Antonia was seated behind her desk and was alone. Any hopes that Vespasian had had of seeing Caenis were thwarted.
‘Sabinus, Vespasian, thank you for coming at such a late hour.’
‘Good evening, domina, how can we be of service?’ Sabinus asked.
‘Please sit down.’ She indicated the two chairs placed in front of her. Vespasian felt a slight breeze. He looked round at the window and saw that bottom left-hand corner had been broken and was now boarded up. ‘Pallas, some wine for my guests.’
Pallas bowed and left the room. Antonia studied the brothers for a moment as if assessing whether or not they had the mettle she needed. Apparently satisfied, she began to speak. ‘Last night someone broke in through that window and tried to get into my strong box. Fortunately they were disturbed, but unfortunately they managed to escape, running through one of my slaves with a sword in the process. Now, the only people officially allowed to carry swords in the city are the Urban Cohort and the Praetorian Guard; the average petty thief normally contents himself with a dagger or a cudgel. But even if it was just a well-armed petty thief how did he know where exactly to find my strong box? I can’t help suspecting it was a Praetorian, acting on Sejanus’ instructions, who’d been given the location by my daughter Livilla. She knows the layout of the house.’
Antonia paused as Pallas re-entered and poured the wine for her guests, then retired to his place by the door. ‘If the break-in was orchestrated by Sejanus it would mean that he suspects that I have documents in here that are dangerous to him, and he would be right. The two documents that I entrusted copies of to your uncle for safekeeping would make very interesting, if unpleasant, reading for Sejanus. One outlines the suspicions that Asinius and I shared with you the other night of his long-term plans to gain power and the steps that we are taking to counter it. The other details the evidence that I have so far of his role in the deaths of my son Germanicus and the Emperor’s son Drusus.’
Vespasian took a sip of his wine and wondered where he would fit into all this.
‘I needed to confirm one way or another whether Sejanus suspects me of conspiring against him, which led me to do something which was, with the benefit of hindsight, very stupid. I decided to invite Livilla here for dinner tomorrow, ostensibly to make peace with her, but in reality I wanted to see her reaction to the broken window, maybe that would have confirmed my suspicions. So this evening I sent my maid Caenis with an invitation to Livilla; neither she nor the slave that accompanied her have returned.’
Vespasian took a sharp intake of breath, causing Antonia to smile.
‘You are right to be concerned, but it is more than Caenis’ safety that should worry us, it is what she knows.’
‘What information could a slave have that can be of use to Livilla and Sejanus?’ Sabinus asked.
‘A slave she may be, but she is also very dear to me. Her mother was my slave but died when Caenis was only three. I brought Caenis up in my household; she is almost like the daughter I wished I’d had. As such I keep her in my confidence; not only is she my body-slave she is also, as Livilla knows full well, my secretary. She knows the contents of those two documents because she made the copies.’
A look of shock passed over both Vespasian and Sabinus’ faces as they realised the awful truth of the situation. Livilla, who was capable of acts of astonishing cruelty, would easily be able to torture the contents of those documents out of Caenis and pass them on to Sejanus, who would then act with ruthless efficiency to protect himself.
‘So you see, gentlemen, we haven’t any time to lose. We must rescue Caenis before she is broken.’
‘How do we know she hasn’t been already, domina?’ Vespasian asked; he felt sick at the thought of that beautiful girl going through what Eumenes or his brother had suffered.
‘Livilla is with the Emperor tonight for his farewell dinner; she will want to be present at the interrogation. The Emperor always dines late and never retires to bed until the early hours of the morning, so we have a little time.
‘Caenis is more than likely being held in a cellar at the back of the house; it can be accessed not only from the inside the house but also from the garden through a short tunnel, probably guarded by Praetorians. I have asked my grandson Gaius to guide you; he knows the house well and loathes Sejanus who he knows ordered the murder of his father. He’s also a favourite of Tiberius’, so no guard would dare execute him or his companions should you be caught, but let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that.’
Antonia stood up and moved towards the door. ‘Pallas will bring everything that you’ll need. You have to move fast, gentlemen. We have only a couple of hours before Livilla returns.’
CHAPTER XII
Antonia led Vespasian and Sabinus back to the atrium where they found Magnus and his colleagues, looking very out of place in the palatial room, laughing and joking with each other, chewing on hunks of bread and swigging from a wineskin that they passed around. They snapped to attention as they saw Antonia.
‘Domina,’ Magnus said through a half-eaten lump of bread.
Antonia’s eyes widened. ‘I know you, don’t I?’
‘Magnus, domina.’
‘Magnus, of course. What are you doing here?’ she responded, looking not altogether pleased to see him.
‘Me and me mates here are escorting the young masters, keeping an eye out for them, if you take my meaning?’ he replied indistinctly, patting the dagger in his belt.
‘Well, you will have your work cut out tonight: do your job well and you will receive a handsome reward.’
Magnus bowed in acknowledgement, finally managing to swallow the rest of his bread.
Vespasian heard footsteps coming down one of the corridors that led off the atrium, and turned to see a youth of no more than fourteen enter the room. He was tall and thin with spindly legs; his brown hair fell in curls over a broad, pallid, forehead, from beneath which two bright eyes peered intelligently out of sunken sockets.
‘Gaius, my sweet, this is Sabinus and Vespasian, the two young men you are to show to the tunnel,’ Antonia said, kissing her grandson on the cheek.
Gaius smiled at the brothers. ‘What a jolly caper this will be, eh? Rescuing slave girls at midnight from the clutches of the gruesome Livilla and the dastardly Praetorians, I can’t wait.’
‘Let’s hope that it turns out to be just a jolly caper, as you say, Gaius,’ Vespasian said, smiling back, instantly warming to Gaius’ bright and friendly nature.
‘Oh, please, call me Caligula, everyone does except my grandmother here who thinks that it’s not a becoming nickname for a son of the great Germanicus.’
Antonia laughed and ruffled Caligula’s hair with genuine affection.
‘Are these our men?’ Caligula asked, looking over at Magnus and his entourage.
‘Magnus, at your service, sir,’ Magnus said, nodding his head.
‘Excellent,’ Caligula cried. ‘With such a fine body of men behind us, how can we fail? Let’s be off. See you later, Grandmother.’
He went out into the wet night. Sabinus and Vespasian followed with Magnus and his lads joking about being called a fine body of men; Pallas, carrying a heavy-looking sack, brought up the rear. All were buoyed up by Caligula’s enthusiasm.
‘I don’t want to appear rude, sir, but where are we going and what are we going to do when we get there?’ Magnus asked Sabinus.
‘As Caligula said, we’re going to Livilla’s house to free a slave of Antonia’s held there.’
‘Livilla, eh? A nasty piece of work, from all accounts. Well, I’m sure the Lady Antonia knows best.’
‘What’s between you and Antonia?’ Vespasian asked, intrigued by Magnus’ unlikely contacts in high places. ‘She knew you, but seemed embarrassed to see you.’