“I don’t know about being unobtrusive.” Felix stepped back to allow two slaves carrying wine jugs to get by. “We don’t exactly blend in with the Gourd’s decorations. Well, perhaps I do, but as for you…”
He cast a quick glance behind him. The painting decorating the length of the plastered wall depicted several stalwarts engaged in fighting assorted desperate citizens of Troy. A large wooden horse stood with its belly agape, giving birth to the doom of the ancient city.
John ignored the other’s barb. It was almost preferable to the angry silence the man had maintained. He looked around the large room. How could remaining unobtrusively beside a doorway aid Justinian? What could it have to do with the death of Hypatius?
The cloying scent of exotic flowers mingled with the sweet tang of pine. Conifer branches looped in garlands around columns were echoed by ropes of greenery hung along the edges of the tables.
On the opposite side of the room, a hunting scene was depicted in full cry. A wild-eyed stag crashed through shrubbery, its pursuers so intent on its capture that they did not see the beautiful, pale figure of Diana, goddess of the chase, standing in front of a dark grove of trees in the background.
The scenes would not have been John’s choice to decorate a room devoted to pleasures of the stomach. They made an interesting combination of subjects, though. John wondered whether he and his military companion should consider themselves as belonging among the hidden warriors in the Trojan horse or among the hunted prey, or both.
Felix would probably not appreciate being considered a colleague of John, a slave and a eunuch at that. He had made his dislike for John bluntly clear during their swift walk from the Great Palace.
Felix had also made it plain that he supposed their real job at the banquet, whatever the Gourd told them, would be to act as spies on behalf of Justinian and the emperor. What could they expect to learn? It wasn’t likely that plotters would discuss their plans over dinner in this house, where walls had ears. The slaves serving Theodotus’ guests might also be selling information to certain parties whom the Prefect would have welcomed into the dungeons sooner than into his home.
John’s morose chain of thought was interrupted by the return of Theodotus. Immaculately smooth of chin and dressed in green robes, he accompanied his first guest into the torchlit room.
Trenico appeared startled to see John standing next to Felix.
“What’s he doing here?” His tone was injured and loud as if John were as deaf as the dead of Troy.
“I wish I knew!” Theodotus skewered John with a pointed stare. “Perhaps he’s keeping an eye on you for Lady Anna. But don’t worry, Trenico. A certain lady friend of yours will not be here tonight. Just as well too. You won’t be tempted to go and inspect the topiary bushes again! It’s too cold this evening.”
Trenico frowned as Felix smirked at the innuendo.
“I think you’ll enjoy my cook’s offerings, however,” his host went on. “I selected some elaborate dishes. A bit too elaborate for my tastes, but you know how it is. The court likes its streets policed by a man with good taste. If it’s chicken stuffed with chestnuts and fried veal garnished with asparagus they want, then it’s veal and chicken they’ll get. Not to mention fig cakes gilded with gold leaf. Have some wine.” He gestured toward jugs on the nearest table. “In fact, I order you to drink. You’ll be glad you’ve fortified yourself when you see the entertainments I’ve got planned.”
Trenico spoke through a mouthful of honeyed almonds he’d scooped up from a silver dish. “Surely not that abominable dwarf mime Theodora is so fond of? Or the dancers from that other low woman’s establishment you keep telling me about. What is her name? Nefertiti? Something Egyptian, anyhow. They’re all too risqué for a public dinner party.”
Theodotus emitted a coarse laugh. “You sounded hopeful when you said that. Don’t you have enough ladies without me having to show you some more? Or are the rumors wrong?”
“I was thinking of your own welfare, Theodotus. What if Justinian heard about such diversions?”
“He will. Theodora is attending.” A swift glance at John and Felix conveyed Theodotus’ thoughts on others who kept Justinian informed. “It was his suggestion that I invite her. A suggestion from Justinian isn’t much different than an order from the emperor.”
Trenico gulped down the last of the almonds and expressed surprise in a slightly choked voice.
“Oh yes,” Theodotus continued amiably. “Yes, I’ve had a lot of help with my guest list. Add a slave here, a future empress there, and how about an excubitor while you’re at it? Is this my own house or not? And you never know what sort of twisted report Theodora will carry back to Justinian. So watch your manners and keep a guard on your tongue. You, my friend, are a guest I chose myself. I would hate it if I were ordered to haul you off to the dungeons. Or if it were suggested I do so.” He laughed.
Felix gave John a meaningful look as a servant dressed in blue hurried in to inform his master that more guests had arrived.
“I must go and greet them,” Theodotus said. “Remember now. Fortify yourself! By direct order of the City Prefect!”
Trenico’s expression remained carefully neutral as he watched his host lumber off. Turning then to the men standing by the door he gave a sly grin.
“Well, John, we seem to keep running into each other. Not surprising, though, is it? Although we are of different worlds, we occupy the same world. There’s an epigram in there somewhere. And who will you be reporting to, I wonder? The mistress I am aware of? A master I don’t know about? Both?”
John bowed slightly. “I attend here under orders of Theodotus to stand guard along with this excubitor.”
“Of course! The head of the city policing force is in great need of eunuchs to protect him in his own home, as the world and his brother knows. I would not have taken you for a military man, but then you are a man of many talents. Or so my dear Anna tells me. Very well, I am certain someone of your abilities will be able to fetch some wine for a superior.”
John felt heat rising in his face and struggled to control his expression as he followed Trenico’s order. He did not want to allow the man the satisfaction of seeing the anger he had aroused.
As Trenico wandered off to converse with other guests who were now filing in, John glanced toward Felix. Now his lips did narrow and his jaw clamped reflexively, almost painfully. The big German was grinning. He obviously enjoyed John’s discomfiture.
“Laugh at me all you want, Felix,” John said in a low, furious voice. “But you would have had to obey that perfumed fop too if he’d ordered you to pour his wine.”
Felix’s expression darkened immediately. He had no opportunity to respond, however, since a cluster of guests was now entering the room, led by Theodora. Resplendent in white silk, she wore an ornamental gold circlet that very much resembled a crown.
***
As the dinner party progressed, John kept as close an eye, and ear, on the guests as his appointed station allowed. Scraps of conversation drifted over to him. The talk grew louder as more of the City Prefect’s fine wine was consumed.
Occasionally Felix vanished to patrol the garden. Or so he said. John wondered briefly if the excubitor had received orders about which he knew nothing or simply wanted to get away from his undesired companion for a while and had seized upon a fine excuse to do so.
John had to admit that Theodotus kept a fine table. Because of his work in the office of the Master of the Plate, his attention was drawn less to the culinary dainties offered than to the coruscating array of silver, gold, and glass tableware on which they arrived. He would not have given these ostentatious treasures a second glance in the past. Now, however, since his survival at the palace depended on successfully performing the duties he had been assigned, he had taken a close and prudent interest in such things.