Caligula

stink of death taints every hall. Do not expect my thanks for that. Cupido is my friend and I rejoice at his safety, but I would rather spend a thousand nights among Fronto's big cats than one more day on the Palatine Hill.'

'You think you would be safer with Fronto?' Narcissus laughed. 'Perhaps I should arrange to have you sent back to that fat oaf. We could have a wager. Will Rufus the slave live one week or two? Why do you think I suggested to the Emperor's chamberlain that an animal trainer of mighty talent could be bought to work with the Emperor's elephant? Sometimes, there is safety in proximity. You may not believe it, but you have the Emperor's favour, for what it is worth. None will harm you while you are here.'

'I still don't understand. Why should you do this for me? I am a slave. I am nothing to you, unless…' Rufus's face coloured and his eyes filled with horrified confusion. Visions of a day in the bathhouse with Albinius, the slave who ran Cerialis's household, flew through his mind. He could still feel the loathsome touch of the oily fingers on his upper thigh and the rubbery tongue pushing at his lips. He had eventually escaped, but it had cost him a night with the guard dogs.

Narcissus shook his head. 'No, not that. I can assure you I have interests in other directions. But have you forgotten already what you said? 'I would always be in your debt.' It so happens you might be able to repay your debt more quickly here.'

'How can I do that?'

'I understand you have had a night-time visitor. I hope he did not

… expose himself to any danger… with your elephant?' Narcissus said, weighing each word carefully. 'It would not do if my master put himself into that situation. I don't suppose he said… anything of interest while he was here?'

'I don't know,' Rufus lied. 'He comes at night. He spends time with Bersheba. He talks, but I don't listen.'

The Greek shrugged. 'No matter. There will be other occasions, and perhaps you will find it profitable to listen. If you have something for me, hang a white cloth on the barn door. The next day, be at the little fountain behind the palace of Augustus at the seventh hour and I will meet you there. You can never have too many friends, Rufus. And I would make a very dangerous enemy.' The last words were said with a gentle smile, but Rufus understood the threat that lay behind them.

Narcissus then asked about Caligula's banquets. Of course, he knew Rufus attended. Who else was there? What was said? Who was chosen and what was her husband's reaction? Small things, but morsels that could be traded for other morsels. Here, Rufus was happy to supply the intelligence the Greek sought, and Claudius's freedman left satisfied. Rufus wondered if he would have been quite so sanguine if he had known what passed between Caligula and Claudius at the last banquet.

'Tell your Greek to keep his long nose out of other people's business, Uncle Claudius, or I will have the guards cut it off,' the Emperor had warned.

XIX

It had been more than three months since Rufus was last ordered to the palace and he allowed himself to believe he was safe from further summonses. So the shock was all the greater when he was shaken awake in the middle of the night to find a young legionary officer in a red tunic standing over his bed.

'You are to come with me,' the soldier ordered brusquely and hauled the blankets back.

While he followed his escort through the endless corridors and stairways, Rufus had time to wonder why the man wore the uniform of a regular unit rather than the black of the Praetorians, normally the only military presence in the Palatine complex.

His confusion increased when they reached their destination on one of the upper floors of the grand building originally built by Tiberius. He was certain he'd never been in this part of the palace before. A great gilt-inlaid door, intricately carved with scenes of hunting and the games, barred their way. The young soldier stepped forward and knocked gently, then turned and walked away without a word.

As Rufus stood with his heart thundering against his ribs, the door opened a few inches to reveal a pair of jet-black, almond eyes. Before he could say a word a slim arm slipped through the gap and a hand took his wrist and pulled him inside.

At first, the room was in complete darkness and his head spun as his senses were deluged by the musky scent of exotic perfumes so thick he could taste them on his tongue. A shiver ran through his body, but not one of fear. He heard a gentle rustling, which seemed to emanate simultaneously from both his right and his left, before the light of first one then a second tiny lamp pierced the gloom at opposite sides of the room. They were followed in quick succession by a dozen others until a paradise was revealed. The space before him was a vast treasure house. At its centre was a massive canopied bed hung with thick drapes of imperial purple. A hundred gold statues lined the walls, gods and goddesses vying for position with emperors and kings. But the object which drew his eyes was a human form, almost inhuman in its perfection. It stood naked on a plinth at the foot of the bed, the light of the lamps glinting yellow on the cold white of its marble flesh. From a handsome young face sightless eyes stared in concentration. The figure bent forward from the waist, his left hand close to his right knee and his right arm extended behind him, strong fingers curled round the discus he was about to hurl. With a genius it was impossible not to appreciate, the sculptor had created life from the lifeless. Each vein over his subject's tensed muscles stood out upon the flesh as if it pulsed with heart blood. Each rib was visible beneath the perfectly formed pectorals of his chest.

'Do you like my immortal?'

The voice close to his ear made him jump.

'He will always be as he is, frozen at his most beautiful. He will never grow old. His flesh will never wrinkle, nor his eyes grow dim.' Drusilla's voice was soft and Rufus could feel her breath on the back of his neck. 'If only human beauty could be so everlasting, instead of blossoming for a mere instant before fading into the ugliness of age. Do you think I am beautiful?'

Rufus hesitated, not sure he wanted to see what was behind him, but her hands descended gently on his shoulders and turned him to face her.

She wore a diaphanous robe that clung to her flesh like a second skin where it touched. Here too was perfection of the human form. Yes, he decided, she was beautiful, but it was a sharp-edged beauty that he understood could bleed him dry. He felt the heat radiating from her flesh and caught the slightest hint of the natural scent of her body in his nostrils. The robe highlighted shadows and clefts of unthinkable promise. For a moment, he forgot where he was and who he was with. Then his mind split in two. One part of him wanted what was about to happen with an urgency he had never experienced. Drusilla's blatant sexuality lit a fire in his lower belly that threatened to consume him. But there was another Rufus, Rufus the slave, who realized he was in more danger than he had ever been in in his life. And this Rufus was screaming at him to escape while there was still time.

'My lady, p-please…' he stuttered.

Her lips parted and her face edged towards his. Then her perfect nose wrinkled and she gave an unimperial snort.

'Yeugh. You stink.' She clapped her hands twice and from behind a curtain at the far end of the bedchamber emerged the girl who had let him into the room, quickly followed by a second who was her exact twin. They were short and compact, with hair so black it was almost blue, and their slanted eyes twinkled with mischief.

'Bathe him and bring him to me,' the Emperor's sister commanded, turning her back on Rufus and disappearing behind the drapes of the giant bed.

The two girls looked him over and nodded to each other. Then, while the first, whom Rufus identified by the red cord she wore round the waist of her shift, disappeared back behind the curtain, the second approached and motioned for him to remove his tunic. He shook his head. She reached to do it herself, and, alarmed, he pushed her hand away. With a grunt, she stepped back and stared at him, perplexed.

Drusilla's annoyance was clear through the thick drapes. 'If you do not remove your clothing, I will tell my brother I found you hiding in my bedchamber. I'm sure you would not want that.'

Reluctantly, Rufus complied, pulling his tunic over his head as the first sister reappeared with a small basin, but he still hesitated before giving up his loincloth.