Seven for a Secret (20 page)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The single, narrow window in Felix’s office offered a view of a courtyard with a fountain which had been dry for years.

John, Felix, and Theodoulos sat at the table which served as a desk. The plaster walls were bare except for a silver cross, the required decoration of every administrative office.

John reflected that no doubt some prosperous metal worker in the Copper Market was even then hammering out another crateful of pious artifacts.

A visitor might wonder why the religious symbol in the excubitor captain’s office had been allowed to tarnish, but such a person would not know that, like John and Anatolius, Felix was a secret follower of Mithra.

Felix had stationed two guards outside his office door. Theodoulos appeared resigned to his fate. He perched silently on his stool, giving his captors angry looks.

“So our mistress has removed your tongue,” Felix said. “I hope she was kind enough to have it cut off rather than ripped out.”

John thought he looked more nervous than Theodoulos.

“You can answer my questions by nodding yes or else shaking your head no,” John said.

The dwarf made a guttural, growling noise.

Felix frowned. “You have no choice but to cooperate with us. I can use the same torturers as the empress. You are already missing your tongue, but they are talented men and can find plenty of other body parts to remove.”

Theodoulos’ hands unclenched. He opened his left hand, turned it palm upward, extended the stubby forefinger of his right hand, and began running it across the palm. Then he growled again.

“He wants a kalamos.” John said.

Felix grunted. “Likely to stab you with. I thought he was supposed to be an illiterate brute?”

Theodoulos shook his head.

“Well, there’s two of us and only half of him.” Felix got out of his chair, opened a chest beside the table, rummaged through its contents, and pulled out a roll of parchment. He glanced at the writing covering one side and slapped it down on the table. “Request for extra supplies from six years ago. The other side’s blank.”

He brought an ink pot and a kalamos from a shelf, hesitated, and then handed the sharpened reed to Theodoulos.

The dwarf dipped it into the ink, carefully marked the parchment, and turned it around so John could see what he’d written.

“‘Thank you, excellencies,’” John read out. “I notice you write in Latin.”

The kalamos scratched across the parchment again. ‘I was taught by a bishop. A friend of the empress.’

“One of those monophysites she’s got lodged in the Hormisdas, I’ll wager,” Felix grumbled. “You learned to read and write after your tongue was removed?”

Theodoulos nodded.

“Does the empress know about this unexpected talent?”

A shake of the head indicated she did not. He wrote again. ‘Every man needs to be able to tell his story if necessary.’

Felix grinned. “You’re right there. So you’re not the beast you’ve been made out to be.”

Theodoulos’ thick lips curved into a broad, grotesque smile as he scratched out his reply. ‘I would gladly kill you both were I able. I am a literate beast but a beast nonetheless.’

John handed the parchment back. “And an honest beast, I see. How was it you came into Theodora’s employment?”

It took the dwarf some time to frame his answer. ‘My father was a baker,’ he wrote, ‘and a good Christian. When I was born he thanked the Lord for blessing him with a son. When I did not grow like other children he prayed to the Lord to make me whole. When his prayers were not answered he cursed me as the spawn of demons and sought to cast me into the street. But I was stronger than him, and that is how I came to the attention of the empress. She can always find a use for a boy who strangled his own father and hung him from his own bakery sign. The fact that I was a monster amused her.’

“You have killed for Theodora?” John asked.

‘More times than I can recall.’

“He enjoys it.” Felix’s voice was thick with disgust. “Soldiers kill but few enjoy it.”

The pen moved furiously, leaving blots of ink. ‘Do you know what it is like to be mocked as an abomination, to be loathed by your own father? The bishop taught me that mankind was evil. And so it is. I am happy to punish mankind for its sins.’

“Indeed,” Felix observed. “And you are punishing mankind one victim at a time.”

“Why did you flee when you discovered I wanted to speak to you?” John asked.

‘I guessed what you wanted to know,’ Theodoulos wrote. ‘Too many people have been asking questions about the same matter.’

“What people?”

‘Ask the excubitor captain.’

Felix glared at their captive. “I made inquiries after you mentioned a certain matter to me, John. I instructed my men to be discreet. It would appear they were not.”

“And you really intended to throw yourself into the sea, Theodoulos?” John asked.

‘Rocks and waves are kinder than the torturer. I am already a dead man. If I can, I intend to dispatch that eunuch chamberlain before I go into the next world.’

“A journey you will not be taking any time soon unless Theodora realizes you can tell your story. What is your story? You must remember the empress’ son?” John said.

Theodoulos dipped the reed in the ink pot and stared down at the parchment for some time before he began to write again, slowly and pausing now and then to think. When he was finished he pushed what he had written across the table to his interrogators.

‘I recall the boy named John only because I did not kill him. He was alone with the empress when I was summoned to the most private of her reception rooms, a room hung with heavy tapestries which allow no sound to escape. The tapestries depict scenes from the Bible and these are often among the last things visitors to that secret chamber will ever see…

‘On this occasion the empress did not seek entertainment. She instructed me to take the child away and show him the usual courtesies. By this she meant I was not to inflict more pain than was necessary. He looked at me most haughtily, and then asked the empress if a mother could not spare her son a more presentable servant?…

‘I was not surprised by his words. I could tell you where to find the bones of others who thought to present themselves as heirs to the throne. I was, however, offended by the insult and resolved to show the boy less courtesy than he could have otherwise expected…

‘I took him by the arm and led him out of the palace through a corridor known to few. We emerged in the gardens. There is a secluded spot near the sea, surrounded by wind bent olive trees. It has served my purposes well…

‘Darkness had fallen. I took the path that runs behind the banquet hall, along the parapet, because it is little used…

‘I was thinking how best to accomplish my task, whether to break his neck or smother him. Or perhaps a little blade work beforehand would be an enjoyable interval. The boy chattered on like a mindless bird or a prelate. He gave the impression that he thought I was taking him to be measured for an imperial crown. He was shrewder than I realized.

‘Suddenly he twisted out of my grasp and flung himself over the parapet. I heard his scream as he fell.

‘I cursed myself for inattention. I rarely get the chance to dispose of children. I hurried to the nearest stairway. There was no question of anyone surviving a fall to the next terrace but I feared someone might come upon the body.

‘There is little light in that part of the gardens but my eyes had grown accustomed to the dark. I made my way along the bottom of the wall. There was no body to be seen.

‘I became aware of someone looking at me. I peered through the darkness, and saw a pair of horns and a bestial face. For a heartbeat I thought Satan himself had arrived, no doubt to visit Theodora. Then I saw it was a statue of Pan, presiding over an ornamental pool.

‘Or perhaps it was Satan in the guise of the pagan god for this pool was newly built and its deep water had saved the boy who claimed to be Theodora’s son.

‘As you can imagine I began to scour the surrounding gardens. I was not unknown at the palace, even then, and so was able to enlist the aid of several of the night guards.

‘It was nearly dawn when we spotted him. He had managed to find his way to the Chalke and was about to escape into the city. One of the fools assisting me raised the alarm. The soldiers who stand watch at the great gate are on the alert for miscreants seeking access to the palace grounds. The boy was past them before they knew what was happening.

‘I sent the guards after the boy and was told later they pursued him into the Copper Market where he vanished into thin air. They swore to me that he was running ahead of them and then suddenly he was gone. He was a demon, they said, as if that excused their failure.

‘I returned to the empress and reported that the boy had escaped. I was relieved when she had my tongue removed. I had expected to be killed, but I am valuable to her.’

John finished reading. “If you thought you would be killed why did you report to Theodora at all?”

‘Where does a person like me hide from the empress?’ Theodoulos wrote. ‘Besides, as I described the circumstances, the fault lay mostly with the guards. Naturally they were all executed. I particularly enjoyed that little task.’

John studied the face across the table from him. It displayed no remorse or any other emotion. How long must it have taken him to learn to write? And for what purpose? To tell the story he had just told? “Are you certain you did not loosen your grip on the boy’s arm on purpose, Theodoulos? Did you intend to show the boy some pity?”

Theodoulos did not nod, neither did he shake his head in the negative.

John turned to Felix. “I’m surprised you don’t remember guards being executed by order of the empress.”

Felix grunted. “If they’d been my excubitors, I would remember. The Master of the Offices is in charge of guarding the gardens. A fine job he does of it too!”

John nodded. “Now, Theodoulos, has Theodora ever mentioned this boy since then? Has she had him searched for over the years?”

Theodoulus shook his head to indicate she had not.

“What makes you think that?”

The kalamos moved again. ‘If the empress had searched she would have found him and if she had found him she would have ordered me to finish my work.’

“I don’t imagine she expected him to show his face again, considering what he knew would be in store for him,” Felix said. “And conducting a serious inquiry would only have lent credance to his dubious claim.”

John addressed Theodoulos again. “Do you know anything about a woman murdered and left in a cistern a little more than a week ago?”

“Or a former silentiary named Menander?” Felix added.

Theodoulos raised the reed pen, snapped it in half, and dropped the pieces onto the table.

Felix leapt to his feet. “I can order done what Theodora didn’t unless you tell us all you know!”

“I don’t think he knows anything else,” John said. “Let him go. He won’t mention this interview to Theodora. To do so he would have to reveal he can still communicate her secrets.”

***

When Theodoulos had been escorted out Felix paced over to the window and stared out. His expression was as bleak as the windswept courtyard outside. “He could’ve choked the life out of the girl and Menander easily, John. Did you see the size of his arms? It’s not just that his job is killing people for Theodora. He’s safe so long as she protects him, and he’s made it plain he enjoys the filthy work. We should let the torturers persuade him to tell us more.”

“We know what’s most important already. Theodora’s son—if he is her son—is almost certainly still alive.”

“From what you told me, you went all over the Copper Market searching for information about the dead girl. Now you propose to go back and search for the boy?”

“It would seem the logical course. There are more disgraced courtiers there than anywhere else in the city except the cemeteries. They are the only ones who might know more.”

“Might be harboring him, you mean? I can assign some of my excubitors to scour the area.”

“Have you been following me, Felix?”

The excubitor captain stared at John in amazement. “Following you? Why would you think that?”

“Was it merely a coincidence you happened to run into Theodoulos as he was about to jump into the sea?”

Felix growled unintelligibly and pulled at his beard. “You did ask me to help you investigate this matter of the missing son.”

“And you thought to do so by having me followed? Or were you interested in what I might be looking into? Or perhaps for other reasons?”

“Mithra! How can you say that, John? I knew you when I was just a pup in the excubitors and you were—”

“A slave. I am no longer a slave, and you are no longer a young excubitor, Felix. I know how much you admired Justinian’s uncle Justin. After all Justin was captain of the excubitors before he was emperor.”

“It’s not an uncommon path to power. Everyone knows that. Everyone also knows that I am loyal to Justinian. As you are.”

“Yes, it’s a most uncommon occurrence, for an emperor to boast both an excubitor captain and a Lord Chamberlain, neither of whom are seeking to put a blade into his back. Or haven’t been until now. Are you sure you haven’t become bored, Felix? As a military man you can’t be satisfied with guarding doors and making out requests for supplies.” John tapped the parchment on the table in front of him.

“You talk to me as if I’m a stranger.” Felix regarded John with an expression of puzzlement.

John leaned back in his seat. “Friends can become strangers. You brought me home after I was attacked in the street. That’s what you told Cornelia. I don’t remember what happened.”

Felix flushed with rage. “You think I had something to do with that attack? The blow on your head’s affected your reasoning powers, my friend.”

“I merely wondered if you had been following me at that time also. Should I now suspect you of having a hand in the attack as well?”

Felix started to speak, stopped, and remained silent for a while. It took a visible effort. “You need to go home and get some rest,” he finally said. “Your humors are upset. You are making up tales even the cleverest spinners of words would envy.”