Calgaich the Swordsman (51 page)

Nepos nodded. “Yes.”

“You must not talk about the boat!”

Calgaich, Guidd and Lutorius then crossed the street. They kicked off their sandals. Calgaich climbed the vine-covered wall. He reached the parapet and poked his head up over its rim. The guard walkway was empty. He whistled softly to his two companions.

Lutorius came over the wall followed by Guidd. The large quadrangle and the practice area were shadowy expanses in the darkness. Faint yellowish light showed through the slit windows of the guardhouse which was in the base of one of the guard towers where the main gate was located.

They let themselves down from the guard walkway to the tiled roof of one of the barracks.

“Quiet!” Calgaich hissed.

They dropped flat on the large tiles.

Nailed sandals beat a little unsteadily on the walkway. A dim figure showed in the darkness. The guard passed within fifteen feet of the three prone figures on the roof. The man hiccupped. In a little while his unsteady footsteps died away.

Lutorius grinned. “He's full of Saturnalia wine.”

Calgaich hung from the tile rain gutter of the roof and then dropped lightly to the ground. Lutorius and Guidd landed beside him. They crouched in an arcade, peering into the darkness.

Calgaich gripped Guidd by the shoulder and pointed toward the gate. Guidd nodded. He vanished silently into the shadows of the arcade.

Calgaich and Lutorius catfooted across the wide quadrangle. Calgaich started for the door to Togatus's quarters. Lutorius gripped him by an arm and shook his head. They froze in position under the arcade.

Sandals thudded on the hardpacked earth of the quadrangle. Two men passed just beyond the arched openings of the arcade and within a few feet of the two motionless figures in the deep shadows.

“Damned if this isn't the quietest night I've ever spent in this place, Ostorius,” said one of the men. “Meanwhile, Rome is one big wineshop and whorehouse.”

“True, but what have we to worry about? Togatus wants company. He's got plenty of wine, food and three women in there with him, Aelius. By Zeus, one of them is a Greek whore that could shake your reason just to look at her. Tits on her like a cow and an ass as broad as a spear shaft is long.”

They opened the door to Togatus's quarters, then closed it behind them.

Guidd came silently across the quadrangle. “The guards are deep into the wine jugs. There are only two of them on watch. One in each gate tower.”

Calgaich drew his dagger. “I'll get the keys.”

"Remember who you're up against, barbarian. Three of the best."

"You'll hear soon enough if I need help,
calo”

Calgaich eased open the door. An oil lamp flickered dimly in the anteroom. The door into the quarters of the gladiator master was slightly ajar. He could hear the sound of men talking loudly and the shrill laughter of drunken women.

The draft from the outer door blew out the oil lamp. Calgaich cursed beneath his breath as he searched for the ring of keys. Finally his hand closed on the key ring on a wall hook. He unhooked the key ring and turned quickly to leave the room. The heavy keys swung in his hand and knocked a vase from a table. It shattered to pieces on the tiled floor.

The sound of voices and laughter suddenly stopped.

Calgaich jumped into a comer as the inner door swung open to admit a flood of lamplight from the quarters. A tall, broad-shouldered man was framed within the doorway. At that instant Lutorius suddenly appeared in the outer doorway with his knife in his hand.

"By Hercules! It's that damned Bottle Emptier!" Aelius shouted. He drew his dagger and plunged toward Lutorius.

Calgaich brought the heavy cluster of keys down across the back of the head guard's thick neck. Aelius staggered forward to meet the point of Lutorius's knife. He fell face downward on the floor just as Ostorius came plunging through the inner doorway with his dagger ready.

Calgaich swung the keys to smash them across the face of the instructor. Ostorius staggered back against the wall, half-blinded by the blood that spurted from his face. Calgaich's dagger flashed in the light from the open door and finished off Ostorius.

A broad and powerful figure in the inner doorway was framed by the light from behind him. Togatus was as drunk as a priest of Dionysius. His eyes widened as he backed slowly into his quarters. The whores screamed in shrill unison.

"Shut the outer door,
calo,**
Calgaich ordered.

"He's mine, barbarian,'' Lutorius claimed.

Lutorius crossed the room in three great strides. Togatus threw a wine jug at his face. Lutorius fended it off with his left forearm and closed in on Togatus. Togatus took one knife thrust to get his bearlike arms about Lutorius. The two of them stood there straining against one another.

Calgaich kicked a screaming whore out of the way. He snatched up a chair and brought it down full force on the rounded head of the gladiator master. Togatus merely grunted and tightened his grip. Lutorius gasped from the terrible pressure.

Calgaich stepped in close and drove his dagger into the back of Togatus, who stiffened and relaxed his hold on Lutorius. He staggered backward and Lutorius slid his knife in up under the ribs of the gladiator master. He swayed sideways and crashed onto the bed.

The whores had stopped screaming. They huddled together in a comer of the room.

Lutorius looked slowly at the three women. “Well, Calgaich?” he asked softly.

“They haven't harmed us.”

“As soon as we leave they'll scream an alarm.”

“We can lock them in.''

“We can't risk letting them live, Calgaich,” Lutorius insisted.

Calgaich walked quickly from the room. “Lock them in!” he snapped over a shoulder.

Guidd was waiting outside. “Did you get them all?”

Calgaich nodded, leading the way along the arcade to the armory, where he unlocked the door and with Guidd's help selected swords and daggers with which to arm the other barbarians.

They unlocked the outer door of the prisoner barracks. The dark hall was quiet.

Calgaich looked back over his shoulder. “Where's that damned Bottle Emptier?” he hissed.

“I'll get him, Calgaich.”

Lutorius softly closed the outer door to Togatus's quarters. Calgaich had left the key in the lock. Lutorius locked the door. He drank deeply from a wine jug and then wiped the blood from his knife onto the thick vines which hung from the roof of the arcade.

Guidd came silently through the darkness. He whistled softly. “Calgaich wants you,
calo”

Lutorius handed the jug to Guidd. "Have one on me, woodsman.”

Guidd drank deeply. He wiped his mouth. They walked across the quadrangle. Guidd looked sideways at Lutorius. “How were the whores?”

Lutorius nodded. “Not bad. Not bad.”

“Perhaps they might make an outcry.”

Lutorius looked back over his shoulder. “Not a chance, woodsman, not a chance....”

The cells did not have locks, but were held shut by thick wooden bars placed across the doors and resting in metal supports. Calgaich paused outside the first cell door. He could hear the occupant moving softly about. “Lexus?” Calgaich whispered.

“Yes. Who is it?”

“Calgaich.”

There was a moment's pause. “Is this some cursed Roman trick?”

Calgaich lifted the bar from its supports and opened the heavy door. A huge figure stood in the center of the cell. Lexus gripped Calgaich in a bear hug.

“By the gods, Gaul, let me go!” Calgaich gasped. “Show me where the rest of our comrades are.”

They released the other prisoners. As each of them passed out into the opening quadrangle Lutorius handed them a sword and a dagger. Guidd then guided them to the stairway which ascended to the wall. At the bottom of the wall Nepos guided them by twos and threes to the abandoned temple of Dionysius. There, Fomoire instructed them to shear off their long hair and scrape off their mustaches.

They were all there when Calgaich, Lutorius and Guidd came into the temple. Lexus, the giant Gaul; Garth, the Silurian harper; Conaid, the Little Hound, of the Damnonii; Chilo, the Greek tutor; Loarn, the daring Brigantes; and Niall, the redheaded Selgovae. There were also Ottar, the quiet young Saxon chief; Girich, the Pict, who was the son of Aengus; Onlach, of the border Votadini; and Eogabal and Muirchu of the Northern Picts, the fierce and untamed Niduari.

Calgaich looked from one to the other of the silent shadowy figures of men. “You are free now, at least from the Ludus Maximus. The Saturnalia will be over by dawn tomorrow and then your escape will be discovered. There is a boat down at Ostia, the
Lydia,
which was my grandfather's and is now mine. You all remember Cunori, the Venetus seaman. He now commands the
Lydia.
We plan to escape from Ostia on the
Lydia.
You can travel one by one, or in twos, but no more than two together down to the Emporium, the warehouses on the bank of the Tiber, where a boat can be stolen with which you can go down the river to Ostia.

“You will have to move fast and not arouse suspicion. Any of you who are caught must not talk. You know nothing of this plan. Probably not all of you will make it to the Tiber or to Ostia. That rests in the laps of the gods. Go now, while you still have darkness and time on your side.”

None of them moved.

“Well?” Calgaich demanded.

“Aren't you coming with us, Calgaich?” Lexus asked.

Calgaich shook his head. “There are things I must do first.”

“What do you mean?” Loam asked.

“You all know of my woman, Cairenn. She is a slave to Aemilius Valens and the woman Morar. She is now in their house at the top of the Viminal Hill. I am going there to get her.”

“This is madness!” Chilo cried. “What is one woman more or less? Would you jeopardize your chance for freedom and perhaps your very life for a slave woman?”

“She is with child,” Calgaich replied quietly. “The child is mine. I mean to take Cairenn back with me to my own country.”

It was very quiet in the dank temple.

“This Valens, and the bitch-woman Morar,” Niall put in softly. “Do you mean to let them live, Calgaich?”

“No, Niall. They must die.”

“You'll not go alone then to do this thing.”

A low murmur spread amongst the men.

“I'm going with him,” Lutorius said.

“And I,” Guidd added.

“Count me in, Calgaich,” Lexus added.

Calgaich shook his head. “I will take only four men with me—Lutorius, Guidd, Girich and Conaid.”

No one spoke. They knew the voice of command when they heard it.

Calgaich looked at Nepos. “Do you know the way to the Emporium, Nepos?”

The Iberian nodded. "I have been there many times to buy food and staples for my master.”

“Lead the rest of the men there. Take care of Fomoire. Find a barge on the Tiber embankment to steal. Send
a
man back to meet us at the main gate of the Emporium. If we are not there in two hours, you must leave for Ostia. Otherwise, the dawn will catch you on the river.”

Nepos led die men from the temple. Lexus helped Fomoire.

Calgaich took his sword and spear. He looked at his four comrades. He nodded. They left the temple with great Bron padding beside his master and started up the slope of the Street of the Pear toward the top of the Viminal Hill.

The mansion of Aemilius Valens stood at the very crest of the Viminal Hill. The rear wall of its sumptuous garden overlooked a steep slope that descended to the next street. The slope itself was thickly overgrown with tall oleander bushes. Within the dark shelter of the oleanders just below the rear wall of the garden, Calgaich, Lutorius, Girich, Conaid and Bron now waited for word from Guidd, who had gone ahead to scout the situation. They could hear the faint sounds of revelry coming from the garden and from the other great homes on the Viminal Hill.

Guidd came noiselessly down the slope. “There are no guards about the garden and only one in the house,” he whispered. “He is the porter at the front door and he's drunk.”

“And inside?” Calgaich asked.

“There are not too many people there now. I overheard some of them saying they were going to the Baths of Trajan.”

“Valens? Morar? Cairenn?”

Guidd nodded. “I saw Valens and Morar. They were not together.” He grinned. “Valens was with a young boy who was painted like a whore. Morar was naked in the bushes with two men. The Perfumed Pig is still there. He was with a drunken manservant. They went into the house together^ I left the rear garden gate unlatched before I came over the wall. It will be easy to hide in the shrubbery.”

“You didn't see Cairenn?”

Guidd shook his head. “But the house is very large. There are many rooms and outbuildings. There is a summer house like your grandfather's at the rear of the garden. I didn’t get into it because I heard voices in there.”

“Let's go,” Calgaich said.

They ascended the slope. Guidd eased open the gate. Quickly they moved into the garden and took shelter among the many ornamental trees and shrubs. It was immense, a veritable park of rare trees, beds of flowers, ornamental shrubs, pools of fish and water plants, and a number of fine fountains. Tiled pathways stretched across the green lawns. There were many statues and busts. A large pavilion of glistening white marble shone ghostlike from amid a border of plane trees and shrubs. Here and there lamps had been hung in the garden, but there were dark, hidden little glades concealed in the shadows of the trees and shrubs.

Wine cups and bottles and jugs lay strewn about on the grass. Under a table heaped with dishes and remnants of food, a drunk lay fast asleep. Concealed by a thin row of ornamental trees and plants a fat man lay on top of a nude woman whose legs were outspread to receive him, but there was no motion from either one of them—they evidently were both dead drunk. A half-dressed man lay in a pool of his own vomit.

“Rome,” Calgaich murmured. “The Imperial City. The center of the world.”

Calgaich leaned his war spear against the garden wall and unsheathed his sword. “Guidd, Lutorius, come with me. Girich and Conaid, keep guard here in the garden. We'll call for you if we need you.” He looked down at Bron. “Stay here.”