low I have to stoop. My back hurts."
Ajatasutra leaned his right shoulder under Narses' left arm and helped him along. The eunuch turned his head until his lips were but inches from Ajatasutra's ear and whispered:
"You do realize what those orders from Nanda Lal mean, don't you?"
Ajatasutra nodded, very slightly.
"Yes," he replied, also in a whisper. He glanced up. Balban's dim form was visible thirty feet ahead of them, backlit by the lamp he was carrying.
"It means you were right about Belisarius," whispered the assassin. "He must have escaped from India."
They progressed another fifty feet. By now, all of them were soaked with filthy water up to their mid-thighs.
Again, Narses turned his lips to Ajatasutra's ear.
"There'll be a boat, waiting. At the Neorion harbor in the Golden Horn. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes," whispered Ajatasutra. "Why me?"
"You're the best of a sorry lot. And if I have to flee to India I'll need someone to vouch for my credentials."
Ajatasutra smiled, thinly.
"You don't sound entirely confident in the certain success of our plans."
Narses sneered. "Nothing in this world is certain, Ajatasutra. Except this—better to have loosed the demon from his pit than to have loosed Belisarius. Especially after murdering his wife."
"She wasn't murdered," muttered Ajatasutra. Seeing the frown on the eunuch's face, the assassin chuckled.
"I followed. At a distance, of course. And I stayed well out of the fray. Quite a set-to, judging from the racket coming out of that cookshop—even before the cataphract arrived. I waited until he brought Antonina out. The woman was covered with blood, but none of it was hers."
Narses sighed. "Well, that's something. Belisarius will just be his usual extraordinarily competent and brilliantly capable deadly self. Instead of vengeance personified."
They slogged on, and on. Eventually, now well ahead of them, they saw Balban rise from his stoop and stand up straight. He had
Ajatasutra leaned his right shoulder under Narses' left arm and helped him along. The eunuch turned his head until his lips were but inches from Ajatasutra's ear and whispered:
"You do realize what those orders from Nanda Lal mean, don't you?"
Ajatasutra nodded, very slightly.
"Yes," he replied, also in a whisper. He glanced up. Balban's dim form was visible thirty feet ahead of them, backlit by the lamp he was carrying.
"It means you were right about Belisarius," whispered the assassin. "He must have escaped from India."
They progressed another fifty feet. By now, all of them were soaked with filthy water up to their mid-thighs.
Again, Narses turned his lips to Ajatasutra's ear.
"There'll be a boat, waiting. At the Neorion harbor in the Golden Horn. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes," whispered Ajatasutra. "Why me?"
"You're the best of a sorry lot. And if I have to flee to India I'll need someone to vouch for my credentials."
Ajatasutra smiled, thinly.
"You don't sound entirely confident in the certain success of our plans."
Narses sneered. "Nothing in this world is certain, Ajatasutra. Except this—better to have loosed the demon from his pit than to have loosed Belisarius. Especially after murdering his wife."
"She wasn't murdered," muttered Ajatasutra. Seeing the frown on the eunuch's face, the assassin chuckled.
"I followed. At a distance, of course. And I stayed well out of the fray. Quite a set-to, judging from the racket coming out of that cookshop—even before the cataphract arrived. I waited until he brought Antonina out. The woman was covered with blood, but none of it was hers."
Narses sighed. "Well, that's something. Belisarius will just be his usual extraordinarily competent and brilliantly capable deadly self. Instead of vengeance personified."
They slogged on, and on. Eventually, now well ahead of them, they saw Balban rise from his stoop and stand up straight. He had