Danger in the Wind (38 page)

“Poisoned? Are you mad?”

“No. But you are, if you drink this. It was Nikias who tried to kill you last night. It’s a million gold pieces to a bowl of porridge he’s trying again now.”

“Nikias?” He stared at me in disbelief. “What in the gods’ name makes you think that? We agreed it was Trebonius.”

“You convinced yourself it was. I still had some doubt, and I’ve since realised that it must have been Nikias, and how I can prove it. That’s what I came to tell you.”

“Well, all right. You can put those things down, I’m not tempted to touch them now.”

I replaced the jug and beaker on the table, but I was too tense to sit down. I began pacing the room, trying to stop myself from shaking. “You told me the words that your attacker said last night. You remembered them quite clearly, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “Certainly. He said ‘We both know who murdered your wife. You should have kept your eyes shut and your mouth shut. You will pay the price, and I will risk the wrath of the Erinyes.’”

“Good. Now what language was the attacker speaking?”

“What do you mean, what language?”

“It’s a simple enough question,” I said, speaking in Greek this time. “What exactly did he whisper to you? What were the actual words? Were they Latin or Greek? Or maybe native British, or Gaulish or Parthian…?”

“Oh, I see what you mean.” He’d spoken in Greek as well. As I remembered from long ago, he was equally fluent in Greek or Latin, and switched between them without even realising he was doing it. “It’s funny. Now you ask, I’m not sure. Let me think.” He closed his eyes.

“Go over it in your mind,” I said. “You’re lying in bed. It’s very dark, but you can see the silhouette of a man leaning over you, and you can feel a pain in your wrist. And then he starts to whisper…”

“Greek,” he said. “It was Greek…
Greek!”
Realisation came to him in a sudden flash, as it had to me. “Of course it was. He talked about the wrath of the Erinyes. If he’d been a Latin speaker, if he’d been Trebonius, he’d have said the wrath of the Furies.”

“That’s what I thought.” I was elated, with the excitement of a hunter who has his quarry in plain sight at last. I smiled at him. “Would you care for some wine now?”

“So Nikias killed her,” he mused, still taking it in. “Gods, I never liked him, but I never dreamed he would be a murderer, especially of someone he loved.”

“Jovina told me the baby was his, you know. Not Trebonius’. That’s why she wouldn’t let Nikias attend her as her doctor. And she also told me he was trying to persuade her to run away with him.”

He put his head in his hands. “Aurelia, I’ve been wrong about so much. I want to be sure now.” He looked up. “Are you certain all this is true?”

“I’m certain. I’ll swear it if you like. The question is, what do we do now?”

“Arrest the man, of course. Confront him, see if he admits any of this. He may, once he realises we know the truth. This wine will be evidence…although it’s our word against his that it’s got poison in it.” He looked at the flask and the two untouched beakers. “I’ll tell my men to catch a mouse or a rat, there are usually plenty around the granaries. We can test the wine on one of those.”

“Persuading everyone that Nikias is a murderer won’t be easy. Trebonius won’t want to accept he’s got a killer running his hospital, and he won’t want to lose a good doctor unless he’s got rock-solid proof.”

Mallius nodded. “But Trebonius is no fool, and he must know he’s under suspicion himself. He might be glad enough to have confirmation that he’s innocent.”

“Perhaps. But I think we should wait till Quintus and the others come back. Quintus has clout, and once he’s heard our evidence he’ll insist on an arrest.”

He stood up. “I have clout too, you know. I’m the deputy commander. Ajax!” he shouted, and the big bodyguard appeared at the door. “Fetch the others, all of them. We’re going to the hospital.”

We must have made a curious picture, the six of us, as we marched through the fort. Mallius and I led the way, and the four giant soldiers followed, one of them carrying the doctor’s flask of wine. It’s an indication of how busy everyone was that we didn’t attract any attention at all.

We strode straight in through the main door. When we halted in the waiting area, young Onion came out, round-eyed with curiosity. He looked at all of us, decided that nobody was hurt, and asked Mallius, “Shall I fetch the doctor for you, sir?”

“We’ll find him for ourselves,” Mallius said. “Where is he?”

“In the store-room, sir. I’ll tell him you’re coming.”

“No you won’t, you’ll stay here until we’ve finished talking to him. Ajax, you and the men stay here too. Don’t let anyone disturb us while we talk to the doctor. And don’t let him leave this building for any reason. Understand?”

Nikias was alone in the store-room, sorting some small flasks of oil. He looked up as he heard our approaching footsteps, and when he saw Mallius he dropped the flask he was holding, gave a frightened cry, and backed away. It took me a little time to realise why. He thought he was seeing Mallius’ shade…he thought Mallius was dead. It was the final proof we needed.

Mallius advanced, holding up the flask of wine. Nikias retreated across the room till he stood cowering against the shelves on the farthest wall. Then he made a pathetic attempt to recover his dignity. “I’m pleased to see you, Mallius.”

“I doubt it,” Mallius answered in Greek. “You thought you’d killed me, didn’t you? Now I’ve come for my revenge.”

“Revenge? I don’t understand.” But he understood well enough.

“Yes, I’ve survived your attempt to poison me, and your effort to fake my suicide last night by opening my vein.”

“But I assure you…” It was almost a whisper.

“Don’t waste my time. I was awake enough to hear what you said to me, but it’s taken me a little while to understand. You said you’d murdered my wife, and you were going to kill me because I’d seen you do it. And you boasted that you’d risk the wrath of the Erinyes. Well, let me tell you, my wrath is just as deadly, and rather more immediate.”

“Oh, I know that,” Nikias exclaimed, suddenly finding his courage and his voice. “Your wrath is deadly, and your poor wife suffered from it for years. I know what you put her through, and I wanted to take her away from it. I loved her so much, I could have made her happy. But she repaid me by destroying my baby. For that I killed her, killed her and threw her into the river. But you, Mallius, I thought you’d seen me. There was someone who looked like you, too near for my safety. So I had to kill you as well. You deserved it anyway, for the cruel way you treated the woman I loved.”

“I didn’t see you kill her,” Mallius replied. “And you botched your efforts to make me look like a suicide.” He held up his bandaged wrist. “You opened the wrong vein.”

Nikias nodded. “I realised that this morning. A pity, really, because you don’t deserve to live.” He hesitated, then suddenly lunged forward and seized the flask from Mallius’ hands. Before we could stop him he was drinking the wine straight from it. Some of it spilled over the front of his tunic, but most went down his throat. He stood holding the empty flask and facing us squarely, with an air of exultation, almost of triumph.

“Without Jovina, I see no point in living any more. And I don’t have to face your wrath, Mallius.”

He flung the empty flask in Mallius’ face, and made a rush for the door. He raced along the narrow corridor and into the waiting area, but the guards there caught him easily. By the time we reached them, he was already writhing on the tiled floor, coughing and choking his life out.

I believe death came quickly, but I left before the end. I felt sickened, and desperate to be outside. Nobody stopped me, or even noticed, as I hurried away from the hospital.

But I couldn’t shake off the unhappiness I was feeling. I tried to make myself concentrate on the fact that I’d fulfilled my promise and found Jovina’s killer. I should have been elated, triumphant…but there was only a dull sadness. The whole tragic story of love, hate, and betrayal was such a complete, dreadful waste of emotions and lives.

Chapter XXVII

I walked blindly on through the fort, not knowing or caring where my feet took me. I found myself near the main gate, and as I headed towards it, I heard someone call my name.

I felt an enormous wave of relief engulf me as I recognised the group riding towards me: Quintus and Lucius, Titch and Gambax…and Gambax was carrying Baca in front of him on his saddle!

But Chloe wasn’t with them, and neither was Vitellia.

There was a flurry of greetings, everyone talking at once except Baca. Gambax carefully helped her dismount and supported her with an arm round her waist. She was shivering, hardly able to stand, and her eyes were swollen with crying. As I went to her she said sadly, “I’m sorry, Mistress. So sorry. I couldn’t stop it. I know Master Lucius must be angry with me, and Master Mallius, and I should have been able to do something…”

“Baca, you poor thing. It’s all right now, you’re safe.” Selena took the girl in her arms. Baca let her head fall onto the older woman’s shoulder and began to cry.

I looked at her closely. She appeared unharmed, but she’d obviously been badly frightened. “Don’t worry, Baca. We know you did your best, and you didn’t run away. We won’t forget that.”

“Don’t cry, my dear.” Selena stroked her hair softly, as if she were comforting a tiny child. “You’re quite safe now, and you’ll help us find the girls. But what you need first is a hot drink and something to eat.” She looked enquiringly at Quintus. “Is that all right, sir? I’ll bring her to you later.”

“Not yet.” Baca raised her head and gently disengaged herself. “I want to tell you what happened before I do anything else. There isn’t much time.” She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I’ll take a drink of wine, if you’re offering, but I’ll sip it while I tell you.”

“Good girl.” Quintus smiled at her. “Come with us into our office, and tell us everything. We won’t need you for long, and we can certainly find you a hot drink and some food. Gambax, you can fetch us something to eat and some warm wine, can’t you? Good. Enough for all of us. Titch, get someone to see to the horses please, and then join us.”

As we walked to the office, I drew Quintus to one side. “Nikias has confessed to killing Jovina and trying to kill Mallius, after we confronted him.”

“Gods alive!” He ran a hand through his hair. “Was that your doing?”

“Some of it.”

“Well done.”

“It doesn’t feel very well done. After he confessed, he took poison. He’s dead.”

“But Jovina is avenged, and that’s what we wanted. I still say well done, Aurelia. You can brief us all when we’ve talked to Baca.”

We sat around the table, and Quintus drew out a note-tablet from his pouch. “First I’ll read the message the kidnappers left with Baca for us—for Trebonius really. It’s in good Latin, an educated hand I’d say, and it’s got the usual letters VVV at the end.

To Tiberius Trebonius, fort commander Isurium, from Prince Venutius of the Brigantes

We, the Brigantes of Isurium, demand that you release your hostages immediately. We are not responsible for the death of Eurytus. We have taken hostages of our own, two young girls. If you kill any Brigantian hostages, they will die.

I felt even more sick and cold than before. “Gods, I should never have come here. I should never have brought Vitellia. I should never have…”

“Enough, Relia,” Lucius said, firmly but without anger. “None of us blame you for this. Don’t waste time and energy blaming yourself. We’ve got to work together, and we’ve got to move quickly.”

Gambax and Titch came in with food and drink. They offered some to Baca, who ate and drank eagerly, and they helped themselves, but the rest of us only picked at the food, though the wine was welcome.

“Well, now, Baca,” Quintus said, “we must thank the gods that someone as sensible as you was there to try and look after the girls. Tell us what happened this morning. Why did they decide to leave the house?”

“Miss Chloe got a note from Gambax asking her to meet him by the river, where they had the party yesterday…”

“I didn’t send a note,” Gambax protested. “I swear I didn’t!”

“I know that
now
, but this morning she thought…we all thought, it was from you. It was only short, something like ‘Come and meet me by the river one last time. Your father says you are to marry Lord Statius tomorrow.’”

“That’s not true either,” I said. “In fact according to Selena…”

“It seemed true to Miss Chloe. It’s what she’s been dreading, even more since her mother died. So she was determined to go for one last meeting, and nothing Miss Vitellia or I could say would make her change her mind. So we decided we’d go with her, and at least make sure she didn’t try to run away or anything silly. Then we could all go to the fort together.”

“And when you got to the river there was nobody there,” I said.

“Nobody we could see. We were waiting by the water quite some time. Miss Chloe was getting impatient and we were trying to persuade her we should go back to the fort. Then we heard horses, and we looked round, and three natives came down to us and grabbed us. Miss Chloe was very brave, she stood up to them and ordered them to let us go. They just laughed and said they were taking her and Miss Vitellia for a little ride in the country. They only had one spare horse, I suppose they hadn’t reckoned on Miss Vitellia being there too, so they tied the two girls onto the one beast. And one man said he’d take me along on his horse, but the leader told him I’d be more use left behind with a message. So…” She stopped abruptly and drank some wine. The mug shook in her hand. “They tied me up, and the leader wrote out that message and left it with me to give you. And they rode away. That’s the last I saw of them.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I was frightened after they’d gone. I thought you’d never find me.”