Germanicus

'Okay. Let's leave it,' I said. 'You feel up to going again tomorrow?'

'Not really. But I will, of course.'

'Good.' I kissed her. 'So. Any of your lovelies coming to the governor's party tonight?'

'Most of them. It is his birthday, after all.'

'It's what?'

'The governor's birthday, Marcus. Sulpicia told me.'

'Then why the hell didn't it say so on the invite?' Oh, Jupiter! That was all we needed. To turn up at Lamia's birthday party without a present would be the diplomatic equivalent of blowing a raspberry in the guy's face. He wouldn't say anything, of course, but we could forget any little future indulgences.

'Don't worry. I bought something in town on the way back home. An alabaster perfume jar. He's interested in antiques, seemingly.'

I breathed a sigh of relief. 'Quite a cultured lad, all told. First Tyrian glass, now antiques. You think he's a poet as well, like your pal Marsus?'

'Perhaps. I don't know. Do you have a reason for asking?'

I didn't, not as such; but I had a suspicion that we were going to have to stir up some shit soon. And when that happened we'd need all the goodwill we could get.

Incidentally, I checked the race news with Critias the next day. The Green team in the third heat lost. They lost by a nose, but they lost.

28

I hate these formal parties. The booze is always slow and second rate, you never know what to do with your plate and the guy you end up talking to (it's always a guy, or a fifty-plus harpy with a face like a camel's worst angle) is either a total bore or he thinks you are. He's usually right, too: I'm never at my snappy conversational best when I have to talk vertical. And when I'd been through the problems of travelling out of season and the beauties of Antioch for the tenth time in a row with the tenth political smoothie I was ready to jack it in in favour of solitaire draughts.

Which was when I felt a hand smack me between the shoulder blades so hard I almost spilled my wine. I turned, and recognised Statilius Taurus.

'Hey, Corvinus!' he was grinning like a drain. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

I could've asked him the same question. The last time I'd seen Taurus was in Rome two years back, when he'd been packed and ready to go to Crete as junior finance officer. Now here he was in Antioch, and in a tribune's uniform instead of an administrator's mantle.

'Taurus!' I grinned back. 'What happened to Crete? They kick you out of the diplomatic?'

'I was never in, Marcus boy. I did a swap with a friend who was chasing the collector's daughter. Anyway, it was a fair deal. He juggled accounts ten times better than I could.'

Yeah, that made sense: Taurus never did have a head for statistics, barring vital ones, but he was a born soldier. I doubted if the friend had needed to twist his arm much. And I was glad to see a familiar face.

'You with the Third?' I asked.

'The Tenth. Over at Cyrrhus. I'm delivering a report for the boss.' He emptied his wine cup and held it out to a passing waiter. 'You?'

'Call it a holiday,' I said.

'Hey, that's right! Someone mentioned a narrow-striper from Rome. That you?'

'Must be.'

'A honeymoon, then. I heard you'd married that Perilla girl. Congratulations.' He hesitated. 'You know Rufus is here?'

'We've met.'

'No kidding.' I could see he wanted to ask what'd happened but he was too polite. 'So where's the lady?'

I looked around. Perilla was deep in conversation with Marsus, and I didn't want to risk another brush with that guy. 'Over there. I'll introduce you later.' I paused. 'Hey, Taurus. How long've you been here, exactly?'

'In Syria? Well over a year now. I came out two Novembers ago.'

'Is that right?' So he'd overlapped pretty considerably with Germanicus. Maybe I'd struck lucky and the draughts could wait after all. 'Did..?'

I never finished the question. A movement at the edge of the room caught my eye. The governor was on his way over, with a thin faced military man in tow. Obviously this wasn't the time or the place to go into things. Not if I wanted answers.

'Look, Taurus,' I said quickly. 'You in Antioch for long?'

'Two or three days.'

'Okay. So let's split a jug. Tomorrow?'

'Make it the day after.' His left eyelid drooped. 'Tomorrow night I'm busy. Or I hope to be.'

'Fair enough. You know Athenodorus's house? In Epiphania?'

'I can find it.' Lamia was almost up to us by now. 'Marcus, you okay? What the hell's going on?'

'Later, pal.' I turned to face Lamia.

'Ah, Corvinus!' The governor was smiling. 'I'm sorry to interrupt. Can I introduce Domitius Celer, the Third's commander of cavalry?' Hey! Great! 'I think your wives met earlier today.'

'That's right.' I shook Celer's hand. 'Pleased to meet you, sir.'

'Fine.' Lamia smiled again. 'Now if you'll excuse me I think my wife is trying to attract my attention. Some domestic crisis, no doubt. Lovely present, by the way, Corvinus. Thank you.'

He left, and I turned my attention to Celer.

'Rufus sends his regards,' he said.

As the Third's Commander of Cavalry, Celer would be Rufus's second. I stiffened. 'Yeah?’ I said ‘That was nice of him.'

Taurus was looking between us. Celer hadn't so much as acknowledged his presence, but he did it now. Turning to him, he said: 'Don't let us keep you, Tribune.'

Taurus blinked and reddened. I got ready to grab his arm in case, governor's party or not, he decided what the hell and punched the bastard out. He didn't, although it was a close-run thing. Instead he gave him a long careful stare, nodded, and with a 'See you later, Marcus' walked off to join another group.

Celer watched him go, then turned back to me.

'You're enjoying Antioch?' he said.

'It's okay.' I found that my own right hand had made a fist, and I had to will myself to relax: I hadn't liked the crack about Rufus, I hadn't liked the way he'd dismissed Taurus, and I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that I could live without Celer full stop. 'You want the travelogue, pal?'

'No. I know how you've been spending your time. In fact that's why I thought a little talk with you was in order.'

'Is that so, now?'

'That's so.' He moved closer in, and I caught the smell of metal polish and beeswax from his armour. 'A friendly warning. Leave it alone. Carry on and you'll only get hurt.'

He'd dropped his voice almost to a whisper. I stepped back and spoke normally. 'Uh-huh. And does Lamia know about this "friendly warning" of yours?'

Several heads turned; Celer's eyelids flickered, but he didn't move, and this time he made no effort not to be overheard. 'Oh, the governor agrees with me,' he said calmly. 'In fact I'm afraid you're in a minority of one here. Not a very popular minority, either.'

'I can take that.' I held out my empty cup to a hovering wine slave. I'd misjudged Lamia: the wine wasn't bad although a bit sweet for my taste. Probably local, because I couldn't place it at all, but good local. 'Hey, talking about sightseeing as we weren't, pal, I hear you know a nice spot in the hills on the road to Beroea. Good place for a picnic, you think?'

I'd rocked him; I could see that. His face shut. 'You be careful, Corvinus,' he said slowly. 'You be very careful. As I said, you could get hurt. And Antioch isn't your city.'

'So I've been told.'

'Remember it, then.' He turned his back without another word and walked off to join two other officers by the ornamental pool.

I was so angry I was shaking, but short of going after the guy and holding his head under the water until his toes turned blue there wasn't a lot I could do. At least we knew where we stood, and the fact he'd been so blatant showed he'd probably told me the truth; that most of the people who mattered would back him, including the governor. Like he'd said, I was on my own. I looked over to where Taurus was chatting to a little honey in red silk, but I decided not to join them; we'd made our appointment and the less I saw of Taurus before then the safer it'd be. Maybe he thought the same, because although I was sure he'd seen Celer go he was ignoring me. Besides, I'd be cramping his style. I went off to look for Perilla instead.