by Meghan Ray
“I asked Leonidas where you were. At first he wouldn’t tell me, but I insisted. Then he said that you were involved in something dangerous and that it was connected to what happened to Meno. Well, in that case, it concerns my family and I deserve to know what is going on.”
“And Leonidas agreed with you?” Phil raised an eyebrow.
Themis looked down, “He said it wasn’t for him to tell me. That I could speak to you and ask you and that maybe you would tell me if you thought it was right.”
She was holding herself so still that Phil could tell she thought he was going to laugh at her. Well, he wasn’t in the mood for laughing. “You want to know what’s going on? You think that you deserve to know? Well I don’t mind telling you. I’ll tell you everything I know and you can make what you like of it.” He took a breath, “It seems that there’s a conspiracy here in Athens, against the democratic government which, bad as we all know it is, is still the best thing we’ve got. The conspirators, oligarchs,” Phil rolled his eyes, “have set up around the cult of Demeter and they have been taking money from the goddess’ treasury to finance their program of bribery and violence. Meno, as I’m sure you’ll agree, would never agree to something like that and I think he was beginning to suspect what was going on and that they attacked him to make sure he stayed out of their way.”
“So here we are. Government in peril, barbarians at the gate and all that. I know what the men are up to. I know who they are, at least some of them, but so far I can’t get near anyone who could help me. So now you know everything I know and you can see my problem. Do you feel better?”
Themis had been listening quietly but now she said, “Who do you think will help you, who can you be sure of?”
“I can’t be sure of many people. I think I can trust Nicias, he is a democrat to the core of his being, but I can’t get near him, can’t seem to go anywhere without running into the watchers. The conspirators are keeping their eyes open for me, especially around any of my friends. I have no way to tell who is involved, and they all have the advantage of knowing who I am and what I look like.”
“I could go.” She had spoken so quietly that Phil wasn’t sure he heard her.
“What did you say?”
“I said that I could go. I could get near Nicias. No one would be expecting me.”
“Unacceptable,” Phil shook his head. “It seems as if your father is going to live and, assuming that I do the same, I have to be able to look him in the face.”
“He would want me to do this. My father believes in Athens, faults and all, and I know he would want me to help.” Phil was shaking his head, knowing full well that Meno, for all his patriotism, would not want her to help. Themis raised her hand to stop Phil’s objections. “It wouldn’t be so dangerous for me. I could go to one of his symposia. I could dress up like a hetaera. I heard you saying that’s what I should be, well here’s my chance. Don’t worry, I would just stay long enough to speak to Nicias.”
Phil started to object again but then let himself consider the idea. “So you would go to Nicias’ and slip in as the entertainment. Then you wait for an opportunity and get Nicias alone. What if he recognizes you before you can speak to him and blows the whole deal?”
Themis shook her head. “I bet he won’t recognize me even when I am face to face with him, I mean I have met him but not often and not in that,” she searched for a word, “setting. He will never suspect. I can almost guarantee it.”
“You sound pretty positive.” Phil was watching Themis so he didn’t see Xanthius’ fist until almost too late. He stepped back in time to avoid the impact of the blow and it glanced almost harmlessly off his cheekbone. He turned to Xanthius, “What’s all this then?”
“You can’t let her do this! Sending her into danger, even telling her all this. You should be ashamed.”
“Oh, I am ashamed. But not for telling Themis what is going on or for listening to what she has to say. I think she is brave and pretty smart and I can trust her.”
Xanthius made to strike him again but Themis put a restraining hand on Xanthius’ shoulder and sat him back down.
She smiled at him, “I know that you want to protect me but this is something that I can do. I know you don’t like it but I need you to understand that you’re going to have to let me do it. You can come with me. Alright?” She smiled gently at the old man. “Father would want it this way. Really he would.”
`The old slave looked at Phil, “This is your fault,” and sat back on the couch.
“Nicias is probably having a symposium tonight. Xanthius, you go over and find out.” The slave started to object but Themis stopped him with a look. He nodded grudgingly and went out. “The first thing we have to do is to fix you up for a party.” Phil looked at her appraisingly. Themis shook her head, “No, the first thing you’re going to do is tell me about what to expect. I need a crash course in symposia etiquette. You’ve been to enough of them to be able to tell me what will be expected and how I need to behave so I won’t arouse suspicion. Remember, everything that seems obvious and natural to you will be strange to me, so tell me everything you can.” Phil smiled at her, “I’m beginning to think that you have an ulterior motive for wanting to do this, Themis.” He laughed at her expression, “I’m kidding. You’re going to have to learn to be less sensitive for a start. You are probably going to see and hear things that will make you want to either bolt or hit someone but you have to remember that you are supposed to be a professional, a professional who does this everyday. Okay?” “I will try my best.” “Your best is good enough for me. And keep in mind that if you start to feel that things are getting out of control, you can just leave, come back here and no one will think any less of you. Come on, let’s see if we can find some clothes for you somewhere upstairs while we talk.”
-12-
In the end, it took most of the day to find the right clothing and get Themis ready, working without a maid or anyone who knew how to dress a lady. But Phil had done the job in reverse enough times to give it a try. Xanthius came back with the news that there would be a symposium tonight.
“Good old reliable Nicias. Never one to sit home alone,” Phil muttered as he struggled with Themis’ hair. He had a pretty good idea what hetaerae hair was supposed to look like but he had no clue how to accomplish it. Finally, they settled on a simple style with her hair pulled off her face and allowed to fall in waves down her back. Themis’ prettiness would have to do the work for them. It was a sure bet that the women at the party wouldn’t be impressed with her but men notice fashion less and a beautiful woman doesn’t need much extra decoration to get their attention. And that was what counted tonight.
Phil suddenly really considered the consequences of what they were doing. He started to imagine the lecherous guests eyeing her and drunkenly pawing her and began to have second thoughts. She stood up to go.
He put a hand on her arm, “I don’t think you should go.” “I have to try, Phil, you know I do.”
She put up her hands in a gesture of supplication. “Please, let’s not fight.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose that it’s up to you but let me know how I am supposed to live with myself if anything happens to you.”
She just smiled and shook her head, “This isn’t the time for us to think about ourselves.”
“Easy for you to say.” But he let it drop.
The next problem would be getting Themis inside Nicias’ mansion. While she had been dressing Phil had carefully rehearsed her on what she was to tell Nicias. She was letter perfect in the speech by the time she was ready to go but getting inside to deliver it was going to be the challenge.
They all set out at once. Themis and Xanthius went together in the lead and Phil shadowed them at a discreet distance. The house was not far and they arrived without incident. Sure enough there were a couple of thuggish loiterers hanging out across the road from the house. Phil faded farther back into the shadows and Themis went up to the door and
knocked. Almost at once the porter opened the door and Phil could see the bright lights cast by the torches in the courtyard.
The doorman was reluctant to admit Themis because she had come accompanied only by an old slave. She posed a problem for him because she was clearly not a dancing girl or a musician and yet she wasn’t with a male guest. The porter was going to send her off but she kept insisting that she had been invited. Swayed both by her educated way of speaking and by her looks, he had finally decided to go inside to check her story when luck brought a group of boisterous guests to the door. The man, reluctant to leave his post while the group of guests waited, motioned impatiently for Themis and Xanthius to go inside which they did without waiting to be asked twice.
After that Phil waited, trying not to pace. He considered going over to try to get a look in the windows but realized that if he were caught, things would be worse than they were already. So he waited, hour after hour for Themis to reappear. When she finally did he almost missed her. She had hurried out the door and down the street so quickly that it took him a minute to recognize her and catch her up. The two moved down the street away from the house and the watchers.
Themis shook her head and murmured, “Gods, that was awful, Phil, I had no idea.” she smiled but her face was drawn, “I could really use a drink. I left Xanthius outside the party to follow developments there.” Phil nodded and hurried them along. They were back at house within a few minutes.
“Okay, give. What happened?”
Themis tried to smile but she was clearly tired out by the night’s events. She poured herself some of the watered wine that was left on the table from the afternoon. “It was just as you said it would be, music, drinking, sex everywhere. You know I always heard that men discussed philosophy at those things. Anyway, after they let me in it took a while to find Nicias and then when I did, I didn’t want go straight over to him because it would look suspicious. So I tried to blend in for a while and then I went over to him and told him that we should go someplace private where we could be alone. He didn’t recognize me (just as I said) and he was interested, so we went over to a private corner. He was drunk already and didn’t understand me right away. But once I got him to see who I was he was so surprised that he almost did give everything away. I had to hold on to him with all my strength to keep him from jumping up and ruining everything. Even with all my precautions, there was a man staring at us. I saw him watching us the whole time we were together. I told Nicias about him, pointed him out but he said not worry, that he could handle it.”
“Anyway, I told him what I was supposed to and he said he understood and that he would take care of everything. Then he told me he would have to wait until the symposium was over so he wouldn’t give the game away. I left him but I didn’t want to leave the party right away because that would have looked funny. A man said that he wanted to read me some of his poetry and that sounded all right so I went with him. Needless to say, he didn’t want to read poetry at all. It was lucky that he liked wine more than he liked me. I just kept refilling his cup and kept him talking and eventually he passed out. And then I left.”
“I told Xanthius to stick around and see what happened. He was pretending to sleep in a doorway when I left him.” Themis finished her story and took another drink of wine. She was obviously exhausted.
Phil fought the urge to put his arms around her. “Let’s get you cleaned up and then to bed.” She nodded mutely and let herself be led to the small washroom off the courtyard. Phil poured some water into a basin and Themis scrubbed the last traces of make up from her face. She looked incredibly young and vulnerable. Phil reached out to brush some hair from her face. Themis looked up and met his eyes.
There was a loud pounding from the door. “Damn,” Phil swore under his breath, “That must be Xanthius back with news.” The pounding grew louder and more insistent as they hurried across the courtyard. Phil threw back the bolt and opened the door. Xanthius rushed in, breathless and clearly upset, “Nicias was attacked.”
“What, what did you say?”
“Nicias, he was attacked. Men surrounded him, he was attacked.”
Phil drew his breath and asked the gods for patience, “Slowly now, tell us from the beginning what happened.”
Xanthius made a visible effort to compose himself. “I was waiting in a doorway pretending to sleep. The guests began to leave in small groups, making noise, looking for some place to go next. Then, once they had all gone away, Nicias came out.”
Phil interrupted, “Was he alone?”
Xanthius shook his head, “No, he had maybe half a dozen very sturdy looking bodyguards with him. They started toward the Agora, toward the council house probably, and then out of nowhere men appeared and Nicias and his men were surrounded. They fought, it was hard to see what was happening but I heard one of his men say Nicias was wounded. Then his men surrounded him and started to bring him back to his house. After that the attackers broke off and melted into the night.”
“Did they go off in any particular direction?”
“No, they scattered.” Xanthius took a cup of wine from Themis. He raised the wine to his mouth with a shaking hand and drank whatever didn’t spill over the side.
Phil felt his guilt and disappointment struggle with fatigue, “Okay, you did very well. You must be tired. Lay down in here,” Phil gestured toward the andron. “You too, Themis. Why don’t you go upstairs and get some rest.”
“What are you going to do?” She saw the look on his face, “You know you can’t blame yourself for this. This isn’t just your problem anymore, there is too much at stake.”
“I know but I should have figured something like this would happen. I knew they were watching Nicias. It doesn’t solve a problem just to pass it on to someone else. All that does is shift the danger off of you and onto them and doesn’t help anything.”
Phil could see Themis was struggling just to stay on her feet. He put an arm out to steady her. She smiled, “There is a way, Phil. We just need to find it.”
“Yeah sure, easy. Now go to bed before I carry you.” He watched while she went up the stairs and then turned and went into the andron. He lay down opposite the already snoring Xanthius but before he could even adjust the cushions he heard a pounding at the door. “Gods, what now.” He practically had to drag himself across the courtyard. He opened and looked through the small grate and then unbolted the door.
“Leonidas, what are you doing here. It’s the middle of…” Before he could finish Leonidas gave a firm push to the door and walked into the court. Close on his heels were two hulking bodyguard types. “Leonidas, what is going on?” Phil knew he was repeating himself but he was beginning to get a picture and he didn’t like it.
Leonidas made a bitter face and said, “Why Phil? Why not just take the blasted coin and sell it at the beginning?” Leonidas was holding a stout sword, not brandishing it or anything, just holding it loosely at his side while his men each moved around to close Phil in as he slowly retreated across the court.
“Zeus, Leonidas if all you wanted was to finish me off why drag me out of the Eleusinium?”
“Simple, we weren’t sure if you still had the coin. We were really hoping to hang onto that if it was at all possible. But you took care of that.” Leonidas smiled sourly. “It’s easy to be moral when you’re rich, ever notice.” He made his voice an unflattering falsetto “‘Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly sell your coin. It wouldn’t be right.’ Well now here we are and things aren’t right, are they? Damn it Phil, why couldn’t you just have sold it?”
Phil shook his head, “Are you asking me, Leonidas, because I would have thought that you knew me well enough to know the answer. But it’s pretty clear that we don’t know one another as well as we thought. Why are you doing this?”
“Money, just that. I know you won’t understand because you have never been without it, but that’s my only reason and it’s generally considered a pretty good one.”
“Don’t make my
life sound so easy. I had to do without other things, you’ve seen for yourself,” Phil was making an effort to keep Leonidas talking and at the same time keep an eye on the two guards at his sides. “Life isn’t easy, with money or without. There is always something that’s missing.”
Leonidas kept his attention on Phil’s face, meeting his eyes, “Maybe so but I am willing to change places for a while and give the other side a try.” Leonidas smiled but his eyes were full of malice. He stepped forward and started to lift his sword but his foot rolled on a loose stone and he took a half step to get his balance. Phil took his opportunity and crouching, grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it into Leonidas’s face, kicking out at the guard on his right as he did so. The other guard moved in but Phil was ready and, using the man’s own momentum, he drove his fist into the oncoming gut. The man grunted and went down on one knee. The first guard was already up and so was Leonidas. Things were going to go from bad to worse. Leonidas started to move forward again but all of a sudden, he stopped and with a puzzled look on his face, he tumbled forward onto the ground in front of Phil.
Phil didn’t stop to think, he turned to face the right-hand guard and after a brief struggle had just succeeded in knocking the man to the ground when he noticed that Xanthius had arrived and was using a stout piece of wood, maybe the leg off a table, to take the remaining guard out of the action.
“Thanks, that’s two to you.” Phil smiled at the old slave.
“Not two, just this one.” Phil heard a noise from above and looked up in time to see Themis pull her head in from the second floor balcony. In another minute, she was down in the courtyard with them surveying the damage.
“So…that was you?” Phil pointed to Leonidas.
Themis nodded smiling.
“Good shot.” Phil was impressed with her aim, “What did you use?”