Greek Fire

by James Boschert

  There was no time to pause and Talon was rapidly taking in the occupants of the room and its contents. There were two other men in the room besides the servant. One of them was Senator Spartenos in the process of rising from a divan, but his companion caught Talon’s full attention, for he was already moving very fast in Talon’s direction, a long sword held in front of him.

  The man was dressed in a thick plain tunic of brown wool resembling a monk’s habit, including a cowl, but Talon doubted he was a monk. The manner in which he held the sword denoted someone who knew very well how to wield it, and the half smile on the plain face told Talon that here was a man who was confident in his ability.

  “You finally arrived. I hoped you might come back again,” he said.

  Talon said nothing but flicked his eyes around the room to familiarize himself with the furniture and other statues placed against the walls. The room was ablaze with light from a dozen oil lamps placed in niches and on the table near the senator, who was now standing watching him with narrowed eyes.

  “Ah Sir Talon, this is a surprise! Were you the intruder who came here several weeks ago?” senator Spartenos said

  Talon nodded and tapped the tip of his opponent’s blade away with a clink. They were feeling one another out, but he knew within that split second that he was up against a master swordsman.

  “I though you would be dead by now. Instead, here you are again! What are you doing here?” the senator demanded loudly, as though trying to distract him.

  Without looking at him Talon said, “You ordered the killing of Eugenia?”

  “Why yes, I suppose I did. I expect Psellos has failed to do what I asked of him?”

  “He succeeded—but then he died,” Talon replied, as he danced back out of the way of a vicious knee high swipe from his opponent. He saw the gleam in the eyes of his opponent at his words.

  “Well, that was to be expected, I suppose. Psellos always did have an inflated opinion of his abilities. Now Choumnos here, he is much more modest, but you have made a bad mistake coming here. He is still peeved at you for wounding him. I doubt if you will be leaving on your own two feet this time.”

  Talon’s eyes were fixed on Choumnos, who was watching him with a wide, unblinking, cold stare. They gave very little away, barely even flickering as he made his lunges and short sharp blows aimed at Talon’s head and neck, which were now increasing in rapidity. His teeth were bared in a chilling smile as he attacked, swinging and stabbing at Talon in quick succession. Talon was forced to give ground.

  He blundered backwards into a low stand shaped like a pillar with a plaster head on it, knocking both over with a crash. As he stumbled back Choumnos darted in and cut downwards. Talon only had a split second to raise his sword and deflect the blow with a shower of sparks. Choumnos snapped his blade high again in one smooth motion and brought it down once more. But Talon had scrambled out of the way and Choumnos’ blade struck the corner of a small wooden table. The wood splintered and the table leaned over to allow the small items on its polished surface to slide down onto the floor and shatter in a noisy stream.

  Talon barely heard the words, “Oh dear, my wife will not be pleased to see that. Have a care, Choumnos. This isn’t your house to destroy.”

  But the two opponents paid the senator no attention at all. Talon, having regained his balance, was attacking with everything he had from blade to hilt to pommel. He discovered that the training he had received a long time ago from his uncle Phillip was paying off. He managed to bring them very close together at one time where he twisted his sword so that he could punch Choumnos in the face with the hilt. Choumnos blinked with the pain and blood seeped out of a gash on his upper lip He took a step back and made room but never dropped his guard. He glared at Talon as he wiped his mouth.

  “You will regret that, Templar,” he said softly, and then danced forward with another ferocious series of lunges and strikes that made Talon work hard to avoid being struck in multiple places. He drew his dagger now and used it to parry some of the lighter strikes.

  Choumnos was grimly determined to wear him down, his sword was held in both hands and he used it more as a striking weapon than for lunging but Talon was quickly dissuaded from assuming he could get inside his opponent’s guard very easily. They demolished another table, which Choumnos shoved aside as he backed off from a determined assault from Talon. It fell over with a crash and a pottery bowl shattered, its pieces getting under foot.

  Talon realized then that Choumnos was edging him backwards toward the senator behind him. He slipped sideways very quickly and a metal object flew past his head to thump against the wall. He slashed at the senator, who dived out of the way of the flashing blade, tripped and almost fell over the back of the divan in his haste to get out of the way of the two combatants. The senator yelled in outrage as they blundered yet again into some priceless art object, which fell over with a crash, adding to the litter already on the decorated tiles of the floor. Talon could sense that Choumnos was tiring as the savage speed of the initial attacks had slowed, but he too was feeling the toll. They were both sweating with exertion now and he wondered how he was going to finish the fight. Choumnos gave so little away.

  Talon had to get in close again, unappealing as that might be. He allowed Choumnos to come in and parried a couple of snake-swift blows. Just at that moment there was a huge flash of lightning that lit up the room with an eerie glow, followed by an immense crash of thunder directly overhead. For a split second Choumnos hesitated, and it was to prove fatal. Talon crossed blades then using all his strength forced his opponent’s blade aside and drove for the opening to stab his dagger into the man’s midriff. He had meant to strike at the heart but at the last moment Choumnos shifted his weight. Talon drove the blade in deep and at the same time used his own sword to make sure that Choumnos could not use his own blade. The agony showed on Choumnos’s face and he dropped his sword with a metallic clatter on the marble floor, then leaned forward and dropped to his knees. He stayed there holding onto his belly, his head down, gasping.

  Talon stepped back and watched for a few moments as Choumnos clutched at his midriff. Then the man groaned and looked up to whisper, “Finish it! Finish it, God damn you!” His eyes pleaded with Talon, who stared at him then gave a brief nod. He slipped behind Choumnos and with one huge blow struck his head from his shoulders.

  The head bounced to the floor to lie face up while the body slowly fell forward to sprawl in a bloody puddle almost at the feet of the senator, who had been about to come at Talon from behind. Talon stood there looking at the body and the senator; his bloody sword shot up to point now at the senator’s chest while he took great gulps of air. The senator backed off, fear in his eyes.

  “I am not a fighter, do not…” he said with a tremor in his voice.

  “Sit down,” Talon’s voice was low and curt.

  The senator complied and Talon watched him while he recovered his breath.

  “Why did you have Eugenia killed?” he demanded.

  “Because she knew too much. She was not the innocent that a naïve fellow like you might have thought. She was a whore.”

  Talon flicked the bloody point of his blade up to the senator’s face. A drop of blood splattered the senator’s cheek.

  “Do not call her that.”

  The senator stared into Talon’s hard eyes and realized that he was a hair’s breadth away from death. he wiped the blood off his face with the edge of his toga and looked at it.

  “She knew where everyone was…is,” he said coldly. “She was the messenger between me and the prince, who was bedding her…the fool! He just can’t keep his hands off a pretty girl even when his future empire is at stake. Sad to say, she meant nothing to him.”

  “Who is this prince?”

  “Prince Andronikos Komnenos, the emperor’s nephew! You do not know of him, do you?”

  He must have noted the surprise on Talon’s face.

  “Oh yes, Eugenia was being bedded b
y him, and when I found out I used her. She was terrified that her family would find out and that the empress would discover her indiscretion. That can get you blinded—or worse. The family would have been utterly dishonored.”

  “What have you to do with the Arab fleet? You have mentioned Greek Fire. I overheard you the last time.”

  “So you did hear something. That useless fellow over there let you get the better of him then, and told me that you could not have heard anything. Well, he has paid his price…and so shall I, but you are too late to stop what is in motion now.”

  “I warned the Admiral when I arrived, and I am sure he listened because the fleet is preparing for sea.” Talon watched the senator as he spoke and saw a flicker of alarm.

  “I heard that, damn you to Hell. We could have had an emperor who knew what he was doing but for interference from ignorant bastards like you, Frank.”

  “Who is it that you have been working for? Just the Prince?”

  “You will just have to find out, because I shall not tell you. We might still be successful, and even though I know I shall not see it, my shade will have the satisfaction of seeing Manuel destroyed.”

  “I know the Genoese worked for you, so it was you who arranged for the Fire to be captured, using him as go-between with the Arabs?”

  “Caravello? Yes, he had his uses. I imagine he is long gone now, unless he got bottled up in the harbor. You had better be careful if you chase him on the high seas, as he has the Fire. He will have no hesitation in burning you to the water if you confront him. He knows full well the value of that stuff—and how to use it. Pity…with his ship and the fire I could have carved out a place of my own on one of the islands, as I had intended to one day.

  “As for the cursed Arabs, they were only supposed to sail to Abydos and create a diversion. Their commander must have become ambitious, greedy or both, the fool, but what do I care? If our own navy cannot protect us, who can?” Spartenos’ voice was full of scorn.

  “You are a senator with wealth and power aplenty. Why do you hate the emperor so much and risk all this on a gamble?”

  “Even before the disaster at Myriokephalon he was useless. His waste of money and his exorbitant taxes were ruining what is left of the nobility. Then to cap it all led my only boy to his death at Myriokephalon. My son Pantoleon was a rising star in this city!” he was speaking in a lauder tone now. “My...my boy would have been a great general and even more perhaps, but that…fool Manuel let his army to destruction and I lost my only son.” The senator put his face in his hands and sobbed. It was so unexpected that Talon stared at him in astonishment.

  “It was your son and others like him who persuaded the emperor to go into that deathtrap against the advice of his own generals, senator,” Talon said, his tone was sharp.

  Senator Spartenos looked up, his lined face streaked with tears. “You are a liar, Frank. You do not know what happened.”

  “I was there, Senator, and I heard and saw. Later I and Alexios Kalothesos tried to find your son’s body after the battle. I regret that we failed. But it was he, as much as anyone, who talked the emperor into the gorge.”

  There was a timid tap on the wall and they both whirled to see who was there. Standing in the opening was Constance holding a jug and some large silver cups on a tray. She looked like a ghost but appeared to be icily calm, and ignoring the chaos of the room and the headless corpse she walked slowly up to the two men.

  She barely glanced at Talon but placed the cups on the debris littered table in front of the senator and said, “I have told the servants to leave the compound and to go to their homes. It is time we had a drink of wine, my dearest. You will need it after all this.”

  He looked down at the wine in the cups but did not touch it. “I need no wine, woman. Leave us.”

  “I could leave you, my husband, but I do not think that you will like having your eyes gouged out with red hot irons and your limbs torn from your body while you are still alive.” She glanced at Talon, then continued.

  “John, that is what is going to happen to both of us if they come and take us, and they will do so. Do you want this humiliation for me? Are you so selfish? All your little plots are finished and with them our lives. I wish to die with you, but with dignity,” Constance said with icy calm.

  “You will allow us that much, will you not, Frank?” She looked up at Talon. Her hazel eyes were those of a ghost, but there was a desperate plea in them that made him hesitate.

  Talon stared into her eyes for a long moment and then finally nodded. “I shall stay with you to the end,” he said softly.

  The fight had gone out of the senator. His shoulders slumped and his features seemed to have aged ten years within a few minutes. For some long moments he said nothing and just stared off into space, but then he moved slowly. Without looking at Talon he picked up one of the cups and gave it to his wife. In a moment of tenderness he kissed her on the cheek and said gruffly, “You are right…dignity. Goodbye, Constance. You have been good to me. God be merciful to our souls.” He then picked up the other cup, held it for a moment in front of him, then abruptly tossed the contents down in two gulps.

  Constance followed at a slower pace and then placed her cup down next to his; her hand shook just a little. Then she moved so that she could be next to him. He placed his arm over her thin shoulders and said, “Make this house our funeral pyre, Frank. Will you do this for us?” He leaned his head back as though very tired and shut his eyes. His wife appeared already to be asleep.

  Talon waited while the agonies of the poison finished their work and they were both finally still. He then went over to an array of candles and bundled some material into a pile. Pouring oil onto the bundle he set it ablaze. The flames spread quickly. The room was rich in material for a flame to catch. When it had taken hold and had flared, about to consume the entire room, he left.

  Talon returned to the wall the way he had come; as he went over it he saw that the fire had taken hold and the entire downstairs section was ablaze.

  _________

  The Grecian vessels not unskillfully

  Were smiting round about; the hulls of ships

  Were overset; the sea was hid from sight,

  Covered with wreckage and the death of men;

  The reefs and headlands were with corpses filled,

  And in disordered flight each ship was rowed,

  As many as were of the Persian host.

  Aeschylus

  Chapter 26

  A Battle at Sea

  Talon appeared as he had left, without warning. Neither the guards at the gates, the soldiers, nor the servants noticed his arrival until he was there in the house. The family Kalothesos was standing under the loggia, facing northeast, watching the huge fire that glowed in the night a few streets away. The sparks from the burning house flew high into the night sky and the people on the loggia could hear distant shouts as the alarm was sounded all about. Talon noticed that there had been a fight while he was away and resolved to ask Guy what had transpired, but for now it sufficed that he was back and the family was unharmed.

  It was Alexios who noticed him first, and he exclaimed, “Where did you appear from Talon?” He registered genuine surprise at seeing him so suddenly back with them.

  The others turned and stared equally surprised, but then Theodora rushed up to him and embraced him.

  “We were so worried about you, Talon. Where have you been?” she demanded, although she was sure she knew.

  He gently pulled away from her and smiled at the others.

  “Let us say that much has been resolved. I see that you are all unharmed, Alex. Thank God for that.”

  “Everything is fine now, thanks be to God. Are you not going to tell us where you’ve been, Talon?” Joannina asked him. Her glance went to the fire.

  “I cannot, my Lady, but you should know that a danger is past and we can take up our lives again. I am truly grieved at the loss of your daughter,” he added.

  T
heodora gave him a look that said, I know very well where you have been.

  Joannina looked back at him, the tears in her eyes gleaming in the light of the fire. “We will miss our daughter, Talon. She was precious to us.”

  Alexios gripped his hand and said, “Wherever you went, Talon, I am sure it was for a good reason. We had a small fight here. How did you know they would come? But they were not anticipating the men under Gregaros’ command and were well and truly surprised. His men drove the intruders off, but we have still no idea as to where they came from or whose men they were. You would not know?” he asked staring hard at Talon.

  Talon shook his head, but Alexios nodded as though he understood. “Very well. I am glad that you are safe anyway.”

  Damianus took his hand and said, “It has been a night of tragedy, as we have lost a daughter we loved. Yet you have been strong for us, and I am grateful, Sir Talon. Now it it is time for our beds. We can talk more in the morning.”

  That night Talon slept only a little. His mind kept going to the burning house where he had left the bodies of senator and his extraordinary wife. But later he had a dream. He was on a bridge where there were many people. From there he could see Rav’an with Fariba and Far’jan, and he knew, even though he could not see him, that Reza his brother was there, and to his joy, so was Jean. They were laughing and watching the sailboats on the river below. He heard the voice of a child, and looking up he saw that Rav’an was holding a young boy in her arms and smiling at him. She seemed to be offering the child to him, but as he reached for the child the dream faded and he could not recapture it. He called out her name as he woke up, his heart aching, as it had not done for some time. He knew then that he must find a way to return to Persia, even though he knew his uncle Far’jan was dead as was Jean. A cold dread swept over him as he considered this. Perhaps they were all dead and with his uncle, and they were calling to him from the other side. He sat up sweating and then wept, for he did not know if they were now alive or dead.