‘I need as many sections of rope spliced together as it takes to make three hundred feet. Clear that table and bring it across here.’ Valerius looked up at the black hole which had almost claimed his life. He’d discarded the idea of climbing the cliff and then using the rope to pull the others up, because the climb would have to be made in full view of the Praetorians, who would simply send a patrol to meet them at the top. That left only one option.
He pointed at the outlet. ‘This is the way I came in and this is the way we will all leave.’ He heard a man gasp and a woman’s scream was stifled by her husband’s hand across her mouth. ‘All of us. I will lead, with the rope, and when I shout, each of you will follow me into the tunnel in turn, holding the rope. It is dark and it is frightening, but it is passable and you must call on your God to banish your fears.’
‘No, I can’t. I can’t. I’ll stick.’ The whimper came from the lawyer’s buxom wife. Valerius’s decision had been made easier by the fact that, whether through abstinence or good fortune, most of the Christian adults seemed to be as thin as skinned rabbits. He went to stand beside the woman who, though a little plump, barely reached his shoulder. ‘See how large I am compared to you, lady. If I can fit, you would go through twice.’ He gave her a reassuring smile and patted her husband’s shoulder. ‘Help her. She will need your support. There is an exit midway through the hill. Just thirty paces away.’ The distance was at least double that, but he told the lie boldly and nobody challenged it. ‘Once I reach it, I will begin to pull you through. You will be able to push with your feet and your hands, and I will need all the help I can get, but do not lose your grip on the rope. With your God’s help, you will only be in the tunnel for two or three minutes. Now.’ This was the moment of truth, the moment that decided whether they lived or died. ‘Who will be first behind me?’
No one would meet his eyes, and as the seconds passed he knew he’d failed.
‘I will.’ Praxedes broke the silence. ‘As long as I can bring Olivia.’
Valerius could have kissed her. ‘Thank you, lady. You are as brave as you are beautiful. We will wrap Olivia in your hand.’ He looked towards her father. ‘Tie a loop to her waist and set her in the tunnel after you have counted to fifty. When I’ve reached the exit shaft, I will pull her in a short way, so that you can follow.’ He turned to the others. ‘When Pudens shouts, I will haul them both along, so the next person can follow, then the next. The slippery weed in the tunnel will help me, but you must also use your strength.’ He saw eyes drifting to the damp shaft, and sensed the reluctance growing. ‘If you stay here you will certainly die. If you have courage — and faith — you will live.’
‘Wait!’ Valerius’s heart sank at the call from Praxedes’ father, but Pudens only raised his arms and called on their God to protect them. When he had finished they all looked towards the young man with the wooden hand. ‘We are ready.’
Valerius went to where the table had been placed below the outlet. He stripped off his tunic and tied the rope around his midriff. Just for a second a voice screamed in his head not to go, but with a grunt he hauled himself into the stinking blackness. It was only when he was inside, with the damp stone pressing in around him like the walls of a tomb, that he wondered why none of them had asked what would happen if the flow resumed. He supposed it was because the answer was obvious.
This time he had the benefit of familiarity and he made good progress once he got back into the rhythm that had carried him to the chamber. He had one moment of minor panic when the walls closed in where the tunnel narrowed, but it passed quickly. True, every time he pushed himself along another few inches he thought he could hear the distant thunder of water coming to swamp him, but the rope barely hindered him and in a few minutes he saw the light of the exit shaft ahead. He felt a tug on the rope and realized Praxedes was telling him to pull her along. He hauled six feet of line into a coil and moved on, stopping to repeat the manoeuvre when he heard the shout from her father. The rest would have to wait until he reached the shaft. He only hoped he had the strength to pull them all. With a few feet to go, he froze at the sound of voices. Had Rodan sent a patrol to the hill after all? If he carried on they would arrest him. Worse, they might replace the stone cap and trap him in here with the others.
‘Keep that bloody knife in your belt.’ He recognized the gruff, welcome tones of Marcus and he could have wept.
‘What difference does it make? He’s drowned anyway, or he would have signalled,’ Serpentius replied. ‘We didn’t stop the water quickly enough. Nobody could survive for that long.’
‘You’ll be dead if you don’t help me out of here, you idle Spanish bastard,’ Valerius shouted, his words magnified and made ghostly by the shaft.
The call was followed by the long silence of two men pondering a voice from the Otherworld.
‘Hello?’ Valerius had never heard Serpentius sound frightened. He clambered up, blinking, into the sunlight. Marcus stood back from the shaft eyeing him warily. Serpentius was a yard further away and looked ready to run for his life.
‘Are you going to help me,’ Valerius said, ‘or must I wait until Rodan does?’
With a shout, the two men ran forward and pulled him out to lie gasping by the shaft entrance.
‘We thought…’
He waved them away, untying the rope from his waist. ‘We’ve no time for happy reunions. Haul on this line, but gently now, and I promise you a catch the like of which you’ve never seen before.’
They stared at him and he knew how mad he appeared, but he didn’t care.
‘Pull,’ he said. ‘We have souls to save.’
Praxedes was first, her golden head appearing in the bottom of the shaft. Valerius descended a few steps to help her, but she refused to come out until he had rescued Olivia first. She was followed by her father and mother, and then, one after the other, the Christians emerged filthy and bewildered to fall on their knees and give thanks to their God. The lawyer’s wife was second to last, her eyes tight shut, and finally her husband’s face appeared.
Some thanked him, most just gave him wary glances before they set off towards their homes. Pudens was last to go. ‘I have nothing now,’ he said, running his hand through his daughter’s hair. ‘Except my life and my family. For them I thank you.’ Valerius asked him if he had somewhere to stay and he said he did. Praxedes gave him a gap-toothed smile and the little family walked down the hill hand in hand.
‘May your God protect you,’ Valerius whispered. He turned to find Marcus and Serpentius looking at him as if he had just come back from the dead, which, in a way, he had.
‘What now?’ Marcus asked respectfully.
‘First Serpentius can steal me some clothes, then we go back to work.’
An hour later they set off back towards the Forum. Valerius noticed a crowd lined up outside one of the government buildings behind the Senate House. ‘What’s going on?’
Marcus spoke to a vendor at a nearby fruit stall and returned with the information. ‘It’s some kind of census. Posters have gone up all over the city ordering the Judaeans and a few of the other provincial groups to register with the state or they’ll lose their rights to stay in Rome.’
Valerius closed his eyes. Time was running through his fingers. How long had it been? Six days and he was still no closer to the Rock than he had been on that first morning. He looked at the long line of men, women and children. If he didn’t succeed these people would all die. He had asked Pudens for information about Petrus, but the villa owner had sworn on his family’s life that he didn’t know where he could be found. Others organized the baptism ritual. Petrus came and carried out the ceremony, then he left. Today the location of the ritual had been betrayed. But by whom?
‘Are you feeling all right?’ Marcus looked at him as if he’d grown an extra eye.