“They’ve been sitting on their fuckingbenches for the better part of a day!” I shot back, but this wasthe moment when the idea occurred to me, and while it set my teethon edge, I modulated my voice to say, “But you’re the expert inthese matters, so I will leave it to your bestjudgment.”
Even if the lamp had not been lit, Iwould have seen the relief on his face, and he did not hesitate torush out of the cabin, presumably to go inform theHortator and the rest of the crewthat they would not be working this night.
Alex waited long enough to hear Cador open,then shut the door into the main compartment before he turned toask, “What are you doing, Gnaeus?”
“Once Cador leaves the maincompartment and goes back up on deck, I want you to go find…” Iconfess I had to search for his name, then recalled it, “…Motiusand bring him here. And,” I suddenly thought of something, “bringSaloninus as well.”
It took longer than I anticipated, but whenAlex returned with both Saloninus and the man I now placed with thename Motius, who had saved the oarsman who lost his seat, I did notwaste time.
“What is your position on this ship?”I asked him directly.
Motius was younger than Cador, but theinstant he entered the cabin, with the aid of the light providedfrom the lamp, while I cannot articulate any reason why, I wascertain that the chain of command on this ship was wrong.
“Now that Vellocatus is gone,” he didnot hesitate, although his accent was much thicker than Cador’s,making him harder to understand, “I would be the second in command,Centurion.”
“Should you be the Navarch of this vessel?”
“Yes,” he answered immediately, andwith no hesitation, but while it seemed to confirm my suspicions, Icautioned myself to refrain from my normal state of simply plungingahead.
“Explain why you’re not.”
“Cador has not been a member of thiscrew very long,” he began with no hesitation. “And while he fooledVellocatus, he did not fool me.”
“Fool him how?”
Motius turned to Saloninus, who had askedthe question from where he was leaning against the side of theship, arms crossed.
“By lying, of course,” Motius saidsimply. “He was able to give Vellocatus names of other ships thathe said he had sailed on.” For the first time, he hesitated, and Isensed there was something more there as he explained, “Vellocatuswas one of the best seamen I have ever sailed with,Optio…”
“He’s a Centurion now,” I interjected,though I do not know why, since it did not matter in thisdiscussion.
“My apologies, Centurion.” Motiusdipped his head to Saloninus. “But as I was saying, whileVellocatus was a great seaman, he was very gullible, and he waseasily persuaded by flattery.”
“And Cador flattered him,” I put in,but rather than simply acknowledge this, Motius’ mouth twisted intowhat I would call a sneer.
“Cador put his tongue so far upVellocatus’ ass, he probably tasted whatever Vellocatus put in hismouth at the same time.”
Despite the circumstances, I could not stopmyself from laughing, as did Alex and Saloninus, which seemed toplease the Gaul; at least, I assumed he was a Gaul.
It was Alex who, in his customary fashion,cut to the heart of the matter by asking, “How long had you sailedwith Vellocatus?”
“Eight years,” Motius answeredbitterly. “But it turned out to mean nothing, not with that…” hepaused to search for the right word in Latin, “…mentula showing up.”
“So,” I decided to return to thelarger question, “are you saying that Cador isn’t a good seaman? Ornavigator?”
The look that Motius gave me then was almostlacerating in its contempt.
“Cador,” he answered flatly, “couldn’tnavigate a ship out of the harbor.” This was damning in itself, butthen he continued and made it even worse. “Cador spent most of histime aboard ships on the rivers in Gaul or always within sight ofland. And,” I could see that he did not like to admit as much, “Isuppose that for a riverman, he does a fair enough job, because heknows about the business or running a ship. But,” he saidominously, “navigating aship? On the open sea?” He shook his head and finished, “He’s justas likely to get us all drowned as he is to get ushome.”
Although this confirmed my suspicion,elaborating on Cador’s shortcomings was not helping matters, andthat was not even taking into account Alex’s discovery thatVellocatus’ security rope had been cut, and the most likely suspectwas Cador.
I pointed down to the map, and as Cador had,I pointed to the approximate spot he had indicated as I said,“Cador thinks this is where we are. What do you say?”
Rather than immediately contradict Cador,Motius said, “I need to go up on deck to look at the stars.”
Naturally, we followed behind him, but hemoved as quickly up the ladder as Cador had come down, so that bythe time I was standing next to him, he had had several heartbeatsto examine the sky. He did not say anything, at least immediately,slowly pivoting about as he gazed at the stars and constellationsthat have guided mariners for only the gods know how long. Then,without a word being spoken, he walked to the hole, and as Cadorhad, slid down the ladder to return to the cabin. It took a fewheartbeats for the rest of us to rejoin him, but once we were backin the cabin, he wasted no time.
“I think,” he began grudgingly, “Cadoris right as far as our position.” This was quite deflating; I couldsee by Alex and Saloninus’ reaction that I was not alone in hopingto discover that he had been off by a hundred miles or more, but hedid add, “Although I will say that I think we may be at leasttwenty miles farther west than Cador thinks. Provided,” he pivotedto look at me, “your finger was on the right spot on the desk thathe showed you.”
I did not like it, but I could not argue theidea it was a strong possibility I had been slightly off.
Preferring to move on, I asked him, “What doyou think we should do now?”
“What?” Motius asked. “Whether
