I should have stood my ground, but instead I took a few steps back and stared at him. ‘A sacred grove? That means decapitated heads.’
‘Perceptive of you, citizen,’ he sneered.
But I was no longer listening. Heads. Of course! I hadn’t looked for them. Dear gods! I must be getting old.
‘How many heads?’ I asked him. Why had I not asked myself that question earlier?
Cerberus looked astonished. ‘About a dozen so far, I suppose. What difference does it make?’ He turned to stare at me. ‘You know something about this. I can see it in you face!’ He seized me roughly by the arm. ‘I knew that there was something about you which I didn’t trust. Let’s see what a little questioning-’
‘Centurion! What are you thinking of? Release the citizen!’ Alfredus Allius’s monotone had taken on an unexpected ring. ‘Whatever’s happened, he is not involved in it. He’s been in my company or my warehouse all the afternoon.’
Cerberus shook his head and gave his horrid grin, but he did release his grip. ‘I’m sorry, councillor. That’s no defence at all. No one suggested that the raid took place this afternoon. This morning, possibly. Certainly not very long ago. I’ve seen a few dead people in my time, and these heads were fairly fresh. None of them had even started to decay.’
I think he hoped to shock me, but he did not succeed — after all, I’d seen the victims of the atrocity.
‘I’m almost sure it happened yesterday,’ I said. ‘And I think that I can tell you where the matching bodies are …’ I trailed off. Matching bodies? I was an idiot. There was only one reason for removing heads. What was it the wise woman had said? ‘It is whatever you expect to see.’ And I’d fallen straight into the trap!
Cerberus was smiling at me nastily. ‘Perhaps you’d like to accompany me to the commander, then — and you can tell him who the victims are.’
I shook my head. ‘He already knows. This is the very crime I came to warn him of — though at the time I didn’t know about the heads. Ask him when you go in to report.’
The councillor was frowning at me, doubtfully. ‘You think the heads are from the villa slaves? I suppose it’s possible. But why on earth remove them and hang them in a grove? To make it look like rebels …?’ he broke off suddenly. ‘By all the powers of Dis,’ he cried. ‘Perhaps it was the rebels! They would have seen Marcus as a special enemy — a wealthy Roman, friendly with the Emperor …’ He put his hand up to his throat and clutched his amulets. ‘And I’m a friend and dining-intimate of Marcus.’ He stared at me, his toneless voice full of emotion, suddenly. ‘Great gods, citizen — you think I might be next?’
I shook my head again. ‘I don’t think that these killers will strike round here again. I believe they have accomplished what they meant to do.’ I turned to Cerberus. ‘I didn’t kill these people, officer, but I think I know who did — though I don’t see how to prove it, even if I’m quick enough to find the murderers. So I daren’t make accusations — I’ll find myself in court, facing serious charges of injuria. But for the sake of my dead servant, I shall do my best — if you will permit me to be on my way. You can put that into your report as well. And earn yourself a commendation, too. Assure the commandant that no Celtic rebels are involved.’
TWENTY-FIVE
For a fleeting moment Cerberus looked nonplussed. Then he gave a snorting laugh. ‘You really expect that I will simply let you go, when by your own admission you know something of these deaths? You must be moon-struck, citizen. What do you think my superiors would say?’
Villosus cleared his throat. ‘I don’t think you should hold him, sir. My orders were quite clear. I was to assist him in any way I could, and I was to tell the other soldiers just the same. My understanding was that it applied to all of us, including — if you’ll pardon me for saying so, sir — officers like yourself. I should not like to think that because I didn’t speak, you’d accidently dis-obeyed the commandant.’
‘I don’t recall that I gave you leave to speak, Auxiliary!’ Cerberus snapped, clearly furious, but unable to contest the truth of this. ‘I’ll have you on a charge as soon as you get back — insubordination to a senior officer. That should be a flogging at the least. And you …’ he turned to face me ‘… you have leave to go, this time. But next time that I find you meddling …!’ He left the threat unfinished ‘Now, stand aside. You’re blocking the road. Don’t you know that it’s illegal to impede the army on the march?’
It was totally unjust. The soldiers were not moving and if anyone was blocking the roadway, it was the centurion himself. But his little outburst had improved his self-esteem. He tucked his baton underneath his arm and swaggered off to organise his men.
I waited dutifully until they shuffled into line and marched with ringing hobnails through the gate and disappeared into the garrison. When they had gone, Villosus turned to me.
‘Did I hear you say your slave was dead?’ He was staring at Minimus as though the boy might somehow be a ghost. Indeed, I realised with a smile, that’s what he was half ready to believe.
‘Not that slave. There’s a dead one, on the mule,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure how and why he died, but I suspect it is connected to these other deaths and he thought he was protecting me. So my first duty has to be to him. Much as I would like to go into the town and try and find the truth about these murderers, I must see he’s taken home with dignity. If I had a faster carriage …’
‘Do you wish me to hire a cart for you and speed the trip?’ Alfredus was still standing at my side. ‘Or Vesperion could take the mule for you, perhaps.’
I shook my head. ‘It’s getting far too late. By the time he reached the roundhouse it would be getting dark, and he’s far too old to be benighted in the wood. And there’s nowhere we could offer him hospitality. Maximus will lie in the slave hut overnight, and the other slaves will have to sleep in the main roundhouse with us, as it is. Besides, I wouldn’t like a stranger to turn up at my door and have to tell my poor wife what had happened to the slave. I couldn’t ask Minimus, he is far too young — I’ll simply have to take the body back myself.’
‘You could leave it in my warehouse,’ the councillor suggested.
It was a kind offer — and I did not turn it down at once. It would call for additional and expensive cleansing rituals, no doubt, given his current superstitious attitudes. Maximus would lie alone in a strange warehouse overnight, and the whole transport problem would arise again next day, but it would allow me to travel on the mule and have time for enquiries in town. So it offered a solution, of a kind.
I was still debating what to do when I heard a distant tuba sound. ‘Great Mars,’ I said. ‘They’ll be reading the proclamation in the forum very soon. I’ll have to do some-’
‘Father?’ I was interrupted by a cheerful cry and looked up to see my son hurrying towards me down the main street of the town. ‘What are you doing here?’ he said, as he came up to us. He sounded out of breath. ‘I thought you’d be halfway to the roundhouse by this time. I know the cleansing rituals did not take very long — especially after you two citizens had left — but I didn’t expect to catch you up so easily.’
‘I had a brush with that centurion again,’ I said. ‘He wouldn’t let me through. But there have been developments. The army’s found a dozen severed heads. They supposed it was rebels, but I’m certain that it’s not.’
Junio thought about it. ‘Marcus’s slaves? Of course!’ He frowned. ‘But why on earth …?’
‘It took me a moment to work that out myself,’ I said. ‘Tomorrow we’ll get Georgicus to collect the heads, and see. But I’m certain that we’ll find that one of them’s the missing gatekeeper.’