"Your ladyship?" he said. "Is there something wrong? I assure you-"
"Hush," said Alphena. "Find one of the clerks and a runner for me. I want to send a letter to-oh!"
Anna couldn't read and write. Her husband could, but Pulto was here already with Corylus. And besides, Anna wouldn't be able to- "Your l-ladyship?" said the frightened deputy steward.
"The double litter is still here at the house, isn't it?" Alphena said, making her decision as the words came out of her mouth. "Get it around to the front with the crew immediately. I'm going to see Master Corylus' nurse at his home."
She gestured to the servants standing around her. "These men will be my escort," she said. "And find Iberus for a guide, he's been to the apartment block before."
"You should be talking to Nestor," Callistus said. "The litters are-"
He closed his mouth and swallowed when he saw Alphena's face contort.
"Want me to pop him one, your ladyship?" the big Gaul asked cheerfully.
"Let him see how those pretty teeth feel going down his throat?"
"I'll see to it at once, your ladyship!" Callistus said. He turned, shouting, "Nestor! Spartax! I need you!"
"Your ladyship?" Florina said. "The regular litter hasn't been taken back to the warehouse either, from when your father was using it. The little one would be handier if you're going alone."
Alphena looked at the girl. "I'm going alone," she said. "But I'm bringing Anna back with me."
She took a deep breath and added what she hadn't intended to say to anybody but Anna herself. "When Anna gets here, I'm going to have her help me to find Hedia. Because Hedia came to save me."
Corylus found Varus standing in his stepmother's bedroom, staring moodily at the at the wall. The painting of Neptune and Amphitrite in a conch-shell chariot being drawn by sea horses was attractive-under other circumstances, Corylus might have spent some time examining it himself-but he doubted that his friend was really thinking about art at the moment.
Dozens of servants were in the suite, chattering, shuffling, and peering closely at the furniture. As Corylus entered, a maid opened a wardrobe cabinet, stared at the contents, and closed the wicker door just in time for a footman to open it and repeat the process.
"Gaius?" he said quietly. Then, when Varus didn't react, he said in a louder voice, "Gaius Varus?"
Varus turned; his look of fierce intensity became welcoming. He said, "Publius, I'm glad to see you. Have you had any luck, ah…?"
He apparently didn't know how to end the question. Corylus smiled faintly; that was understandable, since framing the questions was the really difficult problem.
"Perhaps," Corylus said. "Is there a place we can talk privately?"
"Right here, I think," Varus said, "if Lenatus and your man-"
He gestured past Corylus to the pair of veterans who had followed him into the suite.
"-can clear the room and then stand in the hallway."
Corylus looked over his shoulder. Lenatus grinned like a drillmaster-a position he had held with the Alaudae Legion-and bellowed, "All right, you pansies! On the orders of Lord Varus, out! Every bleeding one of you. And if my buddy Pulto and me don't think you're moving fast enough, you're out the bleeding window!"
"And we won't take the grating off first!" Pulto said.
Servants either looked up in shock or hunched and stared at the floor, but they moved with surprising unanimity toward the door. Corylus heard a few whines of complaint, but no one tried to argue.
Varus leaned close to Corylus and said, "Could they really do that? The windows are too high, aren't they?"
Corylus grinned, remembering a fight he'd seen in tavern in Moguntiacum. There were no windows, but openings under the peak of the high thatched roof allowed smoke to trickle out.
"I think they could," he said. "But I don't think it'll come to that."
Lenatus and Pulto were the last out of the suite. Before he banged the door behind him, the trainer looked back and grinned again.
Corylus grinned also. "You've impressed Lenatus," he said.
"What?" said Varus, looking puzzled. "I just stood here. Goodness, I couldn't have emptied the room like that."
"You did empty the room," Corylus said. "You identified the correct subordinate for the job, gave him clear instructions, and stayed out of his way while he executed them. Any time you want a career that involves freezing your butt on the Rhine, the Army is ready to give you a home."
He visualized his friend creeping through the Hercynian Forest in loose woolen leggings with a cape over his shoulders. His laugh was real and spontaneous, a release after a very tense day. Hercules! A lot of very tense days!
"You learned something about Hedia from talking to the doorman?" Varus said, smiling mildly at his friend's pleasure. He didn't ask what had caused the laughter, for which Corylus was thankful. Varus would think he was being mocked.
"No," Corylus explained, "and I didn't expect to. I was able to talk to Pulto and Lenatus about how we might find Pandareus, or at least find more out about him, though. Which is why I was prowling around with them."
He grinned and added, "Your other servants were scared to death of being blamed for intruders getting in, so they kept as far away as they could while the three of us were muttering to one another in the door alcove."
"Very good," Varus said, nodding. "Yes, at least we know who abducted Pandareus."
He pursed his lips with a frown and said, "It seems very unlikely that Tardus and his associates were involved with whatever happened to Hedia, however."
Corylus shrugged. "I can't imagine that there's no connection, however," he said. "Anyway, we have an entry point on Pandareus and none at all on her ladyship."
Until now he'd kept his friend in the dark about his plans, which would have irritated many people. He hadn't really been worried about how Varus would react-he was too smart not to realize that this discussion had to wait for complete privacy-but it was good to get past the concern.
"Right," said Varus. "Explain your plan. And-"
A real smile lit his face.
"-if you're going to tell me that it's dangerous, as your expression suggests you are, then save your breath. I watched Typhon, if that's what it was, destroying Carce. Nothing can be more dangerous that letting that happen."
Corylus started to speak and found his throat was dry. He coughed to clear it, then said, "A tribune with a squad of the Praetorian Guard and an imperial writ would be able to enter Saxa's dwelling, I believe. Ah-"
Spit it out!
"You were able to find the concealed entrance to the Serapeum," he said, his tone level and his eyes on his friend's. "I think, I hope, that you would be able to find Master Pandareus if he's hidden in the house also. But because you've entered the house recently and by daylight, you would certainly be identifiable after the event. The others involved might possibly be able to conceal themselves from an investigation."
Varus shrugged. "As I say, I don't believe any risk is as great as the risk of doing nothing," he said. He seemed truly nonchalant instead of putting on a brave face before his friend. "But how under heaven are you going to get a squad of Praetorians to escort me?"
"Ah!" said Corylus. "Pulto has connections with the equipment manager in the Praetorian Barracks. For a sufficient payment, ten sets of accouterments can be declared unserviceable and sent out to a scrap dealer. That won't include swords, of course, but swords are available from the gladiatorial schools. They're no problem."
"I see," said Varus. "But the men? I know we could hire idlers easily enough, but I wouldn't want to trust them not to be drunk-or to run off when they really understand what they're expected to do."