his own.
Vespasian tried to place his left hand on his father’s shoulder but winced with pain.
‘We need to get that thing out, brother,’ Sabinus said surprisingly gently. ‘I’ll send for Chloe.’
‘And Father needs to get his ear sewn back on,’ Vespasian replied, trying to make light of Titus’ disfiguring wound.
‘That ear’s long gone, my boy.’ Titus gingerly felt the side of his face. ‘It was nearly the death of me; I slipped on it during the fight and almost lost my balance. Still, there’s one good thing to come out of it: I won’t be able to hear your mother’s sharp remarks nearly as well!’
The three of them burst out laughing — more in hysteria than amusement. The relief of still being alive, the relief at finding his parents still alive, the relief from the anxiety he had felt all the way up the Via Salaria flooded over Vespasian and he released the tension with a laugh so strong that his chest heaved uncontrollably, pushing at the arrowhead embedded in his shoulder; the pain and loss of blood suddenly overwhelmed him and he collapsed on to the floor in a faint.
Vespasian opened his eyes and recognised the ceiling of his old room. It was day.
‘And about time too!’
Vespasian turned his head to see Magnus sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, polishing his sword.
‘What time is it?’ Vespasian asked weakly.
‘Almost midday, I should think.’
Vespasian put his hand to his shoulder and felt a well-padded dressing tightly bandaged on.
‘You didn’t make a sound as that old Chloe was cutting it out, sir. Stayed unconscious all the way through you did, even when she cauterised the wound. Remarkable woman. I’ve never seen an arrow removed so quickly. I’ll bet she was quite a looker in her younger days.’
‘I’m sure that if you asked her nicely she’d be only too glad to revisit her youth for you. I know how partial you are to the older female form.’
‘I’m never going to hear the end of that, am I? Gods below, you fuck one goat and you’re branded a goat- fucker for life.’
‘At least you earned your reputation justly; I’ve never touched a mule but Sabinus still mocks me about them. Anyway, how are your lads?’
‘Lucio didn’t make it, but Chloe reckons that Cassandros may well pull through. The arrow went through the roof of his mouth and out through his cheek, just knocked a few teeth out; that’s the luck of the Greeks for you.’
‘I wouldn’t call that particularly lucky, given that he was shot by someone that he was trying to defend.’
Magnus grunted. ‘Well, if you look at it that way I suppose you’re right. And it’ll be some time before he can chew on a decent Roman sausage again; being Greek, he’s partial to sausage, if you take my meaning?’
Vespasian grinned. ‘I’m afraid I do. Help me up, Magnus.’
‘Is that wise, sir?’
‘Are you so enamoured now of Chloe that you think your medical opinion is worth something?’
‘No, it’s just that I know how weak I feel after every time I get spitted.’
Vespasian raised himself off the bed with an effort; his wound throbbed but stayed closed. ‘Well, I’ve got no choice in the matter; we’ve got to see to our dead and then leave.’
‘What’s the rush?’ Magnus asked, helping his friend to his feet.
‘Livilla will be expecting her men back today,’ Vespasian replied as he walked unsteadily over to a basin of water placed on the chest. ‘When they don’t show by nightfall she’ll want to know why; she’ll probably send some more up here tomorrow to find out, a lot more. They’ll more than likely arrive tomorrow night — I’d say it would be best if we weren’t here, wouldn’t you?’
‘If they find the place deserted they’ll burn it to the ground.’
Vespasian splashed handfuls of water over his face. ‘Then we’ll rebuild it.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘You and your lads are going to help Clemens take Secundus back to Rome,’ Vespasian replied, drying his face. ‘I want you to stay there until Antonia sends for you to bring me a message at Cosa.’
Magnus didn’t look too pleased. ‘If she knows that I’m in Rome she’ll be sending for me all the time.’
‘Well, that’s the perks of the job. I wouldn’t mind borrowing a couple of your boys to come to Cosa with Sabinus and me, just for a bit of extra security.’
‘Sure, have Sextus and Marius; they know the place. What about your parents, where are they going?’
‘They’re going north and Artebudz will go with them, it’s nearly on his way home and he seems anxious to get back to Noricum as soon as possible.’
‘Yes, I know, he’s was going on about it for the whole voyage home. He’s worried that his father, Brogduos, may already be dead.’
‘How long has he been away?’
‘Nearly twenty years.’
Titus came in without knocking. The side of his face was heavily padded; a linen bandage around his head held the dressing in place.
Magnus diplomatically slipped out of the room.
‘You’re awake, good,’ Titus said, smiling. ‘How are you feeling, my son?’
‘Fine, Father, how about you?’
Titus cocked his head. ‘What?’
‘Fine, Father, how about… Oh, very funny!’
‘Your mother didn’t think so when I played the joke on her earlier; and she’s in a worse mood now that Sabinus has told us that we need to get out of Italia and go and hide in some forsaken place — what’s it called again?’
‘Aventicum. It’s for the best; until things change in Rome, that is.’
‘I know, I understand but your mother doesn’t. She thinks that because we beat them last night that should be the end of it.’
‘Well, she’s wrong,’ Vespasian asserted, slipping on his tunic.
‘I know, but you try telling her that. Sabinus and I have both tried and given up. It was only when I ordered the valuables to be packed on to wagons that she realised she had a choice: stay alone and undefended in an empty house that’s liable to another attack, or come with me.’
‘What did she choose?’
‘I don’t know, she’s still thinking about it. I gave her my knife back though.’
Vespasian chuckled as he fastened his belt. ‘What are you going to do with the livestock?’
‘The mules and the sheep are all up on the summer pastures on the north of the estate. Pallo and some of the freedmen are going stay up there with the herdsmen for a while. They’ll be safe enough; no one’s looking for them. As to the slaves, we’ll take the household ones with us.’
‘What about the field slaves?’
‘They’re all dead; burnt last night.’
‘Shit, no? All forty of them?’ Vespasian looked up incredulously from tying on his sandals.
‘Sixty now. We’ve been expanding whilst you were away. Yes, I’m afraid so. Still, it’s solved the problem of what to do with them.’
‘That’s a very expensive way of solving a problem. They were worth a lot of money.’
‘You don’t need to tell me that, I paid for them. But that loss to the family will be more than made up by the dowry that Clemens’ sister will bring; I made the arrangements with him this morning. He’s going to bring her to Cosa for the marriage within a month; I assume that you’re going straight there.’
‘Yes, we’ll take a couple of Magnus’ lads to-’
Sabinus popped his head around the door. ‘Father, Vespasian, Ataphanes is dying, he’s asking for us.’
The freedmen’s lodgings were at the far end of the stable yard where, along with the estate office and the estate steward’s quarters, they ran along the whole wall; they had escaped the worse ravages of the fires.
Titus led his sons through the chaos of three wagons being loaded with the family’s possessions and on into the freedmen’s common mess room, where meals were served and the men drank and played dice in the evenings.
