Semper Fidelis

Chapter 60

There were cheers-perhaps of relief-from the waiting travelers when the soldiers finally cleared the road and the emperor rode out of the north gate of Eboracum. Valens, mounted on a gray horse behind a gleaming carriage, drew admiring glances from some of the local women as he passed through the crowd who had come back to take a second look at the emperor. He caught sight of Tilla seated in the cart and gave a nod of approval. She smiled, knowing the women were looking at her with envy. A woman from these islands who had a man in the imperial party!

If only they knew.

Once the official travelers had set off, the soldiers who were not escorting them marched back inside the fort. The locals scattered. The civilian vehicles made a brief surge forward … and stopped. Nobody seemed to know what was causing the holdup.

Celer tied the reins, jumped down, and ran ahead. Moments later he returned with the news that two wagons had gone for the same gap and were now blocking the road with their wheels locked together. Tilla yawned and rolled up her blanket to make a pillow. This was going to be a long wait. She had grown used to the sheep smell, and there was nothing to do now but sleep.

It seemed only moments later that she was jolted awake. Pulling herself up, she peered over the side. The walls of Eboracum were growing smaller behind them, and her husband was farther away with every bump in the road.

He doesn’t want you there. He made me promise to take you with me.

Was this how it ended? With him sending her away?

She curled up again. The sun would bring out the freckles on her nose. It was hard to care. It was hard to sleep too. Finally she gave up and opened her eyes. A figure was sitting beside her in the cart. She blinked. The figure was still there. “Virana?”

“You were asleep,” said Virana, as if that excused her inviting herself into someone else’s vehicle.

“But what are you doing here?” The pink dress was looking cleaner than before, and as the cart lurched and Virana grabbed the side to steady herself, Tilla could see that the hole was bigger. “Does your mother know where you are?”

Virana wrinkled her nose. “She told me to go away.”

Tilla sat up straight. “She didn’t mean this far. Get down and go straight home.”

“Is it true they’ve arrested the doctor and Victor and they might cut their heads off?”

“Go home!”

“Corinna wouldn’t talk to me. She’s upset about Victor.”

“Yes.”

“She said you were a treacherous bitch. I told her you weren’t.”

“You are right and she is wrong. Now, go home.”

Virana pouted. “I’ve got money. I can buy my own food.”

“Get down!” This was worse than talking to a dog.

Tilla was too busy arguing to notice the roan mare that had drawn up alongside them, and was startled when its rider wished her a good journey. It was another traveler she did not wish to see.

Metellus indicated the road ahead. “North. I think you’ve made a very wise choice.”

Tilla lifted her chin and tried to ignore Virana staring at Metellus with her mouth open. “Was it you who betrayed Victor?”

“Was that his name?”

“Have you been watching me?”

Metellus shook his head sadly. “If only I had the time. I confess I had quite lost interest in you until I heard someone was claiming to have had secret meetings with the empress.”

“The empress and I talked about nothing!”

Metellus nodded. “So I hear. But occasionally a surveillance of one person happens to turn up someone else of interest. The informant who was keeping an eye on you started to wonder why the deserter’s wife was buying so much food if she was only feeding two women and a toddler.”

So that was how it had been done. Corinna would be mortified. She said, “The men who took him came back specially to thank me for betraying him.”

“Yes.” If a snake could smile, that was what it would look like. “That was a nice touch, I thought.” He dug his spurs into the roan’s flanks and it sprang forward, taking him away before she could think of a curse foul enough.

“He is not a nice man,” observed Virana. She watched the roan ease through a gap. “He is quite good-looking, though.”

“Get down, before you have a long walk back.”

“You can’t throw me out on the road. I’m your patient: You have to look after me.”

“We are barely out of Eboracum. And we aren’t going to Deva.”

“I don’t mind.”

Tilla half rose, stabbing a forefinger at the ground. “Down! Right this moment, or I will throw you out.”

Virana slumped into a corner and folded her arms. “I don’t mind not going to Deva. There will be plenty of soldiers at the border.”

Tilla leaned forward. “Celer, pull off the road!”

The lad turned. “Here, miss?”

“Anywhere we won’t get stuck.”

Stopping was no problem, but Celer had been hired to follow the emperor and needed to be offered several half-truths and more money before he agreed to turn the cart around. Finally the road cleared of riders and baggage wagons and the number of pedestrians thinned out. Celer was able to swing the mules out onto the hard surface and bring the cart around. Meanwhile Tilla had made two skinny little girls repeat her message in their mother’s hearing before handing them a small coin each and promising there would be more when the job was done. “We give him the scroll,” they chanted, “and we say, ‘Tilla thanks you, Doctor Valens. She says she is not traveling alone and may the gods give you good health and a safe journey,’ and we do not tell him until everyone stops for a rest at midday.”

Talking was so much quicker than writing. The mother, who was carrying a toddler on her shoulders and now a scroll of Catullus’s poems in one hand, seemed grateful for the cash. She hurried the family away to catch up with their luggage.

“You have a choice now,” Tilla hissed to Virana as Celer urged the mule back the way they had just come. “You learn to keep quiet and do as you are told, or I take you home again.”

“I can keep quiet.”

“And leave me alone when I tell you to. I will have things to do that are private, and I cannot always have you trailing around with me like a strand of goose grass.”

“What things will you have to do?”

Tilla rummaged in her bag for a spare tunic. “First, I will hold the blanket around you while you put something sensible on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Wherever my husband goes,” said Tilla.

“Oh, yes!” agreed Virana as she disappeared inside the blanket. “That is exactly what I would do. And I can help you with all the private things!”