Chapter 6: Nebiat

“You could have been killed!” exclaimed Tulonan.

 “Yes,” I replied, rubbing the back of my bandaged head. “That’s exactly what the water shuttle captain told me. I’m at least glad he had a medical kit on board the galley and was willing to fix me up.”

 Tulonan sat behind his desk, his index finger stabbing his temple while he stared at me with a look of resignation.

 My wet clothes sticking to my skin, I sat before him, one arm wrapped around the small wooden crossbeam that acted as my skiff’s seat. I held the tiny boat to my side like a warrior’s shield.

 “Can you put that thing down somewhere?” asked Tulonan.

 “Uh…I was hoping you’d let me keep it here in your office when I’m on campus.”

 Tulonan rolled his eyes and heaved a defeated sigh. 

 “Must you?”

 I looked to a corner by the window behind him. “How about over there?”

 Tulonan groaned slowly and softly. “Very well. I owe you, Syndeeka, so I’ll allow it.”

 “Owe me? How is it you owe me anything? I would have thought I’ve just been a thorn in your flesh lately. It’s not as if you’d requested an assistant.”

 Tulonan reached down from behind his desk and brought up a small red velvet sack which he placed in front of me.

 “As to my needing an assistant, I’d suggested something to that effect a few months ago to the administration and they replied that they’d get back to me concerning my request. They didn’t till this morning. I suppose your knowing the people you do has its advantages.”

 He opened the sack and removed a clear glass disc and held it up to me.

 “But I wanted you to see this,” he continued, extending the disc for me to examine.

 My cautious fingers wrapped around the glass object and I stared at it. It wasn’t perfectly flat, but swelled up in the center like a clear dome. “You followed my suggestion. Except this is glass, not crystal.”

 “Put it to your eye and look out the window behind me.”

 I did as he requested and saw a blurry campus.

 “I can’t say as this is an improvement,” I said, pulling the glass disc from my eye.

 “No. Put it back in front of your eye.”

 I complied with his demands and he pulled a second glass disc out of the red bag and held it a few feet in front of the first disc.

 “Let me know when the glass I’m holding lines up with the one in your hand.”

 “A little bit more to the left.”

 He repositioned his glass and I was shocked to see a sharper image of the campus through the second disc. Not only that, but the building across the courtyard appeared larger. I noticed the colors around the edges of the image seemed a little off, but this arrangement of glass discs was increasing the apparent size of the outside world.

 “That’s amazing,” I said, handing the glass disc back to him.

 Tulonan smiled. “I’d considered your suggestion about using my reading lens to make distant objects clearer to the eye and remembered there was a glassmaker’s shop a few blocks from my home. He’s known to make eye aids so I approached him and we discussed how to magnify a distant image. We started experimenting with magnifiers he’d cut for people whose eyes have trouble focusing on far-off objects. In just a few hours we hit on the right combinations and then he agreed to make me these lenses. They’re actually shaped like the surface of the human eye.”

 “The image isn’t perfect.”

 “No,” he replied, replacing both lenses in the bag and returning to his desk, “but the glassmaker and I have struck an agreement to build a device based on our experiments that should have a far superior range.” He folded his hands on his ample belly. “I can write this off as a school-related expense and get the administration to help reimburse the costs.”

 I took my seat. “Will they want to do that?”

 Tulonan chuckled and pointed a finger to the ceiling. “They will when they see the optical device for themselves. Who knows? Maybe the Empire can find some military application for this invention.”

 I sighed. “Yes, our studies always seem to come back to death and destruction.”

 Because my head was throbbing, Tulonan let me take the day off, but he had me come to the academy the next day to take additional notes for him in the library. I’m sure he was reluctant to have me running around the campus so soon after receiving a head injury, but I didn’t mind the quiet, the solitude, or the scientific writings of the world’s greatest minds.

 As I inscribed the contents of a musty leather-bound tome, the sunlight shining through the tall windows cast long shafts of gold. I watched in fascination as those shafts of light slowly crept across the table where I worked.

 Then I heard a familiar voice.  

 “Hello, Syndeeka!”

 I looked up from my writing and smiled at Eshendisa. She wore a powder-blue dress and had two scrolls tucked in the crook of her arm.

 “Eshendisa. It’s good to see you. How are things with Aldro?”

 She sat across from me, placing the scrolls on the table, and pulled her mouth into a sagging smile. “Oh, they’re as good as they can be.”

 “Would you like to talk about it?”

 Eshendisa sighed. “He’s very charming when he wants to be.”

 “Yes?”

 She looked down at the table before raising her eyes to mine. “He’s very possessive. Whenever I talk to another one of his friends he gets jealous and tells me I shouldn’t be bothering with them. He always wants to know what I’m doing when he’s in class.”

 “Aren’t you just working?”

 “Mostly. But he’s paranoid about me so much as looking at another man.”

 I placed my stylus on the table. “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I think the two of you jumped into this relationship too quickly. Aldro is inexperienced and doesn’t understand the need for compromise.”

 “I’m the opposite, then. I’ve been in quite a few relationships.” She chuckled nervously. “We’re only young for a short amount of time; it’s always best to try different experiences before it’s too late.”

 I laughed under my breath. “You mean before you turn my age.”

 “I didn’t mean that!”

 I placed my chin in my hand. “I see a desperation in Aldro. Being a senator’s son, he’s bound to have some sense of entitlement. And you, like me, are from a lower station. He probably thinks he’s doing you a favor.”

 “I do like him. When he’s not criticizing me. We share a common bond.”

 “Astronomy?”

 “Yes. But we’re coming from two different places.”

 I steepled my fingers under my chin. “Oh, the impetuosity of youth. I wish I could tell you what to do, but the fact of the matter is that I’ve never been in a long-term relationship myself. I almost came close, but he and I were coming from two different places.”

 “But you have a lot of experience with men.”

 “If by that you mean intimate experience, I’m afraid it’s mostly of the debased kind. I spent much of my adolescence servicing men for money. That’s hardly love. Then I became an astronomer’s apprentice. Then an itinerant mercenary. I haven’t really had the time to explore those kinds of options as much as I would have liked.

 “All I can say is to be careful. Both of you.”

 “Do you really think Aldro and I were too hasty in becoming a couple?”

 “How long was it before the two of you decided to make a commitment?”

 “Well, we talked all night at Bardrakeu’s party. We sat together and talked till we saw the sunrise. Then we just fell asleep in each other’s arms.”

 I rolled up the scroll I’d been making transcriptions from and slid on its leather band.

 “That’s touching, Eshendisa. But it’s hardly a true commitment. You and he need to know how to work through trying times. Getting drunk and having a good conversation at a party isn’t really a solid foundation for love.”

 “I never said I was in love.”

 I groaned under my breath. “Unfortunately, he did. That’s why we argued and he fired me.”

 Eshendisa placed her hand on mine. “I’m sorry he did that. He’d told me you’d overstepped your bounds.”

 I chuckled lightly. “My bounds. I need to get these notes to my employer. Maybe we can talk again in the next few days.”

 Eshendisa stood and smiled. “Of course. Who knows? Maybe you and Aldro can mend things.”

 I collected my effects and placed them in my satchel and stood too. “I would like that. I think that will be up to him, though.”
 

 The next day I did have an opportunity to talk to Aldro. Tulonan now had me carrying his notes and astronomical devices with him to his lectures, and it was at the beginning of the third class of the day that Aldro showed up in the open-air amphitheater where Tulonon would lecture his students. Seated in the curving third tier was the young man I’d once tutored. I smiled at him from the small table where I sat next to Tulonan’s lecture podium. He immediately averted his gaze, so I put my head down and went through Tulolan’s notes for the majority of the lecture. 

 When Tulolan finally dismissed the class, I was able to intercept Aldro before he’d put his own things away in his shoulder bag.

 “Aldro, I’m sorry if I seemed presumptuous the last time we spoke. And I’m not mad at you for dismissing me; Obviously, I’ve since gotten another job.”

 Aldro gasped and stared at the stones of the amphitheater floor. “Eshendisa told me about her meeting you yesterday. Um, I may have been hasty in terminating your services, Syndeeka.” He chuckled under his breath. “The problem is that I still haven’t found another tutor.”

 I placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. “I wish I could help you with your studies, but now I’m working for your instructor.”

 Aldro looked up at me. “I guess my problems are rather minor. Certainly compared to Bardrakeu.”

 “Bardrakeu?” I removed my hand and adjusted the shoulder strap on my satchel. “Oh, Mala told me that some thief broke into his family villa. Didn’t he destroy half of the family’s wines?”

 “It’s worse than that.” He looked me in the eye. “They came back.”

 “What?”

“Or rather they were in the area of the villa. Bardrakeu’s butler, Nebiat…did you see him at the party?”

 I felt a chill seep into my limbs.

 “Yes. Yes, I met Nebiat.”

 “Well, Nebiat was going to go into town yesterday to purchase some wines from a city merchant. He never came back.”

 “Oh…”

 “Bardrakeu asked the wine merchant if his servant had come to his shop. The man said no.” Aldro sighed. “Bardrakeu thinks they must have intercepted his butler on the road that runs by the villa.”

 I felt like offering some excuse as to why Nebiat had disappeared, but I knew what must have happened.

 Darvino.

 “Um…” I said, sweat freezing my skin. “I should be going now.”
 

 Framed between two columns and standing in front of a red satin curtain, Cilinua, the head of palace affairs, looked like some ancient bust of an Imperial general. He stared down at me from his black podium, his records book open and the haft of his stylus pointing at a line of calligraphed text on a page.

 “This is hardly your scheduled day, Syndeeka,” he said.

 “But I need to speak to His Excellency, the Deity Imperator, right now.”

 From where I stood, three steps down from the dais on which his podium loomed over me, I felt diminished. 

 But my resolve held fast. 

 “There is a matter concerning the assignment he has given me that I must discuss with him,” I continued. “An important turn of events.”

 The silver-haired man in the purple robes tapped the marble surface of his podium and smirked. “I am quite certain it can wait a few days, young woman. Now, please be so good as to leave the palace grounds before I am forced to summon the guards and have them personally remove you.”

 I sighed, shut my eyes for the briefest of moments, then returned my gaze to Cilinua. “If not his Excellency, then may I please request an audience with his cousin, Darvino?”

 Cilinua cocked his head at an angle and raised his bushy eyebrows. “What do you need with him?”

 I took in a long, slow drag of air. “He and I are working on the same assignment. He was recently added by His Excellency. I’d like to compare our findings if it’s possible.”

 It took some additional cajoling on my part before I was able to convince the head of palace affairs to send a messenger on a quest to find Darvino’s whereabouts on the palace grounds.

 Fifteen minutes later, Darvino sauntered through the red curtain and brushed past Cilinua and joined me where I’d seated myself with my arms on my upturned knees on the lowest dais step.

 “Syndeeka, Syndeeka!” he said, grinning and placing an uninvited arm around my shoulders. He was dressed in a gold lame tunic and matching slacks trimmed with red filigree. 

 “Hello, Darvino.”

 My voice was flat, cold, soulless. 

 He crossed his legs and sat back, supporting himself with his outstretched hands on the step above him. “Why have you graced us with your lovely presence, Madam Ushe?”

 I felt like correcting his ignorant usage of my people’s label as a family name, but the rising anger within me tightened my tongue.

 He stared into my eyes for at least a minute before I’d composed myself enough to reply.

 “What have you done with Nebiat?”

 “Oh…” he stared up at the ceiling. “Him. I assure you, Syndeeka, the master of wines is in safe hands right now. We’re still questioning him.”

 I exhaled a long, shuddering breath. “Kidnapping Nebiat will only alert the Sepulchral Giant. He’ll know we’re onto him.”

 Darvino raised himself to his feet and extended a hand to me. “Let me help you up, Syndeeka.”

 I pulled myself up to a standing position and stared at him coldly.

 “How am I supposed to continue my investigations of the catacombs when they know to be expecting me?”

 Darvino’s laugh echoed off the marble walls. “My pretty black girl, don’t you realize you’ve already alerted them? Nebiat would have informed the Sepulchral Giant of your misadventures in his wine cellar several days before we caught him.”

 “But I was disguised as one of them.”

 He locked his hands on my shoulders. “So wise you are. And so foolish. It’s pretty obvious that an operation as detailed as the Giant’s would never have rogue agents causing mayhem. Be assured they now realize you were not one of their own.”

 He let go my shoulders, and I suddenly felt like collapsing onto the polished tiles.

 He was right.

 I’d been making a mess of this entire mission from the very beginning.

 I stared down at my faint reflection in the floor. Nebiat had helped me escape. 

 I returned my gaze to Darvino. “You won’t kill him, will you?”

 He smirked. “That’s not the first order of business with me. But don’t worry about that. Just go back to the catacombs and see what you can find.”

 I sighed. “I’ll be back on my appointed day to speak to the Deity Imperator.”

 “Or you can just tell me about anything you discover.”

 Those hard green eyes stared out from the grinning mask of his face.