Gwellia tucked a hand into the arm that held the lamb in place over my shoulder and said gently, ‘Only when you were ill and could not go to him. Besides, you have invited local farmers to come and join the feast — they may be freemen, but they are not the class of people that Marcus mixes with. And there’s another thing. If your patron were to come in person, he would naturally take precedence in everything, instead of you. So this is quite a clever solution on his part, isn’t it? He attends by proxy and there is no offence — and no embarrassment on either side. And Amato will have a lovely gift to show for it.’
She was right again. I could think of no intelligent reply, so I changed the subject to arrangements for tomorrow’s little feast, and we talked of other matters for a while. It was still dark and chilly, but the wind had died and the forest seemed less threatening now there were more of us — even the wolves had ceased their howling now. After a little we passed the pile of branches by the track, and, as the faint smell of woodsmoke and burnt charcoal reached us on the breeze, I realized that we were getting close to home.
Before I could say so, Maximus piped up, as though he read my thoughts, ‘That must be the roundhouse. I can see a glow. And there’s someone standing by the door. I can see the dark outline. I’ll bet it’s Minimus.’ His face was radiant with a sudden joy, and I remembered how close the two of them had been — so close, in fact, that when I knew them first, they used to finish each other’s sentences.
That recollection clenched cold hands round my heart. I said, as gently as I could, ‘I don’t believe so. I’m afraid I have disturbing news for you — something I haven’t told you which occurred today. I will tell you all about it when we get back to the house.’ I was still reluctant to discuss this where we might be heard.
But Maximus seemed to sense that something was amiss. He dropped the handle of the cart and came around to face me in the middle of the path. I thought for a minute that he was confronting me, but he was too well-trained a slave to do anything like that. He only bowed his head and murmured brokenly, ‘Something has happened to Minimus, master? Is that what you mean? Has there been an accident? Is he hurt?’ He searched my face with anxious eyes, before he said, ‘Or dead?’
I shook my head. ‘I really do not know. I hope not, but I don’t want to talk about this out here in the lane. We’ll get back to the roundhouse and unload these things, and then I’ll tell you everything I can.’ But he didn’t move, and I had to speak severely before he reluctantly obeyed and went back to his position helping with the cart.
The others had been listening to all this, of course, and a strange unhappy silence settled on the group as we struggled on along the lane towards the house. Those last hundred paces seemed to take a year, but at last our small procession reached the roundhouse door. The smell of smoke was much stronger now, and I could see that in our absence Cilla had got the fire-pit ready for the lamb.
The cooking-pit had been sited a little to the back, which is why I had not noticed it when I arrived before, and my first action now was to go and look at it. The fiery embers had been raked aside and the stones which lined the pit were glowing red, bathing the scene in an unearthly light. I signalled to Kurso to toss in a layer of damp straw, which had been left ready in a nearby pile, then — with a grunt of relief — I dropped the heavy lamb into the hole. In the torchlight, we gathered aromatic leaves to sprinkle over it, added another layer of the straw and finally enough fresh earth to seal the pit. The animal would cook quite slowly in the heat, but by the feast next morning it should be ready to consume. Already it reminded me of feast days in my youth.
I brushed the loose dust from the fire-pit from my hands and went indoors with little Kurso still trotting at my heels. The others had unpacked the handcart by this time — the contents were stacked around the roundhouse on all sides and Junio and Gwellia were consuming stew beside the fire, while Maximus was waiting with the water jug to serve them as they ate. Two smaller bowls, clearly for himself and Kurso, were standing on the bench.
Cilla was presiding at the cooking-pot, where there was still a pleasing quantity of hot and fragrant stew. She saw us enter and waved the ladle cheerfully at me. ‘You have set the lamb to cook, then?’
I nodded. ‘With Kurso’s help. He has deserved his meal. And Maximus too, I think.’
But the red-haired pageboy did not rush to eat. He stood like a statue with the water jug. ‘Master, you promised. . the news of Minimus? I see he is not here.’
I took a deep breath. ‘Minimus has gone — I don’t know where or when. He simply disappeared when I had left the shop this afternoon — about the same time as Lucius was killed. I fear he has been kidnapped by the murderers and, worse, they may be taking him somewhere to be sold.’ I didn’t mention rebels — that was too terrible a possibility to share. ‘I had been hoping to receive a ransom note for him, but I haven’t had one.’
Maximus had turned a deathly shade of white. ‘So he may be dead! If he saw the murder, perhaps he was killed too — just to make sure he couldn’t tell.’
It was Junio who answered. ‘But your master doesn’t think so, and I think I can see why: because, in that case, surely we would have found the corpse. There would be no sense in hiding it, when Lucius’s body was left for us to see. Is that not so, Father?’
‘Exactly,’ I replied. Junio had put it bluntly — for Maximus’s sake I might have avoided talking about Minimus’s ‘corpse’ — but, in fact, that was precisely how I had reasoned things. ‘So there is every chance that he is still alive.’ Though if the rebels had him, I thought, he might wish that he were not.
Minimus, however, looked a little comforted. ‘But surely someone must have seen him taken from the shop. If we knew at least which way they went, we could try to get him back.’
I shook my head. ‘I can’t find anyone who witnessed where he went, not even the tanner — although I’ve asked, of course. But I can’t believe that he went willingly — I left him in charge of the workshop while I was away — so I am still inclined to think that he’s been carried off, most likely by the murderer himself.’ I didn’t add the obvious: that he might have been knocked unconscious and stuffed into a sack, to make it easier and less conspicuous to drag him away.
Gwellia had obviously worked this out herself. ‘But he would have no value if he’s damaged very much,’ she said softly. ‘I suppose that is some comfort. Poor little Minimus. But there is nothing else that we can do tonight?’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t believe so. After the bulla ritual, I will go straight back to town and make as many enquiries as I can. I’ll go to all the gates. Someone, somewhere, must have noticed him — or something which will put us on the track.’
‘And I will come with you,’ Junio put in. ‘Two people asking questions will save a lot of time, and the sooner we have news, the sooner we can act. But, in the meantime, there is a feast day to prepare.’
Gwellia nodded briskly. ‘There is a lot to do. Maximus, eat your supper and then come back with me and help to set the bread and cakes to rise before you go to bed. Then, first thing in the morning, you can go and cut some reeds, and Kurso can gather some sweet-smelling herbs that you can put with them. Then both report to me. We’ll come up here and strew them on this roundhouse floor, as soon as Cilla’s swept it for the day, so that it smells delightful by the time the high priest comes. He’ll be fairly early because he’ll want to make sure that everything is properly prepared. Libertus, husband, you will mix the wine while Junio and Kurso get the lamb out of the pit and carve it ready for serving to the guests. Don’t put on your nice clean toga till you’ve finished that — you don’t want it dirty when the people come. Just make sure that there is time to change.’ She turned to Maximus. ‘Well, don’t just stand there staring, come and eat your stew. It’s early bed for you. We’ll have to be up before the dawn to get all this done in time.’