by JM Alvey
The brute would get thrown out of any pan-Hellenic games with that attitude. ‘Is he ever beaten?’
‘Occasionally,’ Spintharos said judiciously, ‘and he hates it. Anyone who does get the better of him on the wrestling ground needs to spend the next month watching his back and to avoid walking alone after dark. More than one of his opponents has been jumped on some deserted street and left there beaten bloody.’
‘I can imagine.’ I checked the sky again. I definitely didn’t want to be on the road late enough to risk meeting Iktinos or Nikandros on their way to their sunset meeting. ‘Do you know his father’s name, his voting tribe or the district where his family live?’
The doctor frowned. ‘I don’t believe I do.’
‘If you can find out discreetly, please send word to Aristarchos Phytalid. Iktinos may come here to consult you or one of your colleagues. I believe he has a broken arm.’
This time Spintharos’s smile was far less charming. ‘Quite a few people will be happy to see that.’
‘Don’t let him see you have any particular interest in him,’ I warned.
‘Of course not. Now, is there anything else?’ He looked me up and down.
‘Not today, thanks all the same. I really need to get back to the city.’
‘I’ll wish you good afternoon.’ Spintharos headed back to his patients without further ado.
I hurried back to the Dipylon Gate. Thanks to Athena, Hermes and every other deity from Olympian Zeus down, I didn’t see Iktinos or Nikandros.
When I arrived at Aristarchos’s house, he and Lydis were still besieged by scrolls. The stacks of papyrus were now reinforced with the first replies to the queries sent out this morning. I pulled up a stool and began to explain what I’d learned. They both set down their pens and listened intently.
* * *
I kept my promise to Zosime and went home as soon as we finished discussing the day’s news. It wasn’t my fault that it was well after dark by the time we’d decided what to do next. At least I arrived safely home with both Mus and Ambrakis escorting me. That went some way to placating her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I headed for the city at first light. Once I was there, I made a few essential preparations. Then I made my way to Megakles’s house in the Diomea district, where he’d held that treacherous symposium. Finding a convenient alley to lurk in, I watched and waited until the first visitors of the day arrived. Megakles had a steady stream of callers. I recognised some faces. Others were unknown to me.
There was no sign of his treasonous bastard of a son. By mid-morning I was snatching glances at the Acropolis and wondering if Athena had turned her face against our plan. I tried to swallow my bitter frustration. If the gods willed it, I must accept their judgement. But I’d give them to the end of the day to change their divine minds.
* * *
Sometime after noon, Nikandros emerged, scowling. ‘Get out of my way, you oaf!’
He shoved the big gate slave aside, which is to say the Kerykes doorkeeper let him pass. The man wasn’t as tall as Mus but his shoulders were so wide that he risked getting wedged between those gateposts if he didn’t turn sideways to go in and out. That might make a good joke for a play. The right actor would get a big laugh from that doorkeeper’s eloquent shrug of contempt once the young master’s back was turned.
I followed Nikandros to a nearby tavern, where he paid for a large measure of barely watered wine. He sat at a corner table, moodily searching the street for faces he knew, glowering at the oblivious passers-by.
I could guess why he was in such a foul mood: he had none of his friends to drink with. Hipparchos had been sent to the Phytalid estate in Steiria, escorted by his brother Xenokrates, who knew exactly what the young fool had done. Aristarchos had informed me that provided Hipparchos applied himself to study and prayer they would come back at the start of Thargelion. The Thargelia is a festival of purification and expiation, after all.
If Hipparchos felt hard done by, sent away from Athens for a full two months, I was sure his older brother would remind him how much worse his fate could have been. My own brothers would have rubbed my nose good and hard in such disgrace. For the moment, I was just relieved to know I wouldn’t trip over the idiot as I pursued our quarry today.
Seeing Nikandros was getting restless, I walked into the tavern and sat at his table. ‘Good day to you.’ I waved the wine seller away. There was no chance this side of Hades that I’d share a drink with this shit.
Unsurprisingly, he was outraged. ‘What the fuck do you want?’
I smiled. ‘If you’re expecting to see Euphorion and Andokides, think again. They’ve been sent to their families’ holdings in Attica and won’t be back before the Panathenaia.’ Their fathers had followed Aristarchos’s advice. ‘Now.’ I leaned forward. ‘Shall we discuss what you owe me for painting those false accusations on my house wall?’
‘What?’ He sounded exactly like his father, astonished that some commoner dared challenge his misdeeds. ‘Who says so? You’ll never prove it.’
‘I have witnesses.’ I laid the sheet of papyrus with his portrait on the table and tapped it. ‘Witnesses who will swear that they saw this man painting those lies and defaming me to all and sundry who might walk past and see them.’
The arrogant youth gaped like a fish. But he could still flip himself out of this net if I wasn’t careful. I waited for him to speak.
Predictably, he chose defiance. ‘What of it? Nothing will come of this if we go before the courts.’
I raised a chiding finger. ‘Why should I want to drag you into court, if we can come to some other arrangement?’
He looked at me blankly for a long moment. Then his lip curled as he thought he understood me. ‘How much?’
I was happy to oblige, and even happier that I hadn’t had to explain what I meant. This was going to work far better if he thought he was the one with the upper hand.
‘One mina should be sufficient compensation for the employment I’ve lost thanks to your filthy slurs.’
‘One mina?’ He was startled into a laugh of contempt. ‘You greedy rogue.’
That was good, coming from him. But I knew this demand for money would allay his suspicions. Those who reduce everything to its worth in coin rarely imagine that other men might value different things more highly.
He shook his head. ‘I have no such funds.’
‘You’ve got the money to pay the highest prices for all the festival sacrifice hides,’ I pointed out. ‘Where’s all that coin coming from? Or shall I go and ask your father?’
‘That’s business.’ He looked me straight in the eye. ‘We raise capital like everyone else, through loans against the harvests from our land holdings. I cannot divert such silver for my personal use.’
His tone was firm, his expression convincing. A tense quirk of his lips betrayed him. This bastard was lying through his teeth about where his money was coming from.
I leaned back, hands on my knees, as if I was about to stand. ‘Then I’ll see you in court.’
‘Half,’ he countered quickly. ‘Thirty drachma.’ Presumably making that clear in case I was too ignorant to calculate such large sums. ‘I’ll wager that’s more than you earn in half a year.’
As it happened it was about what I earned in a really good month, so he was right about one thing: demanding one whole mina really was more extortion than compensation, or it would be, if I really was as mercenary as he imagined.
‘One mina,’ I said placidly. Now he was haggling I knew I had him on the hook. ‘Or you can take your chances before a jury.’
He stared at me, clearly infuriated and just as obviously trying to work out how to get around this.
I rose to my feet. ‘Bring the money to my house just before sunset. Oh, and bring Iktinos,’ I added as though that was an afterthought.
‘Iktinos?’ Abruptly, Nikandros looked wary. ‘Why?’
I leaned on the table, looming over him, my voice
low and menacing. ‘I know he tried to knife me when you and your foolish friends beat me up. I want his oath that he’ll stay away from me and my household, and I want you there to witness it. Then if his shadow so much as crosses my path, or he goes anywhere near me or mine, I’ll call you both before the courts for attempted murder.’
‘All right, all right.’ Nikandros recoiled to escape my vehement spittle.
‘One mina.’ I jabbed a finger in his chest. ‘At sunset today.’
I strode away, fighting the urge to look over my shoulder to see what the boy was doing. Hopefully he’d go running straight to Iktinos. That’s what we were counting on. But if either of them realised he had been followed, they’d know something was up. We just had to trust to Athena.
Meantime, I had more preparations to make. Various tasks kept me criss-crossing the city for the rest of the day. I was weary and footsore by the time I got home but I didn’t mind. Our plan had gone well, so far.
There’s a phrase the tragedians play with. I’d even made a note of the last variation I’d heard, thinking I might be able to turn it into a joke. When the gods wish to bring down a man, first they make him smug. I should have remembered that.
* * *
At least Nikandros was prompt. The sun was barely dipping below the roofs of the neighbouring houses when he arrived and hammered on our doorpost. ‘Hello within!’
I was relaxing on a bench with a jug of amber wine, or trying to at least. I set down my untasted cup and went to open the gate.
‘Good evening.’ I stepped back to invite the two men into the courtyard.
‘No slave to do your bidding?’ Nikandros looked around my modest home with undisguised disdain. ‘Is that why you want to steal my money? To buy yourself a man of all work?’
‘Has your Phrygian run off?’ Iktinos fixed me with an unfriendly stare. Even with that bandaged and splinted arm he looked very dangerous.
I ignored the brute, while making sure that I stayed well out of his reach. ‘You don’t seem to have brought my money,’ I pointed out to Nikandros. A mina is too much silver to carry in a purse tucked inside a tunic.
‘Because you’re not getting an eighth of an obol,’ the wrestler spat. He stepped forward, pushing Nikandros aside. There was no mistaking who was in charge. ‘Not until you tell us who your witnesses are. Prove you can make a case against us.’
I took a step away and looked past the brute through our open gate to Mikos’s house. Our neighbour’s gate stayed stubbornly closed. I did my best to conceal my apprehension, folding my arms with an air of unconcern that I’d copied from Apollonides.
‘You want me to tell you who to threaten until they recant their testimony?’ I looked at Iktinos.
‘You tell us and you might get some silver.’ He smiled but I didn’t believe him. He looked as trustworthy as a rabid dog.
I nodded at Mikos’s gate. ‘It’s our neighbour.’
Iktinos half turned to take a look.
‘Our neighbour’s wife,’ I said quickly. ‘You won’t get anywhere near her.’
‘A wife?’ That got me Iktinos’s full attention. He stared at me, incredulous. ‘She can’t be a witness in court.’
‘Her husband can,’ I insisted. ‘On her behalf.’
His smile grew even more predatory. ‘We’ll see about that.’
‘Master?’
Iktinos and Nikandros spun around, both startled to find Kadous behind them. That meant neither of them saw my relief. I’d been waiting to see the Phrygian slip silently through Mikos’s gate, with Alke swiftly bolting it behind him. As soon as he appeared, he’d raised a single finger. Good. Now I had the answer to a crucial question.
‘Where the fuck did you come from?’ Iktinos scowled at Kadous.
The Phrygian pushed our gate closed and stood there, barring their way out.
‘Who is this?’ Nikandros demanded. ‘What’s going on?’
Iktinos sneered at Kadous. ‘You think I couldn’t take you with one hand?’
‘You’re welcome to try.’ The Phrygian flexed his arms to show off his muscles.
‘Nikandros.’ I cleared my throat. ‘Let’s discuss the matter of additional compensation for the man you killed. The Carian whose body you left at my gate.’
That’s what Kadous’s signal meant. Now that Onesime had seen the so-called wrestler in the flesh, she had identified Iktinos as the leader of the men who’d dumped Xandyberis’s corpse.
‘So who gets to pay up?’ I looked from the boy to the brute. ‘Who struck the fatal blow?’
‘That wasn’t my doing!’ bleated Nikandros. ‘We didn’t know he hadn’t managed to speak to you. We were only supposed to beat him senseless, to warn you both off.’
‘Same as the other night?’ I challenged. ‘When you dragged Hipparchos into your treason?’ I jerked my head at Iktinos. ‘You didn’t imagine he’d use a knife then, same as he’d done before?’
‘Prove it.’ The wrestler grinned at me, convinced he was the victor yet again.
‘You don’t deny it?’
‘Why should I?’ He shrugged. ‘Your witness won’t ever make it to court and no one will believe your slave’s testimony against an honest citizen called Kerykes. Not even after he’s had his fingers crushed to make sure that he’s telling the truth. So you can shove your claims for compensation right up your slack, dribbling arse.’
A slow smile spread across Nikandros’s face. ‘That’s right. Shove it up your arse.’
‘You can’t even think up your own insults. How sad. Never mind.’ I raised my hands in surrender as the boy took an angry step towards me. ‘You may as well play his echo while you can. You’re tied together for life, or at least until he decides that it’s safest to eliminate any witnesses to his murders. Tell me, have you seen all the others who were with you that night? Are you sure some aren’t already lying dead in some ditch?’
‘They’re fine,’ Nikandros retorted.
‘Really? Tell me their names,’ I invited. ‘Let me see that for myself.’
‘Shut your mouth.’ Iktinos glared at me. ‘We’re leaving and your slave had better not try to stop us.’
‘Let them go,’ I told Kadous.
If he’d only opened the gate a little faster, that might have been an end to it all. But the Phrygian took a moment to glower at the smirking pair before turning to raise the latch.
Tur erupted from the storeroom. ‘Why did you kill him?’ he raged.
Iktinos spun around, ready to fight, broken arm or not. ‘Who the fuck are you?’
Sarkuk hurried out to back up his son. ‘Friends of the man you murdered.’ He was as furious as Tur, though less foolhardy. ‘We are respected allies of Athens who can call you before the courts! You will answer with your life now that we’ve heard you admit your crime!’
For the first time, Nikandros looked scared. ‘I admit nothing!’
‘They’re foreigners,’ Iktinos said rapidly. ‘They’re no ones from nowhere and no jury will condemn us just to satisfy them. You’re an Athenian citizen.’ He took a menacing step towards the Carians. ‘Fuck off back to your mountainside and screw your scabby goats!’
Kadous looked at me, wanting to know what to do. If I could have reached Tur, I would have slapped him. Beyond that, I was at a loss.
The plan had been for the Pargasarenes to stay out of sight in the storeroom so they’d hear whatever confession I could trick out of Iktinos and Nikandros. Then they could go to the Polemarch to lay a formal accusation. I’d never intended for them to challenge this murderous pair face to face. At least Azamis showed more sense that his son and his grandson. He was still hanging back in the doorway.
‘I’m sure we can come to some accommodation.’ Nikandros looked at me, as sickly pale as a man who’s been stabbed. ‘I can pay compensation. You asked for one mina?’
‘Fuck off,’ I snarled, ‘and take him with you!’
If I could scare the boy off, I could only hope that Iktinos would f
ollow. Though there was the very real danger that the wrestler would snap Nikandros’s neck before they reached the Hermes pillar on the corner. He must know the boy would turn against him now he faced the prospect of going to court.
‘I don’t think so.’ Iktinos drew out a knife that he’d carried concealed in the bandages wrapping his arm. A blade long enough to pierce a man’s liver or slash an artery in his neck or leg. A killer’s weapon.
I moved, more careful than ever. ‘You think you can kill every one of us?’
‘I can try.’ Iktinos’s confidence meant he liked his chances. I didn’t blame him. None of us had a knife.
Sarkuk began circling the wrestler, moving in the opposite direction to me. ‘You do realise he’ll kill you as well?’ he said to Nikandros without ever taking his eyes off lktinos.
‘Don’t be so foolish.’ The boy pressed himself against the wall. It wasn’t clear who he was talking to. It didn’t matter. No one was listening to him.
‘What lies will he tell your father?’ Kadous wondered. ‘Blame some cloak-snatcher lingering after the festival?’
The Phrygian was staying directly behind the wrestler. Iktinos scowled, shifting from foot to foot as he tried to keep both me and the Carian in view. He knew Kadous was behind him, but attacking any one of us meant turning his back on at least two other enemies.
‘He’ll say Nikandros came here on his own,’ I suggested. ‘He’ll swear he followed the boy to keep him safe, but he tragically arrived too late to save him from these Carians’ revenge.’
‘He’ll probably say Nikandros killed Xandyberis,’ Sarkuk observed, ‘to put himself beyond suspicion.’
‘Just to be on the safe side,’ I agreed. ‘But there’s one thing he’s forgotten.’
I raised my voice to be quite sure I was heard. Iktinos whirled around as the door to my would-be dining room opened.