The night the Kubratoi swept down on his village had taught Krispos once and for all that nothing in life was definite. He nodded. 'What else?'
'That you take Mavros back to Videssos the city with you and reckon him your younger brother henceforth,' Tanilis said. 'The connections he makes there will serve him and you for the rest of his life.'
'Me? The city? Really?' Mavros threw back his head and yowled with delight.
'He's welcome to go to Videssos by me,' Krispos said, 'but I'm not the one who'd have to choose to take him along. Iakovitzes would.' He glanced over at Tanilis' son and tried to see him through Iakovitzes' eyes. 'It might not be hard to get my master to ask him to go back with us, but—' He stopped. He would not speak ill of Iakovitzes, not before these people he hardly knew.
'I know of his habits,' Tanilis said. 'To his credit, he does not pretend to be other than what he is. Mavros, I think, will be able to take care of himself, and he's as good with horses—your master's other passion, are they not?—as anyone his age near Opsikion.'
'That will help,' Krispos agreed. He chuckled—one more handsome youth for Meletios and some of the other grooms to worry about. Growing serious again, he went on, 'Besides Mavros, how will you aid me?' He felt he was horse trading with Tanilis, the only trouble being that she promised delivery of most of the horse some years from now. He wanted to make as sure as possible of the part he could see now.
'Gold, counsel, loyalty until your death or mine,' Tanilis said. 'If you like, I will take oath by the lord with the great and good mind.'
Krispos thought that over. 'If your word is bad, will your oath make it better?'
Tanilis lowered her eyes. Her hair hid her face. Even so, Krispos felt he had passed a test.
Mavros said plaintively, 'Will the two of you please quit making deep plans without me? If I'm suddenly to leave for Videssos the city, shouldn't I know why?'
'You might be safer if you didn't,' Tanilis said. But she must have seen the justice of her son's protest, for she pointed at Krispos and whispered the word she had spoken to him inside the temple.
Mavros' eyes widened. 'Him?' he squeaked. Krispos did not blame him for sounding amazed. He did not believe the prediction either, not down deep.
But Tanilis answered,'It may be so.' If all she'd said tonight was true, she would try to help it be so. Was she, then, simply following the path she had seen or trying to force it into existence? Krispos went round that dizzy loop of thought two or three times before he gave it up. Tanilis went on, 'None of us should say that word again, not until the proper time comes, if it ever does.'
'You're right.' Mavros shook his head in wonder and grinned at Krispos. 'I always figured I'd need a miracle to get me to Videssos the city, but I didn't know what one looked like till now.'
Krispos snorted. 'I'm no miracle.' But he found himself grinning back. Mavros would make him a lively brother. He turned to Tanilis. 'My lady, may I beg an escort from you? Otherwise, in the dark, I'd need a miracle to get back to Opsikion, let alone the city.'
'Stay the night,' she said. 'I expected you would; the servants have readied a chamber for you.' She rose and walked over to the dining room's doors. The small noise of their opening summoned two men. She nodded to one. 'Xystos, please lead the eminent sir to his bedchamber.'
'Certainly.' Xystos bowed, first to Tanilis, then to Krispos. 'Come with me, eminent sir.'
As Krispos started to follow the servant away, Tanilis said, 'Since we are become partners in this enterprise, Krispos, take a partner's privilege and use my name.'
'Thank you, uh, Tanilis,' Krispos said. Her encouraging smile seemed to stay with him after he turned a corner behind Xystos.
The bedroom was larger than the one Krispos had at Bolkanes' inn. Xystos bowed again and shut the door behind him. Krispos used the chamber pot. He took off his clothes, blew out the lamp Xystos had left, and lay down on the bed. It was softer than any he'd known before—and this, he thought, was only a guest room.
Even in darkness, he did not fall asleep at once. With his mind's eye, he kept seeing the smile Tanilis had given him as he left the dining room. Maybe she would slip in here tonight, to seal with her body the strange bargain they had made. Or maybe she would send in a serving girl, just as a kindness to him. Or maybe ...
He was going to the door when someone tapped on it. 'Oh, good, you're awake,' Mavros said when he opened it a moment later. 'If you don't mind breakfasting on hard rolls and smoked mutton, we can eat while we ride back to town.'
'Good enough.' Krispos thought of how often he'd gone out to work in the fields after breakfasting on nothing. He knew Mavros had never missed a meal. He kept quiet, not just for politeness' sake but also because he'd long since decided hunger held no inherent virtue—life was better with a full belly.
They washed down the rolls and mutton with a skin of wine. 'That's a very nice animal you're riding,' Krispos said after a while.
'Isn't he?' Mavros beamed. 'I'm not small, but my weight doesn't faze him a bit, no even when I'm in mail shirt and helmet. ' He took the reins in his left hand so he could draw a knife and make cut-and-thrust motions as if it were a sword. 'Maybe one of these days I'll ride him to war against Makuran or Kubrat—or even Khatrish, if your master's mission fails. Take that, vile barbarian!' He stabbed a bush by the side of the road.
Krispos smiled at his enthusiasm. 'Real fighting's not as ... neat as you make it out to be.'
'You've fought, then?' At Krispos' nod, Mavros' eyes went big and round. 'Tell me about it!'
Krispos tried to beg off, but Mavros kept urging him until he baldly recounted the villagers' massacre of the Kubrati raiders. 'Just our good luck there was only the one little band,' he finished. 'If the riders a couple of days later had been wild men instead of Videssian cavalry, I wouldn't be here now to give you the tale.'
'I've heard true warriors don't speak much of glory,' Mavros said in a rather subdued voice.
