‘So, Decimus, once again you’ve come after me with murder in your heart, only to find yourself in my power. Is there any good reason why I shouldn’t order my barbarians to deal with you once and for all, here in the street? That big lad there might just be strong enough to rip your arms off, which would make for an interesting spectacle.’
Lugos grinned savagely down at the senator, who visibly blanched.
‘I …’
The tribune leaned close to his former legatus, casting a glance at Excingus who, still seated at the tavern’s table, was doing his best to appear inconspicuous.
‘I won’t sully this solemn occasion with your blood, but the next time I see you one of us will die, you can be assured of that. And given that you’ve been stupid enough to let yourself be led around the city by that snake of an informer, I’d say the odds are on my being the one to step out of the shadows unexpectedly.’
Excingus stirred, getting to his feet and dropping a coin on the table.
‘Led round the city? Isn’t that a little harsh, Tribune?’
‘Is it? Is it really? Decimus here may not be bright enough to have seen through your game, but I’ve worked it out.’ Scaurus raised his hands in a self-deprecating gesture. ‘I’ll admit that I’m somewhat later to the realisation than might have been ideal, but I can see it now.’
‘See what?’
He turned back to Albinus, shaking his head.
‘You’ve had Excingus in your pay for what, a fortnight? Ostensibly working for your senatorial colleague Sigilis, whereas in reality he’s been your creature, passing you information about our doings and helping you to plot your revenge on me for having the temerity to threaten you with the proof that you embezzled a fortune in gold from the throne in Dacia.’ He paused, raising an interrogatory eyebrow. ‘So would you say that’s gone well, Decimus? Your first attempt ended up with your would-be murderers siding with us, and since then you’ve either been too late to the party or not even been aware of the opportunity until it’s been too late. Has it ever occurred to you that your informer here might just be in the pay of someone else? Someone too big for him to refuse, even if the payment on offer hadn’t been quite so tempting? How much is Cleander paying you, Excingus?’
Albinus blanched, his ruddy face losing its colour in an instant.
‘Cleander?’
‘Cleander. I told you Decimus, that night outside Pilinius’s domus, that I’d worked it out. Too late to have been anything other than the chamberlain’s puppet, with this devious bastard pulling the strings on his behalf, but at least I do understand what’s been happening.’
The informant shook his head with a half-smile.
‘You give me too much credit, Tribune.’
‘On the contrary, I think you’ve played a masterful game. Allowing my rather slow-witted colleague here to believe himself to be your master, while all the time you were doing the chamberlain’s bidding and feeding us the information we needed to kill the Knives on his behalf.’ Scaurus shook his head in amusement. ‘And I was taken in by your act, I’ll admit it. I genuinely believed you were working for Sigilis, motivated by his apparently bottomless pockets to betray the emperor’s team of assassins to us one at a time. Even when I realised that you were working for this oaf on the side — and you can close your mouth and keep it shut, Decimus, unless you want me to have a change of heart as to the desirability of shedding your blood here and now — I still failed to perceive what should have been as plain as the nose on both of your faces.’
Excingus’s eyes narrowed theatrically.
‘Well done, Rutilius Scaurus. But tell me, what was it that led you to realise I was working for the senator here? What mistake did I make?’
Scaurus laughed, gesturing to the red-faced Albinus.
‘You know very well that you made sure I knew about your employment by Decimus here, as a smokescreen for your rather more influential employer. And I note you’re not denying your link to Cleander.’
The informant shrugged.
‘Given it’s probably the only thing that’s keeping me alive, I’m happy enough to admit the truth of your assumption. Cleander was never going to tolerate the Knives, once he’d replaced the praetorian prefect as the man behind Commodus’s throne. They had outlived their usefulness, and what was worse, they were getting greedy and, of course, they knew too much. Killing them would have been simple enough, but he needed his hands to be clean in the matter.’
Scaurus nodded.
‘Indeed he did. Imagine the excitement that would have ensued if the emperor had caught even a hint of his complicity in their deaths. Not to mention the fact that he needs their replacements, his own men, to trust him absolutely, right up to the moment that he has them killed in their turn to ensure their silence. So he used you to point us at them, one at a time, and sat back with a quiet smile while Centurion Aquila did his dirty work for him.’
Excingus shrugged.
‘Men like Cleander don’t reach the top of the dunghill without treading on a few faces on the way. It was made crystal clear to me that any failure to cooperate in his scheme would result in a protracted and distinctly unpleasant exit from this life for me, so of course I did as he told me.’ He bowed to Scaurus, and then to Marcus. ‘And now, gentlemen, with my thanks for your assistance, I really must be away. I have one last small task to perform, and then I shall slide away into the shadows. I suspect that Rome will shortly become inhospitable to a man with my twisted loyalties. And for you I have only one piece of advice …’
Scaurus cocked his head and waited, watching as Excingus turned away and spoke his parting words over his shoulder.
‘Beware the Knives, gentlemen. All of your efforts have only served to make way for a deadlier collection of murderers than the men you killed ever were …’
He walked swiftly away down the hill with the purposeful stride of a man with things to do.
12
‘And you swear not to seek vengeance on this man Velox?’
Marcus looked down into his wife’s eyes and nodded.
‘I swear it. My thirst for revenge has been slaked, and with every mouthful the taste became more bitter than the last. Although I cannot say what will happen when Velox recovers from the beating that Flamma gave him.’
Felicia had examined the veteran gladiator’s body before Marcus and Cotta had dug a deep grave in the walled garden and carefully lowered the corpse into place.
‘That poor man was in agony, I can tell you that much just from the size of that part of his growth that was protruding from his body. It must already have consumed most of his lungs, and how he was able to fight a bout in that condition is a mystery to me.’
Marcus smiled sadly.
‘You should have known him ten years ago. And thank you for giving your permission to bury him here.’
She smiled, stroking his cheek.
‘Nobody will ever know, so the prohibition on burials within the city walls will never be a problem. And besides, how could I refuse you when it was clearly his intervention that saved your life. The altar looks nice …’
Sannitus had sent his men out to purchase a suitably ornate memorial, and with several hefty gladiators standing round him, the stonemason had been inspired to take up his chisel and carve the required words into the white marble without delay. Each of the fighters had vowed to return and make the appropriate sacrifice before heading back down into the city, and Julius had half persuaded and half dragged Dubnus away to the barracks, leaving Calistra in the care of the two ladies of the house. Felicia had spent an hour speaking quietly with the Dacian girl who, it transpired, had been captured in the same campaign the Tungrians had fought in the previous year.
‘That poor girl seems to have been through a lot, but I sense iron in her. She’ll need some time to get over her hardships though, she’s been raped enough times to have driven a gentler spirit to suicide. Your friend will have to demonstrate more patience than he’s known for.’