Dark Omens (13 page)

He waited till he’d swallowed before he answered, stickily, ‘When the slave market is open in a day or so I will take her back to town and find some staff for her and she can continue to live in her old home, though officially under my protection legally. I suppose I’ll have to find some guards for her while I’m away. I have provided her a maid-servant already, as you know.’

‘That will be costly!’ I took another sip of wine. I meant it too. A full complement of slaves, and replacements for whatever household items Genialis sold – from what I saw he’d nearly stripped the place.

He arched a brow at me. ‘There should be no problem. With Genialis dead – as I think that now we must assume he is – Ulpius’s estate will come direct to her. As guardian I can use that to pay for she what needs – though I would like to leave enough to earn some income too. She will need a personal
stipendium
as well – some sort of small allowance for herself – though I would continue to have oversight, of course.’

‘Unless she gets remarried,’ I reminded him.

He grinned cheerfully and took another fig. ‘Which I rather think she might. Lucius will make an offer for her, I suspect.’

‘And surely as her guardian you would not object to that?’

He made a magisterial face. ‘I would have to think about it very hard. I have my duties as a guardian and there are grounds for refusing permission for the match. For instance, if she marries him she’ll lose her status as a citizen.’

‘Of course!’ I spoke as if I’d thought of it myself, though in fact this aspect of affairs had not occurred to me. Any married woman takes her husband’s rank. ‘In that case she may not welcome such a match herself.’

Marcus shot a sideways look at me. ‘Oh, I suspect she would. She’s clearly fond of him and I’m not sure that rank means very much to her. Her father was merely a freeborn man, like Lucius, himself and – from what she says – not even an especially wealthy one. Everything she has she owes to Ulpius, including her status as a citizen. I’m not sure that she values it as you and I would do.’

‘So she would be content to marry Lucius and become a simple freewoman again?’

My patron put his goblet down, and cracked his finger joints – a sign that he was in the happiest of moods. ‘It needn’t come to that. If I became his partner …?’

‘You would still sell her portion of the business to him?’

‘I’ll make him a loan so he can purchase it.’

‘Though the money would come from Silvia’s estate?’ The circular nature of the intended deal began to dawn on me.

That smug smile again. ‘I would use an intermediary, of course. He need not know who lent it until afterwards. Don’t look so horrified. If I simply give permission for the match, her inheritance will come direct to him and she stands to lose her status and her wealth as well, if there’s the kind of storm at sea that you were warning of. This way he gets what he is asking for, I get a chance to make some money out of it and he and Silvia can be citizens as well.’

I sipped at the last remnants of my wine. ‘You think you can arrange it?’

‘I imagine so.’ He gave me an arch look. ‘If it could be argued that – with all his trade – he’d contributed enough to the welfare of the state, then I could put in a word with our new Emperor, recommending Lucius for a grant of citizenship.’

‘For a small consideration?’ I felt I was beginning to get the hang of this. ‘A continued portion of the trading profits, perhaps.’

He frowned at me reproachfully. ‘Don’t look so disapproving, my old friend. It would be a good solution, don’t you think? That way everyone would gain. I can’t see a single flaw in it.’

‘Provided Genialis is genuinely dead,’ I pointed out. ‘Falling from his horse does not necessarily mean that he was killed. Even Gwellia pointed out that he may be simply hurt, and sheltering somewhere till he’s well enough to move.’

Marcus selected the last few sugared fruits and looked sourly at me. ‘Libertus, must you always take a contrary view? Yesterday, as I recall, you were urging Silvia to accept that if her husband was missing – in this weather – he was likely to be dead. And that was before Adonisius found the horse.’

‘Excellence,’ I murmured, feeling slightly piqued. ‘You ask me for advice. The best that I can give you is to wait a day or two and make no assumptions till we learn the truth. If you behave as though the man is dead – by spending Silvia’s portion or selling parts of it – you trespass on his legal potestas. So if he happens to turn up again, he would have a legal case to claim
injuria
, for loss of status, theft and the denial of his rights.’

Marcus scowled. ‘I cannot leave the woman without a guardian. It is likely that he’s perished in the snow.’

‘But you can’t be sure until they find a corpse. Surely the prudent thing is to instigate a search? Then it’s clear that you’ve done everything you can, and any judge would recognize that fact,’ I said, deliberately hinting that this might come to court. From what I’d seen of Genialis, there’d be no gratitude for Marcus’s attempts to ‘rescue’ Silvia.

‘A search?’ Marcus held up the final fig and popped it in his mouth. ‘Fortunately, Lucius had the same idea. The matter is in hand. He and Bernadus have already sent a party of their slaves to scour the woods and I have despatched several of my own from the town apartment – they should be there by now, searching the whole area between the villa and the town.’

‘Nobody looking on the road to Dorn at all?’ I saw his expression and added hastily, ‘I ask because we can’t be certain, even now, that Genialis came this way at all. As the lady Silvia pointed out – if that was the case, why didn’t the messenger from Glevum pass him on the road?’

‘And if he went the other way – to Dorn – why ever should the horse, when riderless, pass the villa where it lived and walk on down the road?’ Marcus countered, with acerbity.

He had a point, of course, and I meekly bowed my head. ‘As you say, Excellence.’ Marcus by now was rising to his feet and I realized that the interview was at an end. I scrambled upright too and sketched a hasty bow. ‘I will read this list of names, and make enquiries. And into this man Alfredus Allius as well – since he is your potential rival in this deal. Where should I report if I discover anything?’

‘Oh, come to my villa. I should be here, I think, making arrangements for our travel overseas. If I find myself in town I shall send a message to let you know I’m there.’ He held a hand out in dismissal but I did not go.

‘There is one question, Excellence, with which I need your help. I had a contract with Genialis for a pavement, as you know, which I completed – almost certainly before he died, from what we hear of when he set off on the horse. If I can prove that, can I claim from his estate? And if so, to whom do I apply, if you yourself aren’t here to plead for me?’

Marcus looked flattered, then gave a little laugh. ‘Ah, the pavement. Have no fear for that. The lady Silvia was most concerned that you’d fulfilled your contract and would not be paid – the work was completed in her house, after all. So, as I hold temporary potestas she has asked me to make sure that you receive the promised fee. How much did he owe you?’

I told him and he whistled. ‘As much as that?’

‘I have witnesses to the exact amount,’ I said.

‘I’m sure you do,’ he muttered tetchily. He clapped his hands and two young slaves arrived, so quickly that I was convinced they had been listening to all this at the door. ‘Bring my wooden coffer from my desk!’ Then, as they scampered off he turned to me again. ‘I doubt that I have that much money in the house, but I’ll give you what I can.’

‘As you say, Excellence,’ I murmured sweetly. ‘And I trust you won’t be out of pocket very long. The lady Silvia’s inheritance will reimburse you the expense – unless Genialis can be found, of course, in which case he will be responsible himself and you might even claim a little interest on the sum – since you will have made him an informal loan.’

Marcus brightened perceptibly at this and when the slaves returned he paid me the full fee – as I’d hoped he would. That would solve my nagging problems with the money-lenders: the debt was due for payment at noon in two days’ time, and after that the interest rose with every day’s delay. I hadn’t mentioned it to Gwellia, of course, though I’d been worrying how I’d repay it without Genialis’s fee, but this would cover it four times over – which was a huge relief. I thanked my patron, bowed and was about to take my leave when to my surprise he called me back again.

‘Perhaps in the circumstances, my old friend, on second thoughts you’d better join the search for Genialis yourself. If anyone can find him – dead or alive – it’s you.’

‘But these enquiries? This list of names …?’ I gestured to my purse.

‘You can look into all that after he is found. I’m quite certain that, with your assistance, the search will not take long. You’ll work out what has happened – as you always do!’ And with that he swept off, followed by his slaves, leaving me to pick up Maximus from the slaves’ waiting room and make my own way back towards the gate.

W
hen I got home and told Gwellia, she was not best pleased. ‘Husband, your patron has no thought for you at all. You have not had a day at home for almost half a moon, because of the weather being as bitter as it is, and now no sooner are you safely at your hearth than he wants you to return to town. While it’s still freezing nightly and the roads are treacherous!’

She was speaking forcefully, busying herself noisily with preparing food and from the way she banged the lids against the cooking pots I could see that she was genuinely upset. So I thought it wiser not to remind her that my search for Genialis might even take me out along the northern road to Dorn – a long way from Glevum on the farther side. Neither did it seem tactful to confess (as I’d intended, now that I had the wherewithal to clear the debt) that I’d borrowed from the money-lenders in the town and needed to go back urgently to pay them what I owed.

I just said gently, ‘Marcus is my patron; I really have no choice. Anyway, I would have to go to town again quite soon. I have a trade to attend to.’

‘And what chance have you of that? He wants you about his business rather than your own. Not that he’ll pay you anything of course!’ She started chopping turnips with such violence that you would think my patron’s neck was underneath the knife. ‘No one would believe you had a household with a wife and slaves to keep!’

There was little I could say to counter this, since what she said was generally true, but I pulled out my purse. ‘At least he paid me for that pavement!’ I murmured peaceably. I was about to tip the contents out for her to see, hoping that the sight of two gold aureii would lift her mood, when I remembered my appointment with the money lenders and decided to keep the one coin hidden in the bag.

I put down the other on the table top, like a street magician producing coloured balls. ‘Enough to pay off Cantalarius twenty times – and even to hire a mule from him for a day or two, if you’re concerned about the weather and think that would be wise!’ I said, expecting first surprise and then her gruff agreement to this compromise.

She put down the bowl of turnips she had been adding to the stew, wiped her hands carefully on her apron skirt and picked up the coin with a sort of awed respect. ‘Marcus gave you this?’ She sounded so incredulous that I thought for a moment she was going to test it in her teeth. But she just weighed it in her palm and laid it down again. ‘Perhaps I spoke too harshly. This is to reward you for helping with the search?’

‘It’s the money that Genialis owed me,’ I explained. ‘I’d contracted for that pavement and I did the work on time. Marcus himself was witness to the fact.’

‘Julia must have told him we were in want of cash, and convinced him that you should be paid. Well, it is kind of her. She has always been particularly generous to us – like the other day, when I went there for oil.’

I shook my head. ‘It wasn’t Julia’s doing this time, it was Silvia herself,’ I said. ‘She apparently insisted that – since I had fulfilled the contract in her house – Marcus, as her guardian, should ensure that I was paid.’

‘So this came from her estate?’ My wife made a little disapproving face. ‘I might have known he wouldn’t pay you so handsomely himself. But I like the sound of Silvia. An honest woman, by the sound of it?’

‘A lively one, as Marcus may find out to his cost,’ I told her. ‘I would almost say “self-willed”. But she’s rich and pretty too – which is no doubt why he offered to step in as guardian. She is coming to the villa later on today, so perhaps you’ll meet her there.’

Gwellia had gone back to adding turnips to the stew. ‘Rich, pretty and self-willed? That sounds dangerous.’ She raised an eyebrow with a wicked grin. ‘I wonder what Julia thinks about her guest?’

It was exactly the thought that had occurred to me, but for some reason I felt moved to say, ‘Oh, Silvia won’t be there very long. Marcus proposes to acquire new furniture and slaves on her account, so she can move back to her townhouse again before he and Julia go away to Rome. Assuming that Genialis is not found alive, by then.’

But Gwellia wasn’t listening. She picked up a spoon and stood looking quizzical. ‘Rome? Why ever does he want to go to Rome again? Surely he arranged all his affairs when he and Julia went there just a year or two ago? What makes him think of travelling all that way a second time? And at just the worst time of the year to make the journey, too!’

I stared at her. I had forgotten that – since Marcus had not after all returned from Glevum yesterday – he could not have sent the promised message to the house; and when I got home myself I had not thought to tell Gwellia any news except my own. And Cantalarius had last called here days and days before, so it was quite possible that – though the news had travelled quickly all the way from Rome – out here in the country, in the house alone, she had not learned about the happenings which had shocked the world.

‘I forgot that you were unlikely to have heard! Momentous news. The Emperor is dead.’

She gasped and sat down on the bench, her face an actor’s mask of disbelief. ‘Commodus? Dead? Great Minerva! When?’ Her shocked expression slowly softened to a wicked grin. ‘Some brave man plucked up courage and murdered him at last? Well, if that’s the case, I hope the man who did it wins a laurel wreath – though I suppose it’s more likely that he’s been marched off and executed horribly by the imperial guard. Either that, or been elected Emperor himself! What exactly happened?’