“It won’t be forgotten,” Laelia says. “Ever.”
“I knew that’s what he wanted, but I hoped he might live. I sent him a message saying that I would wait here for him, in case he decided to leave this country. I didn’t know where else to pick, so I chose the place that Spartacus sent Kastor and me to. Right here, beside this river, is where we met the pirates. I wanted him to know that I never betrayed him. I didn’t leave; I was taken. You see? Taken by Bolmios. It’s…it’s a confusion. He took me, but he also bought me freedom, made me rich, gave me documents that no one can deny.” He pauses. “It was a very strange thing. I wished Spartacus knew that I would rather have—”
Laelia interrupts him. “He knew. We’re here. He sent us here, at your word, because he believed you.”
That brings the Greek’s face up. He looks returned to clarity. “Of course. You’re here. You know these things. Who is with you?”
She names the others.
“So few? And a Roman?”
“He pretended to be our master,” Laelia says. “Without him, we wouldn’t be here.”
“It can be that way. Unlikely allies. I have them too.” He gestures back toward the skiff, where the boy still sits and the rowers mill. “Pirates, but you can trust them. These ones, they answer to me. We needed to hide in a different place. The boy there, he looked for you. Saw you and brought me word. He’s not a slave, if you’re wondering. Just a boy.” His gaze rises. Though she doesn’t turn around to look, she knows that he’s caught sight of someone up by the ruin. He touches her shoulder as he passes her, heading up the beach and toward the ruin.
Laelia doesn’t follow him. She stays there beside the water. She watches the Nubian boy; he watches her. She was right about him. He looked free because he was free. He doesn’t wear a disguise. Neither, she decides, will she. She lifts the cord that hangs the plaque around her neck. She pulls it over her head, drops it onto the sand. Later, when the time is right, she’ll take the torque Astera gave her out of the sack that hides it. She’ll slip it around her neck and balance it on her shoulders. Right now she needs neither accouterment. She just walks into the shallow water and out toward the boy.
Historical Note
The battle beside the Silarus (modern Sele) River marked the end of the major engagements of the Third Servile War. Thousands upon thousands of Spartacus’s followers were killed, and Crassus rounded up survivors quickly and brutally. Pompey, late in arriving, nonetheless intercepted a large contingent of fleeing rebels, slaughtered them, and managed to take some credit for ending the uprising. Though some of Spartacus’s followers escaped capture and lived for years as renegades in the wilder regions of southern Italy, Crassus had six thousand prisoners crucified along the road between Capua and Rome. Spartacus himself was not identified among the captured or crucified. He’s said to have died heroically in a last-ditch effort to engage Crassus in single combat. He went down fighting. Though that much is known, his body was never found.
Acknowledgments
One would think that, seven novels into a writing career, an author would have found some ease with the process. Hardly. Each book is a challenge, and this one was especially so. During the writing of this story, I leaned heavily on trusted beta readers: my wife, Gudrun, and also Allison Hartman Adams, Shawn Alex Crawford, Zachary Jernigan, Cortney McLellan, Timothy Phin, Vanessa Rose Phin, Keith R. Potempa, Robert V. S. Redick, Angela Still, Ian Withrow, and others who read or listened to portions of this work in progress. I’m so grateful to them for the crucial roles they each played in helping me complete this novel. Is writing solitary work? Yes, but it’s less so when one has friends to call on. Thanks also to my editor, Gerald Howard, and my agent, Sloan Harris, for their patience and continued support.
About the Author
DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM is the author of Pride of Carthage, the Acacia Trilogy, and many other works of historical fiction and fantasy. His novels have twice been New York Times Notable Books, have won two awards from the American Library Association, and have been translated into eight foreign languages. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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The Risen Page 56