by Corby, Gary
Sabina ran to the end of the bridge. She stood there, staring open-mouthed. On the other side, about to cross, were men, ten or more, and they were armed with spears. Bringing up the rear was—
“Is that Glaucon?” Callias said, shocked.
“It is,” I said.
“Amazing how he arrives just as he’s revealed to be the murderer.”
“Isn’t it.” My mind was working furiously, and no doubt so was Diotima’s. We exchanged looks, and I knew we were thinking the same thing.
To a man, the temple slaves rushed to the bridge to defend it, and to a man, they went down. The attackers had been prepared for the first rush. Three of the slaves took spear thrusts to the stomach. They rolled on the ground in agony. The other two slaves weren’t so badly hurt. They turned and ran. I couldn’t blame them. No one expects a slave to die for his owners; that they’d tried to protect the girls at all was to their credit.
But now we were exposed.
“Get the girls into the stoa!” It was Gaïs. Everyone looked at her in shock. For possibly the first time in her life, Gaïs had said something that made sense.
Gaïs spread her arms like a net and pushed the girls back into the stoa. Doris joined her. The girls heeded them and ran for cover.
“What do we do now?” Aposila asked.
“We fight,” Gaïs said.
“What have we got to fight with?” I asked Zeke.
“Nothing,” he said bluntly. “This is a sanctuary, not a barracks.” Zeke turned and ran. I stared in shock for a moment. I hadn’t expected that.
I said, “Diotima, take your bow and get up on the roof. Lie low and pick off targets when you see an opportunity.”
“No, Nico. I’ll stay here and—”
“Don’t argue with me,” I said, and I meant it. “I don’t have time to deal with it. Get up there and shoot.”
Diotima blinked, and looked at me as if she’d never seen me before. Then she said, “Yes, Nico.”
I hauled the sanctuary’s only ladder from where it lay against the shed and set it against the back wall of the main building. As I did, Diotima picked up the skirt of her chiton to stuff the material beneath her belt so that her bare feet were clear to climb. She hooked her sleeves over the brooches at her shoulders and scampered up. I handed up her bow and every arrow she owned.
“Are you safely up?”
“Yes, Nico.”
I pulled the ladder away to let it fall to the ground. I grabbed the sanctuary’s axe and used it to smash every rung of the ladder. Good. Even if the enemy broke in, Diotima would be out of their reach.
I dropped the axe to return to the bridge. As I did Aposila ran up from behind, grabbed the axe and followed me. She’d die instantly if it came to real combat, but there was no time to argue with her. Besides, Aposila wasn’t Diotima; Aposila wasn’t my problem.
“I’m ready.” Aeschylus strode into the courtyard. He was dressed in his hoplite armor: the huge round shield painted with the face of a snarling gorgon, the sharp spear in his right hand, and the helmet that covered his face and made him look like a remorseless automaton.
Except that I knew different.
“You can’t be serious,” I blurted. “You’re a sixty-five-year-old man.”
“So am I,” Zeke returned. “And I too am ready for combat.” From wherever he’d hidden them all these years, Zeke had retrieved the dress of his former life, an officer of the Persian Immortals. He wore heavy scale armor of a type I’d only ever seen in Ionia, where the Persians ruled: hundreds of small metal plates attached to a leather jerkin. In his right hand, he wielded the sword I’d retrieved from the Sacred Spring. It had lost the leather of its handle, but that wouldn’t stop a veteran. In his left he held a wicker shield.
Callias had nothing but his dagger. He drew this and stood beside them in the only order that made sense for the armaments they carried: Zeke on the left with his smaller shield, Aeschylus in the middle where his large hoplon gave them the best protection, and Callias in the place of honor on the right, where the dagger in his right hand was free to strike. Aeschylus called the time.
“March!”
They marched.
It was ludicrous.
They were going to be slaughtered. The greatest playwright the world had ever known was about to die, and when it happened, Pericles was going to blame me.
Then I reflected that these were heroes of Marathon, even if Zeke had been on the other side. These three ancient men would fight until they’d been torn to shreds, and even then, with their last breath they’d struggle to win.
The veterans didn’t break step. They met the enemy on the green verge of the sanctuary’s lawn. They clashed their shields against the invaders, then with great shouts to unnerve their opponents they sought to drive their swords through the enemy shield wall. The weapons bounced. The brigands tried the same, but nor could they find a gap. After that both sides settled to the deadly business of armored combat.
Glaucon stood behind the line of raiders and urged them on. He made no attempt to help his men. A look at the attackers told me they were mercenaries. Hellas was full of them, all looking for work. These ones were armed with shield and spear and probably short sword for emergencies. The shield barrier made it hard for our men to touch them.
I looked for some way I could come at Glaucon.
“Callias is dead!” one of the women screamed.
I whirled around.
Callias was thoroughly unconscious. Blood flowed from his head. Aeschylus and Zeke fought on. I thought about carrying Callias to cover, then realized there was no point. If we lost here, no one was safe.
Gaïs took Ophelia by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. She said, “Ophelia, if those men break in here, even if we’re still alive, especially if they kill the men but capture us priestesses, you’re to lead all the girls to the farm where you hid. Can you find it again?”
“Yes, Gaïs,” Ophelia said.
Gaïs kissed Ophelia on the lips. “Good girl.”
When the brigands had decided to attack a girls’ school, they probably hadn’t expected to face heavy infantry. Their surprise told in the caution of their attack. I knew it was only two old men, but the raiders didn’t: the armor covered the faces and chests of Aeschylus and Zeke, and anything else that might give away their age. Certainly neither of them moved like old men. I could see the slowness of their counter-strokes, but only because I was looking for it.
But their skill would eventually count for little when it was two against so many. They gave ground; it was only a matter of moments before they were flanked. Aeschylus and Zeke turned to fight back to back, each moving in one fluid motion. My old drill instructor would have smiled to see it.
An arrow flew over my head. It came from behind. Diotima had found her perch, and now she was trying for targets. The first shot missed, but her second elicited a painful yell from someone in that melee.
I had to do something to help, but with only my dagger and no armor to protect me, I knew that like Callias I wouldn’t stand for long. I needed a better weapon.
Then I realized where I could get one.
I turned and ran.
Rollo had been tied to a tree out back of the sanctuary. Zeke had replaced the light chain Ophelia had used with a heavy one that even the enormous bear couldn’t break. Then he’d secured the chain with a wooden lock too heavy for a child to lift.
I grabbed the lock with both hands and shoved upward. The lock came off. I unwrapped the chain from the tree trunk.
“Come on, Rollo,” I said. I tugged on the bear’s chain, but he didn’t move. I tugged harder. The bear didn’t budge. I pulled with all my might. Rollo looked at me with contempt.
“What do you want?”
It was Ophelia. The girls had gathered out back, ready to run, and they’d watched me free the bear.
“I’m taking Rollo into that fight,” I said. “We’ll lose without him.”
“He won’t go with you,”
Ophelia said. “But he will with me.” She took hold of the chain and said gently, “Come along, Rollo.”
The bear lumbered after her.
I couldn’t take a child into a battle. But I couldn’t not take the bear. I drew my breath, drew my dagger, and took the lead.
“Where are we going?” Ophelia asked.
“Aeschylus and Zeke are surrounded,” I told her. “We’re going down the west side of the sanctuary, past the Sacred Spring, and through the gap between the temple and the stoa. The buildings will hide us from view until we’re right on top of them. We’ll hit them from behind before they see us.”
I didn’t know if Rollo would fight, but I did know that having a giant bear at your back was a good reason to run away.
The raiders had left two men at the bridge. They saw us first. One yelled, the other turned, and both leveled their spears and came at us.
The first man thrust his spear at me with both hands; he put his weight behind it and sent the sharp metal tip straight at my stomach. He grinned as he tried to kill me; if he connected I’d soon be seeing my bowels.
His technique was correct but slow. I swiveled my hips a heartbeat before the spearhead could skewer me, and at the same time I used my free left hand to bat away the shaft, hitting it just behind the spearhead with my open palm.
The spear slid right past me. The look of surprise on the spearman’s face made me laugh.
It was a trick Pythax had taught me. Now I was turned side-on to my enemy for minimum profile, and my knife hand was at the forefront.
The spearman had expected resistance when the spear sank into my body. He wasn’t braced to stop. He practically ran onto my upraised blade. It took him in the throat.
I breathed a thanks to Pythax. A year ago, that attack would have killed me.
The second man, meanwhile, had made the mistake of running at Ophelia. The bear didn’t even break stride. Rollo clubbed Ophelia’s attacker with one of his massive paws. The man flew backward to land on his behind, and blood splattered where the bear’s claws had scarred him. The raider dropped his spear to scramble backward with both hands, then, when Rollo kept coming at him, the raider picked himself up and ran across the bridge, down the road, and into the darkness.
“Quick,” I said to Ophelia. I was astonished she hadn’t shown fear, but with that bear beside her the girl was fearless. We passed between the Temple of Artemis and the stoa to see Aeschylus and Zeke hard pressed. Diotima was a dark figure on the roof behind them. She stood to shoot, which exposed her. As I watched, a man threw a spear her way, but Diotima didn’t flinch. She shot back. The raider was ready; he blocked her shot with his upraised shield. But that didn’t save him. As the arrow hit his shield a figure shot out of the darkness and dragged a short blade down his unarmored arm.
It was Gaïs. She was using her speed to run at the enemy, slash them, then run out of range. Gaïs wielded a priestess knife, the same type that Diotima carried. Those knives were very short, but they were sharpened to slit the throat of a sacrifice in an instant.
They were working as a team. Diotima was pinning the armored men with her shots, and Gaïs was slashing the immobilized targets. Gaïs couldn’t kill an armored man with her knife, but it’s hard to fight when your arm’s shredded.
“Now!” I pulled on Rollo’s chain, and this time he followed me.
Rollo lumbered into battle. His giant paw came down upon the first of the raiders and crushed him to the ground. His next swipe tore off the armor of the next man in line. The man was spun around and he came face to face with the hot breath of a giant bear. The man screamed, dropped his spear, and ran. His shield impeded his running, so he flung it away. He disappeared over the bridge and round the bend, and we never saw him again.
Rollo roared. The other raiders noticed that a bear was about to kill them. They turned as one to confront the new threat.
Zeke and Aeschylus didn’t waste the opportunity. They both plunged their blades into the backs of attackers. The rest didn’t wait to die. They followed their comrade over the bridge and probably out of Attica.
Now my only fear was that Rollo might take down my own side.
The gods must have been on our side, because the bear turned toward the man who’d caused it all. Glaucon had no one to protect him.
Glaucon ran, pursued by the bear.
THE SANCTUARY LOOKED like every battlefield after the fighting was over. Aeschylus and Zeke both sagged to the ground. The fight had taken it out of the old men, but they’d given a display that would have done credit to men half their age.
I picked up Callias in my arms—he was disturbingly light—and carried him into the stoa where Doris had set up an aid station. Gaïs was already sprinting for Brauron as fast as her incredibly swift legs could take her to bring the doctor.
Before she left, I’d said, “You did well, Gaïs, in that attack.”
“Well, I had to do something. That idiot Sabina was going to stand there slack-jawed while those men attacked us.”
“You’re not insane,” I said, wondering.
“Of course I’m not.”
“I thought you might be pretending to be mad as part of some subtle plan to catch the killer.”
Gaïs looked at me strangely. “What sort of a crazy person would do that? No, I’ve got a much better reason for making people think I’m touched in the head. Can you think of a better way to avoid having to get married than to say crazy things and run through the woods naked? Besides, it’s fun.”
“Glaucon got away,” Diotima said.
“We can pick him up easily,” Callias said. He lay propped up against a column with a bad headache and a wet rag pressed to the gaping wound in his skull. “Now that we know who to look for, he can’t get away.”
Aeschylus walked up to me, slowly. “If you ever tell anyone that I fought alongside a Persian,” he said, “I will personally tear out your entrails.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, Aeschylus,” I said, barely suppressing a grin.
“Good.” He turned on his heel and walked away.
Doris ran over, her chiton picked up to let her run. “Has anyone seen Aposila?” she asked.
Aposila was missing.
“Who last saw Aposila?” I shouted, then when no one replied, I realized the answer was me. She’d picked up the axe after me and run into the battle.
Dear Gods. Had Aposila followed her daughter to Hades?
I ran to where the bodies of the raiders still lay and pushed them over. Aposila wasn’t underneath.
One of the smallest children pointed down the road.
I started running. Diotima wasn’t far behind.
Rollo had bailed Glaucon up against a tree. That was where Aposila had found them.
Aposila held a bloodied axe in her hands; at her feet was the splayed body of Glaucon. She’d split him almost down the middle, from the top of his head through the neck and halfway down his chest before the ribs had brought the axe to a halt. She was covered in blood. Drenched in dripping red.
“For my Allike,” she said.
Then she dropped the axe, buried her face in her blood-red hands, and wept.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“WHAT HAPPENS TO the bear?” Thea asked the next day.
“The bear goes wherever Ophelia goes,” Diotima said, and Gaïs nodded. She understood. For the first time ever, the two of them had agreed on something.
“Ophelia can’t take a bear home with her!” Sabina objected. “What would her father say?”
“She isn’t going home. She’s staying here,” Gaïs said. “No, let me rephrase that. Ophelia’s already home. She’s priestess-born; it’s obvious.” Unlike you, Sabina, were the words Gaïs didn’t say, but we all heard.
“You don’t rule here,” Sabina snapped at Gaïs.
“Oh yes, that’s right,” Thea said. “Let me fix that. Gaïs, kneel.”
“What?” Gaïs said, perplexed.
“I said kneel before me, girl
. The games are over for you. It’s time to do some real work.”
Gaïs stammered. “High Priestess … no. You can’t do this … I can’t do this …”
Thea said, “We all saw, when the crisis was upon us, how you commanded and everyone else obeyed.”
“I only said what had to be done,” Gaïs protested. “And I only said it because no one was doing it.”
“Welcome to management,” Thea said to her.
Gaïs slowly went down on her knees.
Thea placed her hands on Gaïs’s head. “By the power given me by the Goddess, I name you, Gaïs, the High Priestess of Artemis Brauronia. May the Goddess ease your path, because the girls certainly won’t.”
Thea removed her hands. Gaïs, still kneeling, looked up at her.
“That’s it?” Gaïs said. “That’s the entire ritual? You’re completely altering my life with thirty words?”
“I’m making this up as I go, child. Which pretty much sums up how I’ve ruled here for the last twenty years. If there’s a special ritual for this, I don’t know it. I got the job myself by default. The old High Priestess never had a chance to pass on a thing to me. Compared to mine, girl, your handover is a luxury.”
“Shouldn’t we be doing this in the temple, in the presence of Artemis?” Gaïs said.
“There’s the bear,” Diotima pointed out, and everyone turned to look at Rollo, who stared back in calm equanimity. If Artemis did inhabit the body of the bear—and all the legends said it could be true—then the Goddess clearly didn’t object to Gaïs as her new High Priestess.
Gaïs said, “High Priestess … Thea … I don’t know what to do.”
“You’ll have Doris to help you with the day-to-day running. She’s been doing most of the work for years now anyway.” Thea added, gently, “And if I read the signs right, you’ll have Ophelia to support you in the years to come. I can’t begin to tell you, dear, how important it is, to have someone there for you.”
“You’ll be here, won’t you?”
“You don’t need your predecessor looking over your shoulder. I’m retiring. You’ll need a new maintenance man. Zeke’s retiring too.”
