She slumped forward in a faint.
V
Krispos caught her before she hit her head on the bench in front of her. 'Oh, Phos!' her son Mavros said. He rushed up to help take her weight. 'Thanks for saving her there, uh, Krispos. Come on, let's get her out of the temple. She should be better soon.'
He sounded so matter-of-fact that Krispos asked, 'This has happened before?'
' Yes.' Mavros raised his voice to speak to the townsfolk who came hurrying up after Tanilis fell. 'My mother just got out of her seat too quickly. Let us by, please, so we can get her to fresh air. Let us by, please.'
He had to repeat himself several times before people moved aside. Even then, several women and a couple of men stayed with him. Krispos wondered why he did not shoo them away too, then realized they had to be part of Tanilis' retinue. They helped clear a path so Krispos and Mavros could carry the noblewoman up the aisle.
Tanilis muttered and stirred when the sun hit her face, but did not wake at once. Krispos and Mavros eased her to the ground. The women stood over her, exclaiming.
One of the servants said to Mavros, 'I wish we'd come from the house in town today, young master. Then she could go in the sedan chair.'
'That would make fetching her home again easier, wouldn't it? However ...' Mavros shrugged whimsically. He turned to Krispos. 'My mother sometimes ... sees things, and sees them so strong she can't withstand the force of the vision. I've grown used to it, watching it happen over the years, but I do wish she wouldn't always pick such awkward times and places. Of course, what I wish has very little to do with anything.' He gave that shrug again.
'That's the way things often work.' Krispos decided he thought well of Mavros. The youngster had not only kept his head coping with an awkward situation, but was even able to make light of it. From everything Krispos had ever seen, that was harder.
Mavros said, 'Genzon, Naues, fetch the horses here from round the corner. The crowd's thinning out; you shouldn't have much trouble now.'
'I'll go with them, if you like,' Krispos said. 'That way each man won't have to lead so many.'
'Thanks, that's generous of you. Please, a moment first, though.' Mavros took a couple of steps away from his retinue and motioned for Krispos to follow. In a low voice, he asked, 'What did my mother say to you, there in the temple? Her back was to me; I didn't hear.'
'Oh, that.' Krispos scratched his head, looking embarrassed. 'Do you know, in all the hubbub since, it's gone clean out of my mind.'
He hurried after Genzon and Naues. He was unhappy about lying to Mavros, but he'd lied without hesitation. He needed to think much more about the unbelievably fascinating, unbelievably dangerous word Tanilis had spoken before he admitted to himself—let alone to anyone else—that he'd heard it.
Most of the horses the servants loosed from the hitching rail were ponies for Tanilis' female attendants. The four that were not were animals fine enough to have belonged in Iakovitzes' stables. Four—that meant Tanilis was no mean rider, then. Krispos found himself unsurprised. She was plainly a woman of many accomplishments.
She had managed to sit up by the time Krispos, Genzon, and Naues brought the horses back to the temple, but still did not seem fully aware of herself or her surroundings. Mavros clasped Krispos' hand. 'Thank you again. I'm grateful for all your help.'
'My pleasure.' Krispos heard the dismissal in Mavros' voice. He dipped his head and went back to Bolkanes' inn.
Iakovitzes was not there; he was closeted with Lexo again. Krispos hoped his absentminded prayer had done his master some good. He went down to the taproom for some wine and for a chance to pick Bolkanes' brain.
Both came slower than he wanted. The inn was crowded with people celebrating the holy Abdaas' festal day less piously than those who had gone to the temple. The tables were all filled. Working his way up to the bar took patience, but patience Krispos had. 'Red wine, please,' he told Bolkanes.
The innkeeper dipped out a measure and filled an earthenware mug. Only when he slid it across the counter did he look up to see whom he was serving. 'Oh, hello, Krispos,' he said and then, to the next man who'd wormed his way forward, 'What'll it be for you today, Rekilas?'
Having gained his spot at the bar, Krispos did not give it up. He waited while Bolkanes served two more men, then said, 'I saw a truly striking noblewoman at the temple today. A man told me her name was—'
He broke off; someone had asked Bolkanes for a cup of something finer than he kept in the barrels at the bar, and the innkeeper had to hurry away to get what the fellow wanted. When he returned—and after he dealt with another customer—Krispos started to repeat himself, but Bolkanes had been listening, even if he was too busy to talk. He broke in: 'That'd be Tanilis, I expect.'
'Yes, that was the name,' Krispos said. 'Sounds like she's well known hereabouts.'
'I should say so,' Bolkanes agreed. 'She has—hello, Zernes, more of the white for you? Coming right up.' Zernes not only wanted more white wine but needed change from a goldpiece, and counted it three times once he got it. Half a dozen men were waiting by the time he got done. Eventually Bolkanes resumed. 'Tanilis? Aye, she has huge tracts of land hereabouts. A good many said she'd lose everything, trying to run 'em herself after her husband—what was her husband's name, Apsyrtos?'
'Vledas, wasn't it?' Apsyrtos answered. 'Let me have a cup of mead this time, will you?'
'You head'll hurt come morning, mixing 'em that way,' Bolkanes warned, but he plied the dipper. When he was done, he turned back to Krispos. 'Vledas, that was it. He died ten, twelve years ago now, it must be, and she's prospered since. Done well in good years and bad, they say, though naturally I couldn't testify to that. But her estates do keep growing. It's almost uncanny—just a woman, you know.'
'Mm-hmm,' Krispos said, though he had the feeling Tanilis was just a woman in the same way that Videssos was just a city.
