It was about half an hour later that he heard his companions stamping down the stairs, all talking at once. They barged into the main cabin and Henry shouted.
“Talon! God be praised, you are safe. Guy and Reza told us what happened. How by the Saint’s bollocks did you get caught like that! You could have been killed!”
“Calm down, Henry. As you can see, I am fine, except for a few bruises.” He was embraced by them all, with an especially hard embrace from Rostam, who looked shaken by the garbled news he had heard from Reza and Guy. Talon grinned at him and patted him on the shoulder. “I am fine, son. Don’t worry.”
The boy nodded, with tears of emotion in his eyes. “I am glad you are safe, Father. We all are.”
“Just don’t tell your mother. Right, now settle down and listen to me, all of you. Guy, where is the wine? We have things to discuss,” Talon ordered.
“I think the occasion demands stronger than wine!” Guy exclaimed. He rummaged in one of his cupboards and produced a rough-looking gray stone bottle. He wrestled the cork free with a pop, then proceeded to pour some clear liquid into small glazed cups. They all drank, including Rostam, who nearly choked. Henry thumped him on the back.
“This is what real sailors drink, my lad,” he said. “He can really navigate, that boy of yours, Talon,” he stated, with a fond laugh at the spluttering boy.
After answering their many questions about how he had been captured, Talon raised his hand and called for silence.
“I was betrayed back there in Paphos,” he told the shocked group.
After a long silence Reza spoke. “I suspected as much. Boethius?” he demanded sharply, his eyes narrowing.
“No, his secretary, or steward, as he is known. Pantoleon is clever. He had set about intimidating people like that with a view to subverting their masters much more rapidly than I had imagined. I suppose he had a lot of practice at this kind of thing. His network of spies is larger than I had imagined too. We will have to be very careful with our next moves.”
He took a sip of the fiery liquid and then pretended to look very glum. He said, “The ship which you have just sunk in all your wild enthusiasms was half-full of treasure,” he stated.
They gaped at him.
“Oh no!” Reza muttered. “Now that I call a disaster. Saving you and killing Nigel and Pantoleon was one thing, all in a day’s work. “
He exchanged grins with Talon. “But losing a shipload of his treasure is quite another thing. Guy, if you please,” he held out his little cup which Guy dutifully filled.
“This is a God-dammed disaster!” Henry muttered out loud, and Guy filled his cup. “My God, we could have all been rich!” he sighed, as he too swigged down another gulp. Guy followed suit. “Bugger me! But we didn’t know, Talon!” he almost pleaded.
Talon looked amused. “I did say that it was half full of treasure,” he reminded them. “So one more drink and then we have work to do, as I know where the other half is, and we are going to take it. So listen carefully.”
On the island, Gabros was called to the walls by one of his men. “Come up here, quickly, Master!” he shouted. The call sounded urgent.
Gabros ran all the way up the stone stairs to join his guard. “Look over there, out to sea!” the man pointed in a southwesterly direction. Gabros peered in the direction and could see in the distance, at least five leagues away, maybe more, a tall thin column of black smoke rising into the evening air. It was too far to make out anything else, but he was sure of one thing: that was the direction the ship had sailed a few hours before.
He wondered if it had anything to do with his master. An uncomfortable sense of foreboding settled over him. Perhaps the magician had managed to escape and this was the result. He shook his head. It could not be. His master was well able to deal with anyone at sea. After all, didn’t he have the Greek Fire?
Late in the night, with the aid of a thin crescent moon, two ships anchored about one hundred paces off shore to the south of the city of Paphos. They lowered their sails, but many of the oarsmen remained on standby. Other volunteers were taken to the beach in the ship’s boats, the heavily armed men were ordered to absolute silence. The boats dropped them into thigh-deep water, which they waded through very quietly to join the scouts, led by Talon and Reza.
Rostam had been allowed to come, but he had been given strict orders by his father to stay close to either himself or Reza at all times. “This is not a game, Rostam. How will I explain to your mother if anything should happen? Stay close and be alert at all times,” he had admonished his son.
Once the men had all landed, thirty in all, the scouts, Yosef and Dar’an, with Junayd and Khuzaymah, led the way around the outskirts of the city in the direction of the castle. This fort stood back from the city, just outside the walls, at the beginnings of the foothills to the great mountain of Trudos. It would be no easy task to take it by any means. Talon had advocated stealth, naturally, but even that was a fraught process and could very easily go wrong, in which case they would have to make a very undignified and hasty retreat to the ships. He didn’t want that, but he and his companions were equally determined that the emperor would not get a free run at the treasure.
They moved quickly and silently to arrive at the base of the hill on which the castle stood. It was not a large structure but was in good condition. Its towers were well placed to allow the sentries an unobstructed view, not only of the ground below but also of the city and any shipping that came and went in the harbor.
The task that Talon and Reza set their young warriors was to climb the walls and then lower ropes. Talon sent the three men, Yosef and Dar’an in the lead and Junayd close behind. Reza was going to be there to take out any sentries on the parapet, lest an alarm be raised.
His bow at the ready, Reza watched critically as Yosef and Dar’an began the vertical climb. The walls were not smooth, which was useful to the young men, and they climbed without too much difficulty. Reaching the top they stopped to listen carefully for any sound coming from behind the parapet. Yosef went over first, followed quickly by Dar’an, and then Junayd disappeared from view, leaving Reza hoping that all was well.
He glanced up at the moon, trying to estimate the time. Talon should have managed to position himself and his men in a good place near the gates, waiting for them to be opened.
Then a figure leaned over the parapet and dropped a cord. It landed nearby and Reza hastily attached a good thick rope to it, gave a tug, and the rope was dragged up the wall.
It paused for a long minute and Reza was left wondering what might have happened. Quite suddenly a figure was pushed over the parapet. It didn’t scream, just fell in a limp bundle. Reza had to dive out of the way as it landed almost on top of him with a soggy thump on the dried grass. He stared at the body of one of the luckless guards, then he looked up, and another figure leaned out and waved. The rope began to move again, and finally it was jerked, which meant that it was secure.
Reza waved to the other small group of men, all burly oarsmen, who rushed silently up to the base of the wall.The first man began to clamber up the wall, using the rope. He carried a coil of rope with him and upon reaching the top he dropped the length to the waiting men below. Men swarmed up the two ropes, and before very long there were eight men crouching on the walkway. Yosef and Dar’an had gone ahead and were watching for any other sentries. Reza joined them, and Yosef pointed to one walking slowly along the walkway farther along the wall.
“Go and do it,” Reza tapped him on the shoulder. Yosef sped off, and within a minute the sentry was dead and thrown off the wall. The sound of a body thumping onto the ground below came to Reza. “Time to go!” he whispered urgently to his men. They scampered along the wall and down the stone steps towards the gates. They had just made it to the gates when an alert soldier noticed the activity. He gave a shout of alarm and began to run towards the scene, but Reza drew his bow on the running man. In one swift motion an arrow was on its way and the sentry died,
choking on his own blood form his pierced throat. Reza signaled to the men to open the doors.
The bars were lifted and the gates pushed open by the sailors, and Talon’s men began to move across the threshold.
Some guard must have silently raised an alarm, for men began to pour out of the main bailey to defend the castle. They were met in the court by dark figures who attacked ferociously. The battle was brief but savage, with casualties on both sides. Men fell in silent struggle to the ground, stabbing or hacking at each other with their swords. Talon and Reza, after shooting some arrows into the enemy at the onset, joined in the fight, Talon calling to Rostam to stay close.
It wasn’t long before he came up against Gabros. There was a small space around him that he had cleared. In the moonlight he stood at bay with a dripping sword and several of Talon’s men lying wounded around him.
He saw Talon pushing his way towards him through the struggling fighters and shouted a challenge. “I knew it must be you!Come here, Magician, where I can cut you down! I’m not afraid of you!” he yelled, and jumped forward swinging a vicious blow at Rostam who ducked just in time and leapt to the side.
“Not today, Rostam.” Reza hauled the boy to the side by his shield arm. “This is between your father and that man. Watch and learn.”
The noise of fighting died down. Almost all of Gabros’s mercenaries were dead or badly wounded. Reza quietly told his men to finish them off, which left Gabros standing and a couple of his best warriors with their backs to the bailey wall.
“So, no prisoners, eh!” Gabros grunted.
“No prisoners,” Talon agreed.
“What did you do with my master?” Gabros asked, as he went into a crouch, his sword leveled at Talon. It glittered in the moonlight.
“He is in hell, and his ship is at the bottom of the sea, his treasure with it.”
“So you have come for the rest.” Gabros didn’t wait for a reply. He leapt forward and swung his sword in a short arc, his shield held across his chest.
Talon stood his ground in the stance he had learned on the dojo in China, and his blade flicked the other’s away, then flashed forward. Gabros only just had time to step sideways, but the tip of the blade still managed to slice a shallow cut into his sword arm. There was a sigh from the men gathered around, watching.
He blinked and took a pace back; his eyes betrayed the fact that he was startled. He was a good swordsman by any standard, but this menacing calm and speed unnerved him.
Gabros was not short of courage, so he lunged again and then followed up with several strikes and swings that were either parried or avoided. Then he made a bid to get in close where he could use his skill with the pommel and shield. It was a mistake; he took a sharp blow on his shield which made him lift it just enough to allow Talon to strike like a cobra.
His blade slid past the edge of the Gabros’s shield and buried itself deep in his upper chest. Before he could react, other than to gasp with the pain and surprise, his opponent was back on guard, the tip of his blade level with Gabros’s eyes, which now showed pain but also fear. Gabros knew he was mortally wounded.
Holding his head high he staggered towards Talon with the aim of one last bid to kill him, but his legs gave way and he went down on one knee. Before the astonished men, Talon’s blade flashed one more time and Gabros’s head was taken off to fall into the dust, before his body followed it with a dull thud.
There was complete silence for a long moment. All of Talon’s had been sworn to silence, and Reza with his men had emphasized this need. There had been cries from the dying and wounded, but for the most part the entire battle had been fought in silence. Now it was profound.
Reza was the first to move and speak. “All of you. Spread out and find out if there are any other men hiding. No one is to be spared. Go!” he called out. His men rushed to obey. The two men who had remained with Gabros were despatched without ceremony. Talon didn’t want news of any kind to get out until he was well done with what he had come to do.
By dawn they had full control of the castle and were looking down on the harbor. There were few ships in the pool, but Talon wanted to make sure of the spies. He sent Yosef with Junayd to the house of Boethius, to reassure the merchant that he was no longer a prisoner. Talon didn’t doubt that Boethius would be keeping a low profile until he knew more.
“You are to tell Boethius that his steward is a traitor and he should be dealt with appropriately. Tell him to find an opportunity to come up to the castle as discretely as he can,” Talon told Yosef. “You and the other boys are to deal with the spies tonight.” Yosef grinned and left, looking happy. Talon looked at Reza for confirmation.
“They are very good, Brother. Not as good as you or I,” he grinned, “but still, they are good. I agree, cleanse the city and let it have some peace.”
Another messenger was sent to the ships to order them into the harbor that evening, when the loading would take place.
In all, they discovered twelve small chests full of gold ingots or gold coins, stacked down in the dungeons. “This is a king’s fortune!” Reza exclaimed when they had opened a couple to verify the contents.
“I suspect that it really was an Emperor’s fortune, Brother. I think Pantoleon stole this from the palace in Constantinople.” He thought for a moment, then said, “Two for Boethius, which will make him very rich and allow him to buy a ship, perhaps. His business should prosper from here on.”
“Dimitri?” Reza asked.
“Two for him. He will use it well, of that I am sure. Dimitri is very, very discrete.” Talon laughed with Reza over that. Their former oarsman had come up in the world.
“We will take seven of them with us tonight, along with the ones for Dimitri.”
“What about the other one?” Reza asked, looking puzzled.
“I shall explain later. Do you have the letter from Salah Ed Din?”
“Yes, of course. It is on Guy’s ship.”
“I want to hear all about the visit, but meanwhile we need to be ready by tonight, and Boethius must find us some donkeys.”
Reza remarked later, while standing on the walls watching the city waking up, that the castle appeared to have had gained a sinister reputation because of Pantoleon.
“I went below and what I found was terrible. He didn’t waste any time in bringing victims to the fort for his pleasure,” he said to Talon. They went down together to look at the dreadful scene. Talon, hardened as he was to bloodshed, shuddered. The sickening evidence was there to be seen in the blood-bespattered cell where Pantoleon had worked. He imagined the horror in store for Boethius and his daughter, had they not been saved.
“The world is well rid of that monster. I shall take great pleasure in telling Theo,” Talon said. “Ah, here comes a small party of visitors. I believe it is Boethius.”
It was indeed Boethius, who was both shocked and delighted that Talon had survived. “Nasuh came back very agitated and told me that you had been captured by none other than Exazenos!” he told them. “I was worried sick, and since then we have been staying close to the villa, wondering what to do next. Then Yosef arrived told me of my steward.” He paused and collected his emotions. “I could not let him off, Talon. I did as you told me. Yosef dealt with it. We will have to sniff out the others in this sad town, if we are not to live in fear all the time. If I had a ship I would have left, that’s for sure,” he said.
“Well, now you can afford a ship, but I don’t want you to leave.” Talon said, and showed the merchant the two chests that he had put aside for him. Boethius’s eyes popped at the sight of the gold.
“Spend it very carefully, as the spies will switch allegiance to the emperor soon enough. However, I expect our men to deal with the ones that Pantoleon left behind before I leave.”
He then went on to explain to Boethius who Exazenos had really been. Boethius gave a dazed shake of his head at the information.
“When Exazenos arrived in Paphos, rumors spread of a maniac who swa
m in blood and was close to Andronicus,” he said. “People fear this place so much they dared not investigate, but those of us who remembered what happened in Constantinople began to put it all together. I am relieved to hear that he is in hell.”
“I have need of your help this evening, and then there is one more task I ask of you before I leave,” Talon said.
“Anything. Ah Talon,” Boethius said, his voice full of emotion. “I had such a very bad night. I don’t know what we would have done without you.” He wiped a tear from his eyes.
Later Reza asked Talon, “Are the Greeks always this emotional?”
“Some are. I really think he would have missed me,” Talon said, pretending to be thoughtful about it.
Reza gave a derisive snort and dodged a cuff that was aimed at him. “Look out, here comes Rostam. We’ll have to behave like grown ups, as Max would put it,” he laughed.
That evening, just before dusk had settled upon the city of Paphos, two ships sailed into the harbor. They tied up alongside the quay and gave the appearance of settling down for the night.
Much later a convoy of donkeys made its way onto the quay, where they were greeted by men from the ships who unloaded their bulky loads, after which the donkeys made their way off into the darkness and disappeared. To anyone watching, this might have been unusual and worth reporting.
As it happened no one was watching, since the former spies were lying dead in alleyways, to be discovered the next day by fishermen leaving for their work. No one had heard a thing. Two ships left at first light and disappeared out to sea, with no one the wiser as to why they had come and gone so quickly.
It became evident that the strange man form the castle, Exazenos, had departed, rumor saying that he’d taken an important prisoner with him and left his men to guard the castle, waiting upon his return. The citizens discussed the situation with apprehension. Stories abounded of what he had done in the dungeons of Famagusta, and no one wanted him to take up residence here.
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