"I require of him nothing but his blood upon a blade," said Ulric. "He is a plotter against both Caius and the procurator."
"Come thou with me to thy friend's house," replied Ben Ezra. "I know this to be true, but Abbas may not be slain openly."
"If Pontius will command me," said Ulric, "I will bring him this serpent's head on the morrow. Otherwise I will guide my own doing. It is but a stroke of a sharp sword."
Little said they after that until they were in the house of Caius, but when they were there it was Ben Ezra and not the jarl who was summoned to confer with the centurion. Not long was he absent, but when he returned his face was dark.
"Trust not a Roman," he whispered to Ulric. "To them all other men are but as cattle. Thou art only a swordsman in the eyes of this Caius. Slay not Abbas lest thou anger him. He is thy friend truly, but it is a Roman friendship, with a dagger in it. Go thou to thy men. Would thou wert on the sea! Thou hast no right to sell them to the circus."
"That will I not!" said Ulric. "But I will confer with them speedily."
So went he away, but he went with Ben Ezra.
There are many cunnings among those who struggle in the net of power, and a great subtlety had been born in the mind of Lysias. "If the Saxons remain," he had thought, "I am lost. It is long before they may be slain in the arena. I will go and talk with them again. This galley that, is to bear the messenger of Herod lieth at Joppa."
Therefore, even while Ulric had offered his sacrifices, the young Greek was among the Saxons telling them many things.