Every Sacred Thing: Dark Riddles, Part Two

[aithne]

The next morning found them walking back to Constantinople, Livia having written several messages on the paper she'd found in Sextus's desk before they left. When they reached town, she paid a pair of small boys to deliver the messages--one to Iraeus and one to Andreas the moneylender. Darius raised an eyebrow. "Not going to ask for Linaeus's help?"

She shook her head. "Rusticus is about the right height and weight, and I trust him to keep his mouth shut. I don't really want Linaeus knowing about this, if I can help it."

He nodded. "Might want to stop and pick up some more knives for you and Diya. You might need them."

"Probably. We can do that on the way home."

They did eventually arrive, Orla greeting them at the door with a ferociously disapproving look. Livia raised her finger to her lips, and though her maid's eyes grew even more angry, she said nothing. "I'll be going to the baths in a little bit," Livia said. "I believe Darius has a few things he needs to do. Diya is here, correct?"

Orla's gaze softened. "She is, she's in the workroom. What happened to her? I went by her room before sunrise this morning, and I could hear her crying."

Livia shook her head. "Her fiance died a couple of days ago. She's grieving. Has she been eating?"

"Not that I can tell. I'll get the cook to make a meal for all three of you, since I don't imagine you two have broken your fast yet." That last was accompanied by a sour look at Darius, who simply gazed back at Orla mildly. "Try to get her to eat. And remember to eat, yourself. You're skin and bones, girl."

Livia nodded, and she and Darius headed upstairs while Orla went to the kitchen. After Livia changed clothing, she joined Darius and Diya in the workroom. "I don't want anything," Diya was saying irritably. "I'm not hungry." Livia spied a tray of food on the table that Diya had evidently just pushed away.

She closed the door behind herself and walked up to the table. She helped herself to a meat pastry and sat down. "Eat, Diya," she said sternly. "It's going to be a long afternoon."

The girl blinked. "Why?"

Livia smiled at her stepdaughter. "We're going after the man who killed Esayis."

Diya sat frozen for a moment, then snatched a pastry off of the tray and bit into it. Livia chuckled, and began to brief her on the plan for the afternoon.

A few hours later, all was in readiness. The message from Andreas was the last to arrive.

Your package will be ready for you to pick up when you arrive. I will buy the house, and find another buyer for it within the week. Two hundred fifty aureus is a fair price, and I'll set it aside for Diya as you requested.

I'll be on the lookout for a house that meets your requirements, but it might take me a week or two. I'll send a message when I find a candidate.

Andreas

Livia smiled. "Everything's ready," she said. "Let's go."

As if they were going out for an afternoon of shopping, Livia, Diya, Darius, and Rusticus walked towards the markets of the middle-class section of town. Rusticus looked a little unsure of himself; he was a man not particularly comfortable with intrigue, but he'd agreed when Livia had asked him to pose as another man. When they reached the edge of the market, they changed direction towards the Sassenid section of town.

They stopped briefly for Livia to pick up a heavy bag from Andreas, and then ducked into an alley. "Give us half an hour," Livia said as Darius worked the spell to change Rusticus into Esayis. "Then walk--quickly!--out of town and towards us. Remember, let the men deal with the target. We're not to be involved until after."

Livia and Darius then left, walking swiftly towards the place that Iraeus had described. It was about an hour's walk outside of town, where an occasional stream had carved a fissure in the rocky desert around them. "You two, stay back here. You'll be able to see what's going on, but you should be shielded from the worst of it," said Iraeus, who was overseeing some last-minute preparations. His voice boomed, echoing along the walls of the fissure.

Twenty-five men took their places along the walls, crouching behind boulders, under cloth that was about the same color as the rocks around them. "Leave him alive, if you can," said Livia. "I'd like to question him."

Iraeus nodded. "Back with you, now," he said. "I think the bait is coming this way."

Rusticus, still looking like Esayis, and Diya beside him were moving at a flat run. Livia heard their pounding feet and her heart leapt into her throat. She held her breath as they approached and then ran past the, deep into the fissure.

Behind them, another pair of feet pounded. They approached, and then the sound was lost as twenty-five priests of Ares rose from ambush, throwing off the cloths and drawing their swords.

From her hiding place, Livia could barely see what was going on. There was fire involved, and screams as some spell connected. It seemed to go on forever, Zaran throwing everything he had at the priests, and Livia slipped her hand into Darius's, holding tight. She sent a wordless prayer to whatever gods might be listening.

The fissure fell silent. Iraeus's voice boomed out, "He's down. You can come out now."

Both Livia and Darius rose. They saw Zaran, face down in the dirt, bleeding into the dust, and the bodies of some of the priests lying around him. Zaran had not gone down easily.

"Ten of ours dead," Iraeus said, quietly. "They knew who we were after, and they knew the risk."

"I'm sorry," Livia said, and felt the words were entirely inadequate. I keep getting people killed, she thought, shivering. "Your payment, sir."

He took the heavy bag from her and nodded. "We'll be taking our own back to the city. You want those two to come with us?" He jerked his head in the direction of Diya and Rusticus, who had just emerged from their own hiding place. Rusticus looked askance at the dead men, giving Livia a quick questioning glance.

She shook her head at him. "Rusticus will go back with you. Diya, do you want to stay, or go? This might get ugly."

The girl was staring at Zaran. "I stay," she said flatly.

As the Ares priests packed up their dead and walked away, Livia and Darius stripped Zaran and bound him securely. "A bit of this will bring him around," said Darius, who was holding a small flask to the mage's lips. They had bound him in a sitting position, and as Darius poured a bit of the liquid into Zaran's mouth, he swallowed and then coughed, opening his eyes.

Livia smiled as Zaran looked up at her. He had pale blue eyes, and the unblackened one was currently fixed on her with a murderous glare. "Afternoon, Zaran," she said quietly. "I have a few questions for you, and we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."

Zaran spat at her. She dodged the gobbet of spittle, and sighed. "The hard way it is, then. Mages need most of their fingers to cast spells, don't they? Darius, take a couple of his fingers. Your choice. Just to let him know I'm serious."

As Darius moved towards Zaran, his eyes went wide. "All right. What do you want?"

She smiled again, feeling her humanity retreat from her as it had before, questioning the mercenary they'd captured. Zaran looked much the worse for wear, the hair on one side of his head burned to a crisp, a deep cut in his lip still bleeding. One of his eyes was badly blackened, the bruise under his skin blooming darkly, the eye nearly swollen shut. She listened to the wind sighing across the top of the fissure. "You've been playing both sides against the middle, Zaran. I want to know why Magentius has enough digitalis to poison everyone in Constantinople."

His answer was slow in coming. "Rat problem. Named Constans."

Livia raised an eyebrow. "It seems quite a lot of poison for one rat."

"Big rat. The rest is for the Sassenid well."

"And who, pray tell, wants all of the Sassenids killed? And why?"

Zaran shifted, attempting a shrug but not quite accomplishing it. "Constantine was going to kill them all for the death of his son but that didn't happen. So he got his brother Constans to import a ton of the stuff and now he doesn't need it yet. He wanted a place to store the stuff and gave the job to Magentius."

Idly, she drew her knife, taking a step or two closer to the bound mage and squatting next to him. "Interesting. Magentius and Attius are working together on something, I recall. What is it?"

Again, that half-shrug. "Attius was the source of the powder. Attius is an herbalist more than a mage."

Her voice was quiet and suspicious. "And yet he's still on the council?"

"He is still a mage, a good one but not a great one. But he can brew a potion or a poison like no one else."

Her eyes still narrowed, she said, "And he's a friend of Faydren's." Zaran nodded. "Just out of curiosity, Zaran, who exactly are you working for? Faydren, or Geras?"

"Depends on who has the more interesting assignment. Faydren last week. Geras the next, Constantine after that." He turned his head to the side and spat blood into the dust. "Doesn't matter."

"Ah. So, Constantius has declared me off limits for the moment, it seems. did he mention why to you?"

"Fancies you, I suppose."

Livia didn't bother to hide her shudder. She stood, her knife still naked in her hand. "Nothing other than that?"

"Nothing he told me." His eyes were shrewd, and he shifted again, testing his bonds.

She took a breath. "So, if you don't happen to return to Constantinople, what happens to all of that poison? Is Magentius liable to panic and do something stupid?"

"For a few days, no, but after that, he might. He needs to know if Esayis is truly dead or not. Then Constans dies, and he inherits." The mage's voice was almost devoid of emotion or inflection.

"And there is one less regent to worry about." She was watching as he nodded slowly. "And Constans has no idea that his lover's going to try to kill him?"

Zaran spat again, then winced as the movement seemed to aggravate one of his wounds. "Nope, no clue, or if he does have a clue, doesn't care."

"And Magentius has enough wealth to do whatever he wants. Any ideas what it is that he wants?"

"Not sure. Probably the money will suffice. If not, more power and he will probably try to kill all the regents and their sons and take the throne for himself. I don't think he has that much ambition, but maybe. Faydren will kill him first before that happens."

Quietly, she said, "Will he, now. And Faydren? Does he have an eye on the position of emperor?"

There was almost a sneer on Zaran's beaten face. "Faydren always has. He believes the smartest should rule and he being the smartest should be the ruler."

Livia was unable to keep the disdain from her voice. "Of course he does. So, Constans' weakness is his lover. How about Constantine's?"

"Constantine has very few vices, and he is hard to exploit. He sometimes acts without thinking very hard and takes the advice of his advisors to heart. But the trouble with advisors is they can be bought or blackmailed."

"Any of them known to be compromised?"

He shrugged again. "Probably, don't know names though. Not my area, I just kill things."

Livia snorted indelicately. "True. Like council members who've been chosen to take a fall. One more question, I think, about Magentius. What's his hold over the rat people?"

"Opium." At her look of surprise, he said, "They were human once, Sassenids mostly. Opium kills the pain of the transformation and the memory."

"He provides it, and they do what he wants?"

"Yes, he controls the trade throughout the city."

She tapped her finger against the side of her blade. "He was evidently watching my husband's house just before he died. Why?"

Was it her imagination, or was Zaran's voice getting stronger? "Rumor started that your husband knew how to undo the transformation. He needed to get rid of him."

"Was he involved with Sextus's death, by any chance, or did the demon do his job for him?"

Zaran nodded slowly. "He recommended Esayis for the job."

"Convenient. And the rat people were there to watch and make sure it happened?" Her voice was sharper than she meant it to be.

There was a chuckle in Zaran's voice, and she stared at him. "if the demon failed, they were to storm the place and kill you all. That was the plan in the beginning, to just kill you all and be done with it. But Geras changed his mind."

"Geras wants revenge," she said quietly.

"Linaeus talked him out of it. But Geras insisted that Sextus die, and so it happened." He had fixed her with an intent gaze, and she tried not to flinch under it.

She crossed her arms. "Odd you should mention Linaeus. Was he the reason you knew that someone was trying to break out Esayis?"

"Yes, but he didn't warn me in time. All I got off was a couple of shots."

"Of course." She stepped back to where Darius and Diya stood. "Anything either of you want to ask him?" she asked in a low voice. Both of them shook their heads. She turned then, and advanced on Zaran. Swiftly, she knelt, grabbed the unburned side of his hair, and held the blade of the knife to his throat.

"Before you do that, lady. May I ask you a question?" His voice was unexpectedly calm for someone who had a knife cutting into the skin of his throat.

Livia began to suddenly worry. "What?" she asked brusquely.

Despite the knife, Zaran smiled. "Remember what I said about Faydren not being stupid? When I told him that I had a lead on Esayis, he suggested that I bring along a few mercenaries, just in case. Well you see, Faydren is very smart indeed. He didn't believe it either, so he said how about if they with a few spells that will blend them into the background. So when your people showed up they were a little much for my six mercenaries, but you certainly aren't."

Livia's head came up, her eyes wide. On the rim of the fissure six men appeared, shimmering as they shook off the spells on them. Each of them had a bow trained on the people below. Zaran said, his voice poisonous, "So my question is, do you want to do this the hard way or the easy way?"

Indecision froze Livia's hand in place. If I give in, they can't touch me. But they'll kill Diya and Darius, certainly. Maybe I can talk them into keeping them alive for the moment-- She looked up at the men and their arrows. But these people all know too much. If word of what's happened here gets back, we're all dead, and we've failed.

She threw an apologetic glance at Darius, and cut Zaran's throat. As his body arced against his bonds, choking and gagging, a startled look in his eyes, she said, "The hard way."

The impact in her left side came on the heels of her statement. She stumbled as pain ripped into her, almost dropping the knife. Her hand went to where the pain was coming from, and she realized with a sick feeling that there was an arrow protruding from her side. She heard Diya's gasp and saw her fall to her knees, an arrow through her thigh. Livia looked around frantically and saw that Darius had been hit as well, once in the arm and once in the chest. He was stooping, picking something up--

He raised Zaran's bow. The mercenaries shot down into the fissure as Darius drew and released and drew again. Livia threw the dagger she was holding as hard as she could, and hissed in gratification when she saw one of the men stumble, loosing the arrow he'd drawn harmlessly into the ground. Darius was moving, shielding Livia and Diya with his body, taking arrows meant for them.

It seemed to last forever, but it was probably only a pair of minutes later when the screaming from above began. Livia went to Diya as she heard the mercenaries begin to try to retreat, stumbling away. She knew all too well what was happening to them now, and wished she wasn't going to have to hear them as the snake made their way to their hearts.

Unexpectedly, the screaming died away. Livia looked up and realized that all of them had dropped to the ground. She stood, swaying. "They killed themselves," Diya said, her voice harsh with pain. "I saw one with one of those vials."

Livia's eyes went to Darius. He had dropped the bow, and was swaying on his feet, his eyes half closed. He was bristling with the arrows he'd taken, so many of them--

She stumbled to his side, the arrow still in her side causing new fire every time she moved. "Come on," she muttered, sliding under his arm, encouraging him to lean on her. "Let's get you sat down in the shade. Diya, stay there for a second."

She made her way to the mouth of the fissure, where a couple of scrubby trees eked out a living from the water that occasionally ran the now-dry stream. Murmuring, she got him to sit and then lie down. He was pale, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, and he was bleeding from his multiple wounds. What Livia was most worried about was the two in his belly. She remembered her father saying something about belly wounds, how they were slow death on the battlefield.

Livia couldn't think about it. She returned for Diya, who limped heavily to sit down next to Darius. She, too, was much paler than normal. Livia winced as she lowered the girl to the ground, the wound in her side flaring as she exerted herself. "I'm going to go see if I can find Lukas," she said. "Try to keep each other awake, all right?"

Diya looked up at her. "We will. Are you sure you can make it?"

Livia shrugged and immediately regretted it. "I'm going to have to, aren't I? I'm the only one who can go. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get there and back. I might not be back until after nightfall."

The girl nodded. "Go then." She glanced at Darius, whose eyes had closed. "You had better hurry."

Livia nodded and began to walk away. In her mind she was planning the route, and starting to despair. She was a good ten miles to where Lukas's camp had last been, and if they'd moved recently, she'd have no way of finding him. She held her hand where the arrow wound in her side bled, trying to keep it from moving too much. She gritted her teeth and thought, Labor hurt more than this. I'll be fine. Grey-eyed Athena, help me find him!

An idea suddenly occurred to her, and she blinked. Stopping, she pulled the mirror from where she'd been keeping it in a bag slung across her body. She thought of Lukas, but the mirror didn't show her anything. "Of course he'd be shielded," she muttered. "Let's see. Maybe Linaeus--"

He was sitting under a palm tree, shirtless, reading something he held on his lap. Livia blinked. That was strange, she could swear that was the oni oasis, the place where she first had met Lukas. She looked again. It was.

"It's closer," she breathed. "It's a lot closer. Thank you, Linaeus, we might have a chance." She stared down into the mirror. "Damnit, I wish I could actually talk to you with this thing."

Linaeus started, then looked up at her from the mirror, confused. Livia blinked. Holy hells! "Oh, you can hear me!" she said, hope creeping into her voice. "It's Livia."

"Good," he said tentatively, "otherwise Athena has a sick sense of humor."

She chuckled and then caught her breath as the arrow shifted. "I doubt there are any gods who'd use my voice, even in jest. We've run into a bit of trouble. Can I impose on you for some help?"

Linaeus looked up, frowning. "I suppose. What's the matter?"

Livia groaned a little as she sat down on the ground, her legs sprawled out in front of her. "The trouble was a number of mercenaries, and we all took arrows. Darius is pretty badly off." Her voice trembled as she remembered how much he had been bleeding, how pale he'd been. "I was going for help, but it's a long walk and I'm not certain I'd be back in time."

He was climbing to his feet, pulling on his shirt. "Where are you?" he asked. She described the place to him, what was around her, and the approximate direction she was in. "Not far." He turned away, obviously looking at someone who was near him, probably sitting. "Get dressed, quickly, and get back the city. I have to go, love." He turned back to where he'd been looking before, seemingly through the mirror at Livia. "Ten minutes. Stay where you are."

She nodded and put the mirror back in the bag. The world had gone exceedingly bright around the edges, she noticed. Stay awake, she told herself. If you fall asleep, you won't be able to tell Linaeus where Darius and Diya are.

The next few minutes were very long indeed. Finally, she heard steps approaching at a near-run. Coming around a boulder was Linaeus, his face red from exertion. He stopped dead when he saw her, and she looked up at him with a half-smile on her face. He swiftly knelt beside her, pulling her bloody hand away from the arrow and probing the wound. "Nice. I have to get the arrow out first and then heal it. Try not to pass out, otherwise I don't know where the others are. Ready?"

She tried to protest, to tell him Darius needed him more than she did, but he gave her a look that silenced her. She nodded then, and gritted her teeth.

The arrow tore out of her with a wet sound, and the world spun around Livia. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to stay with it, to ride the pain as she had when she'd been giving birth to Optata. Her side was afire, and she fought the urge to squirm away from Linaeus's hands. She heard Linaeus's voice, but she couldn't understand a word he was saying, her mind completely occupied with pain.

Abruptly, coolness quenched the fire in her side. She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding as the pain simply disappeared, replaced with a sullen ache in her side that was much more bearable. "Going to be sore for a few days, but you will live," Linaeus said, standing. He held out his hand and she took it, and he pulled her to her feet.

"The others are this way," she said, pulling on his hand. He followed her until they came in sight of Darius and Diya. Diya was sitting up, and she appeared to be trying to talk to Darius. She looked up when she saw Livia, hope suddenly flaring in her eyes.

Linaeus looked at both of them, then pointed at Diya. "Break the arrowhead off and pull it out by the fletching. Press on it to stop the blood flow. She will live until I can get to her. Him I don't know about." He went to Darius's side, gently probing wounds with his fingers, tearing Darius's shirt away from the wounds with a sharp motion, muttering to himself in a low voice. Then he pulled three of the six arrows from Darius, one from his chest and two from his stomach, and immediately began chanting, laying his hands on Darius's wounds.

Livia knelt beside Diya. "He fell asleep," the girl said, sounding much younger than her years. "I couldn't wake him."

"It's all right," Livia replied, her voice tense. "If he can be saved, Linaeus will do it. How are you doing?"

"Hurts, but it's not terrible unless I try to move my leg."

"I'll be as gentle as I can, but this is still going to hurt." Her heart twisted as Diya looked up at her, the look in her eyes telling Livia that she hurt far more than she said. Livia reached out and smoothed the sweat-damp hair back from her stepdaughter's forehead. "Close your eyes and lie down, sweetling."

Diya obeyed. Swiftly, Livia broke the arrowhead off of the arrow, and then placed one hand against the side of Diya's leg. She pulled the arrow in one quick tug, then sucked in her breath as the girl went abruptly limp. After a moment, Livia saw that she was still breathing, having merely fainted.

Livia tore a couple of large pieces off of her palla and held them to the wounds on either side of Diya's thigh, pressing hard. A minute or two passed, then Diya stirred. "Hold still," Livia said. "I've got it."

"Is it out?" Her voice was quavery.

"Yes. You weren't out for more than a little bit."

Diya turned her head, looking at where Linaeus was still kneeling over Darius. Together, they waited in silence as Linaeus kept chanting. Diya's wounds began to bleed less, and Livia tore another strip off of her palla and tied it around the girl's leg. She sat next to Diya and helped her sit up, sliding her arm around the girl's slim shoulders, letting her lean on her.

About twenty minutes had passed when Linaeus stopped chanting. He moved a bit and pulled the other three arrows from Darius, two from his shoulder and one from his leg, and began his chanting all over again. This took much less time, only about five minutes. He then rose without a word and came to Diya, taking up his chant once more. He pulled the makeshift bandages away from her leg, and laid his hands on her wounds. They closed almost immediately.

Linaeus sighed and sat back on his heels. "All I can do for the moment."

"Can Darius be moved?" Livia asked.

He shook his head. "If he wakes, he can walk probably. But I don't think he will wake tonight. And I can't carry him," he said, forestalling her next question.

Livia sighed. "I don't think Diya and I can, either. Well, we stay here tonight." She muttered, "Orla is going to kill me." She looked over at Darius again. "I'm very grateful, Linaeus. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Livia."

She shifted, Diya moving to curl up with her head in Livia's lap. Livia stroked the girl's thick hair. "Oh, I was going to tell you. Iraeus asked me to tell you that he has your package."

He nodded. "Ah good. I need that. Is it too personal to ask how you got this way?"

Livia drew a long breath. "Zaran's dead. He had a surprise for us as a parting gift."

She had startled him, she knew. He gave a long, low whistle. "There's going to be hell to pay for that."

"I know. It was better than the alternative." She shrugged awkwardly.

"Bury him deep. If they find him, it's going to get messy."

She resisted the urge to tell him, it's already messy. But she figured he knew that. "That's what I'll be doing tonight."

Linaeus nodded. "I can help you with that, but then I have to go."

"That would be welcome, thank you. I think we can take care of ourselves, after that."

"Good. If he gets a fever, get him back to your house in the morning and find me."

Livia glanced over at Darius. His color was certainly better, though he showed no signs of waking. "I will, definitely. Diya? Would you stay here for a bit and keep an eye on Darius for me?"

The girl uncurled and nodded. "I'll yell if anything happens."

They had come prepared to bury bodies, and Livia and Linaeus set to digging a large, deep hole to bury Zaran and the six mercenaries in. They were about waist-deep in the hole when Livia, who had climbed out to move some of the dirt aside, looked down at Linaeus and said quietly, "By the way, Linaeus. Your father's said he'd like you to come see him, if you can."

He stopped digging for a moment, setting the shovel in the ground and leaning on it. "Maybe sometime, but not just yet."

"If it's not too personal....why not?"

He shrugged. "Too much bad blood and words spoken in anger. Too much guilt for the things I have done." He picked up the shovel again and began digging. "You know how Lukas can make you feel."

Livia chuckled and began shoving a pile of dirt out of the way. "True, I do. He gave me hell the first time I met him. He still loves you, though."

He made a steady rhythm, throwing dirt up and out of the way. "I know, but it's difficult sometimes to fess up to the things you have done and are still doing."

She made a wry face. "Always is. Speaking of, Zaran told me you talked Geras out of killing Optata and I outright. Thank you."

Linaeus kept working, not looking up at her. "I did, though I am not sure this is much better."

"Well, at least I'm alive, as is she. For the moment."

In a voice touched by bitterness, he said, "Yes, but we have lost more. Still, I think I chose wisely."

She nodded. "Here, let's switch for a bit." He climbed out of the hole and she dropped down into it with a thud. She must look a sight, she knew--her dress stained with her own blood and that of both friends and enemies, covered in dirt, her hands wrapped in what had once been part of a fine palla and was now no more than filthy rags, her hair loose and falling around her face in fuzzy ringlets. How did I ever get here, digging graves in the middle of a desert with a heretic priest, getting ready to bury a man I killed? she wondered. She was much slower than Linaeus at digging, and she rather thought he was letting her help simply to make her feel useful. As she dug, she asked, "You know, I've been wondering something ever since I found out what happened between you three. Why are you still with Geras?"

There was a long pause before he replied. "In the beginning I tried to change him, undo the anger, now to watch him. Forgive me, my spell is about to run out. The effect can be disconcerting for the unwarned."

Livia stopped digging, looking up. The dark of Linaeus's eyes faded away, replaced by yellow, with slit pupils. She had been expecting it, but the sight still made her heart race. But she kept looking, trying to reconcile the eyes with the face. "Ah," she said in a low voice, "I was told about that. Iraeus mentioned that he helped with it."

He nodded. "Yes, he did, as well as my mother."

"Are you in contact with her now?" She began to work again. Her shoulders and arms ached with fatigue, but she wouldn't allow herself to stop.

"Some, but not all that much."

In a neutral voice, Livia replied, "It took me a while to put that together. Her appearance is deceptive."

"Probably took someone telling you. It would be hard to recognize."

Livia nodded, unwilling to say how exactly she'd learned of that information. "Well, at least this part is done. Zaran recognized Darius."

"Is that why you had to try this madness? Sorry about that. Come on, let's switch again. We want to widen out the bottom here a bit." He gave Livia a hand out of the hole, and jumped down in himself.

"It is. This isn't something I'm going to want to repeat if I can help it. Just about got us all killed. I was pretty pissed when I figured out your part in it, by the way. At this point, I'm figuring that there's some sort of balance in it all, though Diya wouldn't thank me for that."

He'd set to work again, and she could see sweat darkening the back of his shirt. "Where did the mercenaries come from?" he asked.

"Faydren sent them along with Zaran. I don't know if Zaran told him that he thought Darius was one of the people who helped break Esayis out. He did tell him he was following Esayis, though."

He stopped for a moment and looked up, and this time his eyes didn't startle her. They suit him, she thought. Odd, but they do. He said, "if it helps you at all, I had to drive a wedge between Faydren and Geras. If I didn't, in a week you would have been Constantius's wife and the new empress."

She snorted. "And probably dead soon afterwards."

He shook his head and set to digging once more. "I don't think so. Geras would have tortured you for years, actually. Using Optata to make you stay with him." Livia shuddered at the thought. "If Faydren knows Zaran was out here, it won't be long before Faydren comes looking for him. A few days at most."

"I know. I'm hoping to have all traces of our presence gone by then."

"Faydren at least still doesn't know for sure if Esayis is dead or alive. That open wound may give us an edge."

Livia nodded. "Magentius can't kill Constans until he's sure. I wish Constans wasn't such a fool sometimes. Everything I can think of that would cause most people to distance themselves from their lovers might make Constans cling to him closer. Even a whispering campaign might backfire."

"Yes, it's a difficult game to play. I don't have any good ideas. And if Esayis is proved dead. Magentius kills Constans, Faydren frees up more resources that he is spending on finding him. Resources he will expend in finding the killers." He stopped and set the shovel aside, bending and looking at his handiwork. "Our best hope is to implicate Magentius and let Faydren do the rest."

"Hm. That might work, actually. I have something that originally belonged to him that I might drop out here."

"Anything might help. A hand up?" She squatted and grabbed his hand, helping him lever himself out of the hole that was now about a foot deeper than he was tall. "Let's go get the bodies. Zaran first."

As they walked towards the place where Zaran had died, Livia said, "Magentius needs a dose of some of that poison he's sitting on top of, that's for sure."

Linaeus chuckled dryly. "Yes but if you can get Faydren to use it on him, so much the better. That drives another wedge between Faydren and Constans." He shook his head. "We have to get rid of that stuff. If it goes into the wells we are all as good as dead."

She frowned. "How, exactly, does one dispose of enough digitalis to kill thousands of people? It's almost as bad burnt as it is dropped in water or buried."

"Buried in the desert or flung into the sea. Of course, that will kill a lot of fish, but it might dilute enough not to destroy them all."

Livia nodded. "I'll see if I can work on it." They'd passed where Diya sat and watched over Darius and reached Zaran, and Livia knelt and cut the ropes that had been used to bind him with her knife. Looking down at the dead mage, his throat cut and his open eyes staring up at the sky, she muttered, "I hate this. Sorry, Zaran, but it was you or me, and I much prefer it being you." Linaeus picked gathered up Zaran's bow and quiver, and picked up the man's shoulders. Livia picked up his feet. As they walked back to the pit, she asked, "Tell me, do you know anything about something that can turn rat people back into their former selves?"

"I have been working on it. I'm close, but it's still worse than the problem. Most people that revert die soon after I give them some of the cure. Attius could do this in a heartbeat, but he is under Faydren's thumb. He won't even breathe without asking Faydren first."

Something Iraeus had said came back to Livia. "Magentius thought Sextus had the secret."

She could hear startlement and sudden hope in his voice. "Sextus has it? Do you know where it is?"

Livia blinked. Had he just referred to her husband in the present tense? He slipped, is all, she thought. He forgot. But the doubt still remained in her mind, niggling at her. He was dead. He had to be. She had seen him die. Abruptly, she realized that Linaeus had been waiting for an answer for the last few moments. She shook her head. "It was just something that Iraeus said. There were rat people near the house the night Sextus died, under Magentius's control. He thought Sextus knew the secret. Whether he did or not, I don't know. They were to overrun the house and kill everyone if the demon didn't do its job."

The two of them had reached the grave they had dug. Together, they dropped Zaran in the hole, then Linaeus sent the bow and quiver rattling after. "Take your house apart, then. If we can get hold of it, we can get rid of the poison," said Linaeus, peering into the hole for a moment.

Livia nodded, and said, "I will. And a few other places, besides."

"Good. I heard rumors about the rat creatures being around. I couldn't confirm it." He stretched, and they began walking towards where the mercenaries had died. "See what you can dig up on Attius. Maybe we can shake him loose of an antidote."

"I'll do that. If we can get the rat people on our side, that would be a huge benefit for us."

Linaeus had reached a mercenary, and they repeated the procedure they'd done with Zaran. "They will just revert to mostly Sassenids and probably be on their way, but we could use their ears on the streets again."

"And we could get rid of the poison."

"Yes. By the way, it is official today. Julia is back on the council." They tossed the unfortunate mercenary into the grave, and began to go get another one.

Livia glanced over at Linaeus, walking next to her. "Truly? Well, that's good news."

He chuckled. "Yes, Constantine insisted. Faydren bowed when he had no good alternative. Now of course replacing Zaran, well that's another story. When they find out." They gathered up another mercenary and began to carry him back to the grave. "The eyes don't bother you?"

"What? Oh." She shook her head. "A little, but I'm getting used to them."

"You would be one of very few then. Sextus was the other. Geras hated them until he had to get them as well."

Livia shrugged as best she could while hauling a corpse. "After everything else I know about you, Linaeus, your eyes are probably the least of it. I thought you and Geras got your eyes at the same time, though."

"Thanks, I think." There was a bit of self-deprecating mockery in his tone. "No, I was born blind. My mother and Iraeus worked together to give me new eyes when I was still a babe. When Geras lost his sight, they repeated the procedure for him."

"Ah." There was nothing much she could say about that, and they continued to fetch mercenaries and drop them into the grave. When the last was in, they began to fill in the hole. As they did so, Livia finally worked up the courage to ask a question that had been on her mind since she had contacted him, in that terrible hour after Zaran had died. "By the way, I'm sorry--I noticed that I was interrupting something when I contacted you. I know I'm prying but...who was that you were with?"

He straightened and gave her a sharp look. "Why would you want to know?"

She tilted her head. "A matter of safety, is all."

Linaeus smiled. "Tell you what, I will answer that one if you answer this. Are you in love with Darius?"

Livia froze, her blood going to ice. "I--" Confusion washed over her, and she stopped and made herself think about it. She looked away from Linaeus. "I don't know. I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. I'm certainly very fond of him, and I trust him. But I've only known him a couple of weeks."

His voice was offhanded, but his words were not. "You are, just so you know. Thalea, her name is Thalea."

She stared at him. "And how exactly do you know that?" She shook herself, regretting the sharp note in her voice. Maybe he's right. I'm awfully defensive about the subject, aren't I? "Ah, sorry. I didn't mean that like it sounded."

"I asked her." He smiled, and Livia chuckled at his joke. Then his yellow eyes grew serious once more. "It's in the way you talk to him, about him. I have never seen such concern about someone wounded as I did when you told me about Darius. If he was just a bodyguard, you might have sent someone, but your first concern would have been your wound. You didn't care about yours, only his. You forced yourself to stay awake, while pulling an arrow out, because you had to in order to lead me to him." He shook his head again. "Not your normal amount of concern."

He was right. Livia closed her eyes briefly, thinking about Darius, thinking about what they had shared between them last night. It didn't diminish what she still felt for Sextus, the love she still had for him and the grief she felt at his absence. It seemed to be its own creature, and she wondered briefly what the big mage felt for her. She rather thought she might have an inkling, but-- "Well," she said with a sigh. "I hadn't realized. And your Thalea? Is that recent?"

Linaeus shoveled more dirt into the grave. "On and off for years. Seems more serious this time, though." There was an odd hope and pleasure in his voice. "Can you get in there and tamp the dirt down a bit? It helps if you compact it in layers."

She nodded and lowered herself into the grave, resolutely not thinking about what her feet were resting on. She trampled the dirt down a bit, then held out her hand for a boost out. "Does she know what you're involved in?" she asked.

"She does some. But chooses for now to ignore it. My past, well, less is better in that case."

"And when the time comes when she can't ignore it any more?" Livia frowned at him.

Linaeus shook his head. "Pass that bridge when we get to it. We play a dangerous game, you and I. I don't do a lot of planning for the future. Might not get one."

But if you do, you're caught unprepared for it. She supposed even the most powerful of priests had the right to be willfully blind about some things, and didn't say what she was thinking. Instead, she said, "True enough. I'm going to fight like hell to make sure my daughter and my people have one, though."

He raised an eyebrow. "Which daughter, Optata or Diya?"

"Both of them. Though Diya doesn't really consider me her mother, as far as I know." Livia shrugged. "I mean, I'm just the stepmother she never met until right before her mother died."

He was shoveling more dirt, and the grave was mostly full. Livia tamped down the dirt some more, and Linaeus said, "She might. From what I know of Merouk, Diya and she had switched roles. Diya was more of the mother."

"Merouk was very ill the last few years of her life. But you knew that, I'm sure." Livia hopped out of the grave. "Diya was more or less on her own. She doesn't trust much of anyone now."

"I am sure not, and with the death of Esayis, probably less now."

Livia sighed and stared over at the western horizon, where the sun was getting nearer to the horizon. Diya occupied much of her thoughts recently. "I can't do much for her. Love her, protect her as I can, and try to convince her to leave the city."

The last of the dirt had been shoveled onto the grave, and both of them tamped down the dirt on it. "Rocks," said Linaeus. "We'll need to cover the fresh dirt. I don't think Diya will go. She has that stubbornness of Sextus's."

Livia snorted. "Tell me about it. But I learned how to deal with her father, I'll learn the same for his daughter. With any luck, I'll be able to protect her at least while I'm alive, and she has a place to go if I die."

He nodded. "Yes, I am sure that you will." They finished arranging rocks on and near the grave, and smoothing down the dirt where the rocks they'd moved had once lain. "Pray for some rain in the next few days, that would be the best thing for concealing this. We've done what we can, though." Linaeus sat down on one of the rocks they had moved and wiped his brow. He looked up at her. "Tell me, does Diya know?"

"I'm going to be explaining a lot of things to her tonight. We're at the point that, if she stays, she's in a lot more danger if she's ignorant." Livia sat down next to him, looking over at him. "I'm not going to directly tell her that you meant to have Esayis killed, if that's what you want to know. She may figure it out on her own. I will tell her about Sextus's and Geras's history, though, and what he did to Merouk."

The look on Linaeus's face was bleak, and for a moment Livia almost wished she hadn't said what she had. Then he nodded slowly. "Then it's time for me to go. She will want to kill me if I am around." He stood and brushed off his trousers.

Livia quirked her mouth. "I'm sure she will. But there are a couple of other people she'll want to kill first."

"Well it's good to be lower on the list, at least." He sighed. "Darius should be fine by morning. Sore but alive. Make him stay down for a day at least. You too, as much as possible."

She nodded. "I will. We'll probably make our way home tomorrow morning." He nodded, and turned. "Goodbye, Linaeus, and thank you. I'm sure we'll see each other soon."

He took his leave. After he was gone, Livia walked back to the fissure that she had questioned Zaran in. Unwrapping the vial that Iraeus had given her, being careful not to touch the glass, she dropped it in the shadow of a rock. Deliberately, she set the heel of her sandal on it and crushed it under her foot, the white powder spilling out. She scuffed her foot to make it look as if it had been dropped and crushed underfoot, then retreated to the entrance of the fissure, where Darius still slept and Diya sat next to him.

The sun was beginning to go down, and the desert cold was beginning to set in. Livia looked at Diya, who was huddling in on herself, and then crouched next to her. "He hasn't stirred," the girl said. "Did you get the bodies buried?"

"It's done, and Linaeus says that Darius should be on his feet again by tomorrow morning." Livia shifted so she was now sitting next to Diya. "I have some things I need to tell you, Diya. They aren't very pleasant, but you need to know them. If you're going to be involved with this, ignorance is going to be a liability. I need you to make me a promise before I can tell you, though. Think carefully about it. If you don't think you can promise me what I ask, then I'm going to have to insist that you not be involved at all." Livia glanced over at her. "If I have to, I will tie you up and take you out to Lukas with instructions to lecture you until he thinks you're no longer a danger to yourself or us. All right?"

Diya's eyes were wide. "What do I need to promise?"

"I need you to promise that you're not going to try anything on your own in this. I need to know for certain that you're not going to try to be a hero. Not only would you run the risk of getting yourself killed, but you'd very likely get both Darius and I killed. I am going to try like hell to protect you, Diya, but I can't do that if I'm dead. In return, I promise I will let you help with what we're doing."

The girl thought about it for a few minutes, and then nodded. "I promise. Tell me."

And Livia did.

She began with what had happened before Diya was born, about Geras and Sextus and Linaeus, Geras and Sextus fighting about Merouk, the choice Linaeus had made. Geras following Merouk to Ankara, and what had happened there. She saw Diya's eyes fill with tears of rage, gritting her teeth.

Livia continued, touching on Merouk's return to Constantinople, bringing with her a small Diya. Then she told Diya about Geras's plan to kill Sextus, Linaeus talking Geras into not killing the whole family but instead taking Livia to wife and tormenting her, Geras becoming Constantius. She told her about Geras forcing Esayis to summon the demon to kill Sextus. She told her about Esayis's real father, and saw her eyes widen in astonishment.

"Linaeus knew he was running a risk when we broke out Esayis. Unfortunately, our luck fell against us. But, now that Faydren and Geras have no idea if he's alive or dead, it drives them apart. He accomplished something with his death, Diya. It's not much, but it's something."

Diya's face was stricken, and she swallowed. "I'd much rather have him alive than anything in the world. I want Esayis back, and my father, and my mother..." She trailed off, and Livia reached over to encircle her shoulders with a comforting arm.

That seemed to break the floodgates. Her stepdaughter buried her face in Livia's shoulder, crying helplessly. "I'm so sorry," she murmured, kissing Diya's hair. "I'm so sorry, sweetling. I want them back, too."

Eventually, Diya's tears stopped, and she began to shiver. Livia got up and wordlessly fetched a few of the cloaks that the Ares priests had left with them, that had belonged to men who didn't need them any more. Bloodstained as they were, they would be at least warm. She draped one over Diya's shoulders, and moved Darius atop another, covering him with one more. The sun had set, and the last of the light was fading. "Go ahead and curl up next to Darius," she told Diya. "You'll both be warmer. I'll stay up and keep watch."

Wearily, Diya nodded. She lay down next to Darius, her back to him, her legs drawn to her chest. Wrapped in a cloak herself, Livia sat on a boulder and watched the stars come out.

She listened as Diya's breathing became slow and regular. She kept glancing over at them, at Darius lying so still. Love, she thought. How extraordinary. I never would have thought that less than a month after the man I loved with my whole life died and my world ended, I would be so attached to another man that I hadn't even met before he died.

Despite what Lukas had told her, it still felt like a betrayal. Gods, I'm sorry, Sextus. But this is what you left me with, and I've had to make the best of things. There was that niggling little doubt again, the thought that perhaps Sextus had not died after all. He'd said it's time for me to go from this life to Linaeus. It could have been a simple turn of phrase, but it could also have been a statement that he was going to run. She'd seen him die, but the light had been very dim, and when the demon had been done there hadn't been much of his face left.

If he'd left her alone, if he'd abandoned her without a word, if he were somewhere alive still...would she go to him, now? Could she ever trust him again, after this? She wasn't playing this game for him any more, she realized. She was playing it for herself, and for her daughter.

Daughters, she reminded herself. Linaeus had told her as much. She wondered if Sextus had ever considered marrying Merouk, following her to Ankara and living with her openly. Merouk might have been better off if he had. Livia would have married someone else, someone not so highly placed, and she'd never have been involved in what she was involved in. She'd probably have lived her life as the wife of a minor noble, involved in the petty intrigues of the court of one of the regents, and have never suspected that there was anything deeper going on.

Just as I did before Sextus died, she thought. That was the central mystery of her husband, the one she hadn't yet puzzled out. Why had he kept everything from her, only to leave clues to what he had been doing after he died? You could have told me. I would have understood, and I would have helped. He had protected her so assiduously, only to throw her directly into danger after his death.

Doubts ached at her as she tilted her head back to look at the stars, so bright in a velvety black sky. She had rarely seen the stars like this, watching them from the courtyard of the houses she had lived in. Only a very few times had she been outside the city at night, when the stars stretched from horizon to horizon. She wondered if she were doing the right thing, if it wouldn't in fact be better to take Optata and Diya and run, as far as the Empire stretched. She knew so little for certain, two weeks after her world had been shattered by Sextus's death, or disappearance.

These were doubts that she never expressed even to herself during the day. But tonight, as she shivered and watched the heavens, she thought about retreat, about protecting what she had and damning the Empire.

She rose and soundlessly moved over to where Darius and Diya slept. She crouched briefly by Darius, reaching out and brushing back a lock of hair that had fallen across his cheek. "That's twice I owe Linaeus your life," she said softly. "I suppose I can forgive him, a bit. You didn't ask to be a part of this, but I'm glad you're here."

Livia rose and paced restlessly. She heard a rustle and froze, a sound like a coughing growl coming from about ten yards away. She crouched, her knife appearing in her hand, and waited.

After a moment, whatever it was padded away. Livia took a deep breath and relaxed, standing up. She listened to the sound of an owl hooting, the soft sound carrying far across the desert.

"Hunting, grey-eyed Athena?" She smiled and returned to where the others slept. She pulled her cloak closer around her and went back to watching the stars. "I don't know any of the old prayers any more," she murmured. "If I ever knew them. I wasn't a devout child. I don't even know how to begin to address You. And even if I did, I don't know what I'd ask. But I could use your wisdom, Zeus's daughter. My path is far from clear, and my doubts plague me. Your gifts have seen me through so far, in the form of your priests. Grant me clarity of thought, if you would, and the wisdom to see the correct path."

A soundless shadow passed over her, and Livia flinched, looking up. A large owl with barred wings, turned grey and white by the starlight, landed in the tree above Darius and Diya. It looked at her, blinking. It called loudly, hooting penetratingly, and then took off again with a shush of soft wings.

The owl left behind a large, listening silence. Livia watched the place where it had disappeared, lost for words. "Are You there?" she asked. "Are You listening?"

There was no response that she could hear, and soon after the sense of listening faded. The rest of the night passed uneventfully, except for Livia's shivering. When the sky began to pale with the coming of the day, Livia heard a stirring behind her.

She turned and saw Darius sitting up, grimacing. "Hells, I hurt," he muttered. He looked up at Livia. "What happened? Last I remember, I was full of arrows, and things were getting rather blurry."

"I went for Lukas, but Linaeus was closer," she said. "He agreed to come. You wouldn't have survived otherwise. He healed both Diya and I, as well. He said you'd be sore this morning, and to lie low for at least a day, but you should be fine. I'll wake Diya, and we'll be on our way."

Darius was looking at her, his eyes narrowed. "That's twice," he said. "You used the mirror to find him, I assume?"

She nodded. "I think that balances the scales again. At least. Diya and I benefited from his attention, as well. All three of us could use some rest. And I did, and found out that the mirror can be used to communicate, as well."

He gave her a dubious look as he climbed to his feet, groaning a bit, trying to pull his shredded shirt together. "Interesting. Why do I think you're not going to follow the healer's orders?"

"The things I plan for today aren't physically strenuous. I have some people to talk to, is all. I can't lose a day if I can help it, but I won't need you two, and I shouldn't be gone from home more than a couple of hours."

"The baths?"

"I should be able to find everyone I need to talk to just after noon. I promise to spend the rest of the day as quiet as I can." She stepped towards him, slipping under his arm, feeling him shiver with the chill of the night spent on the cold ground. "Come on. If you're up, Diya should be able to walk as well. We can get back to the walls just after the gates open if we start off now."

"Actually, I'm awake." Livia jumped as she heard Diya's voice behind her. She slid from under Darius's arm, trying not to look guilty. Diya was sitting up, the cloak wrapped tightly around her. "I think I'm all right to walk. Having a little snuggle, you two?"

Livia scowled at Diya. "That's none of your business, Diya."

The girl got to her feet, wincing. "I don't mind," she said. "I promise I'm not going to run around telling everyone that you two are involved." She gave Livia a saucy look. "I've got a weakness for mages, too. Obviously."

Livia rolled her eyes. She glanced at Darius, and saw amusement at the corners of his mouth. "Hush, child. Let's get home," she said.

They set off, stopping at a place on the way back where they'd cached some clean clothing, in anticipation of getting dirty. Bit more than we bargained for, Livia thought ruefully as they all skinned out of their clothing, grimy and covered with blood, and pulled on clothing that might be rumpled but had not obviously been through a battle. They managed to arrive home without incident about midmorning.

Orla, when she got Livia alone, gave her a tongue-lashing that was one of the more memorable ones Livia had ever received. She let the maid lecture her, too tired to fight it. Orla had been frightened when Livia hadn't arrived home, and had obviously spent the night thinking of things to say to her when she did come home.

"Orla, I'm sorry," she said when she could finally get a word in edgewise. "I really am. Something unexpected came up, and we just couldn't get home."

"This would have never happened when the master was alive," the maid snarled. "Never."

"Well, he's not alive any more, is he? He went and died, and I'm trying to keep things together now. I'm doing the best I can, Orla!" Livia knew she shouldn't be snapping at poor Orla, but she was exhausted and her maid had chosen the exact wrong time to express her worries.

"You should be working on being an exemplary widow, so when the time comes you'll be able to make a good marriage!" Orla had folded her arms and was glaring at Livia. "You could be the wife of a regent, Livia. Constantius has always favored you, and you could use that. You could be empress some day, if you played your cards right."

"I've no wish to be empress. Orla, I'm tired. Please, go. I'll go to the baths this evening, I need to start getting into the social swing of things again. Could you let Rusticus know that I'll need an escort?"

"What, you're not taking Darius?" Orla's tone was vicious. "I thought you two were inseparable."

"He's saved my life multiple times in the last few weeks. It's thanks to him that I'm even alive to yell at!" Livia shut her mouth and clenched her jaw. "I'm sorry. Orla--"

Orla's eyes were stricken. "Saved your life? Livia, lovey, what have you been doing?"

She took a breath. "It's a very long story. But I need to get what sleep I can. If I promise to tell you what I've been up to later this afternoon, will you let me do that?"

The older woman nodded. "All right. But I'm holding you to that, lovey." She rose and walked out, her shoulders firmly set. Livia slipped into bed and closed her eyes.

But she did not fall asleep. Her body ached, the place where she had taken the arrow yesterday burning. When she did slip under the uneasy surface of dream, she slept only lightly, waking at every little noise out in the hall.

She needed rest. They all did. She could only hope that they'd be able to get it...