Silus looked at Atius, who shrugged.
‘Who is Jabari, and why does he want to kill you?’
‘He lent me money. On good terms. There is no problem, as long as I pay him back.’
‘How much?’
‘One thousand drachma.’
Atius whistled. ‘He doesn’t do things by halves, does he?’
‘And you were going to pay him back when you sold the statue?’
Menkheperresenb nodded.
‘Why not just wait until the statue was sold?’
Menkheperresenb shrugged helplessly. Silus couldn’t understand the stupidity, but then he caught sight of Atius nodding sympathetically, and realised that not everyone was able to delay gratification.
‘What will happen if you don’t pay him?’
‘He will kill me.’
Silus tutted. ‘Actions have consequences.’
‘He will kill my sister, Anuketmnata.’
A crowd of villagers had caught up with them now. At the front was Anuketmnata, one hand cradling her swollen belly. Silus gritted his teeth.
‘Not my problem. I have to return this statue to where you stole it from. I suggest you find another way to pay your debts.’
Menkheperresenb fell to his knees and grabbed the hem of Silus’ tunic.
‘Please, I beg you. I have nothing. The crops were poor, and Roman tax farmers took what little we have. I cannot repay him.’
Silus pulled his tunic free and turned away.
‘Wait, wait. You say you want to catch the man who hired me. I can help you. Let you know when he is going to arrive.’
Silus thought for a moment. It would certainly make it easier if they had this man’s co-operation. It might avoid a chase like he had just gone through to capture this one, which might even end in the man’s escape. But what could he do to help? He didn’t have a thousand drachma and didn’t think his help was really worth that much anyway.
‘Your assistance would be useful, although not essential. But what can I do to help you?’
‘You are soldiers. You could arrest Jabari!’
‘On what charge?’
‘I don’t know. You are Romans, you always make the charges up anyway!’
‘Arresting people isn’t really my style. Look, I’m sorry for your problems, but you have really brought them upon yourself. You are going to be taken to Alexandria to be turned over to the Boule, or whichever local authority will deal with you. Your sister’s husband can protect her.’
‘She has no husband. He died of fever. Please. The last man who wronged Jabari, he had his men rape the debtor’s wife, and then had her impaled alive on a stake, right in front of him. He didn’t kill him until she was dead.’
Silus looked at Menkheperresenb’s sister. She said nothing, looking back with a mixture of defiance and fear. He was finding it increasingly difficult to harden his heart. He turned to Atius.
‘What do you think?’
‘I think it’s a while since I killed someone who deserved to be killed.’
Silus nodded.
‘Right. We really have better things to do than this, but it shouldn’t be too time consuming, and we still have two days before the man who hired you arrives, yes?’
Menkheperresenb nodded.
‘Fine. Tell us where to find this Jabari, and we will take care of him.’
‘Take care of him?’ Menkheperresenb looked confused. ‘How will you do that?’
‘Leave it to us. We are experts. In return, you will meet the man who hired you, and we will arrest him once he is distracted with you.’
‘Yes, I will do as you say. And what will you do about his men?’
‘His men?’
‘Yes, of course. He says he doesn’t trust native Egyptians. He travels with ten bodyguards.’
Fuck.
* * *
Jabari was a big man and a happy one. He was rich, above the law, and had everything he desired in life – four wives, the oldest of which kept the rest in line, as well as a small harem of slaves. The finest wines and foods from around the Empire. A magnificent house, filled with fine tapestries, ornate furniture and fine Greek and Egyptian statues. Bribes to the local authorities kept them from his door, allowing him to pursue his business interests unhindered. And he was at peace with his rivals in the city, who knew him to be so powerful and ruthless that existing in harmony with him was the best option for all.
Jabari traded in stolen goods, loaned money at crippling interest rates, put pressure on local businesses to pay him money in return for his protection, and occasionally had his men take part in a robbery themselves, if anything valuable enough to interest him came to his attention. He spent a small portion of the day overseeing his empire, threatening debtors, intimidating anyone who did not conform to his wishes, and giving instructions to his deputies.
But for the most part, he spent his time enjoying the pleasures he had worked so hard for. Sumptuous meals, heady drinks and lots and lots of sex.
At that moment, he was thinking about his new slave, a very young girl from Aethiopia. He had sated himself with two Roman slave girls earlier – he loved the feeling of power that came from having representatives of the world’s ruling Empire bent over for him. But he thought he would be ready to break in the young, dark girl later on.
First he had some business to attend to, which shouldn’t take long. One of his guards announced that there were two foreigners who had come to ask for a loan. The sum made him interested. Ten thousand drachma. That could lead to a good profit, provided that he was comfortable the men could repay it or had sufficient collateral. He took a long swig from his coloured glass, reached across to squeeze the thigh of the Roman slave girl sitting to his left, and gestured to the guard to show the applicants in.
The men were bearded, rough-looking. Their faces were red, suggesting pale skins from northern climates, unused to the sun in Egypt, even in the winter. Their clothes were functional, in good repair, but not expensive. They held themselves with confidence.
Jabari looked over to the two guards by the doorway. They were reassuringly solid, armed with long curved swords. He nodded to the two men to approach him.
‘Your names?’
‘Silus and Atius.’
‘What is your business?’
‘Loans.’
‘I see. How much are you seeking?’
‘No, I think there has been a misunderstanding. We are not here to borrow money.’
Jabari’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is this a joke? Why are you wasting my time? Do you not know my reputation?’
‘We know it well. That is why we were forced to come here, out of our way. It is most inconvenient.’
Jabari felt the conversation getting out of his control, a situation he was completely unused to.
‘If you don’t want to borrow money, why are you here?’
‘To repay a debt.’
‘You didn’t need to see me for that. My bookkeeper could have taken your money.’
‘We aren’t going to repay you in coins.’
Now Jabari felt really confused. He looked again at his guards, warning them with his eyes to be ready for trouble, though of what kind, he wasn’t sure. The men had been thoroughly searched, and there was nowhere for either of them to carry concealed weaponry. The guards tensed, putting their hands near the hilts of their swords.
‘You are testing my patience. I am this close to having you killed on the spot.’ Jabari held his thumb and first finger a short distance apart. ‘Pay your debt or get out and stop wasting my time.’
He wasn’t sure why he didn’t order his guards to strike them down. Something in their eyes stopped him. He would be happy at that moment if they just left.
The larger one of the two turned and walked to the back of his reception room to the oaken double doors. But instead of walking through them, he pulled them fully closed, and slipped the wooden bar into place across them.
The guards stared for just long
enough to let him complete the action, then drew their swords simultaneously and charged, one from either side. The large foreigner moved faster than Jabari would have believed possible. He stepped rapidly to the left. The left-hand guard swung his sword, but the foreigner was inside the arc of the swing, blocking the sword arm with his forearm, following up with a headbutt with his forehead to the bridge of the guard’s nose. He gripped the sword arm, pirouetted on the spot to present the back of the first guard to the other, and shoved him hard.
The other guard was bringing his sword down in a double-handed blow at the space where the foreigner had been standing moments before. It struck the top of the first guard’s skull, biting deep, and getting stuck in the bone. He sank to the floor, knees giving way like an ox felled at sacrifice. The sword jammed in the split bone, and the second guard wrenched at it desperately. It came free with a sudden force that made the guard stagger back, the sword barely remaining in his grip as it flew upwards over his head.
It was all Atius needed to finish him. He stepped forward and punched the guard hard in the throat with his fingers extended, a much sharper impact than a fist, and one that collapsed the guard’s windpipe. Cartilage rings, supposed to keep the airway open, folded inwards, permanently cutting off the air supply to the lungs. The guard dropped his sword and clutched at his throat, his face turning red, then blue, as he gurgled, trying to force wind through the blockage. In moments he was face down on the floor, chest still heaving for a short while, before the efforts became weaker, and stopped.
Silus had kept Jabari in view for the whole time, while watching his friend do his work, ready to intervene if it was necessary. As expected, it wasn’t necessary. Jabari watched the fight in stunned amazement, his mouth hanging open, so a trace of drool slid down the corner of his mouth unnoticed. His slave girl let out tiny whimpers, eyes wide, both hands pressed to her mouth.
Atius picked up the sword of the choked guard, and weighed it in his hand.
‘Useless piece of shit for this sort of work, don’t you think, Silus?’
‘Showy and pointless,’ said Silus. ‘Give me a knife any day over that for bodyguard work.’
‘Who are you people?’ Jabari managed to say, in a hoarse whisper.
‘We’re Arcani. You probably haven’t heard of us out here. It doesn’t really matter.’
‘What do you want with me?’
‘Well, as I said, we are here to pay off a debt. Someone owes you money, and we need a favour from him, so we said we would take care of his problem. The trouble is, we don’t have the cash. And we heard that you aren’t the sort of person to be lenient when it comes to repayment terms.’
‘I’m a businessman. If people don’t pay, they…’
‘They watch their wives get raped and impaled.’
Jabari went white.
‘There has to be respect.’ His voice was barely audible. Silus looked him up and down. Corpulent, sweaty, wide-eyed and terrified. He imagined that once, in his prime, he had been a man to fear in his own right, but that nowadays his power came from his employees, his paid muscle, who carried out his ruthless instructions. At that moment, Silus could see little to respect.
Atius handed the sword to Silus. Silus gave it one or two experimental swings.
‘Please,’ said Jabari. ‘It was just business. I will forgive your friend his debt. I will pay him. I will pay you.’
‘I don’t think he would believe it. What’s to stop you reneging as soon as we are gone?’
‘I give you my word as a…’ He trailed off. Silus gave a half-smile.
‘You don’t have anything to swear on, do you? Nothing that you actually give a shit about.’
‘I…’
Silus swung the sword, two-handed, horizontal, neck high. The stroke was perfectly placed, slicing through the throat all the way to the bones, but without touching them. Blood bubbled out of the laceration like a spring bursting forth from the ground and flooded down his rounded chest. Jabari reached up with both hands, trying to stem the flow, then toppled forward off his chair to lie face down on the floor, a crimson pool spreading around him.
Now the slave girl drew a deep breath, and before Silus could stop her, screamed at the top of her lungs. Moments later, there was a hammering at the door. The shouts that followed were in Egyptian, but they were obviously asking if something was wrong. The slave’s continued screams told them that clearly something was very wrong.
‘What now?’ asked Atius.
Silus took Jabari’s hand, which had a distinctive-looking signet ring. He gave it a tug, but rolls of fat prevented it moving. He used the sword to hack the finger off, and stuffed it into his belt, hidden by a fold of his tunic.
Silus looked around. The room had a high, barred window.
‘How many guards did you count?’
‘Six, plus whatever reinforcements they can call on. It’s a big house, there may be others.’
‘The window, then?’
‘Sometimes it’s best to keep it simple.’
They pushed a wooden chest over to the wall beneath the window and stood on it together. It creaked under their weight but held. They grabbed hold of the iron bars.
‘On three. One, two, three!’
They both heaved. The walls cracked where the bars were buried into them, but stayed firm.
The hammering at the doors changed in tone. Something heavy was being rammed against it now, and the bar holding the doors shut was giving a little more with each thump.
‘Again, on three. One, two three!’
They pulled, and pulled again, and finally were rewarded with a crack as one bar came loose from the top part of the window. Once that was free, they were able to use their weight and the leverage of the loose bar to work on the others. Just as the whole grill came free, the wooden bar on the doors splintered. A gap appeared in the door, and they caught a glimpse of furious faces.
Silus boosted Atius up and out through the window, then Atius reached down for his friend.
With a huge crash, the doors flew open and smashed back against the walls that held them. Guards poured into the room, then hesitated as they saw the carnage for the first time. Silus grabbed Atius’ hand and leapt.
One of the guards sprinted across the room and jumped to grab Silus by the ankle. Silus kicked down hard with his other foot, and was rewarded by a crunch and a yelp. Atius pulled hard, and Silus felt his shoulder almost wrench out of his socket. He grabbed the window frame and scrambled out before anyone else could take hold of him.
They tumbled down onto the street together and looked up and down. They had surveyed the area before and had a rough idea which way to head.
‘Come on.’ Silus raced off through the residential area. There were few shops or stalls here. Jabari’s house had been impressive, but it was built in a poor part of town, all the better to do business away from the authorities. There were a few pigs and chickens scratching in the dirt, some children playing, old men sitting on benches watching and commenting and cats sitting in the shade studiously ignoring everything. A dog joined in the chase, a medium-sized smooth-coated tan mutt, which snapped at their heels and barked for a hundred yards until it got bored.
Yells of pursuit followed them, but some distance back. It had obviously taken a little while for the guards to get through the window in enough numbers to feel brave enough to start the pursuit. They must have been intimidated by the sight that had confronted them when they burst into the room.
It was enough of a head start for Silus and Atius to get clear. They zigged and zagged, taking random turns, until the noise of their pursuers faded away. Then they slowed to a walk, discarded the curved swords, and emerged from a narrow passageway on a main street. A small collection of stalls was situated about a hundred yards away, and they wandered over nonchalantly, letting their breathing slow, and paused to check out some pottery. Silus looked around surreptitiously, while Atius picked up a jug with a spout and handle and turned it over in
his hands speculatively.
‘All clear,’ whispered Silus.
‘Let’s find some transport and get out of here.’
The potter gave the men speaking the strange language an odd look, and watched them with vague interest as they went off in search of a mount.
* * *
Silus quickly realised that he had found a mode of transport that he hated even more than a horse or a boat. The camel driver who had led them in a train of three had laughed when Silus had mounted the kneeling beast and then let out a distinctly unmanly yelp as it had got to its feet. He had seen a camel fight a lion in the arena from a distance, and had seen them illustrated in mosaics, but he had not appreciated how big they were until he was up close. And how tall. If he tried to jump down from its back, he was pretty sure he would twist an ankle, if not break it. On top of this he had to endure not so subtle comments from Atius, usually a variation of, ‘Is this the best ride you’ve had recently?’
Not only this, but the motion as it walked had made him as nauseous as a boat trip. Ship of the desert, indeed. And in a final indignity, his thoughts kept drifting to Tekosis, to the night he had spent with her, her smooth body, her curves, her touch, her cries – which inevitably led to a swelling between his legs that was excruciating as the camel he was astride bumped up and down.
But the beasts had returned them to Menkheperresenb’s village in good time, faster than the donkeys they had used on their outward journey, and the legionaries looked relieved to see them. Menkheperresenb too seemed glad of their arrival and came hurrying over to greet them.
To dismount, the camel driver had his beast fold its legs underneath it, so he could slide easily from the saddle. Silus waited impatiently for the driver to instruct his own mount to do the same, but the driver walked up to him, gave him a gap-toothed smile and held his hand out. Silus sighed and tossed down the agreed fare, a few copper coins. The driver put the coins in his purse and then held his hand out again.
‘What do you want?’ asked Silus in Greek, but the driver shook his head, his smile still plastered in place. ‘I’ve paid you the agreed sum.’
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