‘I will think on it.’ He turned away.
‘And you are to come alone,’ the man called. ‘My person is very jealous of their privacy.’
Valerius almost smiled at this invitation to place his head once more between the lion’s jaws. ‘I would have to be mad to do that.’
‘Yes.’ The man shook his head wryly. ‘Almost as mad as someone who agreed to come here with a message and offered to stay as a hostage for your safe return.’
Valerius looked at him with new regard. ‘Truly?’
The man nodded glumly. ‘I have discovered that loyalty is a dangerous quality.’
‘So it is.’ Valerius grinned. ‘Will your person be alone?’
He shook his head. ‘They will be in a carriage pulled by two bays. There is a driver, but he knows nothing of this. The carriage will wait there for two hours after noon.’
‘Very well, I will think on it,’ Valerius repeated. But they both knew he’d made up his mind.
‘Try to stay alive, lord – if only for my sake.’
Valerius laughed. ‘You may trust me for that, but I have found it is not so easy in this Asturia of yours.’
Serpentius, naturally, tried to dissuade him. ‘Of course it’s a trap,’ he said with surly relish. ‘How could it be anything else after all that’s happened? They’ll be waiting for you. If it’s not the thieves who kill you it’ll be someone else. You’d be a fool to go.’
‘It’s one last chance to do what I came here for. To win some proper justice for Petronius.’
‘Then at least let me come with you.’
Valerius shook his head. ‘If it’s who I think it is they’ll just walk away and we’ll be back where we started. There’s a reason they want to speak to me alone. Just supply me with a guide to take me as far as the Legio road.’
The next day, after a few hours’ sleep and another gruelling ride, Valerius approached the crossroads mansio an hour after noon. A four-wheeled wagon – more or less a small room on wheels – stood in the dusty courtyard while the driver watered a pair of fine horses at a stone trough by the mansio entrance. He looked up as Valerius entered and hurried to the carriage.
A slim hand appeared through the curtained doorway and beckoned Valerius forward. He tied his horse to a rail and approached the wagon, eyes searching the surroundings for any signs of the potential ambush that was so likely. He had no reason to trust the woman who had summoned him here and many reasons not to. His heart thundered in his chest, but it was anticipation as much as fear that drove it. He pulled back the curtain.
‘So you did come.’ Calpurnia Severa greeted him with a cold smile. ‘I feared I had overestimated you.’ She reached out and offered her hand to help him into the carriage.
‘Did I have any other choice?’ Valerius ignored the searching fingers and pushed inside. Calpurnia sat on a cushioned bench to one side. He took the seat opposite, so close they could touch heads if they leaned forward at the same time. ‘How did you know I wasn’t dead? Everyone else seems to think so.’
‘Severus was positively crowing when he announced it,’ she said scornfully. ‘A little cockerel strutting around on his dungheap. You frightened him, you see.’ She shook her head. ‘A lot of things frighten him. I told him I was pleased you were dead. The truth is that I couldn’t conceive of a pair of crooks like Melanius and Ferox killing a man like Gaius Valerius Verrens. So I sent Zeno on the off chance I was right. Severus believes he has his loyalty, but the reality is very different. Zeno is devoted to me. He would do anything I ask.’
‘He said it would be in my interest to meet you. That suggests you have something to offer.’
‘Or,’ her eyes hardened, ‘I have a dozen of Harpocration’s Parthian killers secreted away in the mansio in case Ferox and Melanius had failed at the mine. All I have to do is call out.’
Valerius went very still. A certain twist to her lips told him she was enjoying his confusion. On the other hand, that long slim neck was easily within reach and all he had to do was reach out and the fingers of his left hand would squeeze the life out of her. He could see she knew it, too. ‘Why would you do that when you despise the men who want me dead?’
‘You men are all alike.’ She stared at him, shaking her head. ‘So terribly predictable. You refused my … attentions. I find that insulting. Why would I not want my revenge?’ Valerius considered the question for a long, anxious moment. Had he misjudged her so badly? Before he came up with an answer, she continued. ‘But that would be a meagre reason to have a man killed. No.’ Her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head in a certain way. ‘There would have to be a better motivation. Let us call it power. Yes, I despise Melanius and the rest. But it would be so easy to supplant them. Calpurnius Piso is a young man and not insensible to my charms. A word in his ear and Severus, Melanius and Ferox would be no more. All that gold hidden where they think no one can find it. It would all be mine. And Piso has ambitions …’
‘Calpurnia Augusta.’
She answered his mockery with a perfectly curved raised eyebrow. ‘You do not think I am worthy, Valerius? A clothmaker’s daughter from Carthago Nova who rose to become queen of Asturica Augusta in all but name?’
‘I think your neck is much too pretty to put under the executioner’s axe, where it would certainly end up if you were foolish enough to follow Piso. But then you’re not, are you?’
‘No,’ she agreed. ‘I am not.’
‘Which brings us back to why you brought me here.’
She reached beneath the seat, drew out a leather satchel and handed it to him. ‘This is the information that fat fool Nepos would have provided if he hadn’t got himself killed. Everything you need to destroy Melanius and his crew. Names, numbers. How it was carried out. All the people who were paid to look the other way. The key to the cypher is there too.’
Valerius weighed the pouch in his hand, barely able to believe what he’d just been given. ‘So you were Petronius’s other source?’
‘I convinced him to recruit Nepos to protect me. If they suspected they were being betrayed, everything they discovered would have led them to him.’ She sounded very pleased with herself. When he remembered the shattered body on the tunnel floor, Valerius reflected that it would be very easy to despise her.
‘What I don’t understand is why?’ he said. ‘If I can get this material to Plinius Secundus it won’t just destroy Melanius and Ferox, it will destroy your husband too.’
Calpurnia took time to consider before she replied. ‘When I first approached Petronius one of the conditions I set was that Severus should be exempted from punishment when the conspirators were taken. I urged him to distance himself from these people, but Severus was too greedy and too frightened of Melanius and that barbarian savage of his. If he had kept faith with me, Severus could have had everything he has now, but without the risk. It all changed when he fell under Melanius’s spell. A fool and a coward, and worse, an old fool. He betrayed me as a wife, and worse, he is no longer capable of treating me the way a woman needs to be treated. All I ask now is that after he is executed his wealth passes to his widow. Can you guarantee this?’
Valerius hesitated. Calpurnia had all but confessed that she’d been the driving force behind what went on in Asturica Augusta before Melanius intervened. Clearly, the only reason she agreed to cooperate with Petronius was because she feared Melanius’s ambitions would get her killed. What else wasn’t she telling him? Still … ‘If it is within my power.’
A bitter laugh. ‘I need more than that. I need assurances. Petronius—’
‘I am not Petronius.’
She reached for the case. ‘I will not lose all I have worked for. You were sent for this information by the governor. Perhaps if I deliver it myself he will give me what I need.’
‘I was sent here by the Emperor.’ He saw a flicker of alarm in her eyes and she withdrew her hand. ‘I have the Emperor’s authority,’ he continued. ‘And the Emperor rewards those who are loyal to him.�
��
‘Then I must trust you to do what is right.’ The words were said lightly enough, but her tone had an edge that told him what she expected.
‘What will you do now?’
‘Melanius is already suspicious of me. I cannot return to Asturica Augusta unless I want to go the way of Saco and Petronius. My sister has a house in Toletum. I mean to stay there until this is over. Afterwards, Rome, I think, where Severus’s money will secure me a place in society. Perhaps we will meet again, Gaius Valerius Verrens? You are an interesting man, I—’
The blast of a trumpet interrupted her. Valerius frowned and pulled back the curtain in the doorway. ‘That’s the call to close up. Someone’s on the move.’
‘That is what I was about to tell you,’ Calpurnia said. ‘Melanius has ordered a move against Tarraco within the week. Elements of the garrison at Legio have been called to Asturica to provide a proper escort for Melanius and the others.’
Soon they heard the sound of metal clinking against metal, shouted orders and hundreds of iron-soled feet on hard-packed earth. Calpurnia craned her head for a better view as the front ranks of a legionary column marched into sight in full armour, four abreast and led by a signifer carrying a cohort standard.
Valerius counted them as they went past. ‘At least four hundred men.’
‘My fool of a husband has been having the servants polish the armour he last wore as a young tribune. He talks as if the battles have already been won. They have all been bewitched by Melanius to believe they cannot fail. Calpurnius Piso? A boy who thinks his bloodline entitles him to command and to rule. And Proculus, a mere caretaker who could have stopped all this three years ago if he’d been man enough to stand up to Melanius.’
‘Nepos mentioned that Melanius had some sort of hold over him?’
Her long nose twitched as if something putrid had been placed under it. ‘Severus said there were whispers about young girls – very young girls – who went missing wherever Proculus was posted. Nothing of the sort has happened in Legio, or I would have heard. Melanius must have warned him to contain his urges, or he has outgrown them, as old men do.’ Her laugh was as bitter as a winter frost. ‘Old men, an ambitious boy and a barbarian savage and they think they can take Hispania for their own. Every one will be hanging from a cross before Saturnalia.’
‘Only if Pliny can stop them.’
XLIV
‘Will Pliny be able to defeat them?’ Serpentius sat on a stone bench opposite Valerius in the house in Avala the Spaniard had once shared with his wife.
‘That depends.’ Valerius continued to pack supplies into a cloth sack. There’d be no mule on this journey. The horse would have to carry the extra weight, because whatever he decided he’d be moving fast. ‘The odds are badly against him. Melanius and Piso will lead a force of close to three thousand legionaries, plus Harpocration’s Parthian cavalry and the other auxiliaries stationed at Legio, say five thousand men. Even if he reacted instantly to my letter, Pliny will be fortunate to raise five hundred, and most of them will be cavalry from his escort.’
‘Ten to one.’ Serpentius whistled.
‘Even so,’ Valerius put his mind to the tactical problems the governor was likely to face, ‘he might have a chance if he could choose his own ground. The problem is if Melanius can force battle on him at the time and place of his choosing. Pliny doesn’t have any option but to fight, whatever the odds. He can’t just give up Hispania to a rabble of garrison troops and auxiliaries. It would put every province in the Empire at risk and probably bring Vespasian down in any case.’ He picked up a lock knife, considered discarding it as too heavy then changed his mind. It artfully combined a spoon, a fork and a tool for removing stones from a horse’s hoof in a single mechanism, and you never knew when it would come in useful. He placed it in the sack and returned to his subject. ‘The big question is whether the Sixth will fight. They don’t even know they’re rebels. Their officers have convinced them they’ll be putting down a rebellion. What will happen if they come up against another regular formation? I’ve done what I can to sow the seeds of doubt, but who knows if it will work?’
‘If we can reach him first at least we can give him a chance to prepare.’ Serpentius tried to lift Valerius’s mood.
‘That’s true,’ Valerius agreed. ‘But even so, is the outcome likely to be any different? If Pliny stayed in Tarraco and defended the walls he might have a chance, but I may have done the rebels’ job for them by luring him out into the open.’
‘Then what can we do?’
Valerius met his friend’s eyes. ‘There is one possibility. Melanius has always been the driving force behind this conspiracy. From what Nepos and the others said, without him it would have collapsed long ago.’
‘You mean to cut the head off the snake.’
‘If I can.’
Serpentius shook his head. ‘If we can.’
‘But we’re not committing suicide to do it,’ Valerius insisted. ‘We can afford to shadow the column for a few days and still be in time to warn Pliny. If the opportunity to kill or capture Melanius presents itself we take it. If not, we’ll ride south.’
He hefted the sack and Serpentius followed him out into the morning sunshine. To his surprise he found Tito outside the gate with close to forty followers, hard-looking men, armed with spears or the vicious, curved falcata swords their forefathers had once used. Each stood at the head of a stocky, long-haired pony and their dress ranged from leather jerkins studded with bronze discs to the full set of mail Tito wore, courtesy of Valerius. More men were streaming in on foot through the pass from the mountain. He looked to the Spaniard. What was going on? Serpentius could only shrug and stare at his son.
Tito waved a hand that encompassed his followers. ‘We have decided that for our own honour we cannot let you risk your lives alone.’ Serpentius let out a snort of bitter laughter at this presumption, but Valerius reached out and laid a hand on his arm. ‘If you fail,’ the young man continued, ‘each of us will suffer the consequences. Better for all if you succeed.’ Tito glanced to where Valerius now noticed Julia stood, and she nodded agreement. ‘And the greater the force that rides with you the greater the chance of success.’
‘I said I would not ask one Zoelan or Asturian to risk his life for Rome,’ Serpentius barked. ‘You defy me at your peril, boy.’
Tito faced up to his father. ‘It is not a question of asking and we are not doing this for Rome, but for ourselves and our families. The old ways are gone and they will never return. The only question is whether we learn to live with Rome or continue to bend the knee to the criminals who have bled Asturica Augusta dry and used the hook-noses to terrorize our people. Everyone here has suffered at the hands of Harpocration and his Parthians. They thirst for revenge. You,’ he pointed to Valerius, ‘said that the Emperor had promised to extend civitas in Hispania. At the time I did not understand what civitas meant. I feared we would be exchanging one form of bondage for another. But Julia has explained it to me and it seems to me that we can all benefit. When the time comes will you speak for Avala and the other mountain communities?’
‘If it is within my power,’ Valerius assured him in a voice strong enough for all to hear. A murmur ran through the growing crowd of men.
‘Then we will fight for you.’
Valerius shook his head. ‘I will speak out for the people of Avala whatever the outcome, but it must be your father’s decision whether you accompany us. These are his mountains and I have learned to trust his judgement with my life.’ He saw Tito’s angry glance at his father. ‘This is no slight on you, Tito, or your comrades, but there are some situations where two men are capable of achieving more than two hundred. This may be one of them. Serpentius?’
Serpentius marched towards his son with a look of grim resolve on his savage features. He stared into Tito’s eyes, arms by his sides and his fists clenching and unclenching. Tito tensed and no man could predict the outcome. The silence seemed to last an eternit
y before Serpentius reached out and clasped Tito by the shoulders. ‘You are my son. Your forefathers fought for Hannibal against Rome. Rome killed your mother and condemned me to a living death. But,’ now his eyes swept over the warriors who stood watching them, ‘discovering your existence has taught me there comes a time when a man must stop looking over his shoulder to the past and strive to create a better future. We can never do that with men like Melanius, Ferox and Severus robbing and enslaving our people. This changes everything.’ He looked over his shoulder to where Valerius stood watching. ‘We have an opportunity to place Rome in our debt. If you pledge that debt will be paid I will be proud to fight beside my son and my people.’
‘Are you certain about this?’ Valerius looked over the ragged band of Asturian warriors. Fighters, yes, but not soldiers. What would happen when they came up against the legionaries of the Sixth?
‘Your pledge?’
‘Of course. But I have the final say in how they’re used.’
‘You will command, Valerius, as always. You have never been careless with men’s lives. But I have some thoughts.’
‘Yes?’
The Spaniard nodded solemnly. ‘But first we must know exactly what we face.’
Two days later they looked upon their enemies.
Serpentius, Valerius and Tito had left the main portion of their motley force in the charge of a reliable elder after agreeing to meet again midway between Asturica Augusta and Legio. Meanwhile, Serpentius led Valerius and his son to a concealed position among stunted trees overlooking the road. They were plagued by buzzing insects beneath a burning sun that threatened to turn the rocks into glowing coals. This was the day Calpurnia Severa claimed Melanius would begin his march on Tarraco, but as the hours passed Valerius began to doubt. He had just dropped into a weary doze when Serpentius touched his arm.
‘Stay down,’ the Spaniard hissed. ‘Flank guards just below us.’
Saviour of Rome [Gaius Valerius Verrens 7] Page 32
