can, you brawny Roman,” said Amestris. Her words made me blush, but they also gave me confidence. “And I can play the pipes,” she added. “You’ve said yourself, mistress, that I play like a songbird.”
From outside, after a long silence, the sound of lamenting had gradually resumed. Women wailed and shrieked. Hearing no music from the cave, the crowd assumed the worst.
Anthea put her hands on her hips and gazed up at the pipes, as if giving them one last chance to play by themselves. “I suppose it’s worth a try,” she finally said.
She climbed on to my shoulders. While I held fast to her ankles, she extended her arms to steady herself against the rock wall. Amestris climbed up after her. I thought my shoulders would surely collapse, but I gritted my teeth and said nothing. I rolled up my eyes, but was unable to lift my head enough to see what was going on above me.
Suddenly I heard a long, low note from the Pan pipes, followed by a higher note. There was a pause, and then, filling the cave, echoing from the walls, came one of the most haunting melodies I had ever heard.
The wailing from outside ceased, replaced by cries of wonderment – and did I hear the voice of Theotimus, uttering a howl of confusion and disbelief?
The strange, beautiful tune came to an end – and just in time, for I could not have supported them a moment longer. Amestris scrambled down, and Anthea leaped to the ground. I staggered against the wall and rubbed my aching shoulders.
“What now?” whispered Anthea.
“Supposedly, the door should open of its own accord,” I said.
“If it doesn’t, the Megabyzoi have the key,” said Amestris. “Perhaps they’ll unlock it.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Theotimus joins us soon.”
“What do you mean, Gordianus?” said Anthea.
I hurriedly explained that there was a secret entrance in the chamber beyond – and told them what I wanted them to do.
Only moments later, there was a sound from the rear entrance, and a flash of light as it was opened and then shut. I heard a stifled curse and an exclamation – “By Hades. The axe, the knife, the mask; where are they?” – and then Theotimus stepped into the main chamber. In one hand he held his priest’s headdress, which he must have removed in order to duck through the small doorway. He stopped short at the sight of Anthea and Amestris standing side by side, then gazed up at the dangling Pan pipes.
“How did the slave girl get in here?” he said in a snarling whisper. “And how in Hades did you manage to play those pipes?”
He was unaware of my presence. I stood behind him, my back pressed against the wall, hidden in a patch of shadow. At my feet were the knife and the axe – the deadly implements with which he no doubt had intended to kill Anthea.
I had moved the weapons deliberately, so that he could not pick them up when he entered – and also so that I could use them myself, if the need arose. Theotimus was a large, strongly muscled man – he had a butcher’s build, after all – and if we were to come to blows, I would need all the advantages I could muster. But, before resorting to the weapons, first I wanted to try another means of dealing with him. In my hands I held the stag’s-head mask.
While the sight of the two girls continued to distract the Megabyzus, I stole up behind him, reached high, and placed the mask over his head. His head was larger than Chloe’s, and it was a tight fit. I shoved downward with all my might, and through the palms of my hands, I imagined I could feel the impact of the short, needle-sharp spike fixed inside the top of the mask as it penetrated his scalp.
I had glimpsed the spike the day before, in the temple, when I looked inside the mask. If my guess was correct, the spike had been covered with a poison which had caused the death of Chloe; her motions of panic and dismay had not been acting or dancing, but death-throes, as the poison entered her skull and worked its evil on her. After the mask was removed, the puncture mark and any traces of blood amid her lustrous red hair would not have been visible