up and examined it, then set it down again. The captain continued, 'I arrived while Hermokrates was questioning the other prisoners- they claim not to have noticed the escape, though it's plain at least some of them must have. I'd brought two files of men with me. I sent my men out to search for the fugitives at once, but by then they'd had some time to make good their escape, and we found no trace of them. I wish to make it plain, however, that I entirely support Hermokrates' decision not to search the streets at once. He did not initially know the scale of the escape, and he did not have enough men to secure the quarry and search the streets as well.'
'I agree,' said Hieron. 'Have you informed the captains of the forts on the wall?'
'I did that as soon as I arrived at the quarry. They should be on the watch for any attempt to leave the city.'
'Good. It seems likely, then, that the two men are still in the city, presumably hiding with whoever it was that brought them the saw, the rope, and the weapon they used on that poor guardsman. Who has had contact with the prisoners?'
Dionysios shrugged his shoulders wearily. 'You, me, their guards. Your doctor. Beyond that, I don't know. You know that they were originally in the charge of the garrison of the Hexapylon, and I and my men only took over yesterday. I doubt, though, that Captain Lysias has been lax. However, there is one thing…' He took a piece of knotted cloth out of his purse, set it down on the table, and unknotted it to reveal a silver coin. 'One of the guards says that the prisoner Valerius gave him this yesterday and asked him to buy oil. The guard used some change to buy the oil, kept this, and last night passed it on to me.'
Hieron picked the coin up and examined it. It bore a crown and thunderbolt on the reverse, and, on the obverse, the smiling, diademed profile of Ptolemy II. 'Surprising,' commented Hieron in a neutral voice, then, raising mild eyes to Dionysios, 'And I take it your guard was surprised, since he passed it on to you?'
Dionysios nodded. 'He says he made some comment when he was offered it, and the prisoner told him that it was the same weight as Sicilian ones.'
'And so, of course, it is,' said Hieron. 'But unexpected in the hands of a Roman.' He set the coin down. 'It may be irrelevant,' he added after a moment. 'If a Roman did get such a coin, its rarity might induce him to keep it for good luck. Perhaps he kept it around his neck as a sort of talisman, and only spent it since his other money was taken when he was captured and he was desperate to buy some oil to help his friend slip off the shackles.'
'Oh, Zeus!' exclaimed Dionysios, startled. He had seen nothing odd in the request for oil: it was used like soap, and it had seemed natural for even a prisoner to want to wash.
Hieron gave him a tight smile. 'On the other hand, this could come from the same source as the rope. I take it you've checked whether any of your men have been to Egypt recently? Are any of them Italian mercenaries? Greeks from one of the cities of Italy?'
'A couple are Tarentines,' admitted Dionysios. 'But I wouldn't think- that is, I know that one of them at least is fanatically anti-Roman; it's always causing trouble.'
'Check their backgrounds anyway,' ordered the king. 'See if they could have been blackmailed. And another thing: check if anyone has visited the quarry, but not the prisoners.'
'What?' asked the captain, surprised.
'There's no handle on the saw,' Hieron pointed out. 'Would a man who was smuggling in a saw deliberately choose one with no handle? I'd say it's much more likely that the handle was taken off in order to fit the tool through a crack in the wall.'
'Zeus!' exclaimed Dionysios again, staring. 'I know already of one man who visited the quarry and not the prisoners, and though he's unlikely to be relevant, there may have been others claiming the same errand.'
'What errand is that?'
'Stone for very large catapults,' said the captain. 'Lysias told me that Archimedes had his man around checking which quarry would be best for ammunition for the three-talenter.'
Hieron's head jerked up, and he stared at Dionysios, wide-eyed in alarm. 'Oh, gods!' he exclaimed.
'What's the matter?' asked Dionysios, surprised. 'It was Archimedes' slave. Your doctor was there at the time and recognized the man, Lysias said.'
Hieron shook his head. He clapped his hands, and Agathon appeared sour-faced in the doorway. 'Take half a file of men from the guards' barracks,' commanded the king, 'and hurry to Archimedes' house in the Achradina- I believe you know where it is. There are two escaped prisoners of war who may be hiding there. Get the household to safety, and then search the house for the prisoners. The citizens are to be treated with every courtesy. Ask Archimedes to come up here. If that Italian slave of his is about, send him as well, under guard. Hurry! Run!'
Agathon, astonished, bobbed his head and ran. Hieron got to his feet and stood biting the side of his thumb with anxiety. Dionysios stared at him in consternation.
'Lord!' he exclaimed. 'You can't think that Archimedes…'
'That slave of his is a Latin,' said Hieron. 'What's more, he was in Egypt. And if Archimedes wanted special stone for his three-talenter- and I haven't heard any report that he did! — he would have used someone from the workshop to look for it. He's been quite careful to keep that particular slave away from anything strategic.'
'How do you…' began Dionysios weakly.
'Because I had it checked!' snapped Hieron. 'The slave claims to be a Samnite, but is obviously lying, and he's been in Syracuse for thirteen years- in other words, since the Pyrrhic War, when there were quite a number of Latins enslaved. Probably he saw some men he knew among the prisoners, and agreed to help them escape if they would help him back to home and freedom. Herakles, I hope I'm wrong! I hope we don't find Archimedes with his throat cut, like that poor guardsman!'
'He was with me last night,' said Dionysios faintly. 'I'd invited him to dinner at the Arethusa. I… wanted to ask if I could marry his sister. When I left he was playing the flute with a girl. That was an hour or so before midnight.'
'I hope she kept him distracted until dawn!' said the king. He sat down again.
'Why would Archimedes have kept a slave he knew was disloyal?' asked Dionysios.
'Don't be stupid!' said Hieron impatiently. 'The man had served his family for thirteen years and accompanied him to Alexandriaobviously he didn't think the fellow disloyal! But he just as obviously had some reason to suspect the slave's nationality, and so he confined him to domestic duties to avoid any patriotic crisis of conscience. What else was he supposed to do? You don't send a person who's been a member of your household ever since you were a child to the quarries without good cause!' The king rubbed his face wearily, then looked back at Dionysios. 'I hope I'm wrong,' he repeated grimly.
Marcus had been back at the house for about half an hour when the guardsmen knocked on the door.
He had arrived back at the house at dawn, slipped in through the door he had carefully left unbolted, put away his basket of equipment, and moved directly to his usual first duty of the day: cleaning the latrine. He was in the middle of this when he heard the knock, and then Sosibia's voice, shrill with alarm, answering a man. He froze in his place for a moment, listening, then got up, washed his hands carefully, and came out into the courtyard, where the rest of the household was assembling.
Archimedes was waked out of a deep sleep into a hangover. He stumbled down the stairs pale with headache, his black tunic crumpled from having been slept in, and regarded Agathon and the half-file leader from the Ortygia with queasy bewilderment. They explained that two Roman prisoners had escaped during the night and might be hiding somewhere in the house.
'Where?' he asked disgustedly. 'It's not a very big house. I think we might notice two Romans.'
'The king gave orders for us to search it, sir,' said the half-file leader. 'He was concerned for your safety.'
'That's ridiculous! You can see there's nobody here but my own household!'
The half-file leader scanned the small group in the courtyard, who had been crowded into the doorways by his own men, then looked back to the disheveled master of the house. 'I am still obliged to search,' he said. 'One of your slaves can remain to explain the arrangement of the house to us, but the rest of the household should go to a neighbor's, out of harm's way. Believe me, sir, we have strict orders not to disturb anything.'
'Zeus!' exclaimed Archimedes in disgust.
'I'm sure Euphanes would be happy to have us,' said Arata pacifically. She was standing in the workroom door, veiled with a hastily seized cloak, Philyra beside her.
Archimedes opened his mouth to make some reply, and Agathon said to him sharply, 'The king wants you to
