came down at first light, she was helping Koukla and the maids clear up after the big event. At the household breakfast table, after we’d served our guests, she made an announcement. “I am sorry for what happened,” she said (as if she’d broken a tray of crockery). “I regret my outburst. Please forgive me and let’s not speak about it.”
“That’s all right, my dear,” said the boss. “Could you pass the honey?”
Papa Dicty didn’t speak either. He spent most of that morning with Mando, teaching her the wheat-ribbons recipe. Then he asked me to help him in the furnace yard, and we made a press for the singer as promised. I was bewildered by his calm; he’d seemed so
staggered
bywhat Kore could do. But it came to me that he’d been strangely quiet since the night she arrived. Or since we’d come back from our last trip to Naxos—I wasn’t sure which was more significant. The boss had said nothing, done nothing about the threat we all saw—except that he’d moved the refugees, immediately, just on a rumor. He was waiting for something. What was he waiting for?
I didn’t ask. Part of me didn’t want to break the silence.
Palikari was convinced there would be trouble. “I’m not laying blame,” he said darkly. “All right, maybe no informer spotted her last night, but look at the staff who went home. Any one of them could have overheard us, and
talked
by now, not meaning any harm, just gossiping. The waitresses, the maids, the undercooks. What about Koukla and Kefi? A runner can reach the High Place in an hour; the king’s bullies could be on their way!” Kefi was our timid mule boy, Koukla our stalwart laundry-woman. They were
family;
the fact that he’d think of distrusting them showed how upset Pali was.
“My dear Palikari,” said Papa Dicty, “I hear only one person talking carelessly, and it’s you. Set your mind at rest. The king, as you rightly say, knows very quickly what’s going on in Seatown. If he’d wanted to kidnap our new waitress, he’d have been here long ago.”
Pali was not convinced. Kore was no longer just a mystery fugitive. She was treasure, and the king would snatch her from us. As far as Palikari was concerned, the onlyquestion was whether we could expect a sneaking raid, or a full frontal attack.
I knew he was wrong, but he infected me. I was full of itchy alarm.
The singer left us. Seatown’s own musicians brought a chariot decked in flowers to fetch her away (really a handcart: no one in Seatown possessed a chariot, or the horse to go with it). They harnessed themselves and hauled her, with more sweat than romance, through cheering crowds, to set her on her way. The festival continued, and two days passed. Then Dicty sent me to check on our caïque, which was kept for us by a loyal friend, in a cove up the east coast.
We weren’t supposed to maintain a seagoing vessel. That was why Papa Dicty had given up his fishing boats and moved into the taverna business. Polydectes didn’t want the boss to have independent means of leaving the island, or of sending for allies. But though we’d made a show of doing everything the king asked, of course we had an arrangement, in case we needed to leave Serifos in a hurry. I set out in the cool of the morning, taking Dolly with me, and using the public mule track. We went to one of the east farms, where I left the mule with our steward and cut across country on foot.
Before noon I’d reached the two-hovel “fishing village” where our friend Bozic kept the boat for us. He was a Mainlander, but not an Achaean. He came from far to thenortheast. He was a bit of a smuggler, but trustworthy. We agreed that he would bring her to the coves north of Seatown, where there were plenty of places where a small vessel could lie hidden. We went over the signals, and the plans that had been worked out long ago. Then I ran back to the farm, where I picked up Dolly and a load of fresh peas, soft fruit and leaf vegetables.
We
“That’s all right, my dear,” said the boss. “Could you pass the honey?”
Papa Dicty didn’t speak either. He spent most of that morning with Mando, teaching her the wheat-ribbons recipe. Then he asked me to help him in the furnace yard, and we made a press for the singer as promised. I was bewildered by his calm; he’d seemed so
staggered
bywhat Kore could do. But it came to me that he’d been strangely quiet since the night she arrived. Or since we’d come back from our last trip to Naxos—I wasn’t sure which was more significant. The boss had said nothing, done nothing about the threat we all saw—except that he’d moved the refugees, immediately, just on a rumor. He was waiting for something. What was he waiting for?
I didn’t ask. Part of me didn’t want to break the silence.
Palikari was convinced there would be trouble. “I’m not laying blame,” he said darkly. “All right, maybe no informer spotted her last night, but look at the staff who went home. Any one of them could have overheard us, and
talked
by now, not meaning any harm, just gossiping. The waitresses, the maids, the undercooks. What about Koukla and Kefi? A runner can reach the High Place in an hour; the king’s bullies could be on their way!” Kefi was our timid mule boy, Koukla our stalwart laundry-woman. They were
family;
the fact that he’d think of distrusting them showed how upset Pali was.
“My dear Palikari,” said Papa Dicty, “I hear only one person talking carelessly, and it’s you. Set your mind at rest. The king, as you rightly say, knows very quickly what’s going on in Seatown. If he’d wanted to kidnap our new waitress, he’d have been here long ago.”
Pali was not convinced. Kore was no longer just a mystery fugitive. She was treasure, and the king would snatch her from us. As far as Palikari was concerned, the onlyquestion was whether we could expect a sneaking raid, or a full frontal attack.
I knew he was wrong, but he infected me. I was full of itchy alarm.
The singer left us. Seatown’s own musicians brought a chariot decked in flowers to fetch her away (really a handcart: no one in Seatown possessed a chariot, or the horse to go with it). They harnessed themselves and hauled her, with more sweat than romance, through cheering crowds, to set her on her way. The festival continued, and two days passed. Then Dicty sent me to check on our caïque, which was kept for us by a loyal friend, in a cove up the east coast.
We weren’t supposed to maintain a seagoing vessel. That was why Papa Dicty had given up his fishing boats and moved into the taverna business. Polydectes didn’t want the boss to have independent means of leaving the island, or of sending for allies. But though we’d made a show of doing everything the king asked, of course we had an arrangement, in case we needed to leave Serifos in a hurry. I set out in the cool of the morning, taking Dolly with me, and using the public mule track. We went to one of the east farms, where I left the mule with our steward and cut across country on foot.
Before noon I’d reached the two-hovel “fishing village” where our friend Bozic kept the boat for us. He was a Mainlander, but not an Achaean. He came from far to thenortheast. He was a bit of a smuggler, but trustworthy. We agreed that he would bring her to the coves north of Seatown, where there were plenty of places where a small vessel could lie hidden. We went over the signals, and the plans that had been worked out long ago. Then I ran back to the farm, where I picked up Dolly and a load of fresh peas, soft fruit and leaf vegetables.
We
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