Lionslayer's Woman

by Nhys Glover

  Nexus. Her heart constricted at the thought of him. Would he have returned with her mother by now? What would he think when he found her gone? Yet again, she castigated herself for her foolishness. Not only hadn’t she been able to save the Stoic family, now she’d put her mother at risk. Without her comfort, who knew in what state the poor woman would be? And knowing Nexus as she did, he’d try to find her and put himself at risk by doing so.

  Her father had cautioned her after she rescued Cyra from the mime in the forum. He’d told her that her desire to address the injustices of the world must be balanced against the realities of her situation, just as he was forced to do. She was a woman in a dangerous, male world. They may live in the greatest civilization known to man, but it was still a place that chewed up and spat out the weakest of humanity. She’d been lucky when she’d saved Cyra that her slave had been armed and aggressive enough to aid her. The next time she might not be so lucky.

  And so, here she was – the next time – and she was certainly not so lucky. In those sleep-deprived hours when her mind chased around trying to decide if she should warn the Stoic or not, she’d known she would need Nexus with her. She’d known she couldn’t do it alone. But then, when things had happened so fast, she’d let all such cautions fly out the window. She forgot that she was a weak woman in a dangerous world.

  It had always been hard for her to think of herself that way. Her father had raised her as an equal. She’d never felt like a woman with him. He’d treated Appius and her in exactly the same way. In fact, because she was the eldest by a year, she’d always been given more responsibility, and she’d never been expected to take up the domestic tasks that other women were taught to carry out from birth. She wouldn’t be able to run her own household, even if she wanted to. Oh, she could do the books, could deal with the administration of the household as any good clerk could, but if she had to supervise a cook and decide on a menu, she’d be lost. Little Galerianna knew more about such matters than she did.

  The only time there’d been a difference between she and her brother was when Appius approached the age of military service. He was given special instruction in arms by a tutor her father hired, but she had not been interested in such aggressive pursuits, so she hadn’t felt penalised by being excluded. In fact, it was one time when she was grateful for being a woman. The idea of fighting and killing turned her stomach.

  Her mind turned to the carnage in her home, which now felt so long ago. It was as clear in her memory as if it had happened only hours ago. So much blood. There had been so much blood. And the stench of it had made her sick. Or, had it been the sight of her father that had made her sick? Her beloved father, lying lifeless on his couch, his tunic red with blood, the flies already feasting on it.

  Her gorge rose at the memory but she swallowed to force it down. This was no time for sickness, even if it had saved her from being misused only a short time before. What the man had wanted to do to her, she wasn’t sure. Why was her mouth of issue? Did he want to kiss her? That didn’t feel right. Kissing was the last thing such a man would have required. No, he’d wanted to use her in some way that didn’t involve taking her virginity, and it had been a filthy thought because that was what the big man had called it.

  She decided it was better that she didn’t know what he planned. There were many things she was better off not knowing about the world and the activities of men.

  Tired suddenly, she sank to the floor with her back against a bag of grain. There was the scuttle of mice nearby but she didn’t care. She didn’t care about much of anything in that moment.

  As she began to drop into an exhausted sleep, her body began to shake just as it had that terrible night, and she felt chilled to the bone even though the room was hot and dry. Wrapping her arms more tightly about her body, she clamped her jaws shut, trying keep her teeth from chattering. Then she rested her head on her drawn up knees and closed her heavy eyelids.

  It was a long time before her body allowed her to sleep.

  ‘She left shortly after you did, sir, and ran off toward the main street. Hassim didn’t follow her because he thought he was to watch the inn for intruders, but we tracked down another who saw her on the main road just before the forum. She was keeping to the shadows away from a caravan and was moving very fast.’

  ‘Why was she going to the forum?’ Nexus spoke his thoughts aloud, not really expecting the child to have an insight.

  The boy seemed to think he was required to answer. ‘Didn’t you have some of us watchin’ that teacher’s villa? The one on the other side of the city?’

  Nexus frowned, considering the boy’s observation. The Stoic’s villa? He’d taken her there earlier in the afternoon to check on his network. She’d seemed troubled then but hadn’t shared her thoughts with him. Could she have been worried for that family? Could she have been considering warning them? But if so, why not tell him while they were there? It would have been a simple matter to approach the household then and give them the warning. He’d considered doing it himself, but any deviation from the ordinary might have changed the Praetorian’s plans, and his only priority had been Galeria’s mother.

  Had she wanted to warn them, but thought he wouldn’t agree? Surely, she knew him better than that by now. He would have been guided by her conscience in such matters. So what was she thinking? Or, more accurately, what had she been thinking?

  ‘Was there any word from the teacher’s villa?’ he asked in the end.

  ‘The soldiers came and went in silence. The watcher didn’t see your woman. Or anyone, before the soldiers came.’

  ‘So if she was headed that way she never made it. Someone took her off the streets. It’s the only possibility. But no watcher saw that happen?’

  The lad shook his head. ‘Not that I can find out, but there are still some lads out working. Maybe I’ll know more when they return.’

  ‘Yes, whatever you can find out, and have every eye and ear watching and listening for her. She can’t have disappeared without a trace. Someone saw something somewhere in the city. I’ll spare no coin to find her. Do you understand me?’ He realised that he’d grabbed the child by the neck of his tunic in his passion. The look of fear on the boy’s face had him dropping the fabric as if it burned him. Instead, he patted the child’s lice-infested hair more gently.

  ‘Do what you can. I trust you to find my woman.’

  With that, the child dashed away into the predawn darkness and Nexus had no other option but to go upstairs and deal with Galeria’s mother. With a heavy heart, he climbed the outside stairs and entered the building.

  Papia was asleep with her head tucked under her arm, legs drawn up to her chest. When he entered the room quietly, she didn’t move. He sat down on the side of the pallet and patted the matron gently on the arm.

  ‘Papia, I don’t know if you can understand me but you’re safe now. I came with your daughter Galeria to save you and I’ve now done that. You’re safe now. You are safe.’

  The woman was obviously not asleep as he had thought, because she shifted under his hand. A raw, guttural sound came out of her throat. He waited to see if she would try to speak again. It had obviously been some time since she’d tried to voice her thoughts, if that was actually what she was doing now.

  ‘Gal… er… ia,’ she managed to get out. He felt his heart lift a little. Not completely gone then. The mother in her was still there.

  ‘Yes, Galeria. She came back to the villa and found you and little Galerianna gone. We have been tracking you since then. This is Antiochia. They planned to sell you into slavery but we have saved you.’

  ‘W… wh… ere…’

  ‘She’ll be here soon. There were things she needed to do. She’ll be with you soon. Galeria has been beside herself with worry for you, and for her sister. We have Cyra and my companion searching for Galerianna, and just as we have been successful, they will have been successful, too.’

  ‘Anto… ninus has…’

  �
�Yes, we know. He took her to Ephesus. We think he planned to use her to get Galeria to marry him, but that won’t happen. Leonis is a very capable man. He’ll save your daughter.’

  ‘Lion?’ Her words were coming more clearly now and her head was shifting further and further out from under her arm, like a turtle sticking its head out of its shell when it felt it was safe to do so.

  ‘Yes. Livianna Honoraria is his mistress. She named him that after he slayed a lion in the Flavian Amphitheatre. It is she who has sent Leonis and me to help you. She found out that your husband’s name was on a list… Domitian’s list. We were sent to warn you, but we arrived too late. I’m sorry.’

  Her head came out a little more and her eyes flicked from his face to the room in which she lay. ‘You… travel alone… with my… Gal… eria? You stay… here… with her?’

  Nexus wanted to laugh at the way this battered and abused woman’s mind had turned to thoughts of inappropriateness. After all she’d been through, all she’d lost, that was her principal concern?

  ‘Yes. But your daughter’s virtue is intact. We’ve had only your safety on our minds. I wanted her to remain in Rhodos but she wouldn’t stay behind, as she thought you’d need her when we got you back.’ He wasn’t above lying to the woman about her daughter’s safety or how close he’d come to taking that virtue. The less she had to worry about the better.

  His skin felt too tight and he shifted restlessly on the mattress. If some bastard had raped Galeria, it would be like Livia all over again. He never learned from his past mistakes. Galeria would have been able to handle abuse if she weren’t a virgin, but the pain if she were taken the first time by rape would be terrible. He could still see Livia after Allyn had taken her that first time. He’d feared for her sanity then, too. Why did these life situations keep repeating themselves? Why couldn’t he break the cycle? Why was he given innocents to protect and not be able to do so? It drove him mad with frustration and helplessness.

  ‘When… will… she be back?’

  ‘Soon. Very soon. I have some food and water here. Will you take some to build your strength? She is very worried about you. It would be best if you were stronger when you saw her.’

  The matron nodded her head like a puppet and Nexus busied himself retrieving food from their supplies in the far corner of the bed. There wasn’t much left, but he doubted the woman would be up to eating much, and anything was better than nothing.

  ‘Did the Praetorians hurt you?’ he asked, as he broke off a piece of dry bread and dipped it into olive oil for her. When he passed the crust to her, she nibbled at it reluctantly. It was clear she had no appetite but was forcing the food down for her daughter.

  ‘No. I was on their ship until… I don’t know… time, it moved strangely. I think it was today… tonight. It was dark when they took me off the ship. They carried me… not unkindly.’ She kept quiet for a few minutes while she chewed the bread and swallowed. Then she took the skin of water and swallowed several mouthfuls of that.

  ‘They were going to kill us, but… Antoninus stopped… them. I don’t know why… but their leader, Auxentius they called him… said there were to be no… witnesses. Antoninus said… said I should be sold as a slave outside… outside the empire, so I couldn’t tell… what happened. I didn’t care… what they did to me… just worried for my little girl… You… you think she’s safe?’

  ‘Yes, I think she’s safe. Leonis was taking her and Cyra to his mistress’ estate in the Pontus and is probably there waiting for us now.’

  The matron took another small bite as she nodded.

  ‘My husband?’ The words seemed to be dragged from deep within her, as if she knew she had to ask but didn’t want to know the answer.

  ‘He was dead when we arrived. Your daughter arranged his funeral. He’ll have been properly treated…’

  ‘Good… good. We had planned to die there… together some day. We bought a small tomb outside the city wall… on our side… where our villa was…’

  ‘His bones will have been interred there… I’m sure.’ He didn’t like to talk about bones. It made the death so much more real. He saw the woman start a little at the word, too, as if she hadn’t considered it would be just bones going into that tomb. He felt his hear sink further into his sandals.

  ‘I… must go out now. There are still things to be done. Please bar the door when I’m gone. I’m not sure how long I’ll be away but I’ll have fresh food and water sent up to you after dawn. Don’t open the door unless a child says he’s from Nexus. That’s my name.’

  ‘And Galeria?’ The matron was sitting up now, almost as if the terrible things that had happened in her life were just a dream from which she’d awoken.

  ‘I’m going to check on her now. I’ll bring her back with me. Soon…’

  He couldn’t get away from those questioning eyes too quickly. Even in the lamplight, they seemed to see too much. How was he going to tell her that her daughter was missing? She was recovering slowly from her ordeal. Only the thought that her daughter would be with her soon kept her sane.

  Galeria, where are you, sweetling?

  He barely registered his use of the endearment. What difference did it make now what he called her? She was gone. In the hands of dangerous men who would be hurting her. What difference did it make if he called her sweetling when that was what she was? So sweet and so innocent. So brave and so resilient. She had handled all the hardships of this journey without complaint. Even as her world was crashing down around her, she’d squared her sensible shoulders and taken on the challenges as they presented themselves. How could she know what this world was like? Even when he’d warned her, she hadn’t appreciated what could happen to a woman alone. If he’d impressed it on her… if he’d taken her when he had the chance… if his own selfish need for penance hadn’t kept him from giving her the pleasure she wanted.

  But then, it was Galeria who had finally called a halt to their passion, and it had been for him and he’d let her, because he hadn’t wanted more guilt to add to his overload. Enough for a mountain she’d described it. Yes, and now it was a mountain-and-a-half he carried.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  16 June 82 CE, Antiochia, SYRIA

  It felt like days later that the door to Galeria’s little room was swung open wide and light poured in to blind her. If not for the food and water that had been pushed in across the floor when the door was cracked open several times over the period, she would have had no sense of time passing at all. The darkness was absolute. Now, rough hands grabbed her and hauled her out into the scorching sunlight. Her legs were so stiff from the enforced confinement that she had to be dragged along the lighted corridor. She tried to get her feet under her, but the pace was punishing and all she could do was crane her head around, taking in her surroundings through watering eyes.

  They were moving along a covered hallway that ran the length of a peristylium garden. From the amount of sunshine flooding the greenery, she assumed that it was late in the morning. The heat was as oppressive as ever. Did that mean she had been imprisoned for more than a day and night, or was it longer?

  Galeria glanced up at the huge man who was pulling her along with him, her upper arm grasped so tightly in his iron grip that he was surely bruising her. It was the man from last night. Even though she hadn’t seen his face clearly in the dark and could barely make out his features, now, through her tears, everything about this man’s size and smell told her he was the same man.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ she demanded, wishing she sounded more outraged and less terrified. Her throat was dry and the words came out like the croak of a frog.

  ‘To your new master, little lady. He be lookin’ forward to meetin’ with you, he be. It’s taken him time to fit you in as he be a busy, important man in these parts. But now, he be ready. So you be keepin’ your pretty mouth shut and come along…’

  Yes, definitely the same man. Who else would call her little lady and use that strange way w
ith words?

  They passed quickly through into the atrium and then entered a small tablinium that opened off it. She tried to take it all in, but the exquisite architecture was so at odds with her experiences so far, it took time to orientate herself to her new surroundings.

  The reception room was luxuriously appointed with three richly upholstered couches in the roman style placed as three sides of a square. A mural ran the full length of one wall. It depicted a classical scene and was as good as any she had ever seen in Rome. Who outside the nobility had the wealth for such finery?

  She had her answer, as a small, stout man in exotic robes entered the room and reclined on one of the couches. A slave followed him in with a large fan made of ostrich feathers. The slim youth began to wave the fan from behind his master and she appreciated the breeze that hit her immediately.

  ‘So, this is your little treasure, Jahl, is it? Hmmm… not much to look at. Take the robe off her.’

  While Galeria scrambled to keep the edges of the robe closed in front of her, the big man beside her yanked them out of her hands and tore the robe from her body. She was wearing a short tunic beneath it, but she felt oddly naked standing there under the discerning gaze of the master.

  ‘What is in that pouch around her neck?’

  The big man reached for the leather strip from which the pouch, with all her valuables, hung.

  She clung to it tenaciously, wriggling from side to side to avoid the great fist. ‘They’re my possessions. I’m a Roman patrician and you have no right to subject me to this kind of treatment. When my husband finds out…’

  ‘Ah, you have a husband do you? What were you doing out alone at night if you have a husband? Do you also have a lover? Is that who you went to meet?’ The little man smirked at her.