Page 60 of Sword Dance

“The postal ship comes on Moon’s Day morning?” Damiskos clarified, as they sat in the sand discussing the plan. Around them, the fortifications were finished, and the women and children were making a meal of food they had brought over from the warehouse. “And it’s Seventh Day today. So we should set the signal tomorrow night.”

“Unless the postal ship is early,” said Aradne.

“Is that likely?”

She shrugged. “It was early last week. It arrived on the morning of Hesperion’s.”

“That was because Aristokles and I were travelling on it,” Varazda said, “and we wanted to get here as quickly as possible.”

Damiskos nodded. “Right. So we wait until tomorrow night. If you agree.” He looked to Nione.

She looked startled for a moment, forgetting again that she was in charge. Then she nodded. “Yes. It’s a good plan.”

They had finished their meal by the time the emissary from the villa showed up. It was Gelon. He came swaggering down the beach, knife prominently displayed in his belt, and tried unsuccessfully to look nonchalant as he approached the women’s ditch-and-rampart defence system. They saw him coming from a long way off, and all the children and the household girls were inside the barrier by the time he arrived, leaving a small group outside to meet him.

He stopped a judicious distance away and jerked his chin at the fortifications.

“What’s that supposed to be?”

No one answered him. After a moment, Nione took a step forward and said, “Have you something to say to us, Gelon?”

“Yes, ma’am. Helenos says you should come back to the house.”

“Tell Helenos I will do that when he and his fellow students leave. They are no longer welcome in my home.”

“How’s that?” Gelon feigned exaggerated shock. “You wouldn’t offend against the laws of hospitality, would you?”

Nione narrowed her eyes at him. “You laid violent hands on my servants and my guests. Tionikos and Demos are dead. So is Aristokles Phoskos. You have no claim on anyone’s hospitality.” Her voice rang with a priestly note in the last words, as if she pronounced a solemn malediction.

Gelon looked at her for a moment with a sour expression. “Fine. If that’s how you want it to be. We’ve got things that we want. We’ve got the upper hand now, and this is going to go the way Helenos says it’s going to go.”

“We will see about that,” said Nione.

“We want the use of your villa for our headquarters. We’ll let you live in it so long as you don’t interfere with our work. Or you can give the villa to Eurydemos and go back to Pheme. We’ll let Damiskos from the Quartermaster’s Office escort you back. Out of harm’s way.” He looked at Damiskos. “Sorry about the fire and everything. Not our idea. Some of the idiot fishermen took matters into their own hands.”

Damiskos frowned at him.

“And my women?” said Nione. “What about them?”

“Take them with you.” He waved a hand contemptuously. “We don’t want them. They’re mostly foreign-born and wouldn’t make good wives for free Phemians. We do want the Sasian eunuch, though.”

“I’m not sure he would make a good wife for a free Phemian either,” said Damiskos, deadpan.

Gelon huffed an angry breath through his nose. “That’s not why we want him.”

“You don’t get him.” Aradne spoke up. “You don’t get any of this. We’re taking our house back.”

“I’m not here to negotiate with you, you—”

Nione cut him off. “You spoke of using my house for your work. What is the ‘work’ that you imagine you are going to do here? It isn’t just discussing philosophy, I realize that.”

“It’s the work of restoring Phemian purity,” Gelon replied, predictably. “Helenos has a vision. And this is a strategic location.”

“Outside of the city and beyond the reach of its laws,” Damiskos supplied. “Or so you can tell yourselves. But within easy reach of both Pheme and Boukos by sea. You can play at being a little republic of your own, distributing state secrets and stirring up wars in the name of Phemian greatness.”

Gelon gave him a prim look. “When we restore Pheme to its former glory, you’ll wish you had been on our side from the beginning.”

“I doubt it.”