I looked up at him, sharply. ‘What do you mean, “signed up”? For what?’
‘Vitellius is down in the forum himself — himself! — asking the citizens of Rome to sign up to a militia to protect the city. He says he has only three cohorts of the Guard left, and that is not enough and he needs the men of the city to fight for him. So I signed up.’
‘You’re surely not going to fight against your father’s men?’
‘Of course I’m not!’ He let go of my hand, described a small pirouette on the marble floor. His smile was positively mischievous and it was directed at the woman who followed him in: Jocasta. If not his shadow, she had been his frequent companion these past months.
He threw her a complicated smile, full of triumph, that I did not understand. ‘I gave a false name.’
‘ Then why-’
‘Because if Vitellius is stupid enough to give me a sword and a helmet, that’s one less he can give to someone else. And if I wear them, I can fight…’ Slowly, his smile collapsed. ‘You don’t want me to fight?’
I stood; he was more easily faced these days standing.
‘Domitian, you’re not trained for it. And you’re the second son of the man who is emperor of everything except the city of Rome itself and he might have that, too, by the end of this month. Your elder brother is in Judaea and has yet to assault Jerusalem, in the course of which, if he leads from the front in the family tradition, he could easily be killed. Of course I don’t want you to fight. Your father would have a fit.’
‘My father has time only for men who are useful. Do you think he will look at me any differently if I stay at home counting the wings on dead flies?’
‘Your father is proud of you.’
‘Caenis, if you think that, you’re more-’ There was a familiar sound in the servants’ quarters, although at that moment I couldn’t quite place it. I heard Matthias and Sabinus’ steward talking, then a curtain was pushed quietly across the doorway.
And then the impossible; a man was there whom I had thought — feared is better, yes — that I might never see again.
‘Pantera!’ I took a slow step forward and was swept sideways by a furious Domitian.
‘What on earth are you doing here? You’re in Misene!’
‘Except that I’m not,’ Pantera said reasonably. ‘I’m here.’
‘Does that mean Lucius has lost? That he’s dead?’ Jocasta was nearer Pantera than Domitian. Her gaze raked his features, his clothes, striving to take meaning from the peasant garb he wore; it might have been near to Saturnalia, when men and women changed places with their slaves, but he looked too much like the real thing.
He said, ‘Sadly Lucius remains alive and well, but he’s too deeply caught up in the fighting at Tarracina to come back when he finds out I was never there.’
Everyone gaped at him now, even Jocasta.
‘ Never there? ’ she said. ‘You never went south at all?’ It was hard to tell if she was as furious as Domitian or simply shocked.
‘Sorry.’ Pantera lifted one shoulder in a loose, wry shrug. ‘But it was safer for everyone if you all thought that’s where I was going. In reality, I went north to study the placements of Juvens’ defences at Narnia in case Antonius needed to know them in detail.’
‘North?’ There was a brittle edge to Jocasta’s laugh. ‘You went to Juvens? And you think that was safer?’
Everyone was standing now, and Pantera walked through us, as through statuary. He glanced down at the letter on my desk, idly moved my ink stand to cover the writing so nobody else could read it.
‘It was safe enough. I carried wood for the braziers, and nobody looks at wood-carriers. Besides, I was in good company. Petilius Cerialis came with me — he was the legate of the Ninth during the revolt in Britain. He wanted to offer his services to Antonius Primus, so it seemed useful if he could take with him a general’s view of Juvens’ troop placements and their morale. We stayed with Juvens’ men for eight days and now Petilius has gone to Antonius with all the necessary details and I’ve come back here. It was… restful.’
He looked better than he had done; less haunted, less starved of food and sleep. I could only imagine the relief of not being hunted day and night by the monster that was Lucius.
Still, the fact remained that nobody was looking for him in the north because everyone believed he had gone south to stir up trouble with the marines at Misene, me included.
Do you trust no one, not even me?
I said, ‘Why have you come back now?’
‘First, because I can. But mainly because Vitellius is about to get a shock and it would be immensely useful to Vespasian’s cause if Sabinus were to be with him when it happens. My lord Sabinus, if it please you, there’s a litter waiting-’
‘What kind of a shock?’ Domitian asked. He had become obdurate, of late, and importunate, and rude.
I thought how I could phrase this in my letter. In certain ways, and primarily when he feels himself slighted, our young charge has begun to emulate some of the more interesting features of the man whose singing you so admired.
Pantera answered, ‘The kind of shock that will push him finally to abdicate.’
It was Sabinus, surprisingly, who was most upset by this. ‘This is intolerable! Are we under attack? Have my brother’s forces slaughtered the seven cohorts at the Nar? You told me this war would be bloodless. You said — ’
Pantera lost patience. He didn’t shout, but the texture of the air became noticeably crisper.
Sabinus stepped back; we all did. With precision, Pantera said, ‘I said we would do our best to spill as little Roman blood as we can and that is exactly what we are doing. I believe Juvens’ cohorts on the Nar are suing for surrender as we speak; they, too, have had their shock, and now it’s coming here; something personal and visceral that will make the point to Vitellius that clinging on to power will help nobody.
‘Accordingly, he may wish to begin negotiations for his abdication. You need to be on hand to see that nobody can talk him out of it. Watch Geminus, he’s the one with the fastest wit and trusted most by Vitellius as well as his brother. If you need to order him out of the room, do so. Do whatever it takes, but walk away with some kind of deal. Your brother’s future — and your own life — hinge on it. There’s a letter here’ — he held it out — ‘with details of all that you may offer him: safety, gold, his slaves and freedmen to accompany him. Don’t go beyond this remit, but I don’t think you’ll have to. Your trouble will be in convincing him that it’s genuine.’
‘Is it?’
‘Your brother will honour all of it. On my life, I swear that.’ Pantera gave a brief, bleak smile. ‘My lord, there is some need for haste. My men have a litter waiting. Will it please you to go promptly? And my lord Domitian, too, if he so wishes. It will be instructive for him to be present. A future emperor must know how he reached his position.’
‘Are you going with them?’ I asked.
He favoured me with a dry smile. ‘I thought perhaps I could stay here. If it please you? If you don’t consider me too much of a danger.’
I nodded. I could not have turned away a request like that. He sat on a couch nearby, a weathered man in peasant’s garb, and together we watched Sabinus and Domitian leave.
Jocasta, too, remained, staring down at him thoughtfully. ‘Have you had food? No? Would you like some? Perhaps Matthias can arrange it? And then while we wait for it, Pantera can tell us what it is that is going to make Vitellius abdicate.’
Chapter 48
Rome, 16 December AD 69
Geminus
Juvens came to us in the mid-morning of the sixteenth of December.