I was awakened by the raysof the sun showing through the cracks in the shutter, but when Iglanced over, I saw Bronwen was still sleeping soundly, so ascarefully as I could, I dropped to the deck, picked up my boots,and slipped out of the cabin. It was when I came up onto the deckthat I received a shock; the sun was off our left side.Pluto’s cock, I thought;Bronwen and I had slept through an entire day! This was my firstthought, but fairly quickly, I realized that the quality of thelight was not what one associates with sundown. I saw Gnaeus, butwhile he was at the bow as he had been, he was sitting down withhis back to the side, talking to Marcellus. However, before I couldmake my way there, I heard my name called, and I turned to seeSquillus, along with his second in command, standing on the upperdeck at the steering oar. As I climbed the ladder, it struck methat the sail was now out, which either meant the wind had shifted,or…
“Your Centurion better begood for this,” Squillus said as I approached. “He said to talk toyou about payment.”
Now I was hopelessly confused.
“We already settled on theprice,” I shook my head. “And I paid you half.”
“To go to Ubiorum,” hereplied. “Not back to Gesoriacum.”
This was when I understood. It was notsundown, it was dawn, and we were now heading in the oppositedirection. I hastily assured Squillus that Gnaeus was good to hisword, ignoring his protests that he needed more assurance than thatas I dropped down the ladder, and while I did not run, I did crossthe main deck as rapidly as I could. Gnaeus saw me coming, but hedid not get up, although he said something to Marcellus that becameapparent when the former Optio got up and walked towards me as Igot to the upper deck of the bow. He did not say anything, justgave a nod, then I dropped down next to Gnaeus, who did not evenglance in my direction as I did.
“You turned us around,” Isaid this in a conversational tone.
“Yes.”
When he said nothing else, I bit the insideof my cheek to not snap at him to be more forthcoming, knowing itwould make it worse.
Instead, I tried to reason with him bypointing out, “Gnaeus, going to Arelate isn’t going to helpanything. And,” I added what I thought was the most importantthing, “we have to report back to the Legion as quickly aspossible. I don’t think Sacrovir will punish you because of allthat’s happened, but if we go to Arelate first…”
“We’re not going toArelate,” he interrupted, although he still did not look atme.
I thought I had caught up, but I was back tobeing as confused as I was moments before when I came up ondeck.
“Well,” I asked what Ithought was the reasonable question, “where arewe going?”
Now he did look at me, but with anexpression that, if you were to ask him, he would claim is the wayI look at him when I think he is being thick.
“Alexandria, of course!We’re going to Alexandria, we’re going to hunt down thatcunnus Aviola, and we’re going toget that four hundred thousand sestercesback from him.”
I cannot honestly say what I found the mostshocking, the destination itself or the way Gnaeus told me, as ifthe answer was obvious.
“But…what about theLegion? What about Sacrovir? What,” I swallowed the sudden lump inmy throat, “about Germanicus?”
This was the first time in this briefconversation where I saw that Gnaeus was not acting impulsively ashe turned to look at me for the first time, and I saw in his eyesthat he understood the risk he was running.
“I couldn’t live withmyself if I didn’t do everything in my power to help my family,Alex. So,” he shrugged, “if we’re successful, and Germanicus has meexecuted for desertion, at least I’ll know that it was worth it.And if we’re not?” He shrugged, but he did look away as hefinished, “I don’t want to live with that shame, so he’ll be doingme a favor.”
And, I thought, what about us, Gnaeus? Whatabout your family? How do you think we’d feel, either way? Even ifwe do get that money back, if you’re executed for not returning toUbiorum at the first opportunity, the Pullus line ends with you. Ifwe don’t, and you’re executed, the result is even worse. This waswhat was running through my mind, but I also knew better than tosay any of this, because I know Gnaeus Pullus well enough to knowwhen he has made up his mind.
Learning the truth, that my ransom hadforced Septimus to put up the villa for security, was therealization of my worst nightmare, so that while I was notsurprised, it still felt like I was being punched in my gut, but Idid not hesitate in my decision to order Squillus to turn the shiparound. Honestly, he was fortunate, because I was only in my tunicand my gladius was in thecabin below when his first response was to refuse. Whether it wasthe look in my eyes or the fact that I stepped up close to him sothat he was between me and the side of the ship, with the coldwater just a few feet below, Squillus did see the error of hisways. When he demanded that he be paid over the agreed amount,making the argument that he was missing an opportunity to pick upsome cargo in Lugdunum Batovorum for a last run before winter setin, I did not quibble, if only because I had no idea whether Alexhad enough money on him; if he did not, I would simply giveSquillus the choice between missing another opportunity for thisseason or losing all of the opportunities ahead of him for the restof his days.
Once I was satisfied that we were turningabout, I went back to the bow and sat down, which was where Alexfound me. When I told him that we were heading for Alexandria, Icould see how badly he wanted to argue with me, but he wisely kepthis mouth shut, and
