Rome: The Emperor's spy

Chapter Sixty-One

Pantera stopped near the top of the hill in a place where the light of the fire did not meet the light from Nero’s gardens and the road passed through a dozen paces of darkness and peace in which he could assess his condition.

Eight times already in the night, he had paused in this place. Each time, he had come to the same conclusion: that he was still alive, and so capable of going on, but had no idea how much longer that might continue. His body answered him after a fashion; nothing was broken that had not been broken before, but the places that had been broken a long time ago in Britain were white hot and screaming. His left ankle felt as if the tendon had split again while his right shoulder burned as if Saulos had branded it in the fight. He knew neither of these to be true, but he knew also the finite limits to his own stamina.

He was not there yet, and he had two good reasons to keep moving. For them, he levered himself away from the wall against which he was leaning, and set his mind on things other than pain. Specifically, because he was nearest and most vulnerable, he went looking for Math.

He found him by the horse trough where he had been all night, still tending burned children who had lost their hair to the fire and breathed in too much smoke. He turned before Pantera reached him, and offered a wan smile.

‘Libo’s daughter-’

‘Is in the care of her brother. I know. The worst is over here, although not in the Aventine. I have to go there.’

‘Now? You’re not… Can’t someone else go?’

‘Not this time; it has to be me. Dawn’s two hours away. I’m fitter than you think.’ That was a lie, and they both knew it.

Math’s face crumpled. ‘Please…’ He beckoned and, when Pantera came close, pulled him into a tight embrace. Into his ear, he whispered, ‘Saulos is-’

‘Somewhere nearby. I know. I’ve seen him once, just not close enough to kill him, and when I got there, he’d gone.’ Pantera kissed the top of Math’s head. ‘That’s why I have to go. He’ll follow me. He’s trying to find Hannah.’

‘Is she-’

‘She’s with Shimon. He’ll keep her safe, but we think the century of the Watch that’s loyal to Saulos knows where she is.’ Two men of the second century, the second cohort had been found, injured by falling debris. Each of them had told the same tale before he died.

Math grabbed Pantera’s arm. ‘Then they’ll-’

‘Try to find her. I know. I’m going there now, and I’m going to draw Saulos away. You can help me.’ Pantera eased himself out of Math’s clinging grip and stood holding him at arm’s length. In a whisper pitched to carry, he said, ‘I’m going to find Hannah. After that, we’re going to get you all out of Rome.’

‘You can’t. You’re…’ Math ran out of words. A single tear rolled down his cheek, leaving a shining snail’s track in the mask of soot and filth.

With his own throat tight, Pantera took his hand. ‘I’ll come back, I promise. Stay safe.’

At the garden’s edge, Pantera signalled Mergus, and they worked their way down the hill, seeking a route to the Aventine that went behind the worst of the fire, in the lanes soaked by the water engines of the Watch.

They had both been in Britain; they knew what it was to fight in hostile territory, where every tree and bush hid a spear waiting for blood. Tonight, they treated Rome as if it were an enemy encampment, taking care at each junction, finding cover in the shadows, the demolished buildings, the smoke.

Partway down a broken alleyway, Mergus touched Pantera’s sleeve. ‘We’re being followed by more than just Saulos.’

‘I know. There are two others behind him.’

A beam blocked their path, a smouldering mess of charred, wet wood. Mergus ducked under it neatly and, for a moment, was lost in the dark. Four paces on, behind a stack of burned-out barrels, he joined Pantera again. ‘I still see only one: old and lame in his hips.’

They edged over a fallen pigsty, replete with dead, part-roasted piglets, picked their way through the rubble of a house. On the flat ground beyond, Pantera said, ‘That’s Seneca. The other one’s a bear warrior of the Eceni.’

‘Here?’ Mergus cast a disbelieving glance over his shoulder. At the next flat piece of ground, he turned round and walked backwards.

‘Don’t.’ Pantera caught his arm, turning him forward again. ‘You won’t see him unless he wants you to and if he does you may take it as a compliment; they show themselves to adversaries they consider worthy before they kill them. The unworthy simply die.’

‘Does Saulos know they’re there?’

‘He’ll know about Seneca. My sincere hope is that he doesn’t know about Ajax.’

A broken cistern blocked their path. The water had long since become steam. Pantera climbed over it stiffly. On the far side, two men lay side by side. Mergus knelt to be sure they were dead. Catching up, he said, ‘We should kill Saulos now.’

‘We could try. And in the meantime, the men of the second cohort will take Hannah. Given the choice between the satisfaction of killing Saulos and saving Hannah, I choose the latter. Can you run up the hill if you have to?’

‘I can.’ Mergus huffed a derisory laugh. ‘Can you?’

They were in the corner of the cattle market. Nothing was left of it. Stepping over the bodies of an old woman and a dog, Pantera flexed his left ankle. The pain transcended anything he could remember. He thought it probably wasn’t as bad as it had been in Britain, only that his body, out of mercy, had forgotten.

He said, ‘If I can’t, don’t wait for me. There are two women and a man in the goose-keeper’s house. Escort them to safety in the emperor’s name.’

‘I can’t do that if they’re already taken,’ Mergus said. ‘Centurion Appollonius is the son of a consul. I don’t have the authority to arrest him, or even obstruct him in the prosecution of his duties.’

‘You do now. Here-’

Pantera pulled open the pouch at his belt, retrieved earlier from Augustus’ forum. Nero’s gold and sapphire ring danced in a fading bloom of firelight.

Mergus gazed at it, unimpressed. ‘Tonight,’ he said drily, ‘it may be that the emperor’s authority is not what it was. And I wouldn’t trust him to take my word over Appollonius’ if it comes to an argument.’

Pantera was coming to like Mergus a great deal. ‘Take it anyway.’ He placed the ring in the other man’s hand, closing his fingers over it. ‘It may keep you from being crucified in the morning.’

‘Maybe.’ Mergus hid the gold beneath his leather jerkin. ‘And if it can’t, then- Mithras! Is the entire Aventine on fire?’

They had just turned a corner. Aghast, Mergus looked up the hill. ‘They’ve set a new blaze,’ he said, in horror. ‘The wind’s blowing in our faces; it would never have driven the fire up here. The bastards are ahead of us, setting fire to the streets behind them as they go.’

Smoke swirled around them, sucked this way and that by the fire. They could see nothing but burned and burning buildings, and, ahead, a wall of savage flame. And then from high up at the fire’s leading edge, they heard the voices of men raised in anger — and a woman scream.

Pantera put his hand on Mergus’ shoulder and pushed him up the hill. ‘That’s Hannah! Go! ’