by Ken Farmer
"You have just made two statements that would seem to collide with each other."
His brother smiled grimly. "His purpose is to find men of goodly form and sinew for the Legions - even now in need of men for their unending warfare."
"From the slave pits of a copper mine."
"That is his stated purpose, he being a dedicated supporter of the Republic and with intention to assist in its measure, for whatever need." Now, Aulius held up the scroll with a sneer. "And so dedicated that he is willing to retain any that do not fill the needs of the Legion, and without cost to the treasury of Rome."
"He is looking to fill out his stable of Gladiators with fresh blood from afar." Julius and his brother seldom had argument of any heat, but he had no intention of helping to transport men destined to die for mere entertainment. "Tell me that you have not taken the contract."
Aulius spread his hands. "Alas, I could not be so rude to reject his application out of hand. As I said, he would be an evil enemy should we find his ire. The wrath of the man in Antioch... Diophanes, or whatever his name was, would be as a chastisement of a cosmeta after failing to mix the proper powders for her mistress. Still... Your ship is the only one that is crewed by men of arms that has a chance of completing a voyage through the hordes of pirates that you have told me of, that infest that part of the Great Sea."
That was not precisely true. The merchant vessels of the family were well founded, and swift, although less than the Petrel. But they made continual voyages to lands in those far eastern domains - Rhodes, Tarsus, Alexandria, and now again, Antioch. All were manned by men who could wield blade and bow at need. But... "What are you not saying, brother?"
"I gave that the Petrel was just what it is, the ship that would be needed to escort the pair of merchants that would be needed for so many men - ships that would be slowed by their heavy lading. And with the crew in need of watching dangerous men, their chances of fending off pirates would be... diminished." Julius spread his hands again, and shaking his head in lack of understanding. "Alas, as the Petrel is contracted on another mission, it is unavailable for such use at the present."
Now Julius comprehended the tale, concocted by Aulius to refuse the engagement. "So, we will stand out on another obligation." A pause, then, "Do you have such a need?"
His brother smiled and replied, "I suggest that you take the Petrel and your crew to... say, Alexandria. Let the men test the goodness of the wine and wenches. You and the Sage can sit in the sun and discuss far journeys, as is your want. I will send a missive boat when our patron has found... other hulls for hire."
Now Julius nodded in thought. "Aye. A long voyage would be a welcome return to the sea. Camelia will not bear until almost the solstice, if the handmaidens are correct. That gives us seven months before any need to return."
"Then may I suggest, brother, that since you have departed on an important mission, that you make haste to your vessel and stand it out?"
Firstly, Julius hurried to find his mate, giving her the kernel of their problem, and suggesting that she query Aulius if she wanted more information. Pontika was in the atrium with Patroclus, almost hidden behind a pile of scrolls in her continuing education as a noble member of the family. To the young and developing femina, he said, "You will have to ask Camelia to send for the Pedagogue of her family for your lessons. Patroclus has a mission to navigate." The old man looked with surprise, but pleasure in the prospect of being a productive member of the crew again. Julius turned to go, the stopped and asked, "Have you seen Melglos?"
"Nay, Capita... Julius. He returned to Neápolis on the day before yesterday." Aye, it was understandable. His presence in the Clavius house was welcomed, but Julius suspected that such confines of a noble household became... oppressive after a few days. The Thracian would feel far more comfortable around his shipmates. Indeed, he suspected that the man only came to Capua for the companionship of the femina, to which he owed his life several times.
Giving farewells to his Mother, herself surprised and dismayed at the need of her son to leave even as the sun was setting, he filled a purse, checked his traveling bag for extra and appropriate apparel, then sent a servant to the stables to have a wagon and drover readied for use.
His brother met him at the door, with farewells of his own. "I will dispatch a missive the instant that the... situation is clarified." His circumlocutions were for the Matrons of the house - their Mother and the mate of Aulius - having come to see Julius off.
"Give hope that the Petrel is not on the rocks by sunup," the Captain japed. "I suspect that by now, my crew is well in their cups for the evening. I may have to tie the rudder and hoist the sail myself." Then to all, he said, "Give good watch on Camelia while I am away. Farewell all."
With farewells ringing behind him, he and Patroclus climbed into the wagon and the drover whipped the two steeds into motion. Quickly, they were in move down the port Via to Neápolis.
The anchor watch that night was a man of the shipyard. As Julius took his place, the man was sent to round up the crew of the Petrel, a task that might take the entirety of the night. Densus was the first to appear, giving some concern at the idea of setting sail in the night. "We will be eating the ropes for meals, Capitaneus. The food locker is bare. I did not know of the need for laying in stores."
Julius put a hand on the shoulder of his First Mate. "Nay. It is not your failing, but a sudden need that has arisen. I will speak of it when we are underway. As to our rations, we will stand into Lavinium before midmorning and victual up." He thought for a moment, then asked, "What of a cook? Did you find one of sufficiency? It would not be meet for the crew to see their First Mate standing over the sand dish." It was a jape, but accurate for all that.
"Aye. A fellow from Gabii - apprenticed to a cookery in that city, he says, but wanting to see the world before his dotage." He grinned. "The young man is reticent to make casual gab to his officer, but Flavius gives that the story was told in the taburna. Apparently, there is a femina in his fair city, and with a round belly that the Pater wishes to make discussion of. And, no doubt by collecting the svans of our Tyro crewman."
Julius just chuckled at the tale, then said, "Yon comes Judoc and Ngozi. Now if Flavius and Maccalus and our towering Thracian will appear, we will stand out by the light of the moon."
Now Densus was looking at the Captain with some concern. "Did not Melglos come with you, Capitaneus?"
With a sudden feeling of worry, Julius replied, "Nay. He left Capua for this port two days ago. Do you mean that he has not arrived?"
"Not to the inn. Or the ship. He left for your household... six or seven days ago. If he has returned, then he is taking abode elsewhere."
As Judoc and Ngozi walked up the boarding plank, he asked, without greeting. "Have you seen aught of Melglos?"
"He traveled to your dwelling to give visit to 'tika, Capitaneus." This was the black man, and his Gaulish companion nodded with agreement. "Last..." The crewman counted on his fingers, then said, "A handful and a half-part days ago."
"There is Flavius and Maccalus and Caius, yon hard by the lamp tower."
As the three boarded - one man being seen by Julius for the first time - he posed the same question and got an identical answer. There was nothing he could do, least of all tarry in the port on the morrow asking around the city. "We are standing out immediately. All make to your rooms and collect your kit and with haste."
He stood the watch again as the men hurried to the inn to pack their ship-bags and returned to begin setting the ship to stand out. All was ready - Julius had no doubt of that. Densus would have made sure that the Petrel was without flaw, else the yardmaster would be there now with his men in repair. The only requirement was to pull the bulky sail from the hold and bend it onto the ropes, but within the hour, the hull was being pushed away from the wharf, then slowly poled into the channel that they might catch the light airs of the night.
Chapter 35
The voyage from Capua to Alexan
dria, on the far southeastern edge of the Great Sea was about twelve thousands of stadia. The Petrel could usually make the pace of a fastly walking man, and often much more - or at least thirty to forty stadia in the hour. Thus the time of the passing was between ten and sixteen days, usually, although once the ship had returned from Kyrēnē - a city along the coast to the west - but with a wind that howled from the maw of Hades itself. The crossing was made in the unbelievable time of four days, with the mast bending as if a drawn bow - making such a pace that the crew could not afterward give brag to others over cups, else they be called swashers with most brazen tongues.
The first morning, as planned, they hove into Lavinium for a pair of hours, filling the food lockers and wine amphorae and water barrels to the full. After, with the ship in trim and pointed south, Julius called the crew together by the rudder, that all might hear the strange reason for the sudden departure. And, of course, the discussion quickly turned to the absence of Melglos.
"Mayhap his wandering feet finally took their own way," said Densus. "He has always been a rover by his own admittance."
Julius agreed, except... "Aye, but would he just vanish between dark and daylight without giving farewell to his mates? It might be so, were the need imperative, but I cannot believe that he would depart without a word to Pontika - except for her nobility, now, and his being a commoner, the city of Capua would give that they were pater and child."
"Did he draw his wages, Capitaneus?" asked Flavius.
"A goodly point. But nay. I did not consult the senior Numerarius, but the man would have informed my brother of such a withdrawal and he would have questioned myself."
"What man would leave employ without his purse being filled?" This was Judoc, making one of his seldom comments.
"Mayhap he met some misfortune on the road."
The unfamiliar voice brought a turn of attention to Julius. "Densus. I have not been given introduction to our new member."
"This be Caius, Capitaneus, from the city of Gabii." The rotund man grinned as he continued. "And a goodly man on the sand dish, he gives. If not, we can offer him to Poseidon for use, and find another in some further port."
Julius already knew of the name and place from the discussion of last night, but he nodded and replied, "Then you have my welcome aboard, Caius. Follow what our First Mate orders, and you will not regret your engagement with the Petrel."
It was Flavius that answered the question of the new cook. "Melglos could carve his way through a Century of road brigands. I have not heard of any feast of crows on any Via from Capua."
Julius nodded, but knew that any man, even one as large and fierce as the Thracian can be cut down by enough opponents - or with a shaft or blade from behind in the dark, or from a passed corner of a building. Whatever the reason, they would not find it while on voyage to the far side of the Sea. The explanation - or nay - would have to wait until their return.
The winds were good and within the half-month the ship saw the fire on the towering lighthouse of Alexandria while still fifty stadia away. By the midday they had found a clear wharf and were tied to the bollards. Naturally, the crew - except for the anchor watch - made for the first wineshop that was seen from the deck. Julius paid the docking fee, then found a lectica for Patroclus. He knew that the oldster would visit the Great Library upon arrival, and probably every day while they were here. Unlike the last visit, the carrying chair was now a necessity, as the huge collection of buildings were at least ten stadia away from the port - much too far for the old man, still healing from his ill use.
For himself, he made for the therma of Apollo. Like the citizens of the Roman domains, those of Alexandria, Greek descended - at least were the ruling and merchant classes - all enjoyed the pleasure of the public baths. Here, however, the term 'therma' was a misnomer. Instead of the three pools of water heated or cooled to varying degrees, the baths here were single, although enormous. The pool was merely at the temperature of the water from its source - in this land of heat and perpetual sunshine, few cared to bathe in hot water.
Alexandria was a newsome in the world, built by the namesake of he city - or rather at his orders. As such, it was far more regular in outline than one that had grown up from a mere village - such as Rome. The main streets were wide, amazingly so - triple the width of the Aurelia Via in his own city. All else was built on the same scale. The Palace, alone, in the center of the square city would have held the entire port of Neápolis. The temples - or rather the compounds of multiple buildings for the worship of this god or goddess - were even more vast.
Even with his relative youth, and with goodly sinews in his limbs, he would return in the evening with legs as wooden logs, so vast was the city in which he wandered. Even so, it would take far more than the month that he assumed would be used for their putative 'mission' to see all that was to be seen.
And, he did not have the month. Not even the half part of it.
"Capitaneus!" Julius looked across the water of the bath, from the carved and submerged stone on which he was reclining. Flavius was frantically gesturing for his approach. Immediately, he knew that the summons was not such as would give pleasure in hearing. One does not run in neck-deep water, so Julius stroked his way to the side of the pool to hear his man say, "The speculatoria of Capitaneus Amulius is come with a missive - and one of haste, he says."
With unbidden thoughts of... whatever doom might have befallen his family, he ran the streets to the port, leaving Flavius behind with his wind still in full wheeze from his long hurry from the port. On the wharf was the Captain, and Densus waiting, watching as he approached at a run. Without preamble, Amulius offered a scroll, saying, "From the Dominus, Sos. And with orders to deliver it without delay."
Without moving from the wooden dock, Julius pulled the wrapped papyrus from the spindle, reading the words in whole gulps. Without explanation as yet, he turned to Densus and said, "Find the crew and make the recall. And send a man to the library to bring the Sage. Victual the ship for an immediate departure." Only then did he give the essence of the missive. "A revolt of slaves has broken out in Capua, and of some severity."
The crew was easily found, but it took the pair of hours to find and return with Patroclus. Even as he was assisted to the deck, the boarding plank was withdrawn and the ship pushed away and around. With the speculatoria in company off the beam, they turned the forepeak of the Petrel toward the northwest.
Once on course, Julius gave a more complete issuance of the contents of the missive. "...apparently the trainees of the Gladiatorial school of Batiatus have revolted, gaining their freedom and a considerable number of weapons. Rather than scatter into the wilderness, they have banded together and are raiding outlying cities and farms, finding more recruits for their band..."
Although the crew gave much speculation in the half-month of voyage, there was little to make of the news, although the gab in idle moments constructed suppositions of increasingly unlikely possibility. For Julius, there was little reason to ponder without facts, and he merely waited out the trip.
As they hove into Neápolis, he leaped to the wharf even before the lines were thrown, running to the stables of the family to gain a mount. Before the surprise of the grooms had faded, he was in fast trot up the road.
The entry into the city immediately gave hint of untoward happenings. The gate, usually having a pair of bored men of the city watch passing the time in gab, was now guarded by a unit of armed soldiers, at least a double handful in total. In the city, he passed smaller details standing in watch, each accompanied by a man with a music - usually a cornu or tuba - to give alarm if needed. At the stable of the house, he merely leapt from the horse, not even bothering to see if the startled grooms had taken it in hand. Entering his household, he encountered the Virnius, the family Steward, flinging a question without preamble. "The Dominius is at the Tabularium, Master. Meeting with the Burgimagister and Magistrates."
He hurried through the common rooms to the quarter of
the house that was now for his use as man and mate. In the small atrium, he saw Camelia sitting with a maid in waiting, and a man with a tablet - a scribe. The woman stopped her dictating with widened eyes at the entry of a husband unexpected for months as yet. Then, to the scribe, she said, "We will continue later. All leave us." As the servants disappeared, she said with a wide smile, "You have mistimed your return. The addition to our family is barely begun."