Ten for Dying (John the Lord Chamberlain Book 10) Read online

  “Yes. I did see those two demons fleeing from the church. I thought I had conjured them myself, by mistake.”

  “And then?”

  Dedi turned his palms up. “And then…nothing. I saw demons racing off into the night. That’s all.”

  Felix could see he was lying. But there was no use arguing and possibly antagonizing one of the few allies he had left.

  Dedi reached up and rapped at the icon’s nose. “Never mind these Christian tall tales. If the old woman senses demons around us it is because I have been summoning them from the underworld. The door has opened. The demons are here. Now I need only to command them to bring Theodora back up into the land of the living.”

  “Only…”

  “It is not much, compared to what I’ve already accomplished. We must wait until dark. Then…then I will complete the task I have begun. I have everything I need in my satchel. In a few hours Theodora will rise to serve us.”

  Felix looked at the crooked little creature with whom he was temporarily trapped in this subterranean cell. Did Dedi actually believe the foolishness he was spouting? Or did he only want to believe? Was he as mad as the Jingler? Were old Maria or Anastasia any less mad for believing their prayers to an invisible god might somehow be effective?

  But what could Felix do? His home was under surveillance. He couldn’t stride out into the center of the Mese and defeat an army of guards and gangs of Blues single handed. If he fled the city then he would never dare to return. And was Dedi trustworthy? Better have him intent on reanimating Theodora than weighing whether to betray Felix to the emperor.

  So let Dedi play his game. At least it would pass the time. And it would keep Dedi in his sight. And who knows, maybe it would work.

  Felix couldn’t help feeling that if his future depended on Dedi’s magick, he didn’t have much of a future.

  Chapter Fifty-five

  “Here she comes! Hide the buckets!” a tall excubitor shouted from the alley gate to a colleague lounging by the back entrance to Felix’s house.

  Anastasia gave the man announcing her arrival a haughty look as he opened the gate for her. “Impertinent fool!” she muttered as she passed. She noticed that the guard with witty remarks wasn’t one of those with burns from the hot coals.

  She crossed the courtyard in haste and paused when the guard at the door barred her way.

  “You can’t enter without permission.”

  “And whose orders might this be?”

  “Mine,” came the reply from the hall. “I will however make an exception for the sister of the late empress. You may come in and tell me why you are here.”

  It was Narses. The guard stepped aside and Anastasia crossed the threshold.

  “Come into Felix’s study. He should be back soon.” Narses smiled grimly. “Like a bird to its nest.”

  “Lamb to the slaughter, you mean,” snapped Anastasia.

  Narses shrugged. “Those who plot against the emperor must take their chances.”

  “Why would you think Felix was plotting against Justinian?”

  “We have received convincing information. What business do you have at the traitor’s house?”

  “It is a personal matter.”

  “Indeed?” Narses looked politely unconvinced.

  “I do not see why I should be questioned by a palace functionary, but since you ask, I have come for certain of my possessions.”

  Narses openly sneered at her. “Are all your servants intoxicated or run away like the brave former excubitor captain that you must fetch your belongings yourself? I fear I find that highly unlikely.”

  “Which is of no concern to me. You would not wish Justinian to hear you prevented me from taking my own property, Narses?”

  The eunuch’s thin lips curved into a baleful smile. “You may be able to rely on your family ties to protect you from harm but dalliances with those who plot against Justinian will cost you any influence at court. Since Felix’s treachery has been discovered and his fate sealed, why not help yourself by assisting us? Where can we find him?”

  “Betrayal doesn’t amuse me.”

  “Think of it as cutting short the period of terror and misery the poor man must be suffering. A mercy, one might say.”

  “Felix is not seeking to overthrow Justinian.”

  Narses shrugged again. “If you insist. Cupid has much to answer for, it seems.”

  “What can you know of love, you loathsome creature? Get out of my way!”

  Narses stood back with an exaggerated low bow and sweeping gesture of one arm. As Anastasia strode past and down the hall, his eyes—the black, expressionless eyes of a carrion bird—fixed their longing gaze on her back.

  Anastasia went into Felix’s room and sat down on the bed. Out of Narses’ sight she allowed her hands to shake. She had expected, wrongly, that the guard at the house would be reduced by now. It would have been possible to take sufficient clothing and anything else that might be useful for Felix under pretext of retrieving her own belongings. With the disgusting eunuch on the scene that wasn’t going to work. Luckily, she had brought money with her, concealed in a pouch hanging under her tunic. She would take that to Felix at Maria’s and beg him to flee. What choice did he have? And now she would have to evade whoever Narses sent to follow her.

  Narses had come after her and stood in the doorway, watching.

  She placed several jars of cosmetics, a hand mirror, and a silver comb in a sheet pulled from the bed. “You see, Narses? This is all I came for, although I am sure your suspicious mind sees it as disposing of incriminating evidence.”

  “Why dispose of the evidence? The entire palace knows the former captain of excubitors is your lover. At least your current—”

  She pulled an alabaster jar from the bundle she had made and drew her hand back.

  Narses flinched.

  Rather than throwing the jar, Anastasia laughed at him and left.

  As she entered the Mese, she saw a familiar figure walking in her direction. It was Anatolius, the lawyer she had arranged to free Felix from the dungeons. After she had cleared the way with Justinian, she had sent a senator she knew to Anatolius. Was he hurrying to Felix’s house? “What a wonderful surprise, meeting you like this,” she exclaimed loudly as he approached, for the benefit of whoever was following her.

  Anatolius gave her a look of bewilderment as she half dragged him down the wide street.

  “I’m not in need of any…uh…services right now,” he stammered, peering at her.

  “Don’t you remember me? From the palace? We have so much to talk about! But first, I wish to choose a new lamp. You know how careless servants can be, and here is just the place to find one.”

  The shop was a cave filled with flickering light from lamps of clay, bronze, silver, gold, alabaster. Some small enough to carry in one’s hand, others as big as cauldrons. Lamps hung from the ceiling by chains and stood on tripods and thin marble pedestals.

  Anastasia propelled Anatolius to the rear of the shop where a lamp modeled on the Great Church, covered with a glowing perforated dome, sat on a table against a wall from which elaborately worked hanging lamps sprouted like a form of fabulous fungi.

  “Thank heavens I saw you, Anatolius.” Next to the Great Church was an Egyptian artifact made of silver to a design that would bring a blush to many. She pretended to examine it. “Narses is waiting in ambush in Felix’s house.”

  “You’re Anastasia,” Anatolius said. “Theodora’s sister. I’ve seen you at a distance with Justinian and Theodora but we’ve never met. How did you recognize me?”

  “Oh really! When you worked for the emperor, all the young ladies knew about his handsome young secretary. You were pointed out to me. We’ll have to get to know one another better soon. But right now, it’s fortunate I did recognize you.”

  She pointed
to a pottery lamp decorated with a wreath and inscribed with a wish Fortuna would light its owner’s days. “Perhaps an omen? You were walking right into their clutches.”

  “I was alert for such a trap and would just have strolled past if need be. I am aware Felix has got himself into a great deal of trouble. May I assume you know where Felix can be found? Tell him he must come to my house, as soon as possible, no matter what. It is urgent.”

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Dedi and Felix crossed the moonlit race track toward the spina. Felix half-expected to be greeted by the sight of the hanged man still dangling from the bronze serpents, the man without a face. Some whispered the emperor was a demon, that he’d been seen stalking around the palace late at night and he’d had no face.

  Now the emperor was stalking Felix or rather having him stalked.

  The shadows cast by sculptures and jutting pieces of architecture were so blackly featureless, every time he walked out of moonlight into their darkness he felt as if he were stepping into a pit. It felt like a dream, considering that he was here to observe Dedi bring back Theodora.

  Which was impossible. Wasn’t it?

  But then it was impossible that Felix had become involved with Theodora’s sister. Impossible that at any instant he might be seized and end his life screaming for mercy in the dungeons.

  On the other hand, it was very possible that if he let Dedi out of his sight he’d run straight to the emperor or Narses in order to save himself by betraying Felix’s whereabouts. What choice did Felix have but to go along with him? Besides, he couldn’t bear to have the fiendish icon staring into his soul any longer. Its angry stare was like having skin ripped off by imperial torturers.

  “This is madness,” Felix growled.

  Dedi waved his hand dismissively. “Do you think I cannot accomplish what I say?”

  “She’s dead, you fool! Your humors are deranged!”

  Dedi shook his head in vigorous denial. “You’ll see! You’ll see! If I could control the demon that was posing as a servant to Antonina, I can control Theodora, too.”

  “Servant posing as a demon?”

  “Tychon. I followed him from the mausoleum to Antonina’s house the night the shroud was stolen. Later I put him under my power.”

  So, Felix thought, there is a connection between the shroud and Antonina’s servant. No wonder she wanted Felix out of the city.

  “You didn’t tell me anything about following demons that night.”

  Dedi frowned. “Didn’t I?”

  “No. Your boastfulness has betrayed you.”

  “I didn’t mean to mislead you.”

  “Nobody does. That’s why I’m totally lost.”

  “You’ll feel better when you see Theodora return.”

  “I’d much rather not see her, if I had any choice. And why the race track? You used every coin I had to bribe the guard to let us in. What if he recognized me? We might find ourselves surrounded by armed men before we’re much older!”

  Or was that Dedi’s hope? Felix wondered.

  “Maria told us he was the man to bribe,” Dedi said, “that he was honest. He wouldn’t talk. No one will think anything of another request.”

  True enough, Felix had to admit. He wished the curse tablets he’d paid to have buried at the turns of the track had actually influenced the outcome of the races, or even one race. Then he wouldn’t have found himself in this dilemma because he would not have gambling debts.

  “Couldn’t you summon her in a less public place?”

  “No. We’re here because I need a place where thousands have died. It makes the magick more powerful.” Dedi’s crooked teeth glinted as he gave a malicious grin. “And where else in Constantinople have as many died as here during the riots?”

  Felix had fought the mobs back then, under the command of Belisarius. That had been an exciting time. He had not been involved in the massacre, thank Mithra. “You’re right. It was nothing but slaughter, trained armed men against a rabble. You weren’t in the city then. It took days to bury the dead.”

  The only sound was the faint crunch of their feet on packed sand.

  Dedi came to a halt. Felix noticed uncomfortably the entwined bronze serpents looming above them, silhouetted against the gray sky. This was where the latest death had taken place.

  “Now attend, and make sure you keep silent,” Dedi ordered.

  He produced a necklace from his garment and laid it into a shallow hole he scooped out. “Stand back!”

  Felix needed no urging. He took a few steps back and cast another uneasy look around. The bone white moon stared down. He could almost see the hanged man in the empty air beneath the serpents. The sound of Dedi pushing sand back over the necklace became the creak of twisting rope.

  He looked into the stands. Inky shadows concealed most of the surrounding tiers of seating. He shifted from foot to foot, hoping whatever Dedi had to do could be done quickly and they could leave.

  But what if Theodora suddenly appeared in the imperial box?

  True, the Egyptian was deranged and yet…

  Dedi finished scraping sand back and began to mutter, “May the blood of Isis—”

  “Isis? What? Isis isn’t—”

  “Fool! I’m not talking about that Isis! You must be quiet! First, a protective ritual. When powerful magick is involved, demons are not far off, waiting for their chance.”

  Dedi returned to his task. “May the blood of Isis guard us from harm in this and all our doings.”

  Clouds sailed across the staring moon and a chilly wind stirred Felix’s hair. From where had it come? Hadn’t the air been noticeably still earlier?

  “…and by the words of power of the frog-headed goddess, I command you, Theodora, to come to me and do my bidding.”

  Dedi spat three times onto the little mound marking the grave of the necklace and, raising his arms to the moon, burst into a rolling cadence in his native tongue.

  It sounded hideously loud in the dead quiet.

  Felix would have found the scene Dedi presented, his fierce face above the short body, addressing invisible gods in the skies in a shrill voice, comical under better circumstances. The wind was getting stronger and blowing some of the sand off the tiny heap by which Dedi stood. The clouds skittering across the moon made the light waver and the shadows lying across the Hippodrome squirm.

  He could hear a rustling from the tiers of seats behind him.

  Turning his head slowly he saw a shape rise and begin to step down.

  Then more shapes. Animated shadows. Leaping and striding about.

  Demons! The Hippodrome was filling with demons! The stands were alive with demons!

  Cursing his imagination he forced himself to look away. But the effort did not free him from the nightmare, because he immediately saw, at the end of the track where the starting gates were located, a lone figure. Floating toward him, through bands of moonlight and darkness.

  No, not floating, running.

  A woman.

  For a heartbeat Felix could see the cruel scimitar of Theodora’s smile, before he fought through the fog of horror engulfing him. “Anastasia!”

  Dedi wailed in terror. “You’ve interrupted me! I warned you! The demons will descend upon us!”

  “They’re already here,” Felix shouted back, grabbing Anastasia’s arm and turning to flee.

  “Them?” She slapped his hand off her arm. “What are you seeing? You mean those beggars in the seats? A few always manage to get in here at night to sleep. Never mind them. I’ve got a message for you.”

  Dedi moaned. “I should never have stood on those frogs!”

  Anastasia put her face close to his. He felt her warm breath as she whispered. “Anatolius says you must meet him at his house. It is urgent.”

  She had no time to say anything further bef
ore a contingent of armed men poured out onto the track, their raised lances and swords flashing coldly in the stark moonlight.

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  At least Felix had a destination. Not that reaching Anatolius’ house would be easy. Once he managed to get to the stables beneath the track he found his path blocked repeatedly by pursuers. How many were there? It seemed as if Narses had sent a whole army after him. At Anastasia’s urging he had bolted instantly. He knew the guards wouldn’t touch her and as for Dedi, he was a magician. Let him take care of himself.

  Fortunately he was familiar with even the most obscure recesses of the Hippodrome’s understructure, having utilized those dark and deserted places for confidential meetings with charioteers and fellow gamblers.

  He had managed to elude the hunters so far, but could not shake them off entirely.

  Could they hear his pounding footsteps echoing in the stillness? If he stopped and kept quiet they would catch up.

  He’d stolen a lantern. The light from the holes in the lid flung patterns against rough brick walls and a low concrete ceiling. At some point, without noticing, he had left the subbasements of the Hippodrome and entered the chaos of cellars, cisterns, and ruins beneath Constantinople. Was it any wonder the demons Dedi had conjured joined in the chase?

  No, he told himself, the scurrying he heard was nothing but rats.

  As he descended further into the underworld the darkness enclosing him seemed to call to some inner darkness. All of his fears rose up and filled his mind, a sickly haze over a dismal swamp.

  More scuffling, louder this time.

  “Rats,” he muttered. “Only rats.”

  He looked back over his shoulder.

  There! In the shadows!

  The rat was man-sized and had extremely long limbs, spider-like, and a coat of black fur.

  Mithra! A demon! Felix whirled and raced away.

  He had completely forgotten the pursuing guards. Behind him he could hear the loud click of sharp claws on concrete as the thing came after him, never gaining but always on the point of being close enough to leap forward and grab him.