Departures Read Free Page A

to something about which Khsrish should know.
    Still, Hermippos had a point. As Mithredath had learned in Babylon preparing for this mission, Athens had led the western Yauna in their fight against the Conqueror. The eunuch sighed. Having come so far already, he supposed poking through rubble could not make things much worse.
    Hermippos said, “If you like, excellent
saris
, I will provide you with a secretary who reads and writes not only Aramaic but also the Hellenic tongue. It is still often used here and in the ancient days of which you spoke would have been the only written language, I suppose.”
    “I accept with thanks,” Mithredath said sincerely, dipping his head. He’d picked up a few words of the tongue of the Hellenes on his westward journey, but it had never occurred to him that he might also need to learn the strange, angular script the locals used. He sighed again, wishing he were home.
    Vahauka might have been peering into his thoughts. “Tell us of the news of the court, Mithredath. Here in this distant land we learn of it but slowly and imperfectly.”
    Nodding, Mithredath gave such gossip as he thought safe to give; he had no intention of setting out all of Khsrish’s business—or his scandals—before these men he did not know. Hewas, though, so circumspect that he blundered, for after he was through, Tadanmu observed, “You have said nothing, excellent
saris
, of the King of Kings’ cousin, the great lord Kurash.”
    “I pray your pardon, my lord. I did not mention him because he has been seeing to his estates these past few months and hence is not currently in attendance upon the King of Kings, may Ahura Mazda smile upon him and make long his reign. Lord Kurash is well, though, so far as I know, and I have heard he has new sons by two of his younger wives.”
    “And likely hiked up the midwife’s skirts after she came away from each one of them, to celebrate the news.” Tadanmu chuckled. Kurash’s prowess and his zeal in exercising it were notorious.
    The general asked more of Kurash. Mithredath declined to be drawn out, and Tadanmu subsided. Mithredath made a mental note all the same. Kurash’s ambitions, or rather the forestalling of them, were the main reason the eunuch had come to the satrapy of the Yauna of the western mainland. New glory accruing to Khsrish the Conqueror would also reflect onto his namesake, the present occupant—under Ahura Mazda—of the throne of the Kings of Kings.
    Mithredath drained his cup and held it out for more. A servant hurried up to fill it. The eunuch sipped, rolled the wine around in his mouth so he could appreciate it fully, and nodded in slow pleasure. Here was one reason, anyhow, to approve of this western venture.
    He cherished such reasons. He had not found many of them.
    “My lord?”
    Mithredath looked around to see who the young Hellene was addressing, then realized with a start that the fellow was talking to him. The ignorance of these provincials! “No lord I,” he said. “I am but a
saris
in the service of the King of Kings.”
    He watched a flush rise under the young man’s clear skin. “My apologies, my—excellent
saris
,” the Hellene said, correcting himself. “You are called Mithredath, though, are you not?”
    “That is my name,” the eunuch admitted, adding icily, “You have the advantage of me, I believe.”
    The fellow’s flush grew deeper. “Apologies again. My name is Polydoros; I thought Hermippos would have mentioned me. If it please you, I am to be your guide to the ruins of Athens.”
    “Ah!” Mithredath studied this Polydoros with fresh interest.But no, his first impression had been accurate: the fellow was well on the brash side of thirty. Wondering if the
ganzabara
was trying to palm some worthless relative off on him, he said cautiously, “I had looked for an older man.”
    “To be fluent in Aramaic and the Hellenic tongue both, you mean?” Polydoros said, and Mithredath found himself nodding. The