Faithful

by Carol Ashby

  He pointed at the red letters painted on short wooden planks. “Can you read that to me?”

  Adela tipped her head. “L-V-D-V-S. Ludus. I know that word?”

  “That’s where Otto should be.” His smile broadened. “Time to set him free.”

  He slipped off Astrelo and handed Adela his reins. Then he entered the door under the sign.

  The sound of wood striking wood drew him to a railing that overlooked an inner courtyard covered with sand. Several men were striking vertical wooden posts with wooden swords while two sparred under the watchful eye of a burly man in his late thirties.

  Galen leaned over the edge. “I’d like to speak with the man in charge.”

  The burly man tipped his face up. A frown grew as he scanned Galen. “What do you want?”

  “To buy one of your gladiators.”

  The frown flipped. “I’ll be right up.”

  Galen rubbed his hands together as the man disappeared through a door directly below him, only to appear again in a doorway to his left.

  The lanista towered over Galen as he rested his fists on his hips. “I have a fine stable of fighters, trained in several fighting styles. What are you looking for?”

  “I heard you were going to buy an unusually tall German just brought down from Augusta Raurica. I’m looking for him.”

  “The Langobardi, Bjorn. I fought him in the games two days ago. He’s gone.”

  Galen’s heart dropped into his stomach, and his jaw clenched. Too late. So many hard days riding so many miles, and still too late. “Where is he buried?”

  The lanista’s hand swept his words away. “He’s gone, not dead. I sold him. He fought in a three-on-three. He killed three with less than three stokes each. The ludi in Rome scout here for talent. One of them bought him. They left to go over the pass yesterday.”

  Relief flooded through Galen, and his whole body relaxed. “His real name is Otto of the Vangiones. He was kidnapped in Argentorate, and I’m trying to get him back. So, he’s headed for Rome?”

  “Eventually. I sold him to Marcus Antonius Brutus. He has three schools. I think the smaller ones are in Luna, or maybe Luca, and Florentia. He also fights men in Rome. Your friend is a superb swordsman, but he fights like a legionary. Too quick to the kill. He’ll be trained to fight for the show before he goes into the arena again. You should have time to find him and buy him.” He rubbed his cheek. “But he won’t be cheap. Brutus is expecting him to be at least Class 3 by the end of his training.”

  Galen’s brow furrowed. “Class 3?”

  “There’s a ranking that sets how much the sponsor of a fight pays if a man dies. Class 3 costs 2500 denarii. They won’t sell him for less than that.”

  Galen pulled a deep breath, held it, then blew it out. “Whatever he costs, I’ll free him.”

  “They left in the gray dawn yesterday. It’s a two-day ride over the pass, with a mansio and some other lodging at the summit. Don’t start out before dawn tomorrow. It’s still freezing up there at night.”

  Galen tightened his lips as he nodded. “That’s good to know. I’ll need to get something heavier to wear for that.”

  “You’ll find what you need in the shops. Many come through here unprepared for the climb.” The corners of the lanista’s mouth curved. “It’s a good thing for Bjorn…Otto that you found him. He’s not cut out for the arena. Too fast to kill, maybe too stubborn to change that with training. May Fortuna smile on you as you try to find him.”

  Galen returned the smile. “I won’t stop looking until I do.”

  Adela nibbled her lip as she waited for Galen to return. Would his giant friend think he still owned her, even with Galen telling him she’d been kidnapped? Gundahar never had the right to use her to cover a bet.

  She stiffened when Galen came out the door…alone. “Where’s your friend?”

  Galen’s shrug accompanied the roll of his eyes. “Sold to a man from Rome. By now, he’s on the other side of that.” He pointed to the massive peaks that blocked almost half the sky. “I’m sorry, but I can’t take you home yet. I must follow him over the pass. Maybe all the way to Rome.”

  Adela’s eyebrows shot up. “How many days will that take?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “It depends on whether the man who bought him leaves him in one of his smaller ludi that are closer than the big one in Rome. It’s two days to cross the mountains, and then maybe two weeks to Rome. My sister’s husband has made the trip, and he said it’s three weeks from Argentorate to Rome if you take this road over the Summus Poeninus.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That makes it more than eight weeks since you were taken before I can get you home.”

  Adela shrugged. “Like you say, we must follow him now if we’re going to rescue him. However long that takes, it makes no difference to me.” A teasing smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “That just gives me more time to learn Latin.”

  The broad smile her words brought to Galen’s lips gave her more pleasure than he could know. Perhaps he liked her company as much as she liked his.

  “We’ll head out tomorrow morning. It’s still like winter at the top, so we’ll want to spend the night in one of the inns for travelers at the summit. That’s the half-way point. But first we need to get a few things.”

  Galen mounted Astrelo and led Adela to a street lined with buildings with one or two rows of windows above small shops. There, he dismounted, and signaled Adela to do the same.

  “First we find a vendor with some warmer clothes.” His smile started slow, then grew. “And then I’ll have a surprise for you.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t tell you. Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

  Adela held the horses while Galen entered the first shop. When he emerged, he pointed up the street. “Second shop past the next street has what we’ll need.”

  They led the horses along the street, weaving through the shoppers. They stopped by the second shop, and the shopkeeper left the loom where she was weaving what looked like a cape. Adela tried to catch what Galen and the woman said, but they spoke so fast, and almost none of the words were anything she’d heard before. The woman piled two scarves, four tube socks of sprang-work fabric, four small rectangles of cloth with ties on each end, two woolen tunics with long sleeves, and two heavy woolen capes with hoods. Then Galen bent and measured the length of her foot with the span of his hand. When he showed the shopkeeper, she shook her head and pointed back down the street.

  Galen took many coins from his purse and paid the woman. Then they talked some more, with the woman waving her arm first left, then right, then right again.

  He scooped up the smaller items. “Gratias tibi tam.” He took the smaller things and tucked them into the sack tied behind his saddle. Then he handed Adela a tunic and a cloak before picking up his.

  After draping his own tunic and cloak across his saddle, he led Adela down the street to a shoemaker. Felt boots with leather soles for each of them were added to his sack.

  As he led Adela out of the market street, he glanced over his shoulder. “What did you understand back there?”

  “Thank you so much.” Adela’s smile was sheepish. “And “where is” before she started waving her arms at you. Why did she do that?”

  “That’s part of the surprise.” He bounced an eyebrow at her. “The cloak is a paenula. It will drape your horse as well, and that makes it almost like sitting on a brazier…except you can’t get burned. It will work as an extra blanket, too. The long-sleeved tunics can go under our shirts…for extra warmth.”

  Adela fingered the tunic. “I’ll still look like a boy in this.”

  Galen’s mouth pulled sideways, then curved. “There’s nothing you could wear that would make you look like a boy. What the shop had for men was much warmer than the women’s clothes.”

  Adela shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. I’m used to wearing your clothes. Riding is easier in the
m than in what I wore at home.”

  “You’re lucky I’m a short man, or you’d have to roll up the pants like you were ready to wade in a stream.” His mouth twitched sideways. “Any shorter and they’d be too short, but they fit you well enough. Even if my shirt does hang on you, it looks much better on you than on me.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “You don’t have to worry about wearing men’s clothes. Any man with even one good eye would know you were no boy and find looking at you a pleasure, no matter what you wear. The Latin word for you is pulchra…beautiful.”

  The heat spread to the tips of her ears.

  Chapter 17: Surprises

  Galen followed the shopkeeper’s directions to the inn she claimed was run by an honest couple. It had a stable for their horses and served food so delicious that even the locals liked to eat there for special occasions. Best of all, it was on the same street as the small private bath where the shopkeeper liked to take her own daughters. Unlike the public baths, it separated men and women.

  He glanced at Adela as they entered the stable yard. He didn’t like the temptations in the mixed baths, and he wouldn’t subject her to the reaction of many men to a beauty like her. Especially since she wouldn’t understand a word of what most of them were saying. His mouth twitched as he suppressed the grin. The cut on his cheek was proof of how risky it could be to touch her for any reason without her permission first.

  A well-fed man of about forty came from a stall to greet him. Galen dropped his voice as he arranged for the horses’ rubdowns and feed and for the saddles to be moved into a private room. He glanced at Adela. She was wandering around the stable yard, her curiosity as active as always. He took the clean tunics and the bags of personal items from each horse.

  Adela was looking at a stallion in one of the stalls when he stepped beside her. “Ready for the surprise?”

  “This trip has been nothing but surprises.” She flashed him a smile. “But I’d like one more…if it’s a good one.”

  Her smiles were ample payment for anything he did for her, and he expected a purse-full before the evening was over. “Oh, it is. Follow me.”

  Adela followed Galen up the street until he stopped in front of an arched gateway.

  “What does that say?” He pointed to the sign next to the entrance.

  “T-H-E-R-M-A-E. Thermae.” Her head tipped. “I don’t know that word.”

  “Therma means warm, and this is a place where we can get warm baths. We’ve been travelling for almost two weeks, and I, for one, am ready to get clean and soak for a while in hot water before we head over the mountain.”

  Adela’s eyes widened. “I’ve never been to one.” She bit her lip. “I don’t know what to do here.”

  Galen handed her a tunic and her bag of private things. “I’ll get someone to help you.”

  She would have rather returned to the inn, but Galen had already gone in.

  Inside was a narrow courtyard with a woman sitting at a table. On the walls to her left and right, closed doors hid something.

  Galen spoke some Latin, and the woman handed him two large sacks. He pointed at Adela and spoke some more before the woman nodded. The young girl sitting behind her rose and went through the door to the left. Another girl came out and summoned her with a wave of her hand.

  His eyes laughed as he turned back to Adela. “I told her you hadn’t been to the baths before, and one of the slaves will show you what to do and stay with you.”

  He pointed at the door on the right wall. “I’ll be bathing there. I’ll be waiting here when you finish. Take your time and enjoy the warm water.”

  As the slave led her through the door to the women’s side, Adela looked back over her shoulder. Galen stood watching her with his arms crossed and a grin on his face.

  “I’ll see you in about an hour.” He lifted one hand to wave before he turned and headed toward the other door.

  Adela took a deep breath and braced herself for whatever awaited as Galen’s surprise.

  Galen had thoroughly enjoyed applying the warm oil and scraping it off before taking a leisurely soak in the caldarium. He’d hired a slave to follow him around with his sword and the sack that held the clean tunic, horse money, and dagger belts. He didn’t get a haircut or shave. It would be cold going over the mountain, and he wanted the extra warmth around his ears and on his face. Plus, he wanted to be waiting when Adela came through the door.

  When Adela came out wearing the blue tunic he’d picked to match her eyes, he couldn’t stop the grin. Her long, flaxen hair hung down her back and over her shoulders. It was good she normally wore it braided. The thought of how it would feel to run his fingers through it was tempting.

  “Did you enjoy your bath?”

  “Yes, but the woman helping me tried to take my comb when I started to untangle my hair.” She ran her fingers through her still-damp hair. “I didn’t want to make you wait while I braided it.”

  “Most women expect her to comb out their hair. She would have braided it again for you as well. My sister Val always tells Dec how relaxing it is when he combs and plays with her hair. Next time, you might want to see if you like it, too.”

  A crooked grin escaped. “I wouldn’t mind waiting, but I’m glad you left it down. It’s lovely, just like Val’s except for the color. Yours is more like ripened wheat shimmering in a light breeze.”

  Her eyes widened as pink washed over her cheeks. “The woman looked at me strange when I was dressing. Do I look funny in this man’s tunic?” She ran her hands down the front.

  Galen chuckled. “Not at all. You’re probably the prettiest girl in Octodurus. Every man who sees you is going to envy me when I take you to eat.”

  He led her back to the inn. Before entering the dining room, he handed their dirty clothes to a slave to wash right away so they would be dry before morning.

  Galen settled them at a table by the back wall. After ordering a loaf of fresh, hot bread and two bowls of the savory stew that filled the whole room with its scrumptious aroma, he leaned back in his chair. With his legs stretched out and his fingers interlaced and resting atop his head, he released a deep sigh.

  “It’s been a good day, even if we didn’t catch up with Otto yet. I know where he’s going, and we’ll get him freed before anything bad happens.” He closed his eyes. Thank you, God, for getting us to this point. When he opened his eyes, his gaze fell on Adela’s smile. And thank you for giving me Adela as a companion in the hunt.

  Adela leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. “A good day, but it’s getting late. We should find a place to camp now.”

  “That’s the other part of the surprise. I’ve rented a room here. No hard ground for you this evening. Tonight, it’s a soft, warm bed.”

  Adela’s eyes saucered as her breath caught.

  Galen lifted his hands from the table top and spread his fingers. “It’s not what you’re thinking. The bed will be yours alone. I’ll be sleeping on the floor.”

  Adela stood. “I trust you.”

  Her words triggered his smile. “Good. Let’s get some sleep.”

  Galen led Adela upstairs to the room where their saddles had been taken. Then he left her to get ready alone. As he leaned against the wall outside the door, he closed his eyes. His mouth curved into a relaxed smile.

  God, I thank you for this day. I thank you that Otto survived his first fight. I thank you that he won’t have to fight again before I can rescue him. I thank you that Adela is so willing to stay with me until I do. His mouth straightened. Please let her return be as welcomed as I’ve told her it will, even with it taking so long.

  As he continued his prayers, the tension and tiredness drained away.

  Adela was tucked under the blankets when Galen came back in. He rolled out his bedroll in front of the door and laid his sword beside it.

  “Do you need anything before I blow out the lamp?”

  “No.�
��

  The flame flickered as he blew, then vanished. His voice wrapped around her in the dark. “Good night, Adela. Rest in peace.”

  Adela lay in the warm, soft bed, listening to Galen’s slow, steady breathing. He was already sleeping. That drew a smile.

  He’d spent extra money and treated her to some things she’d never experienced before. He probably didn’t mean anything by it. He was a man who looked after people, like he’d tried to look after his friend by getting him to stop drinking and gambling before there was trouble.

  But the things he did certainly made her feel special, as if he found pleasure in her company and wanted her to find pleasure in his.

  And she did, more than she’d ever expected to find with a man. He was more than a protector who would take her home. He was a friend, and going home didn’t seem so attractive anymore if it meant she would never see him again.

  Chapter 18: Over the Pass

  Day 12

  The deep, distant voice slowly penetrated Adela’s comfortable darkness. “Ready for a hot breakfast before we start the climb?”

  Her eyes drifted open. Galen stood at her bedside, that hint of a smile curving his lips.

  Adela sat up and stretched. “That sounds good.”

  Galen’s bedding was already rolled and tied to his saddle. Everything looked packed and ready to go.

  Palm up, his hand swept toward the door. “I’ll be right outside.”

  Adela slipped into the trousers and put the new blue tunic on. She reached up to braid her hair, then hesitated.

  Shimmering fields of ripened wheat. That was how Galen described it, and his smile that accompanied those words danced in her memory. Perhaps she’d braid it after breakfast.

  When she opened the door, he was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. They opened, and she was glad she’d left her hair down as his eyes warmed at the sight of her.

  “I restocked our food sack for the trip across the pass. There should be a hot dinner waiting for us at the top.” He grinned over his shoulder as he started down the stairs. “Sleeping with a roof over my head, two hot meals in one day―it’s almost like being at home.”