Insurgent of Rome Read online

  "You are well?" He could not see any sign of any 'addition,' as she had said, but even he knew that the span of time since their nuptia was insufficient to produce any sign of offspring.

  "I have never been in greater stead, with a husband now returned and his progeny on a voyage to our house." She released her smile. "You have come because of the rising. Much evil has happened since your departure, but I will allow others to tell of it. Aulius told me of his missive to give inform to you, but his estimate of your return was still many days from now."

  "The winds were helpful. But, I need to find my brother and ascertain the dimensions of this... uprising, revolt - whatever has actually happened. We will have the evening to give talk."

  She nodded and he turned to stride along the hallway, calling to Virnius in passing, "Inform the Domina and the Matron Clavius that I have returned and with goodly being." With that, he left the household and strode along the Via, then to the building that served as both repository of documents and meeting place of the city fathers. The guards at the doorway recognized him as the son of a noble family and made no issue of his entry.

  Inside was not the chaos that he had expected, but a hum of activity with men surrounding a large table filled with maps, and a host of scribes standing with armloads of scrolls and tablets. Seeing his brother in converse with another, he walked around the room to approach, giving surprise at his sudden appearance.

  "By the gods! You have made a swift return," exclaimed Aulius. To the other man, he said, "My pardon, Amulius. I would converse with my long lost brother." With that, he took Julius by the arm, giving a slight shake of his head as caution to hold his words until they were well clear of the building.

  Finally, in the anonymity of the street as they walked, Julius asked quietly, "I have heard babble of an army of slaves. Is it with some truth?"

  "Aye," was the reply. "But such has happened before, but not with the incredulous happenings as now. In short tale, a group of slaves, or what our eminent friend, Batiatus, is pleased to call gladiators-in-training, managed to throw off their bonds, killing most of the guards, then escaping over the wall, but not before raiding the armory for weapons."

  "How many?" was the question of Julius.

  "From the school, mayhap seventy and a few more."

  That made little sense to the Captain. "The domains of Rome are in terror of a group that would barely make a Century, if they were Legionaries? There are more soldiers in the taburnae of Neápolis than such a count."

  "That may be so, but they have a leader of some skill, it would appear." Aulius looked around in the crowded street, then said with a shake of his head. "The tale is better told in our private settings."

  Hurrying along the street, they reached the huge household of the Clavius family, but not to retire for more converse. Firstly, they had to weather the reception of the women, their Mother insisting, as always, that the thinness of her younger son was putting him in dire peril of expiring before the next sunup. Then a meal, welcomed by the belly, but giving impatient delay to the churning thoughts of Julius. Finally, Aulius spoke with the firmness of a Dominus, of the need for the pair to talk, and they retired to a rooftop veranda. This one, set in a far corner, was seldom used by anyone but it had a long vision that precluded any unknown listeners. Quickly, Virnius had a low table and two reclining cushions placed and the large cloth sunshield moved to effect. After a jug and cups was set to the table, the servants disappeared from the roof.

  Aulius reclined, but after setting a small scroll on the table. Julius began the conversation. "By your curious countenance, one might think that our family has some fear of this uprising."

  His brother did not laugh at the jape, nor even crack a smile. With dead seriousness showing on his face, he said, "You are expert at surviving storms at sea. This is one on land, and I suggest that you tie yourself to the mast before you hear my words." A pause, then, "As I said, the absconded slaves have a leader, and one of some... attraction. His name is said to be Spártakos, as he is Greek, but the usual use is Spartacus." Julius just waited, nothing having been said so far of any threat that he could see. "His genesis is unknown to the citizenry, even to the knowledge of how he came to be in Latium. Our problem, is that if that information becomes known, our family will face a crisis of no small extent."

  Now Julius was looking at his brother with widened eyes, still in wonder as how such could effect the Clavius household. "How..."

  A raised hand stopped his interjection. "The slave leader is Melglos."

  Had the Petrel left the water and taken flight, Julius would have been no less stupefied. He sat and examined the words of his brother again, and again, in certainty that he had misheard the statement. A thousand questions began to form... "Why... How would Melglos have been taken for a gladiator? He was a free man and under the auspices of this house."

  "I have been unable to discover that directly, partly because I cannot ask about a man that used to be a crewman on a family ship, but a missive has come that gives the tale."

  Julius was still in a haze of disbelief. "He is well known by many in Neápolis, and not a few taburna owners here. I see no way to keep such association a secret."

  Aulius spread his hands. "It might be known were he called Melglos by his fellows, but as I said, he has taken the nomen of Spartacus, even though the name has no meaning to myself."

  Now it was the turn of Julius to give information. "He is from a city in Thrace, to the north of the Athenians. It is called Sparatokos. But you have not explained how you discovered the identity of the man, if he has taken another nomen."

  Aulius looked at his brother, apparently measuring his words, then, "Pontika came to me with the news." Julius wondered if the day of incredible surprises would end as his brother continued, "A man appeared at our door - a trader from the hill country - with a scroll that he had been paid to deliver. And addressed to the femina. I thought it strange, as she would have no knowledge of any person beyond the city of Capua, but I delivered it to her when she and Camilia returned from the Forum - they had gone to purchase fabric for the garb that your mate will soon need."

  The Dominus paused, to moisten his throat with a dip, then continued, "That it was not a doting note from some young man smitten with the idea of an unattached femina of wealth and beauty was quickly apparent. She had only read the first sentences before she turned as white as the bolts of cloth being carried by the maidservant."

  Now Julius pointed. "That is the scroll." It was not a question.

  "Aye." His brother picked it up and handed it across the table.

  With a growing sense of... of almost consternation, Julius looked at the broken seal and the wording under it. "For the eyes of Pontika Minthe, residing in the house of Clavius in the city of Capua." Unrolling the long sheet, he could see that it was of poor quality, such as was used by lesser merchants and men of business around the land - indeed, around the perimeter of the Great Sea. "To the little flower of Antioch, and a Korí that I have been contented to call my friend, know that I have left the employ of the family of Clavius, but not willingly. It is my greatest regret to leave behind a woman that, had she a double handful more of years, or of myself the same fewer, that I would have made my own, even with the need of taking her by force of my blade..."

  The scroll was long, and even more than first thought, as he realized the scripting was continued on the back. By the end, his jaws were aching by the involuntary clinching - an act not even noticed by the reader. Now he looked up toward his brother, but with his eyes seeing nothing but his furious thoughts. Then, "Taken by force in a taburna, and given accusation of being a deserted Legionary..."

  "Aye, then sentenced to the grainfields of Claudium as a slave, but purchased by Batiatus for his gladitorium."

  "Such should have been the news of the day, even called from the stand of the Cryer." Julius was thinking furiously, beginning to realize the underlying treachery that must have been used. "He was taken to Cu
mae for his judicium, rather than before the Praetors here in Capua." Another pause but with a building rage. "This was a stratagem by that bastardus Lanista, Batiatus, to gain a prime fighter for his putrid use."

  "Of course." His brother was narrowly eying his sibling across the table. "But, before you leave to storm the gladitorium to take the head of the Lanista, he is not there. Most of it was burned by the slaves as they escaped. He has taken himself to Rome - there, no doubt to demand justice and return of his property." There was a long pause, the elder allowing his brother to assemble his thought into something besides the chaos in which they now stirred. "Then Pontika? She will be the most effected. The Thracian was her only link to her birth land, other than Patroclus..."

  He stopped as his brother said between pursed lips, "Pontika is gone. Vanished in the night."

  This day was as a dream in the sodden slumber of the night - one that came after an evening of far too much of spiced foods and drinks, and one in which a man could not give awakening to. "Where?"

  "I can only speculate, but I would wager a goodly sum of gold that she has gone to find her big friend."

  This was indeed a somnum exterreri, a nightmare that would not end. For a young femina, only now barely becoming the form of a woman, to wander the city alone was unwise, but to set across the wilderness of a strange land, and one in the throes of rebellion was... "When did she leave?"

  "The day after the missive from Melglos arrived."

  Almost half the month. If she was still alive, then the femina was far beyond any sudden pursuit by Julius. Finally, he asked, "Do you have any more goodly tales for my ears? Mayhap the gods have given announce that they will close out the world by the next Ides?"

  It was not a jape, and his brother did not smile. "Nay. One hopes that no more arrive, but I give a goodly wager that much badness will come before the... Thracian has been brought to halt."

  In the evening, the wagon arrived with Patroclus, and Ngozi in accompany that the oldster might not find more evil on the road. As the drover disappeared with the conveyance, he called his two friends into the map room of the Sage, giving both disbelieving men the story. Leaving them to their thoughts, Julius gave grim thought at the fortune of the Gnaeus Batiatus in having taken himself to Rome, more than a thousand stadia away. Else, he suspected that Ngozi, this very night, would have walked to the gladitorium to carve the man as a haunch over a spit. The two men had become unlikely comrades during the time of the Thracian's service on the Petrel.

  Grimly, he walked to his quarters, to greet his newly acquired mate with far less enjoyment than he had looked forward to on the return journey from Alexandria. "You have received the whole tale, I see," she said, sadly.

  "Aye. And with it the wish that I were still in Alexandria and with innocent ignorance of the evil."

  Chapter 36

  "There is a noble guest in the Atrium, Dominus." The Steward, Virnius, had met the two brothers at the door, coming from the Tabularium after a day of meeting with the Magistrates of Capua. They looked at each other, neither having anticipated a visitor, far less a noble one.

  Indeed there was a man, reclining by the pool. Somewhat younger than Julius, but no fell boy for all that. "Gaius Caesar," exclaimed Aulius. "We might have expected the King of Antioch, or Ptolemy from Egypt, but this is goodsome surprise."

  The brothers clasped a single wrist of the visitor, each in turn, in the formal greeting between Roman males of acquaintance, but less than close friends. "My unanticipated appearance is not too unwelcome, I give hope."

  "Nay. You have come in a time of some confusion, thus our absence until this hour. I give apology if you have been waiting the entire day. I see that our servants have at least made a modicum of hospitality." The cup and jug on the table, as well as platters of meats and fruits gave indication that Virnius had recognized the importance of the guest.

  "Aye. I have had worse welcome in my own home." Aulius waved the man to recline again, and both brothers did the same, taking a mat each, with a large pillow on one end to support the body under the arm.

  "Rome has heard of the unfortunate outbreak of violence around Capua. One hopes that it has not brought misfortune to your household."

  "It has done so, but not as direct violence," replied Julius. "And the evil was begun by a man of Latium. Only the result has fallen on this household. But, that will soon be eliminated. A mob of escaped slaves has little chance against the Legions."

  Now Caesar pursed his lips, then said, "That is correct... at least as a statement. But, the veterans are in Hispania in attempt to control the unrest there, and the remainder are forming against the King of Pontos, Mithridates. The soldiers left in Latium are Tyros and oldsters, or worse, untrained Maltensi. And even in my limited experience with things military, I know that the value of such militia as being even less than enraged farmers with their hay-rakes." He took his cup and a sip, then continued, "As to that, I have been in travel for the last four days. What of the insurrection?"

  Now Aulius spoke. "To our information, the man... the leader Spartacus, is taking his men... slaves to the slopes of Vesuvius, on the flanks of the city, Herculaneum."

  "The mountain of smokes?" Caesar pursed his lips in thought. "Mayhap the man has little knowledge of military matters. Such an encampment would have neither water nor food." He took another sip, holding the cup up for emphasis. "And certainly, no wine."

  "There is a Legate come to take charge of the... elimination," said Julius "A Clodius Glaber, by name, but I have no knowledge..."

  Aulius asked, "May we assume that your presence is to give assistance in the matter of the insurrection?"

  "Myself? Nay." The guest waved away the suggestion. "Rather, I am to take ship to the shores of Lydia, there to raise an army of recruits to assist in the coming war in Pontos. And that is the reason for my disturb of your household. My last selection of a berth to those reaches was less than wise, gaining myself an unwelcome visit to a tiny island with putrid wine. Thus, I would wish to contract a passage for myself and staff to the port of Lycia. About fifty men and baggage."

  Now Aulius brightened. "That can certainly be arranged. Two ships will be sufficient and with goodly room for a comfortable and swift voyage. When would you wish to depart, and from where?"

  "Rome, of course. And at the Kalands of the next month."

  "The ships will be at wharf on that date. I will send you the..."

  He stopped as a figure appeared in the wide doorway, halting as she saw the extra man. "My pardon, husband. I was not told of a guest."

  She turned to leave, but the visitor hurriedly gained his feet, followed by the two brothers.

  "Nay!" called Caesar. "Please, noble Camlia. It has been long since our adventure, but you have only gained in beauty." He looked at her for a moment more, then asked of the two men, "Husband?"

  Aulius grinned. "Aye. My brother has had the good fortune to somehow gull the unsuspecting woman into marriage. And with a man whose feet are seldom in walk in his own household."

  Caesar waved his hand over the table. "Join us if you will. I would hear of your hunting the elusive quarry that seldom leaves his vessel."

  She smiled, but asked of Aulius, "Liburnia is asking of the evening meal and if the two of you will grace us with your presence, or will you be departing again for the Tabularium?"

  "We will be attending, and tell my wife that we will have a noble guest from Rome in company." Aulius turned to Caesar, asking, "Did you bring a retinue?"

  He shook his head. "Only my man, Rufus."

  "See that the attendant of Gaius is given goodly repast and comfortable quarters." She turned to give a long series of instructions to the Steward, as Aulius made a gesture at a servant standing in wait in an alcove. Quickly another lounging mat was brought and set next to that of Julius.