The noise of music from the big pass became louder and more continuous, and was joined by a long burst of cheering. I looked about me. I could forget the size and smoothness of where I was. What suddenly seemed more important was the height and steepness of the rocky walls surrounding it and the frequently rocky ground of the Larydia Pass. Once we’d shown ourselves, it would be a matter of conquer or be crushed.
We’d seen enough of things down here. All that now remained was to take ourselves along the upper ridge. We needed to see what cover there was for our archers and how easily men could be sent up to attack them. We were leading our horses back the way we’d come, when there was the scrape of boots on the rough ground ahead of us.
One of the two men approaching us was Shahin. ‘You say His Majesty has seen my report?’ he asked in an anxious whine. ‘That means he knows the actual situation in Constantinople. I do urge him to reconsider his plan for tomorrow. Alaric was in total control when I left Constantinople. The only way he could have been here was at the head of a Greek army. That means everything must be known to the Intelligence Bureau. I suggest we should cut the ceremony. Why not let me hand everything over tonight in private? We can then keep moving cautiously forward.’
‘Be silent, Shahin!’ the Grand Chamberlain trilled. ‘The Great King knew that Alaric was lying from the moment he arrived here. At no time was His Majesty deceived. He was but playing with the blond barbarian.’ Not moving in the shadows, I hoped the horses would keep quiet. The Grand Chamberlain was passing by in his chair not a dozen yards away. Shahin hobbled along beside him. The guards were heavily armed and looked as if they were expecting trouble.
The big eunuch twisted round, making his carriers stagger a little as they fought to keep the chair steady. ‘The Great King has been assured in a dream that Alaric came alone and that there is no Greek army. If His Majesty believes us to be perfectly safe, will you dare say otherwise? I think not!
‘Now, I have delivered your instructions for dawn tomorrow. I will not advise you to follow them to the letter, regardless of your own misgivings. I take it for granted that you know this already. I also will not carry back such misgivings as you may have expressed. You may regard this as a personal favour for which I shall, in due course, expect a return.’
With that, he motioned Shahin to stop and reached forward to prod his carriers to hurry him on to the main camp.
Rado was keeping the horses remarkably quiet. But it was soon plain that Shahin wouldn’t simply turn and traipse back to his own camp. For a while, he stood unmoving in the middle of the pass. Then, instead of going away, he walked over and looked up to the far side.
‘Alaric,’ he shouted, ‘I know you’re up there!’ He looked quickly to where the Grand Chamberlain might still be in hearing. He switched into Greek. ‘Alaric, the silver cup has given me heightened awareness of all things. I can feel that you’re up there. You’ve got the girl. There’s nothing more you can do here. Take yourself and your household slaves back to Constantinople. Go now, or you’ll get us all killed!’
For a while longer, he continued looking up into the darkness. At last, with a loud sigh, he turned and began walking slowly away to the right.
As soon as everything was silent, we got ourselves to one of the gentler slopes. ‘What was that all about?’ Rado whispered as we paused halfway up.
‘I think Antonia was right about his being touched in the head,’ I replied. ‘Other than that, Shahin was uttering a convenient lie. Since he’s unable to produce her as a trophy, he’s decided to suppress any mention of Antonia. That means he needs another reason to explain our presence. Either he admits that we did follow him out here, or he puffs up the efficiency of our intelligence services and says I’m here with an army. As for Chosroes, he’s keen to save face — even to the point of bending reality to fit his image of himself.’ I sniffed. I looked at Rado in the darkness and hoped he was aware of my smile. ‘That’s a frequent weakness of those at the top, by the way. It’s never easy to get the truth out of people who are scared of you. Add to that an unwillingness to see things as they really are, and you explain the trouble with any form of settled government but a constitutional republic.’
But this was no time for lectures. I took the reins of my horse again and waited for Rado to go ahead. There was little I could tell him about the military arts. One thing I did know, however, better than most generals I’d met. But perhaps he’d long since guessed one of the chief reasons behind my liberal scheme of household management. Between attacks of cold feet, my opinion of General Rado was rising into the sky.
Chapter 67
Our reconnaissance along the top of the pass took us above the Persian camp. The army had moved forward a couple of miles since the dying away of the rain, but looked as chaotic as ever. It was getting late and the moon was already far up in the sky. The front part of the camp was ablaze with light. The singing eunuchs showed no evidence that they’d soon be going to bed.
As you might expect of Chosroes, the evening entertainment was mostly executions. In defiance of his people’s established worship of fire, he was roasting men alive in iron cages suspended over bonfires. Search me who the poor buggers were. Prisoners brought back from the foraging raids? The engineers who’d made such a balls-up of his night palace? Human offerings to the shade of Urvaksha? Young Babar and anyone else who’d upset him in the past few days? You decide. The cages were a fair distance away and there wasn’t much to be seen through the smoke but the occasional glimpse of a thin, capering body. The screaming was enough, though. Not even the thousand eunuchs could obliterate that. His Majesty had to be down there in one of the better viewing positions — roasting alive was one of his favourite punishments — but I couldn’t see him.
Rado was marching up and down, now peering over the edge, now stamping his feet near the edge. The path along the top was narrower than on the other side. Looking up, there was nothing to be seen in the dark. But I knew some of the high points rose a couple of hundred feet above where we were standing.
‘Here, what are you doing?’ someone called in Persian from the shadow of an overhanging rock. He stepped out, pulling his clothes down and wafting a shitty smell through the night air. He hadn’t seen Rado — he was busy in what looked like the act of embracing a boulder — and stepped closer to me. ‘State your business, stranger,’ he said in the tone of a customs officer.
‘I’m Alaric,’ I said earnestly. ‘You may know me as the barbarian spy who nearly murdered your King the other night. I’ve come back to spy on you.’
Honesty’s a fine policy, especially when it shocks a man into not going at once for his sword. I took hold of his shoulders and head butted him in the face. I lifted him into my arms as if he’d been a sleeping child and tossed him over the edge. With the general racket down in the pass, no one could have heard his scream. No one seemed to notice his impact on the now dry floor of the pass.
I stepped away from the edge. There was another burst of cheering and a long wail of despair, as I suspect a new victim was hoisted into position over one of the fires. ‘How much more to do?’ I asked, raising my voice. I suspect Rado hadn’t noticed it, but I felt moderately pleased with my latest kill. All the same, where one had been there might be others.