The Dance of Time

'Thirteen-to-one,' he said, with still greater satisfaction.

His two mates weren't even half-glaring. In fact, they were almost smiling.

Under normal circumstances, of course, thirteen-to-one odds would have been horrible. But those Ye-tai mercenaries were all veterans. The kind of fighting they were considering would not be the clash of huge armies on a great battlefield, where individual prowess usually got lost in the sheer mass of the conflict. No, this would be the sort of small-scale action out of which legends were made, because legends mattered.

The Mongoose was already a legend. His huge Roman companion wasn't, but they had no difficulty imagining him as such. 'Bending horseshoes,' with Anastasius in the vicinity, was not a phrase to express the impossible.

As for Ajatasutra. .

'Some people think you're the best assassin in India,' said one of the Ye-tai.

'Not any Marathas,' came the immediate rejoinder. Smiling, Ajatasutra added: 'But I think even Marathas might allow me the honor of second-best.'

Chapter 29

The Iron Triangle

'It's just impossible,' said Anna wearily, leaning her head against her husband's shoulder. 'That great mass of people out there isn't really a city. It's a huge refugee camp, with more people pouring into it every day. Just when I think I've got one problem solved, the solution collapses under the weight of more refugees.'

Calopodius stroked her hair, listening to the cannonade outside the bunker. The firing seemed a lot heavier than usual, on the Malwa side. He wondered if they might be getting nervous. By now, their spies were sure to have reported that a large Persian army had been camped briefly just across the river from the Iron Triangle.

But he gave only a small part of his mind to that matter. He had much more pressing and immediate things to deal with.

'Have you given any thought as to what you'd like to do, after the war? With the rest of your life, I mean.'

Anna's head stirred. 'Some,' she said softly.

'And what did you decide?'

Now, her head lifted off his shoulder entirely. He knew she was looking at him sideways.

'Do you care?' she asked, still more softly.

He started to respond with 'of course,' but the words died before they were spoken. He'd spent quite a bit of time thinking about Anna, lately, and knew full well that 'of course' was not an answer that would have even occured to him a few months ago.

So, he simply said: 'Yes. I do.'

There was a pause for a few seconds. Then, Anna's head came back to nestle on his shoulder again. 'I think I'd like to keep the Service going. Somehow or other. I like healing people.'

Calopodius kissed her hair. It felt rich and luxurious to him; more so now, than when he'd been able to see it.

'All right,' he said. 'That shouldn't be too hard.'

Anna issued a sound halfway between a snort and a chuckle. 'Not too hard! It's expensive, husband. Not even your family's rich enough to subsidize medical charity on that scale. Not for very long. And once the war is over, the money Belisarius and the army have been giving me will dry up.'

It was Calopodius' turn to hesitate. 'Yes, I know. But. . how would you feel about remaining here in India?'

'I wouldn't mind. But why India?'

'Lots of reasons. I've been thinking about our situation myself. But let's start with three. One that matters-I think-to you. One that matters to me. And one that would matter to my family. Perhaps more to the point, my family's coffers.'

Her head came back off his shoulder and, a moment later, Calopodius could feel her shifting her weight entirely. Within a few seconds, she was no longer lying beside him on their pallet but was sitting on it cross-legged, facing him. He knew the sensation quite well. Whenever they had something to really talk about, Anna preferred to be sitting up.

'Explain.'

'Let's start with you. You already know that if our world keeps the same historical pattern with regard to disease as the one we diverged from, a terrible plague is 'scheduled' to start in eight years or so. By the time it's over, millions of people in the Mediterranean world will be dead.'

'It might have already started, in fact,' Anna mused. 'Somewhere in China. Where the death toll will be just as bad.'

Calopodius nodded. He wasn't surprised that she'd remembered that part of the future history that Belisarius had imparted to them.

'Yes. It'll enter the Roman Empire in Alexandria, in the year 541. But it almost certainly got transmitted through India.'

He heard Anna draw in a sharp breath. 'I hadn't thought of that.'

'Then I think you should start thinking about it. If you move fast enough-fast enough and with enough money and authority-between your Service and the Hospitalers in Alexandria, it might be possible to forestall the plague. Reduce its effects, anyway.'

'There's no cure for it,' she said. 'And no. . what's the word?'

' 'Vaccine,' ' Calopodius supplied.

'Yes. No vaccine. Not anything we could make in time, in sufficient quantities.'

Calopodius shrugged. 'True. But from what Belisarius told me Aide said to him, it wasn't really a medical 'cure' that defeated the plague in the future, anyway. It was mostly just extensive and thorough public health and sanitation. Stuff as simple and plebeian as good sewers and clean drinking water. That is within our technological capacity.'

He listened to Anna breathing, for a while. Then she said: 'It would take a lot of money, and a lot of political influence.'

'Yes. It'd be a life's work. Are you willing?'

She laughed abruptly. 'I'm willing. But is the money willing? And. .' Her voice lowered. 'I really don't want to do anything that you wouldn't be happy with.'

He smiled. 'Not to worry! What I want to do is write histories and public commentaries. But what do I write about, once the war is over?'

He moved right on to supply the answer: 'Write about India, that's what. Just think of it, love. An entire continent. One that Rome knows almost nothing about and with a history even longer than Rome's.'

Silence.

'Your life's work, then,' Anna mused. Then, issued that same abrupt laugh. 'So where's the money to come from?'

His smile widened, becoming very close to a grin. 'Well, we'll have to keep it hidden from your family. Even from mine, the rough details. But you and I are about to found a branch of the Saronites enterprises, here in India. Crude stuff, I'm afraid. Manufacturing, mostly.'

He wasn't surprised at all that the woman his wife had become did not even stumble over the prospect. 'Manufacturing what?'

'I thought we'd start with medical supplies and equipment. Also pharmaceuticals. Nothing fancy, though. Mostly soap, dyes and cosmetics, at the beginning. Belisarius told me those were the substances that were the big money-makers for the chemical industry when it got really started in the future. In what he calls the 'industrial revolution.' Once the business gets rolling, we can expand into medicines.'

'And exactly which one of us is going to oversee and organize this grand scheme of yours?' she demanded.