His years in the legions had given him a nose for trouble. Tonight, being in a post-house several leagues from the nearest town, he should have been able to relax, but the men were restless. That might just be because, for once, they were out of coin. They had ordered no extra wine as far as he could tell, nor questioned the landlord about the other services on offer. Toger, particularly, was like a caged lion, striding about, his beetle-brow creased in anger and frustration, his beady eyes occasionally favouring Flaccus with a menacing glare. The centurion ate slowly and watched the whispered conversations, accompanied by much gesturing, with a lot of sideways glances in his direction.
They waited until he was in the stable, checking the horse’s hooves, before slipping away under a strong moon, Toger and two others, Dedon and Charro, with Flaccus watching from the edge of the stable door. He waited till they were just out of sight and started to head after them, but the other men appeared from nowhere and, though it could not be proved, he was sure they would block his pursuit if he tried to continue. Flaccus was too experienced to risk an open breach, so he smiled at them, made a gesture to indicate he had forgotten something, and went back into the stable.
‘Where are you boy?’ he said softly.
‘Here!’ The reply came from above his head and he looked up to see Aquila laying on a bale of straw, the dog beside him.
‘How would you like a proper bed to sleep in and food off your own plate?’ Aquila did not reply, nor did he blink; the bright blue eyes held the older man in a disconcertingly steady gaze. ‘Toger has gone for a little walk with a couple of his mates.’
‘I know. They go out most nights. They’ll be back in an hour or so.’
Flaccus spoke eagerly, his normally cautious nature overborne by his surprise at the boy’s observation. ‘Any idea what they get up to?’
‘No.’
‘Well, that’s what I want to know.’
‘And you can’t go yourself because the others blocked your way.’
‘How do you know that?’
For the first time the boy smiled. ‘You can see a lot from up here. You can see that they turned north once they were over the crest of the hill and out of sight of the stable door.’
‘Come down here,’ snapped Flaccus, angry at the way, with his calm response, this boy was besting him. Aquila dropped from the hayloft, landing softly and bending his knees to break his fall. The dog chose a different route, jumping down into a pile a straw, and once there, it lay down to watch.
‘Do you think you could follow them?’
‘Easily. We’re in the country, not some town. I’ve never heard or seen an elephant, but Toger must sound just like one in the undergrowth.’ He jerked a thumb towards the dog. ‘And Minca will pick him up a mile off.’
Flaccus took him by the ear, tugging it gently, ignoring the dog, which had stood up and was watching them carefully. ‘You’re a cocky little bastard, ain’t you. I want to know where they’ve gone and what they do. Find out and I’ll pay for your board, fail and you and that hound can start walking back to Dabo’s farm, ’cause that mare of his will be forfeit.’
Aquila did not flinch or cry out as Flaccus tugged his ear harder, he just stared at the centurion, refusing to be cowed. ‘I can only do that if you let go of my ear.’
Flaccus smiled, releasing him. ‘You’re nothing like Clodius are you?’
Aquila turned and was halfway out of the window, the dog eagerly following, but his reply was clear enough. ‘Why should I be?’
The road was built on a causeway, with culverts running underneath at intervals to aid irrigation. Aquila headed in the opposite direction to that taken by Toger, crossed the paved highway, slid down the other side and ran north out of sight of the other men outside the post-house. With Minca at his heels, he slipped through the first arched channel and made his way to the small defile that he had seen the trio take. Turning north again, he ran swiftly and silently, dodging round the gorse bushes and skipping over any loose twigs. The dog was ahead, stopping occasionally to sniff the north-west wind, whimpering softly if he detected some strong odour. Aquila heard them well before he saw them, since his description of Toger was not over-stated, and soon he had all three in view, with Toger well in the lead, blundering along, parallel with the road, making no attempt at silence, as they strode on in the fading light.
Aquila slowed down, called Minca to heel and dropped to a crouched position, using the bushes for cover as he trailed them. They were still heading north, clearly with a destination in mind. Toger stopped, threw out his arm, indicating something off to his right, and they turned that way. Aquila let them go, waiting till they were a fair way off, before shinning up one of the few wild olive trees in this sparse and barren landscape. The lamps from the main room of the villa shone out clearly in the twilight and the purposeful way that the three men were walking towards the place identified it as their destination, so Aquila dropped back down and ran after them, still keeping out of sight. He stopped dead at the sound of the barking dogs, grabbing Minca and forcing him to sit, his blood freezing as he heard Toger speak, not more than ten paces away. The wind had carried his scent away from Minca’s nose and they had nearly blundered into them.
‘Dogs bark at anythin’, you know that.’
One of the other men spoke, his voice angry. ‘We came at the place from the wrong side. They’ve picked up our scent on the wind. Besides it sounds like a pack of them. They’ll tear us to pieces if we try and sneak in.’
The third one interjected. ‘You’re forever rushin’ at these things, Toger.’
There was a slight scuffling sound, then a gasp as though one of the men was in pain and Toger’s voice, never gentle, was truly threatening now. ‘You mind what you say, you bastard.’
The voice that replied had a strangled quality. ‘I was only trying to tell you.’
‘You don’t tell me anything, Charro. I tell you. Understand!’
The third voice had a note of fear. ‘No more killing, Toger.’
‘You going soft, Dedon?’
‘Sense. We’ve already done murder on this road, if we do another a magistrate would need to be as thick as pea soup not to make the connection. We can’t leave bodies all the way from Rome to Sicily.’
Toger’s voice was angry. ‘What are you suggestin’, that we go dry of wine and women for the whole journey?’
‘No, but if we can’t steal without bloodshed, it’s best left. An’ I can’t see how we can rob a farmhouse without hurting someone. It was a daft idea.’
‘What if I was to say this farmer had a pair of prime daughters.’
‘You can keep that as your wishful thinkin’, Toger. I say we wait until we’re stopped in another town.’
‘I’m as dry as a Vestal’s tit, an’ I need a woman.’
‘I’ve never known you not to, mate. Why don’t we ask Flaccus for an advance on our wages?’
Toger’s voice became angry again. ‘I’ll not crawl to that sod.’
‘Like it or not, Toger, he’s the boss now.’
Another strangled gasp accompanied Toger’s reply. ‘Maybe we’ll see about that, one day. Maybe he’ll order me about once too often.’
‘Then don’t turn your back, mate,’ growled the third man. ‘Without him there’ll be no food or drink, let alone women.’
Toger snorted. ‘What? One of you lot try to kill me? That’ll be the day.’
‘Well, I say this is never going to work. We’ve either got to go in there and kill everyone, including the dogs, or give up and go back to the post-house.’
‘I vote we leave it.’
‘An’ I say we go in,’ growled Toger.