Iakovitzes came in a little later. His good nature, always unreliable, had vanished altogether by the time he worked his way to the bar through the press of holiday drinkers. 'Just because a holy man once cured a horse of fleas is no reason to turn a town on its ear,' he growled.
'Is that what the holy Abdaas did?' Krispos asked.
'How should I know? In a backwoods bastion like this, I doubt one would need do much more to be reckoned a miracle-worker.' Iakovitzes gulped his wine, then slammed the mug down on the bar for a refill.
Krispos thought of Tanilis again. He'd seen more than horse-doctoring. He wondered how he could find out more about her. If she was as grand a noblewoman as Bolkanes made her out to be—and nothing Krispos had seen left him doubting it—he could not just go and seek a meeting with her. She'd slap him down for such presumption. Approaching through her son seemed a better bet. Mavros, on brief acquaintance, had the feel of being someone Krispos could like. Bolkanes might know the amusements the youth favored when he came into town... .
Iakovitzes had said something that Krispos missed in his musing. 'I crave pardon.'
His master frowned. 'For all the attention you paid me there, I thought for a moment I was back talking with Lexo. He started in on his stinking tribal lays again today, the blackguard, until I asked him if he was willing to listen while I read to him from the histories of the reign of Stavrakios the Great. After that he came rather closer to reason, though not close enough. By Phos, I'll poison the bastard if his delays make me spend the winter in this miserable place.'
A day before, Krispos would have agreed. After Videssos the city, Opsikion was small and backward and not very interesting—in a word, provincial. Now, with Tanilis' mystery before him, he hoped Iakovitzes would stay a while longer. 'Drive him wild, Lexo,' he whispered, too low for his master to hear.
Bolkanes was rolling a fresh barrel of wine from the top of the cellar stairs to the taproom when Krispos walked into the inn a couple of afternoons later. 'Want some help with that?'
Krispos asked. Without waiting for an answer, he hurried forward.
'You would come in after I've done the hard part myself.' Bolkanes wiped sweat from his forehead. 'I can manage from here. Anyhow, a fellow's waiting for you at the bar. Been here an hour, maybe a bit longer.'
'For me?' Krispos hadn't thought anyone in Opsikion knew him well enough to find him worth waiting for. He walked into the taproom. The tall, lanky man standing at the bar turned at the sound of his footsteps. 'Naues!' Krispos said, then added with sudden doubt, 'Or are you Genzon?'
Tanilis' servitor smiled. 'I'm Genzon. I don't blame you for having to ask. Things were hurried and confused at the temple the other day.'
'So they were.' Krispos hesitated. 'I hope your mistress is improved?'
'Yes, thank you.' Genzon's prominent larynx bobbed as he swallowed the last of the wine in his cup. 'She thanks you, also, for the care and concern you showed. To show her gratitude further, she bids you dine with her this evening, if you care to.'
'She does?' Krispos blurted. Try as he would, he was still new to the notion of keeping thoughts to himself. He needed a moment to let urbanity return. 'I'd be delighted. Can you give me a little while to change?'
'Certainly. What are a few more minutes, save a chance for another cup of wine?' Genzon nodded to Bolkanes, who, along with his tapman, was wrestling the new barrel into place under the bar.
Krispos told the innkeeper, 'Please let Iakovitzes know I've been asked away for the evening.' As soon as he was sure Bolkanes had heard, he walked over to the stairway. He would not run, not where Genzon could see him, but he bounded up the steps two at a time.
For once, he wished he could borrow Iakovitzes' clothes. He usually thought them gaudy, but now he wanted to put on something that would impress Tanilis. Since Iakovitzes was more than half a foot shorter than he was, and correspondingly narrower as well, borrowing a tunic was impractical. He threw on his own best one, of a sober dark blue, and a pair of breeches that matched it. He went downstairs so fast he had to grab at the railing to keep from landing on his head.
'Let me saddle my horse and I'll meet you out front,' he called to Genzon. Tanilis' man nodded. Krispos went out to the stables behind the inn. He quickly put the saddle on his horse, made sure the cinch was tight—he'd learned about that back at the village, fortunately, or Iakovitzes' grooms never would have let him live it down— mounted, and walked the horse up to the street.
Genzon came out a couple of minutes later. 'Good-looking animal,' he said as he swung himself aboard his own mount.
'My master knows horses,' Krispos said.
'Yes, I can see that. Nice smooth gait, too.' Genzon started to say something more, visibly decided not to. Krispos thought he could guess the question Genzon swallowed: Why was the groom being invited to dine with his mistress, and not the visiting noble from the capital? As he had only hopes and wild speculations himself, he did not want to try to answer that.
Genzon led him out of Opsikion by the south gate. The road soon twisted away from the sea and ran up into the hills. Krispos' horse did not falter at the steep stretches. Indeed, the beast seemed to relish the challenge. Have to give him more exercise, Krispos thought.
Some of the hillsides were terraced. Up on the slopes, Krispos saw peasants weeding crops and pruning vines. They were too wrapped up in their tasks to look down at him. Watching them sent a remembered ache through his shoulders. Farming was the longest, hardest work there was. Having lived the peasant's life for so many years, he knew how lucky he was to have escaped it.
He wondered how his sister and brother-in-law were doing. He supposed he was an uncle by now, and hoped Evdokia had come through childbirth safely.
'All this is Tanilis' land,' Genzon remarked.
'Is it?' Krispos said politely. He wondered what the scores, what the hundreds of people who worked it thought of that. Did she protect her peasants from the state's demands, or impose her own alongside them?
He hoped she looked after the people under her control. But, as he could not have a year before, he also wondered whether nobles who too effectively shielded their peasants from the state were good for Videssos. If
