When Tereus emerged from the trail, to surrender his weapons, and have his arm stained, Seremides was waiting for him, leaning on his crutch, grinning.
“Sleen,” hissed Tereus, as the stain was spread upon his left forearm.
“You would not take me with you,” said Seremides.
“Had you been with us,” said Tereus, “you would not be alive now.”
“How fortunate then,” said Seremides, “that I was not with you.”
“Treacherous tarsk,” said Tereus.
“Here, noble lord,” said Seremides to Lord Okimoto, indicating Tereus, “is the leader of the desertion.”
Seremides, prior to his crippling in the Vine Sea, had been liaison to Lord Okimoto, a post now held by Tyrtaios.
“If so, Rutilius, half of man,” said Lord Okimoto, “what should be done with him?”
“I resign that matter cheerfully, noble lord,” said Seremides, “to your judgment, or that of the great Lord Temmu.”
“It is our view,” said Lord Okimoto, “that the leader of the desertion did not participate in the desertion, but would have appeared shortly, had it proved successful.”
“Lord?” said Seremides.
“If that is so,” said Tyrtaios, “the true leader would not have been Tereus.”
“He led, clearly,” said Seremides.
“Perhaps another,” said Tyrtaios.
“Another?” said Seremides.
“Perhaps you,” said Tyrtaios.
“I?” said Seremides, startled, turning white.
“Did you not inform Lord Nishida of the conspiracy?” asked Tyrtaios. “How would you know of it, had you not been involved in the matter?”
“If I designed the matter,” said Seremides, “why would I betray it, and thus preclude its fruition?”
“Perhaps that one you fear might be thereby slain,” said Tereus.
“Ah,” said Tyrtaios, thoughtfully.
“Would it not have been simpler to strike him in the night?” asked Lord Okimoto.
“I am loyal!” said Seremides.
“To whom?” asked Tereus, his left arm dark with stain.
“If the matter carried,” said Tyrtaios, “I expect you would have profited from it.”
“You do me too much credit,” said Seremides. “How could I, no more than a worthless cripple, ridiculed and scorned, manage so great an affair?”
“Your wit is not crippled,” said Tyrtaios. “Who knows what venom you might brew?”
“I am innocent!” said Seremides.
“Perhaps,” said Tyrtaios.
“Tereus, Tereus!” insisted Seremides.
“One does not know,” said Tyrtaios.
“The matter was cleverly done,” said Lord Okimoto, “and moved from man to man. Where it began may remain unclear.”
“Somewhere it must have begun,” said Tyrtaios, “and from somewhere been monitored and directed.”
“Doubtless,” said Lord Okimoto.
“Consider the perfidious Tereus, Lord,” said Seremides.
“Do you think, upon reflection, good Tyrtaios,” asked Lord Okimoto, “that our friend, Tereus, a simple oarsman, could have managed so much, so well?”
“He spoke for the desertion, he led the flight, he was first through the gate,” said Seremides. “His guilt is obvious!”
“Too obvious,” said Lord Okimoto.
“I do not think so, Lord,” said Tyrtaios.
“Nor I,” said Lord Okimoto.
“Then Rutilius,” said Tyrtaios.
“No!” said Seremides.
“I think it would have been difficult for Rutilius,” said Lord Okimoto.
“Then, who?” said Tyrtaios.
“Yes, who?” said Lord Okimoto. He then gestured that the disarmed, weary, disconsolate Tereus be conducted, his arm stained, his steps slow, in his turn, to a prison barracks.
Seremides, angrily, turned and hobbled awkwardly away, the crutch poking at, and dragging in, the dirt.
Various times, in the last few days, he had importuned me to kill Tereus for him.
I had, of course, refused.
“I will come again to power,” he said. “You are my only friend. You protect me. You saved my life. I will not forget that. I will come again to power. You will stand high.”
“I will not kill Tereus for you,” I said.
“Get him drunk,” said Seremides. “Provoke a quarrel. Strike. It will not be difficult.”
“No,” I said.
I thought that Tereus might be more safe in the prison barracks than free on the castle grounds, particularly at night.
It is dangerous to be feared by Seremides.
I had then turned away from him.
“Callias,” said Tyrtaios.
“Noble Tyrtaios,” I said.
“We owe you much,” he said. “Had it not been for your intervention, at the gate, the time taken, the desertion might have proceeded apace.”
“I do not think so,” I said. “I think the desertion was anticipated, and prepared for.”
“Betrayed by Rutilius?” he said.
“I suspect it was independently anticipated,” I said. “The Pani are not fools.”
“In any event,” said Tyrtaios, “it is clear you were not with the desertion.”
“That is true,” I said.
“That will be remembered,” he said.
“How so?” I said.
“Perhaps I may find a way for you to be rewarded,” he said.
“You?” I said.
“Yes, I,” he said.
“I need not be rewarded,” I said.
“That is for me to say,” he said.
“You have friends?” I said.
“Of course,” he said.
“Where?” I asked.
“Here and there,” he said.
“And they might arrange my reward?”
“Quite possibly,” he said.
I recalled seeing Tyrtaios in company with several fellows, the past few days, fellows from various decks. Some of them had been amongst the deserters, and were now incarcerated in a prison barracks.
If a snake could take human form, and the form of a warrior, I thought, would it not be much like the form of Tyrtaios?
I suspected that the machinations of Tyrtaios lay behind the abortive desertion. It would not do to say so, of course, for he stood close to Lord Okimoto.
I did not think that Seremides had planned and organized the desertion. As he had suggested, few would take him seriously, now, as a leader. I did suppose that he, unobtrusive, scarcely noticed, might have overheard revealing remarks, and thus come upon the matter. He may well have conveyed his intelligence to the Pani, particularly had he inveighed with Tereus, or others, to permit him to accompany the flight, and had had his request refused. Why should others escape the World’s End, if not Seremides? I speculated, of course, that the Pani had independently anticipated, and prepared for, such an exigency. Its likelihood would have been much increased given the miserable return of the exploratory force and the arrival of enemy troops, in force, in the vicinity. Seremides had, of course, attempted to use the failure of the desertion, naturally enough, as an opportunity to embroil Tereus, whom he feared, with the Pani.