I did indeed have several errands in the town – Gwellia had asked me to bring back some supplies for the journey from the forum marketplace – and while I was there I used the opportunity to stop at the basilica, and speak to a passing member of the curia I knew. I could scarcely spare the time, but I wanted the news of Julia’s departure to be known, though of course I didn’t specify where she planned to go. Happily I’d found a councillor I hoped would spread the word, but he was more concerned to pass on the news to me that Varius and his brother had died the day before.
But I had done what I could. I hurried back and packed the cheese, spelt-flour bread and salted beef onto Arlina’s back, and – leaving Minimus in the street to mind the purchases and mule – I risked the time to call in at the workshop, too.
‘Father!’ Junio was sorting coloured stones when I arrived for the large new commission that we were working on. ‘I am glad to see you, but what brings you here? Worried that I wouldn’t find the tanner’s wife? I’ve already spoken to her – I saw her in the street – so the story of Julia’s flight to Corinium will be all over town by noon. In fact I let the woman think that you’re going there as well – or rather she seized on that conclusion and I did not contradict.’
I grinned at him. ‘Well done. That’s the tradesmen and the street-folk answered for. And I’ve been doing the same among the curial class. Though they’re not much interested in what I plan to do. People are too shocked about the death of Varius. Porteus is even offering a very large reward for tracking down the poisoner – so if you learn anything, be sure to make a claim! As well as sending word to me at the same time, of course.’
‘Porteus? Great gods!’ My adopted son looked shocked. ‘I’m surprised he has the money to make such promises. And why would he …?’ He trailed off and his face cleared suddenly. ‘Don’t tell me Porteus got a threat as well? That’s what you came to tell me?’
‘Not entirely,’ I replied. ‘I do have another reason for interrupting you. I wanted to pick up a weapon to carry on the road – I’ve got a knife, concealed about me even now. But there are laws against these things and it’s already been spotted by a sentry once, so I’ll have to keep that firmly out of sight. I need something that looks innocent that I can keep to hand. One of our stone-breaking mallets would do the trick, I thought.’
‘This one?’ He dusted off his hands and handed it to me.
I weighed it in my palm. ‘And perhaps you should carry the smaller one yourself. I wish you’d brought your house-slave with you into town. He’s not much help with cutting stone, perhaps, but I don’t like you walking through the woods alone, the way things are.’
‘You are Marcus’s confidante, not me. I should be safe enough. Anyway Brianus was required at home today to help with preparations for the trip. Which reminds me, while you’re here, you can take the warmer cloaks with you as well. I’ve just fetched them from the fullers, and you will be glad of thicker plaid.’ He handed me the bundle and I slipped the mallet among the pile of woollen cloth. ‘You worry about me, but do take care yourself. Even the main road south won’t be as safe as it has been of late. If the legions are marching eastward towards Londinium, you can’t rely on the usual random route-marches to keep the peace.’
I shook my head although I knew that he was right. ‘I don’t think I’m under any special threat, myself,’ I said. ‘I’m part of Marcus’s extended household, I suppose, but with Julia conspicuously leaving town the letter-writer won’t be watching me.’
‘Let’s hope not, but that doesn’t mean you’re safe. Mother is right to fret. When the law breaks down, then any road is dangerous – you said as much yourself. There are always bandits, not to mention wolves and bears and without the legions …’ He spread his hands. ‘I mean it, Father. Take especial care and send me word as soon as you’ve arrived where you are going. May all the gods be with you. Please Jove, I see you soon.’
I squeezed his hands, and nodded wordlessly. There was really nothing useful I could add and, besides, there seemed to be something prickling my eyes. So I simply took the cloaks and left him to his work, while I hurried back towards the gate where Minimus was still waiting patiently.
With this extra bundle and the purchases there was no room for my bulk on the mule, but I perched my young slave up her back somehow and we were soon hurrying back towards my roundhouse once again. I hardly needed Junio’s warning about the forest track – it was an anxious journey, and I kept careful watch. The presence of the mallet was absurdly comforting, but I still jumped each time a creature rustled in the woods. My eyes ached with the constant swivelling and I began to wish that I had used the longer, more frequented road or ridden in the ox-cart when I had the chance.
I did not have long for such regrets, because we caught it up. I was amazed to find it on this route at all. The old track is steep and muddy, precipitous in parts, and generally too difficult for carts of any size, as the driver had clearly discovered for himself. It was a smaller, lighter vehicle than I’d expected it to be – not so much a plaustrum as common carruca, and a smallish one at that – but it was clearly the wagon that I’d contracted for: the famous wicker super-structure had snagged against a tree.
The driver had climbed down, as I arrived, and was trying to prevent the massive ox from simply plodding on and tearing off the flimsy upper-works, but without his guiding hand the wagon had slewed round, so that it was now neatly wedged across a boggy bend, right at the bottom of a steep and sticky hill.
This route is unfrequented, in a general way, but this obstruction had so blocked the way that several travellers were backed up the other side: a fellow with a donkey-load of cabbages, an ancient woman with a basketful of gathered herbs, and a red-faced farm-boy in a heavy russet cloak, whose frisky goats were threatening to escape among the trees. None of them was doing anything to help, though the man with the donkey was loudly cursing ox-carts with every oath he knew (including some inventive ones I’d never heard before).
I gestured to Minimus to slide down from the mule and gave him the leading-rope, while I went forward to see what I could do. The driver of the ox-cart, a huge, lugubrious-looking fellow in a grimy yellow tunic, was tugging on the ox’s horns without effect. He looked up as I approached and called across to me.
‘It’s no good you cursing at me, citizen, I’m doing what I can. That fool Jummilius assured me that the cart could come this way – but it has been a nightmare from the start. I should have gone the long way round on the military road, but some citizen has contracted to have this cart by noon, and if I don’t deliver it I suppose I won’t be paid.’ He glanced towards the sky. ‘Though Jove knows how I’m supposed to guess when it’s midday in any case – there’s too much cloud about to see the sun, even if we weren’t surrounded by so many trees.’
‘You unyoke the ox,’ I answered, ‘and I’ll climb up the tree and see if I can free the branches from above, then perhaps we can push the wagon around the bend.’
He made a doubtful face. ‘It won’t be easy to get past,’ he hollered back.
He had a point. He was an enormous man and the cart was wedged between dense bushes either side – brambles and hawthorn, in particular, seemed to grow particularly thick and prickly in this spot, no doubt encouraged by the prevailing damp. It was clear why the other travellers had not tried to pass by striking off the track.
‘Well, if you pull, I’ll push it from the back!’ This whole strange conversation was conducted at a yell. ‘You’ve got one of those fancy pivots on the front, I see.’ I gestured to a massive metal spike on which the axle sat.
He nodded. ‘It lets the front wheels turn more easily on bends, I will say that for it, otherwise I would not have got as far as this with it. But apart from that, the hirer’s welcome to the thing. It’s the most confounded cart I ever handled in my life – it sways about with that wretched frame on top and though it’s supposed to have a pole-spring underneath, those solid wooden wheels are horrible, for all their iron rims. It almost shakes your teeth out when you hit a root or stone. I don’t know why a sane man would want to hire it, but it seems that someone does. Well, I wish him joy of it, and of this ox as well. It might be sturdy but it’s a stubborn, wayward brute.’
These words – delivered so loudly that the gate-guards back at Glevum might have heard – were hardly comforting, since I was planning to drive this very cart for many miles – and several days. However, he was unyoking the creature as he spoke and, despite the unflattering description, the ox did nothing more alarming than give an irritated snort and wander off to munch some muddy herbiage beside the track.
‘I’ve freed him from the yoke. Now see what you can do at your end,’ the driver called to me. ‘And try to save that wickerwork as much as possible. There will be Dis to pay if we have damaged it.’
I nodded, though I hardly needed his advice. That flimsy homemade cover was all the shield that my party would have against the rain and I wanted it intact, if possible. At least it was no longer in danger of being torn off by the ox – though I knew that there were other overhanging branches further on ahead. I made a private vow that if I got it clear, I would drive this cart only on main military roads, which are wide and have cleared areas on either side.
I glanced up at the tree now. There was a branch that I could climb on, if it would take my weight, and from there, perhaps … I sighed. If I fell off, I would tumble into thorns. I am too old for such adventures, but the ox-driver was stranded on the wrong side of the cart, and in any case was even heavier than me. I grumbled inwardly and hitched my tunic up into my belt. I was just about to try to find a handhold overhead when my thoughts were interrupted.
‘Let me do it, master.’ It was little Minimus. ‘I’ve tied Arlina safely to a tree. I’m younger than you are, and much lighter, too.’
Gwellia would have chided him for his impertinence but I said gratefully, ‘You think you can climb it? It’s a long way if you fall.’
‘I’m certain that I can – especially if you give me a hand up to that big branch over there.’
I interlocked my hands to make a step for him, and he grasped the bough, swung himself up and swarmed along it like a cat. He disappeared a moment among the foliage and then his face appeared again and he grinned down at me.
‘The branch has gone right through it – caught it like a fork – but it hasn’t done much damage. If I use my weight to pull the forked bit back the way it came, I think it will come free.’
‘You want a knife?’ I still had one slung around my neck, underneath my outer tunic. ‘It might be easiest to cut it clear.’
He shook his head. ‘I’ll try my method first.’ He disappeared again. The leaves above me churned, there was a lot of rustling; then a sudden sharp crack overhead, an oath, a shower of falling leaves and twigs, and a moment later Minimus was tumbling after them, snatching vainly at the passing twiglets and the air. Instinctively I tried to catch him as he fell and – before I knew it – both of us were sitting, winded, on the ground.
The slave-boy jumped up and grinned at me, unhurt. ‘Thank you, master. I got the forked branch out. It’s made a nasty tear at the spot where it went through, but a bit of woven osier will fix it in a trice. It’s done no damage to the frame itself, that I can see, or the leather straps that hold it on. And I am not hurt either, I just fell through lots of twigs.’
‘Well done, Minimus,’ I managed, though his descent had knocked the breath from me. ‘It’s a wonder that you did not fall into the cart!’
He helped me to my feet. ‘There was no fear of that. The branch sprang back and knocked me off my perch, but when the cart was freed it swayed the other way.’ He dusted down my garments as he spoke. ‘Now let’s see if we can move it, with the driver’s help.’
In fact it needed the donkey-man as well, before we got the cart lined up again and edged around the corner, where there was more room on either side. Once we had done so the donkey sidled past, disdainfully lifting its neat hooves to clear the mud, followed by the ancient woman with the basketful of forest herbs. The boy, though, was trying to round up his rebellious goats, which had roamed off in all directions while he helped to push the cart – and suddenly I glimpsed a flash of blue underneath the cloak. My heart skipped several beats. Could this be the watcher who had spied on us before?
‘Citizen?’ The driver had turned his attention to the ox. Glad of his burly presence, suddenly, I went and tried to help as he tugged the horns of the reluctant animal. The creature clearly preferred to stay and eat the grass but in the end the pair of us prevailed and it was installed between the shafts again.
The fellow climbed into the driving seat and turned to me. ‘Stranger, I must thank you for your aid. I have no coin to give, but if you follow me, I’m sure that the citizen who hired this cart will give you a reward. I’ll gladly tell him how you helped to get it free.’
I grinned at him. ‘That will not be necessary. I am the man himself.’
He stared at me a moment. ‘Is this some kind of jest?’
‘I am Libertus the pavement-maker,’ I explained. ‘Was that not the name?’
He jumped down from the cart. ‘Then why in Dis did you not tell me that before? You let me go on struggling with this stupid vehicle and all the time, I’d done what I was paid to do.’
My turn to stare. ‘What do you mean by that? This plaustrum – if it deserves the name – was to be delivered to my roundhouse, at the crossroads with the major road.’
‘Not as far as I know, citizen. My instructions were simply to deliver it to you. And I have done so. I wish you joy of it.’ And with that he forced his way back past the cart again and set off tramping back towards the town.
‘Hey!’ I called. But there was no reply – and the driver was too big for me to argue with. There was nothing for it, I would have to drive the cart and leave Minimus to follow with the mule.