Rubicon rsr-7

by Steven Saylor

  Tiro grimaced. "It's not that. All right, I'll tell you. Domitius didn't leave Corfinium empty-handed."

  "He was stripped of his legions."

  "Yes, but not of his gold. When Domitius arrived in Corfinium, he deposited six million sesterces in the city treasury. Most of it was public money he brought from Rome, for military expenses. Caesar could have seized it for himself, but I suppose he doesn't want to be seen as a thief. He returned the entire amount to Domitius when he set him free."

  I sucked in a breath. "You mean Domitius and that ragtag retinue are transporting six million sesterces?"

  "In trunks, loaded in wagons. You see now why he was so suspicious of Caesar and so fearful on the road."

  "What will he do with all that money? Return it to the treasury in Rome?"

  Tiro laughed. "He'll use it to go to Massilia and win over the Massilians, of course. But you see why Cicero doesn't want his visit made public. If the money vanishes- and who knows what might happen in the coming days? — and the trail leads back to Formiae, someone might presume that Domitius left it here with Cicero, for safekeeping. These are desperate times. That kind of rumor could draw cutthroats like grasshoppers to the green leaf. Whole households have been slaughtered for considerably less than six million sesterces, Gordianus. Cicero isn't ashamed of playing host to Domitius, and he isn't fearful for himself. But he has his family to think of. Surely you can understand that."

  That day we rode forty-four miles and reached Capua. The next day we covered thirty-three miles and stopped at Beneventum. At various stables along the way Tiro exchanged our horses, always producing his courier's passport signed by Pompey. Some stablers honored it without question. Others treated us with barely concealed contempt and tried to give us inferior mounts. One stabler refused to deal with us at all. He took a long look at the document, gave us a cold stare, and told us to move on. Tiro was furious. "Do you realize the penalty for flouting a document issued under the Senate's Ultimate Decree?" he asked the man. "The penalty is death!" The stabler swallowed hard but said nothing. We went in search of another stable.

  After a good night's sleep in Beneventum, Tiro decided that we should leave the Appian Way and strike out on an old mountain road that cut directly west to east across the Apennines. "A shortcut," Tiro called it. He insisted that we exchange our horses for a wagon and a slave to drive it. The stabler in Beneventum wrinkled his nose when he saw Pompey's seal on the document. He tried to resist the trade, but Tiro was in no mood to haggle. At last the man gave us a wagon with a canvas top and a toothless slave to drive it.

  The wagon seemed unnecessary to me. Saddlebags were adequate for our provisions, and our progress on steep, winding roads would be faster on horseback. As we set out that morning, I said as much to Tiro. He shook his head and pointed toward the dull gray clouds that wreathed the mountaintops. Later that day, his judgment was confirmed. A few miles into the foothills, the sky opened and poured rain, then sleet, then hail. While we sat in the covered wagon, bundled in dry blankets, the miserable driver shivered and sneezed and urged the horses on.

  The storm grew worse, until at last we had to stop at a little inn beside the road. We spent the night there- and the next three fretful days as well, as the storm continued to howl and bluster. Recriminations were pointless, but I still felt obliged to suggest to Tiro that we would have done better to stay on the Appian Way. He said the same storm would likely have trapped us no matter what route we took, and we were lucky to have found a snug place to pass the time. To combat the tedium, the innkeeper had a small library of well-worn scrolls (trashy Greek novels and dubious erotic poetry) as well as a supply of board games. After three days, I decided I could die happy if I never read another story of shipwrecked lovers. I envied Fortex and the wagon driver, who both seemed content to sleep day and night in the stable, like hibernating bears.

  Occasionally, over a game of Circus Maximus or Pharaohs Down the Nile, I sensed that Tiro was trying to draw me out, following Cicero's instructions to discover my intentions and any secrets I might know about the death of Numerius Pompeius. As subtly as I could, I always deflected him and changed the subject.

  At last, the storm passed. A full day of travel brought us to the eastern slopes of the mountains. We slept that night at an inn nestled amid rocky bluffs and pine forests. The following morning, watching the sunrise from the window of our room on the upper floor, I glimpsed a smudge of silver and blue in the distance that Tiro declared to be the Adriatic. It was our eleventh day out of Rome.

  The sky was cloudless. We set out with the wagon uncovered. After an hour or so, descending through a narrow mountain pass, we encountered the soldiers.

  We heard them first. The low booming of marching drums echoed up through the folds of the mountain. Tiro told the wagon driver to stop. I listened closely. Along with the drums I heard the stamp of feet and a muffled clatter of armor. Tiro and I left the driver and Fortex in the wagon. We climbed to the top of a rocky knob and gazed down.

  Thousands of men were marching up from the coastal plain. Their helmets in the morning sunlight merged into a glittering ribbon that snaked sinuously up the mountainside, over crests, through saddles, around bends, filling the width of the road as water fills a river channel.

  "Caesar's men, or Pompey's?" I said.

  Tiro squinted. "I'm not sure. I know the insignia of every cohort and legion, but they're not close enough for me to tell."

  "They soon will be, at the speed they're marching. There must be thousands of them! The column goes on for miles. I can't see the end of it." I looked back at the wagon. "I suppose we'll have to pull off the road as best we can and wait for the whole army to pass. That could take all day."

  Tiro fretfully shook his head. "What does it mean? They don't have the look of a defeated army, that's for sure. Too disciplined. Too many of them! If they're Pompey's men, they can't have reached the mountains without encountering Caesar. That can only mean that Caesar's been defeated. Pompey's crushed him, and now Pompey and the senators who fled are heading back to Rome. The crisis is over- if this is Pompey…"

  I nodded, wondering what that would mean to Davus, to Meto. The tramping and clattering grew louder moment by moment, booming and bouncing across the rarefied mountain air until it seemed to emanate from the empty sky like constant thunder.

  "And if they're Caesar's men?" I asked.

  Tiro shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe Pompey escaped from Brundisium before Caesar could reach him, and now Caesar has turned back, empty-handed. Or did Caesar trap him there, annihilate his forces, and then turn back toward Rome? But there can't have been time enough for a siege. It makes no sense. These must be Pompey's men…"

  He sucked in a breath. "Numa's balls!" Tiro cursed so rarely that I stared at him in wonder. His face was ashen. "Of course! Not Pompey's men, and not Caesar's either!"

  "Tiro, you're making no sense."

  "There, do you see those advance scouts riding ahead of the rest? See the band of polished copper around their helmets?"

  I squinted. "I can't quite-"

  "I'm sure of it: a copper band. And the officers will have copper disks on their breastplates, showing a lion's head. Domitius owns copper mines. These are his cohorts, the men who betrayed him in Corfinium."

  "Coming after Domitius to claim lost pay?" I suggested.

  Tiro was not amused. "Perhaps they've turned against Caesar. But no, surely they'd be marching to join Pompey, if that were the case." He looked frantically back at the wagon, where the driver and Fortex stared up at us, perplexed. "Infernal Pluto! There's no way we can hide the wagon- the road's hemmed by boulders and trees, and we haven't passed a branch road for miles." He shook his head. "I should have traded the driver and wagon for horses this morning. On horseback, we might have had some chance to hide ourselves."

  "Does it matter? We could simply be innocent travelers crossing the mountains."

  "On this road, Gordianus, there are no innocent traveler
s."

  He seemed close to panic. I tried to calm him. "We'll hide among the rocks, Tiro. The driver can stay with the wagon and tell them he's traveling alone."

  "The driver would tell them everything at the first rattle of a sword."

  "Take the driver with us, then."

  "And leave an abandoned wagon by the side of the road? That would be even more suspicious. They'd be sure to search for us then, and they'd find us in minutes. How would that look- four men with something to hide, skulking in the woods?"

  "You're right. We have no choice but to stay with the wagon. When the advance scouts arrive, we'll wave and smile and remark on what fine weather we're having."

  Tiro took a deep breath. "You're right. We must simply brazen it out. You'll be the master and I'll be your slave. Why shouldn't you be heading for Caesar's camp? You have a son under his command."

  "Yes, that's the story, all the better because it's partly true. First, I suggest we leave this hilltop. Peering down at them like this- it makes us look like spies, don't you think?"

  He managed a crooked smile. "Start back without me. I need to relieve myself."

  "Go ahead. Don't be shy."

  He winced. "No, Gordianus, it's not my bladder. A fright like this- it goes straight to my bowels."

  Tiro hurried into the woods. I cast a final look at the endless stream of men pouring up the mountain, then scrambled down the hillside and rejoined the others.

  Tiro arrived at the wagon just before the first scout on horseback came through the pass. The soldier rode slowly toward us, warily scanning the trees and boulders behind us. He stopped several paces away.

  He noted the iron ring on my finger. "Who are you, citizen? What business do you have on this road?"

  "My name is Gordianus. I'm traveling from Rome. Are you one of Caesar's men?"

  "I'll ask the questions, citizen. Who are these others?"

  "The driver comes with the wagon. I hired both from his master, at an inn on the other side of the mountains. We weathered a nasty storm, let me tell you. May the gods grant you fairer skies than we had."

  "And these others?"

  "Slaves. That one's a bodyguard, as you can tell by the look of him. A good thing I brought him along. We weren't a mile out of Rome when some bandits attacked us; would have killed us if they had the chance, I'm sure. But we haven't had a bit of trouble since."

  "And the dark one?"

  "Another slave. A philosopher. His name is Soscarides."

  The scout looked at us disdainfully. He was the sort who had little use for civilians. "You still haven't stated your purpose for being on this road."

  I looked at the copper band around his helmet and cleared my throat. He and his fellows had once been loyal to Domitius. Now he had sworn allegiance to Caesar- or so we presumed. What if we were wrong? What if Domitius's troops had turned on their new master? Caesar might be dead, for all we knew, and these troops might be marching back to Rome with his head on a stake. But I had to give the man an answer. I thought of the gamblers in the Salacious Tavern back in Rome, casting dice and crying "Caesar!" for luck, and I took a deep breath.

  "I have a son in Caesar's service, on his personal staff. Soscarides here was the boy's tutor when he was young. Call me soft, but I can't stand the worry any longer- can't stand waiting idly in Rome for news. So here I am."

  "You're looking for Caesar, then?"

  "Yes."

  The man looked at me sternly for a long moment, then came to a decision. He smiled." Just keep following the road then, citizen. You'll find him." His tone changed as completely as his face, like an actor putting aside a mask.

  "At Brundisium? That's the rumor along the road."

  He smiled but didn't answer. He was ready to be friendly, but not that friendly.

  A second scout rode up. The two of them withdrew to the far side of the road and conferred, casting glances at us. The second scout rode on. The first returned. "You might as well get comfortable, if you can. You'll be here for a bit. Some troops will be marching past."

  "Are there many?"

  He laughed. "You'll see. I'll stay here with you until the head of the column arrives. No need for you to answer the same questions for my commander. He'll decide whether or not to cut your heads off." He grinned to let me know it was a joke.

  I glanced at Fortex, who snorted to show that he wasn't impressed. Tiro looked calm- philosophical, even. The driver looked nervous.

  The column came up through the pass. We saw horsehair-crested helmets first, then the officers who wore them, mounted atop magnificent chargers. They were followed by drummers. The steady tattoo of the marching beat reverberated between the steep hillsides. The officer wearing the helmet with the most elaborate crest signaled to the others to proceed while he broke from the column and cantered over to the wagon. A lion's head roared from the copper disk on his breastplate.

  "Report!" he said to the scout, who saluted him crisply.

  "A traveler from Rome and three slaves, cohort commander. The man's name is Gordianus."

  The officer looked at me keenly. "Gordianus? Why does that sound familiar?"

  "He says he has a son on Caesar's personal staff."

  "Of course! Gordianus Meto, the freedman. I met him in Corfinium. So you're Meto's father, are you? You don't look a thing like him. But of course you wouldn't, would you? I'm Marcus Otacilius, cohort commander. What in Hades are you doing here?"

  "I'm eager to see my son. Is he well?"

  "Well enough when I last saw him."

  "He's not with you, then? Is this not Caesar's army?"

  "This is Caesar's army, yes. Every man you see has sworn allegiance to Gaius Julius Caesar. While Caesar tends to business down on the coast, he's dispatched these cohorts to Sicily, to secure his interests there."

  It was exactly the sort of strategic decision that Caesar would make: not to immediately test the loyalty of troops acquired from a hostile general by throwing them into the chase after Pompey, but to post them elsewhere.

  "My son is with Caesar, then? Where are they?"

  Otacilius hesitated, then nodded to the scout. "Ride on. I'll handle this."

  The scout saluted and galloped toward the head of the column. Soldiers poured through the pass in endless rows and proceeded up the mountain, winter cloaks thrown behind them like capes, scale armor glinting across their chests.

  The officer smiled. "I don't suppose there's any harm telling you what Caesar's up to. He's already-"

  The driver suddenly jumped from the wagon, spun about, and pointed at us. "They're lying!"

  Otacilius's horse cantered skittishly, startled by the sudden movement. Even before he gave a signal with his hand, two rows of men broke from the passing column. In the space of a heartbeat, the wagon was circled by a ring of spears.

  Otacilius regained control of his mount. He looked from me to the toothless driver. "What is this about?"

  "They're lying!" The driver pointed at Tiro. "That one's up to something. My master back in Beneventum told me to keep an eye on him. He carries some sort of document with the seal of Pompey the Great."

  The officer looked at me coolly. "Is this true?"

  I felt hackles rise on the back of my neck. I opened my mouth, wondering how to answer.

  Tiro spoke up. "Master, may I speak for myself?"

  "Please do, Soscarides."

  He addressed the officer. "That worthless driver is the liar! He and I have been quarreling ever since my master hired him from the stabler in Beneventum. He's got a grudge against me- thinks I have it too easy because I stayed dry while he was wet and miserable driving through the mountains. I think the cold must have settled in his brain. Give him a few lashes and see if he sticks to his tale!"

  The driver's mouth formed a toothless circle of outrage. "No, no! They're all Pompey's men, I tell you. My master said so. He didn't like giving them the wagon, but he had to, on account of that document the lying one carries. Search him if you don't bel
ieve me!"

  The officer looked genuinely distressed. He and I shared a bond of friendship, through Meto- but only if I was telling the truth about being Meto's father. "What do you have to say about this document… Gordianus?"

  I looked at Tiro. "By Hercules, Soscarides, what is the slave talking about?"

  Tiro looked back at me calmly. "I have no idea, Master. Let the officer search me, if it pleases him."

  "I shall have to search you all, I'm afraid."

  Otacilius confiscated our weapons first. Tiro and I each carried a dagger, and Fortex carried two. We were forbidden to leave the wagon while the soldiers sorted through our saddlebags. They found nothing of interest. Then we were made to stand in the wagon and strip off our garments, layer by layer.

  "Our loincloths as well?" I asked, trying to play the outraged citizen.

  "I'm afraid so," said Otacilius, wincing. He turned his head and caught some of the troops sniggering as they passed by. "Eyes straight ahead!" he barked.

  I stood naked and held up my empty palms. "As you can see, cohort commander, I have nothing to hide. Nor do the two slaves."

  Otacilius looked appropriately chagrined. "Return their clothing. What do you say to this?" he barked at the driver, who quailed in speechless confusion.

  I felt better with my loincloth covering me. I pulled my tunic over my head. "I only hope, cohort commander, as compensation for this embarrassment, that you'll lend me adequate men… and appropriate utensils… to see that the lying driver is appropriately punished."

  "No!" the man wailed. "Return me to my master in Beneventum! Only he has the right to punish me."

  "Nonsense!" I said sternly. "You were let to me along with the wagon. While you're in my service, I have every right to chastise you."

  "Actually, for deceiving an officer of the Roman army in time of military crisis, this slave is liable to be executed by military law, and his master fined, at the very least," said Otacilius coldly. I felt a stab of pity for the cringing driver, who was now the one ringed by soldiers with spears. If only he had kept his mouth shut!