She was just as concerned that I knew the Phrygian hadn’t let me down. ‘My father gave Kadous a good description of those men you’d seen.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’ I squeezed her hand.
‘I asked everyone I met outside the theatre,’ the slave went on unhappily, ‘until I found some people who’d seen that group passing by.’
Unfortunately, once the men I was tailing had turned off the main road, the trail had gone cold.
Kadous’s face reflected his despair. ‘All I could do was search every side street for some sign that you’d been there.’ He tried to make a joke of it. ‘I couldn’t face telling Nymenios or Chairephanes that I’d come back without another of their brothers.’
I dutifully did my best to laugh. Zosime sat between us, stony-faced.
‘Then I heard the uproar.’ Kadous heaved a sigh.
‘At least the night was quiet enough for the noise to carry,’ I said, bracing.
He shook his head. ‘It took me far too much time to find a way to the fight.’
‘You got there. That’s all that matters.’ He’d have to get over this in his own good time. Meanwhile, I had to go and tell Aristarchos what I’d discovered and what I suspected. I really didn’t want to, but I couldn’t see that I had any other choice. I rose from my stool.
‘You’re not going into the city until I see how badly you’re hurt,’ Zosime said curtly. ‘And you’ll need to soak that rag off otherwise you’ll set your arm bleeding again.’
‘Of course.’ I’d rebuffed her concerns last night, binding up my wound with a scrap of cloth and saying it could wait until morning. ‘You were right, as always.’ I offered my apology as an olive branch. ‘I should have let you put a proper bandage on this.’
The cut on my arm stung evilly when I eased the makeshift dressing off. At least it was still reassuringly superficial in the daylight. Zosime sniffed as she cleaned off clotted blood with sour wine and coated the slice with hyssop lotion. I gritted my teeth and kept quiet as she used a strip of clean linen to bind it up again.
‘Stand up. Take off your tunic.’
I did as she asked.
After she had anointed the worst of my bruises and grazes, she explored my ribs with carefully probing fingers. ‘Where does it hurt?’
‘Ow! There!’ I winced. ‘Never mind. I’ll be fine, soon enough.’
Zosime wasn’t going to be comforted. ‘A broken bone could have skewered your lung, leaving you to drown in your own blood.’
I tried to change the subject. ‘What happened in the theatre, after I left?’
She gave me a long, measuring look. I offered her a hopeful smile. She rolled her eyes, still exasperated, but at least she decided to answer.
‘Oloros had satyrs invade Pirithous’s wedding feast, rather than centaurs. Theseus reached for the closest weapons, which turned out to be bread rolls, to help the Lapiths drive off Silenos and his mob.’
‘It sounds a lot of fun.’ More fun than I’d had. Much more fun than I was going to have. But there was nothing to be gained by delaying my first unwelcome task.
‘I’m so sorry, my love, but I can’t come to the theatre today. There are things—’
‘I’ll go with my father.’ Zosime shrugged.
I wished I could tell if she genuinely understood that I was forced to let her down, or if she had just given up on me after yesterday. I forced another affectionate smile. ‘Thank you for being so understanding, sweetheart, and Kadous is going with you both.’
‘Master?’ He didn’t like that.
‘I cannot be distracted today by worrying about you left here on your own.’ He definitely wasn’t staying on watch, in case last night’s killers tried again.
‘Do what you must.’ Zosime gathered up her salves and bandages, leaving me to find a clean tunic and my sandals.
Menkaure came out into the porch, yawning. He nodded at me. ‘Good to see you in one piece.’
‘Thanks to you sending Kadous,’ I told him.
‘Barely,’ Zosime snorted.
Menkaure and I exchanged a glance, silently agreeing to drop the subject.
I left Zosime to find her father some breakfast while I fetched a barley meal sack from the storeroom. That hid Tur’s knife from our curious neighbours, along with the attackers’ masks that Kadous and I had retrieved. Once Menkaure had eaten, we all set out. We barely spoke a word until our paths divided inside the city.
‘Have a good day.’ I kissed Zosime, still trying to convey my apologies. ‘I wish I could come with you—’
‘Be careful.’ She gave me a gentle hug.
I decided to take that for a good omen. ‘Believe me, I will,’ I promised her.
Such relief was fleeting. As the others headed for the theatre, I went on my way to face my day’s second daunting challenge.
Mus opened Aristarchos’s gate with a broad smile cracking his stern face. ‘I am glad to see you safe.’
‘Thank you. Is your master at home?’ Some treacherous part of me wished he’d say Aristarchos had left for the theatre.
Mus crushed that frail hope with a clap of his massive hands. ‘Of course.’
Lydis appeared so quickly that I guessed he’d been waiting for my arrival. ‘This way, if you please.’
I followed him through the archway to the inner courtyard. The family accommodation overhead was noisy with activity and an upper shutter slammed on girlish laughter. That made me even more uneasy about what I had come here to do.
‘Please take a seat.’ Lydis indicated a table beneath a portico surrounded by cushioned stools. ‘The master will be with you shortly. Can I fetch you something to eat or to drink?’
‘No, thank you.’ My mouth was so dry that anything I tried to swallow would choke me.
Aristarchos wasn’t long. He looked searchingly at my bruised face before contemplating my bandaged arm. ‘How bad’s the rest of you?’
I shrugged. ‘I’ll live.’
He grunted and moved on. ‘Sarkuk said you were following this man Archilochos? He’s the one who’s stirring up trouble in Caria?’
Cowardly, I seized on that. ‘Where is
