Doctor Who_ Byzantium! - Keith Topping [15]
should happen.What say you?' Basellas was silent, his hand stroking an unshaven chin. When he spoke, his voice was low and conspiratorial. 'For too long,' he began, 'we have suffered under the yoke of Roman occupation. Of the vile and base dogs which enslave us. Now is the time to strike against them.'
`No.’
A lone voice cut through the rising tide of hysteria within the room. All heads turned to the solitary figure at the back, sitting half in the shadows with his wife by his side. Simeon stood and moved into the light, revealing a handsome yet sad face. Instantly, the room parted for him to walk towards Basellas and the two hot-headed young agitators. 'Zealots we are, and Zealots we shall ever be,' Simeon continued,'until we are Zealots no longer, and are united with all of the children of Israel.'
There was a look of amusement on Basellas's face. `Wise words, my brother,' he told Simeon. 'Our father would have been proud of you this day. Would, if he had not been done to death two years past by those pigs of Rome.'
There were shouts of agreement from around the room.
But not as many as there had been before. Simeon commanded just as much respect as his older brother amongst the group, if not more. He was a good and intelligent man and the others knew this. Simeon had always favoured uniting the disparate tribes amongst the Jews so that they could fight the Romans as one people with one voice. A calming influence on his brother and a brilliant strategist, his voice carried authority and commanded that it be heard.
Only a fool would argue with Simeon.
‘I do not believe that a son of Jacob does not wish to see the land awash with the blood of the gentiles,' hissed Yewhe, bitterly. 'Your father was a great man, Simeon. And your brother is a great man. But you...' He paused, and gave Simeon a look of pure contempt. Ì know not what manner of man you are.'
There were gasps from some of those present, amid one or two voices of support and encouragement. Yet Basellas sat and said nothing, watching the protagonists like a man following the intricate plots and subplots of a chariot race.
'You may wade knee-deep in Roman blood if you wish, Yewhe,’ said Simeon. 'You and your...' He looked at Benjamin with pity in his eyes. `Your disciple. And you will die. And. upon this being so, there shall be no memorial for you after you have gone. No tributes save that "Here lies Yewhe, he was young and headstrong". The graveyards are full of those who are so inclined.'
`Your words are wise indeed, Simeon,' said Ephraim from the side of the room. 'Not least because they are so cowardly and self-serving.’
Benjamin took an aggressive pace towards Simeon.
`Meanwhile, you would stand aside and do nothing whilst your brothers are hunted and killed. How long, Simeon, how long before a Roman with a twitching sword comes to thy door at the dead of night and slits your gullet asunder before taking himself to Rebecca's chamber?'
Ènough,' interrupted the woman beside Simeon. Rebecca joined her husband and gave Benjamin a vicious cold stare.
'You are a child grown old before thy time, Benjamin,' she told the young man. `The horrors visited upon your family made me weep for you all. But there my sympathy must end.
For rage hath made you bitter and twisted and loosened your judgment. Listen you well to my husband, Benjamin, and all others that would follow your brash and ill-advised quest. For if we are not united then we are divided and shall all die. And in our death Rome shall have their undeserved victory.'
As those in the room were digesting this, Rebecca slapped Benjamin across the face. 'Thy mother should have curbed you thus, two years since, insolent child. If any Roman dog were to lay his filthy hand upon me, then he would die the death of a thousand cuts with his manhood removed.' She turned angrily to Basellas and