Tomas bent his head under a particularly low-hanging rock and squeezed past one of the rock columns that had been left in place to help support the ceiling. ‘The problem isn’t a lack of food, it’s being able to bring enough of it down here. There are only three openings to the mine, all constantly needed to bring in oil for the burners, fresh slaves, wood braces, and replacement tools. But that is nothing to what needs to be taken out – all the earth and dirt from the new tunnels needs to be transported to the top and discarded, as well as deceased slaves and other unpleasantries.’
I thought I was going to be sick. ‘Deceased slaves?’
Tomas pushed back one of the wooden braces that helped secure the walls, which had come loose. He then continued down the long corridor. ‘Yes, you can’t leave them down here. Disease can spread through a mine frighteningly quickly. As soon as one dies, they need to be taken straight out.’
‘And is that the only way they ever get to leave?’
Tomas stopped and wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘Pretty much.’
We continued down the corridor for several stade, perhaps even half a mile. I couldn’t believe how extensive the mineworks were. Finally, after passing a multitude of emaciated slaves and countless overseers pushing or shoving others back to work, we reached the end of the main gallery. Tomas told me, ‘This is where we reach the lower mine workings, which is where the current gold vein is exposed.’
The sound of the iron picks had gradually increased, and I now saw what was making the unusual clanking sound. Great wheels, like those we saw in the workshops outside, were turning, being driven by exhausted slaves, treading in an endless march. They gradually lifted buckets of water, which emptied to a run-off that led in the other direction. Tomas explained. ‘Flooding is a problem in the lower mines, so we need to constantly bail out the water from the lower galleries.’
I looked at the vast wheels slowly being turned by the pitiable slaves. ‘How did you get the wheels down here?’
Tomas gave a half-smile. ‘It isn’t easy. They need to be constructed, then carefully taken apart into different sections that can be easily reassembled below. It is worth the effort though. The lower galleries would be inaccessible otherwise.’
I followed Tomas down the winding series of chambers, all with large wheels on great wooden frames that gradually lifted the water from the lower caverns. The abundance of water at least cooled the stifling heat somewhat. When we reached the bottom of the chambers, I asked, ‘Is it far to the vein now?’
Tomas shook his head, ‘No, not far now, but we will need to crawl along the next part.’
I looked down at the tiny narrow opening he pointed at. ‘You’re not serious?’
He gave me a look that showed he was completely serious. ‘We can return to the surface if you prefer?’
I took a deep breath of the clammy air. ‘I’ve come this far … lead on.’
Tomas crawled into the opening and I followed him down the wet and damp narrow passageway. We were completely enclosed on all sides now, and it was impossible to turn around or move in any way other than forward. I started mumbling to myself in terror, beseeching Minerva that we wouldn’t get stuck in this dark tomb. If Tomas noticed, he said nothing, and after a long and terrifying passage through the dark, we came out in the lower gallery. It wasn’t much higher than the entrance, but it was wider, and a long line of slaves were chipping away at the rock face. Some had iron picks, others used an iron bar that they hit with a stone-headed hammer.
Tomas beckoned me further. ‘There is nothing to see here. They are just trying to push the rock face further back. The only gold vein exposed is at the end.’
We needed to push ourselves over the struggling slaves, who let us pass with no complaint. Clearly this was how people got around down here, filthy bodies rubbing against one another. The sweat and grime made me want to gag, but I refused to let it show on my face. The slaves deserved that I hide my revulsion at their pitiful state.
When Tomas finally reached the end of the passageway, he pointed. ‘You see the gold vein. That’s what this is all for. This elusive gold thread.’
He traced his fingers along a thin line of gold, illuminated by the guttering flame of his oil lamp. I thought of the countless rich ladies of Rome, even Numeria, who wore delicate brooches, earrings, and necklaces of this very substance. Little did they know how much human suffering was needed to produce those simple baubles that they took for granted. ‘Is that thin line all you have?’
Tomas smiled. ‘It might not look much, but that is actually a rich vein. The deeper we go, the stronger the vein appears to get. Cadmus is hopeful that this will, over time, be able to outproduce the mine at Asturica many times over. That is before we even take into account the second mine on the other mountain.’
I looked back at the toiling line of slaves, all beating their iron tools against the implacable rock with their tired and broken bodies. An oil lamp could burn for an entire day or night before they were finally relieved, only to be replaced by an equally tired group, before the same process was repeated endlessly. I said, ‘It all comes at such a cost, so much effort for such a small prize at the end.’
Tomas looked at me seriously. ‘Small prize to some, not to others. The gold from this province will soon be the largest gold resource in the world.’
One that Augustus Caesar and Governor Livianus were entrusting me to protect. ‘And the mine on the next mountain is just like this one?’
Tomas’ face darkened. ‘No, Quaestor, that one is much worse.’
The journey back to the surface seemed to take even longer than the descent, and I almost screamed with relief when I was finally pulled free from the entrance by two strong slaves. They were different from the two who lowered me, and the sun was now low in the sky approaching early evening. I’d been down that pit into the bowels of the earth most of the day, and I had no wish to ever return. I knew now, without a shadow of doubt, that there truly were worse fates than death. I thought I’d seen the depths of human depravity in the heart of the Teutoburg forest, when the victorious German tribes sacrificed the Roman survivors to their bloodthirsty gods, but this horror under the rock and earth of the Gallaecian mountains ran it close. I shuddered in revulsion before greeting Blasius, who was waiting for me where I left him.
I coughed up some of the dust from the mine. ‘Sorry for keeping you so long.’
Blasius looked at my dirty and soiled tunic and filthy face. ‘Was it bad?’
I spat on the ground but decided against telling Blasius any details. What would be the point? It’d just increase his phobia and guilt. ‘Nothing I couldn’t handle. There was no trouble this side?’
He shook his head.
‘Good, go and tell the others that I returned safely. I’m just going to wait for Tomas.’
He gave a sad smile. ‘Glad to have you back, Cassius. I’m sorry about earlier.’
I dismissed it with a nonchalant wave of my hand. ‘You guarded my back whilst I was down there. That’s what I needed.’
He inclined his head and thanked me, but I could still sense the shame in him. Was there anything I could say to help him? I wasn’t sure. No words ever helped me.
He left me whilst I waited for Cadmus’ slave to come up the shaft.
Once Tomas arrived, we wandered down to the settlement, tired and exhausted. The heat of the mine had a draining effect. We passed through the stockade and reached the settlement at the bottom of the path. There was a large pool of water from a stream that ran near my rooms. On an impulse, I jumped in it. I was still fully clothed but I didn’t care. I needed to wash the filth and sweat of that place from me, and I was unconcerned what others thought of my actions.
Tomas stood by the side of the pool, his impassive face not betraying anything. ‘Would you like me to find Cadmus? So you can tell him your thoughts?’
I submerged my head and rubbed the filth from my hair before surfacing. ‘No, leave it for tonight. I’ll
see him tomorrow. You can go now, Tomas.’
He nodded and motioned to leave, but before he did I told him, ‘And thank you, Tomas.’
He looked at me in surprise. ‘What for?’
‘For taking me down there. It can’t have been easy for you either.’
Tomas looked at me thoughtfully. ‘I’m used to it now, Quaestor. But I appreciate your concern.’
He left me in the cool water and I submerged my head again, rubbing the last vestiges of the mine from my skin and tunic. I finally left the pool of water and found Aulus in our quarters.
‘By the gods, you look a sight!’ exclaimed Aulus as I walked through the doorway, drenched head to toe. ‘What did you find in the mine?’
I sat down heavily on the bed and saw that my hands were still shaking. ‘You have no idea, Aulus, no idea.’
Chapter Twenty-four
The journey into the mine affected me badly. I tossed and turned that night, shaking in a cold sweat, despite the warm evening air. My earlier enthusiasm for a comfortable bed with a soft mattress somehow only increased my guilt for what I’d just seen underground. However, troubling as it was, that wasn’t the only worrying sight I was going to witness in those Gallaecian mountains.
Long after the moon had risen into the sky, I heard a quiet knock on the door to the room. It didn’t take much to wake me – I’d been reliving those last moments in the mine. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those emaciated, enfeebled slaves, heard the tapping of their picks, and could smell the rotten air they breathed. At the knock, I sat bolt upright and instinctively reached for the gladius by my bed. ‘Who is it?’
There was a hushed whisper from behind the door. ‘It’s me, sir … it’s Maris. There’s someone here to see you.’
That was one advantage of having a few Praetorians with me – no one was going to be able to sneak up on me in my sleep; they’d posted a guard throughout the night. I looked around the room, my eyes quickly adjusting to the moonlight streaming through the lattice covering the room’s one small opening in the wall. Aulus was still sleeping, his chest rising and falling evenly. I called out quietly through the doorway, ‘Who is it? And what do they want?’
Maris opened the door a crack. ‘He says he is the man who took you down the mine. He needs to speak to you.’
I shook my head to clear it. ‘Wait, I’m coming out.’
I pulled on a tunic and slipped out the door. Tomas waited with Maris under the light of a shielded bronze oil lamp that he carried. ‘What’s this all about?’ I asked him.
Tomas looked around nervously. ‘Can we talk inside?’
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. ‘We’ll wake Aulus. Can’t this wait?’
He looked at me earnestly. ‘You asked about the other mine. I think I need to show you something.’
I looked him straight in the eye. ‘If you think I’m going to follow you down another of those holes, think again. I’ve seen enough for a lifetime, let alone for one day.’
He shook his head vigorously. ‘No, I can’t take you down that mine. But I can show you something else. Will you follow me?’
It was clear that Tomas was here without his master’s permission. He was acting furtively and he kept his voice low, despite no one being remotely within earshot. I took a deep breath. ‘Very well, but this had better be worth it.’ I turned to Maris. ‘You’d better come too, but leave your spear, helmet and shield. I get the feeling we’ll need to pass in secret.’
Tomas nodded. ‘You won’t need any weapons.’
I frowned. ‘We’ll still be taking our gladii.’
‘Whatever makes you feel comfortable,’ he said to me in a rushed whisper. ‘We need to go. I can’t be away for too long.’
Maris and I followed Tomas, at a slow run, down the path from the settlement. We came to a fork in the trail and took a new path, one I’d not seen on the way up, which bent around behind the mountain.
‘The other mine is on a mountain near here. This path leads to a cave between the two mines. That’s what I want to show you. They’ll be no one near it at this time,’ Tomas told us.
‘What makes you so sure?’ I asked him, jogging closely behind him but keeping low and away from the moon’s illumination as much as possible.
He turned around and whispered to me, ‘The smell.’
Sure enough, before we entered the cavern at the foot of the path, I smelled it myself. The unmistakable and putrid smell of corpses. I’d been on too many battlefields to mistake it for anything else. Maris smelled it too. He looked at me with concern as we walked slowly behind Tomas into the cavern’s interior. I held my hand up to reassure Maris; I wasn’t sure why, but I trusted Tomas.
Tomas turned to us and opened the shielded guards to the lamp he carried, which he then passed to me. ‘Normally Cadmus asks us to burn the bodies straight away. But he thought the fires might arouse your suspicions. So he asked us to leave them here until you’ve gone.’
I walked into the cavern carrying the lamp and looked around. In front of me lay row upon row of corpses, each one bundled up tightly in rough sacking. They stretched far into the back of the cave.
‘Sweet Diana have mercy,’ whispered Maris.
I wrinkled my nose at the smell. ‘How many are there?’
‘Over one hundred and fifty.’ Tomas stared at the lines of the dead. ‘They all died two days before you arrived. It took them the whole of today simply to pull all the corpses out.’
‘These were all working in the other mine?’ I said, guessing.
Tomas nodded. ‘They died when they pushed an opening in the rock. It released foul air, which killed them all. It was a day before the foul air cleared and anyone else could venture down there. By that stage, it was just a question of retrieving the bodies. They were all dead.’
Maris looked down at the bodies. ‘Who could have thought that a mountain could be so dangerous?’
I turned to Tomas. ‘Why are you showing me this? Cadmus himself admitted that sometimes foul gases are released.’
Tomas knelt down by one of the dead and opened up the rough sacking, revealing the face of a youth, someone probably not much older than Silo. He turned to me. ‘The dangers of the mountains are well known. Both Cadmus and his brother are aware of them all, as am I. But this young man didn’t die because the gods fated it, he died because of impatience.’
I kept myself firm. ‘Explain yourself?’
Tomas pushed himself up from the corpse. ‘When we worked under Cadmus’ father or his brother Bonifatius, it was always tough. They both worked the slaves hard, really hard. But the slaves were fed, watered, kept alive.’
I could see where this was going. ‘So you’re telling me that under Cadmus it’s different? He’s crueller somehow?’
Tomas shook his head. ‘Cruel is the wrong word. He is just completely indifferent to how many die in pursuit of his quest to retrieve the gold under these mountains. When we excavated the first mine, workgroups of no more than five men were used to open up new vents in the ground, and that only after careful inspection from skilled workers. Now he no longer bothers with such caution. That’s why so many died. They were trapped and couldn’t get out in time. You saw yourself how hard it was to vacate an area in a mine. With so many, it’s impossible. But now, everything is about getting to the new vein as quickly as possible. As soon as more slaves die, he just orders more in. It’s as if he is possessed by the need to unveil—’
I held up my hand to stop Tomas. ‘What is it you expect me to do, Tomas?’ A tinge of anger entered my voice. ‘Do you think I was sent here because of the suffering of slaves?’
Tomas looked at me imploringly. ‘You’re our only hope. I saw you in the mine. You look at us differently. You don’t just see animals or beasts of burden. You see real men.’
I gave him a hard look, my voice still curt. ‘Tomas, what do you think I am? A messenger of mercy? Some freer of slaves? Spartacus reborn? I’m sorry to disappoint you, Tomas, but I keep s
laves myself in my own household. I’m sorry for what happens here, but that is not why I’ve been sent here. I’m here only to adjudicate on who takes ownership of the mine, nothing more than—’
‘Then give us to Bonifatius.’
I was taken aback. ‘What?’
Tomas’ voice rose in strength. ‘Give ownership of the mine to the other brother. He is hard, tough, neither kind nor merciful. But he isn’t deranged by the lust to prove himself right, as Cadmus is. The ownership of the mine doesn’t just concern gold and wealth, Cassius. It concerns the lives of all the slaves under its ownership. I don’t expect you to free us, but at least give us to someone who won’t throw our lives away just to prove one of his theories is either right or wrong.’
I didn’t know what to say. I looked at Maris for support, but he just turned his head in embarrassment. He didn’t want the responsibility either. One brother was a thief and a traitor, the other a monster. Great. I turned back to the young slave and cleared my throat. ‘It isn’t that straightforward, Tomas.’
‘You must help us. Please, Quaestor.’
I took a deep breath. ‘You’ve taken quite a risk showing me this.’
Tomas nodded. ‘I know, but I no longer care. Cadmus likes me because of my sharp mind and my gift for organising the mineworks. But he’ll kill me in a heartbeat if you tell him.’
‘You needn’t worry about that at least. I will think on what you’ve shown me this night, but I can promise you no more than that.’
Tomas looked into my eyes. ‘That is far more than anyone else has ever done for us.’
When Audax returned from his hunt the next morning, I decided it was time to leave. I’d seen all I needed to see and I now wanted to be as far away from this pit of misery and suffering as I could get.
I eyed the amount of game strung over Audax’s saddlecloth. ‘You look to have had a successful trip?’ He had a string of six rabbits and one of the small mountain deer.
Audax grinned. ‘Lots of rabbits in Gallaecia. These deer aren’t as clever as they think either.’
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