by Nhys Glover
‘You know how to make a killing strike with that little dagger of yours?’ Nexus asked.
‘Under the ribs and up to the heart. I was taught to defend myself before I left home.’
Leonis seemed about to reject the idea but Nexus could see the sense in it. If she took out one guard, that left Leonis and him with two each and it might not come to that. All they had to do was keep the door closed and the men inside while Galeria made her getaway. If they were quiet, they might not even have to worry about the others.
They needed a bolthole nearby to take Galeria. She wouldn’t be able to run and he and Leonis might be occupied. Cyra needed somewhere she could get her out of sight quickly.
He looked back at the lad and gestured for him to return. Like a flash, the boy was again at his side.
‘Bolthole for two women nearby; where might that be?’
‘My place. Just down there,’ the lad pointed back in the direction he’d come from. ‘I can guide them.’
‘Good enough. So this is what will happen…’ he said turning back to the others. As he laid out the plan, he felt the first optimism of the night. This could work, but even if it did, they wouldn’t be out of the mess yet. Men were looking for them, and they were being labelled renegades. That was not good. Once they had Galeria, they’d have to find their way out of the city without notice. Once the death of the guard was discovered, a hue and cry would go up. They’d all need to get to safety somewhere close by and make further plans.
‘Anywhere else that all of us could disappear to for a few days?’ he asked the boy.
‘We have a hideout. Us street kids. You can go there. We won’t tell. You pay too well.’
Nexus nodded. ‘All right. If we get out of there together, then we’ll all go to your hideout. If we have to fight and the girls get out on their own, they’ll use your bolthole. Where’s this hideout?’
The boy frowned and the held up his hand, ‘Gimme a minute.’
He dashed away and returned in moments with a little girl no older than himself. She looked so small and fragile it hurt his heart to see her on the streets after dark, but her eyes were as old and wise as the boy’s, and in seconds she’d agreed to guide them to their hideout if needed.
They took their places. Time was precious. No one knew how long the spies would be gone. Cyra began to make her way over to the door of the inn. She needed to get boiling water from the innkeeper to take upstairs; hopefully, he wouldn’t realise the slave girl wasn’t with his guests upstairs.
Nexus watched her go and prayed to his gods that something would go right for them at last.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Cyra walked with hasty steps to the inn door acting like any slave-girl sent on a task in the early evening. She entered the noisy taproom that turned out to be more brothel than anything else and immediately groaned. Slouching her shoulders, she kept her head down and hurried across the room toward the kitchen she could see at the far side of the large, sweltering room. The last thing she needed was to attract the attention of any of these randy males looking for a woman to sate their appetites.
She managed to make it to the door to the kitchen before a hand finally succeeded in grabbing her backside, but the cook, who was already at the door, took in the situation. She hit the hand with the back of her large spoon. The culprit yelped and slunk off, bleary eyes already looking for easier prey.
‘What’re you doin’ ‘ere girl? No place for the likes o’ you,’ the cook said, taking her in from head to toe. She was a big bosomed woman in her middle years. Her hair and face were coarse, but there was a glint of kindness behind the harsh, tired exterior. Cyra played to it.
‘My… my mistress sent me down for boiling water. Can I have boiling water, please?’ she begged.
‘Sent you down? She upstairs with that noble?’
‘Yes, Mistress. She and I were just brought here. My mistress needs boiling water. Can I have some?’
‘She makin’ tea or birthin’ a babe?’ the woman asked with a laugh.
‘Wants to clean up. She near boils her skin off when she does it.’
‘These nobles. Who can work’ em out? Hold on a second. I’ll see what I can find you. Better step inside though or one of those randy buggars’ll ‘ave another go at you. My girls barely get to put food in front of ‘em before they’re jumped. Good thing they don’t mind a bit of extra, if you get my drift.’
As the woman hustled off at a speed that defied her size, Cyra moved just inside the doorway, trying to stay out of the way of the kitchen staff as they served up food and drink.
Within a few minutes, the woman was back just as promised with a large jug of steaming water. That will do nicely, Cyra thought, as she accepted the jug and gave the cook her best smile of gratitude. Then she turned for the door praying she could avoid any further attention.
She shouldn’t have worried. The cook had given a nod to a guard at the door and the man came over to escort her out. When he left her at the door with a polite nod, she dashed out into the cooler night air with her prize.
Step one complete. Now she had to get past the guard at the bottom of the stairs and then up to the one outside Galeria’s door.
She scurried toward the stairs in much the same way she had gone to the inn door. The guard took one look at her, gave her a nod and allowed her to hurry on up the stairs. This was easier than she’d expected.
Inside, the corridor was lit by lamps on tables along the wide hall. It was the best inn she’d ever seen. Odd that it was located in this area of town and above a brothel. Still, it wasn’t up to her to make business decisions. She had a guard to kill and a mistress to save. She smothered the little laugh that bubbled to the surface. Was she going mad? This was deadly business and she wanted to laugh.
The laugh still played on her lips as she moved down the corridor and turned right at the end just as the child had indicated. There she saw the big guard standing outside one of the four doors opening off this slightly narrower hallway. She’d found Galeria’s prison.
Cyra walked up to the guard with the smile still in place. Her right hand was on the bottom of the very hot jug, ready to help heft it into the guard’s unsuspecting face when the right moment came. Then that same hand would reach for her dagger secreted on a belt under her stola.
The man frowned as she approached but didn’t seem unduly concerned by her presence.
‘Water for the mistress to wash with,’ she said, smiling even more broadly, offering up the jug to show him.
‘I wasn’t told to expect…’
‘Master just ordered it. Can you unbolt the door?’ She had noticed that this room, oddly, had a bolt on the outside rather than the inside of the door. Were prisoners regularly kept at this establishment?
The guard seemed to think for a moment longer and then reached down to draw the bolt back for her. While he was looking at the door, Cyra upended the jug in his face as hard as she could. Then she dropped the empty vessel to the floor. While the guard staggered back with a pained cry, Cyra drew her dagger and picked her spot. The man hadn’t even taken his hands from his burnt eyes when she drove the blade home.
Hot blood spurted out onto Cyra’s hand as she twisted the blade to make sure she reached her target – that fast beating heart. She had to step in close. Her victim was scrambling back, trying to get away from her and the pain she’d inflicted. His huge arms waved around, trying to fend her off, but she avoided them, pressing the blade deeper still. Then, when she thought he might manage to knock her away, his red eyes finally glazed over. Very slowly, his body relaxed and slumped backward against the wall.
She took his monstrous weight and lowered him as gently as she could to the floor. They’d already made too much noise. The last thing she needed was for a resident of another room to come investigating.
She knew that Leonis and Nexus should have disabled the guard at the bottom of the stairs by now. Then, while Appius stood guard in his place, they would ha
ve made their way to the top of the stairs. They should now be waiting on either side of the door they knew belonged to Antoninus.
Cyra half-hoped the other escorts would come out. She’d love it if they could kill them all, including Antoninus. Hatred was burning hot in her gut tainting her vision blood red. These men meant her friend harm. They’d meant Leonis harm if the child were to be believed. Too much had been done to those she loved in too short a time for her to have any soft feelings left for her enemy.
However, she knew better than to want that kind of revenge. There’d be a hue and cry over dead guards as it was. If someone as influential as Antoninus were to die, the whole city would erupt. No, they had to hope they could get out of here without attracting any additional attention.
Wiping her bloody hand on the guard’s tunic, she opened the door to Galeria’s prison. It was pitch dark inside. She couldn’t even tell if there was anyone in the room. Might they have gotten it wrong? Could the guard have been there for someone else?
‘Galeria?’ She said into the darkness.
There was a shuffle and a whimper. Then a bedraggled figure appeared in the doorway. The prisoner blinked rabidly at the pain from the light but then seemed to focus on Cyra.
Galeria’s parched lips dropped open in astonishment.
‘Come on. We have to get out of here now,’ Cyra said, grabbing her friend by the hand. Galeria made no sound as she allowed herself to be led around the corner toward their freedom.
Galeria had been oddly dissociated from the world since she’d recovered from fainting. The men had dragged her along the dark streets and she’d lost any sense of where she was. It had seemed to her that the buildings themselves were monstrous, dark creatures looming over her, threatening to swallow her whole.
Several times, she’d looked around hoping to see someone who might help her, hoping to see her friends and brother. She had to warn them. It was imperative that she warned them. But she’d seen no one but a street urchin. Were they still in Antiochia, then? Was the child one of Nexus’ eyes and ears? No. This was not Antiochia and the child was just a child.
When Antoninus had sent her to her prison with a guard at her door, she’d gone without a murmur. She’d had no chance of escape. Even if there had been that possibility, she wouldn’t have risked her sister’s life by doing such a thing. Her prison was her life now. This was all she had.
Before they’d closed the door on her and sent her into darkness, she’d seen a real bed in the room. Without thinking, she’d lain down on it and curled up into a little ball, trying to keep the panic at bay. If she let it get control of her, she’d scream the place down, and that would only get her a beating or more drugs. No one could help her now. She was already lost.
Then, when she’d felt her control slipping and fresh tears were pouring down her filthy face, she’d heard talking outside. A female voice was speaking lightly to the guard. Then she heard the bolt on the outside of the door draw back. There’d been a clatter and bump shortly after. She hadn’t had a clue what was going on. Had she heard a cry?
Now the door had opened and a tall child’s outline appeared, set against the light beyond.
‘Galeria?’ A familiar voice called her name. It sounded like Cyra. Could she really be here? Maybe it was a dream; she’d fallen asleep again and was dreaming of escape. Any moment now, she’d wake up.
But before that happened, she was determined to have the pleasure of seeing her friend again. She stepped into the light and blinked as the brightness stung her raw eyes.
‘Come on. We have to get out of here now,’ her dream friend said taking her hand, and they were moving down the hall turning the corner. She was vaguely aware of passing the guard, who was now slumped against the wall, dark red blood covering his tunic. Just like her father.
How had that happened? Then there was no time for wondering because she could see Nexus at the far end of the hall. He stood at one side of a door, while the lion stood at the other.
He glanced her way and the look in his eyes was what she’d always dreamed of seeing there. Love. She saw love and joy written on his beautiful face. That was how she knew it was a dream. Nexus would never look at her like that. Not her – plain, sensible Galeria. He’d only give that look to his beloved Niobe.
She waited for the hall to become endlessly long. She expected it to take forever to reach the end, to reach that beloved man with his vulnerable, adoring face watching her approach. That’s what happened in dreams. You never reached your destination. You never got to the one you loved. But time didn’t elongate. Instead, they seemed to reach the men too quickly, and though Nexus put his finger to his mouth to warn her to be quiet, he made no move to touch her.
Uncertainly, she allowed Cyra to lead her past the men and then out of the door at the far end of the corridor.
Then they were outside in the moonless night, and the cool air soothed her skin and cleared her head a little. When Cyra started down the stairs she followed carefully, afraid she might stumble and fall. Again, time moved quickly, however, and she was at the bottom of the stairs before she could think too much about it. Appius was there, wrapping her in his strong arms.
This was the most wonderful dream of her life. She never wanted it to end.
Then Nexus was coming down the stairs toward them, two steps at a time, and he was dragging her from Appius’ arms and swinging her into his as he carried her away from the inn. She saw the others moving silently in their wake. No one moved as quickly as Nexus, even with his arms weighed down with her.
When she was sure the others were following, she settled in against Nexus’ shoulder and sighed contently. This was the most wonderful dream in the world. Nexus smelled just as she remembered. He felt as solid and strong as she remembered. She could even hear his rasping breaths. Was he struggling with her weight? Maybe she should try to walk. But the urge to snuggle in to his big body was too great. Who knew how much longer this dream would last? And if it ended, then she knew she’d be bereft. No, she needed to make the most of this dream… reality was too harsh for her now.
She had no idea how long they strode through the darkened streets. Time did seem to behave oddly now as it did in other dreams. Then a hidden door was opened in front of her and Nexus bent low to pass through it. They seemed to be in a cellar of sorts, dug into the ground. There was only one lamp to guide their way in the darkness. Somehow, Nexus made his way across to it and lowered her gently – almost reluctantly, it seemed to her – to her feet. Moaning softly, she clung to him, not wanting to give up his arms, but he gently extricated himself from her and lit a taper that stood on the shelf next to the lighted lamp. In a moment, there was another lamp lit and then a third.
More and more light meant more and more of the room was now being revealed.
Turning from Nexus, she stared around her. It was a huge dormitory filled with ragged bedding and a few boxes acting as tables. On them stood an assortment of cheap objects like statues of gods, little dolls and straw animals. They appeared to be toys… but this couldn’t be a nursery could it? Not down here in the bowels of the earth.
The air around them was fetid and close. Too many unwashed bodies had spent too much time in this room. Licking her cracked lips, she tried to breathe through her mouth instead of her nose. The smell was overpowering.
She saw one small figure stepping into the light. It was a pretty little girl no older than six. Her face was filthy and she was dressed in rags, but the gap-toothed smile she gave Galeria was angelic. Galeria couldn’t help but smile in return.
Then Appius was pulling her into another bear hug and she was patting him on the back as she heard his first sob. Suddenly the dreamlike quality of what was happening began to fade. In her dreams, Appius would never cry. He hadn’t cried since he was a little boy. No, her brother wouldn’t cry in any of her dreams. So what was this? It felt real… but dreams always felt real, while they were happening.
Finally, Appius drew back fro
m her and self-consciously wiped his face. ‘I thought I’d lost you, too. Oh, Galeria, I thought I’d never see you again,’ and his face crumpled, and he started to cry in earnest.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders again and tried to comfort him. ‘It’s all right, Appius. I’m alive. I’m all right. Everything is all right now.’
He shook his head and drew back from her. ‘No, no it’s not. We have you but we still have to escape. Once they discover what we’ve done there’ll be many more of them looking for us. I… I was supposed to be a judge in this city and… now I’m a fugitive.’ He broke down once more and for a moment, Galeria was at a loss as to how to handle this new brother and his strange words. How could he be a fugitive?
Cyra moved in to give her a hug. ‘We are safe for now, Galeria. Don’t worry. The worst is over, I promise.’
Appius seemed to realise how childishly he was behaving. He wiped his face and put on his adult, stern face. She remembered him practising it before he left for the army. It made her want to smile.
‘You can sleep on any of the beds. No one’ll be in ‘til dawn,’ the little girl said, playing hostess in this bizarre dwelling. It seemed too bittersweet that this child should take such an adult role in this awful place.
This couldn’t be dream. It just didn’t feel like a dream anymore. And if that were true, then that meant Nexus had really looked at her with love.
No, she must have misunderstood. He’d just been glad to see her.
She sought him out amongst the shadows in the darkened room. He stood on the edge of the light, unwilling to be seen. What was the matter? Why was he keeping his distance? She’d thought he was happy to have her back.
Leonis seemed to be carrying their possessions and he now dropped them at Galeria’s feet. Cyra began to rummage. When she stood up again she held a water skin and some bread. For the first time in a very long time, Galeria felt hungry. Ravenous. When Cyra offered her the bread, she grabbed it, started tearing great hunks off it with her teeth and then swallowed as fast as she could.
