Ingenuus’ grin widened as he took in the faces round the room. They had no time to exchange pleasantries, however, as he immediately stepped aside and jammed his plumed helmet under his arm, to make room for the general.
Caesar strode purposefully into the room, waving an arm in a vague fashion of greeting without letting his gaze settle on the men. Fronto eyed his commander as Labienus stood aside and vacated the chair and the general approached the desk. Caesar looked older somehow. His hair had receded a little further and thinned noticeably and his face looked slightly pale and drawn, as though sleep, never easy for the great man, was now coming rarely and sporadically. Politics was clearly causing the general a great deal more grief that Fronto had realised.
Without a word of greeting to any of them, Caesar dropped his helmet unceremoniously on the desk and appeared to pay attention to the miscellaneous papers on the table, leaning over them with his palms flat down.
“Is Crassus gone?”
Labienus straightened.
“The instructions have been delivered, Caesar, but only just. Pedius only arrived today with the new legions. I expect Crassus is making preparations to get underway. With respect, general, we weren’t expecting you yet?”
Caesar grunted.
“So we have seven legions at our disposal here and Crassus will be leaving today. That’s acceptable. What of Paetus?”
There was a pause.
“Come on!” barked the general.
Balbus cleared his throat.
“The prefect was detained and questioned, Caesar.”
“And?”
Balventius took a deep breath.
“And it is clear to me that he knows nothing of any conspiracy, Caesar. He is…”
The general’s arm shot out accusingly in the direction of the primus pilus of the eighth.
“Tell me you have him under arrest.”
“With respect general, I allowed him to retain his position while we…”
He was interrupted as Caesar swept his arm across the table, wiping his helmet onto the floor where it landed with a dull thud and rolled slowly back and forth.
“His head, or your head, centurion. It’s your choice!”
Fronto cleared his throat and deliberately stepped forward between Balventius and the general’s accusing finger.
“Caesar, he’s right. I agreed with him; we all did.”
The general fell quiet for a moment and his head dropped forward so that he faced the surface of the table. Fronto held his breath; this could go either way. He swallowed nervously as the general looked up. The remaining colour had drained from his face and his eyes burned with cold fury.
“Get out!”
Crispus reached the door first and almost threw himself out of it, closely followed by Balbus and then Labienus. Pedius and Balventius followed quickly, avoiding looking back at the furious commander. Fronto, however, remained perfectly still, his arms folded. From the doorway Balbus beckoned to him. Fronto shook his head and motioned for his peer to close the door. As Balbus, bearing a worried frown, pulled the portal to with a click, Fronto cleared his throat. Caesar had not taken his eyes off the legate before him; moreover, he’d not even blinked.
“Caesar, you need to hear me out.”
The general glared at him.
“You push me too far, Fronto. I am the commander of this army; the governor. We’re a long way from Rome and a long way from the senate. Out here, I am imperator. I gave out orders and they’ve been disobeyed by the entire cadre of my senior staff.”
Fronto shrugged and held the general’s stare, calmly.
“That’s not what’s bothering you, Caesar. You know we always act in your best interest. What’s happened?”
Caesar’s glare remained but, as Fronto watched, the heat slowly went out of it.
“The senate. A group of bickering old women, the lot of them. None of them will give me any room to manoeuvre. Clodius spins in the centre like an enraged bear; ripping at anyone he can get his paws near, seemingly at random. He’s trying to undo almost anything I try, but it’s not just me; he rakes at all the others. Then there’s Cato, who seems to want nothing more than to plunge a knife into my back. Even Cicero! A few years ago I invited the man to partner with Pompey, Crassus and myself, even though Crassus disapproved! I even gave his brother a position on my staff, and how does he repay me? By denouncing my every move to the senate as nothing more than self-promotion.”
He growled and hammered his index finger down onto the surface of the table so hard that he almost broke it.
“Mark my words: the days of the senate are slowly coming to an end.”
Fronto grimaced.
“I mean it, Marcus. We threw the kings out of Rome because they were corrupt and useless. But what are these meddling morons if not corrupt and useless. Rome will never accept a king again, but it has to find something better than this!”
He sighed and sank back into the chair.
“I apologise, Fronto. My whole winter has been spent fending off political attacks and I tire of it. I returned to Vesontio early because there’s an honesty in soldiering that the senate lacks.”
Fronto nodded earnestly. Caesar and he could disagree on many things, but with that point he could find no room to argue.
Caesar reached down and collected his helmet, brushing the dust from the plume.
“Very well. Tell me about Paetus.”
Fronto nodded and finally took the seat opposite the general.
“Paetus took on his father-in-law’s debt to Clodius. Now that arsehole thinks he owns the man. The problem is that while Paetus’ family are half a mile from Clodius but he’s here with us, the bastard pretty much does own him. Balventius is convinced of Paetus’ innocence and I tend to agree.”
Caesar nodded soberly.
“So?”
“Well,” Fronto went on, “that leaves us in an unusual and useful position.”
“Do tell” the general replied, steepling his fingers.
“I’m not sure what you’d want to do to cause Clodius trouble, but Paetus is your pipeline to doing it. If we can persuade the prefect to deliver information back to Clodius, you could feed him a line of whatever rubbish you felt like. I’d bet you could make him look like a complete tit in front of the senate if you thought about it.”
A slow smile spread across Caesar’s face.
“I can see you’ve thought this through, Marcus.”
Fronto shook his head.
“Actually, this was all Balventius’ idea, but there’s a small hitch.”
“What?”
“Well Paetus is unlikely to want to help us if it’s putting his family in danger. We need to think of a way to protect them from Clodius.”
Caesar smiled. Fronto shuddered. It wasn’t a nice smile at all.
“I think I can sort that out, Fronto. When we’re done here, go find Balventius and Paetus and bring them here. I’ll…”
He suddenly frowned and reached across towards Fronto.
“Is there a smell like tin?”
Fronto frowned.
“Caesar?”
“And it’s not got a little darker?”
“Erm… no, Caesar.”
The general stood, slightly stiffly.
“I think we’re done for the moment, Marcus. Best get to your duties.”
Fronto stared.
“Caesar?”