Our Eternal Curse I (11 page)

“
FETCH WINE!” shouted Sulla, seemingly mesmerized by
his hand playing in the bubbling stream of sparkling water.  Broad shoulders
slumped over the ornamental fountain he sat defeated on the marble bench in his
courtyard.  Unseen at his clandestine house since the night of the great
chariot race he was very angry and in a vindictive mood.  The house slaves who
had grown complacent in his absence were now running around in a state of total
panic as Julia arrived home.

Grasping the situation instantly
she volunteered to carry out his jug of wine and as she poured Julia asked
sweetly, “How was the election?”

The look on his face made it
obvious that he had been defeated but she wanted to open the wound and extract
maximum pain.

“
That horse’s ass Marius has fucked my chances!” 
The words fell out in a slur.  Sulla was totally drunk.  Any more wine would
cause suffering, so Julia refilled his beaker right to the brim.

Sulla’s words were music to
Julia’s ears.  She knew that Sulla was not a swearing man and for him to curse with
such venom meant he must be in great pain.  In an attempt to twist the knife a
little more, she asked with mock innocence, “The Gaius Marius?”

“
Yes, the fucking Gaius Marius!”

The force of the hatred behind
his words caused tiny droplets of spittle to land on Julia’s face and it felt
wonderful to see and feel him in such agony.  “Are you still Head of the
Army?”  This question was as rhetorical as her first.

“
Yes they left me in charge of getting the Republic
back in order but they think I’m not good enough to be a Consul of Rome!”

This information came as no
surprise because Julia already knew that Sulla was Supreme Commander of all
armed forces throughout the empire.  In truth she knew everything about him
because Julia had researched his life like a hunter studies the behavior of
their prey.

Refilling Sulla's goblet Julia
mentioned in passing that the great Marius had a son.

“
So what?” spat Sulla, draining the wine and holding
out the empty clearly angered by Julia’s use of the word “great.”

“
He is fighting in Hispania,” answered Julia as she
filled his goblet.

“
What in the name of the Gods has that to do with
anything you stupid little bitch?  Thousands of Rome’s sons are fighting in
every corner of the world why should I care about that runt.”

“
I have heard people talking about him, that's all.”

“
What are they saying?” spat Sulla, his anger
driving him to take another large swig.

His response was just as it
should be.  She knew that he would be unable to resist the chance of an
intelligence report on one of his enemies.  Delaying her reply to heighten his
curiosity Julia carefully refilled his goblet for the third time.  Then, while
maintaining her look of innocence she answered his question, “It would help the
Father of Rome greatly if his son could return to help him.”

Looking up he examined her
expressionless face before asking, “Where do you hear such things?”

“
At the market mostly, everyone talks about the
great Marius and when you mentioned his name it reminded me.”

Clearly antagonized Sulla slurred,”You
are truly a stupid little bumpkin tart, very easy on the eye but stupid.”  With
that he stood up took Julia by the arm, knocked the silver jug from her hand
and dragged her towards his sleeping chamber.

Julia did not protest or
struggle because she had become resigned to his abuse; anyway, her thoughts
were miles away with the poor unsuspecting boy in Hispania.  She had just
connived a fix to her most pressing problem but the guilt of harming Young
Gaius was going to divert her fragile mind even while Sulla used her body to
grunt his way to a drunken climax.

Unfortunately for Young Gaius it
had been his own letter which provoked Julia into her instinctive use of
reverse psychology.  According to his last communication the constant fighting
had not gone as well as expected and as Young Gaius wrote, time was becoming a
problem:

I fear that I will not be able
to get to the estates until almost nine months after my tour of duty began and
even then no time will remain to lick them into shape as my year of service
will be coming to an end
.

Julia had been worrying about
how to keep Young Gaius in Hispania long enough to make her plans successful
when as though by fate Sulla’s sudden appearance had provided the answer to her
dilemma.  She knew him well enough to know that planting an idea in his head
would drive him to a spiteful act of vengeance.

The following morning Sulla
walked out in his typically ill-mannered fashion leaving his slaves in their
habitual state of shock.  Julia swiftly cleansed Sulla from her body by bathing
and from her mind by drinking strong wine.  She also responded to the letter
from Young Gaius in an attempt to assuage her feelings of shame.  As she wrote
Julia forced the memory of her conversation with Sulla from her mind by describing
events in Rome then having taken care of gossip, she addressed the specific
issues.

Three months later a scroll
containing the inevitable news of Young Gaius’s extended term in Hispania
arrived and Julia could no longer deny her involvement.  Unable to stand the
shame of her blatantly manipulative actions she left the house and walked sadly
through the streets to the jeweler’s shop where she sat alone for most of the
day peering into her “lions” while sipping wine and silently begged them for
forgiveness.

There she remained and, as
evening fell, the flickering olive-oil lamps seemed to make the feline faces
come alive and while her “lions” offered no redemption their beautifully carved
features provided a spark of inspiration.

Julia could no longer delay her
inevitable reply to Young Gaius as she had to bring her “lions” home so after
returning to Sulla’s house alone in the dark Julia slipped into the role of a
loving fiancée and penned her fabrication:

Such terrible news my darling
that you will not be coming back to me for two more years.  Of course, I
understand that it is out of your hands and there is nothing you can do to
change the situation.  If the Commander of the Roman army has ordered you to
stay, then stay you must and yes of course I will wait for you my love.  I will
wait for you until the end of time, if need be, but please do something to help
me remember you.  Please ask one of the mapmakers you mentioned in your last
letter to draw your likeness from every perspective and send it to me with your
next letter.

The rest of the letter dealt
with the usual bits and pieces that lovers exchange then Julia added a
seemingly last-minute addition just below her signature:

P.S.  My uncle Gavius is coming
to Hispania to see you soon and he will convey my true feelings.

Young Gaius had never heard of
Uncle Gavius but that could easily be explained by the fact that he had spent
so little time with Julia. There were many thing he did not yet know about her.

Gavius stood behind his counter
with a look of total disbelief; he had almost collapsed with fear and shock
when Julia told him where he was going.

“
I have written to my fiancé to inform him of your
impending arrival,” was all she said. Then added as though he were going to the
shop to buy a loaf of bread, “You will inform Bromidus that you need one of his
trusted, cargo galley Captains to take you to Hispania and you will need to
arrive no later than two months from today.”

Gavius simply stared at Julia
and with his mind in a spin said.  “You, who only months before appeared as an
innocent young house slave, are telling me, a notorious coward, to inform
Bromidus no less.  I can’t go back there—he will kill me this time for sure!”

“
No he will not!” snapped Julia with authority; then
in a more thoughtful tone, “Not yet anyway, you are the only link to me and
what I have to offer.  Bromidus is greedy and he needs me for the moment. He
will not harm you for as long as he can use me for leverage.”

Going on as though her words
were describing a simple shopping list, Julia added: 

“
You must also tell him to arrange ten more galleys
to arrive in Hispania discreetly within six months of your arrival.  I don’t
know how he will do this but we must have transport for whatever you find on
the estates.  Bromidus will already understand the level of secrecy required
for this enterprise but you must impress upon him that the pirates in the East
must never be allowed to find out!”

The girl had Gavius over a
barrel and he could do nothing to change it.  His alternatives were to comply
or face the wrath of Sulla or Bromidus and whichever path he took looked as
though it would end with his untimely death.

“
Why am I to go to Hispania?” he asked with a
resigned tone in his voice and the look of a broken man on his face.

“
You will tour my future husband’s estates; you will
accompany him in order to offer advice about farming techniques and methods of
harvesting.”

“
I know nothing about farming. I’m from the city.”

“
I will teach you about farming at the same time as
teaching you how to be my uncle.”

“
What?”

“
Young Gaius Marius is expecting you as my uncle.”

“
What?” repeated Gavius, and in a cynical tone
added, “Oh I see the problem I’ve lost my mind I thought I heard her say I was
to deceive the son of the great Father of Rome.  My mind must be going; that’s
it, my mind is playing tricks on me.”  But of course he knew Julia well enough
to know that whatever she said was true, however fantastic, it was always
factual, she never joked.

A few days later Gavius
explained with an air of amazement, “Bromidus didn’t touch me!  He furnished a
galley for the journey to Hispania without hesitation there were no questions
he simply called one of his henchmen over and told him that he was going on a
trip, can you imagine that?  At a moment’s notice the poor man is being sent
across the world.”  Pausing, Gavius pondered the similarity of his own
predicament.

 “
Anyway,” he continued, “Bromidus told the man to
introduce me to the Captain of the galley sitting in the harbor unloading its cargo. 
He also told him to tell the pirates on board that I have full authority and
must be obeyed.  His only question was in relation to my departure date and
when I told him that I have to be in Hispania within two months he told me that
timing would not be a problem because if I sail within seven days I will arrive
well ahead of my deadline.  What power do you hold over him?”  Gavius was
clearly in awe of Julia.

Ignoring his question Julia
asked, “What of the ten galleys?”

“
The fellow who was told to travel with me is going
on to recruit more galleys in Cyprus after delivering me to Hispania.”

As always Julia found it hard to
accept how successful her manipulations were becoming and it simultaneously
excited and terrified her.  Unwilling to show any outward reaction she shrugged
off the fat man’s suggestion of influence. “It is not power,” she said. “He
just has an eye for a good business deal; that’s all it is.”

For a very brief moment Julia
wondered if maybe she did have some kind of power over Bromidus but her
constant insecurities would not allow her to take credit for any
accomplishments so she concluded, “Anyone could have achieved the little I
have. I’m just lucky that’s all.”

By the time Gavius was aboard
the galley bound for Hispania he was an expert in the ways of growing olives
and grapes.  Julia who was of course a child of the groves had no trouble
imparting the information Gavius needed to appear knowledgeable about that
subject.

In order to find out about
vineyards they employed the services of a wine merchant by the name of Durell
who had fled to Rome as a refugee during the war.   He told them things such as
how to tell when the grapes are ripe and ready for harvesting. 

“
The best grapes have what looks like a layer of
white dust on them—bloom we call it,” he explained, “and the best method of
extracting the juice from the fruit is with the feet.  It is good to have many
slaves available for this process because it is extremely hard, miserable
work.”

Then he added with a crafty look
in his eye, “Make sure that the slaves have had nothing to drink they must also
be naked so that you can watch their pricks.  Sometimes we even tie them up
with twine because they piss in the presses you know!”

Upon hearing this Julia turned
to look at her full goblet and for just a brief moment considered giving up
wine but the idea was far too ridiculous she could not do what had to be done
without the strength of wine; a little barbarian piss would have to be endured.

At the completion of their
tutoring Gavius paid the wine merchant’s fee because Julia still had no money
of her own and watching him hand over the silver pieces annoyed her greatly. 
Julia was constantly frustrated because he had enough for small things but not
enough to buy her “lions” and it drove her to distraction.

Money was now the only thing
standing between her and the security of her “lions” and it was so frustrating
to know that something as mundane as cash was preventing her from possessing
the one thing in the world that could bring her happiness.