The Rhodian was scared, I could see, but hewas also angry, and I am the one who made the first move bylowering him until his feet were firmly back on the deck.
“I apologize, Demeter,” I said, and Iwas being sincere, somewhat; I had not forgotten we needed him. “Ishouldn’t have lost my temper like that, but as Alex said, this issomething a Legionary of Rome would never do. So, if he was wearingit, he is a man who served his time under the standard.”
Whether it was the apology or the tone Iused as I conveyed this subject was closed, what mattered was thatDemeter accepted it with a nod and offered his own.
“I did not mean to cast aspersions onyour countrymen, Centurion. I spoke in…haste. And…” his expressionaltered slightly, but I put a hand on him again, except this time,it was in a gesture of friendship and sympathy as I clasped hisshoulder.
“And it has been,” I said, “a tryingday.”
I supposed it was my understatement thatmade him laugh, albeit with a bitter edge, but he agreed, “That ithas, Centurion. That it has.”
Returning our attention to what needed to bedone, we spoke no more about killing fellow Romans; instead, wediscussed how to neutralize them temporarily, but long enough thatthey could not raise the alarm.
“What about me?”
At first, I thought I was hearing things,but I saw both Septimus, who was now going along, and Alex, turn insurprise to Gaius, who had wisely kept his mouth shut up to thismoment.
“What about you?” Idemanded.
“What if I tell them I’m lost and needtheir help?” he replied. “They’ll be able to tell that I’m Roman bymy accent.”
More out of curiosity than any idea thiswould go anywhere, I asked him, “And what story would you betelling them?”
“That I’m sailing with my father, it’smy first voyage, and I sneaked off our ship to see Alexandria, andI got lost.”
It was, I thought, absurd. And yet, I alsorealized that there was something to it. One glance over atSeptimus and Alex told me they were of a like mind, and when Ilooked over at Demeter, he shrugged.
“It is not the worst idea I haveheard, Centurion,” he allowed, and perhaps in a token that he didnot bear me a grudge for earlier, he grinned, “and the gods knowthat the crew of the Persephoneand I have gotten aboard a ship on flimsierpretenses.”
To my utter surprise, the one person whoobjected, and strenuously, was Bronwen.
“Surely you are not seriouslyconsidering this!” She had been sitting at the table, and she stoodup so abruptly, it would have knocked the chair over if it had notbeen fastened to the deck. “He cannot go! It is too dangerous, andhe is just a boy!”
I actually winced, thinking; oh, my love,how could you be so foolish? Now I realize it was because she hadno brothers, at least that survived to be Gaius’ age. If she had,she would have known that, of all the things she could have said,this was the worst.
“I’m not!” Gaius wheeled on her, andbecause of where I was standing, I got a good glimpse of his face,which made me realize something; he was not just angry because hewas like every teenage boy, he was wounded that it was Bronwen whosaid this. “I’m a Pullus, and you’re not! It’s in my blood! Justlike,” he extended a hand to point at me, “your lover!”
Pluto’s cock, he’s in love with her, Ithought miserably, and while I was angry, it was not at him but atmyself, recognizing that my choice to ignore all the little thingsduring the voyage, where he made sure to be near her whenever hehad the chance, always eager to talk to her but suddenly not havingthe words to say anything when he did, which I had viewed withquiet amusement, had been a mistake, and a grievous one atthat.
“He’s going,” I spoke up, and only nowafter the fact do I acknowledge that this was due more to the ideaof postponing what would be an extremely awkward conversation thanmy acceptance of the idea. “We’re going to send him ahead. Just,” Iheld up a hand towards Bronwen, “a short distance ahead of us. Andhe’ll tell his story. While he’s doing that, it will give us achance to get close enough where we can surprise them withouthaving to kill anyone.”
With this small crisis averted for themoment, we turned to the practical matter of the size of ourparty.
“Two or three men together, at thetime of night we are going to be moving,” Demeter had said, “willnot attract much attention. But,” he warned, “it has to be soon,just after midnight. If we wait much longer, we will arousesuspicion no matter how many of us are together.”
“That doesn’t give us much time,” Alexmoved to the open shutters, peering up at the sky. “It’s alreadyclose to midnight as it is.”
“It makes sense that Gaius, Demeter,and Marcellus go first,” Alex said. “Then Gnaeus, Septimus, and Iwill follow. We’ll give you,” he thought for a moment, “to a slowcount to five hundred before we start out.”
When Demeter asked if Alex was certain hecould find his way in the dark, he held up a second tablet,grinning as he answered, “This is why I counted our steps and thedirections.”
Not surprisingly, Demeter wasimpressed; of our party, only Bronwen was clearly upset, but Ineither felt it was proper nor did I have the urge to take heraside at this moment to soothe her fears. One thing this had done,however, was remind me of something, and I walked over to the chestthat contained all of my personal clothing and uniform items.Kneeling down, I opened it, and after shifting around the contents,I found what I was looking for, a small leather bag. In terms ofactual space and size, it is not much, yet next to thegladius and the scrolls, it is themost precious item in my possession.
“I can’t believe I forgot aboutit.”
I heard the words and
