by Glover, Nhys
Braxus frowned thoughtfully, as he threaded a stalk of barley through his fingers. ‘I wouldn’t mind testing your mettle. What if we staged a contest? Get one of the local merchants to organise it… We could do a demonstration and then challenge locals to take us on…’
‘You could get yourself killed!’ Lara said angrily, when she saw the way Vali was considering the idea.
‘Braxus is right. It’s good money. And if you want your little, stone villa, we’ll need more than we have. The people here will be starved of entertainment. We’d have to get equipment… armour, tridents… not a full range but enough… And we’d have to practise.’
‘I don’t want a stone villa if you’re going to pay for it with your blood!’ Lara cried; starting to get seriously worried now that she could see Vali was contemplating the plan.
‘Ann…Lara, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. They can do it.’ Ninia smiled her assurances to her terrified friend. She noticed Braxus looked at her with pleased approval.
‘Let’s see how much the stone and mortar will cost before we make any final decisions,’ Vali said, placating his wife.
Ninia knew what her friend was thinking when she squared her jaw like that. For a sweet, accommodating mistress, she had a stubborn streak a mile long. If she decided her man wasn’t going to fight, then pity help anyone who tried to convince her otherwise.
17 October 79 CE
When Gaius Annius Bibulus rode up to his father’s estate on the River Denth in the late afternoon drizzle, he was astonished by the activity going on. The ex-manager, who had approached him shortly after Gaius began making inquiries around Londinium, had assured him that the big bastard who had stolen his position was quickly running the estate into the ground.
If this was running it into the ground, he was more than happy for it to happen. The place was buzzing, and the slaves he saw were cheerful and hardworking, even in the rain.
Across the front of the wooden dwelling was a recently constructed lean-to, keeping off the drizzle that had been a constant feature of the day. Under it, women sat sewing and an old man sat repairing leather. At the other end of the lean-to there was a long trestle table, where a blonde man he remembered well, sat studying carefully laid out parchments.
The man didn’t have the look of a lazy overseer.
From inside the building, two young women came, chattering animatedly as they shared the weight of a full caldron between them. Behind them came a skinny slave girl carrying clay bowls on a tray. Even from a distance he could smell the rich aroma of a meat stew. The old slave working the leather hurriedly moved from his place, and the women placed the caldron down next to the seat he’d vacated. The slave girl set the tray on the stool.
Gaius wasn’t sure who noticed him first, but slowly, one by one, faces started to turn in his direction. There was fear in the eyes of the slaves, curiosity and uncertainty for the others. Then, one of the women who had been carrying the cauldron stepped forward. She was tall and willowy, with long dark hair she wore braided down her back. Her movements were graceful, almost elegant, considering her surroundings.
‘Gaius?’ she said.
How could this woman know him? Then her familiar smile brought him wary recognition. This couldn’t be little Anniana, could it?
Gaius dismounted and began leading his horse forward. He still wore his uniform, and it clinked as noisily as the horse’s tack did. All too aware of the picture he must make, travel stained and exhausted; his uniform less than pristine; he tried to straighten his shoulders. He felt embarrassed, remembering that he’d had more hair the last time she saw him.
‘Gaius?’ she said again, this time with more confidence. ‘Oh, Gaius, it’s soo good to see you!’
And the girl was running toward him then, and before he quite understood what was happening, she had flown into his arms, clinging onto his neck as she had when she was a child, hugging him tightly.
‘Anniana… I … it’s good to see you too. I wasn’t sure…’
‘How did you know I was here?’ she demanded quietly. ‘You did know I was here, didn’t you? It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.’
‘Yes. I knew. Father wrote me and told me what had happened. He thought Vali might bring you here.’
‘Oh, good. I’m glad father made that connection. He’d offered Vali the position. It only made sense for us to come here, as far away from mother as we could get. No one knows who I am, Gaius. I’m Lara the liberti, Vali’s wife. We don’t want rumours getting back to Rome.’ She spoke softly, and in an excited rush.
‘Oh, I see. Lara. I assume this ‘marriage’ is purely a sham to keep your identity hidden.’ He had slipped the girl to his side, so he could continue walking forward with his horse.
‘Jonti, take our visitor’s horse,’ Vali yelled to the old slave. The man ambled over and took the reins, leading the animal away behind the main dwelling.
‘Not a sham, Gaius. We’re married. I love him. Please don’t make a fuss.’
Gaius stopped dead and jerked around, grabbing his sister by the shoulders. ‘What? You can’t be serious!’
He caught a glimpse of the big man coming toward him like a fast moving, predatory cat. Then a big hand came down on his leather-covered shoulder.
‘Let her go Gaius,’ Vali said quietly.
Gaius’ legs nearly gave way under him with fear. Then he pulled himself together and glanced over his shoulder, and up… and up.
‘Take your hand off me slave. Who do you think you are?’ Gaius said furiously.
‘Your father’s manager here, a freeman, and the husband of the woman you are manhandling. Let her go.’ He spoke so slowly and quietly that his words were even more than a threat. They were a challenge.
‘Gaius, please. Let’s get out of this drizzle. I can explain everything.’ Anniana looked into his eyes, pleading with him not to make a scene.
Grudgingly, and only because she asked it of him, he let her go. The heavy hand on his shoulder disappeared immediately.
The three of them walked over to the lean-to. A line of slaves had formed on the far side of the caldron where the slave girl was handing out bowls while the other dark skinned girl was ladling stew into each bowl in turn. The atmosphere was tense. Gone was the comfortable camaraderie he’d seen on his arrival.
‘You remember Ninia?’ Anniana said, noticing him looking in the direction of the caldron.
‘Your ha…’
‘My childhood friend who came all the way from Rome to find me,’ his sister interrupted smoothly. ‘Sadly, her father died during the journey.’
‘Herakles? I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good slave. Loyal.’
Ninia looked over at him and offered a sad little smile. She hadn’t grown much taller than he remembered her, but she had blossomed into a curvaceous, pretty young woman. There was something independent about her too -- confident, as if she no longer saw herself as inferior. His sister had the same air. It was almost as if they considered themselves men.
‘Come inside. We can talk in private there,’ Anniana said, opening the huge oak door.
Inside the dwelling was dark and dingy, for all there was a fire burning on the hearth in the centre of the room. Around it were rough stools, and it was to these his sister led him. When Vali started to follow them inside, she shook her head wordlessly. After exchanging a heated stare, the man nodded, backed out and closed the door behind him, sealing them into the darkness alone.
‘You have given your innocence to that slave? Have you any idea what you’ve done?’ His fury ignited the instant the door closed. But instead of cowering, his little sister sat on a stool, and with a wave of her hand, offered him another. It was a regal gesture that would have fitted well at a patrician’s banquet.
‘I know exactly what I’ve done, brother. I’ve found happiness and safety. Did father tell you what our dear mother had in store for me? Empress for a day… or maybe I’d last as much as a year. Is that what you want
for me, Gaius? Sharing my bed with that old toad? Murdered by Domitian, before I produced a son to displace him?’
‘I know! Of course I wouldn’t want that life for you. But there were other possibilities. If Vesuvius hadn’t erupted you would have been safely married to a suitable patrician.’
‘I think I was married to him, as far as the legal system is concerned, but when I became a widow I reverted back to my mother’s paterfamilias. She’ll always have the power to overturn any marriage I make, now. I’ll never escape her, while ever I’m Annia Minor. My only hope of a happy life is as a liberti. Annia Minor died during the sandstorm on the Tyrrhenian Sea.’
Gaius was reeling. How could she consider giving up her ancestry, her privileged life, to become a freed slave? Her blood was pure. She could be the mother of senators, generals, the leaders of Rome. Instead, she was happy to be little more than chattel, here at the arse end of the world? She’d gone mad, it was the only answer. Or that slave had twisted her thinking, bullying her into it.
‘I can arrange for you to come back to Magna Germania with me. I can introduce you to some of my tribunes under an assumed name. One is a Julian. If you married him, his paterfamilias could protect you.’
‘I don’t want to marry a man I’ve never met, in the hope that his paterfamilias is strong enough to withstand mother’s influence. I don’t want to be part of that world, Gaius. I never was, and I never wanted to be. Here, I’m respected for myself. And I am loved. You probably think that Vali took advantage of my innocence, given what he was. But he didn’t. It was me who seduced him, because he didn’t think he was good enough for me.’
‘You what?’ he almost yelled it.
‘I seduced him. Weeks after we left Rome, long after Severus was dead. He got me to Pompeii, and then when the volcano threatened, he came back for me. Severus was a fool. He wanted to stay in the safety of his home. He demanded I stay with him. But I trusted Vali, and he was right. He has been right, every step of the way. Just because he was mother’s bed-slave doesn’t negate his brilliant mind and his wealth of capabilities. Father knew what he was. He trusted me to him.’
‘Mother’s what?!’ Gaius felt his head become light and the world was beginning to spin.
‘Bed-slave. That is the nice way of putting it, isn’t it? She bought him for sex, rough sex. And he wasn’t the first, or the last.’
‘But she could be put to death for that! She wouldn’t possibly… Father wouldn’t…’
‘I think father knew. Well, Vali thinks father knew. And by not condemning her, he made himself culpable. Gaius, you have no idea what kind of viper’s nest you were raised in. If you knew what Publius did…’ She gave herself a little shake. ‘I’m well out of that. And as far as having pure blood? I have her blood running through my veins, and it sickens me. Somehow, luckily, you and I got to be more like father, but the other two…’
‘Publius just has to grow up. He’s a spoiled brat who thinks he can get away with anything. The army will make a man out of him.’ Even as he said the words, he knew they weren’t true. The army could do nothing with someone like his little brother. No one could. If they were all lucky, he’d die in a battle here in the north. If not…
‘I hope so, because if I ever see him do anything to hurt anyone again, I’ll kill him myself.’
This wasn’t his sister. His sweet, innocent little Anniana would never speak so blithely about killing her own blood. His sister got upset if a butterfly lost its wings.
Then he remembered how the butterfly had lost its wings. His brother had pulled them off to taunt little Anniana into crying. And she had. And Publius had laughed. He always laughed. What had his brother done that would turn that sweet child into someone who would contemplate murder? He was starting to think he was better off not knowing.
Her revelation about their mother was bad enough. But sex-slaves made sense. He’d always suspected something. Not that though, never that. Who would ever contemplate their own mother taking slaves to her bed? Rough sex, Anniana had called it. What did she know of such things? He barely knew, and he was a man of the world.
‘So what do you want me to do, Annia Minor?’ He used her formal name, to make it clear just how furious he was with her. ‘Tell father you’re dead, so you can live your life here in this midden heap, with a slave who fucked our mother?’
He felt pleased when she blanched at his crudity. If she wanted to be treated like a whore, he’d accommodate her.
‘Don’t disrespect me for my choices, brother. I wasn’t the one who made this life my best option. I have made the best of my lot. And let me assure you that our home in Rome was more midden heap than this place ever will be. And Vali is a good man who loves me. He’s not a slave anymore. He’s a citizen of Rome, and our children will be citizens, too.’
Gaius could think of nothing further to say. This wasn’t his sister. She was right. His sister was dead. And their father was better off thinking she was, too.
He began to rise, preparing to take his leave. ‘I think you overestimate mother and her desire to control you. Now she’s free of father, she’ll simply remarry someone more… politically powerful, and be satisfied.’
‘Ninia brought a man here with her. I can introduce you, if you care to stay the night. He’s in town at the moment, but will be back by dark. He was hired by mother, along with another man called Menolus -- to track me down, kill Vali, and bring me back, kicking and screaming, if need be. And Braxus is sure that, unless he reports my death to mother, others will be put on my trail. It’s why we’re careful about my disguise.’
‘Father said something like that, but I assumed he was exaggerating, as he tends to do.’
‘No exaggeration, Gaius. You never knew her like I did. I was nothing to her, until she found a use for me. Now she has, she won’t stop until she has me back in her web. I won’t let her do that to me.’
‘I don’t know you anymore, Annia. Maybe I never did. I will do as you ask. May you never regret the bed you have made for yourself, because you are dead to our paterfamilias now.’ His spoke with tired dignity. He had come so far to save her, but she’d spat his gesture back in his face. So be it. He washed his hands of her.
In the firelight, he saw tears glistening in her eyes. For a moment, he felt pity for her. She was just a little girl trying to act like an adult. What was she now? Seventeen. Just seventeen. How would he have handled what she’d been through at her age? He hadn’t even joined the army until he was eighteen, and that had been the hardest year of his life. She hadn’t told him all the details of the last few months, but from the little she had, it made his adventures seem mild. And they were. His was never going to be a glorious career. He’d be like his father, a capable but unexceptional man.
‘Goodbye Lara.’ He dropped a brief bow, turned and marched out the door.
As he strode around the corner of the dwelling, looking for his horse, he was accosted by the giant.
‘What will you do?’ Vali demanded.
Gaius barely glanced in his direction. ‘What my sister requires. She is dead to our family now. But I will assure father that our estate is now in good hands. Having met the last manager, and from what I can see here, that statement will be true enough.’
Vali nodded, dropping his aggressive stance. ‘I tried to dissuade her. I know I’m not good enough for her.’
Gaius jerked around in surprise, glaring at the upstart who had taken the best thing his family had produced. ‘No you aren’t. But I’m sure you didn’t fight too hard to dissuade her. You’re a man with a good mind. If you’d wanted to, you could have come up with a better solution than this. But you’re also ambitious. Well done. My mother played right into your hands. But don’t expect that marrying my sister gives you any privileges. As I said, Annia Minor is dead to us now. I hope Lara is enough for you.’
He saw the fire stir in the ice-blue eyes, and nearly stepped back in fear. When the giant spoke it was through gritted teeth.
‘One day, when you’ve made your politically advantageous marriage, and surrounded yourself with sycophants and back-stabbers, as you try to keep your head above the changing political waters, remember that there was once a young, sweet girl who loved her brother dearly. It will be the only real love you’ll ever know.’
Long after he’d ridden away into the late afternoon shadows, Gaius played those words over and over in his mind. They rang truer than he wanted them to.
Chapter Twenty Six
18 October79CE, Londinium BRITANNIA
Gaius sat in a dark corner of the inn, his mug of ale half empty. It had been half empty for an hour, which was when the slave girl had delivered the sixth mug of the day to him. He knew it was nearing sundown, even though he couldn’t see outside. The steady trickle of workmen, some of them from the docks, others from the markets, told him the day was over.
He should have found himself a ship back to Germania Inferior that morning. After all, his mission here was finished. But for whatever reason, he’d not bothered to check transports. All he’d done with his day was formulate a message to go back to his father. He’d decided to send it as part of a military communique. It was the way personal missives were delivered to families while the army was on the move. Fast messengers were able to cover huge distances with remarkable speed that way. Even at this time of year, it was possible his father could hear what he needed to say within weeks. About the time he got back to his post.
The closest fort was Rutupiae, on the east coast, less than a day’s ride away. He could ride out, get his message included in the next post, and then set sail with one of the regular military vessels travelling to the mainland. He’d do that tomorrow. Or maybe the day after. As soon as he had the message written to his liking.