“It’s a bit more…complicated than that,”Masala allowed before hurrying on when he saw Primus’ eyes narrow.“But trust me when I tell you that the amount I'm talking about faroutweighs the amount you'd get from selling those men.”
“Then hurry up and tell me,” Primus snapped,his patience wearing thin.
And Masala did, explaining what had happenedwith Cleitos at the end of the battle, how he had been releasedwith the promise of payment of the three talents, and that thesemen who Primus thought were being sent to be gladiators wereactually hostages acting as surety for the delivery of themoney.
“But you brought me the man’s head,” Primuscomplained, clearly confused at what he had been told.
“It wasn’t actually Cleitos,” Masala saidpatiently, repeating what he had told Primus just moments before.“It was his half-brother.”
“So you deceived me.” Primus’ lips tightenedinto a thin line, his mouth almost disappearing from his fatface.
Except that he was not looking at Masala; hewas looking at me. My heart started thudding heavily in my chestand I fully expected that I was on my own, that Masala would notdare to open his mouth. The young man surprised meconsiderably.
“Praetor, this was my idea. The Prefect wasprepared to carry out your order, but I intervened and convincedhim to participate in doing something that I knew would be to yourbenefit in the long run.”
Primus looked stricken, but I do not knowwhether it was from the feeling that he had been betrayed byMasala, or that he could not take all of his wrath out on me.
“But I gave you very explicit instructions,”Primus protested weakly, one hand flopping about like a woundedbird. “I told you to kill him so that we could sow more unrestamong the Thracians.”
“Yes, you did,” Masala agreed. “But at thismoment, which would you rather have? Thracians squabbling, or threemore talents?”
That clinched the argument, greed easilywinning out over the chance of political instability in theregion.
“Very well. I agree that I may have beenhasty,” Primus finally allowed, before giving his young aide a gazethat was unsettling in its menace. “But that money better show up,or I'll have to take the appropriate action, no matter how fond Imay be of you. Do you understand, Masala?”
Masala gave a brief bow of his head toindicate that he understood very well, and I relaxed somewhat.However, Primus was not through as he turned to look at me now.
“And that goes for you as well, Prefect. Youwere given specific instructions by me, and you disobeyed them.” Iopened my mouth to protest, Primus cutting me off with a sharpgesture of one hand. “I know that you were convinced to do so by myaide, but you should have known better. So you're as liable asMasala in deceiving me.”
I saw there was no sense in arguing thepoint, so I said nothing, and we were dismissed to leave Primus tofume about what had happened.
“That went better than I thought,” Masalacommented as we left the Praetorium.
“I’m glad you think so,” I shot back. “Nowwe better hope Cleitos delivers.”
“Oh, he will,” Masala said with an assurancethat surprised me.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because I received a message from himyesterday. He's on his way with the money and an army, as promised.Apparently, his father succumbed suddenly and Cleitos is now theleader of the Medi, and he's grateful for us making all of thatpossible.”
I know this was good news, and I should havebeen pleased, but there was something about all of this I founddisquieting in the extreme. Perhaps it was the idea of havinganother Thracian army in the vicinity. We had moved our camp to aspot less than a mile from the walls of Serdica, on the side nextto the river so that we had a ready supply of water, simply digginga channel from it. Aristoxenus had asked for two weeks to gatherthe money and Primus had given him one, which I was sure whatAristoxenus had planned. It seemed to me that the Serdi leader hadtaken the measure of Marcus Primus and his greed, and I admit thatit did make me wonder just how much money that the Serdi did havethat they could pay us five talents so quickly. I am sure that itwas that thought that tormented the Praetor and, at odd moments, Iwould catch him staring at the walls of the city with a wistfulexpression. I knew that it was not for dreams of military glory inleading an assault on the city, so I can only imagine that it wasthe thought of all the money he supposed was stuffed inside thewalls. I half-expected an order summoning me to thePraetorium to hear that the Praetor had changed his mind anddecided we would take the city, yet somehow he managed to restrainhimself.
As promised, Cleitos and his army arrivedthe day before Aristoxenus was scheduled to deliver the money. Evenbetter, at least as far as Primus was concerned, Cleitos broughtseveral heavily laden wagons carrying the promised three talents.For the rest of us, however, this meant a much larger complication.Now that Primus had achieved his own personal goal of extorting afortune from the Serdi, along with the windfall provided byCleitos, this meant we had a baggage train that, at least in termsof speed, rivaled the one that slowed us down so much in Parthia,with the departed Marcus Antonius. With this goal accomplished,there was still the larger one of exacting vengeance on theTriballi, and time was of the essence since the season was morethan halfway over. At least, that was my, and truthfully, the restof the army's assumption. Then, the night of Cleitos' arrival,Diocles came rushing into my private quarters, his face flushedfrom running all the way from the tent of one of his friends whoworked in the Praetorium.
"You're not going to like this," he saidbreathlessly. I had long since learned that Diocles was not oneprone to exaggerate, so I dropped the scroll I had been reading andbeckoned to him to continue. "I just heard from Androcles that heoverheard Primus saying that as
