Caligula,’ Sabinus urged.
‘This way,’ Caligula said, heading off into the sodden night.
Vespasian took Caenis’ arm and followed. From behind him in the house he could hear the shouting intensify.
They stumbled through the moonless garden, crashing into trees and bushes that tore at their clothes and scratched their skins. The shouting was now outside; looking quickly over his shoulder in its direction Vespasian saw, in the distance, three or four torches coming around the side of the house.
‘They’re heading for the tunnel. Once they find the dead guards they’ll be after us,’ he panted as he held on to Caenis, trying to prevent her from tripping.
Caligula stopped abruptly. ‘Here’s the wall. The tree should be to the right, come on.’
The going was slightly easier now that they had the wall to follow, but it seemed to Vespasian that the shouting was growing nearer; he dared not look behind again for fear of tripping. Caenis was gasping for breath at his side as she struggled on, terrified for her life. The wind drove the rain into their faces making it almost impossible for them to keep their eyes open.
After a gut-wrenching length of time Caligula slowed. ‘Thank the gods, we’re here.’
The crossroads brother on the wall chucked the rope down.
‘The girl goes first,’ Sabinus hissed.
Caenis leapt at the rope and with surprising agility hauled herself up and over the wall. As Caligula took his turn Vespasian looked around; the torches were no more than a hundred paces away and closing fast. Pallas and Cassandros scaled quickly, followed by Magnus.
‘Hurry, hurry,’ Sabinus urged. With Magnus over he grabbed Vespasian. ‘Come on, get up there.’
Vespasian clambered up the rope and got to the top of the wall; he could see the torches, now just thirty paces away, and could make out in their orange halos nearly twenty figures. He reached down to help his brother up, hauling him on to the top of the wall and then pulling the rope up behind him as Sabinus jumped down.
‘There they are, get them,’ came a shout from the garden. Vespasian looked up; their pursuers were almost on them, light from their torches illuminating the tree. An instant before he jumped he locked eyes with their leader; he had only seen him once before, from a distance, but recognised him immediately. Sejanus, he thought as he hit the ground.
CHAPTER XIII
Vespasian picked himself up and sprinted down the alley in his brother’s wake. They found their companions waiting for them on the main street. Apart from them it was completely deserted; the increasingly atrocious weather was keeping even the Night Watch sheltering inside. Back down the alley they could see the torches appearing over the wall as the first Praetorians made it over.
‘Run,’ Sabinus shouted, ‘run like the three-headed hound of Hades is after you.’
They hurtled round the corner and sped down the hill towards Antonia’s house, less than a third of a mile away. The furious speed was too much for Caenis and she slipped on the wet stone surface, falling to the ground with a cry. Vespasian grabbed her arms, pulled her up, threw her over his shoulder and pressed on as fast as he could, aware that the Praetorians had now rounded the corner of the alley and were racing down the hill behind them.
Caligula came skidding to a halt in front of Antonia’s door and thumped on it repeatedly.
‘We’ll carry on down the hill and try to lead them away,’ Magnus called to Sabinus.
‘Good luck,’ he replied as the crossroads brothers disappeared shouting into the night.
The viewing slit slipped back briefly before the door was pulled open and they piled in. Vespasian looked up the hill to see the torches about three hundred paces away. They were safe. On a night as dark and rainswept as this the Praetorians would never have seen which house they’d gone into; they could only guess, but it would be an easy guess, he was sure. He stepped into the atrium and put Caenis down. The door closed behind him. Completely out of breath he leant against the wall and sucked in the air.
Caligula knelt on the floor next to him, panting also. ‘That – was – brilliant – fun,’ he gasped, looking up at Vespasian with a smirk on his face. ‘What did I tell you? A jolly caper indeed. We should do that more often, my friend.’
Vespasian smiled back at him and held out his hand to help him up as Antonia came running into the room.
‘Thank you, gentlemen,’ she said, seeing Caenis and putting her arms around her. ‘I trust you didn’t have too many problems?’
Caligula grinned widely. ‘Easy as slitting a suckling pig’s throat.’
‘Speak for yourself.’ Sabinus puffed, his chest still heaving from the exertion. Outside they could hear the Praetorians running past following the sound of Magnus and his men down the hill.
Caenis looked round at Vespasian. ‘Thank you,’ she said, ‘thank you all.’
Her beautiful eyes gazed at him in admiration. Her wet dress clung to the contours of her body and he felt a surge of desire for her.
Antonia must have sensed this and released Caenis from her grasp. ‘You’d better go and change into something dry. Hurry along, and come and see me when you are warm.’
‘Yes, mistress.’ She bowed her head and left the room. Vespasian’s eyes followed her retreating form hungrily.
Antonia broke the spell. ‘Where’s Magnus?’
‘He and his mates carried on down the hill to lead the Praetorians away.’
‘Good,’ she said, although to Vespasian’s mind there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes. ‘Were any of you seen?’
‘I may have been, domina,’ Vespasian admitted.
Sabinus groaned.
‘I recognised Sejanus as I slipped back over the wall, though I don’t know if there was enough light for him to see me clearly.’
‘Well, at least he doesn’t know you so he can’t have recognised you even if he did see you clearly,’ she replied. ‘But to be safe we’d better get you out of Rome as soon as possible. You, Sabinus and Gaius should stay here for the night. It won’t be wise for you to try to get home now. I imagine that we shall get a visit from our esteemed prefect very shortly; I shall deny everything, of course, it will be most galling for him. He will however have my house watched so we’ll have to smuggle you out tomorrow somehow.’ She looked at Pallas who was standing dripping by the door. ‘Give orders for the floor to be mopped dry and then change into a fresh tunic. There must be no sign of anyone having been outside when Sejanus arrives. And have these gentlemen shown to the guest rooms and provided with dry clothes.’
‘Yes, domina,’ he said, and clapped his hands. Four house slaves appeared from the other end of the atrium. Within moments buckets and mops had arrived and Vespasian, Sabinus and Caligula found themselves being led down a grand corridor to the guest wing.
‘Get changed quickly,’ Caligula said as they were shown their rooms, ‘I want to see how my grandmother deals with Sejanus. She’ll see him in the formal reception room; I know a place where we can listen in to everything that goes on in there.’
Vespasian and Sabinus met up with Caligula in the corridor not long after. He led them quickly down a couple of passages and stopped outside a panelled door painted crimson with black inlays.
‘There’s no lock on this door,’ he said, opening it and stepping into a small room with a curtain on the far wall. ‘The reception room is on the other side of that curtain; let’s take a look.’
He pulled the curtain back a fraction and they put their eyes to the gap. Beyond was beautiful room with a ceiling so high that it was almost in darkness, despite the efforts of the numerous oil lamps scattered around on tables and stands beneath it. Painted wooden chairs with delicately carved backs and legs and couches with cushioned upholstery of lushly coloured fabrics stood ready to receive Antonia’s official visitors.
A slave hurried into the room and looked around, checking that everything was in order; he made a couple of
