is everywhere, – Paul Domician suddenly whispered feverishly, but then sadly added: – This is a woman. – A worthy woman, but my heart is restless.
When a female figure appeared from the stretcher in a shiny robe of pink silk with a yellow fan with which she covered her face, loud exclamations were heard from all sides:
– A thousand years of life! A thousand years of life!13
The soldiers began to hit the shields and backs of the legionnaires with sticks, shouting:
– Ditto! Ditto!14
– Bu kan!15
– Xialai!16
Lacius fell to his knees and managed to throw over his shoulder to Paul Domician:
– She’s wearing a pink robe with red stripes on the edges of the sleeves.
– Well, I told you so! – the blind man answered with satisfaction, touching his forehead to the ground.
– How did you know this? – Zeno asked him, but received a stick on the shoulders from an approaching soldier and, screaming, fell silent.
The insinuating voice of the senior eunuch was heard in the distance, but no words were heard. Then Fu Xing’s trembling voice sounded louder:
– Mistress of the Twelve Moons, this is a gift from General Chen Tang. He killed the insulter of the great Emperor, the insignificant Xiongnu Zhi Zhi, and gives these paintings to Emperor Yuan Di as a sign of the greatest gratitude to his heavenly power, – he fell silent, and for some time nothing was heard.
Lacius clutched his helmet with his palms and slowly turned his head to the side. Now he could watch what was happening with one eye, although from the outside it seemed that his helmet and head were pointing directly at the ground. He did not hear what the Emperor’s wife was saying, but her voice seemed low and chesty to him, although all the Han women he had heard before had thin, almost childish voices. Finally, continuing to stand in a half – bent position, Fu Xing moved on to describe the capture of the fortress, and his voice immediately sounded much more confident and louder. Lacius heard every word.
The security chief’s story was more colourful and exaggerated. In the most terrible, exciting moments, the frightened exclamations of the women accompanying the Empress were heard. Finally, the tiny sandals approached the final part of the picture, and Fu Xing began to talk about the battle with the invincible barbarians from the distant country of Luoma. An impressive basket dropped next to Lacius’s head, from under which water flowed in a thin stream. He touched it with his fingers and felt that the water was cold.
– Tell me, who surprised my brother? – a low velvety voice was heard, and Lacius’s heart froze. This was the Emperor’s wife.
– This one. With a large helmet, in a red cloak, – answered the voice of the chief of the guard.
– This is interesting. Will they show us something?
– My lady, it is not safe. They are terrible barbarians. We need to put servants in front of them to protect you, – the senior eunuch addressed the Empress with caution and warning politeness, and Lacius felt that this man was really afraid of them.
– But if you install servants, I won’t see anything, – she answered dissatisfied. – Was my brother standing here? – she asked unexpectedly.
– Uh… I wasn’t with him yesterday… – the senior eunuch stammered.
– Yes, he was, – security chief Fu Xing answered for him.
– Then there’s nothing to worry about. Look, they have chains and balls on their feet! They can’t even take a step. Are they really that scary?
– Very much, my lady, – Fu Xing confirmed, but this did not make any impression on the Emperor’s wife.
– Then show them to me! – she ordered. The chief of the guard nodded to his soldiers. The command sounded: – Tshiilai!17, – and the Romans saw in front of them about two dozen multi – coloured robes, the upper part of which was hidden behind large fans. Five steps from Latium, a yellow fan with dark red birds froze, flying somewhere with their long legs stretched back. He quickly looked at the basket and was dumbfounded. There was ice there. Real cold ice! The top pieces had already melted, their surface was smooth and shiny. And they also gave off real coolness.
Such baskets stood only around a woman in a pink robe. A dozen servants held them, bent double and holding the ropes around their necks with their hands. They were waiting for the Empress, ready to immediately accompany her every step with coolness. Lacius looked up at the fan and saw black hair behind it, curled at the side into a ball. Dozens of gold jewelry protruded from it, and on the crown of the head lay a gold necklace with small round medallions the size of a pinky fingernail. Two curious eyes looked at him point – blank, and neither fear nor horror was visible in them.
– What a terrible scar, – said a voice behind the fan.
– Yes, our lady, – the chief of the guard bowed and nodded to Lacius. Everything was repeated once again: the legionnaires closed, opened and reformed, while Fu Xing finished the story about the terrible battle near the walls of the distant Xiongnu fortress.
– Are they really that good at fighting? – she was surprised after listening to the whole story. —Are they all eunuchs?
– No, but in their country they shave their faces.
– Ugh, how terrible this is, – the Empress said artificially, but there was more interest in her voice than disgust.
– Which of them killed the son of the second minister? – she asked.
– This one, with the scar, – Fu Xing muttered, frowning.
– Ji Si, look, that’s who killed your son! – with incomprehensible joy the Empress called one of the women of her retinue. Multi – coloured robes and fans swayed, and next to her, the same thin and small figure with a white fan bowed. There was a sound of spitting, but Lacius did not see or feel anything. Probably, the woman’s throat was dry in the heat, and she could not spit very far. – How indignant you are! – the Empress shook her fan. – We’ll figure out how to punish him.
– Excuse me, – came the voice of another woman behind her. – This barbarian tortured Yeng Li’s sister. He made her work. He beat her and mocked her.
– Oh – oh – oh… – behind the fans there was a mixed sigh of indignation, fear, and curiosity.
– Is this true? – Empress Fu Xing asked in surprise.
– They say so, – he confirmed, without straightening his back.
– He deserves to be punished, – she said again. – Yeng, your husband is having a good holiday. Since these barbarians fight so well, we will be able to see them killed by my brother’s warriors. In a month, there will be a festival of the first harvest. Let Bao Shi prepare them, and we will watch them die.
– I am so grateful to you, madam! – a gentle voice came from somewhere on the side, and another blue fan bowed low. Taken aback, Lacius only turned his head from side to side, realising that his fate was now being decided, but did not know what to do. He realised that Chow Li’s s ister was hiding behind the blue fan, and tried in vain to make out her face. He was lucky – while bowing, the fan accidentally dropped a little lower than it should, and he saw long black eyebrows, large white spots on the cheeks and burgundy lips.
However, even these ridiculous colours could not