Tonight perhaps. Certainly no later than noon tomorrow.’
‘Why then?’ asked Macro.
‘Because the spectacle is over. Most of the mob will remain by the lake tonight. They will set off for Rome at first light and reach the city at midday. Unless there is food here to feed them, there will be nothing to stop them venting their rage. It’s my guess that the Liberators will have taken control by then. The Emperor will be dead, and then they’ll produce all the grain that they have amassed in secret. The mob will be grateful enough to whoever feeds it.’ Narcissus looked at them with a cynical smile. ‘Once the people have been won over, the Liberators will start to remove anyone who was loyal to the previous regime. In which case, I’m as good as dead already. Me, and Britannicus.’
‘Why not the others?’ asked Cato. ‘Won’t they want to dispose of Agrippina and Nero as well?’
‘Why would they?’ Narcissus asked bitterly. ‘My guess is that they’re in on the plot. Why else would Agrippina have persuaded the Emperor to remain in the palace? Now they have Claudius where they want him.’
Cato was thinking. ‘That doesn’t make sense. Agrippina can’t be part of the Liberators’ plot.’
‘Why not?’
‘She was there when the Liberators attacked the imperial party in the Forum. They tried and nearly succeeded in killing her son.’ As Cato recalled the incident, there were some details that still defied explanation, but he continued with his original line of thought. ‘And afterwards, Nero spoke to me. He said he would reward me when he became Emperor. He seemed quite certain about it.’
‘So?’
‘If he believes he is going to be Emperor, then Agrippina must have planted the idea in his head. You said it yourself, she is using him to further her own ambitions. In which case, why would she conspire with the Liberators?’
‘He’s got a point,’ said Macro.
Narcissus hissed with frustration. ‘All right. Then if she’s not part of the Liberators’ plot, why is she trying to keep Claudius in Rome, where he’s in greatest danger? There’s only one good reason for that. She’s running her own conspiracy. She’s working with Pallas to remove the Emperor and place her son on the throne. It’s no secret that she has been doing her best to bend Claudius to her will. Firstly by seducing him, then persuading him into marriage, then the adoption of her son and finally making Nero heir to the throne.’
‘Now that makes more sense.’ Macro nodded. ‘So we’re dealing with two conspiracies, not one. The Liberators want to remove the entire imperial family, while Agrippina wants to replace the Emperor with her son. That I can get my head round.’
It made sense, thought Cato, but for one small nagging detail. ‘You’re right. She and Pallas have a motive, and the means, if they can get their strike in before the Liberators and disarm them. But there’s something that still doesn’t fit. Something that I’ve not been able to explain.’
‘Speak up then, man,’ Narcissus hissed. ‘We haven’t got much time. We have to act. What’s the problem?’
‘It’s about that day in the Forum when the Liberators attacked the imperial party. Their leader, Cestius, pushed Britannicus aside just before he went for Nero.’
‘What of it?’
‘Why would the Liberators pass up the chance to kill one of the Emperor’s sons? It would have been the work of a moment to strike Britannicus down before turning on Nero. Why did Cestius spare Britannicus?’
‘I don’t know,’ Narcissus said irritably. ‘Perhaps Cestius didn’t recognise him. There’s no time for this now, Cato. We can go through it all later. Right now we have to save the Emperor. We need to protect him. I don’t know how far the conspiracy has spread through the ranks of the Praetorians. We know about Geta, Sinius, Tigellinus, and I have the names of a few other suspects but that’s all. There could be many more. The only troops that we can rely on are the German bodyguards. I’ll have them all roused and placed close enough to the Emperor to prevent any assassin getting through to him.’
‘That won’t be enough to save him. The Liberators, and Pallas – assuming you’re right about him and the Empress – are not the only threat. We have to keep the mob under control, or they’ll succeed where the conspirators have failed.’
‘To do that we need to feed the mob,’ Narcissus responded tersely, ‘and I can’t just make grain appear.’
‘No,’ Cato conceded.
Macro sniffed. ‘Either way, we’re in deep shit. Just like I said. The situation stinks.’
Cato stared at his friend. ‘That’s it,’ he muttered. ‘It has to be.’
‘What are you on about, lad?’
‘Cestius. You remember when we first ran into him, and his men. At the inn?’
‘Yes. What of it?’
‘Do you remember how they smelled?’
Macro nodded. ‘Like shit.’
‘Exactly. Just like shit,’ Cato said with an excited gleam in his eyes. ‘And where would you go to stink like that? A sewer, that’s where. To be precise, the Great Sewer that runs right under the heart of the city before it flows into the Tiber.’
‘Very interesting. So what if Cestius and his pals have been mucking about among the turds? How does that help us?’
‘Think about it, Macro. Where does the Great Sewer empty out into the Tiber?’
‘Not far from the Boarium. In fact close to that warehouse of Gaius Frontinus.’
‘Right next to it as it happens.’ Cato could not help smiling at the cleverness of the conspirators. ‘Surely you see it now.’
Macro looked at Cato, then glanced at Narcissus. ‘What’s he talking about?’
Narcissus stroked his jaw. ‘I think I can guess.’
‘There’s no other answer,’ said Cato. ‘We know that the grain was taken to the warehouse. Sometime between its purchase and when we searched the place, the grain was moved to another location. I’ve been trying to think how they managed it without attracting any attention to themselves. Now I know. They must have access to the sewer. They used the sewer to move the grain unseen. That’s probably why Cestius and his men were at the inn that night, to celebrate the completion of the job.’ He turned to Narcissus, eyes fired with excitement. ‘We have to go back to the warehouse. I need some men we can trust. We can’t use the Praetorians. It’ll have to be the Germans. Give me fifty men, and torches, and we’ll find that grain.’
‘I don’t know if I can spare them. They’re needed here.’
‘If we don’t secure that grain, it won’t matter where they are.’
The imperial secretary struggled to make a decision. Then he nodded. ‘All right, but you can take twenty men. No more. You’ll need one of their officers.’ Narcissus thought quickly. ‘Centurion Plautus can be trusted.’ The imperial secretary looked up at the sky above the city. The light was fading fast and a pastel red hue stained the horizon. ‘You’d better go quickly. And take Septimus with you. Leave your kit here.’ Narcissus wagged his finger at Cato and Macro. ‘You’d better be right about this. If anything happens to the Emperor because there weren’t enough men to guard him properly then it’ll be on your head, Cato.’
‘Thanks for the kind words of encouragement,’ Cato replied sourly. ‘There’s one more thing. How are we going to get out of the palace without raising the alarm?’
Narcissus could not help a small smile. ‘There’s a way. You didn’t think the emperors would have built a place like this without a secret exit, did you? It comes out close to the Great Circus. Caligula used it from time to time when he wanted to go to the races incognito. It was kept a secret from the Praetorians in case they tried to keep an eye on him during his peregrinations.’
Macro chuckled. ‘Didn’t do him much good then.’
‘You’d better take us to this passage,’ said Cato. ‘And have your Germans meet us there, armed and ready.’ He nodded towards the sunset. ‘I think we’re in for a long and bloody night. Only the gods know what the dawn will bring.’
