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'Come to me,' he said. 'It is all right, child. It will be all right.'
Shaski made a sound-a wail, a heart's cry-and ran to his father then, a small
bundle of spent force, to be gathered and held. He began to weep, desperately,
like the child he still was, despite everything else he was and would be.
Clutching the boy to him, lifting him, not letting go, Rustem stood up and
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went forward and drew both his wives into that embrace and his infant
daughter, as the morning came.
It seemed they had inquired of Bassanid mercantile agents on the other bank,
and one of them had known where Rustem the physician was staying. Their
escorts, the two soldiers who had crossed with them from Deapolis on a fishing
boat before daylight (two others remaining behind), were waiting outside in
front of the house.
Rustem had them admitted. Given what he now knew, it was not a time for
Bassanids to be on the streets of Sarantium. One of them, he saw with
astonishment (he had thought himself to have reached a place beyond surprise
now),was Vinaszh, the garrison commander of Kerakek.
'Commander? How does this come to be?' It was strange to be speaking
his own tongue again.
Vinaszh, wearing Sarantine trousers and a belted tunic and not a uniform,
thank the Lady, smiled a little before answering: the weary but satisfied
expression of a man who has achieved a difficult task.
'Your son,' he said,'is a persuasive child.'
Rustem was still holding Shaski. The boy's arms were around his neck, his head
on his father's shoulder. He had stopped crying. Rustem looked over at the
steward and said, in Sarantine, 'Is it possible to offer a morning meal to my
family, and to these men who have escorted them?'
'Of course it is,' said Elita, before the steward could answer. She was
smiling at Issa. 'I will arrange it.'
The steward looked briefly irritated by the woman's presumption.
Rustem had a sudden, vivid image of Elita standing over the man's body in the
night, a blade in her hand.
'I would also like a message taken to the Senator, as soon as possible.
Conveying my respects and requesting an opportunity to attend upon him later
this morning.'
The steward's expression became grave. 'There is a difficulty,' he murmured.
'How so?'
'The Senator and his family will not be receiving visitors today, or for the
next few days. They are in mourning. The lady Thenai's is dead.'
'What? I was with her yesterday!'
'I know that, doctor. It seems she went to the god in the afternoon, at home.'
'How?' Rustem was genuinely shocked. He felt Shaski stiffen.
The steward hesitated. 'I am given to understand there was ... a
self-inflicted injury.'
Images again. From the day that yesterday had been. A shadowy, high-
ceilinged interior space within the Hippodrome, motes of dust drifting where
light fell, a woman more rigid than even he himself was, confronting a
chariot-racer. Another drawn blade.
We must learn to bend, or we break.
Rustem took a deep breath. He was thinking very hard, Bonosus could not be
intruded upon, but the need for protection was real. Either the steward would
have to make arrangements here himself for guards, or else . . .
It was an answer. It was an obvious answer.
He looked back at the man. 'I am deeply saddened to hear of this. She was a
woman of dignity and grace. I will need a different message sent now. Please
have someone inform the acting leader of the Blue faction that I and my family
and our two companions request admission into the compound. We will need an
escort, of course.'
'You are leaving us, doctor?'
The man's expression was impeccable. He had been very nearly killed in his
sleep last night. He'd never have awakened. Someone might have been knocking
at the steward's bedroom door, finding his body even now, raising a terrible
cry.
The world was a place beyond man's capacity to ever fully grasp. It had been
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made that way.
'I believe we must leave,' he said. 'It appears our countries might be at war
again. Sarantium will be dangerous for Bassanids, however innocent we might
be. If the Blues are willing, we might be better defended within the compound.
'He looked at the man. 'We pose a danger here to all of you now, of course.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]