The History Keepers Circus Maximus (23 page)

‘And what are we looking for?’ Lucius asked. He was clearly a little out of his depth.

‘Anything – find anything! For we are completely in the dark. We need to know about this public murder, and why Agata went to so much trouble to pick up the actor from Herculaneum – Austerio, I believe he is called – and if there is any connection between the two.’

Trying to sound as knowledgeable as possible, Jake chipped in, ‘I saw a film once where spies used an actor to memorize secret information; maybe that’s why they have him.’

‘Who knows? I caught sight of him only briefly from my carriage window, when he was collected in Herculaneum. After we arrived in Rome he was taken to another part of the villa and I have not seen him since.’ Topaz looked up at the high windows. Light was now streaming through them, illuminating a swirling constellation of particles. ‘Morning is upon us and I must return.’ Having given her lacerated wrist a chance to breathe, she started to wrap the chain around it once again. ‘One last thing: tonight,
on no account
should any of you acknowledge me. You will not speak to me or even look at me. Is that understood?’

Jake nodded.

‘If I cannot look at you tonight,’ Lucius added with studied charm, ‘I will ask a kiss of you now.’

At first Topaz shook her head, but when he pulled her to him and embraced her, she did not resist, melting into his arms. It went on for so long that Jake had to pretend to be interested in the mosaic floors.

Finally he coughed nervously. ‘Just one last question,’ he asked, still unable to look up. ‘Who else will be at this party?’

At last Topaz was released. Her cheeks flushed, she took a moment to compose herself and straighten her clothes. ‘What I call the
milliardaires affamés
– the hungry billionaires,’ she replied. ‘Dignitaries from all over the empire: merchants, lawyers, generals; people with one thing in common apart from their wealth – a desire to be
more
wealthy, by any possible means. It’s incredible – Agata’s lived here for just three years, but in a city famous for its snobbery, not a single person has questioned where she came from or who she is. She just appeared one day, with a load of gold. She headed for a vast villa on the Palatine, next to the emperor’s. An old aristocrat had lived there for
decades, but she just kept increasing her offers of money until he finally moved out.’

‘And
why
did no one question her?’ Jake asked. He couldn’t help but be intrigued by Agata Zeldt.

‘Because she is the richest of them all; richer than the devil, they say.’ Topaz looked stern, her mouth a tight line. ‘Not just richer; crueller too.’

She turned and saw that the white-robed attendants had started handing out bread and water to their patients. ‘Now, I must return.’ She started to lead Jake and Lucius back towards the exit. Suddenly she stopped, unclasped a gold necklace from around her neck, and approached the poor one-legged youth Jake had seen before. With a kindly word, she dropped it into his trembling hand and closed his thin fingers around it.

She returned to Jake and Lucius, and they left the temple. Topaz hurriedly said her goodbyes.

‘And remember,’ she called back, ‘you don’t know me.’ She replaced her helmet and hurried back over the Pons Fabricius into the city.

It was another half-hour before Charlie appeared for their agreed rendezvous. Jake quickly filled him in on their meeting with Topaz – explaining about the
public murder and showing him the papers she’d given him.

‘I know this building from my research – it’s one of the grandest in the city,’ Charlie commented, studying the map. ‘It even has its own miniature stadium. Let’s go back to the bureau now and make plans. The place hasn’t been used for a while and it was overrun with creepy-crawlies. Nathan is still cleaning up.’

He led them through the gates and along a series of streets until they came at last to a large open square bordered by striking buildings. ‘The Roman Forum,’ Charlie announced. ‘The epicentre of the Empire. This is the seat of law and government.’

Jake and Lucius looked around. Some of the buildings were low and sprawling, others stood high over the square; but all were built from the same everlasting white marble that was Rome’s trademark. They saw many finely dressed people: nearly everyone wore togas as white and pristine as the buildings around them.

‘That’s the Palatine hill,’ said Charlie, pointing to a steep slope at one end; tier after tier of grand villas rose up its flanks. ‘That’s where Agata Zeldt lives. Fascinating fact: the word
palace
actually comes
from
Palatine
,’ he added. ‘At the other end is the Senate House – the
Curia Julia
, built by Julius Caesar in 44
BC
, when he was at the height of his powers. All the senators meet there to pass their acts and laws. Quite incredible to think that it’s the model of all parliaments to come.’

Jake looked up, surprised to see that the building was one of the plainest – just a simple box-like structure with a series of high windows. A meeting had just finished, and a mass of white-robed senators poured out through the doors, chatting as they filed down the steps.

Beside the Senate House stood a long, two-storey structure of distinctive red stone, fronted by a succession of
tabernae
– small shops mostly dealing in silver, gold and tin. ‘This is the Basilica Aemilia,’ Charlie informed them as he led them through a narrow doorway. Jake noticed a man with a hunched back and pinched face weighing small chunks of gold on a set of scales.

Inside, it was as cool and spacious as a cathedral. ‘It’s like a miniature forum . . .’ Charlie gestured at the people dotted around the central nave. ‘All sorts come here,’ he said, indicating each group in turn. ‘Moneylenders, lawyers, bankers, estate agents,
politicians – all plying their trade. It’s a madhouse. In fact that’s precisely why the bureau is located here.’

He led Jake and Lucius over to a dark recess between two pillars. He checked that no one was watching; then, with his foot, delicately depressed a brick in the base of one of the columns. Jake squinted down at the stone and could just make out a faint symbol that he recognized immediately: an hourglass with three atoms whizzing around it – the History Keepers’ symbol. A second later, there was a click and a section of the wall opened. Charlie waved the others on into the dark chamber beyond, took one last look and followed, shutting the opening behind him. No one in the Basilica Aemilia was any the wiser.

Jake looked around. This entrance reminded him of his very first foray into the extraordinary world of the History Keepers – via a secret staircase below the Monument in the city of London.
These
stairs also spiralled down into the earth and were decorated with a series of murals depicting emperors, armies and processions (though rendered in mosaics rather than paint) that made Jake’s spine tingle in anticipation.

‘You said the bureau had not been in use for a while?’ he asked Charlie, out of earshot of Lucius. ‘No one works here?’

‘You’ll find that the further you go back in time,’ Charlie whispered, ‘the fewer local agents there are – these places are more
safe houses
than bureaux per se. It’s to do with the limited number of people being able to travel to deep history.’

At the foot of the staircase there was another door concealed in the wall. Charlie knocked on it, using a special code.

‘Charlie?’ a voice asked from the other side.

‘It is I.’

A key was turned in the lock and the door opened. ‘Did you find her? Did she come?’ Nathan asked immediately, seeing Jake and Lucius. He was wearing an apron and brandishing a feather duster.

‘She’s alive and well,’ Charlie answered. ‘We have an appointment tonight.’

‘Good work, boys – brilliant work,’ Nathan replied.

Jake stepped into a spacious vaulted chamber. It seemed welcoming and familiar, its dark wood panelling, and tables covered in maps, charts and globes completely at odds with the austere marble
of the city above them. The room was lined with shelves full of books from all ages, and there were two sets of bunk beds.

Nathan listened with keen interest as Jake repeated the story of his encounter with Topaz, asking questions and looking carefully at the maps she had given him.

When Jake was finished, Charlie pointed him towards the bunk in the far corner of the room. ‘You can take that one there, next to that statue of Oceanus taming the waters.’

Jake happily obliged, slinging his bag down. He examined Oceanus, a hulking bearded figure carved in brilliant alabaster – as beautiful a piece of sculpture as Jake had ever seen, set casually in a corner of a History Keepers’ bureau.

On the floor, sticking out below the bunk, was a large metal grille with a padlock. Beneath this, Jake could hear the rush of flowing water. ‘Where does this lead to?’ he asked, tapping the grille with his foot.

‘It’s an underground branch of the Aqua Virgo,’ Charlie explained. ‘One of the aqueducts supplying Rome with fresh water. It was built by Agrippa in
AD
19, and comes eight miles from near Collartina,
east of the city, mostly underground, ending up at the baths of Agrippa half a mile down the road. Of course, we use it for our personal water supply.’ He indicated a bucket on a chain next to the opening. ‘Saves us having to go all the way upstairs when we fancy a drink.’

Jake peered down into the cavity and could just make out a wide, echoey tunnel.

Lucius was also inspecting the room apprehensively. There were many objects with which he was completely unfamiliar. ‘What is this?’ he asked, pointing to a globe that came from a more modern era.

‘That is the world, but not as you know it,’ said Charlie dismissively. It was best not to open the can of worms that was time travel, so he led Lucius over to a table of freshly prepared food. ‘There’s home-made muesli and a breakfast soufflé – prepared in an oven older than the ark – which has even me reaching for superlatives.’

After breakfast, as Lucius had a snooze, Charlie, Nathan and Jake sat down, first studying Topaz’s map in greater detail, then poring over volumes of leather-bound annals that described all the key events of the previous decade. Amongst many things,
they learned in detail about the Emperor Tiberius and his eccentricities.

In his twenties he had shown himself to be a brave general, conquering swathes of land in Germania, as well as Dalmatia and Pannonia in south-eastern Europe. But he never enjoyed his position of supreme commander or grew accustomed to life in the largest city in the world. Soon he was regularly disappearing off to the island of Rhodes – much to the frustration of his senators. As he grew older, his paranoia had worsened, and a year ago he had left Rome for good in order to rule via Sejanus, his prefect, from a secret hideaway on the isle of Capri.

‘What worries me,’ Charlie murmured, ‘is that, at the moment, Sejanus is not in the city either. He’s on a state visit to the eastern frontier and is not due back for weeks. Certainly there are six hundred senators – but Rome is essentially leaderless. Which is interesting timing . . .’

In the afternoon, with their plans made, Nathan asked if anyone would mind if he went on a small shopping expedition. ‘I feel the need to get under the skin of early Imperial fashion,’ he announced. ‘It’s always been such a grey area.’

No one had any objections, so Nathan sloped off.

An hour later, he bustled in with armfuls of bulging linen sacks, his eyes shining with excitement. ‘Revelatory!’ he gasped. ‘May I just say:
hemp
– it’s just wrong, and usually I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole; but who knew how versatile it could be in the right hands?’ He pulled out a couple of items from his bag to demonstrate. ‘It’s shabby, but
sooo
chic. At the other end of the scale’ – he produced a silk tunic from another bag – ‘if it’s sheer gold you’re after, may I introduce you to sea silk? It’s startling. A revelation . . .’ he added, a tear coming to his eye. ‘Actually woven from the filaments of the
Pinna nobilis
, the rarest seashell in the Mediterranean.’

Nathan allowed Jake and Charlie to feel the fabric, then showed off some snakeskin boots and an assortment of chains and bangles that he described as ‘very manly jewellery’.

Later, Charlie and Jake also popped out to visit a little shop that sold masks and other party paraphernalia. (Jake had noticed it down a narrow side street on their way from the Pons Fabricius that morning.) They came back with a whole collection, all similar in style to the ones worn by the actors in Herculaneum, with big cut-out mouths in either
happy
or
sad
mode. Needless to say, Nathan and Lucius both wanted the same one – which looked like a ferocious warrior; but just as a heated row was about to erupt, Charlie pointed out that the colour didn’t go with Nathan’s skin tone and he dropped it like a hot potato.

They got changed into their smartest-looking outfits – togas with capes, as worn by the young noblemen of the city – and armed themselves with swords and daggers, concealed under their togas. Nathan and Jake each volunteered to carry a length of rope, which they hid by winding them around their waists. They all took a hateful swig of vinegar, Charlie left Mr Drake with a handful of nuts, and they lit torches and set off, ascending the spiral staircase. At the top, Nathan checked through a spy-hole that the coast was clear, then pulled a catch to open the door and they filed through. Charlie closed the wall behind them.

The basilica was now half empty. A few clusters of people lingered in the fading afternoon sun. At one end, a handful listened uncertainly to a red-faced man on a podium speaking in rousing tones. He had obviously had too much to drink, for he suddenly staggered and fell down amongst his audience.

Nathan led the others out into the Roman Forum. Dusk was descending and a warm pink light picked out the villas of the Palatine. It was towards these grand and ancient buildings that the intrepid young agents set off, each clutching his mask and silently pondering what lay in store for them that evening.