As we got settled in, we felt the shiplurching under our feet as it was pushed away from the dock by menwith long poles, followed by the splash as the oars dropped intothe water. The Hortator beganbeating his rhythm, and we were underway. Bronwen had been veryquiet, and I did not press her to talk, content to let her tell meif she needed anything, while Alex and Septimus almost immediatelyput a board on the small table attached to the deck to begin a gameof Ludus Lantruculorum,although we simply call it tables. This interested Bronwen a greatdeal, and they invited her to sit and watch as they explained thegame, leaving me at loose ends, so I decided to go up on deck.Before I did, however, I put on my baltea and the harness, not fooling Alex in theslightest.
“You going to put the fear of Dis intoour ship’s master?” he asked as I opened the door, not even lookingaway from the game.
“Something like that,” I admitted,thinking that I should have known better.
Emerging up onto the upper deck, Iimmediately noticed the stiff breeze coming from the bow, which waspointing south, and I wondered if we would have a headwind theentire way. As usually happened, the men of the deck crew cast aquick glance at me, then began looking away before their mindcaught up with their eyes, although this time I was unsure whetherit was my size or the fact that I had a gladius strapped to my hip. Demeter’s back wasturned, but his second at the steering oar saw me, and he alertedthe master, who spun about, with, I noticed, the grace and agilityof a cat. I saw his eyes go to the gladius, and I braced myself for some sort ofconfrontation.
Which meant I was completely unprepared forhim to grin, point to the weapon, and ask, “Are you expectingpirates? Because,” he laughed, “you are early. There are not anyskulking about the mouth of the Rhodanus. When we get beyondCrete?” He shrugged. “That is another matter altogether.”
Since he was not being overtly contentious,I kept my tone pleasant as I said, half-truthfully, “I’ve beenwearing one so long that when I don’t, I feel naked.”
He seemed to accept this, nodding, then hesaid, “So I was correct. You are, or were,” he corrected, “in theLegions.”
“You were,” I confirmed, “and I amnow.”
“I will also guess that you are leasta, what do they call it, Optio?”
I felt certain that he knew I was inthe Centurionate and was having some fun at my expense, but I didnot take the bait, simply saying, “I am the Quartus Pilus Prior ofthe 1st Legion.”
“The1st?” This clearly startledhim, but when he turned to ask his second if he recalled where the1st was stationed, in Greek, Idecided to pretend as if I did not understand, thinking it mightcome in handy. The second was correct, answering that it wasUbiorum, and Demeter asked curiously, “What is the Centurion incommand of a Cohort based in Germania on the Rhenus doing here,sailing in the opposite direction?”
“It’s a long story,” I told him, notintending to be more forthcoming, but then I thought about it anddecided it did not hurt for him to know part of the story. “We weresailing back to Ubiorum when we were hit by a storm that damagedour ship and we were blown off course to the northwest. Part of thedamage was losing our mast, and we were rowing south to landsomewhere in Gaul when we were attacked by six ships.”
Unsurprisingly, this interested the Rhodian,except that he shook his head, not in a disbelieving manner, but inpuzzlement.
“I have never heard there are piratesin the Mare Germania, at least from Gaul.”
“The navarch of our ship said the same thing,” Ireplied. “But it doesn’t really matter where they came from. Whatthey did was force us to row even further west, which put us closerto Britannia than anywhere else, and we were out of water andalmost out of food. So,” I shrugged, “we landed in Parisiilands.”
“You mean they let you land?” heasked, and this time, he was clearly skeptical, so I explainedeverything, about Ivomagus and the Parisii crew, and how we wereseemingly allowed to effect repairs, deciding as I went not tomention our foray into Brigantes land. “The night before we weregoing to sail home, Cogidubnus hosted a feast and invited me and myofficers to attend. Then,” I shrugged, “they beat my officers,knocked me out, and took me as a hostage demanding ransom. It wasraised, but it cost my family more than they canafford.”
Demeter had been listening, and when Ifinished, he did not say anything for a long moment, staring aheadas we approached the mouth of the Rhodanus, and he broke thesilence first.
“Forgive me for asking, Centurion, butnone of that explains why you are going the wrong way?”
Whether it was the words themselves orthe way in which he said it, I had to laughingly agree. “That’s agood question.” Just returning my mind to our present circumstanceswiped the smile from my face, and I had to make a decision on howmuch to share. In my mind was Septimus’ conviction that Demeter wasa pirate, and how people of a certain sort tend to congregatetogether, but I did not truly think that Demeter would be familiarwith the name, so I explained, “Almost two years ago, a member ofmy family was tricked into putting up a large sum of money to buy acargo that didn’t exist, and we have good information that the manwho did it is in Alexandria. And,” I finished grimly, “I’m going toget whatever money the cunnushas left and return it to my family.”
Demeter did not say anything, prompting meto glance over at him, and he was frowning, but I was completelyunprepared for him to ask, “Centurion, will you tell me more aboutthis family member of yours? And how he was fooled?” I suppose hethought I might take offense, because he added, “I have no wish toembarrass this person, whoever it is, I assure you.”
Oh, I don’t think he’d be embarrassednow because he’s dead, and for the briefest instant,
