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"There's a burial ground not far from here," Eurykles told him. "Surely this good wine-and I wouldn't in the least object to another drop, my dear-has given you the courage to come along with me."
"If you're proposing a bet," said the kybernetes, "I'd like to see what's in there."
Eurykles loosed the strings and shook out the jingling coins, arranging them in a row with one uncertain finger.
The kybernetes examined them and said, "I'm not a wealthy man, but I'll cover three, with the provision that I'm to judge whether a ghost has been produced."
Eurykles shook his head, nearly falling from his couch in the process. "Why, what protection would I have then? You might faint or run, but declare afterward… " He seemed to lose his thoughts, as drunken men often do. "Anything," he finished weakly.
Kalleos said, "I'll hold the money and judge. If you admit there was a ghost, you lose. Or if you run or faint, as Eurykles says. Otherwise, you win. Fair enough?"
"Absolutely," the kybernetes told her.
Eurykles mumbled, "That's only three. What of the other seven? Hardly worth my while."
The captain of Eidyia a
"And one for me," said the captain of Clytia.
"And the rest?" Eurykles looked at Pindaros. "You, sir? I'll make my fortune tonight, if I can."
"I haven't a copper," the poet told him. "As Kalleos will testify. Even if I did, I'd be betting with you rather than against you."
Hypereides said, "In that case, I'll cover the remaining five. Furthermore, I'll bet two with you, Pindaros-on trust. I go to Hill now and then, and the first time I do, I'll come by to collect."
"If you win," Pindaros told him. "Kalleos, if we're going to the burial ground, may I ask that we have Latro for a guard? The streets are dangerous by night, and we've all had a bit to drink."
CHAPTER XVI-In the City
Only soldiers are supposed to carry arms, so Kalleos told me. She gave me Gello's old gray cloak to cover my sword.
Eurykles had said the burial ground was not far from Kalleos's house, but it seemed far to me. I wondered whether I would be able to find the house again, or if the others could find it, for they were all somewhat drunk, and some were very drunk. Of the women, only Phye had come with us, Kalleos saying she would not walk so far to see a god, far less a ghost, and the rest admitting frankly that they would be frightened out of their wits if Eurykles won his bet.
Kalleos had provided two torches. I carried one and Phye the other. It was good she had it, for there were stones and fallen bricks everywhere, and yet the remaining walls (and many still stand) cast shadows that seemed blacker for the faint moonlight around them. I walked at the front of our procession. After me came Eurykles to direct me; Kalleos had given him a fowl for a sacrifice, and he carried it under his cloak, from which it voiced faint protests. In what order the rest walked, if there was any, I do not know, except that Phye brought up the rear.
When we reached the burial ground, Eurykles asked Hypereides whether there was any person there with whom he wished to speak. "If so," he said, "I'll attempt that first, as a courtesy to you. I reserve the right to raise another to settle our bet if I'm unsuccessful with the first. Have you a parent buried here, for example? Or anyone else whom you wish called home from the realm of shadow?"
Hypereides shook his head, and I thought he looked frightened.
I whispered to Pindaros, "Isn't it strange to see so many people in this place?"
"All of us, you mean," he said.
"And the rest." With my free hand I indicated the others who stood about us.
"Latro," Pindaros whispered, "when your mistress's friend Eurykles performs his ceremony, you must help him."
I nodded.
"If there's someone standing close by who seems attentive to the ceremony, but who did not come with us from Kalleos's house, you must touch him. Just reach out and touch him. Will you do that?"
Eurykles continued, "None of you, then, have any particular person in mind?"
All three captains shook their heads; so did the kybernetes.
"Then I'll search for a grave that appears to offer a good subject. I shall attempt that subject, and upon the result the whole of our bet depends. Is that understood?"
They murmured their agreement.
"Good. Phye, come with me, I must look at the graves and read the stones. You, boy, whatever your name is. You come too."
For some while we moved from grave to grave, our feet rustling the dry stalks of the grain that had been planted there, Eurykles hesitating a long time over many of the graves, sometimes tracing the letters in the stones with his fingers, sometimes scraping soil from the grave to sniff or taste. A wandering wind brought the odors of cooking and ordure from the city, and the smell too of freshly dug earth.
Phye screamed and dropped her torch, clutching Eurykles for protection. The fowl flew squawking from his cloak, and he slapped Phye, demanding to know what the matter was.
"There!" she said, and pointed with a trembling arm.
Lifting my torch higher, I saw what she had seen and went over to look at it.
A grave had been opened. The grave soil was thrown back in a heap, the withered remains of the funerary wreaths lay upon it, and the coffin had been pulled half out of its place and smashed. The body of a young woman, thus exposed, lay with feet and legs still within what remained of the coffin. The shroud had been torn away, leaving her naked except for her long dark hair. The smell of death was on her; I stepped away from it, feeling I had known it before, though I could not have said where or when.
"Take the reins!" Eurykles ordered Phye. "This is no time for your womb to dance." She only sobbed and buried her face in his cloak.
Acetes said, "Something terrible has happened here. What we see is desecration." His hand was on his sword.
"I quite agree," Eurykles told him. "Something has happened, but what is it? Who did it?"
Acetes could only shake his head.
I stroked Phye's hand and asked whether she was feeling better. When she nodded, I got her torch and relit it for her from my own.
Eurykles told the others, "I'm only a foreigner in your city, but I'm grateful to my hosts, and I see my duty plainly here. We must discover what has occurred and inform the archons. My own talents and training-most of all the favor with which I am regarded by the chthonic gods-lay an obligation upon me. I will raise the spirit of this poor girl, and from it we will learn who has done this, and why it has been done."
"I can't," Phye whispered.
Faintly though she spoke, Eurykles heard her and turned. "What do you mean?"
"I can't watch. I can't stay here while you do-whatever you're going to do. I'm going back." She drew away from him. "Don't try to stop me!"
"I won't," Eurykles told her. "Believe me I quite understand, and if I could be spared I'd take you back to Kalleos's house myself. Unfortunately these other gentlemen-"
"Have entered into a wager they regret," one of the captains said. "I'll go back with you if you want, Phye. As for the bet, I stand with my old master, Hypereides. If he wins, so do I. I lose if he loses."
"No!" Phye glared at him with so much hatred in her eyes that I thought she might fly at his face. "Do you think I want your filthy hands under my gown all the way back to Kalleos's?" She spun on her heel and strode off, her torch zigzagging as she threaded her way among the silent people.
Eurykles shrugged. "I was wrong to allow a woman to come with us," he said. "I can only apologize to the rest of you."
"That's all right," Hypereides told him. "If you're going to do something, let's get on with it." He drew his cloak more tightly about him.