‘It will do,’ Marcus insisted. ‘For now, at least.’ He turned to leave.
He had just reached the door of the inn when a shout came from the other side of The Pit. A bloodied man staggered out of the alley, clutching a wound on his head. Another followed, limping, then two more supporting an unconscious body. More spilled out after them. As the members of the Blade and Scorpion gangs stumbled into the open space, the first man cried out, ‘They tricked us! Caught us like rats in a trap. .’
‘Where’s Milo?’ a voice called out. ‘Find him quick. There’s going to be hell to pay for this.’
21
‘You first, Spurius,’ Milo demanded as he faced the two gang leaders at the table outside the inn. It was shortly after the first men had returned to The Pit. Marcus had hurriedly brought out a jug of wine and some bread for the men who arrived at Milo’s table and was standing a short distance away.
The leader of the Blades had a hurriedly tied dressing round his head through which blood was seeping. He collected his thoughts before he answered. ‘We got to the Forum without trouble, and saw the trial was about to begin. Cato was there, all ready to begin his opening speech. Calpurnius Piso didn’t look like he was facing any charges at all. He was clean-shaven and neatly dressed, not playing the usual trick of looking distraught and repentant. He even seemed to be enjoying himself as he sat with his lawyer. Should’ve guessed there’d be a reason behind it. Anyway, one of Clodius’s gangs was already there, barracking Cato. We fetched up behind ’em and started to push ’em out of the way. There was the usual rough stuff, a few punches thrown and so on, but we cleared ’em out and formed a line round the stage so that no one could get in or out without our say-so.’
Spurius drained his cup and held it up for Marcus to refill. Then he continued. ‘Clodius’s gang had moved off a short distance to shout insults, more loudly than usual, I thought. Then the other gangs arrived. They must’ve been waiting for a signal because they all arrived at the same time. Hundreds of ’em, pouring out of every road and alley leading into the Forum. I could see at once we were trapped, and knew that if we stayed by the court we’d had it. So I tell the lads to follow me and run for it. We made for the exit leading to the Boarium, but they caught us before we could reach it. It was out with the staves and whatever else my boys were packing. They were all round us and we had to fight every step of the way until we reached the Tiber and split up to return here.’ He paused and looked at his chief. ‘We lost a lot of the boys back there.’
‘How many?’
‘Over fifty, between the two gangs. Don’t suppose many of them are alive.’
Marcus saw Milo grind his teeth as he digested the news. ‘Damn! Where did Clodius get so many men?’
‘They wasn’t all from the Subura,’ the leader of the Scorpions chipped in. ‘I recognized the tags of some gangs from the Esquiline, and even some from the Janiculan district.’
‘That’s bad. Very bad,’ Milo reflected. ‘Somehow Clodius has persuaded the other districts to settle their differences and fight with the Subura. . We’re outnumbered. Badly.’
‘So what do we do now, chief?’ asked the second gang leader.
Milo looked down at the table while he concentrated. The other men looked on, but Marcus saw Spurius turn to nod meaningfully at the other man. His companion shook his head and Spurius gestured more insistently, urging him on. With a shrug of resignation, the leader of the Scorpions cleared his throat. Milo continued to stare at the table, his brow furrowed in concentration.
‘Er, Chief. .’
Milo raised his head with an irritated expression. ‘What is it?’
The leader of the Scorpions spread his hands on the table as he summoned up his courage.
‘Spit it out, Brutus!’
The sharp tone of command made the man flinch and he stammered. ‘The th-thing is, the lads have been talking and — ’
‘The lads?’ Milo cocked an eyebrow. ‘Who exactly?’
‘Me and the other gang leaders.’
‘I see.’ Milo placed his elbows on the table as he leaned forward. ‘Go on then. You’ve been talking. And?’
Brutus glanced nervously at Spurius, looking for support, but the other gang leader sat in silence and Brutus was forced to speak out on his own. ‘The gangs are supposed to run the street rackets. That’s what we’ve always done. Taken our money from protection charges, running the brothels and settling disputes in our own districts, right? As long as we did that, and the other gangs stuck to the boundaries, then we all lived comfortably on the proceeds. But this gang war started. Since then we’ve lost men and we’re too busy to do our normal business. .’
He dried up under Milo’s withering gaze. After a pause, Milo spoke in a low, cold tone. ‘So? Things will return to normal once we’ve seen off Clodius and his friends.’
Brutus puffed his cheeks out. ‘That’s just it. The lads want things back to how they was. They’ve had their fill of fighting other gangs. I said I’d ask you to call a truce with Clodius, Chief, and put an end to the gang war.’
‘And how do you think that would look?’ Milo asked cuttingly. ‘The instant things start going against us I scurry to Clodius and beg him to stop fighting. We’d be the laughing stock of Rome. Before long the other gangs would muscle in on our turf and the people in the Aventine wouldn’t lift a finger to stop them. Do you know why? Because they wouldn’t be afraid of us any more. Or at least, they’d be more afraid of the other gangs. Fear is what keeps us on top here in the Aventine. If we buckle under to Clodius then we’re finished. We have to keep fighting and we have to win. There is no other option. Got that?’ He paused, then continued in a tone laced with scorn. ‘Or didn’t you and your friends think it through?’
Marcus saw the gang leader squirm under his chief’s fierce glare.
‘Milo, at this rate, there won’t be enough of us left to run the Aventine. Don’t you see? We have to talk to Clodius. We have to stop this — why are we doing some politician’s dirty work, anyway?’
Milo suddenly snatched up the half-filled wine jug and swung it down in a short vicious arc on Brutus’s head. The jug exploded into fragments as the dark red wine sprayed out across the table, splattering Spurius, Milo and Marcus who stood close by. Brutus’s head slammed down on the table and he uttered a deep groan before losing consciousness. A ragged tear in his scalp began to bleed heavily, mingling with the wine splashed across the table. Despite his training, Marcus flinched and took a step back. Everyone at the table stared at the scene with frightened expressions. Others around the edge of The Pit had become aware that something was going on and they looked towards the inn. Milo climbed on to the table and stared down at the faces below. He called out across the open space, his voice echoing from the walls of the tenement buildings.
‘I’ve just been told some of you are questioning my decision to make war on the gangs of that slimy upstart, Clodius. It seems you don’t have the stomach for a fight. Is this how far some of you have sunk? Gutless little worms, too afraid to defend what we’ve spent so long fighting for? It doesn’t matter how this gang war started now. The fact is we’re all in it and we have no choice. We must fight and win. That’s the Aventine way.’ He thrust his finger down towards Brutus. ‘This worthless coward told me we should turn our backs on everything we’ve achieved, beg Clodius to end the gang war and give us peace. . Some peace! The instant the other gangs in Rome hear about it they’ll have no respect for us. They’ll take every chance to prove the Aventine gangs are pathetic pushovers, like the vermin at my feet.’ Milo lifted his boot and viciously kicked the unconscious Brutus so that he crashed off the bench on to the ground, right beside Marcus. ‘That’s what will happen to anyone who hasn’t the guts to see this war through. I want men, real men, at my back to fight that scumbag Clodius, not weaklings who run to their mothers at the first setback.’ His eyes alighted on Marcus and he beckoned to him as he spoke quietly. ‘Up here, lad.’