Note: Sorry for the lack of screenshots for this entry, but it's been a while since the last update and I didn't want to keep you folks waiting any longer...
Princes 15 - Scipio's Spy
Part 5
Someones asking about you, Bekhter said.
Manlai turned to face him. Who? he asked after a moments hesitation. He had a broad face that rarely displayed any emotion at all. Many men assumed, upon first meeting him, that he was stupid: the broad face, the lack of expression, the slow manner of his speech were all reasons for this. And they were all misleading. They soon came to realize the error of their assumption. Many came to regret it. Deeply.
A Roman. An officer, Bekhter told him.
Manlai stroked his moustache with his thumb and his forefinger. Has he said what its about?
Not that Ive heard, the other man said. You think it has something to do with our guest?
Manlai then shook his head. I doubt that. The Romans wouldnt be so stupidly obvious.
What do you want to do about it?
Have this Roman informed that Ill be at the Jargal teahouse for lunch. Ill find out what he wants with me there.
The man nodded and walked out of the room, allowing Manlai to return his attention to the interrogation. He nodded to the other two men in the room, and they responded by tilting the long wooden board back so that the end that had been immersed in the basin came up out of it. The woman who was strapped upside-down to the board coughed and sputtered and gasped for breath as her head finally came out of the water.
Once again, Nara, Manlai said to her. What was the last message you passed along to the Romans?
The young woman panted down several breaths. Her dark eyes stared back into his, and he could see the anger and the spite was still there, even after several hours of this treatment that left her gasping and shuddering as each dunking brought her within a hairs breadth of drowning. Still she said nothing. A stubborn one, and strong, he silently acknowledged, but she would break. Everyone did, sooner or later. Manlai grunted, then nodded to the other two men. She barely had time to gasp down another breath before her head plunged back under water again.
***
You speak pretty good Latin, Scipio said. You know, for a Mongo.
Manlai gave the slightest of nods, acknowledging the compliment and ignoring the insult. Its always wise to know the ways of ones adversary, he said. Scipio just shrugged and stared at him blankly. I hear youve been looking for me, he said from across the table. His right hand idly held a small glass of tea. Scipio had refused some when offered.
Yeah, well, Ive got a bone to pick with you, Scipio said. The way I see it, you owe me a denarius. Thats half a months pay to me, so its not small change.
How so? Manlai asked, his face impassive. Hed studied and practiced the stone face since hed been a child, and was a master at it. The Roman officer sitting across from him, on the other hand, could barely sit still.
One of your girls, she cheated me! Scipio said indignantly.
One of my girls
? Manlai said evenly.
Oh, dont act all innocent, Scipio said. Were men of the world, arent we? Ive heard about you. You run the girls in this town. Well, one of them took my money yesterday and didnt give me what I had coming.
Manlai shook his head as he raised his glass of tea. You must be mistaken, the Mongolian told him. My girls never
Her name was Larentia, Scipio said.
And for one of the very few times in his life, Manlai failed to maintain his stone face. His brows rose, and his glass of tea stopped half-way to his lips.
Ah, that rings a bell, doesnt it? Scipio said accusingly. She took my money and ran off without me getting what Id paid for. What kind of a business are you running, anyhow? If you cheat every soldier in the Roman army this way, theres going to be trouble, my friend.
Larentia
Manlai said. I may know of her, he said cautiously. But Id have to know more about your transaction with her if were to settle this amicably. You wouldnt happen to remember what she said to you
?
Scipio frowned and shook his head. She jabbered some sort of nonsense at me like it was supposed to mean something. Like I could rememberI was hungover, and she was supposed to be the cure for it, he said with a smile. Now look. Im not an unreasonable man. You settle up with me, give me my denarius back, and I wont go spreading word around the barracks that your girls are skippers. Deal?
Manlai took a deep breath. Ill want to make my own enquiries about this matter. Come back here tonight for dinner, and well resolve this.
Scipio sighed, then pushed back from the table and stood up. Youd damned well better be here, he said, then glanced angrily at the other three big, burly Mongolians seated beside Manlai at the next table. You can bring your girlfriends along again if they make you feel safer, he said with a derisive laugh, then turned and walked towards the door.
Once he was gone, Manlai turned to look at Bekhter, who was standing by the back entrance of the teahouse. Manlai nodded, and a heartbeat later, Bekhter had disappeared.
***
There was really only one question running through Scipios mind as he walked out of the teahouse and turned down a nearby alley that led towards the Roman garrisons barracks. Now or later?
He caught the movement behind him and to his right. He had to fight off the instinct to react quickly enough. Instead, he allowed the blow to come, which it did, hard into his side just above the kidney. He did his best to roll with it. It still hurt like hell. Then the black cloth bag came down over his head, blinding him, and more blows, until he sagged to the ground and felt them tying his hands behind his back. Then he felt hands grabbing hold of him under his arms, and he was dragged down the alley.
He reflected that it was ironic: he had no idea where they were taking him, and yet he knew exactly where he was going. Before long, he knew, hed be seeing Larentia again. He just hoped it wouldnt be for the last time.