Lycon entered an empty cubicle and let fall the doorway curtain—more to shut out some of the human uproar than from any need for privacy. Everyone seemed to be shouting to his friends, and a youthful chorus—probably some of the students who made use of the library and reading rooms here—had begun to sing loudly and discordantly. The hunter stretched out upon the cubicle’s bench. If Dolon got here in time for a final rubdown, fine; if not, Lycon meant to nap until Vonones’ man called for him.
He had already fallen asleep when the curtain was opened, and a slim body slipped into the cubicle.
“Hello, Handsome Stranger,” a young voice whispered hesitantly. For some reason the naked youth gasped and was blinking in the darkness of the cubicle.
“Yes, it’s me, Alexandros,” Lycon greeted him, wondering vaguely at his son’s odd jocularity. He was not yet fully awake. “Come on in, son. Did Vonones send you to fetch me? Just give me a moment to gather my wits. Go on and take a last quick dip, if you like. Hurry it up, though.”
The hunter painfully stretched and fumbled for his purse and towel. Lady Fortune, how Alexandros had grown! Was the lad really going to be twelve soon? No, he was going to be thirteen. He was growing tall—would be taller than Lycon—and his boyish body was beginning to fill out into a man’s. He’d soon be after the girls, if he wasn’t already. He had his father’s lean muscles and his mother’s lovely features—those would harden as he grew older and knew the sun and winds of wild lands beyond Rome’s frontiers.
Alexandros was still frozen in the doorway, gaping at him like a carp gasping for a floating crumb. “Well, what is it, boy? You’ve seen me in worse shape than this. Hurry on, now! We’ve got to get dressed and back to the compound.”
Alexandros would not meet his eyes. “Yes sir,” he managed to stammer, and backed away through the curtain. Lycon sniffed. The boy must have taken his time in finding him; someone had already rubbed his young body with scented oils. Must have a girl already; maybe Zoe knew who she was.
Lycon encountered Dolon as the hunter made for the changing room. “I was just coming for you,” said the masseur. “A runner has just come for you from Gaius Vonones.”
“Yes, I know about that,” Lycon said. “My son has already informed me.”
Dolon looked puzzled.
Chapter Twenty
Alexandros had little to say while Lycon urged him to hurry getting dressed and pushed him into Vonones’ litter. That suited the hunter. Lycon knew he would need all the strength he could muster.
Vonones was red-faced and bleary-eyed when he greeted Lycon, but the bustle of men and the raucous barking and baying of dogs were proof that the Armenian had put his morning hours to good use. “Well, you look hale and hearty again,” he lied to Lycon.
“And you look like you’ve had a restful night yourself,” Lycon agreed sardonically. “What have you got?”
“Five packs—maybe fifty dogs in all—from one place or another. They’re nothing much to look at, but they’ll kill.”
“Where’s N’Sumu?” asked Lycon, glancing around.
“Not back yet. He doesn’t need to know about the dogs. Want to start without him?”
Lycon considered it. “No, better wait. Why should he miss the party? And anyway, a word from him and we’re naught but arena-bait.”
“Lycon,” Vonones frowned, “We’re likely to be dead—unpleasantly dead—no matter what happens.”
“Then a joke is all that’s left to us,” the hunter laughed harshly. “But you’re right, and I’d better send Alexandros home. This is no hunt for him to earn first blood.”
“Alexandros? Is he here?”
“Yes. You sent him to tell me things were ready, remember? I brought him back with me from the baths. Should have let him stay there and have fun with his friends, but I’m sure the boy wanted to see the hunt.” Briefly Lycon regretted that he had not spent more time with his son, teaching him the ways of men. Well, he couldn’t think about that now.
“Well, I never sent him to you. I haven’t even seen him today.”