Jester Leaps In: A Medieval Mystery by Alan Gordon Page B

both men. ‘He’s gone. It’s safe to speak,’ said the first. I perked up immediately and moved toward the voice. ‘The timing is crucial,’ he said. ‘You have to be ready on a moment’s notice.’ ‘Fine,’ said the second man. ‘You just make sure that once I get in, I can get out again.’ ‘That’s my lookout,’ said the first. ‘That’s why I am where I am. You’ll have the passwords to get past the guards. Once it is done, you’ll be safely out of the city before the cock crows.’ ”
    He paused, mopping his brow.
    “Then the second man laughed,” he continued. “A soft, evil sound. ‘This will be interesting,’ he said. ‘I’ve never killed an emperor before.’ ”

S EVEN
    The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness
.
    ECCLESIASTES I :14
    T here was no sound other than the sputtering of the torches and, somewhere in the distance on the other side of the concrete wall, a hammer hitting an anvil. Zintziphitzes sat on his bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, his eyes closed.
    “But the Emperor still lives,” said Claudius finally.
    “I suppose the appropriate time has not yet arrived,” replied Zintziphitzes.
    “Did they say what they were waiting for?” I asked.
    “The conversation ended there,” he said. “I didn’t recognize the voices. The first spoke unaccented Greek. The second I would guess was from somewhere north, but he didn’t speak enough for me to pin it down. Nor have I heard him since then.
    “I brought this to Tiberius, figuring it was more his business than mine. I’m not particularly concerned with who runs the ever-dwindling empire.
    “Tiberius was interested, of course. He thanked me and said he’d let the others know. I told him to keep me out of it, and he promised he would. About two weeks later, it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen him or Demetrios in the area. I dropped by the stables and chatted with Samuel, and I learned during thecourse of casual conversation that they hadn’t been at the Hippodrome in a week. I went by their places, but they had vanished. Demetrios’s landlady was busy selling his belongings.
    “Now, I was well and truly worried. I decided to change my appearance by shaving off everything that could be shaved. I’m much colder now, by the way. Then I hobbled up to Blachernae, but no trace of Thalia, Niko, or Piko. And that was that. Your troubadour showed up, apparently got wind of something, and took off like a bat out of hell, which was smart. But then he returned, and no more troubadour.”
    “Why didn’t you warn the Emperor?” asked Claudius.
    He looked at her with scorn.
    “An apprentice, right, Theo?” he spat, and I saw her head snap back with the sting of the remark. “Because the Emperor is shielded from rabble-rousers like me. He’s surrounded by an outer layer of guards and walls, a middle layer of courtiers and courtesans, and an inner layer of boneheadedness that no helm rivals for protection.”
    “Is there no one close to the Emperor who you could trust?” I asked.
    “Theo . . . I mean Feste,” he said hurriedly as I raised a finger in warning. “I don’t think you understand what’s happening. Where do you think I was when I heard this?”
    “You said already. Under the tiers.”
    “But under which tier, Feste? I was just outside the Kathisma, the imperial box. Only those of great privilege—either by wealth, position, or power—sit that close to the Emperor. They lie back on silk cushions, surrounded by the Imperial Guard and wined and fed by servants, and watch the games while they play their own. The plot against the Emperor is coming from someone very close to him, which is usually the case. And if I go traipsing in,bellowing about an assassination, they’ll look at me and laugh, saying, ‘Isn’t it that old fool, Zintziphitzes? I thought he was dead. What a funny fellow!’ And then one of them will arrange to have me quietly snuffed out after the show is