"Iggidunus!" I was still grinning over the scenes indoors. "What do you want?"
"Message for you, Falco." The mulsum boy was as unprepossessing as ever. Mud-stained, surly and dripping unhealthily from every orifice. At least he had not brought me a drink.
"Who wants me?"
"Your man Gaius." I crooked up an eyebrow. Surrounded by idiotic youth, I was feeling wise, tolerant and mellow. Iggidunus viewed my kindliness with suspicion. Drawing in a huge sniff, he mumbled, "He's found something at the secure depot. He asked me to come and get you quick."
I had thought we had discovered all the frauds on this site, but if any were still undetected, Gaius was the man to weed them out.
Iggidunus was pressing me to hurry, but after all the times I had gone feet-out in a muddy slide, I nipped back inside to change my boots. Nobody was paying attention. I called out, Tin wanted at the depot; won't be long!"
Waste of time.
When I went out to the veranda, the boy looked surprised that I was wearing a cloak, slung over my right side and corded informally under my left arm. I confessed we Romans felt the cold. He sneered.
Iggidunus and I walked around the site by road. Thin sunlight bathed the huge expanse in light. We skirted the great open area that was to become the formal garden, then went around the corner. The perimeter road brought us to a gate in the high fence of the locked compound.
I stopped. "Where are the guard dogs?"
"In kennels or gone walkies."
"Right." There was no sound of the ferocious hounds. Normally they bayed themselves hoarse if anyone passed by on the road. "How do we get in?"
Iggidunus pointed at the gate. Quite rightly, it was locked. Cyprianus kept the keys and he had not returned from helping Magnus with the materials at the Marcellinus villa.
"So, Iggy, where is Gaius?"
"He was going to climb in."
"I didn't know he was that dumb!" He was not the only one. I applied a toe to a crack in the fence and shinned up it. Once perched on the top rail, I could see Gaius inside, lying on the ground. "Something's happened. Gaius is over there. He must be hurt. Iggidunus, run and find Alexas. I'll go in-'
I swung over and dropped down. It was stupid. I would be lucky to see Iggidunus again. Nobody else knew I was here.
For a moment I froze and surveyed the scene. The depot was a medium-sized enclosure, arranged extremely neatly with stores placed in rows, each wide enough apart to permit a small cart to pass between them. Wooden racks held large slabs of marble. Whole blocks of stone were supported on low pallets. Fine timber was arrayed in large quantities under a roofed area. Near the depot entrance, a stoutly built locked shack must be occupied by the special store man in working hours. Rare luxuries such as the jewel bases for fine paint pigments and even gold leaf might be kept there in safe custody for the finishing trades. Nails and ironware hinges, locks, catches and other fitments would be locked up in the dry too. A row of rough low hutments next to the shack was probably the dog kennels.
Gaius was lying still, alongside the shack. I had recognised him by his clothing and hair. I cowered in the shadow, keeping in cover, watching. Nothing moved. After a moment, I ran lightly across to the prone figure. This area must have been used as a working marble yard at one time; white dust kicked up all over my boots.
"Gaius!" He was so still because he had been tied up and gagged. He seemed unconscious too. I crouched over him, quickly scanning the nearby area. Nothing. I stripped off my cloak and draped it over him. With the knife from my boot, I began to cut away his bonds. "Gaius, wake up; stay with me!"
He groaned.
Talking in a low voice, I checked him over. He must have been thumped a few times. I had seen worse. The experience was probably new to him.
"What happened?"
I'Came for me but going after you," he muttered groggily. It had a nice balance. I like a man who sustains his rhetoric even after a thrashing. "Britons." I I dragged his arm around my shoulder. "They beat you?" I pulled
Ihim upright. "I'm a clerk; I just gave in." I started to manoeuvre him towards the fence. He let me push and pull him, not contributing much. I "How many of them?"
"About eighteen."
"Let's get out of here, then." I tried to hide from him my anxiety. That 'about' was conversational stuff; as an invoice clerk, Gaius was bound to have counted them.
We were at the fence. I had my back to the compound. This was bloody dangerous. I looked over my shoulder as much as possible.
"I can't make it, Falco."
"Only way out, lad." I was very tense by now. They had brought me here for some reason. I was surprised nothing had happened yet. "Put your foot there, Gaius. Grab the fence and climb. I'll shove you up from behind."
But he was desperate to tell me something. "Alexas '
"Never mind Alexas now."
"Family in Rome, Falco."
"Fine. I wish I was there. Well done."
He was woozy. Getting him over the fence took a few tries. In fact, it felt like several hours of effort. I would not call Gains an athletic type. I never asked, but I guessed he had no head for heights. This was like acting as a caryatid to several sacks of soggy sand. Once I had heaved him halfway up, he stuck his damn foot in my eye.
At last he was above me, clinging on, astride the top rail. I bent down to collect my cloak. "I'm feeling faint," I heard him say. Then he must have slipped off, because I heard him crash-land luckily on the other side.
I had troubles of my own. Had I stayed upright, I would be dead. For just as I stooped, a heavy spear thudded into the fence, right where I had been standing. Retrieving my cloak had saved my life. In two ways: hidden under it, I had brought something useful. So when the villain who had thrown the spear now rushed me as a follow through I was ready. He came straight into my knife which he clearly expected. As he parried the knife, I jerked out his innards with my sword.
LIII
don't blame me. Blame the army. Once the legions train you to kill, any attacker gets what-for. He meant me dead. I slew him first. That's how it works.
I stepped away. My heart pounded so loudly I could hardly listen out for others coming. One down, seventeen to go! Stinking odds, even by my standards.
It was a cluttered compound. If they were here, they were well hidden. Some were outside: when I turned back to shin up after Gaius, gingery heads appeared above the fence. I grabbed a long piece of timber and thrashed at them. One fell back. Another seized the plank and yanked it from my grasp. I jumped aside in time, as he threw it down at me. Otherwise, if they were armed, they were keeping their weapons for later. Sensing that there were more men inside the depot with me, I broke away, ran down an aisle and dodged through some racks of marble. Yells from the fence were reporting my whereabouts. I dropped, and wormed my way very fast at ground level into a long tunnel of cut timber.
Suicide! My way was blocked. Trapped, I had to squirm backwards. Every second I expected to be attacked hideously from behind but the watchers had not realised I was backing out again. Men were searching the far end of the timber row where they thought I would emerge. Flattened and sweating with terror, I inched under a trestle. One man came to investigate the place where I went into the timber. He was too close to leave alone. Crouched in my hiding place, I managed a backhand sword-swipe through his legs. It was an awkward piece of scything, but I hit an artery. Anyone who hates blood can now go into hysterics. I had no time for that luxury.
His screams brought others, but I was out of there. I leapt up on the marble sheets and went flying over the top this time. Slabs groaned and lurched beneath my weight. A spear whistled past my head. Another thudded harmlessly nearby. The third skimmed my arm. Then the marble slabs began keeling over. I had hit the ground again, but the row of tilted materials behind me slipped and crashed, each expensive slab grazing the surface of its neighbour, and some smashing into my assailants.