The Bow of Heaven - Book I: The Other Al - By Andrew Levkoff Page 0,35

the inside entrance. Expecting Sabina or Livia, I was surprised to see Boaz smiling broadly in the doorway.

“Salve, paedagogus,” he said. “May I be among the first to wish you mazal tov. Congratulations!”

“Boaz. It may be a little premature to call me teacher. When I have students in this classroom and when they have actually learned something, then I may be worthy of the title. But thank you, and salve, just the same. What brings you up the Palatine?”

“You.”

“Me?” I said, replacing the stopper in the pigskin. We have no business together.” If he was here, he knew.

“That is true.” He reached inside his robes and pulled out a lambskin cloth. “For you,” he said, holding it out in his open palm. “Todah rabah. Many thanks, my friend, many thanks.”

I stayed where I was. An irrational fear gripped me: if I got too close, he would snatch me up and carry me off; another addition for his collection of human souls. I did not want to like this man. Yet the things I had heard about him, and witnessed, belied his occupation. No compunction marred his laughing eyes; his warmth and good cheer were not only genuine but infectious. How could such a man do what he did and live without shame? Instead of asking him, I said, “If you are here because of Livia, it is the lady of the house you should attend.”

“No, it is you.”

“It was she who doubled your asking price.”

“It was you who braved the lash by going before your master.”

“There was nothing brave about it,” I lied.

“I suppose, to be fair, we must admit that it was only a matter of time before Sabina herself begged for Livia. If she had not done so I would have proposed an accommodation myself.”

“You?”

“Why not? We Jews know all there is to know about slavery. From both sides of that coin. Half the people in this city are owned by the other half. If looking down upon us helps a Roman get a good night’s sleep, eh. But I ask you, who better than a Jew to see that these unfortunates are treated as humanely as possible? As long as they are in my care, that is what I do.”

“Will you not be judged by your god?”

“Hah! My God loves owners and slaves alike. As long as there is balance, there is no problem. Everything works unless someone puts an entire people under the lash; then comes the fire and flood, retribution and death. Remember Egypt? Anyway, why worry about such things? I don’t hear anybody complaining. And business has never been better.

“But you, teacher of language; you, a new slave with no standing and nothing to gain - of all of us, you were the first to act. You know, in the East, there are people who believe that everything we do in life, both good and bad, return to us three-fold in like kind. Perhaps that paint you are stirring is an emblem of your act of kindness. I have another. Please, take it.”

He stepped closer, his arm again outstretched. Curiosity got the better of me and I reached for the small bundle. When I did, he grasped my hand and pulled me close. My irrational terror flashed again. He put his other hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Take heart, teacher. You are a good man, in a place where goodness is rarely rewarded. But sometimes, with luck, good men rise.”

He released me and I unfolded the lambskin to discover a signet ring. It’s metal glowed dully in the room’s soft light. “I still don’t know how it was you knew to come to me.”

“Do not blame Malchus. He, too, has a good heart, but sometimes it beats so loudly he doesn’t notice that his mouth is moving.”

“This ring is gold,” I said. I had never held anything of such value, even when I was free.

“The inset is carnelian, but the ring is unfinished. The stone is blank, its surface smooth. A patrician would have his seal engraved there. Perhaps someday, you will carve your own mark.”

“You are generous, and I bid you gracious thanks. But you must know that gold, gemstone or iron, it is all the same. I have no right to property. This cannot be mine.”

“And you must know that Boaz is nothing if not a negotiator for the ages.” He laughed. “I have already spoken to your master. The ring is yours. Keep it, sell it, do with it what