'What's that, my love?' Fabiola's laugh was brittle and unconvincing, to Romulus at least.
'I heard the tail end of something you were saying when I came in. Something about who had raped your mother. You've never told me about that.'
'Of course not,' she replied. 'It happened a long time ago.'
'You sounded furious,' said Brutus. 'Who was it?'
Romulus waited for Fabiola to say the words 'Julius Caesar', but she didn't.
'Well?' prompted Brutus gently.
'I'm not sure. Mother never told us,' she said. 'What I said was that someone like Scaevola could have raped her.'
Romulus couldn't believe his ears.
Yet Brutus seemed satisfied. 'Is the whoreson here?'
'Yes. In there.' She pointed. 'He's dead. My brother killed him.'
What's going on? Romulus wondered. Fabiola was lying through her teeth. The realisation hit him hard. Brutus was a loyal follower of Caesar. She didn't want him to know because she wasn't sure how he would react. I'm supposed to agree to murder him without batting an eyelid, though. This when Fabiola actually has no definite proof, just the fact that Caesar came on to her a bit forcefully and he and I both have aquiline noses. She had probably drunk too much wine that night. Romulus knew that he was inventing reasons not to believe Fabiola's story, but couldn't help himself. When he glanced back at his sister, she winked at him. Brutus missed the gesture.
Rather than being reassured, Romulus was infuriated. Fabiola was clearly used to manipulating men, and now she was treating him in the same way. A previously unthinkable idea popped into his mind. Could Fabiola be trusted?
Of course she can, he thought, she's my sister. My twin. My own flesh and blood.
His response was instant: who's trying to work me. Bridling now, Romulus started down the corridor. They would have to talk about this again: in private.
His happiness soured, Romulus went in search of Tarquinius. Romulus' reunion with the haruspex was all that he had hoped for, and more. Walking to the Mithraeum, which Tarquinius had suggested they do, seemed to take only a moment. The delighted urchin tagged along, awestruck by the twenty-five denarii that his expertise had earned him. To Romulus, the extra sum was a trifle for getting him to the Lupanar in time to save Fabiola. As he realised later, he had made a fan for life in the boy, whose name turned out to be Mattius.
Romulus told the haruspex about his experiences in the army, including his exposure as a slave in Asia Minor and Petronius' courage in standing by him. About returning to the ludus. Not usually demonstrative, Tarquinius sighed at Petronius' death and gasped to hear how Romulus had killed the rhinoceros. 'Gods,' he breathed. 'After seeing that beast captured, I wouldn't have given you a chance in Hades.'
Romulus shook his head, not quite believing it himself.
'That was when you met Caesar.'
'Yes.' Romulus related the tale of how he had been freed.
There was a shocked gasp from Mattius at this point.
'Slaves are no different than you or I,' Romulus explained, aware that the urchin probably looked down on the only class lower than his own. 'They can do anything, given the chance. As you could, if you want to.'
'Really?' Mattius whispered.
'Look at me, and what I survived,' Romulus replied. 'Yet I was a slave once.'
Mattius nodded determinedly.
Tarquinius chuckled. 'Yet rather than enjoying your freedom, you volunteered to fight in Caesar's army?'
Romulus flushed. 'He believed my story. It seemed the honourable thing to do.'
'He would have appreciated the gesture,' said the haruspex, clapping him on the shoulder. 'You fought in the African campaign, then?'
'Yes. Ruspina was like Carrhae,' revealed Romulus. 'We had almost no cavalry, while the Numidians had thousands. It should have been a massacre, but Caesar never lost his cool.' He went on to describe his attack on Petreius, as well as the battle at Thapsus.
'I'd heard that the Pompeians' elephants hadn't had the same success as the Indian ones did against the Forgotten Legion.'
Romulus' guilt over Brennus resurfaced with a vengeance and he told the haruspex about how he'd saved Sabinus at Thapsus.
Tarquinius' face grew sombre, and when Romulus was finished he did not say anything for a few moments. They walked on in silence until Romulus realised that the haruspex was studying the sky, the air and everything around him. Trying to see if anything would be revealed about Brennus. His heart rate shot up.
'It's too far away. I can see nothing,' Tarquinius said at length. He sounded disappointed.
Romulus felt his shoulders slump. He jerked them back forcibly. 'If I can drive off an elephant, what could Brennus do?' he demanded. 'He could still be alive!'
'Indeed he could,' the haruspex admitted.
Romulus grabbed his arm, hard. 'Did you have any idea that this might happen?'
Tarquinius met Romulus' gaze squarely. 'No. I thought that Brennus would meet his death by the River Hydaspes, avenging his family. I saw nothing beyond that.'
Romulus nodded in acceptance. 'Did you look further, though?'
'No,' Tarquinius replied with an apologetic glance. 'Who'd imagine that one man could fight an elephant, and live?'
Romulus could not bear the idea of his beloved comrade and mentor facing torments and dangers without him by his side. Swallowing, he changed the subject. 'What happened to you in Alexandria?' he asked. 'Why did you disappear?'
Tarquinius looked awkward. 'I was ashamed,' he said simply. 'I thought you'd never forgive me for not telling you before, and that I deserved to die.'
The pain in his voice tore at Romulus' heart, and again he thanked Mithras for bringing them together. 'It didn't warrant that,' he said.
'Well, I'm still here.' Tarquinius' lips twisted upwards in a wry smile. 'The gods haven't finished with me. Of course I never foresaw more than a return to Rome with you. Once we were parted, I was unsure what to do.'
'Did you not sacrifice, or attempt to divine?'
'Constantly.' He frowned. 'But I kept seeing the same confusing images. I could make no sense of them, so I went to study in the library, thinking that something might be revealed.'
Romulus was all ears. 'Did it?'
'Not really. I saw danger in Rome, but couldn't be sure if it was to you, or Fabiola, or someone else entirely.' The haruspex sighed. 'I did see Cleopatra, though.' He lowered his voice. 'When she was pregnant with Caesar's child.'
Startled, Romulus jerked around. The Egyptian queen and her son had recently been installed in one of Caesar's residences in the city, provoking much talk among the population. Despite being married, the dictator was publicly honouring his mistress. Romulus hadn't given it much thought before, but what Fabiola had just told him changed things completely. If she was right, they and Cleopatra's child were half-siblings. His mind boggled.
To his alarm, Tarquinius' dark eyes were studying him closely.
Romulus looked away. He wasn't ready to share that information just yet, or Fabiola's demand that they kill Caesar. What he needed was time to think about it all, and to decide what he should do.
The haruspex didn't ask him anything. Instead, his story unfolded, leading right up to his drunken encounter with Fabricius, which had unexpectedly won him a passage back to Italy. 'I never thought to return here,' Tarquinius said. 'Although it has taken this long to know why, it was the right thing to do. Being there to stop Gemellus was a true blessing.'
'You also saved Fabiola's life,' Romulus added gratefully.
The haruspex smiled. 'I should have guessed that both of you could have been in danger.'
'You said that Gemellus was your owner once,' Mattius piped up.
'Yes,' Romulus answered. 'He mistreated my mother terribly, and beat us regularly for the most trivial reasons.'
