The Road to Rome (40 page)

That was all in the past, though. It was late summer, and the ten triremes had nearly reached Ostia, Rome’s port. Joy filled Romulus. He was returning home, and as a citizen! It scarcely seemed possible, but he’d had time to let the reality sink in on the voyage from Africa. Taking a peek at the two gold
phalerae
lying in his pack helped too – after all, they were awards which only a citizen could receive. The second had been awarded after he’d saved Sabinus from the elephant. Romulus grinned at the memory of what Caesar had said as he’d pinned the decoration on his chest. ‘Trying to win the war all on your own, comrade?’

Of course it hadn’t been all Romulus’ doing, but the campaign in Africa was over, ended in one day by the victory at Thapsus. After several months of cleaning up-operations, Caesar was returning to the capital to celebrate his conquests with not one, but four triumphs. In a massive propaganda stroke, one was to take place for each of his campaigns in Gaul, Egypt, Asia Minor and Africa. A grateful Senate had declared forty days of public thanksgiving for the dictator’s latest victory while pretending that it had been over the Numidian king, not Scipio and a huge number of prominent Republicans. No mention was being made either of Caesar’s first success over other Romans: Pharsalus, where his legions had thrashed twice their number under the command of Pompey.

Romulus stared excitedly at the coastline which was running along their starboard side, still amazed that he and Sabinus were accompanying Caesar back to Italy. Yet they were, along with a special century of legionaries. After Thapsus, the legates of all ten legions had each been asked to put forward eight soldiers. The eighty men were to form part of Caesar’s honour guard for his triumphs, and were positions of the highest standing. Throughout the army the competition was fierce to win a place. As battle-hardened, frontline officers, the centurions and senior centurions were best placed to judge, and so the legates had referred the matter to them.

There had been plenty of witnesses to Romulus’ incredible rescue of Sabinus and of course the pair had previously taken part in the attack on Petreius. Consequently Atilius fought hard to have both included as part of the Twenty-Eighth’s quota. His stubbornness won the day, and along with four other legionaries, an
optio
and a
signifer
, the two friends were ordered to join the ships carrying Caesar back to Italy. Meanwhile, the majority of the army was embarking for Hispania, where Pompey’s two sons were reputed to be raising a huge army among the discontented tribes.

That was where the honour guard would be heading after the triumphs. Caesar had told them so himself before they sailed from Africa. This would be a short visit to Italy then, with little free time to search for Fabiola or Gemellus. Romulus tried not to feel bitter about that. There was Sabinus, playing dice on the deck with three others, who would not see his family at all. Their comrades’ stories were similar. Few men, if any, had seen their homes in years. Why should I be any different? thought Romulus. Catching sight of Caesar’s red cloak on the deck of the lead trireme, he thought
guiltily of the enormous honour he was being shown to be here. What right had he to expect anything other than a new military campaign when the celebrations were over? He was nothing but an ordinary legionary, and as such had to do what he was told until the day, if he survived, his service came to an end.

Romulus knew that there was more to his discontent than a simple desire to quit the legions. Guilt about his feat against the elephant ruled him entirely. Months had passed, and he still obsessed about it on a daily basis. The realisation that he could not only emerge unharmed from an encounter with such a beast, but save Sabinus as well, gnawed at Romulus’ insides like a malignant parasite. It could never be proved, but Brennus might have done the same in India as he, Romulus, had at Thapsus. If only Tarquinius were here, Romulus wished. He might be able to glean some information from the wind or clouds. Even a hint would help. But who knew where the haruspex was? He sighed, unwilling since Margiana to make an attempt himself. Tarquinius was long gone, which meant that he had to live with the doubt about Brennus.
That
was worse than thinking his big friend was dead.

As always, any thought of the haruspex was tinged with suspicion. Could he have known of Brennus’ potential to beat an elephant? Romulus wasn’t sure. Any time he and Tarquinius had talked about it, there had been no sense of the haruspex withholding information. Not that that meant a thing. Tarquinius was a master of concealment.

Stop it, Romulus thought. Whatever the haruspex was, he wasn’t evil. The look on his face in Alexandria had convinced Romulus that he hadn’t actually known how his murder of Rufus Caelius would affect others. With his belief system that a man should decide his own fate, it would not have been for Tarquinius to stop Brennus facing his own death either. While Romulus’ guilt remained strong, he felt the same way about destiny.

‘Ostia ahoy!’ shouted the lookout.

Romulus buried his worries for now.

He was nearly home.

Fabiola glared at the dead hen lying before her. Its throat had been cut, and its entrails carefully laid out on the ground for inspection. ‘Tell me again,’ she demanded.

‘Of course, Mistress,’ the soothsayer said, his Adam’s apple bobbing up
and down uneasily in his scrawny neck. Stoop-shouldered in his grubby robe, the soothsayer wore a typical blunt-peaked leather hat. A short knife with a bloody, rust-spotted blade dangled from his right hand. Pointing with it, he repeated his prophecy. ‘You will find a husband soon. A big man with brown hair. A soldier perhaps?’ The soothsayer shot a sly glance at Fabiola, trying to assess her response. ‘Or maybe he’s a noble.’ He smiled, revealing a mouthful of decay.

‘Liar!’ Fabiola spat. ‘Antonius will never marry me. What do you take me for – one of your usual gullible fools?’

Startled, the soothsayer busied himself with the hen’s intestines again, poking a dirty fingernail here and there in search of wisdom. This was a consultation he was already wishing was over, but there would be no end to it until he came up with something convincing.

Her nostrils flaring, Fabiola sat drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair. They were alone in the courtyard of the Lupanar. She’d been recommended this idiot by a number of the brothel’s clients, and had summoned him here to avoid being seen seeking a divination in public. Her reason was simple, and stark. Her life had changed utterly since the night of Docilosa’s death, and it was down to one person. Raw terror filled Fabiola at the mere thought of Marcus Antonius. Why had she got involved with him? Her regular visits to the Mithraeum and to the temple of Jupiter made no difference at all; and, still full of shame over what had happened to Docilosa, she dared not go to Orcus’ shrine for fear of seeing Sabina. Fickle as ever, the gods had discarded her. Perhaps for ever, thought Fabiola, bitterness coursing through her veins.

She scowled. Brutus’ reaction to her affair stung her conscience even now. ‘Once a whore, always a whore,’ he’d said. Fabiola’s purpose hadn’t changed, however. Nothing but death would stop her wanting to kill Caesar, yet her lover’s departure had scuppered her best chances of recruiting conspirators. Customers who were willing to profess a hatred of the dictator were proving to be non-existent. Despite Caesar’s leniency towards his former enemies, the fear of reprisal was too great in men’s minds. So here I am, Fabiola thought angrily, waiting for a conman to fill my head with false promises, when what I really need is a way back into Brutus’ good books. Or a new, powerful lover who hates Caesar. As if this fraudster can tell me how to do that. ‘Well?’ she snapped.

His face twitching with nerves, the soothsayer looked up. He’d done his homework on Fabiola before coming to the brothel, knew about her affair with Antonius and her break-up with Brutus. If she didn’t desire the obvious thing that most women in her situation would want – marriage to Antonius – what did she want? ‘An old lover comes back to you,’ he said, taking a desperate guess.

Fabiola’s head jerked up, and she fixed him with an icy gaze. ‘Go on,’ she demanded harshly.

Pleased by this small advance, the soothsayer decided to wax lyrical. ‘Once you are reunited, everything will be as it was. Your lover will rise even higher in Caesar’s regard, and your future will be secured for ever. There will be children . . .’

‘Stop!’ Fabiola screamed. ‘Do you think that promising everything
you
think I want will make me happy?’

‘Mistress, I . . .’ he began.

‘Charlatan.’ Fabiola’s voice dripped with contempt. ‘Get out.’

Bowing and scraping, the soothsayer bundled the butchered hen into a dirty leather bag. It would do for his dinner that night. When he’d finished, he risked a glance at Fabiola. ‘My fee?’

Fabiola laughed. ‘Benignus,’ she called.

The massive doorman emerged instantly from his waiting place just behind the door into the house. As always, his metal-studded club hung from one hand. There was also a dagger shoved casually into his wide leather belt. ‘You require something, Mistress?’

The soothsayer’s eyes bulged with fear, but he didn’t move. Benignus was blocking the exit.

‘Throw this fool out.’

Benignus shuffled forward and took a firm hold of the man’s arm. ‘Come quietly and I won’t hurt you,’ he growled. ‘It’s your choice.’

The soothsayer nodded. Further protests would result in broken bones, or worse. Meek as a lamb, he disappeared with Benignus.

Brooding, Fabiola looked down at the smears of blood left on the flag-stones. The prophecy had clearly been false, but it had still upset her. She wanted no happy reunion with Brutus if she couldn’t convert him to her cause. No happy family life unless Caesar paid for his crime. Her mother had to be avenged.

She sat motionless for a long time. The shadows grew long in the courtyard as the sun went down. The temperature began to drop, and eventually Fabiola shivered. Feeling sorry for herself would get her nowhere. Perhaps the soothsayer had been partly right. If she stopped seeing Antonius, maybe Brutus would come back to her. A spark of hope lit in Fabiola’s tired heart, but her throat closed with fear at what the Master of the Horse might do if she spurned him. Nonetheless, she steeled her resolve. If things continued as they were, her life wasn’t worth living. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t existed under the constant risk of death before and survived to tell the tale.

Her spirits lifted a fraction.

She would go to one of Caesar’s triumphs and seek out Brutus. In a public place, he couldn’t avoid her and, by begging, she might engineer a reconciliation. Antonius would be there, but with the gods’ help, she could avoid him. For the moment. Fabiola did not allow herself to dwell on the matter further. It was time to think happy thoughts. Maybe she’d meet a soldier at the triumph who knew Romulus. It was a pleasing fantasy, and Fabiola took comfort from it.

Tarquinius saw the soothsayer being ejected from the brothel. Flying through the doorway in a tangle of limbs, he landed on the hard-packed dirt with a bone-crunching thump.

Smiling, one of the massive doormen emerged after him. ‘Don’t come back,’ he warned.

Picking up his scuffed leather bag, the lank-haired augur scuttled off.

Tarquinius grimaced, feeling like a fraud too. His visit to the mountain had not achieved nearly as much as he’d hoped for. Still, it had been worthwhile. Moving his parents’ bones to a tomb befitting pure-bred Etruscans had been poignant but satisfying, and spending a day by Olenus’ burial mound had eased his reawakened sorrow somewhat. While his old mentor had died violently, he’d walked to meet it with both eyes open, a decision that pained Tarquinius but which he had to respect. In the cave, he’d been dismayed to find the amazing battle chariot smashed into little pieces, probably by the legionaries who had accompanied Caelius. The inspirational paintings of Etruscan life had been defaced too – with the exception of that depicting Charon. Even the Romans respected the demon of the
underworld. All the same, the deliberate damage brought home to Tarquinius the utter finality of Etruria’s decline into oblivion. His people’s civilisation was gone for ever, which gave him the sensation of being very alone. He longed to see Romulus again, which had brought him back to the purpose of his visit.

The haruspex had dug up the bronze liver and carried it up the mountain, hoping that it would help him with a divination. Yet again, though, he had been frustrated. Not a thing had been revealed in the entrails or the liver of the plump lamb he’d caught on his ascent. In an unusual loss of self-control, Tarquinius had railed and ranted at the cloudy sky and the few vultures hanging in it. Of course his outburst had done nothing except make him feel foolish. It was only when he’d calmed down that the sole revelation of his climb became clear.

The haruspex saw a clear picture of himself in Rome, and of Caesar standing alone. Ominous storm clouds were building overhead. Then, in close succession, he’d seen Romulus and Fabiola. His suspicions about their parentage hardened into certainty. Neither looked happy either, which worried Tarquinius. Were both of them in danger? From Caesar? Why? At once he had known that he still needed to be in the capital. Making the time first to rebury the liver beside Tarquin’s ornate
gladius
, he had taken his leave of Caecilius and the
latifundium
. The lump of bronze was too bulky to carry about and the sword would attract too much attention. What a man like Caesar would do to possess such a weapon, he thought bitterly. Perhaps Tarquinius would reveal their location to someone in the future. He hoped so. On the road south, he knew that this had been his final visit home.

Reaching Rome, the haruspex had immediately returned to the Lupanar to see if anything had changed. Seeing the soothsayer’s dramatic exit on his first morning was more reward than he’d expected. Fabiola was also seeking guidance of some kind, and not just the usual rubbish spouted by such conmen. As this realisation sank home, Tarquinius got to his feet. Barely remembering to act the simpleton, he hurried after the charlatan. A soothing word in the man’s ear and a coin or two would secure some much needed information about Romulus’ sister.