‘I am here, Master, in the outer shop. There’s someone at the door.’ Even as he answered I heard him open it.
‘Is your owner ready? I am sent to fetch him for the search.’ I did not instantly recognize the voice. I was expecting Adonisius, but this clearly wasn’t him, though it was a speaker I was sure I’d heard before.
I did not have long to puzzle over this, as a moment later the two of them came in and I recognized Pistis, the pimply, sulky slave I’d seen with Lucius — whom I had mentally nicknamed Pustulus. He was swathed from head to foot in an outsize woollen cloak and his feet were wrapped against the cold with binding rags. In one hand he was carrying a sack and in the other a couple of long pointed poles.
‘Are you ready to come with us, citizen?’ He looked even more sullen than he’d done yesterday.
‘I won’t be a moment,’ I said untruthfully, reaching for my own cape and sandals to put on. ‘I was rather late last night. I think there is some bread and cheese I didn’t eat?’
Minimus had already fetched it and was handing it to me. ‘You ought to have a warm drink, Master, before you leave the house. I’ll put some wine to warm. And you should do as he has done and bind rags around your feet. It will still be freezing underfoot, and if you’re in the forest there will be standing snow.’
‘There is no need for that,’ the sulky one put in. ‘My master sent you these.’ He thrust his hand into the sack and drew out what looked like a pair of untreated leather bags. ‘You put them on your feet and pull the drawstring tight. A trick he learned from his trading contacts from the north. And these — ’ he produced another, smaller pair — ‘Are for your hands. They’re made of rabbit skin and still have fur inside.’
I had heard of rabbits though I’d never tasted one — they were an expensive delicacy shipped direct from the Hispanic provinces for the benefit of wealthy legionaries who’d enjoyed them there, which no doubt explained where Lucius had acquired these skins. Although I had never seen the living animal, I had some notion that they resembled goats. However, when I slipped the garments on, I realized why the creatures fetched so high a price and why some people took such pains to try to breed them here. The skins alone would be a luxury; they were as soft as kid and wonderfully silky in their furriness.
I was reluctant to take the mittens off again, but I removed them to gulp the wine which Minimus had warmed and splash a little water on my face and beard. Then I quickly put them on again, and said to my new escort, ‘You can lead the way.’
Pustulus nodded and led me to the street, but skinny little Minimus was too quick for him. He made a point slipping of past and opening the door. ‘Don’t worry, Master, I will mind the shop. And I’ll see that there is more than bread and cheese for you tonight.’
I turned to smile at him. ‘And I’ll try not to be home so late!’ I said.
Beside me, I distinctly heard a bitter sigh. ‘Well, I won’t keep you on the streets all night,’ my companion muttered, as we made our way towards the northern gate. ‘I don’t know what that Adonisius was thinking of — going to the forum when he wasn’t ordered to, and getting mixed up in a public riot. Keeping the master waiting for hours after dark — so much so that he gave up in the end and went to bed.’ He gave a short, affronted sniff. ‘If I had been so late, I’d have certainly been flogged — but not Adonisius. Oh, great Minerva, not a bit of it! He can do no wrong it seems.’
I glanced sideways at the sullen face. ‘Lucius is only a freeman, after all,’ I pointed out. ‘He could hardly whip the servant of a wealthy citizen. Adonisius still officially belongs to Genialis, doesn’t he?’
‘I suppose that’s true,’ he answered grudgingly. ‘Or to Silvia at least. Though you’d never think so from the way my master talks to him — more like a trusted steward than a borrowed slave. Today, for instance, he’s excused from coming out with us — at least at first; there’s a guest expected and my master wants him at hand to serve. I tried to protest — after all I am the household slave — and do you know what Lucius said? That Adonisius hadn’t managed to complete his chores last night, and this way he could see to them as well. I would have been expected to stay up and finish them, even if it meant I didn’t get to bed.’
‘You do not care for Adonisius?’ I said, and saw him hesitate. ‘I was a slave myself,’ I went on carefully, ‘and I know from experience how awkward it can be, when some temporary incomer becomes a favourite.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s not for me to speak against my master,’ he replied. ‘But it does seem maddening — promising to help him find his slave price instantly, when I have served the house for years, and no one ever mentioned doing that for me. I shall be like poor old Vesperion, I expect — kept on till I’m too old to be use to anyone, then forced to beg for the doubtful privilege of going on working to survive, for a pittance entirely at my master’s charity.’
It was said with such resentment that I could think of no reply, and for a few moments we simply stomped along, my clumsy foot gloves squelching in the mud and melting snow — though they certainly succeeded in keeping out the wet. I was about to ask a question regarding Silvia, and whether Pustulus had met her when she was Ulpius’s wife, but by this time we’d reached the junction with the northern road, where the promised cart was waiting by the tombs.
Pustulus waved an airy hand at it. ‘Here you are. My master’s vehicle. He has put it and the driver at the service of the search. Would you prefer to sit in front beside the carter, or in the back with us? They’ll make a space for you, though I’m afraid we’re only slaves and it won’t be very dignified for someone of your rank. Some of them belong to your patron I believe. Perhaps you already know them?’
I peered into the cart and found that there were several that I recognized from Marcus’s apartment in the town. There was a lot of whispering and nudging when they saw that it was me — they had not forgotten the last time that we’d met, when I was virtually a prisoner in the flat and had made that undignified escape.
Perhaps it was embarrassment that prompted me to say, ‘I need not trouble you to squash up in the cart. I have my own transport — I have hired a mule, though it’s in the hiring stables on the southern side of town. I will go and get it, and ride out after you. I know which way you’re going, and if you travel slowly, I should catch you up.’
The driver grunted, clearly displeased at this idea, and there was a stifled giggle from his passengers.
‘The mule will give me freedom to go home straight away if anything is found.’ I looked at the grinning faces in the cart, and added slyly, ‘After all, I am a citizen-client of his Excellence and my patron will be awaiting my report.’
That sobered them. The grins had disappeared. The driver turned to me. ‘As you suggest, citizen, of course. I’ll drive on as slowly as I can, until we reach the area where we mean to search. If you haven’t caught us up by then, I’ll leave a slave to wait where we turn off, to show you exactly which way to go next. We’re heading for the forest but once we’ve left the military road you should be able to follow the cart tracks in the snow.’
‘Very well!’ I told him, and watched them drive away.
TWENTY
It did not really take me very long to fetch the mule. Of course, it was by now half an hour past dawn, so the gates were open and the whole colonia was waking for the day. An enterprising tradesman had set up a booth inside the arch, selling leafy garlands and strips of cloth on which the legend ‘Long Live the Emperor Pertinax’ had been daubed, and was already doing a brisk trade with visitors. Otherwise the town appeared as usual. Shopkeepers were busy sweeping down their slushy frontages, taking shutters down or laying their goods out on the freshly cleared pavement in the hope of attracting passing customers. Two slaves were struggling to the fuller’s with a brimming urine pot, and the first street vendors were hollering their wares: ‘Fresh milk!’ ‘Hot pies. Finest horsemeat. Cheapest in the town!’ But there were hardly any other pedestrians as yet, and it was possible to walk quickly through the streets — though I did encounter a little flock of geese, being driven towards the market to be killed and sold.