Praetorian (36 page)

He struggled to his feet and scanned the surrounding landscape. Looking upriver he could see the end of the vale, some half a mile away. An earthen streak scarred the pasture between the vale and the bank of the river. Uprooted trees lay scattered across the ground and several figures stood or sat amid the mud, staring about them. More stood at the fringes of where the wave had swept past. There was no sign of the imperial litters, or the tables on which the cake had stood. A few hundred paces upstream Cato could see Burrus supporting the Emperor as they made their way back upriver. There was no sign of Tigellinus in any direction.

Cato squatted down beside Macro. ‘How do you feel?’

‘Sore.’ Macro puffed his cheeks. ‘I must have taken quite a crack to the head … I was holding on to that branch - we went over something and dropped down. That’s the last I can recall until some bastard smacked me round the chops.’ He glanced up. ‘That was you, I take it.’

‘What are friends for?’ Cato offered his hand and helped Macro on to his feet. ‘Come on, let’s get back to what’s left of the century.’

They began to walk towards the figures scattered about the flood plain, some of whom were looking for survivors caught in the debris or tending to the injured.

‘What the hell happened?’ asked Macro.

‘That’s obvious. The dam gave way.’

‘How? How is that possible? You heard the engineer. It would take a hundred men to cause the dam to collapse.’

Cato thought for a moment. ‘Evidently not. It collapsed by itself, or someone helped it to.’

‘Shoddy bloody Greek workmanship - that’s what caused it.’

‘You really think so? Just when the Emperor happened to be standing right in the path of the wave when it struck? Quite a coincidence.’

‘It happens. The gods will play their games.’

‘So will some traitors. Did you see Tigellinus? It was as if he was the only one among us who wasn’t surprised by the wave.’

They continued in silence for a while before Macro cleared his throat. ‘All right then, so if the Liberators are responsible for this, how the hell did they manage it?’

‘I don’t know. Not yet. But I want a good look at what’s left of the dam.’

By the time they joined the other survivors, the remaining German guards had formed up round the Emperor. Their drenched locks of hair, streaked with mud, and their soiled tunics and armour made them look even more barbaric than normal and the Praetorian guardsmen and the civilians kept their distance. Someone had found a stool for the Emperor and Claudius sat on it numbly, surveying the scene. The survivors had instinctively made for the high ground to one side of the end of the vale, in case of another disaster. Narcissus was leaning in towards the Emperor, offering words of comfort while a terrified-looking Apollodorus stood a short distance off, between two of the German bodyguards.

‘You two!’

Cato turned sharply to see Tribune Burrus striding towards them. He and Macro stood to attention and saluted the commander of their cohort. Burrus studied Cato’s features briefly and then nodded. ‘You’re the one who helped me to save the Emperor, aren’t you?’

Cato thought quickly. It was tempting to take the credit for his part in rescuing Claudius, but it would be dangerous to risk drawing any attention to himself, or Macro. Particularly if word got back to the Liberators who would be certain to suspect their motives.

‘I was holding on to the same branch. That is all. I believe you were the one most responsible for saving him, sir.’

Burrus’s eyes narrowed, as if he suspected some kind of a trick. Then he nodded slowly. ‘Very well. All the same, I shall make sure that your part in this does not go unrewarded.’

Cato nodded his gratitude.

‘Your centurion’s missing. Have you seen him?’ the tribune asked.

‘He was close to us in the river. I lost sight of him afterwards.’

‘A pity. A good man that. Quick off the mark to try to save the Emperor when the wave struck. Lucky I was there to succeed where he failed, eh?’

‘Indeed, sir.’

‘His optio’s in charge now.’ Burrus nodded towards Fuscius who had somehow managed to hang on to his staff and was busy searching among the bedraggled survivors for men from the Sixth Century. ‘You’d best report to Fuscius directly.’

‘Not yet, Tribune,’ Narcissus called out as he made his way over to the three guardsmen. ‘I want to have a closer look at the dam. I want these two to help me, in case there’s any further danger.’

‘Further danger?’ Burrus looked surprised by the suggestion, then shrugged. ‘Very well, they’re yours.’

The imperial secretary nodded towards the Emperor and lowered his voice. ‘Look after him. He’s badly shaken.’

‘Of course.’

Narcissus glanced at Cato and Macro with the blank expression of one accustomed to seeing the broad mass of humanity as a single class of servants. ‘Follow me!’

They strode off across the grass, skirting the slick expanse of mud that sprawled across the land between the vale and the river. When they entered the vale, they had to progress carefully across the slippery ground and negotiate the tangled remains of trees and shrubs. As soon as they were out of the sight of the survivors, Narcissus turned to Cato and Macro.

‘That was no accident. That was a blatant attempt on the Emperor’s life, and mine.’

Macro snorted. ‘Not to mention a few hundred guardsmen and civilians. But I suppose we don’t count for much, eh?’

‘Not in the grand scheme of things, no,’ Narcissus replied coldly. ‘For now I’m happy for that Greek engineer to think it was an accident. He’s scared out of his wits and might divulge some information that might be useful. Now or later.’

‘Later?’ Cato glanced at him.

‘If by some slip of the tongue he tells me something that leaves me with a hold over him, that’s a useful by-product of the situation.’

Macro shook his head. ‘By the gods, you never miss a trick, do you?’

‘I try not to. That’s why I’m still alive and at the side of the Emperor. Not many of my predecessors can claim to have survived in that position for a fraction of the time that I have.’

‘And now Pallas is trying to push you out,’ Macro noted and clicked his tongue. ‘Puts you on the spot, eh?’

‘I’ve bested sharper men than Pallas,’ Narcissus replied dismissively. ‘He won’t concern me for much longer.’

‘Oh?’

Narcissus shot him a quick look and then stepped round a large boulder. He looked ahead and pointed. ‘That’s where we’ll find some answers, I hope.’

Cato and Macro followed his direction and saw the remains of the dam. A line of rocks stretched across the narrow bottom of the vale and water still trickled from between them. More rocks and shattered timbers lay strewn about the ground in front of the foundations of the dam. The three men picked their way forward and stopped a short distance below the main breach.

‘I’m trying to recall how it looked before,’ said Narcissus. ‘I should have paid more attention to that bore, Apollodorus. Weren’t there some big sticks supporting the middle?’

‘Sticks?’ Cato smiled. ‘I think he called them buttresses.’

Narcissus looked at him and frowned briefly. ‘Buttresses then. I remember he said that they would need plenty of men to shift them when the time came to drain the water behind the dam.’

‘That’s right.’ Cato nodded.

‘So what happened? Where did all these men suddenly come from? There wasn’t anyone near the dam.’

‘Yes … Yes there was,’ Cato replied. ‘You remember that party by a wagon close to the base of the dam.’

Macro nodded. ‘Yes. Can’t have been more than ten of them though. They wouldn’t have been able to shift those timbers. Not by themselves.’

‘No. You’re right,’ Cato conceded.

They picked their way across the muddy debris. Then Narcissus pointed down the vale. ‘Isn’t that one of them? One of those buttresses? Or at least what’s left of it.’

Cato and Macro turned to look. A hundred paces away, to the side of the vale, what looked like a shattered tree trunk stood up at an angle, wedged between two huge boulders. Cato could see that it was too straight and regular to be the remains of a tree. ‘Worth a look,’ he said.

‘Why?’ asked Macro, not liking the look of the mud-encrusted tangles of vegetation that lay between them and the shattered buttress.

‘For the dam to collapse, both of the main supports would have to give way first, right?’

‘So?’

‘So, aren’t you curious about how they did give way?’

Macro gave him a surly look. ‘I could be more curious.’

Cato ignored him and began to clamber across the ruined landscape towards the two boulders. After a moment the other two followed. Cato was examining the thick length of timber when they caught up with him. Some of the buttress was buried in the mud and another six feet or so protruded into the air before ending in a confusion of shattered splinters. Cato was tracing his fingers across what was left of a regular line at the edge of the splinters.

‘Do you see here?’ He moved aside to give them a clear view. Macro stood on tiptoe and squinted.

‘Looks like it’s been sawn.’ He reached up and traced his fingers along the mark. ‘Quite some way into the timber.’

Cato nodded. ‘I’d wager that we’d find the same on the other buttress if we could find it, as well as some of the lesser supports. Weaken enough of them and you’d no longer need hundreds of men to put enough pressure on the timbers to cause them to give way, or shatter under the strain, like this one.’ He patted the timber. ‘Just shift some of the supports and the pressure of the water behind the dam will do the rest.’

Narcissus nodded. ‘As I said, this was no accident, and here is the proof.’

‘There is something else,’ Cato said. ‘When we saw the wave, did you notice how everyone was rooted to the spot?’

‘Yes. What of it?’

‘One man wasn’t. Centurion Tigellinus made a run at Claudius before anyone else gathered their wits enough to react. And he had taken off his heaviest pieces of kit to make sure he wasn’t weighed down.’

Narcissus’s brow furrowed slightly as he recalled the event. ‘Yes, he was quick off the mark. I might have assumed he was going to protect the Emperor, were it not for the fact that he had replaced Lurco.’ He looked at Cato. ‘Are you saying Tigellinus knew about the dam? That that was why they got rid of Lurco, because this was what they had been planning?’

‘Perhaps.’ Cato looked unsure. ‘But how could they know that the Emperor was planning to visit the drainage works? The decision to replace Lurco was made before Claudius decided to come here today.’

‘It’s a big project and has taken years to complete,’ Macro observed. ‘There’s every chance that he would come to see the final stages for himself.’

‘More than a chance,’ Narcissus interrupted. ‘Apollodorus didn’t put on that celebration by himself. It was Pallas’s idea. He organised the celebration and commissioned that cake.’

‘So Pallas is behind this?’ Macro frowned. ‘Pallas is working for the Liberators?’

‘I don’t know,’ Narcissus admitted. ‘It’s possible. But I doubt it. Pallas has nothing to gain from a return to the Republic. In fact he has as much to lose as I have. I doubt that he was behind this attempt on Claudius’s life.’

‘Why not?’ asked Cato. ‘If Claudius drowns then Nero is the most likely successor.’

‘That’s true,’ Narcissus conceded ‘But there were enough people in the palace who knew that the Emperor would be here. Any one of them could be working for the Liberators. However it happened, the Liberators got wind of his visit to the project and decided to bring forward their plan for Tigellinus to assassinate the Emperor. They sabotaged the supports for the dam and Tigellinus knew what
was going to happen and made ready to strike in the moment of confusion as the wave came towards us.’

‘It’s a bit far fetched,’ Macro protested. ‘Tigellinus would be putting his life at risk. For that matter, so would those men who were involved in weakening the dam. One wrong step there and the whole thing would have come down on them.’

‘Just shows how determined our enemy has become,’ Narcissus said grimly.

‘They want an assassin close to the Emperor. Whatever plans they have for Tigellinus, the chances are that there would be precious little hope of him escaping having committed the deed. In fact, this business with the dam probably gave him the best possibility to strike and get away with it that he was likely to get.’

Cato nodded. ‘I think you’re right. The trouble is, if this was just an opportunistic attempt, then the initial plan is still ready to go ahead, as long as Tigellinus has survived, or they have another man ready to step into his boots if he hasn’t. We still have to be on our guard. Are you going to tell the Emperor?’

Narcissus hesitated. ‘Not yet. I want to have this investigated. I have to be certain of the facts before I go to Claudius.’

‘Fair enough. There is one thing though. Apollodorus had no hand in this. The wave came as much of a surprise to him as the rest of us. You should put his mind at rest before you have him look at the evidence.’

Narcissus considered the suggestion. ‘Perhaps later on, after he’s been questioned. For now I’m content for people to think that it was an unfortunate accident. That’s clearly what the Liberators want us to think, and I don’t want them running scared just yet. They’re making their move. They failed this time. They will try again if they think we aren’t wise to their conspiracy. The more risks they take, the better the chances we have of identifying and eliminating them.’