“Well, that applies to everyone,” Anatolius cheerily pointed out, “especially if he disagrees with them. Or even if he doesn’t.”
“True enough. And one thing with which Justinian most certainly would not agree is my opinion that the empire does not need ungodly fire weapons,” John said as he poured two cups of wine. Handing one to Anatolius, he went on, “Incendiary devices are one thing but setting water ablaze for stadia, killing everyone trapped in or on it, is another. War is a cruel enough undertaking as it is but more than that, there’s no honor in such a weapon.”
“But if the enemy has the secret…?”
John smiled grimly. “If they did, do you not think they would have used it long since? It would have been deployed immediately and doubtless they would have taken Constantinople by now. So, all in all, perhaps it’s as well those learned academicians were found dead in their cells just an hour or so after their capture at the villa Peter and I visited. It was poisoned wine, apparently.”
Anatolius had been about to put his cup to his lips. He paused abruptly. “What is this? Justinian orders wine served to those who sought to overthrow him?”
“Their guards are Mithrans.”
Anatolius understood. “And Hypatia is an excellent herbalist, isn’t she?”
“They knew what was in the wine and made their choice. I expected it to be mentioned during our audience, for Justinian certainly knew about it even if Theodora did not. She certainly knows by now. Hopefully she will assume that it was done on the emperor’s orders and inquire no further. So let us say no more about it, my friend.”
Anatolius set down his cup, wine untouched. “Your house seems very quiet, John.”
“Yes, Peter is resting and Hypatia went to visit friends. Felix went back to his own home this morning, even though he still needs to recuperate a while longer. But he also wanted to mourn his fellow captain in private.”
Anatolius said in a husky voice that he quite understood.
“And Isis,” John went on, “well, she is distraught over Darius, of course. It’s difficult to overcome affection for a person who has served you faithfully for many years, even when he betrays you. And of course Darius betrayed more than one of us. However, she went off an hour or two ago to visit the ruins of her house now that the streets are quiet again.”
Anatolius wondered how Isis would manage to earn a living with her house in ruins and her girls scattered about the city.
John laughed. “If she did not have more than a few jugs of nomismata buried under her cellar floor I would be very surprised. They’re safe enough for now, under the rubble. But what of yourself? You have doubtless already been informed your appointment to the quaestor’s office has been withdrawn?”
Anatolius couldn’t help smiling. “To be relieved of that is almost worth the time I spent imprisoned.” His expression grew more somber. “Although I would burden myself with the law in the wink of an eye if it would bring my father back.” There was longing in his voice. He wiped tears away.
“I am sure whatever you do, Anatolius, you will conduct your life in a manner that would have made him proud,” John said.
Anatolius finally took a sip of the raw wine. “Do you think my parents could be watching us even now? I myself believe that the dead can observe and even speak to us.” His haggard face lit up with a sweet smile as he continued. “Do you recall that I dreamt my mother’s shade appeared in my dreams and warned me to be vigilant, to guard my back against the blade?”
John replied that he did, adding that it was certainly good advice.
“But was it more than that, John? Because what was at my back and all around me as I dozed in my father’s study?”
John considered for a moment, remembering the room whose decoration had been overseen by Anatolius’ mother. “The walls were painted with cupids!”
“And Darius was at the banquet in the guise of Eros,” Anatolius pointed out. “Do you think…?”
John silently reached for the wine jug.
They sat for a long time, passing it back and forth to refill their cups.
A smile seemed to flicker on the face of the mosaic girl Zoe when the lamps were lit. As darkness advanced over the city, rain began to beat on the window panes.