by AM Kirkby
***
Tarquinius' heart lurched. He blinked; he was suddenly awake, though he hadn't known he was asleep.
"That will set the whole of the league against us," Manius said.
Tarquinius couldn't ask what would. He searched his blurred mind for a clue. What had they been talking about? His plans for Velx. No; he'd told no one those; they had to be kept secret.
"Tarquinius?"
Damn. Servius must have noticed his lapse. Still, you weren't a diplomat if you couldn't make content-free pronouncements.
"It might," he said, and tried to look as if he was thinking of anything except what he was thinking, trying to dredge the exact subject up from his cluttered mind; "and then again, it might not."
"Look," said Servius. "It might or it might not. What we have to decide is: do we care? Can we cope?"
"All things have a price," Tarquinius said. "Can we afford the cost?"
"Velzna's become increasingly ambitious. We need to prune it back. But a full scale invasion..."
"There's another way of looking at it," Manius said. "Rome can ride Velzna's ambitions. Let Velzna decimate the League cities. Let them hate it. Wait, get rich, wait for Velzna to come crashing down. That leaves Italy without a centre, the cities weakened, the League without a heart, ready for us to take."
"Without risking our army in the meantime," Tarquinius said, twisting a braid in one finger. "But … no, it would be more certain to move in now."
"Burn the bloody shrine," Servius said. "That'll bring them all down on us. Let it happen. We have an army. They have a few charioteers."
"Is that why Tanaquil's not here?" Manius asked.
Of course it was. Tarquinius remembered the whole plot now. It was vital Tanaquil should not hear directly of his plans.
"She had some business with the Chief Vestal. Just as well, really; where Tarchna's concerned, I 'm not sure I can trust her."
"Women," Manius said. "Their hearts rule their heads."
(Which just went to show that Manius didn't really know Tanaquil. Or perhaps he was an idealist; couldn't see the plain truth for the proverbs and truisms that were stuck in his eye.)
"You think she's trustworthy, Servius?" (That would put him on the spot.)
"Am I?" Servius answered. "Is Manius?"