The Curse-Maker (33 page)

Gwyna leaned forward, her voice tender but urgent. “Won't you tell us, Aeron? It will help Ardur.”

He bit his lip, then blurted it out. “It was her. The big woman, the ugly one with the daughter.”

Could only be Materna. She'd be ugly to a blind man. “Why did she hit you?”

“Because—because I found something. A note. She left it in the cubicle, and I thought it was an accident. Then when I ran after her with it, she—she took it from me and kn-knocked me down and told me—told me not to tell anyone.” His eyes roamed back and forth between us. “Then I thought of you, and what you said—and I thought—”

“You thought right. You're a good lad. Now—what did it say?”

He wrinkled his brow. “I don't read so good, but I wrote down the letters. Here.”

He dug around in a fold of the tunic that didn't have a hole and pulled out a scrap of tattered bark with writing on the back. He grinned, lopsided. “Somebody left it. One of the depilators told me it was a love letter. I wrote what her note said over it.”

It was hard to make out, and Gwyna sat next to me so we could both try.

“This looks like—
finis
maybe?”

“Yeah—
Finis est.
Then—
illos
—or maybe
istos
—and I think it says—
caede.

We looked at each other. Aeron's face was eager. “It is important? I know what ‘
finis
' means—the end—but what about—”

I looked at him. The boy was old enough and poor enough to understand evil. “It says—‘It's over. Kill them.' ”

*   *   *

We had one of the slaves walk him home with ten
denarii
and two bottles of the best healing wine in Agricola's cellar. It was enough money to quit working at the baths for a while, provided his mother and father didn't drink it away.

Gwyna said: “Materna. I felt it. All along I felt it. But the proof, Ardur—how will we get the proof?”

“Without getting killed? I don't know. The mine man is gone—he won't be back—and he's the only one who could identify her as the Aquae Sulis connection. I figure he sent word to Materna they were closing down. Maybe for her to handle any residual problems—like us. He wasn't here to kill us that night. Just scare the hell out of us. He knew his bull mastiff was on the case.”

“Then why did they fire at you? And the mercenaries—”

“Because I stabbed him. I made the first move. I didn't like the words in his mouth.”

She leaned forward. “I can take care of myself. I want you to know that.”

“I do know it. That's not the point.”

We studied each other for a few moments. “All right,” she said grudgingly. “So then what?”

“That's just it. The missing piece. Materna was leaving that note for someone else. A man.”

“Why a man?”

“Because only a man could've strangled Bibax and Faro.”

“But she's big—and I'm sure she's strong—”

“Materna is guilty of ordering murder, I'm sure, but she's not physically capable of carrying it out—at least not that kind. Faro was quick, and muscled for his size. There's no way she could've strangled him.”

“So she was leaving the note for a man. He'd know to go to a particular cubicle—”

“She always uses the same one, that's what Aeron said—”

“—and he'd be in line—one of the early crowd. Unless he had a slave he could send in to reserve it for him—”

“—which is probably the case—”

“—and then he'd read it, and then…”

I let it dangle. “Then he'd do something about it. Exactly.”

We looked at each other again.

She took a deep breath. “Well, let's go to town and see who tries to murder us.”

*   *   *

It took a couple of hours to prepare. We couldn't trust any food or drinks not from our kitchen. Thank God the slaves were loyal.

Draco woke up late, and I told him what happened and asked him to go with Gwyna. She protested, not too much. She was scared. She'd been the focus of Materna's bile, and she'd be in the same building, at the same time. If I knew Materna—she would want to watch Gwyna die.

I threw the thought against a wall. It made a small red splat of fear and slowly oozed down to the floor.

Materna, queen of the maggots, empress of the spiders. She'd leave a trail of slime and putrescence in her wake. All we had to do was follow it. Without getting killed.

I kept to my original plan. Start with Bibax. Go to where he lived. On the way, ask a few questions at the temple.

Gwyna and Draco left before I did. We kissed each other with a bit of desperation. I could feel her heart beating.

Trust wasn't in my upbringing. I didn't watch comedies, and I didn't believe in happy endings. Watching your mother die can do that to you. So I figured I'd walk along the cruel streets of Aquae Sulis, my hands ready and my mouth mumbling a few prayers to the goddess.

I took Ligur with me. When we reached the foot of the hill, I sent him on ahead. Heavy footsteps always choked ideas. Gwyna would be mad at me, but that wasn't exactly a new sensation.

Natta was standing outside his shop. He was leaning on a cane, stooped over more than usual. He didn't see me at first; then a smile cracked his leathery face.

“Hello, my friend. More jewelry today?”

“Not today. How's Buteo? His cough better?”

He was staring down the hill toward the town and spoke as though he couldn't hear me.

“He will never be better.” His tone was final, and almost without pity.

“It didn't sound that—listen, I know he wants to see Philo, but—”

Awareness flooded his face, and he smiled again. “Do not pay attention to an old man and his rambles. Buteo and I—we had a small disagreement. That is all. Some things—some things are best left wrapped. Hidden. Hidden and forgotten, even when you do not think you can forget. But he is a young man—like you—and disagrees.”

My mouth was a little dry. Maybe Buteo and I were alike in more than age. I put my hand on Natta's arm.

“Listen—I'm not sure how to say this—but I think you'll understand. There's evil in Aquae Sulis, and it's getting worse. There have been threats. Threats against me—and my wife.”

His eyes narrowed until the thick puffs of skin were all I could see. “Someone—someone has threatened your beautiful lady? No. No. That is wrong. It cannot be permitted.”

“Look, if Buteo knows anything—anything that could help—”

“I will tell him, Arcturus. I will tell him. Now, go—go help your lady. Protect her. Leave an old man to his thoughts.”

He hobbled back to the shadows, his stick dragging against the yellow stone. I stared after him, and waited, but all I heard was the wind, and the skittering of a dry oak leaf as it was blown along the path.

*   *   *

The rain cleaned the surface scum from the marketplace, not its foulest residue. Desperation called itself hope and tarted itself up in bottles of piss and vinegar, still hawking, still promising. Youth, beauty, health, love—sorry, can't promise money, unless you use this to kill your aunt.

I looked around. I felt like I'd lived here all my life.

On the way to the temple, I checked the stalls selling eye ointments. Most of them would only blind you temporarily. All of them stank, and any of them could've been used to kill Calpurnius.

A few booths, far in the back and huddled in the shadow of the temple, offered dried
aconitum
root, if you knew the right way to ask. I did. Tell them you're going away. To a place with a lot of scorpions, and you need something for the sting. Then when they show it to you, under the plank of mildewed wood, you pay them, and pay them well. Then they forget your face, and you forget you just bought deadly poison. Forget, that is, until you need it.

So anybody in Aquae Sulis—anybody at all, with the cash—could buy
aconitum.
Bibax and his partner—probably ordered by Materna, for reasons I couldn't figure out yet—killed Dewi with it.
Ultor
—or a phony
Ultor
—killed Calpurnius.

I was staring at the sickly yellow of the sunshine on the temple wall when I heard the whoosh of a long, old-fashioned robe and looked up to see old Memor walk by. I hadn't seen him since the first dinner with Grattius. I was glad he wasn't dead.

“Memor—Memor, wait.” I ran to catch up to him. For an old man, he could move fast.

“Can I help you with something?” His pale blue-white eyes peered closer.

“It's Arcturus, Memor. The doctor. The one who's trying to solve the murders.”

“What? You're still here, young man? Why haven't you gone home—can't you find the villain, and have done with it?”

“There are too many. That's one problem.”

He looked as though he could suddenly see me. “Yes—I told you so once. The curse. The curse on Aquae Sulis.”

He made a sign against the evil eye and turned to leave in a hurry.

“Wait—I want to ask you something.”

He paused, his back still to me, his creaky voice wary. “What do you want? I've told you what you need to know.”

I put my hands on his shoulders and turned him around to face me. “You're a
haruspex.
Probably one of the few in Britannia—we don't get much call for your gift in the North.”

“That is true.”

“In your professional opinion … is the source of the evil here—in the temple?”

His shrunken body seemed to grow in height. Or maybe I'd bent too close to the oculist creams. “You know your stories, boy. Think of the Hydra.”

“You mean all the different—”

“I mean one body. Many heads, heads that grow back, but with one body. It makes the curse grow. It is the curse.”

He held out a withered arm and lightly brushed my shoulder. “Memory lives longer than men do, and it feeds both love and hate. Until sometimes—sometimes—they become one.”

He hobbled away quickly, leaving me with a headache. Never ask a
haruspex
a direct question. All you get is lines lifted from the Sibylline books, and no smoking tripod to help you figure out what the hell they mean.

I rubbed my forehead. Love and hate. Memory. Feeding on a nice diet of bile mixed with greed and apathy. The mine was crooked. So what? The mine was money. Bring it into Aquae Sulis, build another bath, take some free lead. Turn a blind eye. They're easy to come by—just buy some of this ointment.

I shook my head and walked on. I wasn't there yet.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Senicio came out from below the Sacred Spring, smelling like wet earth. He heard my foot fidgeting on the stone before he saw me. He looked up, turning white beneath the layer of pipe sludge he was wearing as a cloak.

I tried to smile. “Senicio.
Salve.
They told me you were cleaning the pipes. I thought I'd wait.”

He scratched his hair, spreading some of the slimy green algae through it. Picked at the wart on his left cheek. “I—I told you everything that morning—”

“I know. You were very helpful.”

He looked at me doubtfully, as if no one had ever said that before, and he didn't quite believe it, either. “So—so what do you want? Why'dya want to see me?”

I leaned back and held up the wall.

“Because I figured a man like you—a man serving the goddess—a man with—uh—powers, powers of observation—a man like you probably saw more than he realized at first. You're important, Senicio.”

His mouth turned downward, and he looked around nervously. That line should've had him puffing and preening by now. Something smelled funny. Something more than him.

I backed off a little. Time to try another tactic.

“I need your help. I'm—this close.”

I should've known altruism wouldn't work in Aquae Sulis. He looked away, picking his nose. I was running out of patience, so I got tough.

“Look, goddamn it, answer some questions and I'm through. I'll give you money for a decent meal—like your old friend Calpurnius.”

The name of the dead man scared him. He looked around, making sure no one could hear. “All—all right. What do you—whaddya want to know?”

The curse was a tendril, reaching out to dark corners and unlikely throats, strangling any goodness out of them. It was green and rank, and sticky to the touch—and it was all over Senicio.

“The night you saw Calpurnius—you said he was celebrating. Why?”

His neck started to itch. “Because—because he was drinking—eating—spending money—”

“So? Maybe he felt like it. Sometimes men will do that even when they're miserable. He said something to you, didn't he? What was it?”

The itched moved to his collarbone. “Uh—I can't really remem—”

“You remember. Tell me, goddamn it, or—”

A small squeal whistled between his teeth. I didn't have to touch him—luckily for me. He looked both ways down the path and spoke in a whisper.

“I-I don't know how you knew, but—but he did say something. Said he'd moved up in the world, and was celebrating—celebrating a new—a new business.”

“Did he say what kind?”

Senicio shook his head, and some mud splattered on my tunic.

“N-no. At least—”

“What? What else?”

“He said—he said something funny. That's why—that's why I remembered it. He said it was the oldest business in the world—and he was taking it over.”

He looked behind me toward the temple. “Can I go now?” he whined.

I dug for my pouch and gave him a few
sestertii.

*   *   *

I had a lot to think about on the way to Bibax's place. I tried to shove it aside, but it kept coming up in my mouth like vomit.