Lycon grunted and massaged the old wound on his thigh. How many years had he carried that now? Too many.
He heard the din of Vonones’ return. The entrance of the litter and its bearers inevitably set every animal in the compound into an uproar, but today the disturbance seemed more frenzied than usual. Lycon put it down to nerves. At least it wasn’t Domitian’s soldiers coming to arrest him.
He was expecting Vonones, but the merchant was the second person to enter the office. Pushing through in front of him was a tall bronzed man—towering easily over Vonones and his servants, and as self-possessed as an Eastern potentate entering his own palace.
“You are Lycon, son of Amphiction,” the stranger said as he stepped toward the hunter. He bowed. His torso hinged higher than Lycon would have expected, and the bulges beneath the pair of linen tunics did not seem to be hip bones at all. “I am N’Sumu, an Egyptian hunter from Nubia. I will help you capture the sauropithecus.”
“What?” Lycon glanced questioningly toward Vonones, then quickly back again to N’Sumu.
“His orders don’t exactly say that, Lycon,” said Vonones hurriedly. Lycon had to realize immediately what their relative positions had now become. Otherwise he might react in a fashion that would mean the cross—or the arena—for them both. “His orders say that our lord and god puts him in charge of the hunt, and that all subjects of the Empire, free and slave, will cooperate or face divine displeasure.”
“What?” repeated Lycon. He must have fallen asleep.
“My only interest,” said N’Sumu smoothly, “is to capture the sauropithecus. The credit, so far as I am concerned, will be yours.”
He was speaking Greek. While Lycon had no trouble understanding the Egyptian, the effect was unnerving because N’Sumu’s vocabulary and elocution were those of the classic stage. Even his elisions were those of metrical drama rather than of the sliding, careless Common Tongue that was the language of trade throughout even the Latin-speaking West of the Empire.
“Where in Hades did you learn that Greek?” Lycon wondered, dazed and focusing on the immediate puzzle before he moved on to greater ones.
“You prefer Latin?” N’Sumu said in that language. Even his voice was different, and his accent could not have been told from that of a Spaniard on the coast of Ocean.
“Yes, I think I do,” Lycon said. “But that doesn’t answer my question.” He probably would awaken from this dream in another moment, find himself lying in the rain beneath a hedgerow.
“In Tipasa,” N’Sumu said nonchalantly. He showed no sign of irritation at either the question or the dumbfounded tone in which it was asked.
His answer was true, as well. A touring company had been performing a series of the plays of Euripides in the theater in Tipasa when N’Sumu reached the city. The chorus master had provided the emissary with an expert if idiosyncratic knowledge of Greek during three hours in a private room. The Greek had a very different memory of what had gone on during that time, but it explained in an acceptable fashion the way his head and muscles ached the next day.
A Spanish trader, met in the same North African port, had provided him with his Latin. It appeared that N’Sumu should refine that, refine both apparently, due to regional peculiarities. It pleased him, for all the additional effort, that he found it necessary to supplement the store of native languages provided him by the all-knowing Cora, who had programmed his communications nodes with North African tribal dialects. This evidence of their less-than-perfect intelligence of this planet’s culture held promise for the emissary’s personal intentions here.
“Gods,” Lycon muttered. He rubbed the skin of his face with scarred, knobby fingers. “Where did Domitian ever find you?”
“I think we’d do best to get to a restaurant,” suggested Vonones smoothly. “To determine how we best can support you, N’Sumu, and do the will of our god and master. Crispinus made it quite clear, Lycon, that the Emperor has complete confidence in N’Sumu’s abilities.”
N’Sumu smiled. “We can better discuss the things which are necessary in other surroundings, yes. You will lead us to what you think suitable.”