Cyclops to the twin sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis, when she heard a soft whistling.
Leo's Ethiopian bailiff was striding across the courtyard with a bolt of bright-blue cloth slung across one naked shoulder, his dagger tucked into his belt. His skin had been oiled, and in the fiery sunset, it glistened red, like blood, and the tendons on his arms and neck stood out like ropes.
'You don't know where Leo is, do you, Qus?'
He paused in his stride. 'No, my lady.'
Hm. 'Qus.'
'My lady?'
'What made you think Jason didn't kill Bulis?'
Dark eyes stared unblinkingly down at her. 'Jason killed Bulis.'
'When you showed Leo the third spear this morning, you sounded distinctly surprised that Jason had turned his tactics to murder.'
'I was not thinking straight then, my lady,' Qus said politely, and suddenly his loping gait was eating up the flagstones once again and he was gone.
Fine-looking man. Broad of shoulder. Chest like a hammered bronze breastplate. Five parallel lines running horizontally across his forehead that did nothing to lessen his attraction. Claudia wondered how much it hurt, having tribal marks scored that deeply into the flesh. How old he had
been at the time. And why the devil the bailiff had lied. On
both counts.
Just below the part on the frieze where Odysseus stuffs candlewax in his ear to resist the song of the Sirens, she collided with a small, fat swarthy body.
'Ah, Claudia. What a delightful surprise,' Saunio said.
Might be for you, chum. 'Have you seen Leo?' she asked.
'Pfft.' The maestro waved a lazy hand. 'He promised to inspect the atrium at sunset, but where is he, that's anyone's guess. Come, my lovely. You can be the first to observe Saunio's finished artistry.' Hot fingers closed round her arm as he drew her into the room. 'There now, give Saunio your honest opinion.'
'Of your work?' she asked. 'Or the fact that you were waiting for me in ambush out there?'
'I fear you are mistaken,' he said with a small laugh, but the light which had hardened in his little beady eyes gave the game away. 'It was Leo I was waiting for, although it is perhaps ungallant of Saunio to admit it.'
No point in arguing. If he was the type to hang around in the shadows hefting pots of lilies, he'd regret it soon enough. Claudia saw herself tying the maestro to a chair while she shaved off his trademark curly beard and washed the dye out of his hair. See what the BYMs thought of their precious mentor then!
'Ta-da!' Saunio spread his fat arms wide. 'Looks twice the size, doesn't it?' The illusion was amazing. False rooms led off everywhere. 'Deceive the eye and art will triumph,' he said. 'Take that triptych, for instance.'
Quite. A visitor would be hard pushed to say it wasn't a real shrine opening off from the atrium, because such was Saunio's genius with perspective that, no matter where you stood, the impression didn't waver. The left- and right-hand panels depicted long marble tables adorned with four-handled vases narrowing inwards to the centre panel, a shrine to the goddess Minerva. This kind of thing had been done before, of course (although not quite with such skill). What made Saunio's work breathtakingly original was that he'd added to the illusion by incorporating a scaled-down marble altar
on which equally scaled-down offerings could be made. A miniature torch also burned in Minerva's honour as though this was an actual shrine, not a one-dimensional painted image.
But one thing was missing in this glorious room. True, there was enough gold leaf round the capitals of the columns to make even Midas turn green with envy. Rare eastern woods. Ivory carvings. Fine marble busts. The place was awash with onyx boxes, silver mirrors, and gleaming copper waterspouts funnelled the rain from the roof into a central pool where a fountain splashed out a soft tune, and small birds the colours of Arabian jewels sang their hearts out from an aviary at the end of the hall. But
Leo's Ethiopian bailiff was striding across the courtyard with a bolt of bright-blue cloth slung across one naked shoulder, his dagger tucked into his belt. His skin had been oiled, and in the fiery sunset, it glistened red, like blood, and the tendons on his arms and neck stood out like ropes.
'You don't know where Leo is, do you, Qus?'
He paused in his stride. 'No, my lady.'
Hm. 'Qus.'
'My lady?'
'What made you think Jason didn't kill Bulis?'
Dark eyes stared unblinkingly down at her. 'Jason killed Bulis.'
'When you showed Leo the third spear this morning, you sounded distinctly surprised that Jason had turned his tactics to murder.'
'I was not thinking straight then, my lady,' Qus said politely, and suddenly his loping gait was eating up the flagstones once again and he was gone.
Fine-looking man. Broad of shoulder. Chest like a hammered bronze breastplate. Five parallel lines running horizontally across his forehead that did nothing to lessen his attraction. Claudia wondered how much it hurt, having tribal marks scored that deeply into the flesh. How old he had
been at the time. And why the devil the bailiff had lied. On
both counts.
Just below the part on the frieze where Odysseus stuffs candlewax in his ear to resist the song of the Sirens, she collided with a small, fat swarthy body.
'Ah, Claudia. What a delightful surprise,' Saunio said.
Might be for you, chum. 'Have you seen Leo?' she asked.
'Pfft.' The maestro waved a lazy hand. 'He promised to inspect the atrium at sunset, but where is he, that's anyone's guess. Come, my lovely. You can be the first to observe Saunio's finished artistry.' Hot fingers closed round her arm as he drew her into the room. 'There now, give Saunio your honest opinion.'
'Of your work?' she asked. 'Or the fact that you were waiting for me in ambush out there?'
'I fear you are mistaken,' he said with a small laugh, but the light which had hardened in his little beady eyes gave the game away. 'It was Leo I was waiting for, although it is perhaps ungallant of Saunio to admit it.'
No point in arguing. If he was the type to hang around in the shadows hefting pots of lilies, he'd regret it soon enough. Claudia saw herself tying the maestro to a chair while she shaved off his trademark curly beard and washed the dye out of his hair. See what the BYMs thought of their precious mentor then!
'Ta-da!' Saunio spread his fat arms wide. 'Looks twice the size, doesn't it?' The illusion was amazing. False rooms led off everywhere. 'Deceive the eye and art will triumph,' he said. 'Take that triptych, for instance.'
Quite. A visitor would be hard pushed to say it wasn't a real shrine opening off from the atrium, because such was Saunio's genius with perspective that, no matter where you stood, the impression didn't waver. The left- and right-hand panels depicted long marble tables adorned with four-handled vases narrowing inwards to the centre panel, a shrine to the goddess Minerva. This kind of thing had been done before, of course (although not quite with such skill). What made Saunio's work breathtakingly original was that he'd added to the illusion by incorporating a scaled-down marble altar
on which equally scaled-down offerings could be made. A miniature torch also burned in Minerva's honour as though this was an actual shrine, not a one-dimensional painted image.
But one thing was missing in this glorious room. True, there was enough gold leaf round the capitals of the columns to make even Midas turn green with envy. Rare eastern woods. Ivory carvings. Fine marble busts. The place was awash with onyx boxes, silver mirrors, and gleaming copper waterspouts funnelled the rain from the roof into a central pool where a fountain splashed out a soft tune, and small birds the colours of Arabian jewels sang their hearts out from an aviary at the end of the hall. But
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