Ilario, the Stone Golem (36 page)

of gaze when it came to Zheng He.

Absently, I began to sketch Ty-ameny on the virgin wax surface of my

tablet. She wore a gold mask that included the shape of a beard; less hot,

I thought, to tie over her face than the hair-replica. I put the lines of Zheng He in beside her to give scale. She barely came up to his shoulder.

She
is
the
only
woman
in
the
room.
If
you
do
not
count
the
half
of
me.

I pushed other concerns out of my mind.

Because if Videric can reach out to harm me in the middle of Ty-

ameny’s court in Alexandria, I may as well give up now.

In fact, there was little enough said over the next hour that had not

been said between Rekhmire’ and Admiral Zheng He on the great war-

junk. I came to the conclusion that the Admiral wanted to hear it from

the mouth of – as he called her – ‘the Great Foreign Empress’.

Rekhmire’ himself finally caught Ty-ameny’s eye, and hauled forward

one of the sea-charts.

‘In fact, noble Admiral, it is as the Great Queen of the Five Name’s

captains inform you. That enticing eastward-leading sea there, vast as it

appears, will not take you further than Turkish ports close to Aleppo.

And if you have maps of the land routes between your home and those

cities, you will know that they are still hundreds of leagues distant from

it; perhaps thousands.’

And full of Turks and Persians, though Rekhmire’ said nothing of

176

that. Ty-ameny might suppose this foreigner ultimately an ally of those

more eastern powers.

Zheng He grunted, leaned forward to study the map, and waved Jian’s

formal polite thanks aside, interrupting his subordinate. ‘Yes, I see, but

why would I believe?’

Ty-ameny’s face behind the mask would be fascinating to draw, I

thought regretfully.

Rekhmire’ smiled, inclining his head. ‘Because if the Black Sea were

the way to your home, New Alexandria would be asking you to pay the

fee to pass the Bosphorus, great Admiral. As we do with all vessels

passing to trade in the Black Sea.’

‘And you don’t charge us a fee in any case? And send us through and

keep silent about—’ Zheng He waved a huge hand at the charts. ‘—this

bounded Black Sea of yours?’

Ty-ameny’s voice issued from behind the full curved mouth of the

golden mask of Ra. ‘There is a reasonable chance that you and your ship

would afterwards return here.’

Her rich tone showed her definitely amused, to anyone who knew her.

Rekhmire’ smoothly added, ‘This is the only route into, and out of, the

closed sea. Forgive the Great Queen of the Five Names if she doesn’t

desire to have you and your great ship back here angry at perceived

treachery. That would hardly be worth anything we could extort from

you now.’

Zheng He slapped his thigh. His officers obediently laughed. I saw a

certain relaxation go through Ty-ameny’s commanders. Having used up

almost all the wax surface of my tablets, I set myself to detailing the

embroidery on Zheng He’s high collar, and the lines around his eyes and

mouth that signified amused satisfaction.

‘If closed sea.’ He traced the lines of the Black Sea on the Egyptian

chart before him – it was meagre with detail, I noted – before moving

west to Alexandria and the straits, and the beginning of the Greek

islands. ‘Is this, you call it “Middle Sea”, also closed? But no. Because we

came in. And where there is a way in, there is also a way out.’

None of the Pharaoh-Queen’s charts showed any of the sea or land

west of Crete. That was in no way an accident. Zheng He’s ship might

navigate back from Alexandria, through the long straits after Marmara,

to the Aegean. But after that . . . the natural direction for him would be

south and east, but that would only bring him, eventually, to Sidon and

Tyre.

‘We have not yet,’ Zheng He said equably to Ty-ameny’s implacable

mask, ‘begun to discuss the advantages of trade between my land and

yours, great Empress.’

Plain as the daylight outside the linen-shaded windows:
Now
we
merely
argue
about
the
price!

177

I shifted where I sat, not able to talk to Rekhmire’ now he was the main

conduit of translation between Zheng He and the Pharaoh-Queen.

It should be possible to find the Straits to the western ocean simply by

following along the coast of North Africa, I thought, but not if no man

was willing to tell him how it might be done.

I saw instantly what Ty-ameny had to bargain with. Charts, yes, but

charts are often inaccurate. What Zheng He will need to get back to the

Straits between Iberia and North Africa is a pilot.

Something nagged at the back of my brain. I prodded and scraped my

tablets clean, and fell to doodling Horus-eyes while the council

continued with every man desiring his say.

Two hours later, there was a pause for wine and light food.

I took Rekhmire’’s elbow on pretence of assisting him, and steered him

into one of the alcoves, out of earshot of Ty-ameny and her generals

socially chatting with Zheng He and Jian and the other foreigners.

Rekhmire’ raised a familiar brow at me.

‘Would you call this a crisis?’ I demanded.

His brows came down, frowning. ‘Potential. I think it defused by what

we’ve done—’

‘The
arrival
of his ship.’ I clamped down on my impatience. ‘No

kingdom in the Middle Sea has anything to match it. Whatever port sees

Zheng He, there’ll be panic and crisis. Am I right?’

Rekhmire’’s lips parted, very slightly; in any other man it would have

been an
ah
of realisation.

I spoke before he could.

‘Perhaps, cause enough panic that a King – no matter what difficulties

he might seem to be having with his most trusted adviser – would find

himself forced to call that man back to court?’

178

17

I held Rekhmire’’s gaze.

‘I comprehend,’ he murmured. ‘If it could be negotiated for Zheng He

to sail to
Taraco
. . . ’

My mind raced. I glanced back into the chamber, ensuring no eunuch

or man of Chin was within hearing distance. ‘King Rodrigo could take

that as the excuse to bring Videric back from his estate.’

Rekhmire’ stood very still, his face intent.

I urged, ‘He
would
. If a messenger was sent ahead to explain to him

. . . Look at that ship! Do you think any man in Taraco would be

surprised if Rodrigo wanted his best adviser back to help him deal with

it? Even
Carthage
wouldn’t blink at that.’

Rekhmire’ clasped his hands over the top of his stick. His intense

gazed focused onto me. ‘That – would be a beginning.’

My hands sweated. I rubbed them on my linen tunic. ‘You think—’

‘It would soon become apparent that the Admiral is no threat. The

scandal around Videric’s name might not be entirely gone. But, yes, as a

beginning—’ He interrupted himself. ‘Carthage! If Carthage was to take

the war-junk as an ally of Taraconensis . . . ’

‘Would that be good or bad?’ I asked anxiously.

‘Good, if it makes the Lords-Amir cautious about sending legions into

Iberia. Bad, if it provokes them into doing that very thing out of panic.’

I found my hand clenching around the wood frame of the wax tablets,

cutting into my skin. ‘I didn’t think of that.’

Rekhmire’ stroked his hand down his hairless chin, his eyes narrowing.

‘This is worth considering. Many ramifications – many . . . ’

His monumental face momentarily split in a warm smile that was all

Rekhmire’. And a nod that was pure professional cousin of Ty-ameny.

‘I’ll speak with the Pharaoh-Queen. It must be discussed through and

through. Ty-ameny has no greater wish than you to see war start in

Taraconensis, and bring every other kingdom in with it.’

He blinked eyes that caught the linen-sifted light, and shone the colour

of brandy.

‘It won’t be a quick answer, I fear. Between Ty-ameny’s councillors

and the Admiral’s advisers . . . But I’ll have an answer. I will. Well done,

Ilario.’

179

I watched him as he limped away towards the Pharaoh-Queen, my

stomach fairly tying itself into knots.

True to his word, time passed.

In those occasional hours when I saw him out of council, he desired

only to rest his mind, and this seemed to take the form of escorting

Onorata and myself (with the German brothers) about Constantinople –

‘A city,’ as he said, ‘where you can walk from Europe to Asia in the space

of a mile.’

I did just that, dragging Tottola and Attila along with me in the

evening’s warmth, taking Onorata under a great paper sunshade from

the Chin war-junk. So that I would be able to tell her, when she was old

enough, that she had stood in Asian lands.

Which
assumes
she
does
not
stay
here,
grow
up
in
Alexandria-in-exile
.
.
.

Both Rekhmire’ and the Pharaoh-Queen Ty-ameny showed an

interest in my daughter.

The book-buyer, finding me holding her on the room’s balcony again

one morning, bent over to study her more closely. Onorata was solidly

asleep, one closed fist resting up under her fat chins, and I stroked with a

forefinger at the dark hair slicked down on her scalp.

Rekhmire’ straightened up. ‘When do they get interesting?’

‘They
what
?’

‘Infants. Will she talk soon? Or move around more?’

I raised an eyebrow at him, as much in his own fashion as I could

imitate. ‘You don’t know?’

‘I’m a book-buyer, not a nurse!’ Half affronted and half amused, he

gazed down at me. ‘Aren’t you supposed to know these things?’

‘I was the youngest. I expect Sunilda or Matasuntha could tell you.

And I’m a
painter
!’

Tottola strolled in from the anterooms, evidently changing shift on

guard duty, and gave the Egyptian a look that clearly inquired
And
the
thing
that’s
so
funny
is—?
, without needing a word. He stripped off his mail-shirt and garments, abandoning them for striped linen robes that

reminded me painfully sharply of Iberia, nodded respectfully to me, and

fell instantly asleep on his palliasse.

Onorata began a grumble in her sleep. Rocking her in the crook of my

arm, I discovered she found that motion no substitute for milk.

Rekhmire’ offered her a blunt-nailed thumb, with no better success.

I said, ‘I’ll get Carrasco to make her feed.’

Rekhmire’ made himself scarce.

Ty-ameny’s interest was the authentic tone of the Alexandrine

philosopher. She visited, a day or two after, and leaned forward from

among the cushions, studying my child who had fallen asleep on a

blanket on the floor.

180

How
I’ll
ever
convince
anyone
of
the
hellion
she
is,
when
she
angelically
sleeps
in
their
presence—

‘Is she normal?’ Ty-ameny asked.

Any other woman, I would have slapped. It was the Alexandrine

curiosity in her tone that restrained me, more than her rank. Although

that carried its weight.

‘It appears so, Aldro. Until she grows up, who can say?’

The small woman nodded, and leaned back.

Without requesting permission, I settled on the goats’-wool blankets

beside Onorata.

Rekhmire’ remained standing.

Ty-ameny complained almost sulkily, ‘You’re making my neck ache.

Sit down, in Ra’s name!’

Rekhmire’ bowed as deeply as slaves do. With the help of his stick, he

moved as if to seat himself on the stone ledge beyond her.

Her hand closed over his wrist as he passed.

Rekhmire’ let her arrest him. I saw in a heart’s beat all their history in

the glance between them. I felt curiously shut out. Although the ruling of

New Alexandria is no concern of mine.

Ty-ameny’s cheeks darkened a little, as if the heat of the room flushed