Dark Omens Page 3

  Maximus – who, despite his name was the smaller of my slaves – edged up to me and cleared his throat, as a signal that he wished to speak. I did not insist on such formality, but after the recent pranks at Saturnalia – when slaves and owners change roles for a day – he was being specially careful to show me due respect.

  I nodded my permission. ‘What is it, Maximus?’

  ‘I’m sorry, master, but I’m a bit concerned. I don’t know how we’re going to make a fire. We’ve just thrown water on the embers to make sure that they were out and there isn’t any flint or tinder left. And there won’t be anything to eat, unless we go out to the thermopolium. We’ve finished all the bread and cheese we brought, and there are no pie-sellers likely to be out in this.’ He shook his head. ‘Even the hot-soup stalls are likely to be closed. No one who can help it will go out on the streets – one slip and you could break an arm or leg and end up maimed for life.’

  ‘He’s right,’ my son agreed. ‘Though perhaps it’s no great loss. The stuff they sell is disgusting anyway: turnips and nasty bits of bone and hoof.’ He looked enquiringly at me. ‘But if they are open, it would at least be warm – if you think the chance of that is worth a struggle through the snow. The workshop will be very cold without a fire.’ He brightened. ‘Although I see there’s wood and kindling on the pile. I’ve seen that servant, Brianus, that you gave to me last year, using a sort of bow and string to bore into a stick and make a flame. I’ve watched him do it – I could try my hand at that.’

  I grinned. ‘I’ve thought of a better strategy,’ I said. ‘Let’s pay a New Year’s visit to the tanner after all. He keeps a furnace burning all the time, brewing up the cutch to tan the skins – I’m sure he could be persuaded to let us have some fire, if only in honour of the day.’

  Junio laughed, though rather doubtfully. ‘Father, are you sure? His wife has not forgiven you for costing her that slave.’

  I grinned. ‘And isn’t this the day for healing rifts?’ I asked. ‘In any case, we’ve much to gain and nothing much to lose. So let’s untie these ugly rags from round our feet and try to look like the Roman citizens we are. We’ll make a formal visit, with the slaves escorting us – that way I’m sure the man will let us in and Minimus and Maximus will be admitted too, to wait where it is warm. Just bring those sugared figs the steward brought to us and keep a Kalends smile fixed on your face.’

  So away we trooped to knock upon the gate. The tanner himself came grumbling out to open it, holding a lighted taper to peer into the snow. But when he realized who it was, his manner changed at once. Perhaps it was the togas, but we were welcomed in at once, and plied with heated wine. Even the hard-faced wife contrived a smile, though she left us men to it and went back to her tasks.

  I managed to bring the talk around to Ulpius, but the tanner had no real information to impart – except that he was not inclined to blame the wine. ‘Ulpius was never one to drink too much, especially at sea. More likely it was just the movement of the deck. The weather in autumn can be terrible. And it wouldn’t have been carelessness; he knew the job too well. Freak accident, that’s all. The ship turned back of course, but it was far too late, and Ulpius had disappeared beneath the waves. They thought the body might be washed up in the end – so it could be given proper burial – but it never did. Eaten by the fishes I suppose. But the trading has gone on – they sold all my skins, and I’ve been paid for them. Ulpius’s junior partner saw to that.’

  ‘There is a partner?’ I hadn’t heard of this.

  ‘Oh, indeed. A pleasant man, though not a citizen. Started life as a freeman-forester and dealt with Ulpius over timber and the like, but he always had a natural aptitude for trade, and Ulpius took him on. Lucius proved to have a splendid eye for general goods, and they formed a partnership. Now, of course, he’s running things alone. I got this wine from him, for instance. It is very good. Can I offer you another drink of it?’

  A half-hour later, when we went back to the shop – fighting our way now through a rising blizzard on the street – we brought away not only a hearty New Year gift of honey cake, but a heap of hot embers burning in a pail.

  The two young slave boys set to with a will and soon had a cheerful blaze alight again and a couple of tapers burning to give a welcome light – the afternoon was dark though it was not long past midday. With the warmth, however, I felt my spirits lift. We had a pan, and my favourite spiced mead that we could heat in it, and now we had the honey cake to ward off hunger pangs, so with our cloaks to sleep on we would do well enough – at least until the morning when the street-hawkers began and we could purchase bread and milk again.

  I looked at Junio. ‘Well, it seems that after all there is no mystery to solve, but shall we have a quick look through those patterns while we’re waiting here, and try to find something suitable for that entrance hall? I can’t recall exactly the dimensions we require, but we could estimate within a hand’s breadth either way.’

  Junio nodded. ‘Best err on the slightly smaller side,’ he said. ‘Then it would be easy to fit a border round.’ He picked up a lighted taper. ‘Let’s go and have a look.’

  The half-dozen premade ‘patterns’ which I kept to advertise my skills were versions of my most popular designs, stuck to a linen backing and placed on wooden boards, so they could be moved intact and shown to customers. Most clients used them simply as a guide and ordered something individual – but it was possible to install the samples exactly as they were.

  Junio held up the candle to illuminate the rack while I pulled out my favourites, but he shook his head. ‘Remember, we’re being paid a fixed amount for this, and we’ll have to make another version to replace the one we use. If there is nothing to be learned by lingering at the house, it’s obviously sensible to choose the simplest piece – something that will be quick and easy to repeat.’

  He was right of course and it did not take us long to settle on an appropriate design: a pattern of triangles around a central square, in which was depicted an inoffensive flower.

  ‘There we are!’ I said triumphantly. ‘Put a border round this and you could lay it anywhere. Starting tomorrow, if this weather clears a bit and it still isn’t possible for us to get back home. Though it will be quite a tramp to Ulpius’s house – or Silvia’s house, as I suppose that I should call it now. If I recall correctly, it’s over by the river on the other side of town.’

  Junio looked doubtful. ‘I expect the streets are clearer once you’re inside the wall.’

  I nodded thoughtfully. Genialis was right about the army sending out fatigues: they would try to keep the military routes available, at least to horsemen, and so allow free passage to the imperial post. And that included the road through Glevum to the garrison. So if we could struggle to the northern gate we should get through town all right – even if the country tracks were still impassable.

  ‘We wouldn’t need the hand-cart to start with, anyway,’ I said. ‘We don’t want the pattern-piece until we’ve got the site prepared and measured up. So we’ll try tomorrow, if the snow has eased,’ I said. ‘Now let’s get back and sit beside the fire. The boys have already heated up the mead.’

  The warm drink was welcome though we saved the food until we estimated it was supper time. By then we were so hungry that even Junio, who had been raised in Roman ways, was content to have me offer only a token sacrifice – the merest crumb or two – to appease the household gods. Then we huddled near the fire and did our best to sleep.

  The morning found me stiff and chilled but I must have slept, because I woke dreaming of Ulpius floating in the tide, covered with seaweed and the hides of goats. I could almost smell the smoke that had been used to cure the skin. When my eyelids opened and I looked around it was to find Minimus already kneeling by the fire, adding fresh firewood from the pile and using the leather bellows to improve the blaze. Of my other two companions there was no sign at all.

  I grimaced as I eased my aching bones. ‘I see you managed to ke
ep the fire alight?’

  ‘Maximus and I have taken it in turns to tend it overnight,’ he told me with some pride. ‘He’s gone out now with the young master to see if there are any street-vendors about, although it is still snowing … Ah, but here they are!’

  He broke off as the front door opened and the other two returned, shaking the snowflakes off their capes and stamping cold slush from their rag-wrapped feet.

  Junio put a package on the bench and shook a rattling water-pail at me. ‘Only stale cakes this morning, I am afraid, and we found an urchin selling clean ice that we can melt to drink. The pumps are frozen and there’s no water to be had. But the town gates are open and pedestrians are able to get through. Word is that the authorities are going to open the emergency grain-store in the town, so there might be someone selling fresh bread later on. In the meantime, this is all we have.’

  Even stale cakes are welcome to a hungry man – better still when they are toasted at the fire – and our little party scoffed them with a will, though it did occur to me to wonder what we were going to do if this freeze continued. Food would get expensive and credit hard to find – and I had only a small sum in my purse. I said as much to Junio.

  ‘Fortunately, we have a contract for a profitable job – and witnesses to prove it – so if we really need to we can venture out and borrow something from the money-lenders in the forum,’ he replied.

  I countered his enthusiasm with reality. ‘I suppose that’s possible – but the interest they charge is quite extortionate – sometimes as much as twenty-four per cent.’

  He made a grimace. ‘Better make sure we get that pavement finished, then. Otherwise we won’t earn anything at all – and still have the wretched loan to pay. But it may come to borrowing. There’s obviously no prospect of getting home for days.’

  That was self-evidently true. ‘As soon as we have eaten, we’ll try to get to Silvia’s house and make a start,’ I agreed. ‘We’ll take you, Maximus. We’d better leave Minimus to keep the fire alight.’ I turned to the slave in question, who was looking rather glum. ‘I’ll leave you a sestericius from my purse, so you can watch out for street-vendors while we’re gone, and we will do the same in town. There might be some cheese on offer, I suppose, though I doubt that there’ll be fresh milk or vegetables today. No one will be able to come in from the farms.’

  So we left him to it, leaving our bedraggled togas to dry off before the fire – all three of us wrapped up like swaddled babes against the snow. Progress was difficult and slow and treacherous, but Junio was right, it was a little easier once we were through the gates. A few brave shops were open, with half their shutters down, and some tradesmen had even tried to clear the space outside their doors, but most establishments were firmly shut and barred. The unswept pavements were piled knee-high with snow and we saw several gangs of soldiers as we passed, continually shovelling yet more from the roads – which were very slippery, but had become the only place to walk.

  We battled on until we reached the riverside. The troops had been especially busy here so it was relatively easy to approach the house – a fine one in a little court that opened to the street – but we had to thunder on the door for quite a time before we could persuade the slave to open it. When he came, he was a surly-looking man, with a mop of curly hair, clutching a heavy cudgel in one hand and in other holding a grubby blanket round him like a cloak.

  He glared at us suspiciously. ‘And who in Dis are you?’

  I explained our errand. ‘Genialis told you to expect us, I believe! And we must make a start. I have contracted to complete it in nine days or less.’

  ‘Oh, I see – the pavement! I wasn’t expecting anyone today!’ But reluctantly, he did allow us in to eye up the passageway – though he kept a careful watch on us throughout, from his little guard-cell by the door where he had a tiny brazier and a bed.

  Preparing the site would not be difficult. We had done a good job with the ship mosaic – although I say so myself – and it was flat enough for us to use it as a base without disturbing it. All that it required was wet mortar spread on top so that the new pattern-piece could be lowered on to it and plastered into place. A row or two of border would complete the job. I left Junio and Maximus to measure up with string, so that we could judge the quantities required, while I accosted the suspicious doorman in his cell.

  I was going to need him as an ally – and not only if I hoped to find out what he knew about the fate of the former master of the house. In this weather I could not be sure that Genialis would return from Dorn in time to verify that the contract had been fulfilled on the date specified – and the would-be aedile was just the sort of man to try to wriggle out of paying me, on some such legal technicality. I might need the doorman as a witness by and by. He was clearly not a friendly sort of chap – men in that position rarely are – but I thought I knew a way to win him round.

  ‘You’ll have to keep an extra brazier in this entrance overnight,’ I said, knowing – as he did – that he would benefit, but careful to phrase this as a professional demand. ‘We’ll never get the mortar to harden otherwise. Do you have a larger brazier in the house?’

  He pretended to consider this. ‘There is one in the kitchen building you might use, I think – though I am not supposed to go out there myself. My master left me bread and cheese and apples when he went, and money to buy something from the street vendors as well – though I haven’t seen one since the snow began. The house is usually heated by a hypercaust, but I don’t have the slaves to keep the furnace lit and he told me not to hire any until the day of his return. But if you need a brazier, that’s another thing.’

  I nodded. ‘I’ll take full responsibility. Besides, in this weather who knows when he’ll return? You can’t be sure he even got to Dorn. There was talk that he would lodge with Bernadus midway. He could return at any moment.’

  ‘Or not return for weeks.’ He gave me a mirthless grin. ‘You’d better hope he does. Or – I know my master – he will try to find a way of claiming that your contract was annulled, because you couldn’t prove you’d done the work in time. He’s very short of money for his election schemes.’

  Exactly what I’d thought myself! I gave him a cheerful smile. ‘But you could witness that I’d finished it.’

  He looked at me blankly. ‘More than my life’s worth, citizen, to testify against my master’s interests. Besides, who takes any notice of a slave? Much better you find a citizen to speak for you – didn’t you have witnesses when you agreed the work? He generally insists on things like that.’

  ‘Indeed we did.’ I frowned. ‘He brought them with him. Alfredus and Bernadus. I know them both by sight. They are councillors, of course, so they must have accommodation in the town – but I don’t know where they live and the curia won’t be sitting in this weather, I’m sure. How could I be sure of finding them before the Ides?’

  ‘You could go to the Festival of Janus, citizen, the Agonalia – in eight days’ time. That is if you’ve done the work by then. They’re certain to be there.’

  That was a sensible suggestion. I should have thought of it myself. The Festival is always a very big affair, with a senior priest to make the sacrifice. This year the celebrant was particularly grand – a Flamen of Juno, all the way from Rome. I knew that, because he was due to stay with my patron overnight. ‘A good idea,’ I told the doorkeeper. ‘Anyone who is anyone is likely to be there. No doubt Genialis will want to get there if he can – though who knows if the roads will be passable by then.’

  The doorkeeper permitted himself a wry grin. ‘We had better hope so, pavement-maker! He’ll be furious if he can’t attend the ritual after all. He was boasting that he’d be there with all the councillors, making sure that he was seen by the electorate. He even offered to provide the sacrificial ram – hoping to make a public show of that – but some citizen from the outskirts had already promised one, and could not be persuaded to withdraw. My master had to be content with offering barle
y cakes and wine. He wasn’t very pleased – he told me that everyone influential would be there. So wait outside the temple, you should find your councillors.’

  ‘I’ll do more than that,’ I chuckled. ‘I’ll attend the feast myself.’ I saw his startled look. ‘Oh don’t worry, I’m entitled – I’m a Roman citizen and I can wear a toga with the best of them. Then, even if your master isn’t back himself, it would be courteous to invite the witnesses back here to see the pavement in its finished state.’

  ‘And Genialis could not deny the contract then.’ The doorkeeper gave me a conspiratorial wink. ‘Just don’t let him know that I suggested it! He’d have me flogged within an inch of death for costing him the fee. He’s manic about money.’ He dropped his voice. ‘I pity that poor lady – and there’s the truth of it. In fact … I shouldn’t say this, citizen, but I have sometimes wondered if the death of Ulpius …’ He broke off as my son and slave appeared at the entrance to his guard-cell.

  I waved them off and turned to him again. ‘What did you wonder about Ulpius’s death?’

  But he had already thought better of his unguarded words. He shook his head. ‘Nothing, citizen.’

  ‘That it was convenient for your master, possibly?’ I tried to win his confidence again. It was frustrating to have come so close to what was clearly his suspicion of the truth.

  However, he was not to be cajoled. He looked at me coldly. ‘Of course not, citizen. I would not dare to speak about my owner in that way. I merely wondered if the death was quick and merciful. Now, if you have finished, shall I show you out? I’ll attend to the brazier before you come again.’

  And that was all that he could be prevailed upon to say, either that day or the five days following as Junio and I – after struggling with the hand-cart through the icy streets – laid the new pavement in the entrance hall.

  THREE

  We made a good job of the pavement, and with a day to spare. The fact that the base was waterproof helped, making it possible to simply put a mortar-bed on top and lower the backing-layer on to it, instead of installing the mosaic upside down and soaking off the linen as we’d have had to do outdoors.