“By the gods,” I groaned, but I waslaughing as I said it. “Not thatagain.”
“I told you,” Bronwen said teasingly,“but you would not believe me!”
“All right.” I held both hands up,turned to the woman, and gave her a deep bow, addressing Bronwen asI did. “Please tell her that I am honored to wear such amagnificent cloak, and that I am sure it will keep me warm…andsafe.”
When Bronwen finished, the woman wasbeaming, and while she was not attractive in any sense of the word,I did see that she had a pleasant smile when she chose to use it ina genuine manner. With a bit of ceremony, she handed me the cloak,which I accepted with the same solemnity, then wrapped it around myshoulders, which was when I realized that I did not have afibula. And, of course, among theother things Bronwen’s father sold, fibulae were prominently displayed. When I tooka step in that direction, it was actually Meriadoc who reactedfirst, but only after he looked past me to where Matugenus wasstanding behind me, who obviously signaled him, because he pushedhimself off the wall and hurried in my direction. I pivoted so thatI was standing facing him directly, and I was pleased to see himcome to an abrupt halt, his expression practically screaming theidea that he wanted to be somewhere else. When I stared directly inhis eyes, as I expected, he broke the gaze first, and I slowlyturned back to face Bronwen, but I was careful not to look directlyat her but the row of cloak clasps. At least, I pretended to; Igave them barely a glance and just pointed to the first one thatcaught my eye.
“I’d like that one, please,” I said,not even using her name, but while I was not looking at her when Isaid it, her reaction caused me to look up at her, because she wasclearly surprised.
“Are you certain, Centurion? Thisone?”
It was when she pointed to it that Irealized why she had been caught off guard; the clasp was made ofgold, but finely worked so that it looked something like avitus, although it was in thesemicircular shape of a fibula, while the pin was made of polished bone,the larger end capped with gold as well. Certainly, it was ofexquisite quality; it was also something that, if I ever stood information in my sagum wearingit, I would never hear the end of it.
Still, I heard myself say, “Yes, I’mcertain. How much?”
“Oh,” she began, “I couldnot…”
This was when I turned my gaze awayfrom the fibula to look herin the eyes, trying to warn her.
Fortunately, she instantly understood howdangerous it would be if she refused to accept payment and how itwould be viewed by Berdic, so she said hurriedly, “That piece costsfour gold pieces, Centurion.”
It was extraordinarily expensive, butI did not care, and I confess the thought did cross my mind that,considering how much gold was heading this way to secure myrelease, I should have been able to simply tell her to take it outof that. Instead, I opened my pouch, and rummaging around,extracted four aurei, which,I had observed, are quite a bit smaller than the gold coins used bythe Parisii. Regardless, she took them without any reaction thatmight indicate the amount was not enough, while I took care not totouch her hand with my fingers, despite how badly I wanted to. ThenI picked up the fibula andused it to fasten my new cloak. I did not say anything to her, justgave a nod, then turned and walked directly towards Matugenus, notslowing down, thereby forcing him to hop out of the way, whichelicited some chuckles from the onlookers. Since I was past him, hedid not see my smile.
I did not go into Petuar the next day, orthe next, and I cannot say I detected any change in the demeanor ofIvomagus, or any of the guards. Until, that is, I announced that Iwould like to go into Petuar three days later.
“May I ask why?”
This was an unusual question from Ivomagusat this point, but I still was not suspicious, answering with alaugh, “Because I’m fucking bored, Ivomagus. Besides,” I patted mybelly and grinned, “I haven’t had Esselt’s cooking in days, and I’mmissing it.” He did smile at this, but he still did not make anymove to call for the horses to be saddled, and this was when Iexperienced a stab of concern. “Why are you hesitating like this?”I asked suspiciously. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing!” He waved a hand at me. “Iam not hiding anything.”
Before I could tell him that I was notbuying what he was selling, he called for Gorteryn, one of theguards watching me this day. When the dour young warrior enteredthe room, Ivomagus ordered him to saddle three horses; I hadlearned enough of the Parisii to recognize words like “horse” and“three.”
When I got up to follow Gorteryn, Ivomagussaid, “Do not eat too much, Gnaeus.” He grinned when I turned backto look at him quizzically. “I did not want to tell you this, butyou look like you have put on some weight.”
“Gerrae!” Iexclaimed, forgetting he would have no idea what that meant, but Ihad to stop myself from glancing down at my waist. “You’retalking cac!”
Ivomagus laughed, but he gave a shrug that Iknew was meant to convey his skepticism, and I grabbed my crotchbefore I left the room. I mention this because it was a momentwhere I remember thinking just how strange life can be sometimes.Not that long before, I would have been perfectly happy to slitIvomagus from cock to breastbone and laugh as his guts fell out,but now we were treating each other as comrades who had spent yearsunder the standard together. When I exited the hall, Gorteryn wasleading the horses up, and he gave me the morose look that
