Danger in the Wind (22 page)

“Aurelia, you’re brilliant!” He jumped from his chair and came round the table to give me a big bear hug. “Well done. This is just the sort of evidence I’ve been hoping for. I must admit I wasn’t sure whether Philippus should be on our list of possible candidates, but that confirms it. So that’s three Greeks we’ve found so far: Mallius, Philippus, and Nikias the doctor.”

“Four,” I corrected. “Don’t forget the doctor’s assistant Pythis is Greek, a nephew or cousin or something.”

“I wondered if I’d find you here.” Titch was heading for our table, carrying a beaker of beer and a dish of olives.

“He’s been checking over the area where the party will happen tomorrow,” Quintus explained. “He’ll be on patrol in the woods.”

Titch made a comic-tragic face. “While you’re all eating and drinking, I’ll be hard at work.” He ate several olives and took a good swallow of beer. “I checked the other side of the river, but I don’t need to cover that as well as the bank where all the guests will be. The river’s too deep there to cross without swimming, nobody’s going to get into the party that way. So I’ll stay on the near side. There’s plenty of scrubby bushes close to the water, and a few decent trees. So I can keep out of sight, but then so can other folks too, if they’ve a mind to.”

“Will there be any soldiers patrolling there too?”

“Yes, a dozen or so, according to one of the lads I’ve got to know. Name of Gambax.” He glanced at me. “He said he’d met you already.”

“Yes, he’s the boy who’s in love with Chloe, and sends her secret messages by way of Philippus.”

“Aye, so I gather. Anyhow, he says he’ll warn the lads from the fort that I’m on duty too, in case they catch sight of me and wonder what I’m at.” He drank more beer. “He’s hoping for a quiet little interlude with Miss Chloe, if he can get it. I told him I’d make sure he wasn’t disturbed, if he’d help me in return by telling me about anything suspicious his lads come across.” He finished his beaker. “By the gods, that hardly touched the sides. I’m going for another. Shall I get more Falernian while I’m at the bar?”

“Better not,” I said. “Sorry, but Jovina will be expecting me soon. Before I go, just tell me, what’s the plan for tomorrow? Titch will watch the woods. I’ll watch Jovina, I can do that easily because I think she’ll be happy to have me near. And I should be able to keep an eye on the rest of the family if they don’t wander away too far.”

Quintus nodded. “I’ll concentrate on the military guests, Mallius and Philippus and Trebonius, and of course this Greek doctor, if he comes.”

“He’s not coming,” Titch said. “Gambax told me. Seemingly he was invited but he said he’d be too busy. And there’s a wounded lad at the hospital now, brought in this afternoon. He was badly hurt in the village on patrol, so our Nikias can use that as his excuse. ’Course, he could still come secretly. I’ll be watching out for him.”

“What about Eurytus?” I asked.

“He’ll have his own bodyguard present,” Quintus said. “I hope they behave themselves.”

Quintus delivered me home safely and declined an invitation to dinner. I didn’t blame him. There was a strained, nervous atmosphere you could have cut with a spoon. Once Statius had arrived safely, Jovina had taken herself off to bed, saying the trip to the fort had tired her, so Chloe was acting as hostess and not enjoying it much. Philippus had excused himself because he was dining with friends at the fort. Presumably he was at one of his gambling sessions, and I was sorry he wasn’t there, because we could have done with his cheerful company.

Statius, the derided older man, did indeed look ancient, grey and stooped, and with several teeth missing, which gave him an old man’s lisp when he talked. But he had sharp black eyes like a bird’s, and a sharp tongue, too, when he chose. He barely spoke to me or Vitellia. He was too busy either trying to engage Chloe in conversation or bickering with Mallius, who was still quite sober but probably would rather have had a drink or two inside him to deal with his crabby guest.

I don’t remember much detail about the next few hours, except that I did my best to lighten the uneasy atmosphere but without much success. Tension was even reflected in the weather, which was no longer clear and warm, but stifling and sticky. I had a headache, which for me is often the sign of a thunderstorm to come.

We ate dinner early, so that Mallius could leave while there was plenty of light. The unrest in the village was growing, he explained, and he was ordered back to the fort overnight. On his way out, I heard him giving strict instructions to the servants about keeping doors and windows locked, and telling them to post a night watchman to the rear of the house, as well as the man who usually guarded the front door.

I was glad when the sky began to darken and I could make my headache the excuse for going to bed.

Chapter XVI

I stood waiting in the centre of the arena. I was quite alone. The seats all around teemed with people, I could see them and I could hear their excited shouting. But none of them would lift a finger to help me. Their yelling rose to a howling cheer as the iron gates clanged open, and the lion rushed out.

I heard it growl even above the people’s demented baying. It was coming towards me, slow but unstoppable, and I was completely terrified. I wanted to stand there bravely, but I couldn’t. My body was numb, only my feet would move and they were out of my control. They started carrying me backwards, away from…away from…

The monster slowed down as it approached, and I heard it speak. “Yes, I’m a lion. A big bad hungry lion, and I’m going to eat you for my dinner.”

“No!” I screamed. “Get back! Don’t touch me!”

With my last shred of self-control I tried to look into its eyes, willing it to stop. But I couldn’t see its eyes, I couldn’t see its face at all. Its whole head was swathed in bandages.

“Get back! Don’t touch me!” I screamed again as it loomed over me. My feet went from under me and I felt myself falling…

“Aurelia, wake up! Wake up, Aurelia. You’re safe, it’s all right. It’s me, Vitellia. Oh, please, Aurelia, wake up. Everything’s all right, really it is.”

I was trembling and sweating as I flung the blanket from me and sat bolt upright in bed. I didn’t know where I was at first, all I knew was the fear that filled my body and mind. I looked round the room. There was no lion, just two worried-looking people.

“Where am I?” I asked. It came out more like the croak of a bird.

“You’re all right, Mistress,” Selena said. “You’re at Mistress Jovina’s house. You’ve had a bad dream, but it’s gone now, and you’re safe.”

She spoke as if she were soothing a child. I felt like a child, weak and frightened and disoriented. But there was something important I had to remember, something from that dream.

“I met a lion,” I said, forcing the words out although my lips felt stiff and cold. “It was going to kill me.”

Vitellia came to my bedside and took my hand. “It was just a dream. There’s no lion here, only Selena and me. We heard you calling out and came to see what was wrong. Don’t think about it any more. You’ll feel better soon.”

But I had to think about it, and I had to make them understand. “Listen, this is important. I knew that lion, I recognised its voice. It was Portius.”

They gazed at me with concern but without comprehension. How could they understand? How could they know it terrified me to realise that Philippus’ growling lion-voice which had so amused the children yesterday was the same as the hoarse, gravelly tones used by the murderer Portius?

Portius and Philippus were one and the same.

I lay back on my pillows and shut my eyes. At first sight it seemed so unlikely as to be impossible. Philippus, that handsome, charming rascal, who loved his mother and enjoyed playing with his children…a murderer?

And yet it wasn’t impossible. Quite the contrary; it explained a number of facts that so far hadn’t been explicable. He’d spent the last few days away from Isurium in secret, so he could have reached the Oak Tree. He’d known Terentius, and far from being his friend as he claimed, had become his enemy. He wore his hair long not only to defy army custom, but to conceal a damaged right ear, injured in a fight with Terentius. And I suddenly remembered the doctor’s question at the mansio last night. “Did you patch up your slave all right?” And Philippus joked that he’d enough bandages to put a poultice on an elephant. They must be the bandages he’d used to make his disguise.

It had taken me long enough to recognise him. Now that I had, what in the gods’ name was the best thing to do?

Quintus would know. But Quintus wasn’t here, and there was no way I could see him until we met at noon. I thought about driving over to the fort, but dismissed the idea as impractical, and even if I could manage it, it would cause far too much comment.

My body gradually relaxed as I lay there, but my brain whirled as I thought things out. At all costs I must behave normally, however frightened I felt inside. I must concentrate on Jovina, because helping her would help me to stay calm too. Above all I must avoid Philippus if I possibly could. If I had to see him, I mustn’t betray by a look or a word that I knew his secret, because if he realised I’d discovered it, I’d be in real danger.

Selena meanwhile had fetched some wine, and I drank a little because she and Vitellia insisted it would do me good. “What hour is it?” I asked. “Is it time to get up and dress?”

“It will be soon,” Selena said. “It’s getting light, look. The bath-house will be ready when it’s light. You ladies can have your baths before breakfast if you like, then you’ll have lots of time to get ready for the party.”

Oh gods, the party! The realisation of what lay ahead of us all today hit me like a pail of water in the face. I was going to a party, and there’d be a murderer among the guests.

I don’t know quite how I got through that long morning. It helped when I found out that Philippus, who’d stayed overnight with friends in the fort, wasn’t coming back to the house but would go direct to the party.

By the time we’d all had breakfast, everyone had got to know about my nightmare, and they were all sympathetic, but I made light of it as well as I could and tried to keep my thoughts on getting bathed and dressed, having my hair nicely arranged, and keeping Jovina company while she did the same.

She, too, I supposed, was struggling to put on a cheerful face, and she did it very well. We talked only about happy things, including several birthday presents which had come for tomorrow, but she decided to open them a day early. A large bunch of beautiful pink roses had arrived, bearing a note saying “with all my love”, but containing no indication of who had sent them. We all assumed they were from Mallius. Our gift of table mats was appreciated and caused great interest, especially when Jovina insisted on going into the kitchen and throwing one into a cooking brazier to prove it didn’t burn. It survived unharmed, and she was so delighted that when she learned Congrio was staying in Isurium, she sent one of the servants over to the mansio to invite him to her party.

Chloe and Philippus had bought their mother a beautiful silk scarf in a delicate mixture of cream and pale apricot shades which went perfectly with her party clothes. Statius presented her with a pair of gold brooches which she also planned to wear with her new outfit. There was no present from Mallius, apart from the roses, or Trebonius, or the Greek doctor. I could only assume they were bringing their offerings to the party itself.

We all, of course, put on our favourite finery. Jovina’s new tunic and over-tunic were an elegant peach colour, perfect for her fair hair. She used make-up to mask her pallor, but it was well done, and after all everyone knew she’d been ill. Vitellia looked stunning in cream, (she’d have looked stunning in a grain-sack, of course,) and Chloe chose a rich rose-pink for her tunic and sandals, and ear-rings with pink stones. Even old Statius was resplendent. His toga positively gleamed, and the stick he leaned on was a silver-topped cane. And I don’t mean to boast, but my best peacock-blue outfit didn’t look out of place either.

Eventually, about an hour before noon, the carriages came to take us to the river, and I was glad to be on the way, even though it meant I’d soon be seeing Philippus again. I debated whether to warn Vitellia not to let him pay her too much attention, but decided against it. If Philippus got the slightest inkling that I, or anyone, was suspicious of him…no, I didn’t even want to think about it.

I don’t particularly enjoy picnicking in the middle of nowhere. Give me a nice comfortable dining-room with cushioned couches, polished furniture, and a decorative mosaic floor. And the open air is especially unpredictable in a province like Britannia where the gods send more rain than sunshine. Today the weather was still, warm and humid, and I expected to see clouds creeping over the horizon soon. Whether they’d hold off from soaking us all till the end of the celebration, only the gods themselves knew.

But I had to admit Trebonius had chosen the party location well, and spared no expense or effort to make it comfortable. Couches and tables were set out on the grass in the middle of a large open space which had trees around it, except where the land sloped very gradually down to the river. Off to one side a huge fire blazed, with a pig and a lamb roasting on it, giving out the most mouth-watering aromas. On the opposite edge of the clearing were open-fronted tents of different sizes, army issue of course, but decorated all over with garlands of leaves and flowers to give them a festive air. Three of them were laid out like rooms, with rugs and couches and tables, in case we needed shelter from the elements. The others were mostly kitchens or food stores, where a cohort of servants were getting the rest of the meal ready.