Mithradates leaned back. He considered Flavius, who saluted him with no more respect than a high-born Roman was allowed to show any foreign despot. Lastly his glance fell upon Phryne, kissing the floor beside Eodan.
“Who is that?” he asked. Then, with a sudden chuckle of pure pleasure ― the laughter of a little boy shown some wholly unawaited novelty―”Why, it is the Greek girl who fled with the two men. This I was not told. Rise, both of you. Woman, explain your arrival here.”
Eodan stood up. His jaws were clenched so they ached. He looked across a few feet at Flavius ― no, he would not look ― he shifted his eyes to Phryne. She stood before the king, her bowed head shielding her face, and said in Greek:
“Merciful Monarch, I am no one, only a slave girl named Phryne, who escaped from Rome with the Cimbrian and is now free by your grace. May the sun never set upon you. As the King has heard, this Roman came to Sinope with armed escort, saying he had a commission to bring back the Cimbrian. When he learned that Your Majesty was being served by the Cimbrian down here, he arranged for horses and rode with Pontine guides ― for who would leave a Roman unwatched? ― through Paphlagonia and Galatia to find you. It went as a diplomatic party, but its purpose is hostile, that the King may be deprived of the Cimbrian’s services. All this I was told through the household. Some of Your Majesty’s favor has come down to me; Your Majesty made rich gifts to all our party when we arrived, though I was not summoned to thank you. And then there were my earnings, and some gifts from the parents of children I instructed. With all this I was able to buy a strong eunuch to guard me. The captain of the Pontine escort kindly allowed me, on my plea, to accompany them―”
“Did you have that much money, besides the slave’s price?” asked Mithradates dryly.
“I was to give him my eunuch when we reached the King’s camp,” whispered Phryne.
“And be alone and penniless among soldiers?” Mithradates clicked his tongue. “Cimbrian, you have a loyal friend indeed. I did not believe any woman capable of it.”
He leaned forward. “Come here, Phryne. Stand before me.” His hand reached out, throwing back her hood, then reaching for her chin to tilt her face up to his. Eodan saw how the blue-back hair had grown in the summer ― still too short but softly gathered above a slim neck ― yes, she was surely a woman!
“Why was I not told about you before now?” murmured the king.
Flavius said with a tone that gibed at Eodan: “Your Majesty, she would not speak to me all the trip, but when she found herself ― as Your Majesty phrased it ― alone and penniless among soldiers, with no way into the royal presence, it entertained me, as I hoped it might entertain Your Majesty, to offer her help and protection which she must accept. It was at my expressed desire that she was allowed to wait outside with me.” He raised his shoulders and his brows. “Of course, it might have been more amusing to see what she would have tried to gain admittance. A woman is never quite penniless; she has always one commodity―”
Mithradates held Phryne’s head, watching the blood and the helpless anger rise in her. Finally he released the girl. “The Flavius misunderstood me,” he said. “We shall let you speak your case, Phryne.” He nodded toward Eodan. “However, that the Cimbrian may know your mission, Roman, state it first.”
Flavius’ head lifted, as though on a spear shaft. His tone rang out, with more depth and harshness than Eodan had yet heard from him:
“Your Majesty, this barbarian and his associates are more than runaway slaves. They have murdered free men, even citizens. There is a wise Roman law that orders that if a slave kills his owner, then all the slaves of that owner must die. How else shall free men, and their wives and daughters, be safe?”
“No writ runs here but mine,” said Mithradates calmly.
“Your Majesty,” pursued Flavius, “the Cimbrian and his allies did still worse. They committed piracy. And that is an offense against the law of all nations.”
“I have heard this tale,” said Mithradates. “I feel it was more an act of war than of piracy.” His teeth gleamed in the same child’s delight as before. “But, if you are the very man whom the Cimbrian overcame, tell me your story. What happened on that other vessel?”
“We destroyed his mutineers, Great King, and rowed to Achaea, whence I returned overland as fast as horses would bear me. When the facts of this outrage were laid before the Senate, it was decided that the Cimbrian must be punished, did not Neptune strike him down first. But not until lately did intelligence reach me, who had been given charge of the hunt, that these outlaws had insinuated themselves into Your Majesty’s grace. I came at once, to free your majesty of such odious creatures. Now―”
“Enough.” Mithradates turned to Phryne. “Well, girl, what is it you wished so badly to say to me?”
She might have fallen at his feet; but she stood before him like a visiting queen. Her tones fell soft: “Great King, I would do no more than plead for the lives of two brave men. My own does not matter.”
“For that,” said Mithradates, “I shall surely never let you go.”
Flavius said with a devouring bitterness: “Your Majesty, the Senate of Rome does not feel this female slave is of great importance, nor even the Alanic barbarian. It is not recommended to Your Majesty that you leave them alive, but I feel the King will soon discover that for himself. However, the Cimbrian, ringleader and evil genius of them all, must be done away with. We would prefer he die in Rome, but otherwise he must die here. I have already presented Your Majesty with the written consular decree of the Republic. May I say to the Great King, in the friendliest spirit, knowing that a word to the wise is sufficient ― should I return with this decree unfulfilled, the Senate may be forced to reckon it a cause for war.”
XVII
“You bid me surrender a guest, who has fought well for me to boot,” Mithradates said gravely. And then, with an imp’s grin: “Also, I doubt the reality of your threat. If the Cimbri were all like this one, Europe must still be too shaken to go adventuring in the East. Ten years hence, perhaps … but no one would hazard so rich a province as Pergamum just to capture a man. I have read your official documents, Flavius, and they convey nothing but a strong request.”
“Great King, it was never my intention to threaten,” answered the Roman with a smooth quickness. “Forgive clumsy words. We are blunt folk in the Republic. But of course the King understands that the Senate and the people of Rome will welcome so vital a token of a most powerful and splendid monarch’s good will toward them. I am authorized to make a small material symbol of the state’s gratitude, to the amount of―”
“I have seen what the bribe would be,” said Mithradates. “We shall discuss all this at leisure tonight.” His gaze flickering between Eodan and Flavius, he chuckled deeply. “There will be a feast at which you two old friends may reminisce. In the meantime, I forbid violence between you. Now I have work to do. You may go.”
Eodan backed out, taking Phryne’s arm at the door. “Come to my tent,” he said. “You should not have been so reckless as to travel hither.”
“I would not hold back from you even the littlest help,” she whispered. She caught at his cloak, and her tone became shrill. “Eodan, will he give you up to them?”
“I hardly think so,” said the Cirnbrian. Bitterness swelled in his throat. “But neither will he give Flavius up to me!”
They started across the courtyard, and the wind snatched at their mantles. Eodan looked back and saw Flavius emerging from the keep.
“Wait,” he said to Phryne. “There are things I would talk about that no one else has a right to hear.”