come and speak with him at once.'
Archimedes turned back and glared. 'No,' he declared flatly. 'Delian Apollo, the arrogance of it! To turn my family out of our own house and expect me to come running the moment he claps his hands! If Hieron thinks he owns me, he'll soon learn otherwise!'
Arata gasped and dropped her veil. The king's doorkeeper went crimson with indignation and drew himself up to his- unimpressivefull height.
Before he could speak, Archimedes struck again angrily: 'This is my house, and I didn't ask you in! Get out!'
The half-file leader looked to Agathon for guidance, but Agathon could only splutter. The half-file leader looked back at Archimedes, remembered the great respect showed to him by the king, and decided that conciliation was called for. 'Sir,' he said, 'this is being done out of concern for your safety, not because-'
'The king also ordered your man Marcus brought to him under guard,' declared Agathon, finding his voice again.
'That's…' began Archimedes- then looked at Marcus and stopped. The slave's face was impassive, inert as clay, but told him instantly that the implied accusation was true. Perhaps it was only that it contained neither confusion nor surprise. He stared for a long moment, appalled. The half-file leader went on about the king's concern for his safety.
Archimedes raised his hand for silence, and the half-file leader stopped. There was a sudden silence, which deepened like a stone plummeting as he and Marcus looked at each other. 'Are they here?' he asked at last, the words dropping into that stillness.
'No,' replied Marcus in a grating voice. 'Let them search.'
Archimedes looked at him for another moment. Marcus, meeting his eyes, felt that for the first time he had his master's full attention; that always before that gaze had been fixed on something beyond or to the side of him, and only now was the full power of the mind behind it bent on him where he stood in the silent courtyard. The aperture of a three-talenter, he thought, would have seemed less absolute.
'Were they here?' asked Archimedes quietly.
Marcus hesitated- then nodded. 'Last night,' he whispered. 'They were here when you came back from your dinner. They hid in the dining room until it was quiet again. They're gone now.' He pulled himself up, and went on, for the sake of all the household, but especially for the girl who was watching him in shocked amazement, 'One of them is my brother. I helped him because I was bound to, but first I made him swear not to harm anyone in this house. He urged me to escape with him, but I refused. I wanted no part of the attack on Syracuse. I am prepared to accept the consequences of what I have done.'
'Where are they?' demanded the half-file leader.
'Already out of the city,' replied Marcus proudly. 'They'll be back in their own camp by now. You can search as much as you like, but you won't find them.'
'You'll come with us as the king ordered,' said the half-file leader, and Marcus at once bowed his head in agreement.
'I'll- come as well,' said Archimedes hoarsely.
He crossed the courtyard to his mother, took her by the arms, and kissed her cheek. 'Don't worry,' he told her. 'Let the men search the house- though I don't think there's any point in bothering Euphanes at this time of morning. Stay and make sure they don't take anything. And don't let them be insolent.' He looked from Arata to the half-file leader, and his next words were intended for the whole party. 'We are not insignificant people.'
They left the half-file leader directing the search of the house and started off toward the Ortygia: Agathon, Archimedes, and Marcus, walking between two guardsmen but, at Archimedes' insistence, not bound. Agathon said nothing, though every line of his rigid back and every glance of his sour face expressed the most absolute disapproval. Marcus, who walked silently with his head bowed, could feel those glances like a flick of the fingers against his face. Archimedes' looks of unhappy concern, however, were much more painful.
When they reached the king's house, they found Hieron and Dionysios still in the dining room. The king jumped to his feet when they entered and beamed at Archimedes. 'Good health to you, and I thank the gods!' he exclaimed, coming over to shake hands. 'Forgive me if I've disturbed you unnecessarily, but-'
'The slave has admitted it,' interrupted Agathon harshly. 'He says he smuggled the two prisoners out of the city last night.'
Hieron turned to Marcus. The smile he had given Archimedes was still fading from his lips, but the expression in his eyes was already something quite different. 'How?' he asked.
Marcus cleared his throat. 'I lowered them down from the seawall just where it turns inland. There's only one guard on that stretch, and he didn't come downstairs to check the catapult platforms on the ground floor. There was no moon, and it was simply a matter of waiting until he was out of the way.' He looked at Archimedes. 'I borrowed that hoist you built when I last retiled the roof. You know, the one with the windlass that clamps onto things? We clamped it to the artillery port, and I lowered Gaius down in the tile basket- his arm's broken, and his ribs, and he couldn't have gone down a rope. Fabius just slid down after him. Then I pulled the basket up again, unclamped the windlass, and went home.'
'Why?' asked the king softly. His clear dark eyes rested on Marcus' face, their expression impenetrable.
Marcus straightened his shoulders. 'One of the escaped men is my brother. Gaius Valerius, son of Gaius, of the Valerian voting tribe.'
'A Roman citizen,' said the king.
'Yes,' said Marcus. 'I used to be a Roman as well.' He glanced at the expressions on the faces about him: the door-keeper disapproving; Archimedes stunned and miserable; Dionysios and the two guards angry and confused; the king- unreadable. He might as well go on- there was no sense in keeping anything back. Even if he had not admitted it, they would have known what he had done. They'd sent guards for him: someone must have remembered his visit to the quarry. 'I happened to see the prisoners when they were being marched into the city, and I recognized Gaius. Gaius saw me, too. I couldn't leave him. He was wounded and… I could not leave him to think I'd forgotten everything I was. I went to speak to him next day. You know about that. The other man, Fabius, was next to Gaius and overheard us talking, so I had to involve him as well.'
'I don't know about it,' said Archimedes numbly.
'You don't,' agreed Marcus, and looked back at the king. 'You probably realize that already, lord, but I can confirm it: Archimedes didn't know anything about any of it. I never told him even that I was a Roman.' He turned back to his master. 'Sir, I told the guards at the quarry I was your slave and that you'd sent me to check which quarry would provide the best stone for the three-talenter. They let me in at once. I went up to the shed and spoke to Gaius through the wall. He asked me to help him escape. I told him he was better off where he was, but he didn't believe it.- They'd been told a lot of stupid stories about you, lord,' he added apologetically to Hieron.
'Really?' asked Hieron. 'What stupid stories?'
Marcus hesitated, and the king said, 'Please! I will not blame you for repeating what they said, and I would very much like to know.'
'They had you confused with Phalaris of Akragas,' said Marcus uncomfortably. 'They told me you cooked people alive in a bronze bull. And they said you had people impaled on stakes.'
'Tch-tch,' said Hieron. 'Is there anyone in particular I'm supposed to have had cooked or impaled, or did I choose my victims at random?'
'You're supposed to have cooked your opponents, I think,' said Marcus, even more embarrassed, 'and impaled their wives and children. A hundred of them, I think they said. I told Gaius it was all lies, but, as I said, I don't think he really believed me. His friend told me I'd gone very Greek. They know nothing about Greeks and less about Syracuse.'
'I impale children, do I?' said Hieron thoughtfully. 'Gods! Very well, go on. You agreed to help your brother and his friend escape. You gave them money, a saw, some rope, and a weapon of some kind.'
'A knife,' said Marcus. 'Yes. I hoped they wouldn't use it, but I've heard that they did. I'm sorry for the man, whoever he was.'
'His name was Straton son of Metrodoros,' said the king. 'I believe you knew him.'
Archimedes and Marcus both stared, appalled. 'Straton?' asked Marcus in horror. 'But- it wasn't the troops from the Ortygia who-'
