‘He can’t accept the archers!’ I spun to face the place whence I thought Pantera’s voice had come. ‘He’ll be said for ever to have used foreign aid to take the throne, to have made Rome a vassal of Parthia.’
‘He knows that, lady. He won’t accept.’ He wasn’t where I thought he was. I spun again as he spoke on. ‘But it’s good news that Vologases won’t invade either. I think they find much in common, our general and the King of Kings. It will be good for them to find this out for themselves.’
I could see him at last, and it was not only that he had found the darkest shadows in Sabinus’ blood-red room to hide in that had made him hard to see, but that he was black of head and foot and hand and hair; he was, in fact, the Berber who had carried my litter and I tell you truly, had he not spoken, I would not have known him.
To give him credit, Sabinus didn’t call his own steward to have this intruder ejected. He stood on the far side of the room biting down on his lower lip, which Vespasian only did when he was immensely angry.
I stepped between them, saying, ‘My lord, may I introduce to you the agent sent by your brother to keep us all from harm in the coming months? Circumstances overtook him and now he must come under subterfuge.’ I favoured Pantera with an acid glance. ‘Sebastos Abdes Pantera, this is Titus Flavius Sabinus, prefect of Rome, commander of the Urban cohorts and the Watch and uncle to Domitian. I must tell you that the Guard are offering eight hundred in silver for you-’
‘Alive. I know. And I am told that alone of Nero’s people, the inquisitors have survived all three of the recent palace purges. It takes a long time to find individuals with the skill and vocation to break a man and yet leave him able to answer questions. You could enquire of your friend Scopius, sometime, as to the content of my dreams. He has been very careful not to interpret them for me.’
That was clever. I felt Sabinus’ anger dissolve as he came over to join me. It would have taken a harder heart than his to feel anger for long at a man whose dreams were filled with his own long-drawn death.
I was perhaps the one feeling most aggrieved. I asked, ‘Does Matthias know who you are?’
‘If he doesn’t,’ he said, ‘you really ought to find another steward. Nobody in his right mind would have taken on the men currently carrying your litter.’
That set me back. Something of my discomfort must have shown, for Pantera said, drily, ‘Matthias cares for you so much that he will set aside his honour to lie for you. And he finds in himself surprising depths, I think, and a versatility that does you great service.’
‘Did you come just to tell me to praise my steward, or are you here for a better reason?’ I was sharp with him, I admit it, and not yet ready to think well of Matthias.
‘I came to introduce myself to the senator, to bring his brother’s greetings and to tell him personally that the safety of Vespasian’s family is my first responsibility while in Rome. And to tell you both that you must be assiduous in your support of Vitellius and your denigration of Vespasian.’
‘You tell us what we already know,’ Sabinus said. ‘I have pledged my oath to Vitellius more times than I can count. When he resides in Rome, I attend him when he wakes, I host dinners that will beggar me for years, I assure him of the devotion of the Urban cohorts and the Watch. I tell him how reckless is my brother and what a stain he lays on the family name. If there is more I can do, you have only to say it, but I know of nothing.’
‘There is no more you can do, lord.’ Pantera gave a small bow, hand on heart, after the manner of the Egyptians. ‘But the lady Caenis, I think, may be able to lend other aid to our venture?’
I had no idea what he was talking about, but there was a warning in his eyes, or perhaps a plea, so I said, ‘Go on,’ as if this were something we had planned.
He said, ‘The general wishes to ascend the throne with as little Roman blood spilled as can be managed. To achieve that, we must find those tribunes and legates of the legions most readily persuaded to his cause. We must commend them, flatter them, bribe them, threaten them; do whatever it takes to win them to our side. To do that, we must have a means of communication by which we can reach them and they can reach us.’
‘You need messengers,’ Sabinus said. ‘My brother has many.’
‘He does, but everyone knows it and what Lucius knows of, he may buy.’
‘We can’t trust them?’ Sabinus sounded genuinely perplexed. He was a politician, but he had the blind spot of all well-bred Romans who think that men who vow to their service will be loyal for ever.
Gently, Pantera said, ‘When the future of Rome is at stake, we must trust very few and all of them secretly. I have a means of communicating with Vespasian and Mucianus, but I cannot reach the men of the Rhine and Balkan legions, or the navies at Ravenna and Misene, who are crucial to our cause. To connect with these, we need men with horses: honest men who can be trusted to deliver a sealed letter and return with its answer; resilient men who have good reason to be on the roads and can answer questions honestly when stopped; above all, men unknown to those who know Seneca’s routes and Vespasian’s. Lady-’ His eyes were on me, sharp, hard, direct. ‘Would I be right in thinking that the lady Antonia inherited her father’s message service, and that it was greater, in its day, than that of Julius Caesar?’
I blinked, slowly, thoughtfully, to cover my shock. ‘You would be correct, yes.’
‘And so would I also be correct in thinking that her freedwoman, her amanuensis, inherited that service when her mistress died?’
I could feel Sabinus’ gaze burn into the side of my face. He was a decent man; kind, honest in his way, but for all his scheming in the senate he didn’t have the depth of deceit that was needed to stay three steps ahead of men such as Lucius. Or Pantera.
I was not sure that I had that depth of deceit either, but I knew where I was being led, if not why.
I said, ‘Did Vespasian tell you?’
‘No. If he knows, he would not say so to me. He will do nothing, ever, to risk your safety, and what I propose is not safe.’
‘Yet still, you will do it?’
‘If it can be done without risk to you.’ He took a breath and I thought him uncertain, which was unusual enough to be interesting. ‘I am asking that you cede control of the network into my hands. That you give me the pass-phrases, the names of the men, the means to set it all in motion. And that you trust me enough to allow me not to tell you all that I do with them.’
‘For my own safety, of course,’ I said, drily. ‘And so that if I am arrested, I cannot be made to divulge it. You, of course, will never be taken?’
Pantera had dreams that said otherwise and had been rash enough to mention them; there was nothing he could say to that.
I said, ‘I will cede you control, but only under the condition that you inform me of everything you do. If you are taken, we will find ways to leave Rome. We are not without resource, but if you don’t know what we plan, then we have that much protection.’
I had bargained with merchants all my life and I knew my own bottom line and how to hold it. There was a moment’s silent pressure and I saw him concede.
‘As you will, lady. If you would-’
‘ Having messengers is only the first step,’ Sabinus said. ‘You need a list of officers in the legions who may come to Vespasian’s side.’
‘Can you provide such a list?’
‘I can make a series of educated guesses. I can have them within a day, but we have the problem of how to get them to you without being seen. As you will have observed, we are closely watched. Perhaps if the lady Caenis were to be taken ill now, and was unable to dine tonight, she might recover and return again tomorrow? We can plan together what to do.’