The Sacrifice Stone (30 page)

But Flavius had no such handicap. Leaning close, speaking softly, he said, ‘Don’t imagine you’re in the clear. They may let you off one murder, but there’s no doubt you killed Gaius. They’ve got your dagger, and it’s covered in blood. They’ll match the blade up with that great gash in Gaius’s chest, you mark my words!’

I said wearily, ‘It was self-defence.’

‘You’ll never prove it!’

I turned to him. Feeling like I was, it was difficult to get as much out of it as I might have done, but I did my best. ‘You seem to have overlooked the fact that Maximus is my friend,’ I began, ‘and in fact —’

‘Friend! That won’t do you any good, not on a murder charge.’

‘I think it will.’ Haven’t I kept saying that, in Roman public life, everything depended on who your friends were? Flavius must have known that as well as I did, but his problem was that he wasn’t aware quite how well I knew Maximus.

I tutted gently. ‘You haven’t been very observant, have you?’

He stiffened. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I suppose you haven’t been with us all that long,’ I went on, ‘certainly, nowhere near as long as Maximus and I have worshipped together.’

He knew, then. There was no need to tell him, but I did anyway. It made me feel better.

‘If you’d taken a really good look at dear old Maximus,’ I whispered, ‘you’d have seen he was familiar. Perhaps more familiar in a grey cloak: he’s the Courier of the Sun. And he and I have been fellow Mithraists for as long as I’ve been in Arelate.’

*

He made no move until we were only a couple of miles from Arelate. I imagine he had so much to think about, so many options to consider — none of them all that hopeful — that it took him that long to decide what to do.

He launched himself on the guard first. That made good sense; the guard was the strongest and the fittest, so it was best to utilize the element of surprise — which would be lost after his initial move — to get him out of the way. Flavius attacked him from behind, leaping on to his horse, getting one arm round his throat while the other hand stuck a knife in between his ribs before the poor man had time even to shout out.

Maximus, hearing the thud as his guard landed in the dust, spun round. Flavius was right behind him, knife still in his hand.

I shouted, ‘
No!
’, at the same time kicking my horse and lunging towards Flavius. I was too slow: although my action succeeded in nudging him and spoiling his aim, somehow he must have caught Maximus with a glancing blow — maybe with his elbow, I don’t know. Anyway, poor old Maximus fell off his horse, and I heard him groaning as he lay on the ground.

Flavius wheeled his horse round, facing me.

He stared at me, dark eyes more threatening than any man’s I’ve ever seen. He said, ‘I’ll get you.’

Then he kicked his horse and galloped away.

*

It was callous to leave Maximus where he’d fallen, and I’m not proud of it. Especially when he’d supported me so loyally. But I had Theo to think about, and anyway Maximus wasn’t badly hurt.

He seemed to understand. I took his cloak out of the bag hanging on his saddle and made a cushion for his head, and he thanked me in a faint little voice.

‘I have to go,’ I said. ‘You’ll be all right — this is the main road into the town, someone’s bound to come by before too long.’

‘Don’t worry about me,’ he whispered. ‘I’m fine. He didn’t stab me, although I fear my nose may be broken.’

I looked at it. It was bleeding quite badly — he might have been right. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

‘Go.’ He pushed me feebly away. I stood up, and was getting ready to remount when he said something else. I thought he said something about the boy — Flavius, I imagined he meant — but when I turned back to ask, he had his eyes closed so I didn’t bother.

I’d already decided where I had to go. Theo might have run to Cassius’s farm, or back to my villa. But I knew he hadn’t.

That quiet voice inside my head had been telling me, ever since we left the hillside, that he’d run home.

29

I kept to the tracks and the little-known paths across the marshes. There were never all that many travellers crossing the delta, especially first thing in the morning, and those who were about probably desired secrecy as much as I did: a place with a reputation for nefarious goings-on, the delta.

But few of even the shadiest characters went around with their tunics soaked in other men’s blood.

As the sun grew stronger I stopped by a pond to refresh myself. My horse had a drink, I had a drink, then I took off my tunic and held the soiled part under the water, rubbing at it until the worst of the blood had come out. I squeezed it out and put it back on again. It felt horribly chilly against my flesh, but clean water was preferable to Gaius’s blood, even if it was a great deal colder.

At first as I rode off again, I thought it was the wet tunic making me feel shivery. But when I started to feel dizzy as well, I realized it was probably something more serious. I wished I had my old military cloak, but last night I’d only taken with me the scarlet cloak of my Lion costume. And that I’d left stashed away on the temple hillside. Not that wearing a bright-red cloak would have helped my desire to be inconspicuous.

I began to worry that I wouldn’t remember the way to Theo’s house. I’d only been there once, after all, and, with all the circling round Theo and I had done on that trip, we’d probably approached the place from a different direction.

Concentrating hard — which was becoming increasingly difficult — I ticked off various landmarks until, many hours and several wrong turns later, at last I found it.

But the shutters were up and the door closed; it looked as if nobody was there.

I felt like giving up. All that way, all that effort, and they weren’t there! I’d have to start back for the villa, for the farm, and hope it wouldn’t be too late, that I’d find him before Flavius did.

I’ll sit here a while and rest, I thought, sliding out of the saddle. As my feet touched the ground my legs gave way. The dark earth smelled good under my face. I closed my eyes.

In a dream I saw Zillah, bare-headed, hair escaped from its knot and blowing round her face. She looked very beautiful. My hands went up to pull her closer to me, and I kissed her.

*

The pain of being shaken, dragged into a sitting position, made me cry out.

‘Shh!’ someone said. ‘Hold the horse still, Theo, he’ll have to ride to the house. He’s far too heavy to carry.’

More pain. Standing up made my head swim, and I thought I was going to be sick.

The horse’s pace was considerately gentle. He was probably as worn out as I was. We were both far too old for this sort of fun and games.

Theo and Zillah supported me as we crept inside. Theo said something about seeing to my horse — ‘Hide him well!’, his mother ordered — and she helped me to a narrow bed, where, thankfully, I lay down.

I felt her hands on my head. She found all three lumps, gasping with growing alarm as she discovered each one. Then I felt something cool being rubbed on, something that stung at first then soothed. My head started to feel numb, which was a great improvement.

‘Drink this.’ She held a cup to my lips. ‘You must sleep.’

‘We have to get away,’ I said drowsily.

‘Oh yes? And where were you thinking of going, when it took two of us to get you across the fifty yards from where you’d collapsed to the house?’

She was right. ‘Zillah?’

‘Yes?’

‘Give me a hug.’

She made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. Then she put her arms round me and held me to her luxurious chest. Whatever she gave me in that drink took effect quickly: I fell asleep still in her arms.

*

When I woke up the sun was pouring in through a window on the other side of the house; I must have slept away the rest of the day and all the night. I realized straight away that I felt better.

Zillah and Theo were sitting on a bench beside my bed. It looked as if they’d been waiting for me to wake up.

‘Hello,’ I said.

Both faces broke into smiles. ‘How are you feeling?’ Zillah asked, at the same moment as Theo said, ‘Are you all right, Sergius? You look dreadful.’

‘I’m feeling fine,’ I said, trying to sound hearty.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘Zillah, I’m starving.’

Instantly she got up and disappeared into the next room, returning with a tray she must have prepared for my awakening. There was bread, goat’s cheese, some pieces of dried meat, some fruit. She made Theo hold in his impatience till I’d finished everything, then said, ‘All right. Now we can talk.’

I glared at him. ‘You played right into their hands when you followed them back up the hillside. You should have run as fast as you could back to Cassius’s farm once you’d escaped from Gaius! I was so angry when I saw you that I’d have given you a good thrashing if I’d caught you.’

He grinned. ‘No you wouldn’t. And I
had
to go after them — they were going to kill the bull!’

‘That’s what they wanted you to think. The bull wasn’t in any danger.’ Or he wasn’t once Flavius had disrupted our ceremony, I could have added.

‘I know that
now
,’ he said quietly.

I put out my hand to take his. ‘All right. It wasn’t your fault — they were cunning, those two.’

‘What’s happened to the other one?’ Zillah asked.

‘He got away. That’s why we have to go —’ I swung my feet to the floor, preparing to get up — ‘he may find his way here. And he’s after both of us now, Theo.’

‘He’s —’ Theo began.

His mother shushed him. She watched me for a moment, then said, ‘He’s after all three of us.’

I stared at her. She turned to Theo. ‘Go and get it,’ she said.

He slipped into the next room, returning with something in his hands.

He held it out.

It was the Pater’s sacrificial knife.

I said as the shock subsided, ‘Theo, you shouldn’t have stolen it.’

‘But —’

‘It’s all right,’ Zillah said softly. ‘He said we could. He said we should be armed.’

I wasn’t following them at all. ‘Who did?’ Then, as the implication of what she’d just said sank in, ‘
We
?’

They glanced at each other. Then Zillah said, ‘I think I’d better start at the beginning.’

‘I wish you would,’ I muttered.

‘You were so busy trailing Gaius without letting him see you that you didn’t look behind you to see if anyone was trailing
you
,’ she said.

‘And presumably someone was.’

‘Yes. Me.’

I smiled. ‘I guessed that much.’ She’d done it well, I had to give her that. ‘May I ask why?’

‘You once said Gaius must be outstandingly stupid, and I said you were right. Remember?’ I nodded. ‘He was stupid enough to drop hints about where he was going last night. He thought he was being subtle — far too subtle for a mere woman to understand what he meant — but naturally he wasn’t. He didn’t reveal the entire plan, but I picked up enough to know Theo was in danger.’

‘So of course you had to follow him.’

‘Of course.’

I’d been about to make some sarcastic comment about her needlessly putting herself in danger when others were perfectly capable of looking after Theo, but I didn’t. Bearing in mind what had happened to me, it wouldn’t have carried much weight. ‘So you were up at the sacrifice stone,’ I said.

‘Yes.’

I saw you, I thought. What I took for hallucination was actually happening.

She had gone quite pale. I wasn’t surprised.

‘I heard you scream,’ I said to Theo. ‘As I fell back against the rock, I heard you. And —’

I didn’t want to recall that moment of hopelessness.

Zillah put her hand over mine. ‘You couldn’t help it,’ she said quietly.

‘What happened?’ I hated having to ask.

‘Two men in cloaks came along the passage,’ she said. ‘It was weird — they had masks on, and one had a great staff in his hand — it was almost as if they were figures out of a dream. They were very angry — they said one of the young men had stolen a sacred knife. They saw what was happening ...’ she paused, then went on. ‘They were like some terrible avenging force, they had swords and they overcame those men as if they had some supernatural power working through them.’

I could see it. The Pater and the Courier of the Sun, acting partly as the senior Mithraists they were, partly as upholders of Rome and her laws. In neither capacity would they have tolerated the killing of an innocent boy on their sacrifice stone.

And, as Zillah had perceived, the full power of Mithras was with them.

‘They released Theo, then tied the man who’d stolen their knife to the stone,’ she whispered. ‘I was terrified that the other one would launch himself on them — he was years younger, he looked as if he could have fought the pair of them, under normal circumstances.’

She was staring in front of her, wide-eyed. I guessed she was seeing the scene all over again.

‘But he didn’t?’ I prompted softly.

‘No. He ran away.’ There was contempt in her voice, as well there might be. I felt more than contempt. But then I knew that Flavius and Varus had been brothers.

‘And then?’

‘Then — then — I hadn’t realized they knew I was there. But they called me. Said, “Come forward.” ’ Briefly she covered her face with her hands. Then, sitting up straight, went on: ‘Theo came running to me, and I was torn between wanting to comfort him and wanting to kill that man who’d been about to ...’ She couldn’t say it.

‘I understand,’ I said.

She looked at me, and I had the impression she was making up her mind about something. Then: ‘They did too, those masked men. They offered me their knife.’

I saw again that savage wound in Varus’s throat. Inflicted by the terrible hand of the mother whose son he’d been about to slaughter.

She’d accepted the offer, I knew. I didn’t even bother to ask.

‘I had to tell you,’ she muttered. ‘It’s only fair.’

I didn’t know what to say. I would have killed Varus, had I not been rendered incapable. Varus had deserved to die. I squeezed her hand. ‘Yes.’

Her eyes shot to mine. ‘You don’t mind?’

I almost laughed. ‘It’s not up to me to mind, he’s your son.’ I glanced at him; he was sitting on the edge of his bench as if my reaction mattered as much to him as it did to her. ‘Your mother’s a wild woman,’ I said lightly. I looked back at her. ‘As well as a brave one.’

She slipped to her knees and buried her face in the blankets still tangled round me. I stroked the back of her head.

There was something else I had to know. It was unfair to wonder, perhaps, in view of everything else that had been going on, but, although I tried to stop myself, in the end I had to ask.

‘Zillah?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Did you see me, up there?’

I felt the movement of her head against my thighs as she nodded.

‘And you ... didn’t you ...’

She raised her face and looked at me. ‘Didn’t I try to help you?’ she supplied.

‘I have no right to ask,’ I said hurriedly, ‘when —’

‘You have every right.’ She dropped her eyes. ‘I tended you, of course I did — I was terrified that you’d been killed too, and I thanked God with all my strength when I felt your heart still beating. They — the men with the masks — looked at you as well, and one of them said it was a miracle you had such a thick skull.’ I sent an ironic thank you to whichever of my Brothers had made that reassuring observation. ‘They said you were best left, that you’d come round in your own good time.’

‘And you agreed?’ I couldn’t prevent the self-pitying tone.

She hung her head. ‘Yes.’

‘Why didn’t you ...’

Her eyes returned to mine. ‘I was afraid. Afraid you’d see what I’d done, and that you wouldn’t approve.’

‘But now you’ve admitted it of your own accord.’

She smiled slightly. ‘I’ve had time to adjust. And as you said yourself, Theo’s my son.’

Indeed he was. I didn’t have any argument with his mother dispatching the man who’d just been about to kill him.

And I understood now why she’d left me lying there.

She had dropped her head into my lap once more, and I resumed my stroking of her hair.

I didn’t see that there was anything more to say.

*

‘We have to get away,’ I said some time later.

‘Yes.’ She stood up, began looking around the sparsely furnished room as if deciding what to pack.

‘Flavius will be after us.’ It was quite possible that there would be repercussions from the Arelate administration, too; double murders weren’t common, and Gaius had certain connections. Maximus, Mithras bless him, would do his best for me, I had no doubt. But would Gaius have friends who would argue the opposite case and insist on my arrest?