‘One other thing, Fabius.’ She poked her head through the curtains as the litter came alongside.
‘Oh?’ There was more than a hint of concern in his voice.
‘Mmm. The woman at your elbow. That’s your sister, Sabina. Since you forgot to ask…’
I
II
Despite the innkeeper having only one eye, Claudia could not really fault the establishment. It was neither verminous nor damp, which was more than you could say for most city taverns, and was far less of a fire hazard than it appeared from the outside.
Within seconds of Claudia returning from dinner feeling a whole new woman now the incrustations of salt had been scraped away, there was a knock on her door. The wine-
‘Hi! Remember me?’
The fuzz of red hair and Sicilian burr were unmistakable. Claudia slammed the door, wondering whether the fortune teller’s eager face would pull back before woodwork actually connected with nose, but a hand shot out of the blackness and the door bounced off it. Well, not a hand, really. More a paw. And a damned big one at that.
Claudia’s eyes followed it up the arm to the gorilla on the other end. Really, she thought. If she hadn’t seen it for herself, she’d never have believed life could be that cruel.
‘That’s Utti,’ the redhead explained. ‘He’s my brother.’
‘How lovely for you.’ Claudia found the door wouldn’t budge. She pointed to the ham propping it open. ‘Would you mind?’
‘Huh?’
It speaks, it speaks.
‘The door, Utti. Would you please remove your grubby fist.’
‘Uh…’ It glanced down at the redhead, who was dwarfed by its presence.
‘No, wait!’ It was more of a plea. ‘You’re in danger, great danger-’
‘So are you. There are four tough guys standing right behind you.’
The redhead smiled cheerfully. ‘No problem,’ she said. ‘Utti’s a wrestler.’
Claudia’s bodyguard, no slouches themselves, would be no match for a good professional. ‘Come to the point,’ she snapped.
The girl’s face took on a pained expression, about as genuine as her hair and her bosom. ‘There’s no point to come to. You’re in danger, and we’re here to help. Oh, I’m Tanaquil, by the way.’
‘And I’m very sorry. Now run along, there’s a good girl.’
Utti had been forced to remove his hand when he turned to face out the bodyguard, so Claudia smartly shut the door. Almost immediately there was a second knock.
‘What?’ She flung it open.
A struggle was in progress, in which three men had been pinned to the ground-and Utti wasn’t one of them. Tanaquil seemed totally oblivious to the clouds of dust and flying furniture, to the shouts and the grunts and the blood.
‘You’re going to Sullium, aren’t you? Well, I told you I saw a ram’s head. Eugenius Collatinus is in wool, isn’t he?’
Is he? Since Sicily was one of the four great granaries of Rome, Claudia had blithely assumed he was in wheat.
‘Fabius said so,’ Tanaquil continued happily. ‘And he also says his grandfather is planning a wedding for Sabina, so you must believe me now!’
Claudia wrenched her eyes off Utti, who was kneeling on Junius’s stomach and punching one of the Nubians while he kicked at the other. Idly she wondered whether he’d noticed the Cilician, Kleon, clinging to his back.
‘Tanaquil,’ she said calmly, ‘I don’t care whether you spend your leisure hours staring into the future or staring into the bottom of an empty wine glass. I neither want nor need the services of a fortune teller.’
The redhead wagged a playful finger. ‘That’s what you think,’ she said, ‘but don’t worry, you’ll hardly know I’m about.’
Claudia winced as Kleon dug his fingers into Utti’s eyes, then winced harder as Utti casually shook him off like an old cloak and the boy went bouncing down the staircase.
‘Even Utti will be on his best behaviour.’
‘He’s not behaving very nicely with my bodyguard.’
Tanaquil turned round. ‘Oh, is that who they are? Sorry.’ She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. ‘Utti, they’re friends,’ she said. ‘Friends. Yes. Put them down.’
The gorilla’s mouth formed a wide O and he clambered to his feet, pulling Junius up with one hand and one of the Nubians with the other. The second Nubian was still unconscious. All five were covered with blood.
‘Horry.’
Claudia mouthed, ‘Cleft palate?’
‘Broken nose, but don’t worry, he’s used to it.’
‘Obviously. Well, goodbye, dear. Goodbye, Utti. Pleasure to have met you both.’
The big ugly lump smiled so broadly you could see both his teeth. ‘Bye!’
‘Not goodbye, silly, goodnight!’
Irrepressible little thing, wasn’t she?
Tanaquil leaned towards Claudia. ‘He’s ever so excited about meeting the family. We’ve never stayed with posh people before.’
‘Then he’s in for a big disappointment. I don’t want you. I don’t need you. You’re not coming with me.’
This was not open to discussion. Claudia slammed the door shut and leaned her weight against it until all went quiet on the landing, then she threw herself down on the couch.
Straight away there was a rat-a-tat-tat.
Heaven help us. ‘Go away.’
A second, louder rap followed.
‘Can’t you get it through your thick skull you’re not wanted. Now GO AWAY!’
After half an hour she decided she’d waited long enough. ‘Landlord, where’s the wine I ordered?’
He shrugged. ‘I sent it up.’
‘Lie to me once again, you thieving vermin, and I’ll poke your other eye out.’
He had an odd sense of humour, finding that funny. ‘Gods’ honour,’ he said. ‘Dodger took it.’
‘I did.’ A small, swarthy, bandy-legged Sicilian came stumping up. ‘You sent me away,’ he said accusingly. ‘Twice.’
‘Don’t try to wriggle out of it!’ Claudia fixed him with a scowl. Small wonder they called him Dodger. ‘Just fetch the wine.’
Across the room, Drusilla extricated herself from the heaving mass of kittenhood and stretched every joint to its limit before making her way over to Claudia. She’d spent the last leg of the voyage sprawled on her side in a haze of pure bliss as four minuscule bundles of fur sucked and squeaked and snuggled and dozed-but now, like all good mothers, she recognized you could take only so much of a good thing.
‘I saved you a lump of boiled calf, poppet.’ Claudia broke the cold meat into pieces and fed them to her one at a time. ‘Tougher than we’re used to, but for a busy tavern it’s not too bad.’
When Drusilla had eaten her fill, Claudia began stroking the cat’s dark brown, glossy coat. ‘You heard the outcome, I suppose?’
‘Prrr.’
‘Exactly. Talk about lumbered!’
Tanaquil had lost no time in ingratiating herself with Sabina and had now wormed her way into going to Sullium.
‘I can’t imagine what she hopes to gain from it.’ Fabius wasn’t going to part with his brass (just look at the fuss he’d made about reimbursing the landlord for damages!) and Sabina didn’t look as though she knew what money was.
‘Perhaps that’s the idea?’
Squinty eyes closed in pleasure as the rhythmic massage smoothed away loose strands of fur.
‘Perhaps she’s hoping Sabina will cough up without question?’
Enlightenment would come swiftly enough. Vesta’s little playmate was so far out of touch, she’d have to seek advice from her brother. All that Claudia could see happening was for Tanaquil to be stranded along the south coast, along with that galloping great oaf Utti.
Her fingers moved up to tickle Drusilla’s ears and in response paws began to knead soft dough on Claudia’s lap.
‘What do you make of Fabius, then?’
My, how he’d squirmed when Claudia introduced him to his long-lost sister! On the run-up to forty and newly released from two decades in the army, he found women every inch as baffling as the civilian life he was thrust back into. His mission had been to escort Claudia Seferius to Sullium and this he had undertaken with organized zeal. No doubt had his orders been to escort Sabina back to Sullium, Claudia would have been equally excluded, but even so-