garrison- Dionysios, that was the name. 'The king wishes to speak with you, lady,' he told her, his tone respectful. 'Please come with me.'
Philyra glanced nervously about, looking for her brother. He was nowhere to be seen. Beside her, Marcus was scowling.
King Hieron was standing beside his white charger. His son was in the saddle, looking pleased with himself, while his wife and the lady in red- the king's sister, someone had said- waited by the litter. Hieron came forward when Philyra was led up and inclined his head graciously. 'Lady,' he said solemnly, 'I am very sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Your brother has been summoned back to his house: it seems that your father's illness has taken a sudden turn for the worse.'
Philyra dropped her veil, forgetting modesty, and stared at Hieron in shock.
'I have promised him that I would see to it that you were conveyed home as quickly as possible,' the king went on. 'And my inestimable wife has kindly offered to take you in her litter. If you and your slave girl would get in, she will drop you off at home on her way back to our own house.'
Philyra swallowed, looking at the queen. Philistis came over and took her hands graciously. 'I am so sorry that you should receive such terrible news in public,' said the queen sincerely.
Philyra bobbed her head, remembered her manners, and vaguely murmured, 'Thank you, O Queen.' She went over to the litter and climbed in. Agatha followed her, trembling, and then the queen and the king's sister.
Marcus watched the slaves pick the litter up and set off. He felt sick with apprehension, whether for Phidias or Philyra he could not say. No one was paying any attention to him; the king mounted his horse behind his son, the soldiers fell into line, and the royal party set off for the Ortygia. Marcus settled the food basket on his arm and began to walk away. He went slowly at first, but as he left the docks his steps grew longer and longer, and when he reached the house in the Achradina he was running.
Hieron reached his own house before Marcus could make the longer journey on foot. As soon as he did, the king turned to his doorkeeper. 'Kallippos needs to speak to me,' he said. 'Find him for me, and tell him so.'
Before the chief engineer could be found, however, Delia returned with the queen, and went at once to see her brother.
Hieron had retreated to the library, where Delia found him reading. He looked up quickly when she came in, then put his scroll aside and moved his feet so that she could sit down. 'Did they arrive in time?' he asked.
Delia nodded. 'But he wasn't conscious,' she added. 'They had their own doctor there, and he said it might be hours, and might be any minute. The… wife of Phidias came out to thank us for bringing her daughter home. Philistis offered her any help they wanted, on your behalf, and she thanked us, but said they didn't need any help.'
Hieron snorted. 'Well,' he said, after a minute, 'I'm glad they were in time.' He picked up his book again.
'What are you going to do about Archimedes?' demanded Delia in a low voice.
He set the book down again. 'Keep him,' he said fiercely. 'Keep him if I possibly can, no matter how much he costs. Zeus! You saw it. It was a game to him, moving that ship: when he understood how the rest of the world regarded it, he was shocked. He's as good as an extra army to any city lucky enough to own him.'
'But what are you going to do?'
He shook his head. 'I don't know. I've always thought the legends make King Minos sound a most appalling fool, but at the moment I can find some sympathy for the man. He had the most ingenious mind in the world at his disposal, and he didn't want to lose it. So he locked up its owner in a tower. It didn't work, but I can understand why he was tempted to it!'
'You're not planning to lock Archimedes up!' cried Delia. It was more a command than a question.
'Herakles!' exclaimed Hieron, looking at his sister in surprise. 'Not if you're going to strangle me if I do.'
Delia flushed. Her protectiveness surprised her as well. But that morning she had watched Archimedes do the impossible, and she had forgotten all caution in the wave of delighted pride. Surely she was entitled to feel proud, since she had discovered him? And to feel responsible as well, if her brother's notice threatened him. 'You're not, are you?' she asked more quietly.
'No, I am not,' said Hieron. 'Minos was a fool. You don't get people to work for you by locking them up in towers, particularly when they're a great deal cleverer than you are yourself. Daedalus, you remember, simply devised an impossible means of escape and flew away. I don't think Archimedes could fly, but after today I wouldn't like to bet that he couldn't if he really applied his mind to it.'
Delia relaxed. 'You worried me,' she complained, and at last took the offered space on the couch.
Hieron was gazing at her thoughtfully. 'You like him,' he stated.
She blushed again. 'I discovered him,' she said. 'I… feel responsible. I don't want him hurt.'
Hieron nodded, as though this made perfect sense. 'I promise you, I won't hurt him. To tell the truth, I think it would offend the gods if I did. It would be like smashing a priceless work of art. I've never seen anything like him.'
'I will not take orders from him,' said a voice in the doorway, and they both looked up to see Kallippos standing there. The royal engineer was disheveled and sweat-stained, and his feet were covered with dust: he had been walking. He glared angrily at Hieron. Delia jumped nervously to her feet.
Hieron simply smiled. 'Kallippos, my friend,' he said, 'I'm glad you've come. Shall we go into the dining room and have a cup of chilled wine?'
'I won't take orders from him,' repeated Kallippos, as though Hieron had not spoken. 'I'm not Eudaimon, King. I don't just copy, I think. I won't let somebody else do my thinking for me. I'm too old and my family's too good to stand being that man's subordinate. I resign.'
'I was afraid you were going to say that,' said Hieron. 'Now, my friend-'
'You arranged it!' shouted Kallippos furiously. 'You invited him to do something impossible, and asked me to say he couldn't. Well, I said it: I don't deny it. And I was wrong. But I am not going to take orders from some flute boy from a mud house in the back streets of the Achradina!'
'I don't ask you to,' said Hieron.
'Hah!' sneered the engineer. 'You may make his position officially equal to mine, but we both know you intend him to be my superior.'
'I have no intention of appointing Archimedes son of Phidias to the position of royal engineer,' declared the king. 'May the gods destroy me if I do.'
Kallippos stared for a moment in astonishment, then shouted, 'Then you're out of your mind! You saw what that boy did! Do you think I could have done that? I couldn't even have done the catapult!'
'My friend!' protested Hieron. 'You are the finest engineer in the city's employ, and if you left, I could not replace you. For you to resign now, when we are threatened with all the terrors of siege, would be a disaster for the whole of Syracuse. How can you contemplate such a thing? Archimedes is young and inexperienced. I know your quality, and I never expected you to work under him. Before the demonstration I thought it might be possible to appoint him as engineer with a rank equal to yours. Now I see that this is quite impossible. I repeat, I am not going to appoint him to a salaried position at all.'
Kallippos opened his mouth to speak, then shook himself. 'King,' he said, trying again. 'Don't you understand that he's better than I am?'
'My friend,' said Hieron, 'I know perfectly well that he has Apollo and all the Muses taking turns to breathe into his ear. But his natural home is Alexandria, and any job I gave him he would eventually come to regard as a prison. So I am not going to give him a job. For what he makes for the city, he will be paid, and generously, but what he actually does will be up to him: that will please him far more than any position I could offer. He is not, and never was, your rival. You are an engineer, and a very good one: he is a mathematician who happens to make machines occasionally. All I want you to do is to join me in asking him to assist in constructions for the good of the city where we judge he has a contribution to make. Now, do you want to come into the dining room, wash your feet, and have a cup of chilled wine?'
Kallippos stared at Hieron for another long minute. Then he made a slow, snorting noise, half laugh, half sigh, wholly relief. Delia saw that he had not in the least wanted to resign, but had felt that he had no other option. 'Yes,' he said now, starting to smile. 'Yes, O King. Thank you.'
Delia watched the two men go out, then sat back down on the couch, heavily. She knew her brother well enough to understand that Hieron had not said quite what Kallippos thought he had. Hieron had known that Kallippos was too proud to agree to become another man's subordinate- especially when the other man was
