Killer of Men - Christian Cameron [69]
Archi had no head for wine and I was already pouring pure water into his cup. ‘Why do you even entertain a man like that?’ he asked the satrap.
Artaphernes shrugged. ‘He is a powerful man. If he goes to Darius, I will not look well.’
Archi shook his head. ‘He is a petty prince from a foreign power. Surely he can be ignored?’
‘He provides me with excellent intelligence,’ Artaphernes said. ‘And in his way he is wise.’ He drank, and then said, ‘Even though he plays both sides like a treacherous Greek.’
That last was not his happiest statement. ‘He is on the other side?’ Archi asked. ‘Can’t you have him arrested?’
Artaphernes laughed. ‘You are young and idealistic. Ruling a Greek is like riding a wild horse. Like herding cats. Every lordling in these waters is his own master and has his own “side”. I have many roles – I am the oppressive foreign master, I am the ally of convenience, I am the source of gold and patronage, I am the lord who serves the Great King. I slip from mask to mask like one of your actors – never was an image more apt, Archilogos. Because I need to be many men to keep all you Greeks loyal to my master.’
He looked at us. I think he was speaking to himself. Suddenly he smiled and shook his head. ‘I am dull company,’ he said.
‘No!’ Archi protested. This was a dream, having his hero all to himself.
‘Does Hippias plot against you?’ I asked. This was daring, from a slave, but there were just the three of us, and he had spoken to me before.
He looked at me and nodded approvingly. ‘Archilogos, your slave has a head on his shoulders, and when you are an officer of the Great King, this one will make a good steward.’ He nodded to me. ‘He plots against me only to win me over,’ he said. ‘It is not a Persian way of behaving. Indeed, it still mystifies me.’ He smiled at Archi. ‘This is why I ask your mother and father so many questions, young man. Because they can explain this behaviour to me. Hippias bribes the tyrants of the islands to revolt – so that there will be a war. He will then be at my side for the war, hoping that Athens comes in with the tyrants. Then he will use me to reconquer Athens. Does that sound possible?’
I smiled. ‘Oh yes. Brilliant!’ I clapped my hands. Hippias may have been a lecherous fat man, but he could think like Heracles, if that was his plan.
Artaphernes shook his head. ‘I need to go back to Persepolis, where men kill each other over women and ill-chosen words, but never, ever lie.’ He frowned at me. ‘You understand this way of planning, then?’
I grinned. ‘I do, lord.’
‘Women?’ Archi asked, breaking in. ‘Persians kill each other over women?’
‘Adultery is our national sport,’ Artaphernes said, his voice heavy with some adult emotion that neither Archi nor I could interpret, and we glanced at each other. He had had too much to drink. ‘Every Persian gentleman covets his friend’s wife. It is like a disease, or the curse of the gods.’ He looked at his cup and I moved to fill it, but he covered it. ‘I grow maudlin. Let us forget that last exchange, young friends. Never speak ill of your homeland when among strangers.’
‘We are not strangers, I hope!’ Archi said.
‘I have drunk too much. You see? I offend my host. I am off to bed.’ The Mede got to his feet without his usual grace and headed off under the portico. I went and helped him into bed. He mumbled things that I ignored, because when you are a slave, people say the most amazing things. Then I went to deal with Archi, who had no head for wine and was puking in a basin.
At last, when Archi was on his couch with a rug over him, I went to find Penelope.
It was rare for us to have a scheduled tryst, and I was afire. I barely did my duty in clearing the andron of the refuse of a dinner party and I took only a cupful of stew from the kitchen and drank no wine. I needn’t have hurried.
The Fountain of Pollio was old then. It has since been restored, but at that time it was the meeting place of slumming aristocrats and slaves. The roof of the fountain had fallen in and been replaced with wood, and the carpenter had done a