‘A note!’ Relief spread over Biccus like a water-stain, and seemed to give him sudden confidence. ‘Well, in that case, citizen, I can prove it wasn’t me. I don’t know how to read or write. Besides, if you’ll excuse me saying so, I think you’re flogging the wrong ox. Would this Voluus — whoever he may be — deliberately arrange to have his treasure go to the home of a man who sent him threats?’
He was right, of course. It would be like walking deliberately on to someone’s sword. I murmured something to that general effect.
‘I don’t think the new man’s there yet, in any case,’ the pig-man eagerly went on. ‘And I’ll tell you something else. This Voluus person couldn’t have made arrangements in advance for his cart to call there. The old owner was due to leave there just before the Ides. And, as I say, the new one hasn’t come. So when would a message have the chance to reach the person it was intended for?’
‘But Voluus is a lictor who has just retired from Gaul. Isn’t it. .’ I began, still unwilling to extinguish the only glimmer of a theory which I had.
The commander gave that cough again and shook his head at me. It was a warning not to say too much. Too late! I could already see Biccus pricking up his ears. The pig-man would have another story to tell his relatives and another grudge against the conquerors. Even though there were no lictors in this colonia, they were known by reputation everywhere and ranked even above taxmen as the most hated officials in the Empire. It was likely that the story of the lictor and the threats would be all round the countryside as soon as Biccus got back home.
The commander pushed back his stool and got slowly to his feet. ‘I think we’ve learned everything we’re likely to from this. It’s been a stressful day for all of us. However, I concede that this farmstead should be searched. The lictor’s cart may still have gone there to shelter from the rain, as Biccus originally said, and — even if this was purely by chance — there may yet be something to be learned.’
‘A thousand thanks, Mightiness!’ I cried. I was ready to fling myself at his feet in gratitude. ‘I promise you’ll not regret your confidence in me. I think it is possible that’s where they were attacked, and I swear that if there’s any clue at all I will find it. .’ I had spoken eagerly, but the commander waved a hand to silence me.
‘Libertus, I said nothing about permitting you to go. What I will do, for your benefit, is send a man out there at first light tomorrow to have a look around, in case there are any of these signs that you are hoping for. There is no question of your going out there yourself. Now, let me hear no more about it. Is that understood?’
I nodded ruefully.
‘Can I go home now, in that case?’ Biccus enquired, in a plaintive tone, adding without conviction, ‘I was promised a reward.’
The commander shook his head. ‘It is far too late for you to journey home tonight. I’ll make arrangements to have you put up at the hiring-inn, where they can accommodate your donkey, too. That is your reward for coming here and what you’ve said so far. If your information proves to be of use, we’ll consider if there should be something more. Tomorrow you can accompany my scout and show him exactly where the lane and farmstead is.’ He turned to me. ‘As for you, it’s getting late. Time I delivered you to Marcus’s, before his servants start to wonder where you are. Besides, my slave will have started to make my evening meal and I still have other duties to perform.’ He sat down at the desk again and unrolled a document, calling as he did so, ‘Centurion, are you there?’
Emelius, who had been standing outside all this while, bustled in and snapped smartly to attention. ‘Present and awaiting orders, sir.’ He smacked his centurion’s baton on his leg, as if for emphasis.
‘Accompany Libertus to his patron’s flat and when you have delivered him, report back here to me. Take Biccus downstairs with you and find a man to take him to the mansio and have him fed, then send to the hiring-inn and request a bed for him. Say I sent you and the garrison will pay.’ He glanced at me. ‘I hope your patron is as generous as he claims to be and will meet all these expenses made on your account.’
It was obviously the best that I could hope for now and I bowed my thanks before allowing Emelius to escort me down the stairs, with Biccus trailing reluctantly behind.
The pig-man was given into the hands of an optio downstairs, who looked him up and down with ill-concealed disgust. ‘We’d better get you cleaned up first of all, I think. I can’t deliver you to the mansio to eat smelling like a pig-enclosure. And I’ll have to burn those clothes before I take you to the public hostelry — even there you’re likely to disturb the other guests. Doubtless there’s a cleaner tunic somewhere you could use, though there’s not much we can do about the shoes.’ A deep, reproachful sigh. ‘You’d better come with me!’ And Biccus was seized roughly by the arm and hustled off in the direction of the military baths. The last I saw of him, he was protesting all the way.
There was scarcely time to take in this little scene before I was hustled off myself, out of the fortress and back into the town.
I turned to the centurion. ‘Would it be possible for us to stop briefly at the jail? I would like very much to have a word with Calvinus.’ It was worth a final try.
Emelius did not even condescend to answer this. He simply drew his dagger from its sheath again and held it closely to my ribs, jerking his head towards the route he wished to take. ‘This way, citizen. I’m walking at your heels.’
I thought for a mad moment of attempting an escape and making my own way to the jail, but an instant’s reflection showed me what a stupid thought it was. Emelius was plump and sometimes lumbering but he was not only much younger than I was, he was a serving soldier — and anyone who can do a route-march in full kit was going to be a good deal fitter than an ageing shopkeeper. Besides, there were too many people in the streets, any of whom could be legally required to chase after me, if I did anything so foolish as to try to run away.
The town is always very busy around dusk, and it was so tonight: creaking wagons making those delayed deliveries; bakers cleaning ovens and resetting fires; people who could afford no other flour queuing up to purchase the grit-filled sweepings from the miller’s stones. Traders darted to and fro, bringing in their stock for safe-keeping overnight, some of them shouting curses to their slaves, who brushed down the pavements outside the premises with little whisking bundles of tied broom, but they all made way for the man in uniform. The very dray-horses seemed to sidestep as we passed, snuffling gently in their clanking chains.
We turned down a dusky side-street to avoid the crush, though it was not much better here. The taverna on the corner was packed with customers who were already beginning to spill out on to the street, and the soup-kitchen next door was also doing a boisterous trade: its open door and window-space aglow with smoky light, while a noisy crowd gathered round the entrance, trying to push their way into the steam and smell. But even they reduced their clamouring and stood aside to let the soldier and his prisoner through.
At length we came out on to the major street which skirted the forum and led towards the baths. Marcus’s town apartment was at the other end — one of the most prestigious such properties in town, though (as with the lictor’s residence nearby) there were poorer folk crammed into the attic floors above — one of the reasons why my patron rarely used the place.
This area was a good deal quieter, but we were still delayed. We ran into a funeral heading for the gates: no doubt some worthy freeman paid for by his guild, since there were professional mourners and musicians accompanying the bier and a long procession trailing after it. (In Glevum such things still happen after dark — just as all funerals used to, years ago, in Rome. The practice has survived here, I have often thought, not only because of a natural preference for old-fashioned ways, but because it means the other members of the guild can continue to work throughout the day.)