The tribune spat his reply, his eyes blazing with anger.
‘We have no choice! If we fail to do as we’re ordered then our entire family will be excised from existence. Do you have any idea what a man will do to avoid the threat of having his line extinguished from history? You’ve been away from the capital for too long, Rutilius Scaurus, and you simply have no idea just how dangerous Rome has become in the last few years …’
His voice tailed off as Marcus stepped forward and fixed him with a murderous look.
‘You’re right, of course …’ Scaurus kept his tone light. ‘I really don’t know what it might feel like to see my entire family killed by an all-powerful man fixated on the objective of taking the throne. But Centurion Corvus here does. And perhaps on this very rare occasion we can use his real name. This, Fulvius Sorex, as I expect you know all too well, is Marcus Valerius Aquila. You may recall the murder of his entire family two years ago. He’s the reason why you were ordered to send an entire auxiliary cohort north to meet its doom, as a means of dealing with this fugitive from the praetorian prefect’s justice. And it was his wife, I ought to add, that Legatus Equitius caught you in the act of raping, using the threat of murder against a newborn child as your leverage for her complicity.’
Sorex backed away a step, raising his hands as Marcus paced forward to stand stonefaced before him. Scaurus shrugged, picking up the false eagle and examining it closely for a moment.
‘This really is a very nicely executed piece of work.’ He dropped it back onto the table. ‘It’s a pity to see such craftsmanship turned to such a shoddy purpose. But then inanimate objects are neither good nor evil in themselves, they are simply wielded by whatever cause possesses them. So it’s a good thing that Prefect Castus took the precaution of having all that gold removed from the storeroom and spirited away to a safe place when the opportunity arose.’
Sorex gave the camp prefect an incredulous look.
‘You moved the fucking gold?!’
The veteran officer nodded equably.
‘When it became clear that you weren’t to be trusted, Fulvius Sorex, yes I took that precaution. I’ve had it taken somewhere where it will provide a little less of a temptation for the wrong sort of person.’
‘But I gave specific orders for it to be guarded at all times!’
Castus smiled tightly.
‘I know. And hurtful though it may be for you to realise it, when an officer with thirty years’ service and a dozen scars to bear witness to them requests the assistance of his legion’s senior centurions, they tend to take somewhat more notice of him than of a military tribune whose most dangerous exploit seems to have been escorting the emperor’s favourite catamite on his daring shopping expeditions into the Subura.’ He strolled forward, patting Marcus on the shoulder. ‘You see, the Centurionate has an endearing tendency towards the preservation of their legion’s honour above all else, and so when I revealed to the first spear that your marvellous rescue of the eagle was in fact a sham, it was all I could do to prevent him from taking his gladius to you, and bugger the consequences. Moving the gold, once I told him that it was intended for use in setting his legion on a path to treachery and possible disaster, was a relatively easy sell.’
Scaurus nodded sagely.
‘And after all, it’s an integral part of my plan.’
‘Your … plan?’
Scaurus waved a hand at Marcus, and turned his attention back to the captured eagle. The young centurion stepped closer to the terrified tribune, one hand tapping on the hilt of his gladius.
‘This sword belonged to the Sixth Legion’s legatus. He left it for me when he was killed, hidden beneath the body of the last man to carry that eagle, because he was my birth father. His legion was betrayed by another of Prefect Perennis’s sons, which means that both of my fathers were killed as the consequence of the praetorian prefect’s plans to take the throne. Now that we have all the proof we’ll ever need to see him executed we’re going to deliver that evidence to Rome, and alert the emperor to the danger he faces from his right-hand man.’
Sorex shook his head in amazement.
‘You can’t just march on Rome; you’ll be stopped before you even reach the south coast of the province. Once the new legati arrive and find out what you’ve done they’ll send the legion cavalry after you with orders for you to return, and if you fail to obey then you’ll be hunted down and then put to the sword in very short order.’ He shook his head at Castus sadly. ‘And you, Prefect, will find yourself on your way home as a civilian if you’re lucky!’
‘You’re right, of course …’ Scaurus shrugged easily. ‘If Perennis’s placemen find out what we’ve done then they’ll certainly bring the full weight of their authority to bear on us in order to get that gold back. The thing is, Fulvius Sorex, you have to ask yourself one simple question.’ He lowered his voice to a whisper, bending close to his colleague. ‘Who’s going to tell them?’
The younger man stared up at him for a moment before the realisation of Scaurus’s explicit threat hit him, his eyes widening in horror.
‘You don’t mean …’
‘You have to admit there’s an inescapable logic to my question.’ Scaurus raised an eyebrow at his colleague. ‘There are only a very few people who might alert the legati to what’s happened here, when they eventually arrive. The Sixth’s first spear is most unlikely to do so. He’s already made sure that the men who moved the gold are in no position to tell anyone else where they took it, since he had them marched off up the road to the Wall to strengthen one of the more remote garrisons the moment the job was done. Which leaves you, Fulvius Sorex. And if you’re not here to tell them that we’ve taken the gold with us then they’ll be none the wiser, will they?’
He stood in silence, waiting for Sorex to respond while the young tribune looked about him as if searching for some way out of the situation.
‘But surely … I mean …’
‘Don’t panic, colleague, I’m not ready to put a fellow officer to death quite yet, we do have civilised standards of behaviour to maintain after all. But I’m sure you can see my quandary. If I leave you alive you’re sure to inform the legati of what I’ve done, aren’t you?’
‘Not necessarily.’
‘Really?’ Scaurus looked at him sceptically. ‘What guarantee do I have that you won’t renege on whatever we agree just as soon as I’m no longer a threat to you?’
‘My word as a Roman gentleman, Rutilius Scaurus!’ The younger man jumped to his feet, holding out a hand palm uppermost. ‘I’ll swear to you now on whichever god you choose that I’ll tell the praetorian prefect’s men nothing!’