I was thoughtful as I went back to wielding my probe — something else for which I owed Lucius my thanks! Obviously he’d provided enough sustenance for me. I wished I’d had the sense to bring some foodstuffs of my own, but I hadn’t thought of it. Even a slave meal like that was welcome in this cold.
My thoughts were interrupted by a cry from Pustulus. ‘There’s something here!’ he shouted and I turned to look. The driver must have heard as well, because he gave that whistling once again and the other slaves came crashing through the trees from every side.
Pustulus had moved aside the leaves and snow by now, revealing the sorry sight which lay below. It was a body, but it wasn’t Genialis, that was clear at once — just an aged crone who’d obviously been overcome by cold, still clutching the firewood she’d been out to fetch.
‘She must have been there quite a little time, to be so covered with the leaves,’ I said. ‘But she’s quite well preserved. At least …’
I tailed off as Pustulus turned her on her back. Her short patched tunic had been half-torn away, and telltale toothmarks in her side and thighs showed that we were not the first to find the corpse.
‘A wolf, by the look of it.’ Even the driver had left the lane by now and was taking an interest in what Pustulus has found. ‘Bring her to the cart and later I will drive her to the military road. We’ll leave her on the side and tell the army when we get back into town. They’ll come and pick her up.’ The army sent a death cart out from time to time to collect the unclaimed corpses and put them into the communal pit, along with paupers and criminals from town.
‘But she might have family!’ somebody exclaimed.
‘If so, they would have looked for her by now.’ The driver was dismissive. ‘And if she had younger relatives they would have fetched the wood for her — not sent her out to get it and let her freeze to death.’
There might be a sick old husband languishing at home, but I did not point that out. Without a fire it was probable by now that he’d be dead as well. So I simply watched as several of the slaves took up the body and bore it to the cart.
They were just in the act of slinging it up into the back, when the sight of a lone horseman coming down the forest track caused us all to stop and stare. Whoever it was, he was moving very fast and waving one hand agitatedly. As he drew closer, I realized who it was. It was Adonisius and he was out of breath.
He swung down from the saddle. ‘They have found him!’ he told us breathlessly. ‘Alfredus Allius’s men have found the body in a ditch. The search is over. You can bring in all the slaves.’ He turned to me. ‘Though it’s most peculiar. When I got there they had just begun to dig him out … and … well, you’re the expert at solving mysteries. Perhaps you’d better come and take a look yourself.’
But I was already heading for the mule.
TWENTY-ONE
We left the driver rounding up the slaves to get back in the cart and return to Glevum and their duties there, while Adonisius and I rode off in company. Or almost in company. It was not easy for him to travel at the same speed as the mule — his horse went so much faster that every few minutes he had to stop and wait — but we kept up a sporadic conversation when we could.
‘Silvia has been sent for, I suppose?’ I asked on one occasion as I caught him up again, where he’d been idling his horse near a slight curve in the road.
He nodded. ‘There is a messenger on his way to her. The slaves who found the body called at the nearest farm, and arranged for someone to ride out and let her know. They had already done that before I got to them, so there should be time for her to get to Glevum well before it’s dark.’
‘And no doubt my patron will accompany her,’ I said, privately thinking that this made things difficult. I would have to go and find him to tender my report.
‘They will go to his apartment, I presume,’ the Syrian agreed. ‘I’ll suggest to Lucius that he should call on them as soon as possible. There’ll have to be decisions about a funeral. They’ll put the body on the cart and take it to Bernadus, I suppose, since he volunteered to house it, if it was ever found. We’ve sent a rider from that nearby farm to let him know, as well.’
‘But doesn’t Genialis have a property in Glevum?’ I enquired. ‘The townhouse that his half-brother used to own? That would surely be the proper place to take him, since it is obviously too far to go to Dorn?’
Adonisius reined his horse in, so as not to draw ahead. ‘Except that the Glevum house is empty and there is no bed there to lay him on, no steward to oversee the funeral and no slaves to give him a lament. Apart from me, of course!’
‘And even you were given to Silvia, I hear.’
He gave a sideways grin. ‘I had no cause to love him, but I’ll gladly mourn his corpse. Ah, here is the turning — you can see the print of hooves. And there’s the group of slaves who found the corpse.’ He gestured down the lane. ‘I’ll see you down there.’ And he cantered off.
The forest here was nearer to the road, and between the trees I could make out the successful search party — a huddle of cloaked and hooded forms in a little clearing not far off the track. As I drew nearer I could see that they were slaves, accompanied by what was obviously a steward, dressed in the colours of Alfredus Allius. The cart that they’d all come in was drawn up further on.
Adonisius had already reached them and slipped from the saddle with his usual grace. From his gestures he was telling them that I was following, and the group all turned and stared at me until Arlina ambled up. The steward barked an order, and they shuffled into ranks and stood back politely while he showed me what they’d found.
The dead man was Genialis; I could see that at once. He was propped up in the hole, the head was turned towards me and his face was visible. His arms appeared to be clamped across his chest and his body seemed at first sight to be grotesquely standing upright in a frozen ditch. However, even before I’d got down from my mount, I could see that this was quite impossible — the ditch was far too shallow to admit his legs and indeed, where the slaves had partly scraped away the loosened snow and leaves, it was clear that the torso ended just below the waist.
‘It was almost buried when we found it, citizen,’ the steward said proudly. ‘We were lucky to spot it — it was half-submerged in leaves.’
‘You did well.’ I turned to Adonisius. ‘Is there more of him elsewhere?’
The handsome face looked startled. ‘Not that we have found. Finding half a body is peculiar, of course — but didn’t the same thing happen to some ancient priest you knew? I hear that only half that body was discovered in the ice.’
There was a little buzz of shocked surprise from the assembled slaves at this. ‘That’s true!’ I said, surprised.
Adonisius shook a baffled head. ‘So now it’s happened twice. There must be some connection, don’t you think? As Lucius says, it can’t be merely a coincidence.’
I stared from Adonisius to the corpse. ‘But with the priest it was the other way about. The head and chest were missing and only the lower part of him was found …’ I trailed off. It had suddenly occurred to me that I could not be altogether sure if that was true. ‘Or so I am informed — I did not actually see the corpse myself,’ I finished awkwardly.
But the Syrian wasn’t listening. ‘No head, citizen?’ He sounded mystified. ‘Then how could anyone be sure that it was him?’
I laughed. ‘That’s the same question that I have asked myself. Someone suggested that it was the sandals that he wore — but I privately suspect there might be other signs. In any case the temple has accepted him — they gave the remains a hurried cremation yesterday.’