‘You didn’t beat her, though?’
‘Why should I?’ He seemed genuinely puzzled. ‘She didn’t need to be punished. All I gave her was what the old man had been giving her for years, but the best joke of all was, he hadn’t. Acte was still a virgin. I tell you, it was all I could do to stop myself running in and telling him that, for once, I’d got somewhere before he had!’
Claudia swallowed hard. ‘Then you poisoned him?’
‘No one can blame me for that. He’d had his run, it was time for the next generation to take over.’
‘What about me?’ It was the question she’d been dreading to ask, but it needed to be said. She had to know what was in store.
‘Ah, yes, the lovely Claudia. Since Utti killed Sabina and Acte, we can’t have you going the same way, can we? Let me see.’ He waved the scalpel up and down to taunt her. She refused to let him see it was working. ‘Are those bruises I see round your neck?’
Instinctively her hand shot up to cover her throat. ‘Fabius knows about them,’ she said. ‘He put them there.’ Aulus clucked his teeth. ‘Perfect. When I hold you under this lovely clear water, he’ll be able to swear they were made earlier and put his old father in the clear.’
Shit!
‘They’ll know it was you.’
‘Me?’ His face was a picture of innocence. ‘I’m out collecting berries.’
‘Wasn’t Fabius collecting them?’
‘My son doesn’t know his baneberry from his bum. They grow in damp places yet he goes searching the woods. I am surrounded by fools.’ His tone changed. ‘This has gone on long enough.’ He made a beckoning gesture. ‘Come here.’
‘Go bugger yourself!’
‘Claudia, Claudia. Why fight it?’ he said reasonably. ‘Drowning’s quick, it’s painless and, believe you me, there are plenty of other ways. I could even do to you what I did to the others, providing I bury you deep.’ Manic eyes swept over the blue cotton clinging to the curves of her body. ‘You’re a beautiful woman, I could really take my time.’
‘We could do a deal?’ Feeble, Claudia. Very, very feeble. ‘I have money.’
‘Too late, I’m afraid. You could have married Fabius and come to live with us, but you had to go and spoil it, didn’t you? You had to worm out my little secret?’
A spark of irritation flared.
‘It’s been the day for people’s little secrets, Aulus. Don’t feel privileged. Look!’ She pointed. ‘Up there!’
‘Bitch!’
She had run into the river, it was her only chance. Hampered by bare feet and waterlogged skirts, she aimed for the middle. Swim to safety. A hand reached out, but her arms were wet and his grip wouldn’t hold. Splashing like a hippopotamus, Claudia zigzagged towards deep water, ducking and twisting to escape him. She could hear his stertorous breathing, see his shadow on the clear, babbling water.
Then she was free! Launching herself into the current, she felt the icy water on her cheeks, one stroke, two-
The grip on her ankle was of iron. In a frenzy, she tried to kick, but the twisting and writhing served only to wrap her skirts round her legs like bandages. Aulus, panting, was dragging his quarry to the far bank. She held on to rocks, but he was stronger, they cut into her hands, grazed her arms, she had to let go. She picked up a boulder.
Yesss!
His hands flew to his face. The stone had broken his nose, that big, long nose. Blood streamed everywhere, he was trumpeting like a bull elephant.
‘Shit!’
Her foot slipped, her ankle twisted and rocks fell inwards to trap it. She tried to claw free, but the boulder over her foot was huge.
‘Got you, you bitch!’
Too late she realized he’d come up behind her, and for the second time in one day a vice clamped round her neck, dragging her head backwards and under the water. She saw him, grinning, as her arms flailed. A pebble, that’s all I need, a pebble to blind the bastard! Her leg held fast, the knee twisted and sending out waves of excruciating pain. She saw weed, thin green strands of it, trailing in the current. She heard a roaring in her ears which wasn’t water, and now the picture of Aulus, face twisted with hatred, had red tinges round the edges. With one monumental surge, she pushed herself out of the water, spluttering in the warm sunshine.
‘Oh, no, you don’t!’ Before she drew breath, he’d thrown her back under.
Fingernails clawed. At his hands. At his arms. She could see red trails spiralling in the current, saw strips of flesh flapping in slow motion, saw the white flash of bone. With her last remaining effort before oblivion, Claudia forced back his middle finger. Back, and back-and snap!
Aulus, roaring with pain, let go. Gasping, Claudia jack-knifed towards the bank, kicking at the boulder pinning her ankle. With a second mighty jerk, she twisted again, freeing her trapped leg while her arms pulled on her stola.
‘Bitch! You’ve broken my finger!’
Choking, she threw her sodden gown over his face, hoping the weight and the wetness would confuse him while she pelted him with stones. She had forgotten how weak she was. Like raindrops, they bounced off and he easily shrugged off the soggy cotton.
On the bank lay a branch, swept down in the spring floods but stranded when the waters receded. Coughing water, Claudia hurled herself towards it. She’d break his bloody leg! Hurry, hurry… Over her shoulder, she saw Aulus was gaining. Faster… Willing the strength into her body, she heaved herself out of the water. Sweet Jupiter! His hands, his arms, his tunic were saturated with blood and where fingernails had clawed, gobbets of flesh flapped loose.
Six paces. Five. Four… Too late she discovered the ordeal had left her too weak. She fell to her knees. Somewhere a girl was whimpering. She was shocked to find it was her. Crawling, the gravel cutting her knees to shreds, Claudia stretched out an arm. Oh no. It was still out of reach! A shadow fell over her. A cry lodged in her throat. Aulus, dripping with blood as though he’d been peeled, eyes blazing with fury, raised his scalpel.
Then, above the gurgle of the waters, Claudia heard a twang. Aulus jerked, astonishment written clear on his mangled features. She rolled herself into a ball, hoping to minimize the target, but Aulus stood there, wobbling, a vacant look on his face. As he pitched forward, she rolled out of the way.
For a moment she thought it was a ruse, a ploy to tease and torment her.
Until she saw the arrow in his back.
On the far bank, at roughly the point where she clambered down from the plateau, stood the gigantic figure of a man.
By the time Aristaeus had made his way down, Claudia had watched her iris blue stola drift on the current until it was out of sight. She wished the shaking would stop.
Aristaeus handed her his tunic. It came to her ankles, smelled of cherrywood and fresh sweat and you could have fitted a whole troupe of Syrian dancing girls inside.
‘Good shot.’ He couldn’t make out the words, they were still a gargle from the throttling, but he probably got the gist.
Confident his quarry was dead, the huntsman pulled his arrow free and rolled the corpse over. Claudia backed away, covering her nose with her hands. The stench was vile. Aristaeus pointed to the black stain oozing over the front of Aulus’s tunic.
‘Looks like he fell and crushed his baneberries,’ he said with a grin.
*
Later, when the joke about baneberries had worn off and the pain in her throat had eased to a throbbing, she thanked him properly.
‘I tracked you,’ he explained, ‘to give you this.’
He held out a golden filigree net, as light and insubstantial as gossamer.
Claudia took the gift in trembling hands. It was a hair snood, the sort women wear when they’re alone-or with their lover. When their hair hangs loose and they have no need of curls or ringlets or ribbons. In the centre was a single, golden ornament.
‘It’s beautiful.’ One of those items which is both inexpensive and yet utterly priceless. ‘Thank you.’ It wasn’t necessarily the bruising round her throat which was the problem at the moment.