Black Salt

Black Salt - Chapter 28

 They trudged back to the guardhouse. Kalliphas tried several times to strike up a conversation, but Nikias didn't want to listen, and he feared that if he started to say what was on his mind, he'd be the one chained up for treason.

When they got back, he collapsed into his bed. He didn't even have the strength to take off his sandals.

He woke to a blurry, confused view, and a feeling of being shaken. He blinked, coughed and tried to brush off the grasp on his shoulder, but as soon as he lay back down, that hand grabbed him again, harder. He moaned. "For all gods' sakes, let me sleep."

"And lose the other half of my kingdom?"

He went still. That voice... With care, he raised one eyelid, and waited for the chaos of light to resolve itself into colour and form. He saw dark hair bound back in the Egyptian style, dark bulbous eyes over a hooked nose, and thick, cruel lips. Below the face, the rest was a cascade of resplendent blue and gold silk that flowed like a waterfall, but never quite succeeded in concealing the king's massive girth.

Ptolemaios caught his eye tracing the contours of his silken outfit. "You like it?" He rubbed the material between fingers and thumb, and a slight smile played about his lips. His eyes gazed into an invisible distance. "The merchant who sold it to me said it was woven by the daughters of Aphrodite, on the peak of an island mountain in the sweet water oceans of the misty north."

Nikias groaned. "Did you wake me up to talk tall stories? I was better off in dream land."

Ptolemaios's brow twisted in a frown, and his thick lips pushed out in a pout. He looked just like a spoiled child confronted with reality. "Get out of bed, you lazy beast! You've let me down, Nikias. You've let me down badly." He turned, and started to pace back and forth, although the room wasn't big enough for a man of his size, and he kept bumping into the desk or the bookshelves.

Nikias rolled onto his back, and took a moment to test his arms and legs. Bones? In place. Ligaments? Tight and sore, but still tied on. Meat? Fatigued, but strong. He took a deep breath, raised his legs, and then rolled onto his feet, and faced the pacing king. "Sir, I have news for you."

Ptolemaios paused, and turned to look sideways at him. "Oh you have news, do you? Is this new news, or old news? Have you done great deeds in your sleep?"

"Black Salt-"

"Why didn't you come to the palace?"

He froze, and had a felt as if he was swimming in confusion. "I did."

"Why did you ignore my messenger?"

"I, what- But that guy was one of her men..."

Ptolemaios rounded on him. "Fool! You're supposed to be my shark, but you have the brains of a jellyfish! I planted him in her garden-"

Light flickered. "Then he was working for-"

"Don't interrupt me!" He rubbed his jaw with trembling fingers. "You should have come to me as soon as you caught them."

The injustice of it felt like a torture. "But I did!"

"And you let her drive you away! By the gods, I understand it; I've been forced to hide in my own palace..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

Nikias started to see what the king must have done. Horrified at Rathea's wedding plans, and her growing insistence on being involved in matters of state, he must have sent forth contradictory stories about his location: hunting, visiting with friends, etc., and then he must have hidden himself right in the palm of her hand. He grinned. In spite of himself, he was impressed. It was a bolder move than he ever would have expected from old Bull Gut.