Chương 8: Chapter 8
Daylight shined into Pallas' music room. A missing fourth wall connected it to an outdoor garden framed by hanging vines and desert blooming plants. Zane walked outside carrying his instruments, looking pitiful. A tiny lizard observed from a wall.
Niccolo leaned over Ellisa and the handwritten music written on sheets of fine mulberry paper. Ellisa plied the strings of her gold-inlay cithara. Her playing was slow but not unpleasant. Niccolo, just then, realized that he was as happy as he'd ever been. Ellisa caught Niccolo in her eye.
"Must you stand so close?"
"I was—"
"Did you enjoy it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"No, I'm sure you're quite stupid."
"I studied in Apulia."
"How did you sink so low to be where you are now?"
"Sink?"
"Can you make me the greatest there is? In Tyndaris or any other place?"
"Something is alive in you. You're different. It's unbelievable."
"Did I not ask you a question?"
"I can make you better than I."
"Can you? Really?"
Niccolo nodded.
Ellisa breathed out in relaxation. "Next time you draw so close there had better be a reason."
"Agreed."
"Would you like to stay here with me from now on?"
Before he could answer, Ellisa laughed.
"Such cruelty," Niccolo gasped.
The time always went too quickly. It was as if he was drifting through someone else's life. It was in the delirium he know thought normal that he found himself, hours later, in the middle of a cluster of orange trees. He had bread, cheese, fruit, and a jug of wine. Sonja stood facing him. She lifted a leg to stretch. As she extended it became clear that she has a fluid control in her movement. Hers was a hidden power, and it reminded Niccolo of a panther about to lunge. Niccolo poured her a cup and leaned back with his orange.
Sonja took her place by Niccolo. "Why do you always play?"
"Some people must play."
"Why is that?"
"One of life's mysteries."
"Help me understand."
"We're here to rest."
Sonja bit and smiled, in a way. Inside her armor-like defenses, a woman searching for affection peeked out and showed herself, just a little. Niccolo immediately felt the change in her.
"What is it?"
Sonja shrugged. "Why should you think something's wrong?" Niccolo shook his head with a breathy laugh.
Sonja seizes on him. "Your laugh."
"What?"
"Care for grapes, Aeneator?"
Niccolo took a few grapes. "You don't need to call me by rank out here."
"I know."
"It's better if you don't."
"Very well."
"You're strangely agreeable," Niccolo asserted.
"With good reason," Sonja proudly replied.
"Which is?"
"I don't think they'll leave us here much longer. Do you? The scroll said it would happen before winter."
"The invasion."
"Of course the invasion. Josef cannot hold the empire's grain for ransom and expect to survive."
"It worked before."
"And it shall not again." Sonja dropped her head and enjoyed the daytime sky. "Ah when I think of that man and his pretty little daughter living in splendor! They will soon fall. Don't you want to see it?"
"Fate is such that he is our enemy."
"You don't hate him?"
"There is no place for emotion in the work that we do."
"Well spoken. And what an ingenious method you've found into the castle. Teaching the little princess how to use her instrument."
"I am Niccolo the resourceful."
Sonja chuckled. "How they've grown to love you here. They even call you a prince, though I believe that is a joke between you and your friends. Accomplishments in war are looked upon favorably in Rome. A man like you will see a higher rank."
"Likely."
"What will you do when this is finished?"
"Go wherever they send me. What else could I do? Sonja, do you think they'll keep us together?"
Sonja nudged the food closer to Niccolo. "They will, you'll see."
The distant cry of the sparrow hawk calmed Niccolo, almost to sleep. Sonja gently placed a set of keys next to his hand. She looked at him, staring in innocent pleasure.
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