As much as five thousand denarii, I wondered. That decided me. I asked the question that had been on my lips all morning. ‘Do you ever have dealings with a man called Eppaticus?’
He did not start, or blush, or falter. Instead he became unnaturally still. The only movement was in the narrow fingers, pressing on each other harder than ever. At last he said, ‘I believe I have heard the name, citizen. Though I myself have never had the pleasure. . I will glance through my records for you, if you wish.’
‘If you would be so kind,’ I said, but knew that it was useless. There were so many records in that office, a man could search there for a year and find nothing — especially if it was something he did not want to find. But there was nothing else to be gained here, and there were several other warehouses. I allowed myself to be guided back towards the barge, where my boatman was waiting for me. The smaller boat had loaded up and gone, I noticed, and the larger one was almost ready to leave as well. I would have to hurry if we were to clear the quay without hindering commerce.
The warehouse official watched me teeter up the plank and take my place on the seat, his face wreathed in smiles now. ‘Farewell, citizen. I hope we have been of service. And now, if you will excuse me, I have a customer.’ He hurried off in the direction of a tall man in a long cloak who had just strolled on to the quay, and a moment later they were walking off together, deep in conversation.
As we pulled away from the quay I glanced at the cloaked figure, and in the same instant he glanced back at me. We both reacted together. He turned abruptly and began to walk away. Boat or no boat, I jumped to my feet.
‘Back!’ I shouted to the bargemaster. ‘Take me back there at once!’
He raised a shaggy eyebrow, but he barked out the order. The oarsmen backed their oars, and slowly — infinitely slowly it seemed to me — the boat slowed, then turned about on itself and began to inch back towards the shore. The bargemaster looked at me quizzically. ‘You know that fellow, citizen?’
‘I don’t know him exactly. I have never spoken to him, but I have seen him before. I wonder what he is doing here so soon. He must have made great efforts to get here.’
I glanced at Junio. He was gazing at the shore with a kind of rapt excitement. ‘It is him, isn’t it, master?’
‘That’s him,’ I said. A tall, thin, greying man with a crooked nose and thin cruel slit of a smile. The last time I had seen him he was talking to the trainer of the Blues — yesterday morning in Verulamium.
Chapter Sixteen
I am not a young man, and I was stiff from my battering journey of the day before, but as soon as the barge touched the quay I was on my feet, and I was down the plank almost before the bargemaster had time to lay it for me.
The warehouse official was still standing there, pressing his fingers together and looking bewildered. I did not waste time on civilities.
‘That man,’ I demanded. ‘Who is he? What was he doing here?’
The official blinked. ‘Glaucus, citizen? He came to buy some grain, naturally.’ The pinched face was suddenly flushed with concern. ‘There is nothing unusual about it. He comes here very often. He buys the corn stores for the Blue factio — for both the men and the horses. Their quarters are very close to here. Is there some kind of trouble, citizen? I do hope not. The factio are good customers of ours.’
So crook-nose was nicknamed Glaucus, I thought. The grey. It was a name more usually given to horses, but with his long face and close-set eyes it suited him perfectly.
The controller of the warehouse was still bobbing along beside me, firing questions like an archer loosing arrows. I ignored them, and asked one of my own. ‘The Blue quarters are close by, I think you said?’
‘Indeed, citizen.’ He was bending his fingers almost backwards in his desire to help. ‘Go out of the back gate. .’ He gave me the directions: it did not seem to be far.
‘Right,’ I said to Junio, who was at my heels as usual. ‘Let the bargemaster know where I am going. If I am lucky I may catch two sparrows with a single slingshot and find Fortunatus at the same time. You can catch me up at the Blue quarters.’
Junio grinned his understanding and scampered off on his errand.
I did not wait for him. Looking back, perhaps that was a foolish decision — wandering around the back streets of a city I did not know, without even the protection of a slave — but I had become careless under Pertinax’s protection, and besides I was anxious to catch up with Glaucus.
As soon as I left the warehouse, I looked up and down the road for him, but he had disappeared like a bubble, so I set off for the Blue headquarters, following the directions which had been given me.
It was not far, and I found it easily. It occupied most of a block in a little alley close to the main street, hemmed in by the blank outer walls of a run-down house on one side and a carpet-maker’s on the other. It might have been an ordinary inn, from its general appearance: a wide gate led to a large stable yard surrounded on three sides by a colonnaded building, with — judging by the window-spaces visible — large rooms on the lower floor and a cluster of tiny attics under the rooftiles. Another gateway at the side led to further stabling beyond. I took a few steps through the entrance arch, but instead of a welcoming innkeeper anxious to take my money, I found a burly slave blocking my way.
‘Your business, citizen?’ He was dressed in a uniform-style tunic of a delicate cerulean blue — presumably in honour of the factio — but it accorded very oddly with the solid leather breastplate, helmet and groin-protector which he also were.
‘Is Glaucus here yet?’ I enquired briskly. ‘I saw him at the granary earlier.’ I did not actually say that I had spoken to him, but I thought the implication might get me through the gate.
The burly slave did not move an eyelash. ‘Glaucus is not expected back today, citizen.’
I tried another gambit. ‘Then perhaps I could have a word with Fortunatus? I heard that he was hurt in Verulamium. I was speaking to the lady Fulvia. .’
At the mention of her name the guard relaxed. ‘I am sorry, citizen,’ he said, in an altered tone. He was friendly now, almost conspiratorial. ‘Fortunatus is not well enough for visitors. He is in his quarters, resting.’ He glanced over his shoulder as he spoke, in the direction of one of the rooms on the upper floor.
I made a desperate calculation. The doorkeeper could scarcely leave his post, and once I was beyond him there was nobody about to challenge me. I doubted there were many people in the building. There would be a few servants and stable-boys about, of course, but most of the factio was in Verulamium.
I wagered everything, like Junio at the races. ‘Fortunatus will see me, I’m certain,’ I said airily, pressing a coin into the man’s hand, and walking confidently past him before he could prevent me.
‘Citizen, wait. .’ He was calling after me, but I gave him a breezy wave and strolled away in the general direction of that backward glance. I reasoned that he must have been looking at Fortunatus’ chamber, and in any case an air of assurance was my best defence. I had no idea where the staircase was, but I went through the largest door I could find, and sure enough there was a narrow flagstoned entrance hall with rickety wooden steps leading up to the rooms beyond.
A bored slave-boy was dozing on the topmost step, but he struggled to his feet as I came up, a look of incredulity spreading over his face. He was a small, wiry creature, perhaps twelve years old, and he wore a tunic of that same cerulean blue.