Marcus was hardly listening to all this. His mind was entirely set on Julia and Rome. ‘Very well!’ he told me. ‘I’ll leave it up to you. In the meantime, I don’t like this mob. Things could very easily get out of hand. Fetch me that soldier and we’ll try to quiet them.’
I looked around and saw that he was right. The rhythmic chanting was much louder now and everybody on the quay was joining in: dock slaves had put their burdens down, despite their masters’ protests by the look of it, and were stamping to the beat. A pie seller was jumping up and down, waving his empty tray above his head, and even the more respectable were swaying to and fro, clapping their hands and shouting with the rest. No one was any longer thinking what the chant was for.
Only our little party seemed to be aloof. Alfredus Allius was at the warehouse door, talking to Adonisius and Vesperion who appeared to be staggering beneath a load of scrolls. Lucius had taken Silvia aside and was murmuring something to her, under cover of the noise, and when she saw me looking she raised a hand to me in what was very clearly a gesture of salute. Lucius, I realized, was nodding happily — it was not difficult to guess what conversation had passed between the two.
However, I had my patron’s errand to perform. I went up to the soldier — who was joining in the chant, banging his baton cheerfully against his shield — but he broke off when I came to speak to him. I gestured to Marcus and explained what he had said.
Instantly the soldier became a different man. He put the baton in his belt and drew his sword instead, rapped that on the ground and held it overhead. ‘Enough! Disperse now! In the name of Pertinax!’
For a moment this did not seem to have very much effect. A few of the nearer chanters broke off uncertainly — nudging their neighbours and pointing out the blade. Slowly, one by one the others stopped as well and there was an uneasy shuffling. Then one dock slave picked up his burden and took it up the plank towards the ship, and a moment later everyone was back at work again, doing whatever had brought them to the dock. Only the pie seller was shouting now, calling down every deity in the pantheon, as he scrabbled on the paving tiles to retrieve his scattered wares — but even the gods could hardly help him now; most of his pies had been trodden on and squashed and all of them were broken into bits.
The soldier put his sword back in his sheath and marched across the dock to where my patron was standing. ‘In the name of his most Imperial majesty, the Caesar Com- I mean Pertinax …’
Marcus held up a held to silence him. ‘That was well-managed, soldier. May I know your name?’
The soldier gave it, together with his rank.
‘I will mention this to your superiors! Now you may dismiss and go back to your duties.’
The man saluted and marched proudly off. I noticed that when he took up his post again, he stood more upright, and looked a lot more military than he’d done before.
Marcus turned to me. ‘Then I’ll take the horses and go back to Julia and the villa straight away. Though, perhaps I should take my wife a little gift?’
I beckoned Lucius across. ‘I think that this trader has a little something for her anyway. A present for your hostess, is that not the case?’
Lucius looked surprised, but he produced the gloves. ‘A thank you for your household’s hospitality,’ he murmured, making a low bow. ‘Finest rabbit, from Iberia. We import …’
But Marcus had no interest in the warehouse now. ‘Very fine. And thank you for the thought. Though they’re generous in size. If I am to travel all the way to Rome …’ He slipped a mitten on his hand — it fitted perfectly. ‘I’ll ask her what she thinks.’ He slipped the gloves between his toga folds and underneath his belt. ‘Now, I’ll leave you to Libertus. He knows what I have planned.’ He raised his voice. ‘Farewell, Alfredus! And you, slave, bring the horses over here.’
The boy obeyed, assisted Marcus to his mount, and the pair of them went cantering away.
Alfredus and Vesperion came hurrying across, accompanied at a distance by Adonisius, who was still clearly keeping space between himself and me. The captain hastened over at that moment too.
‘Trader Lucius, if there is more to take aboard, we need to load at once. We must leave by sunset if we’re to catch the tide.’
Lucius didn’t answer. Instead he looked at me. ‘Citizen, your patron spoke about a plan. What did he mean by that?’
I outlined what I had suggested to my patron earlier. I didn’t mention ships, of course — Lucius would have to work out for himself that there was now an opportunity. ‘So if you take charge of Silvia and the Syrian slave,’ I finished, silkily, ‘Alfredus and I will go back into town. He can talk to Bernadus about the funeral — and tell him that expenses will be paid from the estate: I’ll just call in briefly to enquire about that slave girl Marcus wants. And — though I doubt that they’ll be wanted now — I’ll take those scrolls with me. I am anxious to get back to Minimus and my wife as soon as possible. Fortunately I have a mule to get me there.’
In fact I was especially anxious to have witnesses to this, and proof of my movements for an hour or two. If Lucius and the lady were about to disappear, I wanted it known that I was somewhere else.
Alfredus nodded. ‘Let’s be on our way. If you are hoping to get back home tonight, you had better hurry — even with a mule. In an hour or less it will be getting dark.’
I was about to turn away, but Lucius grasped my arm. ‘Thank you, citizen. We will not forget.’
‘I doubt that I will, either,’ I told him with a smile, then — together with my witness — I turned and left him there.
TWENTY-SIX
When I reached the workshop a little later on, Minimus was positively hopping with concern.
‘Master,’ he greeted me, throwing himself with unaccustomed fervour at my feet. I thought for a moment he was going to kiss my boots. ‘I had begun to wonder what had become of you. If there are really crazed murderers about — as the commander of the town watch seems to think — when you were late I was not sure if I would see you back alive.’
‘Well, here I am alive and well.’ I put down the pile of scrolls that I was carrying. ‘But, unlike the commander of the watch, I don’t think there’s any danger of this happening again, though I’m glad you managed to deliver your messages successfully.’
‘So you’ve solved the mysteries?’
‘Not exactly that. But I understand at least a little better now. And I think I can promise that, after yesterday, it isn’t going to happen again.’
Minimus was busy packing scrolls into our linen bag. He screwed his nose up, like a rodent sniffing cheese. ‘You mean because the new Emperor has been confirmed? Everyone at the garrison is saying that Commodus was cursed, but now that Pertinax is Emperor instead, the gods will be appeased. No more dark omens; everything is going to be much better from now on.’
I patted his small head, indulgently. ‘If the army says so, then perhaps it’s true. I do think that omens may have been involved. But get your cloak on and let’s be on our way. And don’t cram any more scrolls in that bag — you’ll damage them. You’ll have to carry the others in your arms while we ride home.’
It wasn’t easy either. Arlina seemed to know that she was losing me as master very soon. She ambled so slowly it would almost have been quicker to have gone on foot — despite the switch I was deploying on her rump. Minimus was too busy clutching scrolls to help and I was not sorry when at last my roundhouse came into sight.