Light hardly managed to penetrate this hole. Running with water, the walls bore no messages from previous prisoners. No one could see enough to carve a plea for help. Nobody ever stayed there long enough. The stench was appalling. I woke stiff and cold. It was easy to feel terrified.
I left my mark by relieving myself in a corner. There was nowhere else. I was plainly not the first.
Helena would know by now exactly where I was. I wondered what her brother had done after I was dragged away. They would have compelled him to dictate a formal statement. Then what? He must have told his father what had happened. The Camilli knew. Helena must know. I would not be executed without a great deal of fuss first being made in the marble-floored halls of officialdom. Maybe the Sacred Geese would honk a bit in protest too.
Helena would go to Titus and throw herself on his mercy. She would do it, even though the last words she had spoken to him in the Golden House were deliberately rude. He was famously good-natured. The sight of her desperation would overcome any grudges he felt.
He had no power to help her. Nobody could extract me from this. I had offended against the Vestals. I was a dead man.
Somebody was rousing the jailer.
I woke myself up enough to take an interest. Whatever negotiations were required to gain admittance took ages. I wondered if the agent who had come on my behalf was short of money. Apparently not; he was just an amateur.
“Aelianus!”
“The last person you expected, I suppose?” He could be wry, like all of his family. “I’m not just a spoiled brat, Falco. Well, I daresay, even you have good qualities that you hide under a cloak of modesty.”
“Being in a cell is bad enough without the punishment of other people’s mordant wit. Back off, before I knock a hole in your head.”
More coins chinked, and though the jailer was curious, he condescended to leave us alone. Aelianus raised a small oil lamp, looked around, and shuddered.
I kept talking to stop my teeth chattering. “Well, it’s pleasant of you to come visiting me in my trouble. You must be very frightened of your sister!”
“Aren’t you?”
In the light of his one pathetic hand lamp, the young and noble Camillus appeared ill at ease; he had not realized that when the jailer left, he too would be locked in. He was in a nice clean tunic, dark red, with three lavish rows of squiggly neck braid.
“You look very smart. I like a man who enjoys casual fashionwear. Especially when he is visiting the death cell. A reminder of normality; such a thoughtful touch.”
“Always there with the repartee, Falco.” He was pale and tense, keyed up with some restless expectancy. This was out of place. I was the one who was facing a demanding day. Mine had a bier and an urn at the end of it. “We went into this together,” he told me pompously. “ Obviously, I shall do my utmost to get you out of it. I brought you something.”
“I do hope so. The traditional gifts are a sword to kill the jailer and a large set of skeleton keys. A really well-organized rescuer includes a passport and some cash.”
He had brought me a cinnamon pastry.
“Breakfast,” he murmured huffily, on seeing my face. I said nothing. “If you don’t want it, I can eat it for you.”
“I am telling myself I am just dreaming.”
“Falco, I have been working hard all night on your behalf. I hope it’s fixed. Someone will be coming soon.”
“A stuffed vineleaf seller? A chickpea specialist?”
He was eyeing the pastry. I snatched it and ate it myself.
I had barely wiped the crumbs from my chin with a corner of my toga when we felt muffled reverberations caused by heavy boots. Aelianus jumped up. I saw no urgency. Execution could take all the time in the world coming. There was no hope of delaying my date with Fortune, however. The jailer’s ugly face appeared, and I was fetched from my cozy cell to the cruel light of day.
Outside, at first I shuddered even more, before the faint warmth of the dawn sunlight in the Forum started to revive me. My eyes took time to readjust. Then I realized my honor escort was the best I could ever have requested: a small but spankingly turned-out detachment of the Praetorian Guard. “Now that’s class, Aulus!”
“Glad you like it. Here’s our contact.”
Next minute I nearly regurgitated my flavorsome breakfast all over the Gemonian Stairs. Accompanying the tall fellows in the shiny plumed helmets, I saw, was Anacrites.
“Right!” He had some gall. He was actually giving orders. Well, as he was Chief Spy, his official next of kin had always been the Guards. His remit was protecting the Emperor, just as theirs was. In the strict hierarchy of the Palace, Anacrites was on assignment to themyet little was made of it, and I had never known him to exercise Praetorian rights. They certainly never invited him to their mess dinners. But then, who would? “Chain him up!” He was really enthusiastic about hurting and humiliating me. “Pile the fetters on. As many as possible. Never mind whether he can walk in them. We can drag him along.”
