‘Yes, master.’ Ahmose bowed and hurried out of the room once more. Master Ariston began singing again but the mood in the room had changed. The incident had obviously caused Master Zenon a lot of embarrassment. Rich men like him are meant to have the best slaves in the city, not careless ones who destroy priceless treasures.
Thrax was shaking with anger when we went to bed that night. But it wasn’t the broken wedding vase that had upset him. ‘Did you hear Master Zenon?’ he fumed. ‘A poor girl breaks a piece of pottery and she’s packed off to the slave market without a second thought. There’s no attempt to find out if it was an accident, or if somebody else smashed the vase. I tell you, Nico, there’s no justice in this world if you’re a slave.’
CHAPTER SIX
An Offer of Gold
The next morning dawned grey and misty, which was unusual for spring in Corinth. Master Ariston woke up late in a foul mood. The disaster at last night’s party had spoiled his creative flow. How could he write romantic poems when all people wanted to talk about was a smashed wedding vase?
‘I’m going to the barber to have my hair trimmed,’ he said, pushing away his breakfast of bread and wine. ‘And then I am going to the sacred spring for inspiration. Neither of you need come with me. I’m taking Ariana. I want total solitude until the muse returns. Thrax, fetch me my himation.’
He popped a few small coins in the side of his mouth in case he wanted to buy refreshments, and left. Thrax and I wolfed down the remains of his breakfast.
‘I’m still hungry,’ said Thrax, rinsing the breakfast bowl at the well in the yard. ‘Staring at all that delicious party food yesterday has given me a giant’s appetite.’
‘Let’s beg some fruit from the cook,’ I suggested. ‘I met her yesterday and she looked quite friendly.’
We wandered into the kitchen, a long, low-ceilinged room to one side of the yard. There was a large blackened pot simmering under a hole in the roof for the smoke and next to it a copper brazier used for making breakfast pancakes. A heap of freshly picked beans lay on a table waiting to be podded but Cook was nowhere to be seen. I noticed two large wicker baskets in a corner. Both were filled with loaves of freshly baked bread.
‘Don’t touch them,’ said Thrax. ‘And let’s get out before someone sees us. If we’re accused of stealing you might end up in exile and I’d be pushed to my death off the Acrocorinth.’
We were about to leave when a scraping sound stopped us dead in our tracks. One of the bread baskets in the corner wobbled and moved sideways. A hooded figure in a dark himation rose up behind it. It extended a finger towards us and hissed. ‘Come, follow me.’
Looking closer, I noticed the figure had emerged from a dark hole in the wall. The wicker basket had been hiding the entrance to a secret passage!
‘I’ve been waiting here for ages, hoping you’d come to the kitchen,’ whispered the dark shape again. ‘I beg you, come with me. We haven’t much time before Cook returns from the fish market. It’s a matter of life and death.’
The figure ducked back into the passage and we followed. ‘Push the bread basket back in place and close the door behind you,’ the figure hissed at Thrax, who was bringing up the rear. ‘I don’t want Cook to discover the secret passage.’
Thrax did as we were asked.
‘Don’t be scared,’ continued the figure, taking down a flickering lamp from a ledge in the tunnel. ‘We’ll be out of here in no time.’
‘Neither of us is scared, ma’am,’ said Thrax.
Ma’am? Trust Thrax to have noticed that the mysterious figure in the swirling cloak was high-born. I hadn’t even noticed it was a girl.
We came to a wooden ladder and the girl handed me the lamp. ‘Hold this, please.’
She clambered up the rungs and a moment later, pale light flooded down into the passage. The mysterious girl had opened another door. Thrax and I followed her, stepping out into a fragrant-smelling room.
The girl threw back her himation to release a cascade of dark curly hair. She was very pretty, with large green eyes and a gold necklace around her neck.
‘That secret passage is very handy,’ she said as she closed the door behind us and dragged a chest to hide it. ‘It was built a long time ago so that the women in the house could escape during pirate raids. Now Corinth is so powerful the pirates don’t raid our houses any more and the passage has been forgotten. Welcome to the women’s quarters.’
The room we were in was much more lavishly decorated than any I had seen before. The walls were a soft pink, with a pattern of scalloped seashells painted in a border just below the ceiling.
A chair and table sat in a corner, both beautifully carved and painted a bright blue. Next to them was a second chest with a metal lock shaped like a Medusa’s head. Tucked under a window on the other side of the room was a single bed with soft pillows.
‘You have a very nice bedroom, ma’am,’ said Thrax, ‘but if my friend and I are caught in here we’ll be in serious trouble.’
‘Don’t worry,’ replied the girl. ‘There’s no one about. Father and Ahmose are offering sacrifice at the temple and I sent Nanny out to look for wild cherries. I insisted she get me a whole basketful so she won’t be back for a while. My mother and sister are weaving on the other side of the house.’
She held out her hand in greeting as if she were a boy. ‘My name is Fotini. I am the bride’s younger sister.’
‘We’re both pleased to meet you,’ said Thrax, shaking her hand. ‘But why have you brought us here?’
‘I need your help,’ replied Mistress Fotini. ‘Please wait a moment.’ She shut the window, then pulled up two stools to the bed and reclined on the pillows. ‘Sit, both of you. As you know, my slave girl Gaia was accused of smashing my sister’s wedding vase last night. My father was very embarrassed by the incident so he’s decided to sell her. Gaia has been my personal slave ever since I can remember and I want her to stay. She’s like a sister to me.’
‘Do you think she is to blame?’ I asked.
‘The loutrophoros was in my sister’s room,’ said Mistress Fotini. ‘Gaia was in there when the accident happened but she swears she didn’t break it. The girl can be a bit of a dreamer but I believe her.’
‘With all due respect,’ said Thrax, ‘I don’t see what this has got to do with Nico and me.’
‘I eavesdropped on my father having lunch with the poet yesterday,’ said Mistress Fotini. ‘Your master described how you settled an argument between the rowers on board the Danais. It seems you have a talent for solving mysteries. Will you find out who really smashed the vase?’
‘It’s not wise for a slave to get involved in a dispute between freemen,’ replied Thrax.
‘Please,’ said Mistress Fotini gently. ‘Think about it before you refuse me. If you do find the culprit, I will pay you... in gold.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
Enter the Cyclops
‘You must take on the case,’ I said to Thrax as we slipped out of the kitchen. Mistress Fotini had let us out of her room through the secret passage, reminding us to put the bread basket back in place.
Thrax looked at me defiantly. ‘Why should I? Mistress Fotini can get another slave to do her bidding.’
I filled a cup of water for both of us and we took them out to the yard. ‘I heard you talking in your sleep back home in Athens. You said you wanted to find your mother in Thrace when you have enough money. Well, now’s your chance. Mistress Fotini said she’d pay you in gold. With your keen eye for detail and your intelligence, you’ll have the reward under your belt in no time. And you could go on solving mysteries for other people until you have all the money you need. Before you know it, you’ll be rich and free.’
‘I don’t need help from wealthy slave owners,’ snapped Thrax. ‘I’ll find another way to make money.’
‘How?’ I said. ‘By becoming a thief yourself? Slaves don’t get that many opportunities to gain riches. Besides, you wouldn’t just be helping Mistress Fotin
i, you’d be saving Gaia too. Remember how angry you were when Master Zenon said he was going to sell her?’
Thrax didn’t reply. A faraway look came into his eyes and I knew he was thinking hard. We sat in the shade of a vine and I sipped the cool water. The sun rose higher in the sky, poking its hot rays through the vine, but I didn’t dare move. I didn’t want to disturb Thrax while he was thinking. Above me the swallows twittered as they darted in out of the holes in the courtyard walls and the doves cooed on the windowsills.
At last Thrax opened his eyes again.
‘You’re right, Nico,’ he said, ‘this might be my only chance to make some money and buy freedom for my mother and myself. I’ll take on the case – on two conditions.’
I looked at him, puzzled. ‘What?’
‘The first is that you’ll be my assistant,’ said Thrax. ‘I’m going to need a lot of help if I’m to solve this mystery. The second is that you write about the case. If I have a talent for solving problems, you have one for writing.’
Write about solving mysteries! Now why hadn’t I thought of that? I was pretty sure no author in Hellas was writing mystery stories. This could be the perfect opportunity for me to make my mark in the world of storytelling.
‘By the writing hand of Cadmus, it’s a deal,’ I said. We shook hands to seal the agreement and Thrax suggested we beg some cooking wine off Cook to celebrate.
She’d just come back from the market with the shopping, a short woman, round as a water jug with dark hair cropped close to her head. She spoke with a strange accent, which Thrax said marked her out as a woman from Phrygia, a land to the east of Hellas. One of his friends at the farm near Thebes had also come from the same country. She gave us not only wine but hunks of stale cake to dip in it too.
‘There’s no symposium tonight,’ she said as we helped her put away the shopping. ‘Master Zenon is taking part in a secret ceremony out in the woods. He’s invited your master to go along with him. It’s a very hush-hush ceremony for rich men only. No boys allowed. All slaves in the house have the night off so there’s only the three of us for supper tonight. I’ll make a special treat from back home. Rabbit stew with beans.’
She poked me gently in the tummy and laughed. ‘You look like you enjoy your food and your friend here needs more of it to keep his muscles big and strong.’
I was delighted to hear we were in for a lavish banquet, and that the house would be almost deserted. It gave Thrax and me the chance to let Mistress Fotini know he was taking on the case.
Master Ariston came back from the sacred spring, wanting to be pampered and perfumed. For the next few hours Thrax was kept busy heating water, scrubbing his spotty back and rubbing him down with perfumed oil till he smelt like cherry blossom. When, at last, both masters were ready to leave, Ahmose brought round a horse-drawn carriage and they disappeared down the scrubby road.
We had our dinner out in the courtyard, with Cook refilling our bowls the moment we emptied them. The stars were twinkling in the sky by the time we finished the meal and Cook belched loudly. Thrax offered to wash the dishes and she retired to bed in a small chamber off the kitchen.
When we could hear her snoring, I pushed aside the bread basket and we crept into the secret passage. A few minutes later we had scaled the ladder and I rapped on the secret door.
Mistress Fotini answered it. ‘Welcome back,’ she whispered. ‘But I’m afraid we’ll have to be quiet. Pandora is sleeping in the room next door.’ She lit a small lamp and placed it carefully on a three-legged table.
‘Nico’s convinced me to take on the case,’ said Thrax, settling on the stool he’d sat on earlier, ‘but I need to convince myself that Gaia is innocent. When can I speak to her?’
‘Right now,’ replied Mistress Fotini. She went to the chest with the Medusa lock and carefully pulled it open. There was a rustle of linen as a little girl stood up. She peered around the room with big frightened eyes.
‘These boys are friends,’ said Mistress Fotini gently. ‘They’re going to prove that you didn’t break Mistress Pandora’s wedding vase.’
Gaia stepped out of the chest shyly, watching Thrax and I as if we were foxes about to pounce on a duckling. She looked younger than her mistress by a couple of years, with skin that glowed almost like glass in the lamplight. I guessed she was Syrian or perhaps Egyptian like Ahmose.
‘This boy wants to ask you some questions,’ Mistress Fotini explained. ‘His name is Thrax. And his friend here is Nico.’
Gaia looked from me to Thrax then lowered her gaze to the floor. ‘I promise I didn’t smash Mistress Pandora’s wedding vase, sir,’ she said softly.
‘You don’t need to call me “sir”,’ said Thrax. ‘I am a slave like you. Now tell me what happened.’
‘It was starting to get dark,’ began Gaia. ‘Mistress Pandora ordered me to light the lamps in her room.’
‘Why did Mistress Pandora ask you to do that?’ asked Thrax. ‘Doesn’t she have a personal slave of her own?’
‘Yes, her name is Kaliope,’ said Gaia. ‘But she was taking a long time choosing a necklace.’
‘We invited a Persian merchant woman to come and show us her jewellery,’ explained Mistress Fotini. ‘She specialises in ornaments for weddings. Father said even the slaves are to have necklaces for the wedding. We were all in the gynaikeion choosing pieces when the accident happened.’
Thrax smiled at Gaia. ‘So you’d chosen your own necklace for the wedding and Mistress Pandora sent you to light the lamps in her room. Was the window open when you went in?’
‘Yes.’
‘As you know it was hot last night,’ said Mistress Fotini. ‘We had the windows in the women’s quarters wide open to let in the breeze.’
‘And we wanted to hear the sound of the party downstairs,’ added Gaia.
‘Was there anyone in the room when you went in?’ asked Thrax.
Gaia shook her head. ‘No one.’
‘And where was the vase?’
‘It was on the linen chest in the corner. I didn’t need to get close to see how beautiful it was. The moonlight from the window made it glow so brightly I could see the picture on it from across the room. It was such a pretty picture. There was a wedding cart with horses taking the bride to her new home. She looked just like Mistress Pandora. A groom was driving the cart. He was as handsome as I imagine Prince Theseus was. And there were children in the picture too, waving and cheering. It must be very exciting riding on a wedding cart to your new home. I want to be a bride one day.’
‘Did you not wonder if there might be something inside the vase?’ asked Thrax. ‘I’m always tempted to look inside a pot in case there’s something in it.’
‘Gaia knew the vase was empty,’ Mistress Fotini put in. ‘We both watched Mother unpack it.’
Thrax nodded and turned to Gaia again. ‘So you were standing across the room in the dark, dreaming of the day when you too will be a happy bride. What happened next?’
‘I heard a grunt,’ said Gaia. ‘I looked round and there was a horrible-looking man climbing through the window. He didn’t see me because I was standing in the dark. But I saw him. Ugh! He smelt like an open tomb when we go to pay our respects at the graveyard.’
‘Why didn’t you scream when you saw him?’ asked Thrax.
Gaia’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I tried, but no sound came out of my mouth.’
‘That does tend to happen when we get very scared,’ said Thrax gently. ‘What did you do next?’
‘Nothing,’ said Gaia. ‘I was so terrified I felt as if I’d turned into a statue. The thief picked up the wedding vase and I think it slipped out of his hands. I couldn’t see properly because he had his back to me. The crash was so loud it made him jump. Then he grabbed one of the pieces of broken pottery and disappeared out of the window. Kaliope ran into the room a few moments later. She screamed when she saw the broken vase and that made me scream too. Then Mistress Pandora came running down the corridor. I told her abou
t the thief smashing the vase but when we looked out of the window there was no one in the lane. So I got blamed and now I must be sold.’
‘Father won’t sell you, I promise,’ Mistress Fotini comforted her, squeezing Gaia’s hand and giving her a honey cake from a small dish. ‘I won’t let him do it.’
She turned to Thrax. ‘I’ll take her to the temple of Aphrodite tomorrow. The priestesses will give her sanctuary until you catch the thief. I donate a lot of money to the temple because I’m going to be a priestess myself when I grow up. They wouldn’t dare refuse me.’
‘Was there anything else in the room that the burglar might have been tempted to steal?’ asked Thrax.
‘Yes,’ Mistress Fotini answered for her slave. ‘Jewellery and some money. But the thief didn’t notice them. He must have panicked when he smashed the vase.’
‘Did you get a good look at the thief’s face?’ Thrax asked Gaia. ‘If you saw him again, would you recognise him?’
‘Oh yes,’ replied Gaia without hesitation. ‘He had a terrible face with only one eye. He was a Cyclops.’
There was silence in the room as we all thought about Gaia’s statement.
‘Seeing a Cyclops can be terrifying,’ said Thrax at last.
‘And she did notice some other things about him,’ Mistress Fotini nudged Gaia. ‘Go on, tell Thrax and Nico.’
‘He was really huge and tall,’ whispered Gaia. ‘And I noticed his arms when he reached for the vase. They were covered in horrible scars.’
‘You’ve had a horrible experience,’ said Thrax. ‘But don’t be scared any more. Nico and I are going to find him and bring him to justice. Have you told this to anyone else?’
Gaia hung her head. ‘Only Master Zenon, and he doesn’t believe me. He thinks I’ve made the story up.’
Thrax turned to Mistress Fotini. ‘You must take her to the temple at once. We’ll be in touch again soon. Goodnight.’
Mistress Fotini let us out of her room and we stole back to our sleeping corner in the storeroom. The house was still silent. The male slaves had not yet come back from their night in town.
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