Though they could not be certain, enquiries about the three Britons with whom the girl had been travelling had given rise to a series of shaken heads. Certainly the old man of whom Vicki had spoken as her grandfather had been seen to collapse in the crowd. There were also rumours that a man who fitted the description of Vicki's Uncle Ian had attempted to fight with a Roman soldier and had been skewered for his pains. Of the aunt, Barbara, there was no news at all.

Vicki was crestfallen.

As the sun set, and darkness fell across the house, Evangeline lit a fire and a new arrival came. Papavasilliou was an aged friend of Georgiadis whom Iola had mentioned earlier in the day. He was a wise and ancient man who acted as a genial giver of advice to many members of the Greek community.

Following a gentle tap on the door, Georgiadis admitted him and he seated himself beside the fire with a groan of discomfort. 'These old bones ache so in the chill of night,' he said.

'It is good that you honour us with a visit to this humble abode, good father,' said Evangeline. 'You will take bread with us?' Papavasilliou indicated that he would as Iola happily skipped across the room and sat herself beside the old man and how is my angel of the stars?' he asked. Iola giggled and rested her head on the old man's shoulders.

Vicki, feeling rather left out of all of this, coughed from her uncomfortable corner seat, hoping to attract a smidgen of the attention that everyone else was getting except her.

Old eyes turned towards her. 'And this, presumably, is your gift from the G.o.ds?'

Vicki didn't quite see herself as that, but she was flattered by the suggestion.

'Her name is Vicki,' said Evangeline with an amused scowl. a strange child.'

another from the stars,' said the old man with a bewitching smile. 'Good daughter, I am usually to be found at the base of the foothills, where the lambs gamble and frolic in the water meadows,' he continued. Vicki wondered why he was telling her this. 'There may come a time when you are in need of a friendship. Of an ear for whatever woes that you may have. Remember me at these times and whence I can be found.'

There was something about the way in which he said it that made Vicki certain that one day (perhaps quite soon) she would, indeed, be sitting in the water meadows with this gentle soul pouring out all of her as-yet-unknown troubles to him 'I will remember,' she whispered. Papavasilliou stood and hobbled towards the door.

'Be tolerant of her,' Vicki heard him tell Georgiadis. 'Her ways are not our ways, but they are no less valid for all that.

There may be many misunderstandings and clashes ahead in the relationship between this girl and the family, but you must strive to overcome all of them. She is a child of the universe. Treasure her.'

He turned to Evangeline. 'Good daughter,' he said, with a nod of the head. 'May the G.o.ds look kindly upon all of those who dwell within this good house.'

Iola let out a long sigh after the old man had left. 'I wish he could stay here, with us, always,' she said.

I should like that also, but Papavasilliou has his own roads to travel,' replied Georgiadis The little exchange confirmed what Vicki had already suspected. Georgiadis was a kindly, sensible man whom it was easy to trust.

A few moments after the old man had departed, there was yet another knock on the door, this one louder and more insistent. Vicki sighed, expecting someone else ready to view her. 'Why don't you just poke me with a stick and see if I squeal?' she muttered.

'Tax collector. A rare and dubious honour,' said Georgiadis as he opened the door to a tall and serious-looking man who had to stoop to get through the door frame.

'Good evening, shopkeeper,' said the new arrival. 'Thank you for allowing me into your home.'

Georgiadis gave his visitor a look of utter contempt which indicated to Vicki that, if he had the slightest excuse to do so, he would have thrown the tall man bodily into the streets and kicked him while he was down. Then Georgiadis indicated towards Vicki. 'There she is, tax collector. Another mouth to feed. I should have known that within hours of her arrival, you would be knocking upon my door for your share of her.' He crossed the room to the wall opposite Vicki and withdrew from a hole in the rock a small wooden box that rattled as he opened it. Removing a handful of coins, Georgiadis threw them onto the stone floor at the tax collector's feet. 'Your tribute, Luke Panathaikos. Count it all. Employed by the Romans and mistrusted by everyone else, not least your own people.'

This was something that Vicki had not heard before in the voice of Georgiadis - a weary yet bitter hatred of the man standing before him. The tax collector bent to the floor and retrieved the coins from the dusty cobbles, pocketing them after first counting them, slowly, from one hand to another.

'Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's,' he said when he had finished. 'That is The Law, shopkeeper. You know this. And you know what fate shall befall you, or anyone, who fails to abide wholly by it. You have given me too much.' He held out his hand with a single copper coin in it.

'A penny for your thoughts, tax collector. You may keep the change,' said Georgiadis dryly 'Get out,' continued Evangeline. 'And take your Roman law with you, parasite.'

The tax collector did so, without another word, and Georgiadis slammed the door after him, turning to his wife and shaking with anger. 'I might have known that such a horse-leech as that man would not be long in claiming his flesh of our flesh.'

'This would probably be a bad time for me to say something, right?' asked Vicki, about to make an equally unkind observation about the recently departed tax collector.

Three heads turned in her direction. Iola seemed astonished that Vicki had spoken at such a moment. She shook her head and found something interesting on the floor to look at.

You are correct,' said Georgiadis through gritted teeth. 'It a.s.suredly would.'

Vicki nodded silently, rolled over and pretended to go to sleep in her corner while she felt the stares behind her back.

Chapter Sixteen.

True Faith and Brotherhood

Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name Mark 13:5-6

As Ian Chesterton walked the corridors of the Villa Villa Praefectus Praefectus lost in his own thoughts and memories, a woman's voice cut through the mind-fog. Startled, like a rabbit caught in the headlights of his Hillman Imp on the North Circular Road, Ian snapped to attention and sought out the direction from which her voice had come. lost in his own thoughts and memories, a woman's voice cut through the mind-fog. Startled, like a rabbit caught in the headlights of his Hillman Imp on the North Circular Road, Ian snapped to attention and sought out the direction from which her voice had come.

'What would a rabbit be doing on the North Circular Road? Come to that, what would I I be doing on the North Circular Road?' Ian asked out loud. It brought a curious expression to the face of Antonia Vinicius. be doing on the North Circular Road?' Ian asked out loud. It brought a curious expression to the face of Antonia Vinicius.

I know not of that which you speak,' she replied, genuinely puzzled.

'The question was rhetorical,' Ian mumbled and turned to resume his lonely circ.u.mnavigation of the villa.

But he wasn't getting away that easily.

'You are a very complicated man, Briton,' said Antonia.

'So different from the other men of Byzantium.'

I should say that I am a man of Byzantium now,' Ian noted with a tinge of regret in his voice. 'There are worse places to be, I suppose.'

'Do you think so?' the n.o.ble woman asked with a haughty laugh as she moved closer to him. 'I would suggest that of all of the benighted, G.o.dforsaken and depressing holes in the backwaters of the great empire, this is by far the worst. And I have seen Antioch.'

Ian suspected that this should mean something to him and he nodded accordingly. 'At least the weather's better than London,' he mitigated. He felt Antonia place her hand on his bicep and pulled away from her, sharply. 'If you want to talk geography, darlin', then fine,' he said as his face flushed with embarra.s.sment. 'Not my subject, but I'll give it my best shot.

But if you're looking for somebody to warm your bed for you then you can think again.'

Antonia was either amused or outraged, Ian genuinely couldn't tell which. 'Do you not find me pleasing to look at?' she asked.

Actually, and considering that he had been told she was in her early forties, he did. But that was not the point. 'That is not the point,' he confirmed. 'It would be impolite of me to take advantage of the praefectus's praefectus's hospitality...' hospitality...'

and yet you seem to have no qualms about bedding his wife's handmaiden?' shouted Antonia accusingly.

'Felicia?' Ian asked, bemused. 'Who on earth told you that?'

'It is the talk of the city,' Antonia announced grandly.

'Everyone knows it.'

'Then everyone is wrong,' Ian said as though he were explaining some complex physics theory to a cla.s.s of fourteen-year-olds. 'I'm sorry, but I'm not really in the mood right now. I've got a headache...'

He turned, walked a few paces and then broke into a sprint down the corridor. He could hear for a dozen paces the clip-clop of Antonia's sandals on the floor tiles behind him until she gave up the chase. At the corner he glanced back and saw the woman, her shoulders hunched in defeat, walking angrily away in the opposite direction. 'That was hard work,' he decided, as he walked straight into Felicia coming out of one of the servants' rooms.

'Ah, I want a word with you,' said Ian, grabbing the girl by her arm and dragging her into a quiet and poorly lit corner of the corridor.

'Sir,' said the wide-eyed slave girl with a saucy and eager grin. 'Not here. It would not be proper.'

'Not anywhere,' Ian announced. 'I'm just about sick to death of getting offers of casual hanky-panky. Do me a favour and put the word out, will you? I am not interested.'

Felicia struggled free of Ian's clamp-like grip and backed off from him into the light. uncirc.u.mcised eunoukhos; eunoukhos; she shouted. she shouted. 'Stultissime maialis, 'Stultissime maialis, Are you a man, or...?' Are you a man, or...?'

'A mouse?' Ian asked, smiling. 'Give me a bit of cheese and I'll give you a definitive answer on that one.' He was glad that at least one of them was finding humour in this bizarre situation. 'There is absolutely no need to get all dis...o...b..bulated about it,' he said. 'Now, do you want me to ask the praefectus praefectus for protection from you and his wife? And his ex-wife, come to that?' for protection from you and his wife? And his ex-wife, come to that?'

'The praefectus?' praefectus?' Felicia asked anxiously 'You wouldn't!' Felicia asked anxiously 'You wouldn't!'

'Mice can do amazing things when they are cornered, my girl,' Ian remarked. 'Survival of the sneakiest. It's a well-known fact. Now, get off with you, and make sure you tell your mistress and your ex-mistress and anyone else that's interested about what I've said.' When he was finally alone, Ian reflected on what his friends back home would be making of all this.

'They'd probably be calling me a stupid twerp,' he noted as he went off in search of something to eat.

Vicki awoke late in the morning, hungry and alone in the Georgiadis house. The fire was cold and the Greek family were nowhere to be seen.

On the otherwise-bare table there was half of a loaf of stale bread which Vicki broke and began to gnaw at, easing her hunger slightly. When she had finished she looked around to see if she could find anything else. In the base of the still-warm clay oven she found another small loaf, just cooked.

'Man cannot live by bread alone,' she muttered. But, she reasoned, the famous quotation hadn't mentioned teenage girls specifically. Besides, if there wasn't anything else...

As she picked up the bread, she felt a presence behind her and turned to find Evangeline entering, carrying two water jugs.

I thought you'd all run off and left me, said Vicki. 'Have you been to the well?'

Evangeline ignored the question. 'What do you think you are doing?' she asked, angry at seeing the bread Vicki was holding. She put the pots down beside the door and advanced into the room.

I was hungry,' Vicki answered, as if that explained everything.

I left you food on the table.'

'Wasn't enough,' Vicki noted.

Evangeline strode across the room and inflicted a neck-snapping back-handed slap across Vicki's face. See, I knew she had the strength to sink ships with those muscles, Vicki thought in the micro-second before the impact knocked her to her knees. This hurt, too, the stone floor grazing the skin.

But she didn't have time to dwell on the pain as Evangeline hauled her roughly to her feet, shook her by the shoulders and slapped her across the other cheek.

Too shocked by the first blow to speak, the second produced a suitably indignant response from the girl. 'Cut it out,' out,' said Vicki, her voice raising to a crescendo on the final word. 'What've I done to deserve that?' said Vicki, her voice raising to a crescendo on the final word. 'What've I done to deserve that?'

'Theft,' shouted Evangeline, shaking with anger. 'And insolence when caught in the act. I know not what the customs of your land dictate when a child steals, but in this house, the rules are clear and distinct. The child is disciplined that she shall steal no more. It is the way that Iola was taught and, if you are to live amongst us, then it is the way that you shall be also. Go, and fetch me a stick with which to beat you.'

Vicki blinked back at Evangeline in mute astonishment.

Then she began to giggle at the stupidity of the command, as though the entire episode was some big practical joke. 'You are not serious?' she asked. Her skeptical reply was answered with yet another flesh-rattling blow to the cheek. Ow,' cried Vicki, shrinking away. 'You have got absolutely no right to impose your outdated ideas of child psychology on me. I'm not your daughter.'

Red-faced with anger, Evangeline grabbed Vicki by the scruff of the neck and shook her with a terrifying strength. 'You are a stubborn and wilful girl and your lack of respect for your elders is a disgrace,' she snarled. 'Your family have clearly let you run wild. I intend to cure you of that independent streak.'

This was getting out of hand. Vicki tried a more common-sense approach. 'I thought the Greeks were supposed to be a civilised race,' she argued. 'Where I come from no one would dream of beating a child. It just isn't done,' she stammered.

'Then that explains much about your barbarous and backward nation, and why it is regarded as the most vile and heinous in the whole of the empire,' Evangeline said, releasing Vicki from her grip. 'Wait here whilst I find a suitable rod. And not another word or you shall rue the day that your mother bore you.'

'Well, this is just great,' Vicki shouted as Evangeline left her alone. 'Orphaned again, starved, an object of curiosity and subjected to brutality. I am am a character from d.i.c.kens.' a character from d.i.c.kens.'

Woefully, she sat at the table and rested her chin on her fists, feeling very sorry for herself as she waited pensively for Evangeline's return.

The Doctor's two days with the Christians had pa.s.sed in a blur of constantly changing locations as the small group of thirty or so shuttled about from cave to cave in the foothills just beyond Byzantium's city limits. They needed to move with such regularity to avoid the persecutions of the Romans and and the Zealots, he was told. the Zealots, he was told.

'We are vulnerable to attack from all sides,' Daniel advised him as they made their latest hasty evacuation of a cave at Byzantium's outskirts and travelled up a narrow pa.s.sage to another, more hidden cave, further into the rock. 'The Word terrifies those too blind to see and too deaf to hear.' He handed the Doctor his torch as he led the small group into a wider area of the tunnel.

They were a curious bunch and, despite his usual reservations about enthusiasts of all varieties, the Doctor had grown to quite like them. They were mostly gentle and serene, afraid of the forces arrayed against them but had a calmness about living under the threat of death that the Doctor found impressive, if a little disquieting. But, despite enjoying the warm hospitality of Daniel and his family, of James and his wife, Judith, and of their aged friend Hebron, among the others in the group, he was keen to see the back of them and leave them to their faith and their destiny.

No information had been forthcoming about his companions as the Christians had few friends within the city itself once they, themselves, had fled to the hills surrounding it. They said that they would try to find out what they could when they had re-established some lines of communication, but things were moving far too slowly for the Doctor's liking. He had no idea if young Vicki, or Chesterton, or Miss Wright was even still alive, but he did know one thing for certain - if they were were and they had half a chance, they would make for the TARDIS and try to stay as close to it as possible until he was able to join them. and they had half a chance, they would make for the TARDIS and try to stay as close to it as possible until he was able to join them.

That thought maintained him through the many frustrating hours as he waited for his strength to return.