“It would have been an honorable death,” John said quietly.
“Ah, but my destiny was shown to be greater than that! For I was saved by falling into an ornamental pool. I stood in the water, hardly believing I was alive, wondering if I were really still falling and the world would wink out in an instant to end my hopeful dream. I felt a gaze on my back. Turning, I saw a figure glimmering in the darkness.”
Troilus paused, took a few steps to the statue of the satyr, and patted the chiseled fur on its marble flank. “It was the god Pan, Lord Chamberlain. He had spared my life by arranging for me to fall into a pool guarded by his image. Clearly I had been chosen to overthrow the foul representatives of the new religion, whose mothers throw their babes into the arms of demons. That is also why I ascended toward heaven and replaced the so-called holy man on the pillar. These were miracles, you see. Miracles arranged for me.”
John thought of Alba, who had also thought the boy’s ascent a miracle, although interpreting its message in a different fashion. He made no comment.
Troilus moved to Agnes and grasped her hand. The girl continued to stare darkly at John.
“The miracles did not end with my being transported to safety atop the pillar,” Troilus went on. “Before too many days had passed, the gods sent to serve me a man who had also been cruelly banished from court and now as you see…”
He fell silent.
“John!” The rumbling voice belonged to Felix. “The emperor has surely convinced himself you have turned against him.”
“I cannot imagine that,” John replied.
“It’s true. I’m certain of it. You must protect yourself by joining us.”
“What if I refuse, my friend?”
“Don’t think to test me, John. I can do nothing for you except to see…to make sure…you don’t suffer…You were warned, why didn’t you take notice?”
“You mean Cornelia was threatened. It was Procopius who visited her, wasn’t it? Did you send him, Felix? You could hardly warn me yourself.”
It was Troilus who replied. “We were and are concerned about the welfare of you and your family.”
“Felix must have told you I was loyal to Justinian,” John said. “And I remain so.”
Troilus smiled. “Then there is no reason for me not to have you killed, Lord Chamberlain. In fact, now you’ve seen what is about to happen and can betray those involved, there is every reason to order your execution. You will become half a centaur skeleton, like the stylite who once lived atop a pillar but now passes his days underground!”
“Soldiers die if it is necessary,” John replied.
“You might choose to die, but is your family as loyal to Justinian as you are? Even if our plans fail-which they cannot, for it is the will of the gods that they succeed-you have been implicated so far as Justinian is concerned, just as we planned by the method Procopius revealed to your wife. In the past the emperor has not treated kindly the families of those who displeased him. As for myself, a good ruler is merciful, but a ruler must sometimes give orders he might find distasteful for the preservation of the empire.”
“Such as murdering the man who rescued you from the pillar and treated you like a son?” John snapped.
Troilus’ jaw clenched.
It was Agnes who spoke. “Menander was untrustworthy. He talks too much when intoxicated. He had to be silenced. Besides, being like a father to Troilus was just good business on Menander’s part, wasn’t it?”
Here her voice was not distorted by echoes as it had been in the water-filled cistern. It sounded not unearthly but merely strident, not at all like the voice with which John was familiar.
Zoe’s voice, which had only been the sound of his own thoughts.
“But as to you, Lord Chamberlain,” Troilus was saying. “I offer you one more chance of life. If you are willing to aid me in-”
“The answer is no, Troilus,” John interrupted. “And as for Menander, however he died, your hand was in it.”
“I don’t dispute it, Lord Chamberlain.”
“And what about that young prostitute whose body you dragged into your shop and took from there to the cistern where I was led to discover her? You used the underground route I have just followed. Did you meet her when she came to the theater looking for her actress friend? How did you lure her to her death?”
“Mithra!” Felix drew his sword even as he uttered the oath. He took a step toward Troilus. “You said you’d paid a madam for a body. You never said you’d murdered an innocent woman.”
Troilus raised his hand in what he must have supposed was an imperious gesture but resembled, rather, an actor aping a ruler. “These are matters of no concern to us now that the time has come,” he said.
“What was her name? Was it Vigilia?” Felix demanded. “It was Vigilia, wasn’t it? You said you hadn’t seen her since the day she’d arrived at the theater.”
“We can discuss this matter later, General Felix,” Troilus replied, “when the imperial couple has been deposed. Now, order your men-”
“The last time I went to visit her at Theodora’s convent, I was told she’d fled and where she’d gone,” Felix persisted. “When I came looking for her, you told me she’d been to the theater but had left and that you would ask after her whereabouts. You’d help me search. Then you introduced me to Menander and his ambitious friends. And all the time…”
Felix’s voice cracked. His gaze was suddenly as wild as his brimming eyes, reflecting the torchlight.
John had understood the situation correctly. Vigilia had been the prostitute who had come to Anatolius’ attention. It wasn’t surprising Felix was the man from the palace who had pursued her. It wasn’t the first time he had been smitten with a young prostitute.
How cleverly after Vigilia had visited the makeshift theater in the Copper Market the plotters had grasped their opportunity to further their plans.
“It was a stroke of good fortune for you,” Troilus told Felix. “And for me also. You saw your chance for glory and joined us. When all this is over, we will find your-”
Felix’s knuckles whitened as he gripped his weapon tighter. “You’re a liar, Troilus, as well as a murderer,” he said in a cold, flat voice. “She’s dead. Vigilia’s dead, and you killed her.”
“That’s true, Felix,” John said. “And then Troilus left her in the cistern, in order to draw me into a situation which could be presented as a plot to overthrow the emperor, doubtless expecting me to join it to protect myself and my family.”
Felix glanced from Troilus to John and back to Troilus. “Do you deny killing her?” Felix took another step toward Troilus, lifting his sword slightly.
John moved between the two men and addressed Felix. “Now we have heard these confessions, the time has come to reveal a certain secret to Troilus and his misguided followers. You are here not to assist these miscreants, but rather to arrest them all, are you not?”
The look of bewilderment that flickered across Felix’s broad, bearded face was replaced almost instantly by a ferocious scowl.
“Indeed! That has always been my plan, Lord Chamberlain. I was simply allowing these two to condemn themselves by their own words as well as gathering up their followers in one swoop.”
“And just as well,” John told him. “When I guessed what was happening, before I returned to warn Cornelia I sent Anatolius to Justinian with an urgent message. Soldiers from the palace are already on their way.”
He paused. “You would have had to dispatch me on the spot if you were really involved in this matter, Felix.”
Before Felix could give orders to his men, a murmur filled the cistern and smoke coiled and swirled like fog in a sudden stiff breeze.
The emperor’s men had arrived. Dark figures poured through the door leading from the corridor.
Agnes grabbed Troilus’ arm and looked at him in alarm.