The Warrior's Princess

by Barbara Erskine

  Eigon was standing watching her, a strangely quizzical expression on her face.

  ‘Hello.’ Jess was surprised into the greeting. She gave a small sharp laugh generated by embarrassment more than anything else. ‘Can you hear me?’

  The figure did not react. She was shadowy now. Jess could see the outline of the bed through her. ‘Don’t go! Please!’ Her voice was sharper. ‘I need to talk to you. To warn you.’ But the figure had gone. Jess stepped forward, her hand outstretched trailing her fingers through the air, trying to feel the substance of the apparition. There was nothing there. Her shoulders slumped. She gave a small sigh and sat down on the bed again. She had already forgotten Carmella’s warning.

  23

  ‘He’s taken the bait. We are being followed.’ Rhodri glanced in the mirror again. ‘Where the hell did he get a car so quickly?’

  Steph looked over her shoulder nervously. ‘I can’t see anyone.’ Behind them the road stretched emptily back towards the curve in the hills which hid whatever it was that Rhodri had thought he’d seen.

  ‘He’s keeping well back. I’m pretty sure it must be him.’ He grinned. ‘The trick is to keep him on our tail without him getting too close.’ He couldn’t get over how alike the two sisters were when they put their minds to it, like now, with Steph wearing Jess’s distinctive turquoise top and her sun glasses. Only a physical likeness mind you. They couldn’t be more dissimilar when it came to personality. He gave a rueful smile. Still, this seemed to have had the desired effect on Dan. ‘Take a look at the map. Is there a turning up ahead we can take which will bring us back onto the main road after a few miles? If he follows us we’ll know it’s him. Then I can put my foot down when we get on the autostrada.’

  Steph opened the book. She squinted at the maze of roads tracing their route with a finger. ‘Here. There’s a by road about three miles ahead.’

  ‘OK. We’ll take that.’

  ‘What happens when we stop for lunch?’

  He laughed. ‘Hungry already? We’ll have to make sure he doesn’t get close enough to you to get a good look. Should be OK. I doubt if he wants to get that close. Just close enough to frighten Jess. If you were Jess.’

  ‘He can’t be allowed to get away with this, Rhodri.’

  Rhodri raised an eyebrow. He was concentrating on the road. Ahead a signpost signalled the road they were going to take. ‘He won’t,’ he said succinctly. ‘Will and I have discussed it.’ He gave her a quick almost feral grin as he swung the heavy car onto the side road. ‘Once we are home on our own turf, so to speak, I think we can put the fear of God into Dan Nicolson, don’t you worry about it.’

  She tucked the atlas down into the footwell. ‘You fancy my sister, don’t you?’ She gave him a quick sideways glance from behind her glasses.

  He gave a shout of laughter. ‘I wouldn’t say that. She seems to me to be a perfect pain! Like you!’

  ‘But an attractive pain?’ She ignored the insult.

  ‘Both of your mother’s daughters are attractive.’

  She shook her head. ‘Welsh blarney.’

  ‘No such thing!’ He glanced into the mirror. ‘The car behind us is drawing a bit closer now we’re not on the fast road.’

  ‘So, he did see us turn.’

  ‘Looks like it. It’s dark red. Large. Powerful. Can’t see what it is yet.’

  ‘So, if it is him, he could catch us if he wanted to?’ She felt a knot of anxiety deep in her stomach.

  ‘Not if I put my foot down. This baby is faster than his.’ He was enjoying himself. ‘And I don’t want him to catch us. Not for a long way yet, certainly not while we are still in Italy. Preferably not till we reach the Channel. I’ll head for the autostrada north. He won’t get close once we’re on it but we’ll make sure we don’t leave him behind.’

  In her pretty room at the pensione Jess saw that once again it was summer in the past. Eigon was sitting outside on the terrace near the fig tree. Antonia was with her. Jess smiled. The young women were enjoying the peace of the garden, a basket of dried herbs lying between them on the paving at their feet. Eigon had been singing softly as they stripped the leaves and packed them into labelled jars. The courtyard was very still in the shelter of the walls of the house but out in the orchards on the slope behind the house the trees were bending before a stiff summer wind. Brushing herb dust off her skirt Eigon reached for another handful of dried plants, filled her jar and pushed in the stopper firmly. She had picked up some more dried thyme, her slim fingers running down the stems to dislodge the tiny leaves as Antonia began stacking the jars onto a tray. She straightened her shoulders with a grimace as Eigon reached the end of her song and a companionable silence fell upon them.

  ‘It’s so hot, in spite of the wind. Look at the sky. I think we’re in for a storm.’

  Eigon followed her pointing finger and frowned. The sky over the city had turned to a strange brazen colour. ‘It’s not a storm. It’s smoke!’ she cried suddenly.

  The two young women stood up. They ran across the gardens towards the far wall where the hillside dropped away cliff-like to the south and they stood staring down towards the city. Below them the marshy ground which bounded the Tiber gave way very quickly to the built up area of slums which clustered around the great walls of the city. Beyond the wall the sky was dark with smoke.

  There was a sound behind them. Both young women spun round. It was Aelius.

  ‘There’s a fire in the city centre! It’s a bad one.’ He shifted his feet anxiously. ‘One of the slaves has just returned. He says the city is in chaos. The roads are blocked with people fleeing.’ He paused. ‘My son is there.’

  It had taken Eigon a long time to forgive Flavius for letting Julia go out alone to her death. Even now Aelius was reluctant to mention his name in her presence. ‘I didn’t like to speak to the queen your mother about it. She has enough to worry her with your father so ill.’ His face was pinched with exhaustion and worry.

  ‘No, you did right to tell me.’ Eigon sighed. ‘Where are Julius and your grandfather?’ She turned suddenly to Antonia. She felt a shiver run down her back. They stood for a moment in silence.

  Antonia shrugged. ‘I’m sure they will be all right,’ she said at last. They were both staring out across the wall. ‘The alarms must have been sounded and the cohorts and the vigiles will have been on the scene at once.’ She was reassuring herself as much as anyone. Fires in the ancient city with its crowded wooden tenements and shops packed tight between the safer stone buildings were a common occurrence. ‘There is nothing we can do except pray that they are safe.’

  Aelius raised an eyebrow. ‘May Vulcan be merciful.’ He bowed formally.

  ‘Let me know if you hear anything,’ Eigon called after him as he turned towards the house. ‘I’m sure Flavius will be all right,’ she added. He did not appear to hear her.

  She sat down on a stone bench and she shivered. ‘I pray to your god and to mine that they will all be safe.’ Both young women stared at the sky. The billowing clouds in the distance had turned the colour of molten iron.

  ‘Blessed Lord, keep the people of this city in your hands,’ Antonia murmured quietly. ‘Send rain to help the fire brigades.’ She bit her lip. ‘I heard my grandfather talking only yesterday about the prophesies the Apostle Peter has spoken of. He said the prophets described Rome as a harlot and that the sages of Egypt predicted that a great city would fall on the day that the Dog Star rises. They said it was Rome.’

  Eigon stared at her, her face aghast. ‘That is today,’ she whispered. ‘The fourth day after the Ides of July. The rising of the Dog Star. It’s in my almanac.’ They both turned again to the sky.

  ‘I must go!’ Antonia was suddenly galvanised into action. ‘If the fire is in the centre of the city I have to make sure that Grandfather and Julius are all right.’

  ‘No!’ Eigon caught her arm. ‘You can’t do anything! You’ll make matters worse. At least they know you are safe if you are here.’
<
br />   Time passed and the sky to the south grew darker. Occasionally they saw the bronze of the flames reflected on the clouds. The smell of burning carried towards them on the wind, then blew away again as its direction changed and on the road outside their barred gates the stream of refugees from the burning city grew more crowded. Men, women and children, exhausted, scared, sooty, their possessions loaded onto carts and wagons, plodding onwards, many of them not knowing where, so long as it was away from the fire. News carried as fast as the ash on the wind. The fire had been contained. It had spread out of control. It had been extinguished in one quarter only to leap the wooden roof shingles to another. A woman near the cattle market had been lynched after her neighbours thought it was her lamp, tangled in the sheets suspended to dry across her room which had started it. Others blamed a forge on the Viminal, yet others a bakery on the Aventine. The Praetorian guard had been called out at once, as had the vigiles. As night fell the full horror of the blaze was emphasised by the darkness. There was no word from Julius. Flavius still had not returned. Caradoc and Cerys had come for a while to stand in the orchard watching the sky, then Caradoc, exhausted, had finally been persuaded to return to his bed. Cerys had stayed a while longer, clutching her daughter’s hand, then she too had disappeared indoors.

  ‘It’s out of control.’ Aelius joined the two young women at last. ‘I have forbidden the slaves to go. What’s the point? A handful more men won’t help now. They must stay here and watch our walls. There is looting everywhere.’

  ‘Are we in danger here?’ Antonia looked at his pale face. The man had aged ten years since morning.

  He shook his head. ‘The wind is blowing away from us. Besides, there are fields and the cliffs and gardens between us and the suburbs.’

  ‘Where did Flavius go, Aelius?’ Eigon asked gently. She knew he would not tell her anything without her prompting.

  ‘He had taken a parcel from your mother to Pomponia Graecina, princess. Once he had done that I told him,’ he paused and gave a great shuddering sob, ‘I told him to stay and amuse himself for the rest of the day. He works hard here. He deserved a treat.’ He looked at her pleadingly.

  ‘I know he does, Aelius.’ She forced herself to smile at him. She knew he was right. Flavius had worked without ceasing since Julia had died, as if he was afraid to stop in case he had to confront his own guilt. She knew her father had called him in the end and told him that whoever had planned Julia’s murder would not have been deterred by his presence. All that would have happened had he been there, was that he would have died as well. He meant it kindly to take some of the load from the young man’s shoulders. Whether or not it had helped no one could tell. ‘I am sure he will be all right,’ Eigon said softly. ‘The last report was that the fire has been contained.’ She looked up at the sky to the south and they all fell silent. Contained was not the word that any one of them would have chosen as the glow spread ever higher into the clouds.

  Flavius returned just before dawn. His hands were blistered, his hair singed and his face was black with soot when he called to be admitted at the northern gate. Eigon and Antonia had fallen into an uneasy sleep in the atrium when Aelius appeared with his son in tow.

  ‘Ladies,’ Flavius’s voice was so hoarse he could barely speak. ‘Felicius Marinus Publius and his grandson Julius are safe. I saw them as it grew dark. They have evacuated the whole area round the Forum and the Palatine. They went with Aulus Plautius and his family to their villa in the hills. They are all safe.’ His voice cracked for a moment. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

  Eigon understood at once. The young man had gone to help Julia’s family. He had put them before his own safety. Deeply touched, she stood up and went to the table to pour him a beaker of wine. She put it in his hands and when she found they were shaking too much to hold it she closed his fingers around it herself. ‘The fire had reached the Forum?’ she prompted quietly.

  He nodded. ‘The whole area has gone. The senators’ houses. The entire quarter. The Palatine. The Esqualine. The Domus Transitoria.’

  ‘What? The Emperor’s palace?’ His father stood staring at him, slack-jawed.

  Flavius nodded. His voice was stronger after the sip of wine. ‘They say the Emperor has returned from Antium. He is leading the firefighters himself. People are saying the fire was set deliberately.’

  ‘No.’ Antonia was pleating her stole between nervous fingers. ‘Who would do such a thing? It must have been an accident. There are hundreds of fires every day from accidents.’

  Flavius glanced at her. He hesitated for a moment then he went on. ‘I heard the Emperor is blaming the Christians.’ The words came out in a rush.

  There was a moment of silence broken only by the splashing of the water in the fountain. The two young women were staring at the mist of droplets drifting in the sudden breeze from the west. There was a splatter of cold water on the paving stones then the wind dropped and the water jet shot skywards again. ‘Why?’ It was Eigon who asked the question in the end.

  ‘He says they have been predicting a fire. There are tracts all over the poorer areas where they are ripe for trouble, saying that only a fire can clean up the city. He says they started it themselves to make sure the oracle is fulfilled.’

  Antonia and Eigon glanced at each other. Outside in the vast swathe of the dawn sky the Dog Star’s rising had been masked by the glow of the fire.

  ‘He says,’ Flavius went on, stammering, ‘that he will make the Christians pay with their lives.’

  Jess opened her eyes and stared down at the carpet. She could smell the burning, see the reflection of the flames in the sky. All around them a fine rain of ash had begun to fall. She brushed impatiently at her arms, and then realised there was no ash on her. No burning. Nothing but a quiet empty room. Almost without realising she had done it she climbed to her feet and walked over to the wall and put her hand on the rough stones. As she climbed up the staircase behind her hostess she had clutched in her hand a small leaflet, handed she supposed to every guest, describing the delights of the pensione, including the fact that the back wall of the house was an original wall from 200 BC which had been incorporated into the later church. This wall had survived the great fire of Rome. Leaning forward she rested her forehead against it and closed her eyes, willing herself to see the story it could tell. Was that why Carmella had chosen this house as her friend’s refuge? She must have known the story. Jess could feel the cold stone against her skin, but no pictures came. No smoke. No crackle of flames. Nothing. After a few minutes she moved away and went back to sit on the bed.

  ‘I’m going to have to stop for petrol soon.’ Rhodri had been glancing more and more frequently at the dashboard. ‘Can you see him?’

  Steph stared at the wing mirror hard. ‘He’s about four cars behind, I think.’

  ‘Damn!’ He smacked the steering wheel with the flat of his hand. ‘Look at the map. See if there are any turnings off. Perhaps we can duck down one and let him sail past. Sooner rather than later.’

  Steph studied the page intently. She knew it by heart already. There were no turnings for several miles. ‘Perhaps I can run into the ladies and stay there out of sight so he won’t know I’m not Jess. And you never know, he might not notice we’ve pulled in until it’s too late.’ She was feeling twitchy again. He was staying too close. Somehow she had thought they would be able to lose him before now, but there he was, always just in sight, accelerating when they did, slowing down when they did, a malevolent maroon shadow on their rear horizon.

  ‘Can’t help it. We’ll be out of fuel if I don’t stop at this next service place. Hold tight.’ As the service station came into view Rhodri waited until the last moment to brake hard and swerve in. The car immediately behind him sat on the horn for several long seconds as it swerved past them and disappeared up the road. Rhodri pulled past the pumps and swept behind the buildings to draw up out of sight of the road. There was perspiration standing on his brow. ‘Sorry about that s
hocking piece of driving. Did it work?’

  Steph turned round. ‘I can’t see.’ She was shaking.

  He closed his eyes and put his head back against the head rest. ‘I’m knackered!’

  ‘If we’ve lost him we can get a coffee here perhaps.’ She gave an exhausted grin. ‘And use the loo!’

  Rhodri pushed open the car door and climbed out. He glanced round. ‘Wait here. I’ll go and peer round the corner. See if the coast’s clear.’

  Opening her own door she swung her legs out and sat there for a few minutes, elbows on knees, head in hands, waiting for him. When he didn’t appear she levered herself to her feet and headed after him. There was a dusty maroon BMW standing at the pumps. She stared at it, goosepimples crawling up the backs of her arms. There was no sign of the driver. She turned away quickly and headed for the ladies’ loo as fast as she could. Ducking inside she headed for a cubicle and bolted herself in. Now what? Had he seen her? Where was Rhodri? She waited for several minutes, listening as other people came in and used the facilities and walked out again, their footsteps ringing on the tiled floor. No one spoke. She strained her ears for the sound of voices outside but could hear nothing above the rushing of water. Cautiously she pulled back the lock and peered out. The cloakroom was completely empty. Washing her hands and face she ran a comb through her hair and at last turned towards the doorway. She hesitated, glancing at her watch. She had been ten minutes. If the maroon car was nothing to do with Dan it would have gone by now. She reached for the handle on the heavy swing door and pulled it open. The parking lot and the approach to the pumps were dazzling in the bright sunlight. Far above swifts wheeled against the intense blue of the sky, thin cries barely audible in the still air.

  The heat hit her as soon as she stepped outside. She scanned the pumps in the shade of the roof. The car had gone and Rhodri had pulled up in its place. With a sigh of relief she stepped outside and heading towards their car she climbed in and sat back in the seat, the window down, waiting for Rhodri to pay. When she next glanced up Dan was standing beside the car looking down at her. He gave her a cold smile as she let out an exclamation of fright at the sight of him.