"Pray tell me. Or it
would be your throat I would slit." Roderigo threatened the Centurion.
Iago wanted to laugh but he held back his laughter. He had to stoke the fire
now in the man that would work the next stage of his play.
"We can call on the
father and tell him of his daughter elopement." Iago said. "That
would invoke the fury of the father. Let us hurry, or we would be late."
Iago pulled the dazed
ex-lover to the home of Brabatio. It was away for a distance of three streets
away and soon they were at the high walls of the villa. There were no guards at
the walls, as this was Rome; where the people do not resort to such action of thefts.
Not when the house belongs to the member of the Senate.
It was past the hour of
waking and the lights in the home was extinguished. They stood there but kept
an eye for the patrolling Vigeles, the equivalent of the Legionnaires but are
more for city security and other causes.
Iago had scaled the wall with
his stronger body. He pulled the other over and ran passed the well maintained
garden. They stood by the main door to the house.
"If we go in there, we
may not make it past the guards before we get to see the old man." Iago
told him. He doubt that Roderigo would get to see the old man with his past
rejection bid. He thought of then another way. They called on the surrounded to
give up before they attack them. Iago stepped out to the lawn and shouted at
the upper levels.
"Brabatio! Old man! How
fare you tonight?" Iago shouted out while he threw small stones on the
wall openings of the upper levels.
"We missed you tonight
at the ceremony? It was your daughter's and you were not there to give her
away." Iago saw the lights in the house had been lit up. He heard the
sound of the servants moving about in their nightclothes but his focus was on
only one person.
"Brabatio, are you
awake? Did you count your sheep? Or are your ewes being pounded by the wolf ?
Have you not fear that they may come out half dark and fair?" Iago ran
around hiding himself in the darker corners when the servants came from the
doors. He pushed Roderigo who had tailed him, towards the lighted lawn.
"Are all your children home?
Did you checked their rooms? Fear for them as there lies the wolf." Iago
shouted and slipped into the darkness, while Roderigo was facing the servants.
Then came out the man they seek.
"Roderigo, you knave. I
ought have you flogged for disturbing my rest." Brabatio told the rejected
admirer of his daughter. The old man was dressed in his flannel gown that he
slept in; a cherished reminder of his past when he was the trader who slept
with the camels under the stars. He had moved far from that plain existence,
where he used his hard earned wealth to gain his status in the social life. He
worked his name into the Senate, hitching his ride with a series of bribed
acquaintances.
"Hear me out, Sir. I am
genuine in my concern." Roderigo approached the older man. He looked at
Brabatio; frail looking and shriveled with age that showed on his face with the
balding head. The man had stepped out barefooted but he had in his hand the
sword that was the gladius; one that was wield by the Legionaire.
"Is your Desdemona at
her room?" Roderigo asked. "I feared she may had eloped."
"With you, most
unlikely." Brabatio laughed and walked back to his home.
"Why dismissed me so
hasty? All I asked is you checked your rooms." Roderigo spoke again.
"How much harm can that do?"
Brabatio stopped and called
on the servant by his side. He told the servant to checked the room. He then
faced Roderigo.
"If she is in the room,
then your hide would hang on the city wall." It was then the servant
returned.
Brabatio face turned away. He
looked pale. Then he looked at Roderigo.
"Tell me where is my
Desdemona?"
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