But as they drew closer, Fronto caught a flash of purple tunic. His heart sank. Imperial purple. They’re ours. That didn’t bode well. If those had been red tunics, they’d be horsemen from the Tenth and Eleventh. It would mean Lepidus had won and Caligula was finished.
The column of horsemen drew up outside the gates and a decurion dismounted quickly, striding towards the gates. Fronto ordered the gates open and went outside to meet him. The young officer stopped and saluted him.
Fronto acknowledged the junior officer. ‘Make your report. What’s happened?’
‘Sir!’ The young man gasped for breath. Clearly he and his men had ridden hard. ‘General Lepidus… has been beaten, sir!’
Fronto nodded, forced a grin on to his face. ‘That is good news. And the general?’
‘He’s dead, sir.’
Fronto struggled to contain a sigh of relief. Dead, at least Lepidus wasn’t going to be able to tell Caligula anything. Name any names. Hopefully he’d done the honourable thing and taken his own life before he could be captured alive.
‘Sir! I have orders from the prefect.’
‘Yes?’
The decurion seemed hesitant.
‘Come on, what is it?’
‘Your tribune… Tribune Cato.’
‘What about him?’
‘I have orders for his immediate arrest, sir.’
‘What?’
‘You are to arrest him immediately. The prefect… the emperor himself… wants him taken alive, sir!’
Fronto stroked his chin. His mind racing. ‘My tribune? My commanding officer? He’s… you’re telling me he’s a traitor?’
‘Just have those orders, sir.’
‘Right.’ He nodded. ‘Right, I… I’ll have to…’
‘He’s to be taken alive.’
‘Yes… yes, I understand. I’ll have to…’ He turned hesitantly to look at his men, watching from inside the open gate. All of this was out of their earshot. He could see an expectant look on their faces, eager to hear whatever news the messenger had just brought.
‘Wait here, Decurion. I’ll see to his arrest personally.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Fronto turned on his heel and strode smartly back to his men. He picked out his optio and spoke in a lowered voice. ‘Close the gates!’
‘Sir?’
‘Those men outside?’ Fronto thumbed over his shoulder. ‘They’re traitors. They’ve turned against the emperor.’
The optio ’s eyes widened. So did those of the other men close enough to hear.
‘They’re a part of General Lepidus’s plot. They are not to be admitted into the imperial compound under any circumstances! Do you understand?’
‘Yes, sir!’
Further down the avenue he could see another couple of turmae of cavalry arriving. A single squad — a turma — accompanying a messenger was quite normal. But others arriving? He wondered if Praefectus Quintus had despatched the entire cavalry wing.
‘Close the gates!’ the optio barked to his men. Several men dropped their shields and worked the iron gates closed.
The decurion called out something. Confused.
‘TAKE ANOTHER STEP FORWARD AND YOU’LL GET A JAVELIN!’ roared Fronto through the bars.
The decurion stopped in his tracks. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Septimus!’
‘Sir?’
‘Send someone into the palace to find the tribune. Tell him we’ve got company out here.’
‘Yes, sir!’ The optio turned sharply and picked one of his men to take the message.
Fronto watched the decurion standing outside in the avenue, shrugging with bewilderment at the gate being closed on him. Fronto wondered how long he was going to maintain this confusion among his own men. Sooner or later they were going to question his orders.
‘Lads!’ he barked so that they could all hear. ‘Those men outside have turned against our emperor! They are traitors! The emperor was victorious this morning… and our boys are already on the road back to Rome! We must protect the palace until then!’
His men eyed him uncertainly.
‘No one is to enter!’ roared Fronto. ‘Not a single man… until our emperor returns! Until our emperor approaches up that avenue! Is this clear!’
His men chorused a ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Good!’
He looked through the bars at the decurion. The young man had caught most of what he’d just bellowed. His eyes met Fronto’s and he shook his head gravely; he was perfectly clear on what the situation was now. That it wasn’t just Tribune Cato who was to be taken alive. The decurion shook his head again. It said more than a mouthful of words could convey, a warning from one officer to another.
You are a stupid fool… sir.
CHAPTER 69
AD 54, Imperial Palace, Rome
Maddy and the others listened to the poor old wretch gabble. His cracked lips opened sores as they moved frantically; a trickle of blood and spittle rolled from his lips and into his thick, mucus-encrusted beard.
‘… I hacked them… I… you see I… they were… reset to take his orders…’
‘Slow down,’ said Maddy. ‘Please. Slow down. You’re not making sense.’
‘… chief technical officer… me… m-me! See?… I was in charge! Exodus! Exodus! ’
‘Exodus?’
‘P-project… the project. Exodus… I was chief t-technical officer.’ The old man squatted down on the cool floor, his painfully malnourished body already exhausted from the rush of excitement.
Cato crouched down beside them. ‘Ask him if he was one of the Visitors.’
‘Oh, I think he must be,’ replied Maddy.
‘R-Rashim… m-my name… it… it’s Rashim!’ he replied in broken Latin. ‘Yes! I… I was one of them! I w-was there! I was THERE!’
Sal came over to join them. ‘I’ve bound Liam up and… Jahulla!’ Her eyes took in the ruined facsimile of a human being, tucked into a foetal huddle on the floor. She stifled a gasp. ‘Who is that?’
‘We think he’s one of the Visitors,’ Maddy whispered in reply. She turned back to the man. ‘What happened to you?’ she asked. ‘What happened to the others?’
Rashim’s wild eyes danced from Cato to her. ‘B-betrayed! My fault
… oh my G-God it… it w-was all my fault I… I j-just wanted to… I never thought that… I… Oh God! OhGodOhGodOhGod — ’
Maddy touched his hand, held it to calm him down. ‘Shhh. It’s OK, it’s OK. You’re safe now. We’re going to get you out of here.’
‘No… m-must listen. Y-you must listen to m-me now!’ He snatched his hand from her. ‘Time! Not m-much time! It… it… it h-happens soon!’
