“Are you satisfied now, Prefect?”
I swallowed hard, but kept my voice even andunder control. “Yes, Praetor. And I apologize for questioningyou.”
Primus actually looked surprised at theapology when he took the scroll back.
“Well, thank you for that, Prefect.” Hetried to sound magnanimous, I will give him that, but he failedmiserably.
He looked around at the others, and I wassomewhat reassured that only Masala looked like he was enjoying thespectacle.
“And now that’s settled, perhaps we cancontinue on the march tomorrow? To Serdica?” Primus was smilingwhen he spoke, but it was not a pleasant smile and, with a sinkingfeeling, I knew that this fat little man would not be satisfiedwith this victory.
“Of course, sir. Again, I apologize, but Ihad to be sure.”
Primus addressed the others, waving thescroll. “Does anyone else wish to question my authority andorders?”
Understandably, nobody stepped forward.Turning back to me, Primus said the only sensible thing that night.“It’s been a long and trying day. I suggest that we all turn in andget a good start in the morning.”
Along with the others, I rendered Primus astiff salute before turning about and filing out with the others.Once we were out of the tent, both Macrinus and Flaminius called tome.
“What was that all about?” Macrinus asked,but before I answered, I looked about carefully.
The Tribunes were heading off to their tenta short distance away and were just out of earshot. However, to besafe, I motioned to the two Primi Pili to follow me farther awayfrom the Praetorium. Since it was shortly past midnight, thecamp was essentially deserted except for the men walking theirposts. However, we were in uniform and had nothing to fear aboutbeing challenged. Once we were where I deemed it safe to talk, Iexplained to them the cause of their summons to thePraetorium. When I was finished, neither man spoke for a fewmoments, trying to digest all that I had told them.
Finally, Macrinus said, “So in the end, yourisked your ass for nothing.”
I did not like the way Macrinus put it, yetthere was really no arguing the point.
“I didn’t think he had received a writtenorder from Augustus,” was my only defense.
“Do you think it’s genuine?” Flaminiusasked, and that was the nub of it.
“Honestly, I don’t know. It looked genuineenough, and it had the seal affixed to it, but I didn’t have timeto sit down and go over it closely. What I find suspicious is whyhe needed the extra time before he showed me the order. If he hadit all along, why wait?”
Macrinus and Flaminius considered this for amoment. Then Flaminius cleared his throat in a way that suggestedhe wanted to say something. When I glanced in his direction, evenin the darkness, illuminated only by a nearby torch, I could see hewas looking distinctly uncomfortable.
“What is it, Flaminius?”
The Primus Pilus did not answer immediately,his eyes shifting from me to Macrinus, and I quickly lostpatience.
“If you have something to say, spit itout.”
“Er, it’s just that I wanted to ask you aquestion, but I don’t want you to think badly of me when I do.”
Mystified, I promised him that I would nothold anything he said against him.
“Before I joined the Legions,” he said,looking everywhere but at me or Macrinus, “I was learning myfather’s trade. Then I decided it wasn’t the life I wanted, so Ijoined the Legions.”
“That’s a very touching story.” I did nothide my sarcasm. “But I’m not sure exactly what that could possiblyhave to do with what we’re talking about.”
“He was a forger,” Flaminius saidquietly.
For a moment, I thought my eyebrows wouldmake it all the way up to my hairline and I could see Macrinus wasno less surprised.
“Go ahead,” I urged him, now that Iunderstood the significance of his words.
“You said that the letter appeared genuine?That it hadn’t been written over?”
I nodded.
“And that it had the seal on it?”
“Yes, yes.” I was getting impatient. “That’swhat I said.”
“Well, my old tata showed me how tolift a seal off an original document and transfer it to another,”he explained. “He always said that it was the hardest kind of fakefor a man to spot, even when he was looking for it. Do you rememberwhat the seal looked like?”
“It was Augustus’ seal,” I replied. “Thatmuch I’m sure of.”
Now it was his turn to become impatient.
“That’s not what I’m talking about. I’mtalking about the seal itself. Did you notice any flaking aroundthe edges of where it was affixed to the vellum?”
I thought hard, but could only shake my headin answer. “Not that I noticed.”
“What about different colors? Sometimes whenthe seal is lifted from the original document, the forger has touse a little extra wax to affix it to the new document. They use aslittle as they can get away with, but if they did that, it wouldlook like it had a very narrow ring around the outer edge.”
Something in his description jarred mymemory, but it was not definitive enough for me to say anythingother than, “I think I saw that.”
“You think?” Flaminius sounded verydisappointed, though not any more than I was.
“I can’t be sure,” I snapped, instantlyregretting taking out my ire on Flaminius, who was only trying tohelp. “I'm sorry, Flaminius. This isn't your fault in any way. Iwish I could definitely say that I saw the different color ringthat you refer to. I think I did, but I can’t be sure.”
“That’s probably what they did then,”Flaminius explained. “That’s why Primus needed the extra time, totransfer the seal from one document to the other. Copying out a setof orders that says what he wants it to say is easy. And as yousaid yourself, it doesn’t matter that it’s not in Augustus’hand.”
“With all respect, Prefect, I think Primusoutfoxed you,” Macrinus put in.
I glared at him, not appreciating hisstatement of what I knew
