‘Master of the Universe,’ he muttered, and showed the letter to Lupus, who had just come into the atrium. ‘It’s addressed to us. To me, you, Flavia and Nubia.’
Jonathan thumbed open the seal and quickly scanned the letter. ‘I don’t believe it!’ He handed the letter to Lupus and turned back to the messenger. ‘Does the emperor want an answer right away?’
‘By tonight if possible,’ said the messenger. ‘I’ll wait at the Grain and Grape Tavern for your response.’
‘I need to discuss it with my parents,’ said Jonathan. ‘I’m only twelve, you know.’
The messenger nodded. ‘It’s a great honour for someone as young as you to be asked to go on such a mission,’ he said. ‘I would advise you to accept. If you do, I am authorized to give you enough money for your passage as well as four imperial passes.’ He glanced at the cypress branch hanging over Jonathan’s front door. ‘Who died?’ he asked. ‘If you don’t mind my asking.’
‘My sister,’ said Jonathan, ‘and her husband. She died in childbirth and he disappeared a week after she died. We found his cloak and sandals on the beach. We think he drowned himself from grief.’
Nubia, Flavia and their two dogs were hunting in the dunes south of the Marina Harbour. The high thin glaze of clouds had thickened, and now it was beginning to drizzle.
‘Oh, it’s so nice to be out,’ sighed Flavia, pushing aside a clump of juniper. ‘Out of the house and away from those crying babies.’
‘I am liking babies,’ said Nubia quietly.
‘I like babies, too,’ said Flavia. ‘But not ones that cry all the time.’
‘Behold,’ said Nubia, looking up. ‘It is beginning to rain.’ She sneezed.
‘We need to get used to the elements,’ said Flavia briskly, ‘if we are going to be virgin huntresses.’ She let the juniper branch spring back and glanced down at her wax tablet. ‘Diana said you can sometimes find deer down here, where the woods meet the beach. I want to kill a deer. I want to prove we’re worthy to be her companions.’
Nubia sneezed again, and sighed. Although she was no longer Flavia’s slave, she sometimes felt like it; Flavia rarely considered Nubia’s wishes, or asked her opinion. Nevertheless Nubia was going to offer her opinion now.
‘Flavia,’ she said. ‘Flaccus loves you and is wanting to marry you. Do you not want to marry him?’
‘I have taken a vow,’ said Flavia firmly. ‘Alma says the gods often tempt you after you’ve taken a vow. The goddess Diana was testing me. But I passed – Shhhh! Scuto, Nipur. Quiet! Did you hear that, Nubia? I heard a twig snap. Come, faithful hounds!’ she said to Scuto and Nipur, who were busy sniffing the base of a pine tree. ‘Come, faithful maiden companion! The hunt is on!’ Flavia ran towards a grove of oak trees, then crouched behind a rotting trunk near another clump of juniper.
‘Flaccus is kind and handsome,’ panted Nubia, crouching down beside Flavia and catching Nipur’s collar. ‘And I know he pleases you. You told me once you imagine kissing his lips.’
Flavia ignored Nubia’s comment. ‘Now that we are virgin huntresses,’ she mused, ‘shall we live in the resin-scented woods of Ostia and Laurentum? Or shall we catch a boat to a faraway country?’ She looked up at the sky. ‘Oh, not again! It’s rained every day since Miriam died. I can’t remember such a wet winter in my whole life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be somewhere sunny? Shhhh! There. At the foot of that big oak! I saw something brown!’
Flavia pulled an arrow from her quiver and notched it on her bowstring. A moment later the arrow sped from its bow.
‘Aaaaah!’ came a voice from the foot of the oak tree. ‘I’ve been shot!’
‘Oh, no!’ cried Flavia. ‘I shot a person, not a deer!’
Flavia pushed through the juniper bushes and emerged into a sandy clearing within sight of the beach. There were a few ancient oak trees here and a man in a brown tunic and leggings stood beside one. He had just pulled the arrow out of his calf and was examining it with interest. ‘Ow!’ he said. ‘That stung.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, sir!’ cried Flavia. ‘I thought you were a deer. Scuto! Get away. That’s not your lunch.’
‘I’m not a deer,’ said the man, rescuing his cheese and bread from the dogs’ interested sniffing. ‘Just a sailor trying to eat my lunch.’ The man squinted down at her. ‘Oh, it’s you, Miss Flavia.’
‘You know me?’
The man nodded and grinned. ‘I know your father. Sailed with him once a few years ago. My name’s Gorgias.’
‘Pleased to meet you. And sorry about shooting you.’
‘Doesn’t matter. Wasn’t much force behind it. Only went in a little. Fleshy part of the calf.’ Gorgias looked down at the spot of blood on his left legging. ‘See? It’s almost stopped bleeding already.’
‘Here.’ Flavia pulled off her blue linen headband. ‘Let me bind it up.’ She knelt and wrapped the cloth around his calf, then tied it off neatly. She stood up and brushed away a stray strand of hair. ‘If it festers, Gorgias, you must visit Mordecai ben Ezra on Green Fountain Street. I’ll make sure he treats you gratis.’
‘So is he back from his travels, yet?’
‘Doctor Mordecai?’
‘Your father. Only I’m looking for work.’
Flavia frowned up at him. ‘My father’s at home. Right here in Ostia. What makes you think he’s gone travelling?’
‘Thought I saw him embarking last December,’ said the sailor, scratching his head. ‘First day of the Saturnalia, it was.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Flavia. ‘Ships don’t set sail in December. It’s not the sailing season. It would be suicide!’
‘That’s why I remember it. She was bound for Sabratha in Libya, carrying members of the Pentasii beast-hunting corporation. I saw your father going up the gangplank an hour before she set sail.’
Flavia turned to Nubia, a puzzled expression on her face. ‘Did pater go on a voyage last—’ Then understanding dawned: ‘Did my father have a broken nose?’
‘Now that you mention it, yes. . .’ said Gorgias. ‘I remember thinking he must have been in a fight recently. Oh, and he was barefoot.’
‘Great Juno’s peacock!’ cried Flavia. ‘It must have been Uncle Gaius. My father’s twin brother,’ she explained to Gorgias. ‘We all thought he drowned himself. Oh, thank you, Gorgias! That’s wonderful news! My father is here in Ostia, but he’ll be sailing to Alexandria tomorrow or the next day. He usually posts details of his voyages in the Forum of the Corporations. I’ll put in a good word for you, if you like.’
‘Much appreciated. Oh. Here’s your arrow. Only a little blood on it.’
‘Thank you.’
Flavia caught Nubia’s hand and pulled her away. ‘This is Diana’s doing!’
Nubia frowned. ‘Diana Poplicola?’
‘No! Diana, the goddess of the hunt,’ cried Flavia. ‘She doesn’t want me to hunt deer. She wants me to hunt men. She wants us to find Uncle Gaius and she’s put us on his scent! It’s her reward for my resisting temptation.’
As they emerged from the woods onto the tomb-lined road, the dogs began to bark.
Nubia pointed. ‘Behold!’ she said. ‘It is the Jonathan and the Lupus!’
The boys had just appeared from the Fountain Gate and were hurrying towards the girls.
They ran towards each other, and when the two boys finally stood before the two girls, Flavia and Jonathan opened their mouths and said in unison: ‘We have to go to Africa!’
‘A letter from the Emperor!’ breathed Flavia. ‘A letter asking us to go to Africa, land of exotic cities like Leptis Magna, Carthage and Volubilis, and oasis towns scattered like leopard spots on the tawny skin of the desert!’
The four of them had taken shelter from the rain under some umbrella pines near the synagogue. From here they could see the beach and the Marina Harbour. Jonathan had bought a papyrus cone of pistachio nuts and was passing them round.
Flavia took a nut. ‘And the letter arrives the very d
ay we learn Gaius is there! It must be the goddess Diana rewarding me.’
‘Are you certain it was your uncle the man saw?’ asked Jonathan, cracking a pistachio shell with his teeth.
Flavia nodded. ‘He looked like my father, but with a broken nose,’ she said. ‘That’s a perfect description of Uncle Gaius. Also he was barefoot. Remember how we found his sandals on the beach?’
‘How could I forget?’ said Jonathan. ‘We thought he must have been so overcome with grief that he just walked into the sea and drowned.’
‘But he didn’t!’ cried Flavia. ‘He didn’t drown himself. He just ran away, and the goddess Diana has put us on his track. She’s rewarding me for my faithfulness,’ she said.
‘What faithfulness?’ said Jonathan with a frown. ‘Why do you keep going on about Diana?’
‘Nubia and I have renounced men and taken a vow of chastity,’ said Flavia, lifting her chin a fraction.
Lupus almost choked on a pistachio nut, so they all patted him on the back. When he stopped coughing, he looked at Flavia and raised his eyebrows questioningly.
‘Nubia and I have sworn never to marry,’ said Flavia, ‘and I have already resisted great temptation.’
Jonathan spat out a shell. ‘What temptation?’
Nubia answered: ‘Gaius Valerius Flaccus asks Flavia to marry him. She says no.’
‘Floppy asked you to marry him?’ cried Jonathan and Lupus gave Flavia his bug-eyed look.
‘Yes,’ said Flavia. ‘But I turned him down.’
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. ‘You turned down the most eligible bachelor in the Roman Empire?’
‘It was the goddess testing me,’ said Flavia, flicking away a pistachio shell. ‘And now she has rewarded me for my resolve. How else can you explain Titus giving us money for passage and four imperial passes to travel anywhere in the Roman empire?’
‘Simple,’ said Jonathan: ‘He has a mission for us.’
‘I long to go to Africa, my home,’ said Nubia. ‘But I still do not understand why the Titus wants us to go there.’
‘He wants us to find a valuable gem,’ said Jonathan, ‘and bring it back here to Rome. Apparently the Delphic oracle prophesied that whoever possesses the gem will rule Rome for a long time. The only problem is he’s not sure exactly where the gem is. He’s sending other agents to parts of Asia, but he wants us to go to Africa.’
‘Why us?’ said Flavia. ‘Has he run out of agents?’
Jonathan took out the letter and read: ‘You have proved yourselves resourceful in the past. Also, being children, you can go many places where adults can’t.’
‘He’s right,’ said Flavia.
Nubia turned to Jonathan. ‘Where in Africa is he wanting us to quest? Could it be Egypt? Or Nubia, my home?’
Jonathan shook his head. ‘Titus wants us to start in a town called Sabratha, on the coast. His mother, Flavia Domitilla, came from there and he’s got a cousin who will help us.’
Flavia almost choked on a pistachio nut. ‘Great Juno’s peacock!’ she said. ‘Sabratha is where Gaius’s ship was headed. Now I’m sure of it: this is a mission from the gods!’
‘Pater!’ cried Flavia, running into the tablinum. ‘Pater, I have the most exciting news!’
Marcus Flavius Geminus was a clean-shaven, good-looking Roman in his early thirties, with the same light-brown hair and grey eyes as his daughter. His eyes widened in surprise.
‘Great Neptune’s beard!’ he exclaimed looking from Flavia to Nubia and back. ‘What on earth are you two wearing?’
‘Good morning, sir,’ said Nubia politely.
‘Pater! A letter!’ said Flavia. ‘A letter from Rome! From someone very important. Can you guess?’
Her father’s stern expression melted. ‘Praise the Twins. I thought you weren’t going to tell me.’
‘Of course I’d tell you!’
‘I thought you’d turned him down,’ said Marcus, rising to his feet and smiling. ‘That would have been the biggest mistake of your life.’
‘Turned him down? Of course not. But how do you know about it?’ asked Flavia suddenly.
‘He sent me a letter, too.’
‘The Emperor sent you a letter?’
Marcus frowned. ‘The Emperor? Titus? Are you telling me Titus wants to marry you?’
Flavia glanced at Nubia and giggled. ‘Pater, don’t be silly. Of course Titus doesn’t want to marry me. He has a mission for us. A quest! The hunt is on!’
Her father sat down in his chair again. ‘A quest. The Emperor has a quest. He was the one who sent you the letter.’
‘Actually he sent the letter to Jonathan. He wants us to go to Africa. But, pater, I haven’t told you the most exciting news: Uncle Gaius isn’t dead! He’s in Africa, too! A sailor saw him boarding a ship to Sabratha in December. Just after Miriam’s funeral. And Sabratha is exactly were the emperor wants us to start our quest! It can’t be coincidence. It must be the gods!’
Instead of praising the gods, her father looked at her coldly. ‘Flavia, ships do not set sail in December. I know that and you know that. Do you have anything else to tell me?’
‘But this ship did sail in December, and Uncle Gaius was on it. He’s alive! Isn’t that wonderful news? We can go look for him!’
‘Flavia,’ said her father quietly. ‘Has anything else happened today?’
Flavia’s smile faded as understanding dawned. ‘Oh! Gorgias. Is he badly hurt? Did he complain?’
‘What are you babbling about?’
‘I accidentally shot a man—’
‘You shot a man?’
‘Yes, but only a little, and he seemed all right, unless the wound has started to fester . . . His name is Gorgias and he would like to sail with you.’
‘Good gods, Flavia, you’re completely out-of-control! I’m talking about marriage. Have you not just had a proposal of marriage?’
‘A proposal of – oh! Oh, pater! Did Floppy,’ stammered Flavia, ‘did Flaccus write you a letter?’
‘He did.’ Her father tapped a sheet of papyrus on his desk. ‘He tells me that he proposed to you this morning, but that you turned him down. Alma overheard you saying you had renounced men. Some nonsense about Diana and her virgin huntresses.’
Flavia caught Nubia’s hand. ‘Nubia took a vow, too, pater.’
Her father’s jaw clenched. ‘I am not concerned with Nubia. I’m concerned with you. The family line must continue.’
‘What about Uncle Gaius’s twins? Can’t they continue the family line?’
‘But my line ends with you, Flavia. You’re my last burning coal.’
‘And I want to stay that way! Alive, I mean. I don’t want to die in childbirth like Miriam.’ She paused and then added. ‘Like mater.’
The blood drained from his face and he rose slowly to his feet.
Flavia realised she had gone too far. ‘I’m sorry, pater!’ she cried. ‘But it’s true. Myriads of women die in childbirth. You don’t want me to die, do you?’
Her father took a breath. ‘No. Of course I don’t want you to die. But I do want you to stop charging about on insane quests and mad adventures. I want you to stop dressing like a character from a pantomime. I want you – good gods! – I want you to stop shooting men with arrows. I want you to show dignity and courage. Real courage! The courage to accept your responsibilities to our family and to our household gods.’
‘But, pater, what about Uncle Gaius? This is our chance to find him! We can all sail to Sabratha on the Delphina and you can help us look for him. And after we’ve found him we can all do Titus’s quest.’
‘If Titus sent a letter to Jonathan, then let Jonathan go. Not you. As for Gaius, I do not want to hear another word about him being alive and well in Africa. That Gorgias is a drunk. His claim is ridiculous. And a cruel one to those of us who loved Gaius. You will stay in this house until you learn to behave like a proper Roman lady.’
‘But, pater—’
‘Enough!’ He slammed his f
ist on the desk, making the silver inkwell and pen jump. ‘I am not sailing to Sabratha on some fool’s quest. I am going to Alexandria as planned. Tomorrow, at dawn. You and Nubia will remain confined to this house until my return, be that one month, two or even three! That means no walking the dogs in the graveyard. No going to the baths. No shopping. No investigating. You will not leave this house.’
‘But—’
‘ENOUGH!’ he shouted. ‘I am the paterfamilias and I have spoken. Now go to your room. Both of you!’
Outside it was raining. Nubia loved the rain, but this winter had been so miserably wet that she desperately longed for sunshine.
From the room next door came the plaintive notes of a song. Their young Greek tutor Aristo was playing his lyre again. Nubia loved Aristo, but his music had been so mournful these past two months that she sometimes longed for silence.
For the past twenty-four hours, Flavia had been in a sour mood. Nubia loved Flavia, but when her friend was in a bad temper Nubia was tempted to run away. The prospect of three more months of this was unbearable.
So when the secret signal came on their bedroom wall, Nubia was ready. She helped Flavia pull back the bed, and together they began to remove the bricks from the wall.
At last Lupus came through, brushing plaster dust from his hair. Jonathan followed. ‘We tried to see you the normal way,’ he explained. ‘But Caudex said you weren’t allowed visitors. He also said that your father had forbidden you to leave the house until May!’
Flavia nodded grimly.
‘Why didn’t you give us the secret signal?’ asked Jonathan.
‘We were afraid Aristo might hear us knocking.’ whispered Flavia, ‘he’s right next door.’
‘I know,’ said Jonathan. ‘I can hear his sad plinky-plonky music leaking through the walls day and night. It’s driving me mad.’
‘Shhh!’ said Nubia, holding up her hand. ‘He stops.’ After a moment she said, ‘Now he starts again with the wretched music.’
‘By Hercules!’ muttered Jonathan. ‘If even Nubia thinks it’s wretched, then it must be bad.’
‘It is,’ said Flavia. ‘But we don’t have to endure it much longer. We’re packed and ready to go. Have you found a ship?’
The Roman Mysteries Complete Collection Page 201