Savage City

by Sophia McDougall

  Una’s lips had gone white. ‘I can’t,’ she said, her voice hurried and hoarse. ‘She sold us. I can’t.’

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you don’t have to, but I think I do.’

  Una nodded slowly.

  ‘She might have had other children,’ said Sulien. ‘They’d still only be little kids, I guess, but I want to see them. And we must have cousins, somewhere – there must be someone.’

  There was a pause. ‘You won’t stay?’ Una said, hesitantly.

  He looked at her in surprise. ‘My job’s here. You’re here. Why would you ever think I wouldn’t come back?’

  There was a long pause as they both remembered the hounds tearing at them on the sand of the Colosseum, and thought of Drusus in the house on the Caelian Hill. ‘Your accent hasn’t changed back,’ said Una, finally.

  ‘Hasn’t it?’ He never noticed until she told him. ‘Where do I sound like I’m from, then?’

  Una smiled at him with affection and regret. ‘Everywhere.’

  The longdictor flashed after Una left, and Sulien reached readily to lift the circlet, feeling lucky. The quiet hadn’t had enough time to take real hold. He thought it might be Pas.

  ‘What do you mean by being in Rome for six weeks and not telling me?’ Tancorix demanded.

  Sulien laughed, and dropped happily into the chair beside the longdictor to listen to her. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘You were supposed to be dead, you know, in the Colosseum – do you know how much I cried? Then there were all these rumours you were in Africa or on the moon or somewhere impossible – and then it’s all over the news that you’re alive and well and cleared of all charges, and I would have thought that was the kind of thing you might have mentioned.’

  ‘I am sorry,’ repeated Sulien, guilty and touched, ‘there’s been so much to deal with – with the army and getting my job back and finding somewhere to live . . .’

  ‘I can imagine,’ said Tancorix, softening. ‘Well, no, I mean, of course I can’t. Tell me, then.’

  ‘There’s too much,’ he said, ‘You’ll have to come round.’

  ‘I can’t yet,’ she said, ‘I’ve got a rehearsal. But I could tomorrow, or if you’re up after midnight I might be able to drop round—’

  ‘Yes,’ said Sulien, ‘Do that.’

  ‘Tell me something first,’ she said.

  Sulien thought of how long it had been since he had carried Una’s unconscious body out of Tancorix’s sight, everything she didn’t know. ‘I’m thinking of going to London,’ he answered, instead of any of it.

  There was a pause. ‘Sometimes I’ve thought of going back there,’ she admitted.

  He couldn’t speak again at once, thinking of it all. He could hear her listening to the crack in the silence. She asked, at last, ‘Are you all right?’

  Sulien opened his eyes, breathed out. He said, ‘Not yet.’

  Una and Makaria met again in the Imperial Office.

  ‘Did you see my broadcast?’ asked Makaria.

  Una nodded. ‘You were very good,’ she muttered. Makaria had explained she would be taking only some modest title such as Imperial Protectress. She claimed she shrank from the very idea of anything grander.

  Makaria smiled. ‘It wasn’t true. I would like ceremonies and processions and to call myself Empress. I wouldn’t have expected it of myself. It seems it does run in the family.’

  The crumpled scrap of notepaper that was Marcus’ will lay on the desk between them.

  ‘I had the first family to leave Siphnos take it with them,’ Makaria said quietly. ‘I asked them to send it to friends of theirs in Spalatum. Hypatia collected it on her way here.’

  Una stared at it. ‘When will this be enacted?’ she asked. ‘When will all the slaves be free?’

  And there was a silence, of exactly the length and weight she’d been dreading. ‘I think the time is coming,’ said Makaria cautiously, at last.

  Una repeated more urgently, ‘When?’

  Makaria looked down, turned her hand gently back and forth so that the light ran around the boss of the ring. ‘Una. I haven’t forgotten who put this into my hand,’ she said, ‘but I have the end of a war to manage. There are cities to rebuild. The Empire’s as poor and tired and angry as it’s ever been, and a good number of Romans think I should be shot for daring to sit here. There are men in the Senate who could probably arrange it. What good am I to you or anyone if they convince the people I’m trying to ruin Rome and drag me out of here?’

  ‘There will always be an excuse,’ said Una stubbornly. ‘There won’t ever be a right time.’

  Makaria sighed. ‘I will be introducing certain rights,’ she said, ‘and restrictions, on age, and standards of treatment, and length of service—’

  ‘Length of service!’ cried Una, ‘then you’re talking about years – decades – long enough for it to matter when people who are enslaved now get to old age.’

  She fell back in the chair and looked at the sheet of paper on the desk to avoid Makaria’s face.

  ‘I can only do what’s possible,’ said Makaria, ‘in the world as it is.’

  There was another silence. Una said, ‘It will happen much sooner than that.’ But her voice sounded humiliatingly small, and there was a warning pressure of tears behind her eyes. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking blackly, then it has all been for nothing. Marcus’ straining words and his collapsing handwriting were unbearable to look at.

  Varius had said, months ago, on the anniversary of Marcus’ death, that there would be enough work for ten lifetimes.

  Makaria was looking at her with sad compassion. Una straightened.

  ‘I raised two thousand people in nine months,’ she said. ‘What do you think I can do in five years, or ten?’

  ‘You’re still very young,’ said Makaria, gently. ‘You’re working in the Palatine Library?’

  ‘For now,’ Una replied distantly.

  ‘I thought perhaps you might be interested to know that the academies will be opening to female scholars soon: Athens and Byzantium and Alexandria.’

  ‘Good,’ said Una, her voice still listless at first, then with more strength, ‘good. I could visit perhaps, for a while. But not for too long. I’m not going away, your Highness. We’re not going away.’ She stood up and reached for the sheet of paper. She met Makaria’s eyes. ‘This is ours,’ she said. ‘And this will happen. There will be so many of us that you and Rome will have to listen to us. You’ll do it then.’ And as she turned towards the door she finished, under her breath, ‘Or I’ll do it myself.’

  *

  Una walked back through the city towards the Field of Mars. At first she felt bruised and angry, and shaken by the memory of her own words. The folded paper in her pocket scorched her. And perhaps she had gone too far, claimed too much.

  But the cool ancient light enveloped Rome, and as she walked, it poured over her, until it seemed to flow into her bloodstream, smoothing her breath, slowing her footsteps, turning everything gold. She could almost hear the light, whispering and singing on the stones, feel the current of it moving through the streets, carrying her home.

  Bombed and bruised, Rome seemed somehow even older than before. A few skeletal marble columns were still standing in what had been the Forum. The Colosseum’s roof and a slice of the wall were gone altogether.

  And there was the statue of Marcus in Trajan’s Forum. Una had dreaded seeing it, but now she made herself stop and face it, and she saw that even if it had been made under Drusus, even if it had been meant as a piece of propaganda, the artist was a true artist and had worked sincerely. It was almost too lifelike: Marcus’ expression was grave, and faintly nervous, and hopeful. Una smiled at him, and let tears fill her eyes. The word Emperor had been added to his name on the pedestal.

  The bombs had not touched the Pantheon. It crouched on the ground, dark and stolidly menacing, and it amazed her, suddenly, that anything built by human beings could last so long.

  Una d
rifted through the doors, and inside, the dark mass of the dome seemed weightless around the pillar of sky that stood within it. The circle of open air in the oculus forced the eye towards it and through it, so Una looked up because she had to. Above her, swallows shot past.

  [ CHARACTER LIST ]

  (All characters named in the text. All dates are in AUC – e.g, 2757 = 2004 AD.)

  A

  Acilius – a Roman soldier.

  Albus – one of Salvius’ sons-in-law.

  Alexander – Cleomenes’ and Cominia’s young son.

  ‘Amaryllis’ – a name for a slave-girl owned by Drusus.

  Arite – a woman living in a small town in east Venedia.

  Arria – Sulien’s upstairs neighbour in Transtiberina.

  Arvina – the Vigile Prefect.

  Asper – a Roman soldier.

  B

  Bahram – Delir’s brother-in-law, Lal’s uncle.

  Bassus – Tancorix’s lover.

  Batu – a slave from a factory in east Venedia.

  Bupe – a former slave from Veii Imperial Arms factory, afterwards a follower of Dama.

  C

  Caerellius – a Roman soldier.

  Calliope – a friend of Tancorix’s.

  Castus – a vigile officer.

  Cilo – the Praetorian Prefect.

  Cleomenes – a vigile commander, married to Cominia.

  Clodia Aurelia – mother of Marcus, wife of Leo, supporter of the abolition of slavery. Murdered in 2757 along with her husband.

  Cominia – a hairdresser, married to Cleomenes.

  D

  Dama – a former slave, crucified for murder in 2753, but taken down from the cross alive by Delir. Instrumental in establishing the slave-refuge in the Pyrenees. Involved in the rescue of Marcus from the Galenian Sanctuary in 2757. Afterwards a revolutionary responsible for numerous arson attacks, assassinations, and the bombing of the Colosseum in 2761.

  Daw, Lord – Lord of Bamashu (Bamaria).

  Decimus – Salvius’ youngest child.

  Delir – a former merchant from Persia, subsequently a fugitive. Established a slave refuge camp in the Holzarta gorge in the Pyrenees, after rescuing the slave Dama from crucifixion. Later, having learned of his protégé’s involvement in the bombings and arson attacks of 2760, he tracked the fugitive Dama to Holzarta and accompanied him into exile and voluntary imprisonment on a remote island. Returned to Rome after Dama escaped.

  Dorion – a Roman soldier.

  Drusilla Terentia – divorced wife of Lucius, mother of Drusus.

  Drusus – see Novii.

  E

  Eudoxius – a Senator.

  Evadne – a freedwoman living on the eastern edge of the coast of Tripolitania.

  F

  Faustus – see Novii.

  Flaccus – a Roman soldier.

  Fulvus – one of Salvius’ sons-in-law.

  G

  Galeo – a Roman soldier.

  Gemella – wife of Varius, poisoned in mistake for Marcus by Tulliola in 2757.

  Glycon – Faustus’ cubicularius, or private secretary.

  Gnatho – a Roman soldier.

  Go-natoku – Regnal name of the current Nionian Emperor.

  Gracilis – a Roman Centurion of the 33rd Anasasian Legion.

  H

  Hanno – a Roman soldier.

  Hidaka – a Nionian soldier from Tokogane.

  Hirtius – a Roman lawyer.

  Hypatia – a friend of Makaria living on Siphnos.

  I

  Isione – An abolitionist living on Naxos.

  J

  Jun Shen, also (to the Romans) Junosena – Dowager Empress of Sina.

  K

  Kaneharu – a Nionian prince, half-brother of Tadahito and full brother to Noriko. Son of the Go-natoku Emperor.

  Kato-no-Masaru, also (to the Romans) Masarus Cato –Lord of Tokogane, assassinated during the peace talks in Bianjing in 2760.

  Kebede, Marcus – King of Independent Ethiopia, regnal name Salomon VI.

  L

  Lal – daughter of Delir, formerly a fugitive, living in Rome.

  Lanatus – a Roman soldier.

  Leimeie – a woman living in a small town in east Venedia.

  Leo –see Novii.

  Liuyin – son of an official, living in Jiangning.

  Lucius – see Novii.

  Lucullus – the captain of the Emperor’s personal escort.

  Lysander – a slave belonging to Salvius’ family.

  M

  Mada – a woman living in a small town in east Venedia.

  Magnus –Salvius’ son-in-law, married to Salvia Prima

  Makaria – see Novii.

  Maralah -?

  Marcus – see Novii.

  Marcus Kebede see Kebede and Salomon VI.

  Minius – a Roman soldier.

  Morokata – a Nionian Lord.

  N

  Noriko – eldest daughter of the Go-natoku Emperor, wife of Marcus.

  NOVII, THE – the Roman Imperial family.

  Novia Faustina, nicknamed Makaria – only child of Faustus.

  Drusus Novius Faustus – son of Lucius and Drusilla Terentia, cousin of Makaria and Marcus.

  Lucius Novius Faustus – brother of Faustus and Leo, father of Drusus, uncle of Marcus and Makaria. Suffers from the ‘Novian curse’ – excluded from succession.

  Marcus Novius Faustus Leo – son of Leo and Clodia, nephew of Faustus and Lucius, cousin of Makaria and Drusus. Heir Apparent to the Roman throne. Married to Noriko.

  Tertius Novius Faustus Leo – Youngest brother of Faustus and Lucius, father of Marcus. Heir presumptive to the Roman throne, supporter of the abolition of slavery, murdered along with his wife Clodia Aurelia in 2757.

  Titus Novius Faustus Augustus – Emperor of Rome.

  P

  Pas – a Roman soldier.

  Petreius – a Roman soldier.

  Phanias – an accountant with abolitionist sympathies in Tamiathis.

  Philia – a slave belonging to Salvius’ family.

  Praxinoa – a former slave living in Alexandria.

  Psyche – a slave belonging to Salvius’ family.

  Q

  Quentin, Memmius, an advisor to Faustus.

  S

  Sakura – a lady-in-waiting attending Noriko.

  Salomon VI – regnal name of the King of Independent Ethiopia (Marcus Kebede).

  Salvia Prima – Salvius’ daughter.

  Salvilla – Salvius’ youngest daughter.

  Salvius – General of the Legions of the Roman Empire.

  Sibyl, The – the Pythia at Delphi.

  Sulien – brother of Una. A former slave with healing abilities born in London. Sentenced to crucifixion for rape in 2757, but rescued by Una and later exonerated by the testimony of Tancorix.

  T

  Tadahito, also (to the Romans) Tadasius – The Nionian Crown Prince, eldest son of the Go-natoku Emperor.

  Takanari – a Nionian prince, half-brother of Noriko and Tadahito, and son of the Go-natoku Emperor.

  Tancorix – the daughter of the London family that owned Sulien. Formerly married to Epimachus, disgraced by admission of an affair with a slave. Now living as a singer in Rome with her daughter, Xanthe.

  Tenos – an abolitionist living on Naxos.

  Thalna – the Commander of Public Order Operations in Rome.

  Thekla – a slave in Alexandria.

  Theon – a former slave living in Alexandria.

  Tomoe – a lady-in-waiting attending Noriko.

  Tulliola (Tullia Marciana) Former wife of Faustus. Arrested for involvement in the pro-slavery conspiracy that killed Leo, Clodia and Gemella. Died in custody, apparently by suicide, in 2757 (actually murdered by Drusus).

  Turnus – a Roman General.

  U

  Ulpia – nurse to Lucius.

  Una – sister of Sulien. A former slave with strange abilities born in London.

  V
>
  Varius, Caius – friend and senior advisor to Marcus. Former director of a free clinic for slaves in Transtiberine Rome. Former private secretary to Leo, widower of Gemella. Charged with murder and treason in 2757, but later exonerated.

  Vituriga – a landlady at a taverna in eastern Venedia.

  Vonones – a Roman military scientist.

  X