the end of the hallway. The loud shouts emanating from within made it clear the patients were engaged in a game of knucklebones.

“Gambling seems to be inordinately popular here,” the physician went on, “considering we’re all rolling the bones with death every day. If you don’t mind, I’m hoping to get a little sleep, so I’ll leave you.”

John watched Gaius trudge off and then strode into the room he had pointed out.

The young man looked up. When he saw John, the suppurating red ruin of his features instantly twisted into a familiar sneer. “The Lord Chamberlain blesses us with his presence.”

The other wagerers in the room expressed vigorous doubts, well laced with obscenities, as to the validity of the claim.

John ordered them to leave, his tone and demeanor demanding obedience.

He looked more closely at Hektor. The court page had been a pretty boy who had grown into a handsome young man. Now all that was gone. “I regret your-”

“I doubt it,” Hektor interrupted. “At least the injury I suffered has not diminished me as a man. No, rather I consider my misfortune a sign from heaven.”

John ignored the insult.

“While the delightful Hypatia cared for me,” Hektor continued, “I had plenty of time to ponder my situation. Consider. I have been shown the eternal burning pit of Hell.”

John wondered if the young man’s experience had upset his humors. It was understandable if it had.

Hektor flung his arms wide. “Yes, Lord Chamberlain, the Lord cast a sinful court page into the pit and a Christian emerged. I intend to enter the church, for am I not a living example of how even the most miserable sinner among us can be saved?”

Justinian’s court was Christian and men could advance as far on piety as by their looks. Hektor’s intelligence was certainly still intact, John thought. “The truth is you were found intoxicated and unconscious in some gutter or other and mistaken for dead,” he said, recalling what Felix had told him about Hektor’s recent behavior. “Do you really believe anyone at court will believe you’ve become a fervent Christian?”

“It has always amazed me what people will believe, Lord Chamberlain. Besides, as you see, I wear the marks of my sincerity.” He ran a slender finger across his blistered face. The fingernail still bore a trace of colored polish, the last vestige of the pretty court page he had been.

Hektor’s character, however, had not been affected by his terrible experience.

“We shall see. Now, concerning Hypatia-”

Hektor grinned. “She told you I proposed marriage? I am flattered you would personally visit to give me your congratulations. Of course, I’m a few years younger than she, but vastly older in experience. In fact, I believe your friend Anatolius was already composing letters for the Master of the Offices at my age.”

“I will strongly advise Hypatia against any such union, Hektor.”

“And destroy her happiness? I am surprised at your jealousy! Why, I even gave her my ring as a token of my intentions.”

“Hypatia is free to choose her own husband, but don’t think you can use her as a means to gain access to my household. I’m well aware of your enmity toward me.”

“And if Hypatia marries me?” the young man replied insolently.

“Then she will leave my employ immediately.”

***

Outside the hospice, the Augustaion was sunk in an orange twilight. Night never descended entirely anywhere near the Great Church, with its hundreds of lamps shining through scores of windows.

John walked away from the direction of the Great Palace. He did not care to return home yet. He stuck to the center of the Mese, avoiding its shadowed colonnades. No stars were visible in the sky. Here and there smoke ascended in columns, glowing in the city lights.

He arrived at the semi-circular courtyard housing Isis’ establishment, the gilded Eros outside announcing the business conducted therein.

Zeus opened the door and gestured John inside with a grandiose wave of a gold-painted, wooden thunderbolt.

John, a swift glance encompassing the spectacle before him, from the crown of a well-curled gray wig to the gilt-encrusted sandals adorning large, pale feet, handed his blade to the father of the gods.

The doorkeeper looked highly embarrassed as he placed it with other weapons ranged neatly beside the door.

“Well, Thomas, you certainly appear to have risen in the world since I last saw you. As far as Olympus, in fact.”

“You followed me, didn’t you?”

“As a matter of fact, I merely decided to call on Isis. What are you doing here? Presumably you have a good reason for impersonating Zeus?”

Thomas flushed, heightened color clashing with his gray wig and red mustache. “I’ve been contemplating my future, John, and I thought it was time I followed a more regular calling. I’d never contemplated working in a place like this, but when I visited Isis yesterday to…er…renew our acquaintanceship, she offered me the post. I thought well, why not?” He frowned. “I never anticipated it would involve having to dress up in this ridiculous costume.”

He paused as light footsteps announced the arrival of the madam. “John! I thought I recognized your voice. What do you think about our new doorkeeper? With Zeus guarding us, how can we fail to prosper?”

Thomas, scowling fiercely, contemplated his flimsy sandals.

“Do I take it that you’ve decided to change your decor to emulate Olympus?” John asked as he and Isis retreated to her private apartment.

“Not yet.” She seated herself on the well-stuffed couch and gestured to him to help himself to wine and sweetmeats. “I’ve dressed my girls as assorted goddesses to see if there’s enough interest to justify all the expense of redecoration. It’s going to be costly, what with a certain amount of gilding and a few appropriate busts and statues and perhaps even a mosaic or two.”

“When you told me you were contemplating a religious theme I thought you had in mind something Christian.”

“I did. Almost everyone in Constantinople’s thinking about heaven right now. So it occurred to me it might be a popular theme. Then I thought, no, Zeus is a much more interesting deity from my point of view. Very lusty, for a start. Fortuna must have sent you, because I was going to ask Thomas to convey a message when he returned home.”

Home. The word leapt out at John. It had not occurred to him that his house was serving as a temporary home to Thomas and Europa. The notion seemed vaguely unsettling, akin to the queasiness he always felt when crossing deep water. “Has one of your girls heard something useful to my investigation?”

“Not yet, I fear. Rather I have a question for you, concerning a man called Aristotle of Athens.”

John arched his eyebrows. “Fortuna has indeed smiled on you, Isis. I spoke to him not long ago.”

“Excellent! As I mentioned, if I redecorate I’ll be in the market for appropriate statuary and busts. Well, it so happened that during a recent visit one of my girls’ regular clients mentioned he’d just purchased an antique marble of Aphrodite in the embrace of Adonis from this Aristotle at a very reasonable price, given its apparent age and the quality of the workmanship.”

“Apparent age?”

Isis laughed. “Yes, it seems Aristotle has a fine trade in forged antiquities. The client, who seemed very knowledgeable, indicated the process involves burial of the statues for some time in pits well supplied with donkey urine and cow manure.”

John nodded. “He’s right. Aristotle’s garden is graced, if that’s the right description, with just such a pit. He claims he’s been collecting it because he’s planning to venture into tanning leather in due course. Manure would be easy enough to obtain. I’d heard tales about him burying a body in the middle of the night. Now I see there is a much less sinister explanation than this might suggest. However, why would your patron mention this strange information?”