‘Don’t touch the wound. We’ll soon be at the hospital.’
So we were still pretending. The vehicle started up and I could visualise crossing the rear courtyard to the gate that led to the road down to the city.
‘Are you all right, Lucilla?’ Quirinia’s voice, but flatter. She’d used the name of my home farm. Clever. She was still alive. And we were escaping.
The ambulance stopped. Raised voices. Aggressive shouting, a rush of cold air. The doors crashed back on themselves. I flinched at the noise and cold. A hand took mine and I shivered as a damp antiseptic-smelling pad passed over my jaw and neck. I groaned.
‘Papers,’ demanded a flat voice with the town twang.
‘Can’t you see we have an emergency?’ Pia said.
I groaned again and contributed a deep shudder, almost a spasm. The semi-automatic was under my blanket, but ready, in my hand.
‘Still need papers. Now.’
‘Here, here’s my medical ID,’ Pia said.
‘Here’s our palace passes,’ said Quirinia.
Hades, what was she doing? They’d ID us within minutes and all this disguise and acting would be for nothing. I counted over a hundred and twenty before someone said ‘Pass’. They slammed the ambulance door and we were on our way again. To my shame, I started trembling and gulped, perilously near a sob.
‘It’s okay, we’ll soon be at our destination.’ Pia squeezed my hand and leaned over and whispered, ‘They were genuine passes. Yours have been left on the bodies of the real staffers who were killed. It won’t delay them long, but it’ll buy a little more time and we need every minute.’
‘Where are we going?’ I asked.
‘To the Central Valetudinarium – this is an official ambulance. I can’t say more.’
We rode along in silence for another ten minutes. My head was full of questions, but now was the time to do as we were told. Pia was running a desperate operation well. The ambulance slowed down, braked and turned abruptly to the right. It wound through the hospital grounds and eventually stopped.
‘Next hurdle. Deep breath,’ Pia warned us as she guided me back into the wheelchair.
I shivered as the cool air and the smell of vehicle exhaust flew in when the driver opened the ambulance doors. People shouting, doors slamming, groaning.
Pia pushed me up the ramp in the reception. Quirinia limping beside the wheelchair pulled on it. We were booked in under our false names and told to wait. It was chaos. Shouting, people screaming, crying, telephones ringing incessantly, trolley wheels squeaking and rattling. The stink of blood and antiseptic engulfed us.
‘I’m going to be sick,’ Quirinia said in a small voice.
‘No,’ I hissed at her. ‘You can’t. It’ll draw attention to us. Take some deep breaths.’
‘It’s all right for you, you can’t see the bodies lying all over the place.’
‘Where’s Pia?’
‘I don’t know, she’s disappeared. Oh, Pluto!’
‘What?’
‘Vigiles, with one of those nationalists. By the entrance door. They’re checking papers.’ She grabbed my hand and started to sob.
‘Right, you two.’ Pia, with an officious voice. ‘X-ray.’ Next minute, we were hurrying along the corridor.
The wheelchair stopped abruptly.
‘Hades, the bloody lift’s not working. We’ll have to risk the fire stairs.’
I jumped out of the wheelchair, stuffed the pistol in my pocket. Grabbing the blanket, I wrapped it round my shoulders, pulling a fold of it over my head. I ripped the eye bandage off along with the blood stained pad. It was a relief to be able to see again. Quirinia and I hurried down several flights of steps after Pia.
‘The vigiles,’ Pia said, ‘are only checking women. And one of them gave me a strange look as I took you off. We have to assume they’re following.’
Dull cream walls gave way to concrete as we approached the services area. I couldn’t hear any pursuit, but we couldn’t bank on staying undetected. At the bottom, a reinforced wire-glass door blocked the way. It was alarmed. We couldn’t get out. We were trapped in the stairwell.
‘Don’t look so worried, consiliaria, I have the code.’
She stabbed the buttons with her index finger and pushed the door open into the basement engineering room. A subterranean world of ducts, cabling and half-light opened up in front of us. Steam, the smell of oil and clanking noises were the only accompaniments as we hurried along. At the far end, we climbed up a ladder to an observation gallery and through a service door into a garage.
Pia led us to a black utility van and wrenched open the back door. Four shelves, the top two occupied by grey, heavy-duty rubber bags about two metres long with a central zip. Even in the dim light, I could see both carried the contents they were designed for. On the bottom shelves lay two flat empty bags.
‘Get into the bottom two, please. Not exactly first-class travel, but we should get you out alive, unlike the poor sods above you.’
Quirinia stood completely still and stared at the rubber rectangle as if it were indeed her shroud. Then she looked at the corpse-filled body bags above her. She shook her head and looked at me beseechingly.
‘I can’t, Aurelia. You go on, I’ll find another way.’
‘Quirinia, if they find you, they’ll beat it out of you, and Pia and her colleague driving the van will be dead meat. And so will I.’ I leaned forward and unzipped it. ‘Come on, feet in first.’
After a long second, she climbed into the bag, cast her eyes up at the top shelves again and shuddered, but complied. Her expression of dread was like a pig going to the butcher for Saturnalia.
*
I had no idea how long we spent zipped up in the body bags, strapped in and helpless. Despite the three tiny breather holes Pia had made, the musty rubber sheeting lying on my skin and the pitch blackness made me feel I was already in my tomb. Pia had given us a small flask of water each and me some analgesic for my throbbing arm. I heard Quirinia sobbing for a few minutes, then nothing. She must have passed out or fallen asleep.
I couldn’t sleep. I’d left the imperatrix and saved my own skin. I should have been ready to die with her. What use was I if I couldn’t protect her? Being right about Caius was no comfort, but I was shocked how easily he’d succeeded on the day. He’d done it in under twenty-four hours. Perhaps I should have authorised Plico to terminate Caius as the magister militum had suggested. Or maybe have let Miklós do it months ago when Caius had been deported from Prussia. But it would still have been murder. Oh, gods, Miklós. Even if I got out of here, would I ever see him again? Or Marina? At least they were both safe abroad.
But I’d run away from my ministry, my household and my people at Castra Lucilla. I’d let them all down. I didn’t deserve to lead the Mitelae.
What the hell use was it running away to New Austria anyway? I should have been out there, forming resistance networks, leading the movement to overthrow Caius. As soon as I was out of this rubber envelope, I’d tell Pia to drop me off before the border and I’d get to work.
Quirinia should go on – she’d only done the minimum two years’ national service as a twenty-year-old. She’d probably forgotten more than she remembered. She’d been driving financial modelling and counting beans ever since. I doubted she’d survive the harshness before us.
It would be a hard slog, but the sooner the better. Who was loyal and who wasn’t? I started planning. My mind filled with so many possibilities chasing each other around my head that I became dizzy. Juno, it was hot in this damned body bag; the sweat was running down my face and neck.
A strange sound came from nearby, soft at first, then louder and more intense. I shuddered. My whole body shook as I gulped and realised it came from me, sobbing my guts out for myself, my people and my country.
XIX
I jerked a
wake. The van had stopped, the engine cut and I heard a deep rumbling followed by a thud. The sound of the van door locking mechanism turning and the hinges creaking as the doors opened. The straps holding me fast were released and, Juno be praised, the bag zip was undone. I gasped and snatched air into my lungs. Sweet air, mountain air.
A groan opposite as Quirinia struggled out of her bag and fell onto the flatbed of the van. ‘Never, never again,’ she said, bringing her hand up to her throat. She leaned out of the back of the van and threw up. I knelt by her, holding her hair back from her face. In her black hair there were white streaks that hadn’t been there twenty-four hours ago.
‘Here, domina,’ said Pia, and handed Quirinia a cloth for her face.
‘Where are we?’ I asked.
‘In a barn, on a farm near the New Austrian border. We’ve been from one end of the country to another to take the two bodies above you back to their families for burning.’
‘Why? I thought we were heading to Vienna.’
‘Our cover’s funeral transport. It’s the only reason we’ve managed to get a travel permit. There’s so much confusion, the nats aren’t checking properly. They just scribble a note and sign it.’ She pointed to the empty upper shelves. ‘Both were Roman Nat bastards, but we had to do it. It makes me sick to listen to the crap they spout, but I feel so sorry for the parents. All they care is that their son is dead.’
Perhaps it was the poor evening light, but her skin looked grey.
‘I didn’t want to stop until we got here. If we’d been asked questions or spot-checked, we’d have been stuffed. It’s too risky for us to be out in the day without any bodies in the back. Anyway, we’re here now, but Atrius and I must have some rest.’
‘Atrius?’
‘Yes, why?’
‘He was with me at the palace. How did he escape?’
‘I’m part of the Aquila fallback reserve,’ he answered as he appeared from the side of the van. His eyes were red-rimmed and heavy lines ran from the side of his nose to each side of his mouth. ‘Lieutenant Calavia and I have been awake for thirty-six hours. Will you stand guard for us, Major?’
I stared at him. I hadn’t been called that in nearly twenty years.
‘Of course,’ I stretched out my uninjured arm and he gave me his rifle. He and Calavia climbed into field sleeping bags on the barn floor and were asleep within minutes.
I opened the barn door a crack, wide enough to see the approach road winding up the hills. Sloping grassland spread out from the barn until it dropped abruptly down into the valley below. Apart from a group of conifers about fifteen metres away, only rock outcrops broke up the smooth green waves of pasture. Grey mountain peaks, capped with snow, surrounded us on three sides. A sharp morning breeze made me shiver. Nothing was moving out there, and the sun was just starting to break the horizon. I slung the rifle over my shoulder, grabbed my brown hospital blanket, the despised but waterproof body bag and a water flask, and slithered out of the gap. I made it to the trees in a few seconds, crouched down and scanned in each direction. A few birds were singing, but there was no other noise. I made a bivouac with the blanket and some fallen branches and sat on the body bag. It wasn’t textbook perfect, but I could cover front and side approaches to the barn plus a little of the far side.
Strange, slipping back into an older self. My arm throbbed from the flesh wound, my city clothes were dirty and torn, and my stomach begged for food. Despite this, I was calm, had my duty to perform and for the first time in twenty-four hours I had time to think clearly.
As soon as Pia and Atrius were awake, I’d explain my plan and leave. But I was curious about one thing – what was the ‘Aquila fallback reserve’? I’d never heard of it. It sounded like some contingency unit. Atrius was a Praetorian – he’d been on duty at the palace – so was it some kind of sub-unit? Fabia had never mentioned it. Gods! Fabia. Another one to add to the body count. I bent my head onto my knees for a few seconds.
Crack. Someone or something was in the copse. I stayed crouched as I was. Probably an animal, but if it was on two legs, best they think me unaware. I glanced left and right without moving my head. Nothing. I could hear heavy breathing. I brought my head up very slowly and looked into two enormous eyes. I only just stopped myself from bursting out laughing. I was in such a state I’d been rattled by a high alps cow.
‘Shoo!’ I hissed at it and flapped my hands. It replied by licking and then munching the green leaves on my bivouac. When it tasted blanket, it stopped, gave me a last look and wandered off.
I watched contentedly enough for an hour, busying my mind scanning each sector of the ground I could see from the trees. The next hour I spent crawling along the sides and back of the barn and watching from there. But there was no road or even a path to the back of us, only the grey wall of the mountain. As a safe stop it was well chosen, but I wondered who owned it or used it.
The sun was stronger now so I settled back in the trees, taking occasional sips from the water flask. Just after midday, the barn door opened a few centimetres to reveal Quirinia’s anxious face. I waved with my fingers only, then signalled with my hand, horizontal and pushing down parallel to the ground. She nodded. She hadn’t forgotten her basic military skills after all. She waited a few minutes, then crawled over to the trees.
‘Are you all right out here, Aurelia?’ she whispered.
‘Yes, fine. All quiet.’
She smiled at me, then flicked her coat. ‘We must look like a pair of idiots in our city clothes, toting a gun and crawling around in the trees like runaway kids.’
‘Well, runaway is right.’
The laughter fell out of her eyes.
‘I couldn’t stop thinking about Severina last night,’ she said. ‘Did we do the right thing to run?’ She looked down at her despised city shoes, now caked in mud and grass.
‘You’re asking the wrong person,’ I replied. ‘Whatever Calavia, and Plico before her, said and even Severina herself, I’ll never know in my heart.’
She said nothing for a few minutes.
‘You could do worse than remember the words you said to Silvia when she almost refused to go into the tunnel.’
‘What do you mean? How did you know what I said? You weren’t there.’
‘We all heard it over the house intercom when you told Silvia to accept her mother’s cause was lost.’
I opened my mouth to protest.
‘And don’t tell me that you delegated responsibility to Colonel Volusenia,’ she continued. ‘Severina ordered you to leave. She knew you would have enough grit and determination to make sure Silvia came back into her own. And think about this, Aurelia. As you yourself said, those left behind fighting to delay Caius will have wasted their lives in vain, including Tertullius Plico. And like Silvia, you don’t want to live with that on your conscience.’
I rubbed my eye socket with the heel of my hand, drawing the palm, then fingers down over my face.
‘Sometimes I don’t know whether I love you or hate you, Quirinia,’ I said and gave her a short laugh. I glanced at my watch. Half past four. It wouldn’t start to go dark for several hours.
‘I don’t suppose there’s anything to eat in that barn, is there?’
‘I’ll go and see,’ Quirinia said.
I squeezed her hand; she smiled then scurried back to the barn.
In the end it was Atrius who came out with two disposable mess tins of something brown, warm and mediocre looking. But to my empty stomach it was wonderful. He handed me a roll and a wrinkled apple.
‘That’s all the fruit the wayside shop had. The owner hasn’t had her delivery for two days.’
‘Have the others fed?’
‘They’re eating now. Lieutenant Calavia wants to talk to you once you’ve finished.’
We sat silently, looking out over the still landscape and finished our ratio
ns.
*
‘I’m sorry, consiliaria, but I can’t do as you ask.’ Pia shrugged. We stood on the pressed earth floor, the last of the daylight seeping in between the slats of the barn walls. ‘The colonel would have my hide. My orders are to bring you safe to Vienna. No discussion.’
‘Very commendable, Lieutenant, but I’m not under her command and I’m going. I can’t sit on my backside in Vienna when I could be putting my skills to use on the ground organising resistance.’
Pia smiled.
‘What?’
‘When we were allocated assignments in the Aquila fallback reserve several months ago, mine was to rescue and recover the head of the Twelve Families. As my grandmother is Countess Calavia, they thought I’d have good knowledge of Families procedures and personalities. When she briefed me, Colonel Volusenia gave me particular instructions about you.’
‘Oh, really? Do tell me.’
‘She said you might be reluctant to comply and that I should not hesitate to use whatever means necessary.’
‘The Hades she did! Well, Tartarus take her and her instructions. You can try, Pia Calavia, but you won’t be able to stop me. I’m not entirely past it.’
‘That’s what the colonel said you’d say. She also told me to ask you what your resources, networks, intelligence, analysis staff, weaponry, communications and strategy were.’
She crossed her arms and waited.
Damn the woman, she was right. I had nothing but my fury and my guilt. Nor could I access any resources until I reached Vienna. I didn’t even know who had died at the palace, whether Severina was alive, who was loyal and who wasn’t.
‘Very well, I’ll tap into this Aquila group,’ I said.
‘I can’t comment on that, consiliaria. The colonel said she would explain everything once you’d arrived at the assembly point, i.e. Vienna.’
Clever bait, Volusenia, I thought.
‘The priority is to get across the border and regroup,’ Pia continued, ‘and we should get ready. It’ll be dark in an hour.’ Before I could protest further, she walked to the back of the barn to an old storage cupboard. She heaved bags of animal feed out of the way to reveal three olive green equipment boxes.
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