The giant stood. “Just because something seems impossible doesn’t mean we do nothing.”
Felix waved a hand. “You’re welcome to reform him, then. I don’t have the coin for a lawyer. But I appreciate your help.”
The giant pressed a hand to his chest and gave a slight bow, sunlight glancing off the top of his bald head. “I am Telemachus.” Three scars slashed across Telemachus’s temple. He was younger than Felix had first thought. Early forties, his dark beard trimmed and splashed with a sprinkling of gray near his ears.
“Felix Cassianus.”
“Yes,” Telemachus announced, as if he’d asked a question and Felix had given the correct answer. “Of the Ludus Gallicus.”
Felix took in the man’s height and build, the scars running in triplicate from his eye to his ear. This was no ordinary stranger. An ex-gladiator by the look of it. “Do you have something against the Ludus Gallicus?”
Hisnowas not quite convincing.
Felix brushed his palms against his thighs. No sense in lying—the Cassianus family had been managing the Ludus Gallicus for generations. He gave a nod. “My uncle manages the school. I am there as a medicus.”
Telemachus nodded. “Do you not attend church?”
“I...” The change in questioning took him aback. Why had the man been following him? For the first time, Felix noticed the leather cord around the man’s neck and the Chi-Rho symbol carved into a wooden medallion dangling from it.
“You are... a man of God?” He hadn’t meant to sound so incredulous, but... a man did lie unconscious at their feet. That was not the sort of thing a proper man of the church did.
Telemachus lifted both palms. “Sometimes defense of the innocent requires... action. Evil runs rampant when good men do nothing.”
Felix could agree with that. Mater might wish him to sit in prayer, but idleness didn’t pay the creditors or keep his family safe. “So, you run the streets and chase it down?”
Telemachus chuckled. “When I can.”
“How do you know I didn’t attend church with my family? Are you a doorkeeper as well as a chaser of evil?”
The man on the ground moaned.
“We should go.” Telemachus gestured Felix forward and walked beside him. “I’m not a doorkeeper but I am a noticer. And I’ve simply noticed when God crossed our paths—perhaps it was for this moment.”
Perhaps. Though his own experience with God showed Him less involved.
They emerged onto a wider street and Telemachus stayed alongside him as Felix turned toward the gardens. He hesitated. Did the man want something? Payment for helping, perhaps? It’d be just like a team of thieves...
“Like I told your friend, I don’t have anything. If you’ve been following me, you’ll know creditors are taking everything anyway, so you can target someone else.”
The giant’s eyes went wide. “My friend...” He gaped over his shoulder toward the alley and turned back to Felix, offense puffing his chest and sputtering his words. “You think—I’d never treat afriendlike that.”
“I meant no offense.” Felix held up his hand in surrender. “Forgive me.”
Telemachus crossed his arms and regarded him with a slight squint. “Done. Now will you meet some real friends of mine?”
Felix stiffened and Telemachus huffed, his expression falling flat. “They are in here.” He gestured toward a modest villa that had been turned into a nondescript and unadorned basilica. Several men in simple tunics entered and Felix recognized the place as a monastery.
Telemachus raised a brow. “Still think I’m going to rob you?”
“Why do you want to meet with me?”
“We’ve been watching you—”
“Youhavebeen following me!”
Telemachus crossed his arms. “Not that you would notice.”
“Why?”
