“How do we eat it?” Bronwen askedtimidly, and when the merchant turned to her, she gave him abrilliant smile; watching his reaction, I thought with a fairamount of humor, Who’s hooked now, fat man?
“Why, beautiful lady,” he returned hersmile, “there are two ways to experience the peppercorn on its own.One is to simply hold it in one’s mouth and allow it to soften,where it will release its flavor. It is true that this is slower,”he allowed, “but the taste is most pleasant. Or,” he shrugged, “youcan crush it between the teeth.”
“We don’t have much time,” I said as Ipopped mine into my mouth, “so I’m going to do the second thing.”Putting it between my back teeth, I crunched down…and ignited atiny fire in my mouth, and before I could stop myself, I wascoughing as I gasped, “Pluto’s cock!”
The reactions of Alex and Septimus, whileperhaps not as extreme, were similar, while Bronwen spat it outthen began wiping her tongue on the sleeve of her gown. Gaius, onthe other hand, seemed completely unaffected, munching itcontentedly, while Demeter watched on with completely unsurprisedamusement.
“You’ve tasted this before, haven’tyou?” I demanded.
“Perhaps,” he shrugged, but then hebegan laughing as he admitted, “and I reacted the same way thefirst time.”
However, something happened after my initialreaction as I realized that, while there was a burning sensation onmy tongue, it was actually not unpleasant, and there was anaftertaste that was sharp and pungent. A quick glance around at theothers told me that, with one exception, they were of a like mind;only Bronwen was still intent on spitting out the little pieces andbits that remained in her mouth.
“Can you imagine what this would tastelike with garum?” Septimusasked aloud, which was exactly what I had been thinking.
“How much would a basket that sizecost?” I asked the merchant impulsively.
“Five thousand drachmae,” he answered, without hesitation. Itwas an outrageous sum, but this merchant was either a mind readeror he had run into this before, because he assured me, “But if youwere to sell this in Rome, you would be able to charge four,perhaps five times that much.”
Now, when I look back on it, this was themoment that the seed of an idea was born, one that is only now as Idictate this coming to fruition, and it was helped along by thefact that both Septimus and Alex were thinking along the samelines.
“It’s…not bad,” I said grudgingly.“Although,” I laughed ruefully, “it starts out like I put a hotcoal in my mouth.”
The merchant beamed, noddingenthusiastically. “Now you can understand, large master! Yourfellow Romans would be willing to pay anything to usepeppercorns!”
While I was not sure of that, I was willingto concede, “They probably will be willing to pay what you say,four or five times as much.”
Suddenly, the merchant moved with animbleness I found surprising, sliding down his stall to theopposite end, where he pointed down at another basket, but thistime, he gestured to Bronwen as he called out, “Here is anotherdelight, lovely mistress! One that, while different from thepeppercorn, I believe you will appreciate at least as much!”
Naturally, she did not hesitate, movingeagerly to the basket the merchant was indicating, and when he madea gesture, she leaned down to sniff the contents. Even from where Iwas standing, I saw the effect, her cheeks suddenly becomingflushed, and whereas before she had been anything but happy aboutthe peppercorns, this time, she gave me a dazzling smile.
“Gnaeus! Come! You must smellthis!”
I walked over to her, but this time, when Icopied her and bent down to smell the contents, I was alreadysmiling, because this was one with which I was familiar.
“It’s kinnamon,” I told her. “My mother likes this agreat deal.”
If the merchant was disappointed that I hadruined his moment, he hid it well, bowing to me in a show ofacknowledgement as he confirmed, “Master Pullus is correct,beautiful lady. This,” his voice dropped, and he leaned forward ashe glanced around, giving the idea that he was imparting a greatsecret, “comes from lands so far away, they have no name! And,” hisvoice fell to a whisper, and despite the fact that I knew what hewas doing, I found myself as engaged as Bronwen, “the grove fromwhich this comes is guarded by huge, scaly beasts with wings thatenable them to fly, and they can ignite the air with their ownbreath! It is,” he assured us, “very, very dangerous for men toattempt to steal this precious, precious item.”
“And,” I could not resist, “let meguess. This is also very, very expensive.”
“Of course, Master Pullus,” themerchant replied as if I was stating the obvious, which I suppose Iwas. “In fact, in many ways, it is more valuable than thepeppercorn because it has so many uses.”
This made sense, because my memoryof kinnamon comes from mymother’s favorite perfume that used it, but I recalled hermentioning that it had other uses. As interesting and diverting asthis was, when I glanced over at Demeter, he had only to glanceover at the rising sun to remind me that time was the one thing wecould not afford, unless I was willing to risk that the men Alexand Septimus had bribed would keep their collective mouths shut andnot blurt out how they had seen a group of men lugging what couldonly be described as a vast amount of money that they had takenfrom a rich Roman along the Heptastadion.
“We need to be moving on,” I announcedto the group, and I confess that I enjoyed the crestfallenexpression on the merchant’s face as we left his stall,emptyhanded.
Our, or I should say,my trial was not over, and I suspectthat Demeter leading us past the cloth merchants was not done byaccident either, although he never admitted it. Bronwen had beenwalking just ahead of me as I talked quietly to Alex and Septimus,when she came to a sudden stop, staring at something. The instant Ifollowed her gaze and saw what it was, I could not stifle agroan.
Alex and Septimus, however, had theopposite reaction, Alex nudging me to make sure I could see himgrinning at me as he said, “You better
