Michael folded his arms as he gazed upon Jason with asperity. "Is that so? I am gratified to have given Your Highness so much cause for mirth and good spirits."
"Don't take it so hard, at least he didn't look at you like you had two heads," Amy said. "Where do we go from here anyway?"
"I have an idea about that," Jason said. "Rather than spending money we don't have trying to find an inn, or sleeping rough in the Subura, I think I can get us beds in the Metics' Quarter for as long as we need them. For free."
"The Metics' Quarter?" Amy asked.
"Where most of the foreigners in the city live, traditionally," Jason explained.
"Ah, so it's like the Caedan district in Ocean's Heart."
"I suppose so," Jason said. "Does everyone agree?"
"I think so, it sounds a most efficacious plan," Gideon said. "Lead on, Jason."
Eternal Pantheia turned out to be a lot more squalid from inside the walls than it had looked from without. The houses were packed together like rats in a fleapit, and there were no gaps between them except those forced through by the streets and roads. The streets were full of filth, which no one seemed inclined to do anything about but rather stepped over, around or in the case of some straight through as if it wasn’t there. The various aromas that seemed to drift up from all corners meant that Michael could not smell anything more than a generic mulch of city scents, and all he could hear was the loud and hectic chatter of the city crowds.
“If you think this is bad you should stay well away from the Subura, it makes this seem gleaming by comparison. The city is built on squalor,” Jason said. “Pack as many people as possible into as small a space as they can. In my opinion, you are far better off in the countryside.”
"Better this squalor than the strictures of the castes," Wyrrin said.
"I don't completely agree with you," Amy said. “A peasant's life is all very well if it's all you know and you have a good lord to take care of you. But I understand why people choose this grim life. Even if you find only dirt here, it's no worse than the dirt you'd find at home, and here there is the slim chance of finding something more.”
“Michael,” Gideon said quietly. “Don’t act so in awe of the place, you look like a country boy with no experience of the big city.”
“But that is what I am," Michael replied.
“Yes, but best not shout it.” Jason said. “Or every dishonest person in Eternal Pantheia will try and take you for a ride.”
Michael frowned. "The capital of a great empire should be able to treat its citizens better than this."
"They have clean water courtesy of the aqueducts, law, peace, security, they could be much worse off," Gideon said.
"Yes, but what is the point of being Mistress of the World if your streets are as filthy as the hut of any painted savage?" Michael asked.
"You may have the opportunity to change that, if you still wish to, one day," Gideon said.
Jason led them through these gloomy streets, into a somewhat better kept area of the city. The houses were still poor looking, but the streets were clean and there was a sense of pride evident in the care of the residences that had been absent elsewhere. Michael guessed that they had entered the Metics' Quarter.
Is it not shameful that foreigners should care for our city better than our own citizens do?
His Highness brought them to a cul-de-sac with a two-storey building that looked similar to an inn but did not quite feel like such. The walls were painted red, the door was a particularly lurid shade of pink, and something about it just did not suggest inn to Michael.
Jason smiled as they drew near the place, his grin widening with every step he took.
There was a dark-skinned girl working outside the building, sweeping the street. She looked up, and when she caught sight of Jason her large brown eyes widened in amazement.
Jason stopped, leaning on his staff. "Glad to see that the place is still here, Elissa. I'm glad to see you're still here too. It's been too long."
Elissa gasped, dropped her broom and dashed inside, throwing the pink door shut behind her as she went.
"You're popular around here," Amy said.
"Just wait," Jason murmured.
After a few moments, the pink door opened again and a small, plump woman with dark skin and blonde hair shorter than Michael's own emerged into the street.
"Lamb?" she said, in what after only a little while in the city Michael could already recognise as an incredibly thick Pantheian accent. "Little lamb, is that you?"
Jason chuckled. "It's me. Though I'm not so lost as I used to be. It's good to see you Dido."
"Good? It's bloody marvellous to see you lad, come here, give us a hug," Dido dashed down the road even as Jason ran to meet her, and the two met in an embrace halfway between the building and Jason's comrades. Dido only came up to the lower half of Jason's chest, but she held him so tight and he embraced her with such obvious affection that had he not known of Jason's family situation Michael might have taken Dido for his mother.
"Oh it's good to see you home, boy, so good to see you, I was so worried." Dido pulled away from him, standing on tiptoe to put a hand to his face. "You been eating properly?"
"Yes, mother," Jason grinned.
"And staying out of trouble?"
"Um, well─"
"I thought as much," Dido glanced towards the others. "And who are these?"
"These are my friends. They've kept me safe through a lot of dangerous times. Dido, meet Michael, Amy, Gideon and Wyrrin. Everyone this is Dido, proprietor of Dido's House of Pleasures. Dido, we need somewhere to stay while we're in the city."
"Say no more, lamb, say no more," Dido said. "You can stay as long as you want to and won't everyone be overjoyed to see you. And if you kept this boy safe then you're always welcome here."
"Thank you, you are most kind," Michael bowed. "And your generosity deserves to become proverbial."
In answer to Dido's inquiring glance, Jason said, "He's from Corona." He said it in such a way as to suggest it explained everything. Judging by the way Dido nodded it evidently did.
"Come in, come in," Dido said. "Sophoniba, everybody, look who's here! The Lamb's come home!"
She dragged Jason into the House of Pleasures. The others followed bemusedly in his wake, and in the short time between Jason entering and Michael following he had already been swamped by admirers.
The interior of Dido's House of Pleasures was rather a shock to Michael. The interior was decorated all in red: red silk drapes hung from all the walls, red carpets covered the floor, everything that could be coloured in some shade of scarlet was. Several of the people inside were also dressed in some kind of flowing red dresses, but mostly what shocked Michael was not the colour they were wearing, but how little they all had on. Dido was wearing a rather sensible blouse and skirt, and Elissa was dressed appropriately for a well-regarded maidservant, but practically all those who now thronged about His Highness were dressed so shamefully that that there was nowhere Michael felt he could decently turn his eyes. The women ─ some of them were girls his own age ─ seemed mostly to be wearing only what was necessary to cover their breasts and their...ahem. The men were wearing the kind of jockstraps that Michael had worn on occasion for wrestling, though was certain that it was an entirely different kind of physical exertion that they were dressed for.
He looked up at the ceiling as his face started to burn, furiously ignoring the feeling in his trousers. Mother, if you can see me I had no knowledge of what this place was. I was brought here under false pretences.
"Michael, what in Pelarius are you doing?" Jason broke free of all those clamouring to ply him with greetings, congratulations, drinks and who knows what in a place like this to put a hand on Michael's shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"No I am not all right," Michael snapped. "You have brought us to a wh─"
"If you say that word I will shove my staff so far up your arse that I can pick your nose," Jason said calmly.
"These are my friends, my family and I expect you to respect that; do I make myself clear?"
Michael had to smile a little at that. Finally His Highness had found the commanding tone fitting in a prince. But he still said, "Nevertheless Your Highness this is grossly inappropriate. If my late mother could see my now-"
"Will you calm down and get off that wretched high horse of yours?" Jason said. "Amy, Gideon, Wyrrin, this doesn't bother you, does it?"
"The so-called Pleasures of this House leave me cold, but I feel no moral outrage towards this place in particular," Gideon said. "Much as I dislike excess license, I suppose that so long as it is permitted someone may as well profit from it."
"It almost reminds me of home," Amy said. "Except you've still got too many clothes on."
"Humans always wear too many clothes," Wyrrin said.
Jason laughed. "There, you see? Welcome, to Dido's House of Pleasures, where nothing is taboo and everything is permitted. I learned some of the most valuable lessons of my life here."
"I am not entirely sure I wish to know, Your Highness," Michael murmured.
Jason rolled his eyes. "Not quite what I meant. Although some of those too. Try and treat these people as people, that's all they are. Come, let me introduce you all."
Michael was introduced to a dizzying blizzard of people in the moments that followed, so that only a handful of names and faces stayed with him: Asharbal not only looked Triazican but, unlike Dido, actually was; Calypso was the tallest of the young ladies and carried a whip for some reason Michael did not want to guess at; Juno's skin was a shade not quite like anything Michael had ever seen before. Then there was Io, Medea, Thymbria, Hector, Paris, Laocoon the bouncer. All spared him a glance, a nod or perhaps a word before turning back to dote upon His Highness like a kitten that had wandered in, wide-eyed and fluffy, in search of food.
Dido and Jason together introduced Dido's two daughters, Sophoniba and Elissa. Michael was surprised to find that the meek girl he had taken for a servant was the owner's daughter, especially when set against Sophoniba's lithe, full-lipped and wide-mouthed beauty. Sophoniba oozed what he might politely term confidence while Elissa, drab in her maid's garb compared with Sophoniba's scandalous attire, seemed as though she wished only to be invisible.
In the midst of all of this decadence Michael clung to his courtesy as a drowning man might cling to a rope. He bowed and kissed the hand of every lady with whom he was presented, ignoring the funny looks he was given, and greeted each man with a firm grasping of the hand.
Sophoniba chuckled at his behaviour. "You know, when I imagine the kind of man the lamb might take as a friend, I never imagine anyone like you."
"That is because there is no one like me, ma'am," Michael said. "I am the Last Firstborn of Old Corona and there's not another such as I in all Pelarius."
Sophoniba chuckled again. "Well however odd you are, the lamb says you saved his life, and we owe you thanks for that."
"Yes, thank you so much," Elissa whispered.
"She talks, now there's a wonder," Sophoniba laughed.
"Speak up Elissa, it's a wonder he heard you," Dido chided. "Look at your sister now; she isn't nervous before some man whatever he calls himself."
"Yes, mother," Elissa sighed.
"I don't know where you get it from," Dido shook her head. "Jason! What are you and your friends doing tonight?"
"Um-" Jason said.
"You're going to be here, we're celebrating your return, and I’ll have the whole gang round."
Jason looked at Gideon.
"We can spare the time, I think, I need a little while to consider our plans in any event," Gideon said. "We thank you for your hospitality."
"Elissa, show them to their rooms, if you can find the way," Dido said. She began to chide her people away from Jason. "Now, now boys and girls, customers might come at any time, look lively now."
"Can you do me a favour, our Amy?" Michael asked. "Can you take my pack and sling it into my room? I have some business to take care of."
"Of course." Amy took Michael's pack. "Sure you don't want me to come with?"
"No, thank you for the offer, but this is something I have to do by myself," Michael said. "It is a promise that I made. Filia Elissa, do you know where the devotees of Aulo care for the sick?"
"Um, it's-" Elissa stammered, before Sophoniba cut her off with a quick laugh.
"The place is called Aulo's Hospital, and it's on Hospital Row, the street is named after the place. It's in the Imperial City, the next level up. It's all right Elissa, you can stop swallowing your tongue now."
Michael glanced between the two sisters for a moment, his brown furrowing a little, but he had something important to take care of and a great desire to exit the House of Pleasures, so he turned away with his red cloak billowing behind him and strode out through the pink door.
Once outside, even the hitherto oppressive heat of the sun seemed cool compared to the inferno of embarrassment he had felt at being in such a house of shame. "God forgive me," Michael muttered.
He set off towards the Imperial City.
Michael soon learned that it was easy to tell where you where in Eternal Pantheia by which set of walls were currently enclosing you: the grey stone Old Wall raised by Panthus, the Aenean Wall built by the first Prince Imperial or the shining white New Wall erected by Aegeus III. Wherever one was one needed only to look up and the kind of stone looming above him would let a man know roughly where he was.
So Michael was able to find the Imperial City by heading inwards towards the walls that suddenly rose above the houses and the shops, and by following the same main road he and the others had used the enter the city he was able to find the Gate of Aegea, which bore the legend Aegea the Divine, by Grace and the Will of Heaven Empress of All the World, Raised This Gateway in spite of the fact it had been erected by her son. While the frieze above the Great Gate showed the Novarian Gods bestowing bounty upon the Emperor, the image above this gate was of the Divine Empress herself, flanked by a wolf on her right and a winged unicorn upon her left, a divine figure standing at once both commandingly and protectively over her son, his defender and the authority to which he answered. This gate, too, was guarded, but these guards were not so interested in checking people trying to pass through the gate and Michael was waved through without difficulty.
The citizens were helpful enough when Michael had to ask for directions and so he found the hospital swiftly. It was a large building of yellow brick that took up all of the right side of Hospital Row. It was only a single storey high but so grandly and solidly built that it still loomed over the houses on either side. In front of the sturdy wooden doors, which were open, stood a man-size statue of Aulo, her robes gathered in one hand while she held out the other hand imploringly. At her feet was a box for donations.
"I wish I had something to give you, ma'am," Michael murmured before he went inside.
It was immediately cooler once he stepped through the doors, as if the shade had been enchanted by some sorcerer's spell. So much so in fact that for a moment Michael became quite light-headed and had to stay still a moment until he could be sure he would not trip and fall. The hall of the hospital had a high vaulted ceiling supported by grey columns of cut stone. Many different corridors led away from it, corridors down which physicians and nurses in the robes of Devotees of Aulo walked with determined steps.
"Excuse me," with no doorman or porter or the like that he could see Michael tried to attract the attention of one of the nurses as they hurried by. "Excuse me, ma'am?"
"Yes," Michael turned to find a small, mousy-haired girl in blue robes had crept up behind him while he was preoccupied. Her eyes were hazel and a little hooded with curiosity. "I'm sorry, but we couldn't pay our last doorkeeper what he wanted and we can't hire another for a wage we can afford. Can I help you?"
"I hope so ma'am, do you know where I could find Filia Lucilia Athenaeum?"
"I know Lucilia yes, she's been wit
h us for some time," the young nurse said. "But I've never seen you before. Does she know you?"
"No, Filia, she does not, yet I must speak with her nonetheless," Michael said.
"What about?"
Michael frowned. "I am afraid it is a private matter."
The nurse put her hands upon her hips as she attempted to match Michael's height - a feat which would not have been difficult had she not been so very small herself. "She is an eleven year old girl and she is very sick and vulnerable. I'm not going to just let any stranger who says he has business with her into her presence."
Michael scowled. "It is very important that I talk with her."
"Then tell me why."
"Because her sister is dead," Michael snapped.
The nurse gasped, one hand rising to her mouth. "Aulo say it isn't so."
"I am afraid it is," Michael said. "I apologise, ma'am, for my tone."
"How?"
"Bravely," Michael answered tersely. "In battle."
"Oh gods," the nurse looked as though she might. "Poor Lucilia. You were there, when Tullia...?"
"I was," Michael replied, his voice becoming hoarse as the memory threatened to overwhelm him. "Tullia... she... I was her friend. I am her friend. And I made a promise to take care of her sister should anything befall Filia Tullia. I keep my word, especially to a valiant comrade fallen at my side. It will be hard upon her sister, I know, but she should know the truth. And, with all due respect ma'am, I cannot allow you to bear this message in my stead. She died fighting at my side; I must bring the word of it."
"Of course," the nurse nodded. "What is your name, sir?"
"Michael. Michael Sebastian Callistus Dolabella ban Ezekiel," Michael said. "And yours, Filia?"
"Terentia Nemon Filius," Terentia replied. She bowed her head, "This will be hard on Lucilia, she loved her sister very much. We all did."
Spirit of the Sword: Faith and Virtue (The First Sword Chronicles Book 2) Page 15