World on Fire

by Christian Kachel

  “I think I can arrange something to entice Asardin’s enemies to seize an opportunity to kill him – and whoever he’s with,” Yasmina asserted. “I’ll have to talk further with the boy to decide which dog to sick on him, however.”

  “I’ll have some follow-on questions as well,” Vettias assured. “The sudden change in the administration of Babylon will shake up much of the existing power structure, allowing for people who are well positioned to rise to even higher levels of power.” Vettias made this last point while looking at Yasmina lovingly. “My gift to you, darling – a head start of influence under the new Babylonian leadership. Once Seleucus has run to side with Ptolemy and Cassander against our army, we will push Antigonus to ally with Polyperchon and will have succeeded in marshaling a large army against the enemies of the blood once more. Now, let’s call on our new-found friend for breakfast.”

  Vettias’ strategic abilities continued to impress me. He had pieced together an intricate, yet plausible, scheme in the matter of a few moments simply by hearing the name Galen. Content with our plan for a way forward, we entered the parlor where Etana was enjoying the best meal of his life while sitting next to his new-found love. Zaduga called for a servant and additional food was brought out for the three of us.

  “Enjoying your stay?” Yasmina asked knowingly. “Was Shala to your liking?”

  “Yes ma’am,” the boy responded with a blush of embarrassment.

  “Good. We have a few more questions. You’ve done a great job thus far. I want you to tell me about Asardin’s rivals. Who is his most strident adversary?”

  Etana was clearly uncomfortable answering this new line of questioning and hesitated. Shala put her hand in his lap and whispered something that drew a brief smirk. She gently kissed his ear and continued looking at him with eyes that implored him to comply. He took a deep breath and looked back in Yasmina’s direction.

  “Murdus,” he finally answered in a low tone. “He is the boss of the Bel-Uzur neighborhoods.”

  “Those are directly adjacent to yours, correct,” Yasmina stated. “Has there been recent violence between the two factions, despite the recent truce?”

  “There have been a number of incidents – most recently, Murdus had Asardin’s brother killed.”

  Vettias now took over the questioning after determining Yasmina had all she needed to proceed forward.

  “All right, I want to focus on the Greeks. I assume they no longer meet to discuss matters at the tavern. And I assume you don’t know when Asardin is going to meet them again. You say this Crow comes to the tavern when the Greeks want to meet – well, how does Asardin schedule a meeting with them ?”

  “Davcina is the conduit now. She must have a way of contacting them herself.”

  “Good, that will be all,” were Vettias’ final words to the boy. Etana then rose, thanked Yasmina for her hospitality and departed to whatever hole he came from.

  “That girl is going to have to lead us to them,” Vettias continued after Etana’s departure. “Andrikos, you’re going back to shadowing her tonight. You’ll procure the same room across from her dwelling and I’ll be there waiting. When she makes contact with Galen, you’ll take control of her and bring her to me. She’ll tell us where the meeting is and all will be ready for our little trap. Yasmina, you start in on any angle you have with Murdus.”

  “We could be waiting for Davcina to communicate with them for a long while,” I stated. The thought of sitting in that dank room for days, if not weeks, was not appealing to me. Not to worry, we’re divulging Gilad’s predicament to Malick tonight and will convince him to leak pressing information to Gilad about Seleucus and Antigonus. That will provoke a prompt meeting between Davcina and her handlers.

  CHAPTER 27

  Vettias and I called on Malick that afternoon at his residence to discuss Gilad. “We’re going to keep Galen’s involvement in this matter secret. The more he thinks Babylonian gangs are responsible for Gilad’s quandary, as opposed to meddlesome Greeks, the better.”

  Malick was in good spirits and received us in his residential courtyard while sitting next to his wife, Aaliyah.

  “Vettias, I was beginning to wonder if you departed Babylon without a proper farewell,” Malick jested.

  “Our work has kept us busy, brother.”

  “And Yasmina? She can take much of one’s time.”

  “We picked up right where we left off,” Vettias answered with a smile.

  “So, what do I owe this unexpected visit?” Malick asked while pouring two cups of wine. Vettias and I sat down after being motioned to do so and Aaliyah dutifully allowed the three of us privacy.

  “I’ve come about Gilad,” Vettias stated abruptly. Malick’s expression quickly changed from good humour to concern.

  “You’ve not put him in danger have you?” Malick questioned.

  “I admit his position within the palace makes him valuable to me and we’ve have taken an interest in his comings and goings, but the danger he is now in stems wholly from a different source – one more dangerous than if he was working for me.” Malick leaned in closer as his concern rose.

  “I put Andrikos on your nephew for a week and during that time we discovered that Gilad is caught in the middle of a plot designed by Babylonian criminals – the crime boss Asardin to be exact. Gilad is being controlled by a pretty little Babylonian whore on Asardin’s payroll and is being milked for information about the treasury.” Malick’s brow furrowed in disbelief that his gentle nephew would be involved in such a scheme.

  “What I tell you is true, brother, the boy probably doesn’t even realize he’s being used by this harlot and is blinded by contrived infatuation. You will see it in his eyes when you confront him about it.” Malick’s state progressed from disbelief to anger as he began to contemplate the potential ramifications of such a dangerous situation.

  “The imbecile,” Malick growled in a hushed tone. “He’ll ruin everything I have built here. Seleucus will have us both killed. He’ll think I’m involved. What can be done?”

  “I can get him out of this, but it will require a small role on your part. I need you to swallow this anger and carry on with him as if nothing has changed. I need you to have him over here for dinner tonight when you will innocuously let slip information to him that is sure to get his agents moving. Andrikos and I will have one of them under surveillance and have already made arrangements through Yasmina to eliminate the lot of them through inter-gang violence at their next meeting. This will shield Gilad from any suspicion in the matter, but I will need you to make sure he keeps his mouth shut about his little flower being eliminated as well.”

  “That little fool will never utter one word about this business,” Malick assured. “Vettias, how can I thank you for saving me from this mess?”

  “All I require is you trust me with Gilad going forward. I need to know what he knows and I promise to never ask him to do something for which he could get in trouble.” Malick gave a begrudging nod of tacit approval and listened to the information he was to divulge to his nephew that evening. Malick was instructed to casually mention Seleucus meeting with Ptolemy’s emissaries in secret to discuss a possible alliance against Antigonus. Malick agreed to play his part, and embraced us in gratitude as we took our leave.

  Vettias and I made our way to Davcina’s neighborhood to procure my familiar dank room and began our watch over her quarters. Vettias instructed me to obtain some food from a more respectable part of the city as we settled in to our temporary lodging.

  “With any luck, he’ll come running to her from Malick’s this very evening,” Vettias surmised. “And she’ll be making contact with her handlers the moment he leaves her in the morning. She’s either going to seek Crow out or leave some sort of marker that will signal a passerby she needs to meet right away. If she returns here after signaling her handlers, we’ll plan on taking her right before she returns back to this street and extract the meeting location from her. If she remains away fro
m her home after leaving the signal, we’ll stay on her throughout the day until she makes contact. Whenever we can confirm the location, you’ll run to Yasmina’s, who’ll alert Murdus to the location.”

  After several hours we saw a silhouette walking in Gilad’s awkward gait make its way into Davcina’s tenement. Vettias and I took turns observing her apartment while the other slept. I estimated Gilad would be moving on about two hours before dawn to arrive at work on time and, true to form, I eventually spied our unsuspecting boy ineptly making his way through the Babylonian night. As dawn approached I woke Vettias for his shift, informed him about Gilad, and went to sleep.

  Vettias woke me three hours later to let me know our girl was on the move.

  “She’s moving,” he announced while pulling me to my feet. We ran down the stairs and onto the street to regain sight of her.

  “You hang back since she knows your face, I’ll do the close-in work,” Vettias ordered. I nodded and allowed him to move closer to our girl while I remained in an overwatch position on the other side of the street. She took us through a familiar path of crowded alleys until we arrived at Asardin’s tavern. I hung back as she entered the establishment and Vettias made his way back toward me.

  “She marked the adjacent building with a limestone shard – that’s the signal. My guess is Crow makes one or two trips here a day to determine if a chalk mark has been left. He may even leave one himself when Galen wants to meet.” Vettias looked disparagingly at our surroundings before deciding upon a tavern across the street in which to wait.

  We blended in easily with the other drunks enjoying their mid-morning fix. After two hours, I observed Crow walk past the tavern and bolt off once he noticed the mark.

  “Message received,” Vettias announced with some satisfaction. “They should be making their way out in the early afternoon.”

  We passed the time watching the vagrants walk the crowded street and sipping an occasional cup of the unpleasant house red. After several more hours our girl emerged with a man who clearly fit Asardin’s description. He was large and hairy, with a thin, balding head of hair wetted back. He wore several pieces of obnoxious jewelry and moved at a slow pace as if to tell the world he didn’t move quickly for anyone. He walked with an air of superiority through his streets and everyone gave him a wide berth. He probably felt superior to his new Greek friends and hadn’t the faintest clue what Galen was capable of. Vettias and I made our leave and began following them at a safe distance.

  When they entered a small dwelling, Vettias took a quick look through a window and signaled to me it was time to inform Yasmina. I sprinted as fast as I could to the pleasure house and ran past Zaduga to Yasmina’s apartment suites. She was waiting for me and I informed her of the meeting location. She nodded to Zaduga, who had followed me up the stairs, and he rapidly exited to communicate the location to Murdus.

  “You better be on your way, Andrikos. Don’t let anything happen Vettias please,” Yasmina instructed.

  I bowed respectfully and sprinted back to Vettias. I arrived to find him standing across the street behind a tree staring at the dwelling door. He looked at me inquisitively and I nodded.

  “Still in there?” I asked.

  Vettias nodded.

  “Cavalry should be arriving shortly.”

  “Stay in the front, I’m going around back,” Vettias commanded while flashing his collapsible bow. “When they come, meet me there.”

  A quarter-hour later, ten soiled, cruel-looking men descended on the building. I quickly ran around back to join Vettias as the first one kicked the front door down. I could hear screaming and the clashing of weapons as I took my place beside Vettias with sword drawn and eyes trained on the rear exit. The door suddenly swung open and an impressive-looking Greek exited, holding a sword with one hand and clutching his wounded midsection with the other. He looked up to examine the two of us standing stoically in the back alley of the building.

  “Vettias?” the bewildered man stated quizzically. “Vettias, this is your doing?” the man asked in a bloody rage.

  “Greetings Galen,” Vettias responded coldly.

  “Aretes will have you flayed for this! Don’t you know we are here on behalf of Antigonus!”

  “I do, brother. Unfortunately, this is for the blood. Nothing personal. Goodbye, friend,” were Vettias’ last words as he raised his bow and loosed an arrow that slammed directly into Galen’s heart. The old spymaster grabbed at the fresh wound and fell to the ground dead.

  Vettias let out an audible sigh: “Time to go.”

  We discreetly departed the bloodbath and made our way to Malick’s residence where his Babylonian servant led us to our host sitting in his study. Malick looked up with questioning eyes which Vettias promptly answered.

  “Gilad’s problem is solved. His agents have been eliminated.”

  Malick nodded.

  “I want Gilad here tonight. Tonight, he works for me. There will be a place for all of my friends in the new Babylonian administration. Gilad will keep his job within the palace treasury.”

  “I am sending Ilan presently to summon the boy. You two staying for dinner?”

  “Wouldn’t miss an opportunity to drink your overpriced wine.”

  ****

  Gilad arrived the next hour and Malick’s servants began setting the table.

  “Hello uncle,” Gilad stated deferentially.

  “Gilad, come in and greet my guests. You remember Vettias, envoy to General Antigonus.”

  “Yes, sir, hello again,” Gilad greeted while looking down at the floor.

  “Greetings, master Gilad. Malick, get your nephew a drink would you. I trust everything continues to go well at the palace?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good, I’ve no doubt your career will continue to progress when General Antigonus arrives in the coming months.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you remember Andrikos, correct?”

  Gilad looked at me with a slight expression of recognition before returning to his insecure self and shaking my hand once again. The next hour was spent engaging in small talk while Vettias continued to ply Gilad with wine. After we finished the main course of fish and lamb, Vettias began taking Gilad down the path that would lead to him to become another pawn in our scheme.

  “So tell me, Gilad, how goes it with the ladies?”

  “Nothing really to tell, sir.”

  “Come now, boy, we are all friends here. A young man holding position within the satrapal administration surely must have every maiden from good families calling on you – and maybe some from not-so-good families too – they’re usually the most fun.”

  “As my uncle can attest, sir, I have never been good with women, or with anyone for that matter.”

  “Yes, your uncle would say that, but he has said many more positive things about you, and he truly loves you as a son. He’s accomplished great things for his family and is now looking to its members to further its position. You understand this don’t you, son?”

  “Yes, sir. Uncle Malick has always showered us with generosity and I am honored to do my part to further our interests.”

  “I believe you, son. I think your uncle does as well. You see, love, or in most cases, lust, can make men take unwise actions – actions that directly contradict their own interests. We here have all acted foolishly in the name of lust. But it is our ability to be truthful with those we hold dearest that extricates us from the poor choices we make. And it’s the worst kind of choice we make that has negative consequences, not just for us, but for our loved ones as well. You see, son, we all here care about you very much and we have the power to right certain transgressions that have been made in the name of lust. Are you starting to understand my meaning, Gilad?”

  “N-no, sir. I’m sorry, I do not understand,” Gilad responded unconvincingly while being visibly shaken up by this unexpected line of questioning.

  “You are giving secrets to a whore!” Malick erupted
, not being able to contain himself anymore. “… a whore who is working for a gangster! And against the very man you have pledged your allegiance. Do you know what would happen if Seleucus found out you were blathering the inner secrets of the palace to a Babylonian criminal? You’d be dead! We all would be dead!”

  Tears now rolled down Gilad’s cheek as he sat silently looking down at the table.

  “Look at me damn you!” Malick commanded. “You admit it then?”

  Gilad looked up and his expression confirmed that all was true. Vettias now interjected to calm the situation.

  “Malick, please, allow me,” Vettias pleaded calmly while warmly putting his hand on Gilad’s shoulder. “Son, we know everything. We know about the girl, Davcina.” Hearing her name spoken through Vettias’ lips induced a torrent as the gravity of the situation set in. “It’s all right, son, it’s all right. Like I said, we all have succumbed to temptations of the flesh, but what is important now is who you put your trust in to get out of this. Do you trust your uncle? Do you trust he has your best interest, and the best interest of your family, at heart?”

  “Of course, sir,” Gilad responded with a whimper. “Uncle, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he beseeched with red eyes.

  “He knows, son, he knows,” Vettias assured. “But I need you to focus on me now, since you are in a grave situation. Your uncle has put his trust in me and I am the only one that can get you out of this. Do you trust me?”

  “Y-yes, sir.”

  “And you’re of course ready to do what it takes to make this right again – for you and your family, right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. You understand these agents must be eliminated of course.”

  “Y-yes.”

  “And the girl, Gilad. It’s either her or your family.”