Rufinus looked back across the passage they had followed, invisible from above, and the small complex with the gardens and offices, the road beyond. Huge structures to either side of the curved garden where they had entered the tunnel sported numerous domes and chimneys, high large windows and aqueduct channels leading into them, both clearly immense bath houses. The one to the north, slightly smaller, belched out smoke, evidencing its continued use, while the other appeared now to be abandoned.
‘Baths,’ Phaestor announced, then pointed to other structures as he labelled them: ‘The Canopus garden. Not in current use. The Praetorium – former barracks for Hadrianus’ Praetorians and now my quarters and that of my adjutant, Dis. Don’t find yourself anywhere near there unless you’re sent for, and pray you’re not sent for.’
He turned again, gesturing up a slope dotted with laden olive trees, almost overripe now for the harvest. Likely such duties were no longer observed. As Phaestor opened his mouth to say something, a dog’s bark interjected, then another – deep, powerful barks, suggestive of large animals.
Rufinus peered among the olive trees and spotted two black shapes moving between them. The barks came again. Not happy barks; not playful. These were the barks of dogs on the hunt.
Rufinus found himself shrinking back behind the needle-toothed giant as the two creatures bounded into view between the gnarled trunks, snarling and snapping as they slowed from a run to a hunter’s stalk.
‘Acheron! Cerberus! Sit!’ said Dis, surprisingly quietly.
The dogs almost injured themselves attempting to halt their forward momentum and sit straight, bolt upright, eyes locked on the newcomers, white drool dripping from their jaws as they panted. Though they acted like dogs, they were far more reminiscent of wolves to Rufinus’ mind, reminding him of the ones he used to find while hunting in the woods of Hispania, though with more of a blue-grey look than the Hispanic brown.
Phaestor turned with a smile. ‘Dis keeps his Sarmatian beasts free to roam. So long as you have no reason to fear Dis, you’ve no reason to fear these two charming little puppies.’
The huge needle-toothed man leaned down to pat one of them and the dog turned its head slowly toward the approaching hand and issued a low growl of warning, lips drawing back from its fangs. Even the giant who had accompanied them from town quickly pulled his hand back from the dogs.
Phaestor’s finger fell upon a sprawling complex that covered the slope down to the bath house. ‘That’s the other wing of the main residence. That’ he added with a sly grin, ‘is where master Pompeianus lives in virtual seclusion.’ The guard captain lowered his voice and the smile disappeared from his face. ‘Remember this, and remember well. You are hired, and paid, by the Empress Lucilla; not the master. Offer aid and all due deference to the master, but always remember where your loyalties lie.’
Rufinus narrowed his eyes at the pleasant-looking villa and made a mental note that, given its owner and his obvious ‘second-class’ nature at the palace, it would be a good place to disappear for a while if the need arose. His memories of Pompeianus from Vindobona were of a quiet, intelligent man; a man of courage and strength playing the role of a virtual prisoner to his high-profile wife. He became aware suddenly that Phaestor was speaking again.
‘…where you will both be quartered.’
Rufinus followed his finger and took in the square structure he had recently omitted.
‘Now come on.’
Rufinus and Fastus fell in with the three regulars, aware of the noise of eight, large, padding feet behind them and the heavy breathing of the clearly-dangerous beasts.
The building they were approaching was considerably less grand than most of the structures of the huge complex, constructed of basic brick and concrete, with no decoration and only small windows in the exterior walls at first and second level. A recently-repaired tile roof covered the structure, which sat at an awkward angle in the space that opened up between the main bulk of the Imperial residence and the separate wing that the Empress’ consort currently occupied. Rounding the outer walls of the structure, they passed through a low arch into a porch. Here, corridors and passageways led off to the more important parts of the palace, while a wider arch gave access to the barracks.
To Rufinus’ great relief, Dis paused at the outer arch with his two dogs and allowed the rest to go inside without him. As soon as they passed through the entrance and into the building proper, the point-toothed monster left them too, disappearing through a side door.
The barracks consisted of a two-storey structure surrounding three sides of a courtyard, with the access arch in the fourth. Doors opened off the courtyard onto ground floor rooms, with a landing accessed by a staircase leading to the upper ones. Three small rooms to each side, and a full-wing one straight ahead. That meant fourteen rooms and since none were occupied by the officers, who resided in the former Praetorians’ quarters, at military occupation levels, with four in a room: a minimum of fifty six men.
Rufinus whistled through his teeth. Allowing for guards stationed at the praetorium and possibly in places he hadn’t yet seen, Lucilla might have a small army building in this place, a short hop from the capital.
‘You two can share the first room on the top floor with Glaucus. No one else will, ‘cause of his problems.’ Phaestor pointed up to the door above them on their left. ‘It would seem neither of you has any gear to stow?’
Fastus shook his head and Rufinus gave the captain a rueful grin. ‘Used to have, ‘til I had to leave Asisium in a bit of a hurry.’
Phaestor barked out a laugh. ‘I’ll have Glaucus show you round the grounds in a couple of hours when it cools off. Right now it’s too hot to think straight and you don’t want Glaucus getting too sweaty, with his problems.’
Fastus shared a questioning look with Rufinus.
‘Right, you two. Best get yourself settled in and get some rest. You’ll be on duty tonight, as soon as you’ve had your orientation and a bite to eat.’
Fastus started to climb the stairs to the second level. Rufinus, however, levelled his most accommodating gaze at the captain and rolled his shoulders. ‘With respect, sir, it’s been a long, hot morning and it’s been days since I’ve had a good scrub and scrape. Any objections if I use the baths first?’
Phaestor shrugged. ‘Up to you, Marcius. So long as you’re in this courtyard at fourth bell.’
The captain turned and strode back through the arches and out the way they had come, meeting with Dis and his hounds outside. Rufinus gave them a few moments' head start before he left the archway, not wanting to be too close to that hollow man and his Hades-born dogs. Once the officers were shrinking figures disappearing toward the praetorium, Rufinus strolled out and headed for the line of smoke belching up into the sky, the sign that the floors of the bathhouse would be nicely warmed through.
It took only moments to reach the sprawling complex and locate the entrance. Striding wearily inside, he paused in the doorway to remove his boots, tsk-ing at the lines of dirt and white skin where the straps of his military-issue caligae had left his feet in such a state. Pausing in the doorway and rubbing them to get the worst of the muck off, he strode inside, grateful that the changing room was blessedly empty, though one of the alcoves contained clothing, so the baths were clearly currently in use by someone.
‘Pissing sandals. If you wore these in Vindobona your feet’d rot off.’
‘Master legionary Rustius Rufinus, if I am not mistaken!’
Rufinus nearly jumped through his skin at the soft-spoken words, his eyes zipping left and right in the empty changing room, seeking out the source of the voice. His hand went instinctively to the pommel of the sword at his side.