The Barbarian's Mistress (36 page)

Whatever he felt, he quickly covered it. ‘Ninia needs her own room. If
we can get it finished before Spring…’

Ninia thought the sun had just come out from behind a bank of storm clouds overhead. She was suddenly bathed in warmth from head to toe. She looked over at Braxus, who was lounging on the ground, even though the grass was still wet from the rain the night before. He was looking at her, trying to read her reaction.

She wasn’t aware that she was smiling until he grinned back at her. His teeth seemed so white against the darkness of his tanned, olive skin. So handsome, she thought, not even noticing the scar anymore. So wonderful…

‘I’ll do some calculations and then ride upriver to the quarry in a day or two. Make a
few enquiries. I’ve got the returns on the harvest, which the last manager was trying to abscond with. And I’ve got some money left over from our journey…’

‘I’ve got some money…’ Braxus said. ‘I could earn more if there’s an arena in town?’

‘You mean fight? A gladiatorial contest?’ Vali looked interested.

‘It’s how we paid our way after being shipwrecked. We’d come across a troupe, I’d fight and win. Ninia would bet on me… fast money. Easy money.’

Lara looked at Ninia as if she couldn’t believe she was capable of something like that.

‘I didn’t watch.’

Braxus laughed. ‘You mean when I said “Did you see me knock his legs out from under him…” and you nodded, you were lying to me?’

Ninia knew he was teasing, but her face burned, anyway. ‘I didn’t want to see you get hurt.’

‘So you didn’t believe I could win?’ His voice was still teasing, his laughter barely contained.

‘Of course I did. But you could have got hurt and still won.’

Braxus was joined in his laughter by Vali, who roared loud enough to send panicking birds fluttering from their trees.

She and Lara were equally perplexed by this laughter, while the slaves at th
e other fireside seemed astonished. But their reaction was mixed with hero worship. These people thought their new master was a god. And he certainly looked like one, sprawled on the grass, taking up the space of two men. And it wasn’t just his physical size that was so intimidating. It was his presence. He could have been a chieftain or a king. There was something regal about him. For the first time, she considered that her mistress had found her equal.

‘There isn’t an established school here. I assume they have travelling troupes go through in the warmer months. What’ve you got in mind?’ Vali asked, when the laughter had subsided.

Braxus frowned thoughtfully, as he threaded a stalk of barley through his fingers. ‘I wouldn’t mind testing your mettle. What if we staged a contest? Get one of the local merchants to organise it… We could do a demonstration and then challenge locals to take us on…’

‘You could get yourself killed!’ Lara said angrily, when she saw the way Vali was considering the idea.

‘Braxus is right. It’s good money. And if you want your little, stone villa, we’ll need more than we have. The people here will be starved of entertainment. We’d have to get equipment… armour, tridents… not a full range but enough… And we’d have to practise.’

‘I don’t want a stone villa if you’re going to pay for it with your blood!’ Lara cried; starting to get seriously worried now that she could see Vali was contemplating the plan.

‘Ann…Lara, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. They can do it.’ Ninia smiled her assurances to her terrified friend. She noticed Braxus looked at her with pleased approval.

‘Let’s see how much the stone and mortar will cost before we make any final decisions,’ Vali said, placating his wife.

Ninia knew what her friend was thinking when she squared her jaw like that. For a sweet, accommodating mistress, she had a stubborn streak a mile long. If she decided her man wasn’t going to fight, then pity help anyone who tried to convince her otherwise.

17 October 79 CE

When Gaius Annius Bibulus rode up to his father’s estate on the River Denth in the late afternoon drizzle, he was astonished by the activity going on. The ex-manager, who had approached him shortly after Gaius began making inquiries around Londinium, had assured him that the big bastard who had stolen his position was quickly running the estate into the ground.

If this was running it into the ground, he was more than happy for it to happen. The place was buzzing, and the slaves he saw were cheerful and hardworking, even in the rain. 

Across the front of the wooden dwelling was a recently constructed lean-to, keeping off the drizzle that had been a constant feature of the
day. Under it, women sat sewing and an old man sat repairing leather.  At the other end of the lean-to there was a long trestle table, where a blonde man he remembered well, sat studying carefully laid out parchments.

The man didn’t have the look of a lazy overseer.

From inside the building, two young women came, chattering animatedly as they shared the weight of a full caldron between them. Behind them came a skinny slave girl carrying clay bowls on a tray. Even from a distance he could smell the rich aroma of a meat stew. The old slave working the leather hurriedly moved from his place, and the women placed the caldron down next to the seat he’d vacated. The slave girl set the tray on the stool.

Gaius wasn’t sure who noticed him first, but slowly, one by one, faces started to turn in his direction. There was fear in the eyes of the slaves, curiosity and uncertainty for the others. Then, one of the women who had been carrying the cauldron stepped forward. She was tall and willowy, with long dark hair she wore braided down her back. Her movements were graceful, almost elegant, considering her surroundings.

‘Gaius?’ she said.

How could this woman know him? Then her familiar smile brought him wary recognition. This couldn’t be little Anniana, could it?

Gaius dismounted and began leading his horse forward. He still wore his uniform, and it clinked as noisily as the horse’s tack did. All too aware of the picture he must make, travel stained and exhausted; his uniform less than pristine; he tried to straighten his shoulders. He felt embarrassed, remembering that he’d had more hair the last time she saw him.

‘Gaius?’ she said again, this time with more confidence. ‘Oh, Gaius, it’s soo good to see you!’

And the girl was running toward him then, and before he quite understood what was happening, she had flown into his arms, clinging onto his neck as she had when she was a child, hugging him tightly.

‘Anniana… I … it’s good to see you too. I wasn’t sure…’

‘How did you know I was here?’ she demanded quietly. ‘You did know I was here, didn’t you? It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.’

‘Yes. I knew. Father wrote me and told me what had happened. He thought Vali might bring you here.’

‘Oh, good. I’m glad father made that connection. He’d offered Vali the position. It only made sense for us to come here, as far away from mother as we could get. No one knows who I am, Gaius. I’m Lara the liberti, Vali’s wife. We don’t want rumours getting back to Rome.’ She spoke softly, and in an excited rush.

‘Oh, I see. Lara. I assume this ‘marriage’ is purely a sham to keep your identity hidden.’ He had slipped the girl to his side, so he could continue walking forward with his horse.

‘Jonti, take our visitor’s horse,’ Vali yelled to the old slave. The man ambled over and took the reins, leading the animal away behind the main dwelling.

‘Not a sham, Gaius. We’re married. I love him. Please don’t make a fuss.’

Gaius stopped dead and jerked around, grabbing his sister by the shoulders. ‘What? You can’t be serious!’

He caught a glimpse of the big man coming toward him like a fast moving, predatory cat. Then a big hand came down on his leather-covered shoulder.

‘Let her go Gaius,’ Vali said quietly.

Gaius’ legs nearly gave way under him with fear. Then he pulled himself together and glanced over his shoulder, and up… and up.

‘Take your hand off me slave. Who do you think you are?’ Gaius said furiously.

‘Your father’s manager here, a freeman, and the husband of the woman you are manhandling. Let her go.’ He spoke so slowly and quietly
that his words were even more than a threat. They were a challenge.

‘Gaius, please. Let’s get out of this drizzle. I can explain everything.’ Anniana looked into his eyes, pleading with him not to make a scene.

Grudgingly, and only because she asked it of him, he let her go. The heavy hand on his shoulder disappeared immediately.

The three of them walked over to the lean-to. A line of slaves had formed on the far side of the caldron where the slave girl was handing out bowls while the other dark skinned girl was ladling stew into each bowl in turn. The atmosphere was tense. Gone was the comfortable camaraderie he’d seen on his arrival.

‘You remember Ninia?’ Anniana said, noticing him looking in the direction of the caldron.

‘Your ha…’

‘My childhood friend who came all the way from Rome to find me,’ his sister interrupted smoothly. ‘Sadly, her father died during the journey.’

‘Herakles? I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good slave. Loyal.’

Ninia looked over at him and offered a sad little smile. She hadn’t grown much taller than he remembered her, but she had blossomed into a curvaceous, pretty young woman. There was something independent about her too -- confident, as if she no longer saw herself as inferior. His sister had the same air. It was almost as if they considered themselves men.

‘Come inside. We can talk in private there,’ Anniana said, opening the huge oak door.

Inside the dwelling was dark and dingy, for all there was a fire burning on the hearth in the centre of the room. Around it were rough stools, and it was to these his sister led him. When Vali started to follow them inside, she shook her head wordlessly. After exchanging a heated stare, the man nodded, backed out and closed the door behind him, sealing them into the darkness alone.

‘You have given your innocence to that slave? Have you any idea what you’ve done?’ His fury ignited the instant the door closed. But instead of cowering, his little sister sat on a stool, and with a wave of her hand, offered him another. It was a regal gesture that would have fitted well at a patrician’s banquet.

‘I know exactly what I’ve done, brother. I’ve found happiness and safety. Did father tell you what our dear mother had in store for me? Empress for a day… or maybe I’d last as much as a year. Is that what you want for me, Gaius? Sharing my bed with that old toad? Murdered by Domitian, before I produced a son to displace him?’

‘I know! Of course I wouldn’t want that life for you. But there were other possibilities. If Vesuvius hadn’t erupted you would have been safely married to a suitable patrician.’

‘I think I was married to him, as far as the legal system is concerned, but when I became a widow I reverted back to my mother’s paterfamilias. She’ll always have the power to overturn any marriage I make, now. I’ll never escape her, while ever I’m Annia Minor. My only hope of a happy life is as a liberti. Annia Minor died during the sandstorm on the Tyrrhenian Sea.’

Gaius was reeling. How could she consider giving up her ancestry, her privileged life, to become a freed slave? Her blood was pure. She could be the mother of senators, generals, the leaders of Rome. Instead, she was happy to be little more than chattel, here at the arse end of the world? She’d gone mad, it was the only answer. Or that slave h
ad twisted her thinking, bullying her into it.

‘I can arrange for you to come back to Magna Germania with me. I can introduce you to some of my tribunes under an assumed name. One is a Julian. If you married him, his paterfamilias could protect you.’

‘I don’t want to marry a man I’ve never met, in the hope that his paterfamilias is strong enough to withstand mother’s influence. I don’t want to be part of that world, Gaius. I never was, and I never wanted to be. Here, I’m respected for myself. And I am loved. You probably think that Vali took advantage of my innocence, given what he was. But he didn’t. It was me who seduced him, because he didn’t think he was good enough for me.’

‘You what?’ he almost yelled it.

‘I seduced him. Weeks after we left Rome, long after Severus was dead. He got me to Pompeii, and then when the volcano threatened, he came back for me. Severus was a fool. He wanted to stay in the safety of his home. He demanded I stay with him. But I trusted Vali, and he was right. He has been right, every step of the way. Just because he was mother’s bed-slave doesn’t negate his brilliant mind and his wealth of capabilities. Father knew what he was. He trusted me to him.’

‘Mother’s what?!’ Gaius felt his head become light and the world was beginning to spin.

‘Bed-slave. That is the nice way of putting it, isn’t it? She bought him for sex, rough sex. And he wasn’t the first, or the last.’

‘But she could be put to death for that! She wouldn’t possibly… Father wouldn’t…’

‘I think father knew. Well, Vali thinks father knew. And by not condemning her, he made himself culpable. Gaius, you have no idea what kind of viper’s nest you were raised in. If you knew what Publius did…’ She gave herself a little shake. ‘I’m well out of that. And as far as having pure blood? I have
her
blood running through my veins, and it sickens me. Somehow, luckily, you and I got to be more like father, but the other two…’