was no answer. Several short orders were heard, Lacius was taken to the steps and given a cup of hot brew. Holding it with difficulty with trembling hands, he pressed his lips to the scalding liquid. It was meat broth! When he finished it and looked up, Chow Li stood in front of him.
– Thank you, – he said sincerely.
– For what? – she asked in surprise.
– For not tying my legs, – Lacius nodded at the ropes that were still dangling from his arms. – Only hands.
– Do you think I asked someone not to tie your legs? – she laughed. – I didn’t even know if you were alive or not.
– It’s a pity. I thought it was as a sign of gratitude for the fact that I untied you there…
– No, probably the warriors simply didn’t have enough leather belts for you. They say they left you against the wall. But that’s not what I’m talking about. General Tang has ordered you to collect all the shields, breastplates, and helmets you fought with. They will give you ten people. We need to do everything tomorrow morning. Take them off even from the dead. Then it will be necessary to make them look like new in order to surprise the Emperor and his wife.
– What about my people? When will they be released?
– They’ve already been untied. Don’t worry. The main thing is that they really know how to draw.
– Wait, – he asked, seeing Chow Li turn around to leave. – What about those who gave up? Are they alive?
– Xiongnu – no, Romans – yes. They carry corpses into the city.
– So we’re alive, – Lacius breathed, and everything swam before his eyes again. He didn’t remember where or how he spent the night, grinding his teeth and groaning in pain. The dream was oppressive and heavy. The gods were silent. And only the black medallion on a thin leather strap occasionally tapped on the floor when its owner turned over from side to side.
CHAPTER II. PICTURE FOR THE EMPEROR
The next day, they couldn’t draw a picture. Their hands did not obey. Tiberius and Lucro were among those who could draw well but they were too weak to do that.
– Well, are you okay now? – Lacius asked Tiberius, who, after the first bowl of hot broth, was scratching himself and twitching his shoulders. Life was returning to his strong body, and his gaze had already become more meaningful and tenacious. – You didn’t die in the pit, so now you won’t die here either. We need to draw a battle for the Han general. For this he gave us a free hand. Can you?
– If the lice don’t chew us off at all, then we can, – said Tiberius, frantically scratching his head. – You see, the hands are numb. They need to get over.
– I’d draw this picture with my leg if I gave me more meat, – Lucro said dreamily, licking his empty cup. Lacius just grinned. They could barely stand on their feet, they were all overcome by lice, but their mood inspired optimism. The small biting creatures could be gotten rid of with a fire. To do this, they had to go get branches for the baskets. Tiberius looked up at Lacius and said with a sigh:
– Sorry, do you hear? The furies misled me… I didn’t want to say it there… OK?
– I understand, – Lacius grimaced from the bite of another louse. – You could still talk there. I couldn’t move my tongue at all. Oh! – he hit himself on the back of his head and jerked it. – It’s painful. Such a bastard! Okay, I can’t stand anymore. I need to quickly put my clothes into the fire… and also shave.
– We’ll bring some branches, and then you go find a knife, – Lucro suggested. – Nobody will give knifes to us. You can get them.
Two days later they depicted horses and people on one stone by the river, and on another a fortress and towers, but all this was done so far only with firebrands. Chen Tang liked the drawings, but he wanted to have such a drawing with him. However, there was no longer any skin or fabric of suitable size and quality in the city. So he ordered Tiberius to draw the same thing in his diary, which he kept from the very beginning of the campaign. The Roman’s huge hands seemed unable to cope with the thin stick. However, after making a few uncertain movements on the board, Tiberius was able to understand how to make thick and thin lines, and soon the first sketch of the battle on the Talas River appeared in Tang’s diary. The young general was very pleased. He didn’t even bother to admire the flames over the city walls, which quickly devoured the dry wood and the corpses, collected in the city square. The strange guide Goju, who was very afraid of the black disease, which they encountered several times during the journey, especially insisted on this.
When the first warriors with torches began to walk around the dry grass, laid out under the walls and houses, Goju threw a large light bag into the fire, which he had previously hidden in a hole near the river. In it, carefully tied into several small knots, lay the remains of a ferret that died from this terrible disease. If the siege of the fortress dragged on, the guide was going to throw the dead ferret over the wall. So the defenders were doomed anyway. But then Chen Tang would not have received Zhi Zhi’s head and the Han army would have had to retreat from the walls at the first sign of illness in the city. And then burn it, like now.
While Tiberius was drawing horses on the stone, the rest of Romans were following Tang’s orders, collecting their equipment and weapons under the supervision of frowning infantrymen. They managed to find Lacius’ helmet with a crest, an abandoned shaft with a wooden eagle, and many swords and shields. But the clothes and cloaks were nowhere to be found. Then they decided to make them from the fabrics that the Han warriors had taken from Zhi Zhi’s warehouse. There was a lot of silk there. To implement his plan, the young general allowed the use of everything necessary.
So Lacius got a red cloak. It was much brighter and better than the previous one. As a result, by the end of the week almost a hundred shields, spears, capes, tunics, sandals, helmets, and breastplates were ready. They even managed to find several chain mail shirts.
At one of the sites, Lucro learnt that Saet was alive. Someone saw her among the captured Xiongnu women. The joy of Zeno and Mark knew no bounds. They could not see their mother because the women had been taken away earlier, but they hoped that they would be able to meet her during the night stops. Unfortunately, the Han divided into two groups and did not allow the women to see the rest of the prisoners. They said that they would all be sold into slavery as soon as they found themselves behind the Great Wall, on the territory of the Empire. But everything turned out to be not so simple.
When General Tang’s warriors returned to Governor Xiao’s province, paintings, depicting the Battle of the Talas River, were already finished. They just had to be connected to each other and attached to the wall. Together with them, all the equipment for the Romans was prepared. But Chen Tang didn’t know how to send it to the capital. He found himself in a difficult situation. It was dangerous to travel alone. Sending old Governor Xiao away was stupid. Young Chow Li offered him another plan: she would go to the capital to visit her sister along with Chen Tang’s messengers, who would hand over Zhi Zhi’s head to the Emperor. There was no way out, and he asked her to remind her sister about the Empress’s letter. Tang wanted to get it as soon as possible.
In the big house of Governor Xiao, the Romans were kept in those large sheds, where they lived several years ago, when they came here with Zhi Zhi’s son to buy some equipment. One day, Lacius saw the guide Godju, who had come to learn about news from the capital and lived on the outskirts of the city.
– Harav ta romyn amid uu7? – the old guide asked in surprise, when he saw Lacius sitting at the door on a large log. Looking at the two rings and the iron ball chained to his ankles, Goju walked closer.
– Yes, I am. For some reason the gods left me alive, – Lacius answered. It was