Page 32 of Sword Dance

Some of the other students hooted appreciatively. “Many interests! Do you hear that, Phaia?”

“Why don’t you loan the Sasian to Master Eurydemos for the night?” someone suggested.

Someone else chimed in, hilariously: “We could conduct them to the marriage bed and sing the wedding hymn for them!”

“O blessed night, eya, eya,” someone began to sing tunelessly. “O gather round, ye gods … ”

“How dare you?” Eurydemos was protesting weakly. “This vicious mockery—”

“Perhaps you would rather we sang the hymn for you, First Spear,” Helenos suggested.

“Excellent idea!” someone cheered. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a Sasian subdued by the pride of the Phemian army—if you take my meaning.”

“O blessed night, ai-ai-ai-ai … ”

“Or perhaps,” Helenos continued, as if none of the mayhem around them were going on, “you wouldn’t. I was surprised to see the Sasian kiss you last night. But then, I rather think you were surprised yourself.”

Divine Terza, he had really made a dog’s breakfast of this. He didn’t know exactly what Helenos suspected, but if Damiskos wasn’t selling the story that he’d bought Varazda because he was in love with him—if there was a chance the students knew he hadn’t bought Varazda at all because they knew where Aristokles had been yesterday afternoon—it wouldn’t be hard to guess that what Damiskos was really doing was trying to protect Varazda.

“O BLESS-ED NIIIIIIGHT!”

“Sure,” said Damiskos, looking Helenos in the eye. “Maybe a bit.”

“Because you’re not the master’s rival in love at all, are you?” Helenos continued. “I think your interest in the Sasian is something quite different. Pity, for instance.”

That just made Damiskos mad. Terza’s head. If he were Eurydemos’s rival, he wouldn’t be ashamed to admit it. Varazda was stunningly good-looking, and he’d just kept the whole crowd on the beach enraptured with his dancing; it would be a shock if Eurydemos were the only man there who wanted to sleep with him.

“Oh, well, there you’re wrong,” Damiskos spat back. “It’s true all I got last night was a kiss, and I wasn’t even expecting that—but tonight I’m counting on a bit more.” He slung his arm around Varazda. “Come on, we’re done here.” He pushed past the students still singing their off-key hymn, and tossed back over his shoulder, “So long as you make the wedding offering, I don’t care what you do. Takes more than that to put me off my stride.”

Chapter 8

Damiskos had set off more or less at random, anger stiffening his gait and lending him a burst of speed. They were headed in the direction of the ruined huts that Nione had shown him the previous day.

Behind them, the students were marshalling in an impromptu procession.

“Torches!” someone cried. “Torches for the wedding party!”

“Eya! Eya!”

“That,” said Damiskos, “uh, didn’t go entirely as planned.”

“I daresay it didn’t.” Varazda’s voice was toneless.

Damiskos withdrew his arm to unsling Varazda’s coat from his shoulder and offer it. Varazda took it and draped it around his bare shoulders.

“It’s just that I was annoyed,” Damiskos tried to explain. “They keep assuming I share their wretched preoccupation with ‘Phemian purity,’ which is a load of balls, and I’m sick of it. But please don’t think—I didn’t mean it. I wouldn’t—won’t—take advantage of you.”

Varazda gave him a sour look and glanced back at the students, who were laughing and gathering up sticks to wave in lieu of torches. He turned to walk on, reaching out to take Damiskos’s hand. “You’re going to have to, now.”

“I—uh—oh?”

“They are clearly prepared to follow us, and they’re going to watch—as you invited them to.”

“I didn’t—I—that wasn’t—I was just being rude. Are you sure—”

“For God’s sake, don’t let go of my hand.” He was walking close to Damiskos, nestled against his side. His grip was hard and unfriendly, but it probably looked good from a distance. “We’re going to have to put on a show for them. We can’t afford not to. I told you we had a description of the one of the assassins? ‘A young man with a shaved head and a broken nose.’ Sound familiar?”

“Shit. It was them.”