‘He’s dead,’ the boy replied bitterly. ‘A handful of years as a slave and now he’s dead.’
Lupus lowered himself to the ground and took Corvus’s other hand. Marcus saw the tears glimmering in his eyes as Lupus stared down.
‘He was like a brother to me. All the family I ever had.’
Portia looked at him, across the body. ‘I–I had no idea.’
‘Why should you? As far as you’re concerned, we’re just part of the furniture of your uncle’s household. Now. . he’ll just have to buy himself a new kitchen boy.’
Marcus gently placed his hand on the other’s shoulder. ‘We can grieve later, Lupus. Right now we must get Mistress Portia out of here.’
Portia shook her head. ‘We can’t just leave him here. It’s — it’s not right.’
‘We’ll send someone to fetch him once we reach home,’ Marcus countered. ‘Then Corvus can be given a proper burial.’
‘Yes.’ Portia nodded. ‘I’ll see to it myself.’
She allowed herself to be raised to her feet, and Marcus was pulling Lupus away from the body when a low chuckle came from the across the room.
‘How touching.’ The man with the shafts of wood protruding from his stomach gave a dry laugh and then winced. ‘You’ll all be joining the boy there soon enough. You, Caesar and the rest of them.’
Lupus snatched up the club he had used to knock the other man out and Marcus grabbed his arm to restrain him. ‘Wait.’
‘What?’ Lupus snapped angrily. ‘Let me kill ’em both.’
‘He’s finished.’ Marcus nodded at the sneering man. ‘His friend will be too, when his master discovers he has failed.’
‘Then what difference does it make?’ Lupus insisted.
‘The difference between us and them, and that means every-thing. Besides, we have to get out of here. Now.’
Lupus stared at Marcus in confusion, then nodded slowly and lowered the club. He turned towards the man at his feet and spat on him before he paced towards the door. Marcus gently took Portia’s arm and steered her after Lupus. But before they reached the door, the man called after them.
‘You’re dead! You know that? Dead. You think this is the end? We’ll never rest until you and that precious uncle of yours bleed to death in the streets!’
Marcus felt Portia shudder. Then she spoke in a quiet, numbed tone. ‘Take me away from here, Marcus. Take me home.’
12
‘This is an outrage,’ Caesar said quietly when Marcus had finished his account of Portia’s abduction.
The consul was sitting on a chair in his private study with General Pompeius when Marcus, Portia and Lupus returned, dishevelled and bruised. As soon as Marcus explained to Festus what had happened, Festus led a party of men to retrieve the bodies of Corvus and the two kidnappers. Meanwhile, the two boys and their mistress were taken to Caesar’s study to describe the event in full.
‘An outrage indeed,’ Pompeius said, nodding. ‘And not an isolated incident either. First Crassus was attacked and now your niece. And from what your slave boy here says, your enemies intend to threaten your life too. It seems our political opponents have increased the stakes, my dear Caesar. And they will pay dearly for their folly. I simply have to say the word and my veterans will scour the streets until we find the men behind this cowardly attack.’
Caesar shook his head. ‘That is exactly what they hope for. The moment your followers start roughing people up, you can be sure that Cato, Cicero and their noble friends in the Senate will scream from the rooftops that tyranny has returned to the streets of Rome. If that view takes hold, then we will be undone, General — you, me and Crassus. We’ll be called to account on whatever made-up charges they care to bring against us and you can be sure the jury will be stuffed with our enemies. It’ll be exile for the three of us, and they’ll confiscate all our property.’
‘What can we do then?’ Pompeius threw his hands up. ‘Let them get away with it?’
‘Not that, certainly.’ Caesar shook his head. ‘But whatever we do, it must not antagonize our supporters in the Senate. We’ll deal with it later. In the meantime. .’
He paused and held out his hand to Portia. ‘Come here, my sweet.’
Portia stepped lightly forward and took his hand. Caesar looked up at a slight angle into her face, and then cupped her cheek with his hand. ‘Are you sure they didn’t hurt you?’
‘I’m fine, Uncle — shaken, but no real harm done. Thanks to Marcus, Lupus and Corvus.’
‘Ah yes, the kitchen boy who was killed in the fight. He can be replaced. But you can’t be.’
‘Corvus gave his life to save me, Uncle,’ Portia said with deliberation. ‘It was brave and noble of him.’
‘Of course it was.’ Caesar lowered his hand and patted her arm.
‘And Marcus too. He fought like a lion and put one of the men down before he was overwhelmed.’
‘He shall have his reward,’ Caesar said soothingly, then nodded towards Lupus. ‘The other boy too. Never let it be said that Caesar is ungrateful.’
Pompeius snorted. ‘Reward the slave? Why? It was thanks to this young fool that she was taken in broad daylight in the first place.’ He leaned forward in his chair and stabbed a finger towards Marcus. ‘It was your duty to protect Caesar’s niece. What kind of a bodyguard do you call yourself, eh? You are supposed to keep a watch on her at all times and yet Portia was snatched right from under your nose. I don’t think you should be rewarded at all. In fact, if you were my slave, I would have you scourged, or nailed up as a warning to my other slaves of the price of failing in their duties.’
Marcus endured the tirade in silence. There was nothing else he could do. He was a slave and it was not his place to speak up for himself. The very act of doing so would place him in far greater danger. His mind still reeled with shame that he had failed Portia, and he seethed with anger at the way Pompeius was talking to him. Even worse, this was the very man he had hoped could help him find and free his mother — and now he regarded Marcus with open contempt and hostility. Why would the general ever want to help him?
‘It’s not Marcus’s fault,’ Portia intervened.
Pompeius turned to her, composing his angry expression into a kindly look of concern. ‘I think that it is, my dear. I would be angry enough if he simply failed in his duty. The fact that he did so with respect to the young woman who is soon to be a member of my household is unforgivable.’
‘No. It was my fault those men could take me without Marcus knowing. I ordered him and the other two to wait outside the shop. He was only doing as he was told. I don’t blame him for that. Nor should you.’
Pompeius smiled at her. ‘You have a good heart, child. But you do not understand that a man, no matter how young, has no excuse when he fails in his duty. For that he should be punished.’
Caesar shook his head. ‘There will be no punishment for Marcus. I am in his debt for saving my niece once already, and today has only increased that debt. Look at him. See the bruises and cuts? I don’t doubt that he risked his life to save my niece. Marcus, again, I offer you my thanks.’
Marcus was grateful his master didn’t take the same view as Pompeius. He bowed his head and replied as steadily as he could. ‘Yes, Caesar.’
‘There shall be a reward for you, in due course.’
Before Marcus could respond there was a sharp rap at the door and Caesar straightened up in his chair. ‘Come!’
The door opened and Festus stepped into the room, flushed from hurrying back from the slum. He closed the door behind him, strode up to Caesar and bowed briefly.
‘Well?’ asked Caesar. ‘What did you find?’
‘We have the boy’s body, master.’
‘What about the two men?’
‘There were no other bodies in the storeroom. However, there was a smear of blood leading outside. We followed the trace a short distance before we found a man’s body lying in a nearby alley. I had the men bring that back as well.’