by Marilyn Todd
‘Can’t complain.’ The girl patted her swollen belly. ‘This baby’s been thumping half the day and all of the night since Lucius died.’
‘You’ll call him after his father, I presume?’ Julia stared at the bulge under Valeria’s tunic.
‘Not if it’s a girl,’ she replied with a chuckle, ‘and besides, I never cared for the name. Antonius has a nice ring to it.’ Flavia’s expression darkened, so she added quickly, ‘As has Sylvanus.’ She turned to Claudia. ‘That was my father’s name.’
‘I like that, Sylvanus.’
Pulling off a chunk of bread, Claudia decided Valeria didn’t strike the traditional pose of a grief-stricken widow. It was common knowledge, of course, that Gaius had arranged the marriage purely to advance the Seferius cause, though Lucius and Valeria seemed to have knuckled down and made the most of it, as indeed most young couples did. Uppermost in both their minds was the provision of an heir, and this was their fourth try. The tally so far ran to two miscarriages, plus one stillborn.
‘I wouldn’t call my son after my father.’ Trust Flavia to muddy the waters. ‘Anyway, I’ve told Antonius, I don’t want babies.’
‘Flavia!’
Julia was scandalized. It wasn’t something you ever said aloud, even if you meant it. Times were hard enough, as Valeria could testify, and the Empire sorely needed more stout citizens. Wasn’t Augustus imposing financial penalties on couples having less than four children or on men who remained single?
‘I think your aunt is trying to tell you that a global shortage of babies is something to be deplored, rather than encouraged.’
Flavia turned to her stepmother. ‘Well, I don’t want them, so there. What’s more, I shan’t sleep with Antonius—’
The slap that rang out stopped everyone in their tracks, including the slaves. Flavia blinked at her aunt in momentary disbelief, then burst into her usual flood of tears and ran out. Surprised and mortified by her unaccustomed outburst, Julia apologetically gathered up her skirts and went after her. Larentia chewed her lower lip as she stared at Claudia.
‘Don’t look at me, Larentia. You can’t be putting the right cakes on the fire.’
‘They’re the right ones, just not enough of them when you’re in the house. Didn’t have no trouble till you arrived.’
Claudia rolled her eyes and turned to Valeria. ‘So you think the little one might come early?’
‘Yes, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if—’
‘My daughter was right, though. You will call him Lucius.’
Both women’s eyes turned to Larentia, who was presiding over the dining room like a judge over a trial. Valeria, Claudia noticed, had turned quite pink. No doubt without her husband to stick up for her, she’d been in for a rough ride of late.
‘She’ll call her baby what she damn well pleases.’
‘Got nothing to do with you, keep your stuck-up nose out of my family affairs.’
‘Valeria’s her own woman, let her make her own decisions.’
‘She’s carrying my great-grandchild and if it’s a boy she’ll call him Lucius, won’t you, Valeria?’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake stop bullying the girl. Valeria, why don’t you lie down, love?’
Valeria flashed a brief smile of gratitude and tottered off. Claudia pitied her, poor little bitch, suffering six years under the same roof as this imperious old cow, and if Gaius was entertaining any thoughts about inviting his mother to live with him in Rome he could damned well think again!
‘Ach, there’s always trouble when you’re around.’
Claudia settled herself deeper into the couch, concentrating on the new frieze whereby each wall represented a different season. If that scraggy old bag of bones believed she could cower Claudia Seferius with her poisonous tongue she was in for a surprise.
‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, either.’
Claudia continued to ignore her and broke off a piece of crumbly yellow cheese.
‘You won’t get away with it.’ She spat the words out, syllable by syllable.
Slowly Claudia laid down her goblet and dabbled her fingers in the bowl of water. ‘Something on your mind, Larentia?’ she asked sweetly.
‘Bitch!’
Claudia smiled. ‘Don’t suppose you could be a little more specific?’
Of course! She hadn’t considered this old harpy when she was looking for the writer of a poison pen letter but who else? Weren’t anonymous letters always written by women? And who better equipped with venom?
‘Whore! You’re nothing but a vain, idle, good-for-nothing, gold-digging harlot!’
Unless Julia watched her ways, she’d end up the very image of her mother in thirty years’ time. Crabbed and bony, with claws for fingers and only spite to keep her going. With a jerk of her head, which sent two curls loose from their moorings, Claudia indicated to the slaves in no uncertain terms to get lost and stay lost.
‘What really interests me is, did you write it yourself?’
A puzzled frown bit into the old woman’s forehead. ‘Write what?’
‘Come, come, Larentia. I know. And you know. And Gaius knows. But he’s thrown it away. Thinks it’s a load of old codswallop, if you must know. Doesn’t believe a word of it.’
‘Thrown what away? Codswallop? What are you going on about?’
‘Don’t play games with me, Larentia. I simply wondered whether you wrote it all on your own, or whether you brought in a third party to write it for you.’ Everyone knew Larentia had very little schooling, and what she had she wasn’t very good at.
‘Don’t try and sidetrack me, you scheming hussy. It won’t work, I tell you. I know what you’re up to, and I’m warning you here and now, you won’t get away with your nasty tricks any longer.’
‘You’re terrifying me.’
‘Think this is funny, do you? Well, you’ll laugh on the other side of your face when they throw you to the bears, my girl. And guess who’ll be there to cheer them on?’ Good heavens, the old duck was senile! She wondered whether Gaius was aware of it, and, if so, how far down the line she’d gone.
‘Well I’ll be sure to blow you a kiss, Larentia.’
At least when Gaius realizes what she’s like he won’t give another thought to that bloody letter. Dreadful coincidence, though. Larentia accusing her of promiscuity. Claudia pushed her plate away and prepared to leave.
‘Not so fast, my girl.’ To her surprise, Larentia’s claws closed over her wrist. ‘I want to hear what you plan to do now.’
Claudia sighed. ‘Very little, if you must know. I hate the country, there’s sod all to do here.’
‘Don’t mess with me, you scheming slag. You know damned fine what I’m talking about. Believe it or not, I’m giving you a choice. Disappear now, or I’m going straight to Gaius and the authorities.’
‘Magic’s not my strong point, Larentia.’
‘Lying bitch. Sleight of hand’s what you’re best at. Poison, accidents, what next, eh?’
A chill wind seemed to have infiltrated the room. Claudia concentrated on the spring frieze. Was that a myrtle wreath round her head?
‘Oh, that’s got to you, hasn’t it? All ears, aren’t you, Claudia High-and-Mighty Seferius?’
Maybe Summer was prettier? No, she was worse. Had a bit of a squint, did poor old Summer. ‘Are you insinuating—’
Larentia laughed. ‘Insinuating? Bit late for that, isn’t it? You’ve murdered three of my grandchildren…oh, not personally, no. You wouldn’t sully your dainty little fingers, would you? But because I’m old doesn’t mean I’m stupid. Think, woman. Think where Gaius got his shrewdness from—and I’ll give you a clue, it wasn’t from his father.’
That’s right, he built roads all his life.
‘I didn’t suspect, not at first. Not with my beautiful Calpumia.’ The old woman’s rheumy eyes began to fill with tears. ‘Lovely child, she was. Sent by Venus to bring joy on earth. My, I had such plans for the girl…until you ki
lled her.’
Claudia lolled back in a show of indifference and picked up a small bunch of red grapes.
‘Calpurnia died of a fever, Larentia. F-e-v-e-r, fever.’
‘That’s what you wanted us to think. Thought yourself clever, didn’t you, but you’re rumbled. Who else caught that fever, eh? I’ll tell you who else, no one, that’s who. Just my lovely Calpurnia. And what a coincidence she was on the brink of marriage.’
The old girl sniffed and blew her nose.
‘The key word here, Larentia, is coincidence.’
‘Huh! And was it coincidence that her brother fell under the wheels of a grain wagon?’
‘He was steaming drunk by all accounts, and it was midnight, when only full loads are rolling into the city.’ The grapes had turned to ash in her mouth, but Claudia kept on chewing.
‘Drunk, my arse. Secundus was pushed. Which left Flavia and Lucius between you and my son’s fortune, didn’t it? How many times had you tried before you were successful, eh?’
‘You’re raving.’
Colour flooded Larentia’s gnarled old face. She jabbed Claudia on the breastbone with her index finger.
‘Well, you left it too late, you gold-digging bitch. That child of Valeria’s will inherit jointly alongside Flavia. Or did you plan to murder them both?’
‘I know who I’d like to murder.’
The old woman cackled. ‘Go ahead, let them catch you in the act. I’ve had my day, I’m willing to make the sacrifice. But you can’t do it face to face, can you? No. You pay people to do your dirty work for you. Scum, prepared to slip a poison to a fifteen-year-old girl and watch her die in agony, scum who don’t mind pushing a total stranger under a heavy cart just so long as they get paid. How much did it cost you to poison Lucius?’
Claudia stood up. Funny. Her knees suddenly seemed to find the weight too much for them and idly she wondered whether Larentia could hear them knocking.
‘I’ve had it up to here with you, you fossilized old bat. One more slur from your venomous mouth and I’ll have you buried alive so fast, you’ll be chewing worms within the hour. Do you hear me?’
Larentia curled a lip. ‘You and who else? Think your threats can touch an old woman? If you’re so innocent, why don’t we lay the evidence before Gaius, see what he makes of it?’
‘Leave my husband out of this. He’s had enough on his plate lately.’
‘Worrying himself sick about your debts, most like. Ho, ho, that took the wind out of your sails, didn’t it? Thought because I was stuck out here I didn’t know what was going on? Well, I told you before, Larentia Seferius is nobody’s fool. Two thousand sesterces you owe. Is that how much it cost to murder my grandson?’
Claudia’s teeth were clamped together so hard her jawbones were hurting. She forced herself to take several deep breaths.
‘Larentia, you are one sick woman.’
‘Oh, you’re the one who’ll be sick. Sick as a parrot. You under-estimated me, daughter-in-law, and now you’re going to pay the price. I’m going straight to Gaius, then I’m going to the authorities.’
Claudia made a great show of rearranging her tunic, flicked several imaginary crumbs off her bodice, then walked slowly but purposefully towards the door, Precisely how much this old trout knew and how much of it was guesswork remained to be seen.
‘Nothing you do, Larentia, either interests or concerns me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a very busy day ahead.’
XIV
In a narrow alley, less than fifty paces from the banks of the Tiber, a young slave girl cowered against a wall that reeked of dog piss and cabbages. The moon was not yet up, leaving the alleyway plunged into the colour of estuary mud. Nearby a tavern door opened, spilling light as well as two drunken oarsmen on to the cobbles. The girl flattened herself against the stonework, but the men, arms round each other for mutual support, wove their way down to the river, too engrossed in bawdy song to notice.
In the street at the end of the alley, creaking wagons made their deliveries. She could smell the oxen, hear the bark of directions as loads were hoisted off or on to the carts. Perhaps she could wriggle under one of the sheets? Hide in an empty wooden crate? Escape the city and…
And what? Head north? How? At sixteen, with virtually no money, no friends, no allies, how could she hope to survive?
Again the tavern doors threw a yellow oblong of light into the dingy street and three men tumbled out. Within seconds knuckles were cracking off jawbones, noses squelching under fists, shards of smashed drinking vessels skimming over the cobbles. The girl flinched as a small piece of pottery flicked against her calf and she covered her face with her hands. A yellow-haired whore jeered from the doorway until the tavern keeper threw a bucket of water over them all, including the woman, and suddenly the four were comrades again. The door closed and the alley fell silent once more, with only pools of wine and water to bear witness to the brawl.
She could hide on one of the carts, only…suppose they were being searched? Tears trickled down her cheek, cutting a path through the grime. Even if she escaped the city, she had no real idea which direction to take for home. There were mountains to cross, she knew that. Bleak, bitter mountains, where the wind howled like a wolf and the snow never melted. And what after that? The journey that had brought her to Rome had taken weeks. Months. She could never find her way back without help.
Suppose she slipped on to one of the boats? She shivered in the darkness, recalling tales of horror at what befell stowaways. She was desperate now. She had no one to turn to. She daren’t return to the house to collect her paltry savings, for they would be waiting, with their lies and their accusations.
She drew up her knees, wrapping her arms round her body for comfort. Why were her gods punishing her like this? It had been a normal working day and she’d simply been going about her business. Then, quite without warning, a man she’d never seen before, a man with a limp, had rounded on her and publicly branded her a thief. A crowd had begun to gather. She hadn’t understood. There was no reason for it. He had no grounds, no evidence, but the man insisted on sending for the police.
Then she heard the word ‘murder’.
Murder?
As the crowd’s interest turned to the arrival of the soldiers, she had seized the moment to run and run and run. Ten hours of running and hiding and crying and whimpering already seemed like ten days. Ten years.
She wanted to go home.
Home was where blue-white frosts sharpened your senses. Home was where soft summer rain whispered into the broad leaves of the trees. And home was where those very same leaves blazed copper and bronze and gold after the harvest. There was no dry, dusty wind to choke your lungs up there. Nor a sun which thickened and darkened your skin like leather. Home was kind, benevolent. It would welcome her back to its bosom.
Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, the girl picked up the shard that had scratched her leg. She stared at it long and hard for several seconds, then slashed it deep across her left wrist before plunging it into her right.
Now I am going where they can’t hurt me, she thought. Now I am going home.
XV
By any standards, the journey back to Rome was a damned sight better than the journey out, despite Kano’s continued reluctance to chivvy up those foul-smelling nags, and Claudia thought that if she saw one more swish of a tail after this she’d scream till she exploded. Not that she ought to complain, she decided. She was going home, and in less than no time she’d be rolling around theatre aisles, cheering military parades and living it up at the Circus, you just try and stop her, because in the end the threat to her cosy existence hadn’t come from Larentia, or from the crazed killer whose elimination was imminent. The threat had come from tedium.
Quite why ordinarily level-headed people scuttled to the hills in summer was beyond her. Try the freshness of the air, Gaius suggested, which shows how much he knew, because you couldn’t smell a damned thing in the air, not one damne
d thing. Good life in Illyria, there were only so many times a girl could inspect the beehives or wander round the orchards or potter in the winery, and you simply couldn’t stay indoors. You either ran into that poisonous old dustbag, Larentia, or else you were faced with poor Valeria’s pregnancy problems, Julia’s nagging or Flavia’s geyser. Claudia would have sold her soul for a party, but it was out of the question, Gaius explained. Not only was the villa isolated, but this was the busiest time of the year for everybody. Thus July fell quietly upon its sword and August showed no signs of improvement as talk continued to revolve around wine and hay, peas and beans. She was pig sick of it.
Take last week, for instance. Gaius was making his way down from the threshing floor as Claudia stepped off the verandah. He looks his age, she thought. He really looks his age and despite being flanked by slaves he had every appearance of being utterly alone.
‘How safe are the roads around here?’
‘Huh?’ He was a million miles away.
Claudia shrugged impatiently. ‘The roads. How many men do I need for a bodyguard?’
Gaius looked confused. ‘Five, six, I suppose.’
‘Then I’ll take six. See you later.’
‘Wait! Wait.’ He was slowly coming back into focus. ‘Where are you going?’
Claudia looked round sharply. ‘Nowhere, of course. I’m going for a walk.’
Gaius’s jaw dropped. ‘A what?’
She patted his cheek and smiled. ‘There’s a first time for everything. YOU!’ Her voice stopped a Nubian in his tracks. ‘Pick five others, arm yourselves, then meet me at the main gate in ten minutes.’
The negro, who was pushing a loaded barrow across the barnyard, glanced fearfully at his master as Claudia flounced off.
‘Do as she says,’ Gaius said wearily, shaking his head. ‘Just do as she says.’
He was right to look startled, she thought, as Galla laced up her stout boots. I’ve never been for a walk in my life, but there can’t be much to it. Follow the road for an hour, turn round and follow it back again.
‘We’ll need water, wine, and I daresay something to eat as well. Figs, pears, peaches and raisins. I like raisins.’ She held up the other boot for lacing.