– chapter xix –

Too costly

 

As soon as he heard me, Tiro reined in the horses. Luckily, the carriage was empty – Tiro must be taking the horses for exercise. He wouldn’t have dared to stop if the master had been there.

He jumped down, hitched the horses to a tree and came running over.

‘Bryn! I’ve been looking for you for ages!’ He hugged me. He didn’t seem to care about my filthy state.

‘Oh, Tiro, it’s great to see you!’ I swallowed hard to stop my voice from shaking. ‘How did you find me?’

‘Pallas thought you were on a farm somewhere around here – he didn’t know for sure. But whenever I exercised the horses, I drove out this way, hoping and praying I’d see you. Are you all right?’

‘I’m alive. Just about.’

He stood back and took a proper look at me – skinny, ragged and dirty, with whip marks on my back – and his eyes filled with pity.

‘Can you help me get out of here?’ I whispered.

‘If I can, I will.’

For a moment, I imagined the entire chain gang clambering into the carriage and escaping down the road. But two of Publius’s men were approaching fast.

‘What’s going on here?’ one of them demanded.

Tiro stepped forward. ‘I would like to buy this slave,’ he said. ‘How much do you want for him?’

The two men looked at each other uncertainly. This had never happened before. No one ever wanted to buy slaves like us, the lowest of the low.

‘You’ll have to talk to Publius, the overseer. He’s up at the house – just follow that track there.’

Tiro thanked them and went off up the track, leaving the other slaves open-mouthed.

‘Who was that, then? Your long-lost father?’ Afer jeered. ‘I must say, you don’t look very like him.’

‘All right, the excitement’s over,’ we were told. ‘Now get back to work.’

It seemed ages before Tiro came back. When I saw his face, my heart sank. Was Publius refusing to sell me?

‘Oh, he’ll sell you all right,’ said Tiro. ‘But he wants eight hundred denarii.’

‘What, eight hundred? For a kid like that?’ Afer said scornfully. ‘A grown man is only worth five hundred!’

‘Didn’t you bargain with him?’ I said, dismayed.

‘I tried, but he wouldn’t go any lower. I shouldn’t have let him see how much I wanted to buy you.’ Tiro was looking downcast. ‘But don’t worry, I’ll find the money somehow, Bryn. I’ll be back soon, I promise.’

I couldn’t speak. Silently, I waved goodbye, and gazed after the carriage until it was just a speck in the distance.

Afer laughed. ‘And that’s the last you’ll see of him.’

‘No. He wouldn’t lie to me,’ I said. ‘Tiro never tells lies.’

But eight hundred denarii – that was a lot of money. Even if Tiro asked all his Christian friends to help, how could he ever find enough? I knew that Tiro would do his best to help me, but his best might not be enough.

Several days went by. My heart sank lower and lower.

‘What’s happened to your African friend?’ Afer mocked me. ‘He must have decided the price was too high. And he’s right. You’re not worth eight denarii, never mind eight hundred.’

‘Oh, leave the kid alone,’ said Sergius.

‘Who says?’

‘I do. You’ve been picking on him ever since he got here. Give it a rest, can’t you?’

Afer glared at him. ‘I’m the boss of this gang. No one tells me what to do.’

A fight broke out – an ugly, vicious fight between two men who were chained together and couldn’t escape each other. They fell over, dragging me down with them. I tried to shield myself from their wild punches.

Publius’s men watched the fight for a while, enjoying it. Then they stepped in with their whips. Sergius and Afer both got a savage beating. From then on, Afer hated me more than ever, as if it was all my fault.

I would have tried to keep out of his way, but that was impossible. It’s frightening to spend your entire life, waking and sleeping, right next to someone who loathes you. Once again, I was having trouble getting to sleep – I was scared that Afer might kill me in the night.

My prayers now were angry ones: ‘Can’t you hear me? You’re supposed to love me like a father. What father would let his son be treated like this?’

But no answer came.

* * *

The burning heat of summer began to cool slightly. Grapes were ripening on the vines. Sergius warned me that we would have to work even harder than usual at harvest time. ‘Then, when the grapes and olives are harvested, we get a bit of a rest.’

Yes, and after that the whole thing would start all over again. Weeding . . . digging . . . watering . . . harvesting . . . on and on, year after year of it, until I became a worn-out, empty shell, like old Kaeso.

I thought I’d given up hoping. But whenever we were near the road, I couldn’t stop myself looking out for Tiro. Every time a carriage came into sight, I watched eagerly until it was close enough to destroy my hopes yet again.

Then one evening, as we made our way wearily back from the fields, I stopped suddenly. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There, outside the house, was the carriage with its four black horses.

The door of the house opened, and Tiro came out with Publius. I hardly dared to look at Tiro’s face – but when I did, I saw he was smiling.

Publius called to one of his men, ‘Take Afer’s gang to the blacksmith. Tell him to unshackle the boy there. He’s been sold.’

The blacksmith worked in a shed near the stables. Using a hammer and chisel, he struck off the metal collar that had chafed my ankle for so long. I enjoyed the look of hatred and envy on Afer’s face. But Sergius had been a friend to me – I was sorry I couldn’t rescue him from the farm.

‘Goodbye,’ I said to him. ‘I hope you get out of here one day.’

Then I hurried back to Tiro. I would have run and jumped for joy, but my legs weren’t used to freedom yet. My right ankle still seemed to feel the weight of the chain.

Tiro said polite farewells to Publius. Then he helped me up to sit beside him on the driver’s bench of the carriage. ‘Let’s get out of this place,’ he muttered, taking up the reins.

He took things slowly on the rutted track that led down to the main road. He didn’t want to damage the wheels of the carriage. Before we were halfway down the hill, a great commotion broke out behind us – voices shouting, dogs barking. I craned my neck to look back, feeling suddenly frightened. They couldn’t stop me now – could they?

‘Don’t worry,’ said Tiro. ‘You’ve been bought and paid for. You don’t belong there any more.’

I grabbed Tiro’s arm. ‘There’s someone following us,’ I whispered. ‘Look – over there.’

Tiro saw it too, a shadowy figure slipping between the rows of vines. He flicked the reins to make the horses speed up. But as they gathered pace, someone dashed out of the vineyard, grabbed onto the rear of the carriage and swung himself up.

I gasped. It was Sergius.

‘Don’t stop,’ he said breathlessly, crouching down on the floor. ‘Drive on – please.’

After one glance at him, Tiro obeyed. We swung onto the main road and headed towards Rome at a good, fast pace. Sergius began to laugh.

‘They won’t catch me, even if they set a hundred dogs on my trail. Ha! I wish I could see Publius’s face right now!’

‘What happened?’ I demanded. ‘How did you escape?’

‘The guard got careless. He was talking to the blacksmith, instead of watching us. Afer got behind him and whacked him with a hammer. Kaeso took out the blacksmith – knocked him out cold. Easy as anything! We knew we hadn’t much time, so we freed each other and then ran off in different directions. I don’t suppose old Kaeso will get far, though.’

I hoped he was wrong. I even hoped that Afer would get away. No one, however mean, deserved the sort of life we had been forced to live.

‘Where do you want us to take you?’ Tiro asked.

‘Just drop me off on the outskirts of Rome. Anywhere that’s good and crowded.’

It was getting dark by the time we reached Rome. In a busy neighbourhood where many poor people lived, Sergius thanked us and said goodbye. Then he disappeared down a narrow side street. I don’t know what happened to him – I never saw him again.