Felix put a hand like a bear’s paw on John’s shoulder. “Are you all right, my friend? It’s fortunate I happened to be passing by just now.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The single, narrow window in Felix’s office offered a view of a courtyard with a fountain which had been dry for years.
John, Felix, and Theodoulos sat at the table which served as a desk. The plaster walls were bare except for a silver cross, the required decoration of every administrative office.
John reflected that no doubt some prosperous metal worker in the Copper Market was even then hammering out another crateful of pious artifacts.
A visitor might wonder why the religious symbol in the excubitor captain’s office had been allowed to tarnish, but such a person would not know that, like John and Anatolius, Felix was a secret follower of Mithra.
Felix had stationed two guards outside his office door. Theodoulos appeared resigned to his fate. He perched silently on his stool, giving his captors angry looks.
“So our mistress has removed your tongue,” Felix said. “I hope she was kind enough to have it cut off rather than ripped out.”
John thought he looked more nervous than Theodoulos.
“You can answer my questions by nodding yes or else shaking your head no,” John said.
The dwarf made a guttural, growling noise.
Felix frowned. “You have no choice but to cooperate with us. I can use the same torturers as the empress. You are already missing your tongue, but they are talented men and can find plenty of other body parts to remove.”
Theodoulos’ hands unclenched. He opened his left hand, turned it palm upward, extended the stubby forefinger of his right hand, and began running it across the palm. Then he growled again.
“He wants a kalamos.” John said.
Felix grunted. “Likely to stab you with. I thought he was supposed to be an illiterate brute?”
Theodoulos shook his head.
“Well, there’s two of us and only half of him.” Felix got out of his chair, opened a chest beside the table, rummaged through its contents, and pulled out a roll of parchment. He glanced at the writing covering one side and slapped it down on the table. “Request for extra supplies from six years ago. The other side’s blank.”
He brought an ink pot and a kalamos from a shelf, hesitated, and then handed the sharpened reed to Theodoulos.
The dwarf dipped it into the ink, carefully marked the parchment, and turned it around so John could see what he’d written.
“‘Thank you, excellencies,’” John read out. “I notice you write in Latin.”
The kalamos scratched across the parchment again. ‘I was taught by a bishop. A friend of the empress.’
“One of those monophysites she’s got lodged in the Hormisdas, I’ll wager,” Felix grumbled. “You learned to read and write after your tongue was removed?”
Theodoulos nodded.
“Does the empress know about this unexpected talent?”
A shake of the head indicated she did not. He wrote again. ‘Every man needs to be able to tell his story if necessary.’
Felix grinned. “You’re right there. So you’re not the beast you’ve been made out to be.”
Theodoulos’ thick lips curved into a broad, grotesque smile as he scratched out his reply. ‘I would gladly kill you both were I able. I am a literate beast but a beast nonetheless.’
John handed the parchment back. “And an honest beast, I see. How was it you came into Theodora’s employment?”
It took the dwarf some time to frame his answer. ‘My father was a baker,’ he wrote, ‘and a good Christian. When I was born he thanked the Lord for blessing him with a son. When I did not grow like other children he prayed to the Lord to make me whole. When his prayers were not answered he cursed me as the spawn of demons and sought to cast me into the street. But I was stronger than him, and that is how I came to the attention of the empress. She can always find a use for a boy who strangled his own father and hung him from his own bakery sign. The fact that I was a monster amused her.’
“You have killed for Theodora?” John asked.
‘More times than I can recall.’
“He enjoys it.” Felix’s voice was thick with disgust. “Soldiers kill but few enjoy it.”
The pen moved furiously, leaving blots of ink. ‘Do you know what it is like to be mocked as an abomination, to be loathed by your own father? The bishop taught me that mankind was evil. And so it is. I am happy to punish mankind for its sins.’
“Indeed,” Felix observed. “And you are punishing mankind one victim at a time.”
“Why did you flee when you discovered I wanted to speak to you?” John asked.
‘I guessed what you wanted to know,’ Theodoulos wrote. ‘Too many people have been asking questions about the same matter.’
“What people?”
‘Ask the excubitor captain.’
Felix glared at their captive. “I made inquiries after you mentioned a certain matter to me, John. I instructed my men to be discreet. It would appear they were not.”
“And you really intended to throw yourself into the sea, Theodoulos?” John asked.
‘Rocks and waves are kinder than the torturer. I am already a dead man. If I can, I intend to dispatch that eunuch chamberlain before I go into the next world.’
“A journey you will not be taking any time soon unless Theodora realizes you can tell your story. What is your story? You must remember the empress’ son?” John said.
Theodoulos dipped the reed in the ink pot and stared down at the parchment for some time before he began to write again, slowly and pausing now and then to think. When he was finished he pushed what he had written across the table to his interrogators.
‘I recall the boy named John only because I did not kill him. He was alone with the empress when I was summoned to the most private of her reception rooms, a room hung with heavy tapestries which allow no sound to escape. The tapestries depict scenes from the Bible and these are often among the last things visitors to that secret chamber will ever see…
‘On this occasion the empress did not seek entertainment. She instructed me to take the child away and show him the usual courtesies. By this she meant I was not to inflict more pain than was necessary. He looked at me most haughtily, and then asked the empress if a mother could not spare her son a more presentable servant?…
‘I was not surprised by his words. I could tell you where to find the bones of others who thought to present themselves as heirs to the throne. I was, however, offended by the insult and resolved to show the boy less courtesy than he could have otherwise expected…
‘I took him by the arm and led him out of the palace through a corridor known to few. We emerged in the gardens. There is a secluded spot near the sea, surrounded by wind bent olive trees. It has served my purposes well…
‘Darkness had fallen. I took the path that runs behind the banquet hall, along the parapet, because it is little used…
‘I was thinking how best to accomplish my task, whether to break his neck or smother him. Or perhaps a little blade work beforehand would be an enjoyable interval. The boy chattered on like a mindless bird or a prelate. He gave the impression that he thought I was taking him to be measured for an imperial crown. He was shrewder than I realized.
‘Suddenly he twisted out of my grasp and flung himself over the parapet. I heard his scream as he fell.
‘I cursed myself for inattention. I rarely get the chance to dispose of children. I hurried to the nearest stairway. There was no question of anyone surviving a fall to the next terrace but I feared someone might come upon the body.
‘There is little light in that part of the gardens but my eyes had grown accustomed to the dark. I made my way along the bottom of the wall. There was no body to be seen.
‘I became aware of someone looking at me. I peered through the darkness, and saw a pair of horns and a bestial face. For a heartbeat I thought Satan himself had arrived, no doubt to visit Theodora. Then I saw it was a statue of Pan, presiding over an ornamental pool.