Hanno cast an embarrassed look at Bostar. ‘I left Mutt in charge for three days while I travelled to Capua and back on my own.’
‘In all the gods’ names, why? Do you want Hannibal to have you executed?’
Hanno dared say nothing.
‘What madness possessed you to do something so stupid?’ Bostar glowered at him; again Hanno did not reply.
‘You’re no traitor, clearly. With other men, I’d have said the most likely reason was to find a woman for a night or two, but it’s not in your nature to desert because of that.’ Bostar’s eyes narrowed. ‘You were enslaved near Capua, weren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ mumbled Hanno unwillingly.
‘You went back to see someone you knew! Yet the man — Quintus? — whom you freed at the Trebia won’t have been there. If he’s not dead, he’ll still be in the army. The same will apply to his father.’ The shortest of pauses. ‘His sister. You must have gone back to see his sister!’
Hanno shook his head in guilty agreement.
‘You stupid bastard, Hanno. What if one of your men ratted you out on this? Did you not think of that?’
‘Mutt was sure no one would say a word. I believed him.’
‘Yet one must have spoken to Sapho, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
‘You’re right,’ said Hanno miserably.
‘Best make sure that you look after your soldiers in future. If Hannibal discovers that you’ve been consorting with the enemy, you’d be executed on the spot,’ warned Bostar. He saw Hanno’s expression. ‘I suppose you know that already. What did Sapho say about it? Did he realise that you’d been to see Quintus’ sister?’
‘No. He thought I’d been off to find a whorehouse. I didn’t persuade him otherwise.’
‘A wise move.’
Hanno seized on the comment. ‘So you don’t trust him then?’
Bostar’s eyes met his without wavering. ‘No, I don’t.’
Relief — and a little fear — suffused Hanno. ‘Why not?’
‘Finish your story first.’
‘There’s not much more to say. He went on about how dangerous what I’d done had been — the inference being that the danger wasn’t just from the Romans, but Hannibal too. I challenged him, and he laughed it off as a joke. Yet it didn’t damn well feel like one at the time. All I could remember was what happened when Hannibal found out that I’d let Quintus and his father go. Do you remember?’
‘Of course,’ replied Bostar grimly. ‘Who could forget a man standing by while his two brothers were under threat of crucifixion?’
‘He denied it at the time, and I believed him. But then there was the incident at the swamp. What Sapho said when I came back from patrol really made me wonder if he hates me. Why else would he even pretend to threaten that he’d tell Hannibal about what I’d done?’ He eyed Bostar sidelong, and felt reassured by his thoughtful expression. ‘That’s everything.’
There was a prolonged silence, which Hanno did not attempt to break.
Finally, Bostar let out a long sigh. ‘I never thought I would ever tell a living soul about what passed between me and him in the Alps. Now it seems I must.’
‘Was it something like me falling into the swamp pool?’
‘It was even worse than that. I was blown over a precipice in a storm. Luckily, I broke my fall by grabbing a jutting branch just below the cliff edge. Sapho saw what happened. He didn’t rush to my aid, even though the branch was about to give way. When it did, I tried to jump up to safety. He grabbed me then, which saved my life.’
‘Gods above!’ cried Hanno, horrified. ‘Why did he not act before?’
‘I don’t know. When he did, it was out of instinct,’ replied Bostar. ‘Yet I’m certain that if I’d fallen a few heartbeats earlier, he would have just watched me go. The dog couldn’t say why he hadn’t moved the instant I fell. He didn’t have an answer either when I accused him of being glad that you’d vanished.’
‘Why would he have felt like that? Apart from the fact that we always argued, I mean.’
‘I was in Iberia at the time. With you gone too, he’d had Father’s attention all to himself.’
A deep sadness flowed through Hanno. The conversation had made him remember Mutt’s unhappiness with Sapho’s refusal to let him recross the river during their combined patrol. Maybe he hadn’t just been following Hannibal’s orders to the letter? Maybe he’d been pleased that Hanno was presumed dead?
‘What is it?’
In a low voice, he told Bostar, who shook his head sadly. ‘You or I would have acted in the same way, but our anguish would have been plain to Mutt. I think that Sapho’s reaction intimates that he felt differently.’
Bostar’s logic was hard to argue with. Hanno let out a heavy sigh. ‘What has he become?’
‘A man driven by fierce ambition. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.’
Hanno nodded in agreement. ‘What did you say after he’d rescued you?’
‘That I would repay the debt. From that moment onwards, however, he’d be dead to me. I swore not to tell Father. I’ve kept my word too.’ A smile quirked Bostar’s lips. ‘But I said nothing about not telling you.’
‘You should have told me sooner!’
‘I could say the same to you. Naïvely, I thought it was possible that you and he could have a better relationship — as long as he didn’t try the same shit with you as he did with me.’ A cloud passed over Bostar’s face. ‘I should have known that he was capable of it after the ambush at the Trebia.’
‘No man likes to think that his brother is capable of such things,’ said Hanno. ‘I was ashamed even to contemplate it.’
‘What if Sapho had let you die in the swamp?’ Bostar’s tone was anguished.
‘He didn’t. And, like you, I won’t ever let something like that happen again,’ replied Hanno firmly, trying to ignore the sorrow welling in his heart. ‘I’ll always be on the alert from now on.’
‘Who’d have thought it, eh?’ Bostar’s face mirrored Hanno’s unhappiness. ‘That we’d have a brother so treacherous?’
‘I never imagined it could come to this. What if we went to Father?’
‘There’s no point. Father loves him, as he does us. I don’t think he’d really hear what we had to say, especially without evidence. If he was challenged, Sapho would deny everything.’
‘It would be our word against his,’ mused Hanno. ‘With neither side able to prove the other wrong.’
They digested the bitter reality of the situation in silence.
‘And you’re sure it’s ambition that makes him do it?’ asked Hanno, still trying to understand.
‘Yes. From when we were small, Sapho always wanted to be the best. Being the oldest, he was better at everything — at least until we both reached manhood. I can remember how angry he was the first time I beat him in a foot race. It was a one-off, he said, but then I did it again. Not long after, I began to do better than him during our officer training. He grew so jealous then; in retrospect, I wonder if that was the time he began to be harder on you.’
‘Maybe. I can scarcely remember a time from my childhood when he didn’t lord it over me.’
‘Once the war started, I think he transferred his need for approval from Father on to Hannibal. During the siege of Saguntum, I happened to save our general’s life quite by chance. It felt as if Sapho hated me for that. I think his need to be recognised is what’s driven him since. Getting close to Mago is just another way to try and win Hannibal’s approval.’
‘Do we mean nothing to him then?’ growled Hanno. ‘Or does he just tolerate us as long as we don’t block his path to glory?’
‘I don’t know how his mind works,’ said Bostar heavily. ‘But I suspect the latter. Whatever the reason, neither of us can trust him. We must watch our backs; keep our mouths shut; obey our orders. There must be no more foolhardy escapades to Capua. If your actions became public knowledge, Hannibal would have to make an example of you — and he would. I doubt that he’d like the fact that Sapho had been the one to inform on his brother, but that wouldn’t stop him.’