The Arrows of Hercules
- Автор: Де Камп Лайон Спрэг
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «The Arrows of Hercules». Краткое содержание книги:
“Exciting and quite believable adventures.”—Classical World
“Rousing piece of fiction...pace is rapid and unrelenting.” —The Arizona Republic
The streets were lined with shops, identified by wooden signs inscribed right to left with lines of Punic writing. Costly goods from near and far spilled out into the street. The shopkeepers stood in their doorways, importuning passers-by with seductive cries, low bows, and sweeping gestures. One man sold Etruscan candles; another, Persian umbrellas. An Egyptian tradesman featured two of his country's products: a salve for curing dandruff, made from genuine hippopotamus fat; and some large tame snakes, which Egyptian ladies of quality placed in their laps or around their necks to keep themselves cool in summer.
Everywhere—on street corners, in the entrances to shops, and in the midst of traffic—men pursued their eternal bargaining in the purring Punic tongue. If quieter than Greek hagglers, the Carthaginians were more energetic and businesslike in their manner. Everybody seemed in a hurry. Nobody strolled about discussing philosophy or politics and illustrating his points with graceful gestures. Every Carthaginian seemed to have urgent business, to which he was hastening with an anxious, preoccupied air.
Elazar's house stood on a hilltop in the Megara, near the temple of Eshmun, amid vineyards and groves of olive, almond, and pomegranate trees. When the porter called the master, Evnos introduced himself and his companions and handed over the hospitality token they had received from Abarish.
Elazar ben-Ahiram was a tall, heavily built man, with a broad head, blunt features, and a close-cut black beard. Rings gleamed on his fingers and in his ears. On his head was a hat like a small inverted pail. His body garments were of thin, light material, but he wore a number of them. There was a loose linen gown, which hung to his ankles. Over this he wore a kind of linen apron, and over this in turn a long-sleeved thin woolen coat, cut so that it was open in front and fell to his calves behind.
He looked at his visitors from small, wary, black eyes, studied the broken coin, and grunted. "Wait here," he said, and disappeared.
Soon he returned, holding up the two halves of the coin to show that they made one. " 'Tis true you come from Abarish," he growled. "Doubtless you are fain to stop at my house?"
Zopyros glanced at the Karian, to see how he would cope with this ungracious greeting. Evnos beamed and said: "Your hospitality overwhelms us, Master Elazar. I trust we impose not upon it."
Elazar frowned. He shot a sharp glance at the speaker from under heavy black brows, as if wondering whether there had been sarcasm in the words. Then he said:
"Know that you will find no abandoned luxuries here. No dancing girls or all-night revels. In this house we are sober, hardworking folk, and we keep regular hours and obey the gods."
Evnos' smile remained fixed. "After inns and ships, sir, your plainest fare will seem like unto the paradise whereto the Egyptians thought their kings ascended."
Elazar muttered under his breath, jingled the halves of the half shekel, and finally said: "Come on in."
The house was of the courtyard type, resembling that of a prosperous Hellene. Instead of the statue that a Greek might place in the middle of his courtyard, Elazar kept a sundial in the center of his. A loom stood at one side. A boy of four played with a toy chariot in the care of a Negro nurse, who sat sewing with her big black breasts drooping over the top of her single garment.
Elazar said: "I am about to depart to oversee a house I am erecting in the Byrsa. The master's eye feeds the horse, you know. My servants will see that you are settled and victualed. Take your ease until I return in the afternoon."
He was gone; Zopyros heard him giving orders. The front door slammed, and chariot wheels rumbled away.
Zopyros found that the plaster of the walls of his room was painted, but with plain panels of pastel colors instead of mythological or bucolic scenes. Little borders of egg-and-dart patterns ran around the panels. Otherwise the room was rather bare.
He made himself at home and went into the courtyard. His first task would be to make friends with the boy, and he nervously wished he had Archytas along. Archytas had such a way with children, while Zopyros found their company awkward.
However, when he entered the courtyard, he found Segovax already deep in converse with the child, whom he was entertaining with fantastic Celtic legends. Two of Elazar's watchmen lounged in the vestibule that led to the outer door, leaning on javelins and watching the visitors. Bludgeons hung from their belts. Elazar was taking no chances.
"Hello!" said Zopyros to the boy. "Are you Ahiram ben-Elazar?"
"That am I. Are you a Greek? I know Greek. Nai. Ouk. Chaire. Parakalô. Eucharistô. My mother is Greek."
Zopyros said: "I—"
"Pray talk not; I would hear the story Segovax tells."
The Celt threw Zopyros a wink and resumed his tale. Zopyros strolled over to the lounging watchmen. Looking as innocent as the small boy, he spoke to one of them in Greek:
"Could you tell me when the master will be back?"
Both men bowed and smirked but looked blank. One spread his hands and shrugged. When Zopyros repeated his question in Punic, their eyes lighted with intelligence. Both began to speak at once. Elazar might be home at any time from midafternoon to dinnertime. His business hours were irregular.
Zopyros turned back to where Segovax spun out his tale. "When you've finished," he said in Greek, "I should like a word with you. You, too, Evnos," he added as the Karian appeared in the courtyard.
Segovax quickly rounded off his story: "... so Prince Divico married the elf king's daughter, and the wicked stepmother was chopped into little bits and fed to the pigs. What is it, Zopyros my lad?"
The nurse took Ahiram away, and servants began setting up lunch in the courtyard. Speaking low and in Greek, Zopyros told his comrades the story of Korinna.
"You mean," said Evnos, "that this is the same woman of whom the steward told us? And you knew it all along and never said a word?"
"Ah, but he's a sly one," said Segovax.
Zopyros said earnestly: "I'm not telling you this now just to pass the time. I have a life-and-death task to do, and I need your help."
"Meaning," said Evnos, swiveling his eyes to the door through which Ahiram had disappeared, "you're thinking of absconding with the child?"
Zopyros wagged his head in the affirmative.
Evnos clapped a hand to his forehead. "By the womb of the Mother Goddess, what an idea! Are you out of your mind? Do you want to get us all burned in the belly of some big bronze idol?"
Segovax added: "Zopyros darling, 'tis a fine high-spirited lad that you are. But we have serious business, and we can't be letting you spoil it all with your romantical notions."
"I'm going to try it, with or without your help!"
"Absolutely not!" said Evnos. "I have the final say in such matters."
"Would you leave the poor infant to be broiled in the statue of Baal Hammon?"
"It's none of our affair. People are always killing one another; one Punic brat more or less makes no difference."
"You forget, this brat is my stepson-to-be. That is, if I can save him."
"That's your lookout, not ours. Your present duty is to see that we perform our mission. Afterwards, if you want to come back to Carthage to make a snatch, that's up to you ..."
They argued back and forth through lunch, in tense voices, which they kept from rising by conscious effort. The watchmen looked on, mildly interested in the foreigners' quarrel but giving no sign that it concerned them.
At last the disputants came to a grudging agreement. Zopyros should make no move before the engineers were all recruited. After that, if he wished to leave the group and try a coup on his own, they would not put obstacles in his way—provided he gave them a chance to get clear of Carthage first.