‘The Sklaveni took the farmers as slaves, Senuthius took their land, sure they would never return, but just in case he stole it by legal means.’
Flavius looked ahead to the wide silver glow of the River Danube, dotted with the odd glim of a lantern where some local was out night-fishing and that had him thinking of another one of his father’s grievances that could be laid at the door of Senuthius, an occasional dip into piracy, for the river was a major trade route from the interior to the Euxine Sea and beyond.
If the thieving of Senuthius was rare, it was always of a valuable cargo, for he had contacts upriver with the means to alert him to worthwhile objectives. It was a hard crime to stop too: the imperial centurion had no ship with which to patrol the river and nor could he tie himself and his men down on the riverbank in the hope of a surprise intervention.
If he found out about what had been pirated, and sometimes he was aware he did not, it was too late to do anything. The ship and crew would be at the bottom of the river, taken out and sunk in midstream as soon as the cargo had been unloaded, to then be dispersed and sold in places beyond the reach of his authority. Given the barbarians, too, indulged in such activities it was easy for Senuthius to protest his innocence when a ship was found to be missing and accusations were laid against him.
‘Hard to get a grip on a man who coats himself with oil,’ Ohannes moaned at the mention of this further criminality. ‘Known a few of those in my time.’
‘None as slippery as Senuthius,’ Flavius responded, as he began to list for Ohannes many of his other crimes, these too culled from the letters in his canvas satchel.
Some were only alleged, yet the list was long: it seemed there was nothing to which Senuthius would not stoop in search of profit. Stockpiling grain to create scarcity and up the price that must be paid when the harvest was poor. Adulterating both the wine and olive oil used by the poor and needy on a regular basis. The outright theft of land had already been mentioned, as had raiding across the river for slaves.
But added to that was the intimidating of lesser landowners by crop burning or physical beatings if they dared to stand up to him, demanding the payment of bribes to ensure they did not suffer more than once. Any less subservient neighbours, those who would not bend the knee, usually ended up selling him their farms rather than put up with endless harassment. He added to that downright fraud when it came to trading in any of the myriad commodities he now controlled.
Not that he participated in any criminal act himself; Senuthius always acted at one remove. He had willing lieutenants to do his bidding, the same men who had protected him from a furious Flavius, as well as too many folk who sucked up to him out of fear or merely because of his deep purse. Also plain was the simple truth and one that had frustrated Decimus above any other: the more he transgressed the more powerful Senuthius became in terms of wealth, influence and followers. Not all the citizens of worth were wholehearted in their regard for him, but they were men who looked to their own interests and could see clearly where power lay and with it their own prosperity.
These thoughts induced once more a sense of creeping despair. Swear vengeance he might for the blood of his family but there was only one power in the land that could create for him a situation in which he might kill Senuthius, something he had determined upon as he watched that funeral pyre burn. If he could not bring to the commission the truth of what had occurred, would they even find they could uphold any of what had been sent to them?
‘Ohannes, we must stop!’ The injunction was obeyed but Flavius could sense it was unwelcome. ‘If I cross the river who knows what it will lead to?’
‘Have I not already said …?’
‘Even if we remain free to act as we wish on the north bank, we will have no idea if the people my father was expecting have arrived, have no knowledge of what they will hear and no way of putting before them the accusations that he listed.’
‘Something I will be willing to talk about when my backside is sat in a boat and we are more’n the length of a cast spear out on yonder water.’
‘Don’t you see, Ohannes …?’
The response was a furious hiss. ‘I see my flesh rotting on a cross if what you say they are about is true. I can see too that your mind might be working at ways to bring down Senuthius, Master Flavius, and that is to be expected. But think on the time your papa put into that and no result to show for it.’
‘I cannot stop you from crossing if that is what you wish …’
‘Don’t you dare take that tone with me,’ Ohannes spat. ‘You have your birth but recall your years.’
That checked Flavius completely; the Scythian had rarely spoken to him with anything but respect, yet here again was that stance he had adopted when he used his spear to threaten the stallion. The recollection of that produced near-equal irritation.
‘Am I only to be indulged when what you want marries my thinking?’
If he hoped to dent the older man’s ire he failed miserably. ‘Your papa is dead and so are your brothers, but were the centurion able to speak from beyond then he would ask that I keep you whole, and even if the words were never spoken that is what I shall do. Stay on this bank of the river and you will die, for certain, an’ me too for I will not leave your side.’
‘You do not know my thinking.’
‘Crossed over the river you can do as much thinking as you wish. Now it is fleeing that matters.’
‘We can find a place to hide on this side.’
‘With dogs on our trail?’ Prepared to be stubborn, the notion that he could was taken from Flavius by the sound of baying hounds, faint but unmistakable and carrying a long way on a still night, which allowed Ohannes to add, ‘Only thing that will keep us from them is water and as for the men handling them, lots of it.’
It was time to move at speed, and luck and good moonlight soon set them on the riverbank at a spot where an inundation created a small strand of pebbles, the water lapping it deep enough to break the spoor. That would not last long: the bank rose and protruded out into the river, the water becoming too deep through which to wade, so it was back to dry land and a patch of thick untended woodland. It did not need to be stated that such a dipping of feet would last only minutes; the dogs would be sent to both ends of the strand, so still making ground was essential.
Ohannes, even if he was wheezing again, showed no sign of wishing to do anything other than hurry along, although he had enough puff to curse when once more the moon was covered by cloud, killing what little light came through a thick overhead canopy. Forced to stand still, it occurred to Flavius that it had been an error to come to this part of the riverbank, albeit not having thought of it himself beforehand, he reckoned it would be churlish to point out to Ohannes why: they were within the area of the recent raid and the barbarians had taken every boat as they retreated.
They needed to get beyond the old watchtower that lay to the north, where there might be craft still beached, and that was going to be made difficult in what was now continuing pitch dark. Either the moon was obscured or the woods they passed through were too dense in the overhead cover to permit any light to penetrate, obliging them to find once more the riverbank, where they sought out another small inlet with its strand of pebbles and stopped, Ohannes stooping to splash his sweating face with water, the word spat out when he stood again.
‘Look.’
The crest of the hills that overlooked the river was dotted with tiny spots of light, numerous torches too far off to be seen as flaring, while faint on the air was the sound of the pack of dogs, which produced a sobering conclusion. Cloud cover and deep woodland would halt them but it would not hinder the pursuit of these men, let alone their beasts. Only when the sky cleared again and in open country could they move on at a pace sufficient to stave off capture. To escape would be a miracle, for they could not outrun the dogs once they were left free to take the chase on their own.