Hostage to Fortuna

the Eunostos. Normally, it would besomething I did not even notice, but lugging those two chests mademe feel as if I was laboring up one of the mountains in Gaul. Mytunic was already soaked through, and while the makeshift harnessstrapped to my bare skin had been comfortable when we set out, ithad begun to chafe, and I was beginning to think that my arms mightactually be pulled out of their sockets. Nevertheless, I made it,feeling the slope of the paving bricks moving downward, and I wasthankful that the noise of the others behind me huffing and puffingdrowned out my own panting. Without Demeter or me saying anything,the men carrying the chests had picked up their pace, forcing me todo the same as we raced the sun. The causeway was not deserted, andthere was no way to truly hide the fact that what was being hauledin these chests was heavy, which, given their construction,practically screamed what was contained in them. I ignored thestares of the few dozen men, some of them crewmen of one of theships that had berthed in between us and the Persephone, others being dock workers who forwhatever reason had arrived before the workday actually started. Ionly learned later that, as he tends to do, Alex had thought ahead,refilling his purse and, with Gaius, Septimus, and Theodotus, whohe had learned spoke the native Egyptian tongue, trailed behind us,stopping at each man or group of men to have a quiet word thatincluded the dropping of a couple of coins into palms. In themoment, all that mattered to me was identifying thePersephone, something that I had noteven thought about when we set out, only now realizing that whenone is looking down a causeway where dozens of ships are berthed,in semi-darkness they all look the same to someone like me, and Ihad not thought to count. Not surprisingly, it was Demeter whosaved me from the ignominy of walking—staggering would be a betterterm—past the Persephone;perhaps he realized I was about to do so, because from somewherebehind me, he suddenly materialized next to me, smilingbroadly.

“Here we are, Centurion,” he extendedhis hand, indicating our ship, which I would have definitely walkedpast, although I ascribe it to my fatigue and not my ignorance innautical matters. “Let us get aboard now, starting withyou.”

I did not even bother to try hiding mygratitude, but as difficult as the bridge had been, the plank,while much shorter, was at a steeper angle. It was the sight ofBronwen, standing next to it on the deck, that propelled me upward,although I was panting so hard that I could not even return hergreeting. Without thinking, once I was safely out of the way, Idropped both chests, and they smashed into the deck with enoughforce that it earned me a sharp rebuke from Demeter, which I meeklyaccepted. As the others ascended the plank, Bronwen approached me,and I saw that she was unsure what she should say or do.

“I’d hug you,” I finally managedbetween pants and with a grin, “but I don’t think I can lift myarms right now.”

“Why do you assume I would want you tohug me?” she teased, then held her nose. “You stink, Gnaeus.” Thismade me laugh, then her smile faded. “It appears that you weresuccessful?” She phrased it as a question, so I assured her that wehad been, then she asked, “What about Aviola?”

“He’s dead,” I answered tersely, thenthought to add, “But he got an easier death than hedeserved.”

I was thinking of Gaius Pullus when I saidthis, and thinking of him made me begin looking for Septimus,Gaius, and Alex, but they were still not aboard. Hurrying to theside of the ship, I saw them still down on the causeway, which waswhen I saw what they were doing, as Alex had his hand extendedabove the outstretched palm of a man in the kind of garb Alex wasstill wearing.

“Clever,” I had to admit, but when Iturned to explain to Bronwen, I learned there was noneed.

“He is paying them for their silence,”she observed, speaking in a matter-of-fact manner that made meraise an eyebrow. She responded by shrugging. “My father did itquite often when we were on a trading voyage.”

Now, I wondered, why would Praesutagas, whoBronwen declared was an honest merchant known for his fair dealing,need to bribe people to keep their mouths shut? This thought stayedin my head and has never been uttered aloud, although now I supposethis counts, but I am learning as I go that there are some thingsbetween a man and a woman that are best left unsaid, orunasked.

We continued to watch, and finally, thethree of them came striding up the plank, broad grins on theirfaces. Grins, I realized, that I could plainly see without the needfor torches or lamps, and I glanced over in the direction of theRoyal Theater to see that the top of it was outlined in pink. Thethree of them headed for me, and we shared a moment of triumph,laughing and hugging each other; or, more accurately, they huggedme.

When Alex asked why I was not hugging themback, I was too tired to lie, admitting simply, “I can’t. My armsdon’t work right now.”

Whether it was the words or the manner inwhich I said it, the three of them burst out laughing, and Bronwengiggled, while I was left to glare at them.

“You know what the best part is?” Alexaddressed this to Septimus, who answered immediately, “Yes. Hecan’t hit us for laughing at him.”

Despite trying to maintain my pretense ofbeing irritated, I joined in, although I did warn, “You better hopeI forget about this.” Turning back to what they had done, I askedthem, “What did you tell those men when you were giving themmoney?”

“The truth,” Alex replied immediately,but I was certain that he was not serious, so I turned to Septimus,who nodded.

“We told them we had just robbed arich Roman,” he confirmed, then the two of them could no longerrestrain their grins as Alex picked up, “They all thought it was awonderful thing we were doing, and swore to be silent if anyonecame poking around.”

This did make me laugh, as