Valley of Decision (36 page)

What would they do if the soldiers came in? Maggie saw that the same question plucked at a tiny muscle in Barek's set jaw. She and Barek working together couldn't muster enough manpower to get her grandparents and the three servants out the back door. Her small knife and the wooden dye paddle couldn't provide serious defenses. They were criminals who'd helped four convicts escape crucifixion. There would be no mercy.

The voices outside the door blurred in the swirl of blood racing from her heart to her head. Either Barek's hold was crushing the breath from her chest or she was experiencing the beginnings of a panic attack. “I can't—”

His lips came down hard on hers. Desperate to shut her up. Every muscle in her body strained against the demand. Her mind was ordering her to push away.
Breathe. You can't breathe.
The intensity of his kiss gradually changed from necessity to hungry desire. Every part of her body began to slide into the calmness at his center. She could think of nowhere safer.

Maggie had no idea of the exact moment the patrols decided the dye shop was deserted and moved on. When Barek's lips released her from their spell, the night was quiet. Her heart,
however, was throwing a raucous party that she never wanted to end.

“I think they're gone.” Barek's breathy whisper sounded as if he'd sprinted a marathon.

“But they could come back.” She pulled him tight and kissed him again.

T
HE SMELL OF COOKING
meat broke Barek free of the fierce grip of his dreams. He opened his eyes abruptly. The haunting sound of his mother's voice faded, but the words of her song, the offering of praise she always lifted to the Lord while her fingers worked their magic at the loom, floated in the mist of his thoughts. A soothing balm for the thirst deep in his soul. Above him, a rainbow of colors swayed ever so slightly.

Barek pushed up from the thin blanket spread on the stone floor. Why did every muscle in his body ache? Jagged realization snapped him alert. This roof no longer sheltered the home he'd known. The man and woman who'd raised him among the murex shells and downy twists of wool were dead. These four walls would not become the place where he'd raise his family. His father's deserted shop had become a hiding place for rats and frightened fugitives. And a poor hiding place at that. Without the security of his heritage, what kind of a life could he ever offer a girl like Maggie?

Why was he even considering a future with Maggie? The minute she had her family assembled, she would drop down the well and disappear from his life forever. And yet, try as he might, he could not push her from his mind. The little imp had always had the ability to needle his emotions. When had Maggie acquired the power to stir embers into flames? He should never have drawn her
into his arms and kissed her. Twice now. They'd been in danger before and he'd protected her purely out of his sense of duty. Why did he feel he could run a man through if he tried to harm her now? He needed a drink and something to eat. Something to remove the sweet taste of her from his lips. Barek drew his knees to his chest and took in his surroundings.

Across the room, the three women who'd stuck closer than shadows to Magdalena were all busy. One was helping Maggie's grandfather mix herbs in his mother's bread bowl. The other two were bent over the fire in the brazier. The steam rose from meat Kardide tended in the skillet.

“Where's Maggie?” he asked, his throat dry.

“She and Eggie went for water,” her grandfather said as he lifted Magdalena to a sitting position.

“Without me?” Barek clambered hastily to his feet, a decision he immediately regretted. The room was spinning and he felt a bit off balance.

“You've got a pretty good knot on your head this morning,” Kardide told him.

Barek looked down and someone had removed his sash and his shoes. He blinked to bring everything into focus and aimed his gaze at the door. “Maggie was supposed to wake me when Eggie returned.”

Once he was certain the soldiers were gone for the night, before he'd agreed to let Maggie take the first watch, he'd awakened her grandfather. The three of them had managed to move his mother's loom from the door just enough for someone to slip in and out.

“We tried waking you.” Kardide flipped a piece of meat that resembled a tiny chicken wing. “Thunder would not have awakened you.”

The patrols had passed them by last night, but if they scoured the city and turned up nothing, they would return to do a more thorough inspection of the neighborhoods that bordered the city
walls. If Barek couldn't get their little entourage past the extra patrols policing the gates, it would be only a matter of time before he and everyone he'd tried to save would be discovered.

“How long has she been gone?” he asked as he hurried to put on his shoes.

“Long enough for this pigeon to cook.”

“Something's wrong.” Blood pounded in Barek's ears as he tied his sash. “I'm going after them.”

“I'll go with you,” Lawrence offered.

“Someone has to stay to protect the women.” But before Barek could lace his shoes, Maggie burst in, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“My father has been arrested! He's being held hostage at his villa.” She threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Barek, I have to find my mother. She'll know what to do.”

Her body was slight but strong up against him. Her hair still smelled of smoke from the previous day's fire. “Slow down.”

“A woman at the well said”—Maggie leaned back but kept her arms wrapped around his waist—“the great solicitor of Carthage has been put under house arrest.” Terror suddenly froze her tears. Her body went rigid. “What day is it?”

“Somewhere around Calends.” Barek's heart quickened at the growing alarm in Maggie's voice. “Why?”

She grabbed the front of his tunic. “What is Calends?”

Before Barek could explain the Roman calendar, Eggie inched through the door. “Hope this was my last supply run. Nearly got trampled out there.” His arms were weighted with a full water jug. “Right after Maggie heard about her father and took off, word hit the well that the ships of Titus Cicero have opened their cargo holds. There was a stampede toward the docks. Maybe we should get in on the grain run before it's all gone.” He placed the jug on a table, then noticed the tension in the room. “What did I miss?”

“Is it September, Eggie?” Maggie demanded.

“Could be.” Eggie's face looked puzzled, then he shrugged. “Last night was the new moon.” He lifted a cup left on the table and blew out the dust. “So dark, I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. Were it not for the soldiers' cook fires I would not have found their camp. Don't worry, I didn't go near the flames.”

Maggie let go of Barek and rushed to the table. “What does a new moon mean?”

“Calends.” Eggie dipped the cup into the jug and helped himself to a big drink. “First of the month.”

“What month?” Maggie was frantic.
“What month?”

“Here. Cool down, my princess.” Eggie offered her the refilled cup, but she pushed it away.

“What month?” Maggie demanded.

“I left Rome on the ides of August when the moon was full. Been here long enough it must be close to September by now.”

She spun and found her grandfather. “I have only fourteen days.” Maggie began to sink. “Maybe less.”

Barek scooped her up and sat her upon the stool. “Fourteen days until what?”

Her grandfather left his post at his wife's sickbed and came rushing to his granddaughter's side. “Until Maximus kills Cyprianus Thascius.” He stroked Maggie's hair from her face.

She sniffed. “G-Pa, we have to save my father.”

“I don't know if he can be saved,” her grandfather said gently. “Not without changing history.”

“But right now my father's trial is in the future,” Maggie argued. “We've got to try. What about Titus? He's rich and powerful. I know he'll help us if we ask.”

“Even a senator can't stop an execution ordered by Maximus,” Barek said.

“How do you know her father's trial will end in a death sentence?” Eggie still didn't understand Maggie's distress. “After the mess Maximus had on his hands after her grandmother's trial, he would be a fool to deny a pardon for the city's favorite solicitor.”

Tension sizzled in the silence. Barek couldn't bear the worry shaking Maggie apart. He placed a protective hand upon her shoulder and confessed to Eggie, “She knows the future.”

“How can she know the future?” Eggie's eyes darted between Maggie and her grandparents. “She
is
a goddess. I knew it.”

“She knows the future because she comes from there.” Barek could see Eggie's mind wrestling with the ludicrous idea. He still deliberated the impossibility of a child disappearing one day and returning the next a beautiful woman. In this, their common struggle bound them more than their competition for Maggie's love tore them apart.

“And in this future, do you know of me?” Eggie asked Maggie.

She shook her head.

“Then you shall.” Eggie straightened. “There
is
one man who can save your father.” All eyes fastened on Eggie. “My grandfather.”

“What are you talking about?” Barek asked.

“Valerian issued the order to murder Christians. As long as he is emperor he is the only one who can rescind the order.”

“If your grandfather rescinds his order, it will change your history as well.” Maggie's voice was barely more than a whisper.

“Make no mistake,” Eggie said, “the only history my grandfather cares about is his own. If I agree to give him my devoted service, he'll do whatever I ask to ensure that his blood flows through the successor to his throne.”

Eggie gave them no time to argue. “I remember when my grandfather was a great man, respected among the populace for his many good deeds. But then he fell under the influence of a man named Macrianus, the high priest of the Egyptian magi. When my
father saw how Macrianus was turning the great Valerian from all he held true, he tried to warn my grandfather to be careful. But it was too late. Macrianus had already seduced the emperor with all kinds of sorcery.”

Eggie began filling a burlap sack with a few of the food provisions he'd stolen from the soldiers. “There is only one power I know that will break the spell of Macrianus.” He stopped and looked at Barek. “The power of your one God.”

“But what if your grandfather refuses to see you?”

“I have seen your God's might demonstrated in the hands of your people. In the way they serve even those who are their enemies. It is a power stronger than that of the gods of my grandfather. If you pray that Valerian is feeling generous, he will be.”

“Then we'll pray, won't we, Barek?” Maggie said.

Barek stared at him, both surprised and irritated. How dare Eggie make promises destined to break Maggie's heart? “There's not enough time to find your grandfather, have the edict rescinded, and get back here before Maximus executes Cyprian.”

“If I leave on the next ship, a good tailwind will put me in Ostia in two to three days. Another half day afoot will put me at my grandfather's palace in Rome.”

“But going home means you'd be giving up your freedom and dreams of becoming a sculptor,” Maggie said. “Why would you do that?”

Eggie's fingers lightly brushed away Maggie's tears. “My love of beauty.” The sleeve of his cloak fell to his elbow, once again revealing the mark of his royal bloodline, the destiny he'd risked his life to escape.

A lump formed in Barek's throat. “What if your grandfather is not in Rome?” he asked. “There is war on nearly every border.”

“Then I shall inquire as to his whereabouts, secure one of his swiftest horses, and find him.” Eggie's gaze surveyed the stunned
disbelief on every person in the room. “My friends, if you wish to help, beg your one God for favorable winds and a calamity to delay the trial.” To Maggie he said, “May the future speak as well of me as it will of your father.”

Barek's urge to drive his fist into Eggie's smiling face vanished. The hope Eggie's promise brought to Maggie's eyes was something for which Barek was grateful. Of course Maggie should be delighted. Eggie was offering something he'd never have the influence to do.

“Your sacrifice is more than we deserve, Eggie.” Barek's admission of gratitude was as much for Maggie's sake as his own. She may never love him as he'd grown to love her, but he couldn't bear it if Maggie thought him a stubborn fool who'd ruined their best chance of saving her father. “Our problems are not yours.”

“My problems were not yours and yet you pulled me from the depths of my despair and restored me, body and soul.” Eggie clapped Barek on the shoulder. “What kind of a man forgets that kind of sacrifice?”

M
AGGIE PLACED HER PALM
on her grandmother's forehead. Jaddah was much cooler and more alert than she'd been the day before. She'd even managed to hold down some chicken broth. “Guess those were some powerful herbs Eggie stole from the soldiers.” She kissed Jaddah's cheek. “Are you sure you'll be okay?” She and Barek had decided to go with Eggie to the docks in case they needed to create some kind of diversion that would allow him to stow aboard the first boat lifting anchor. No fires. And then they would go on to find Maggie's mother.

Jaddah clasped her hand. “Your mother needs you now, more than ever.”

“Not so sure about that.”

“Don't underestimate Lisbeth's ability to forgive.” Jaddah's voice was thick with tears. “When she found out I'd chosen to stay, it was hard for her. But she managed to forgive me. That's how I know if you have anything to be forgiven of, she's already done it.” She squeezed Maggie's hand. “Your only crime is growing up.” Jaddah brought Maggie's hand to her cracked lips. “Because your mother loves you, she'll let you become your own woman when the time is right. Whether she can bear it or not.”