‘That’ll do you, sir,’ a voice said, intruding on his bliss. ‘If he ain’t dead yet then I doubt that he can be killed and it’d be pointless to keep on trying, if you take my meaning?’
Vespasian felt a hand, firm, on his shoulder, pulling him up and prising him away from the tattered corpse beneath him. He loosened his jaw and released his teeth from the gaping throat; blood gushed from his mouth, slopping onto the eyeless face of the guard. He turned and looked to see who was talking to him; after a few moments he managed to focus and Magnus came into view. He tried to greet him and thank him but it came out as a series of grunts.
Magnus lifted him gently to his feet. ‘We’d best get you dressed, sir; we can’t have you walking around like that, you’ll frighten the horses.’
Vespasian looked down at himself; he was smeared in muck and blood. He tried to apologise for the stink but again it came out as inarticulate drivel.
‘Don’t you worry, it’ll come back,’ Magnus reassured him as Hormus stripped the guard nearest to Vespasian’s size.
Within a few moments Vespasian was slipping on the tunic, trousers and boots that Hormus had acquired and then they set off down the corridor. Being clothed again, even though it was in the eastern style, gave Vespasian a feeling of security and he no longer needed to hold Hormus’ hand as all three of them broke into a jog as they veered to the left into a wider passage. Halfway down they made a right turn, Hormus somehow navigating his way through the labyrinthine building, took another right turn, then a left and then mounted a further set of steps. All the while the air was becoming fresher and warmer and for the first time for a very long time Vespasian allowed himself to imagine the sun in a blue sky because he knew that soon he would see it.
And suddenly, as another door opened, there it was and he had to close his eyes because of the brightness of it but he did not mind for he could feel it on his face and that alone was the most beautiful sensation he had ever experienced. Keeping his eyes shaded, he followed Hormus and Magnus out into a street and then, sticking close together, they blended into the crowd and Vespasian finally felt like a free man.
The city was far more crowded than he remembered but then, after so long alone, he assumed that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. They threaded their way through streets both wide and narrow and still filled with rubble from the earthquake, always heading south, moving at a good pace, fast enough to get away quickly but not so fast as to draw attention to themselves. Vespasian managed to frame a question in his head asking how they had found him but then was unable to transfer that into coherent sound.
Magnus, however, seemed to understand what he wanted to know. ‘It was simple, really: when you didn’t come back from Radamistus’ camp as his army started crossing the bridge I assumed that he’d kidnapped you. So me and Hormus followed, attaching ourselves to the baggage train. Anyway, after a few days I managed to get Paelignus by himself for a nice quiet chat.’
Vespasian raised his eyebrows at the sound of the procurator’s name.
‘He’d gone with Radamistus because he felt safer there than with his prefects after they had relieved him of command,’ Magnus explained. ‘Also he seemed to enjoy playing the kingmaker. Anyway, I happened to catch him on his own one night and after not too much persuasion he told me that Radamistus had given you to Babak as surety against him keeping his word. Well, as it was obvious that Radamistus had as much intention of keeping his word as a Vestal has of not opening her legs as soon as her thirty-year vow is up, I asked Paelignus why he, as the Roman procurator of Cappadocia, had allowed such a thing to happen.’ Magnus paused for a grin. ‘Even after his second finger had slopped to the floor he couldn’t come up with a decent explanation and continued to insist that he had tried to prevent it. I let him go eventually. I thought that if he had betrayed you then you would enjoy killing him and I wouldn’t want to intrude on your pleasure; and if he hadn’t, well, two fingers was a fair price for doing nothing to stop Radamistus.’
Vespasian nodded, grateful that Magnus had left the cowardly runt alive for him; it would be a sweet day when they met again.
They stopped outside a three-storey house that showed little signs of damage, right next to the south wall; Hormus knocked thrice and then repeated the signal. After a few moments the door was opened by a youth of considerable beauty. Hormus embraced him and then spoke to him in a language that Vespasian did not understand. He shot Magnus a questioning look.
‘That’s Mindos’ replacement, as it were; we disposed of Mindos when he tried to warn Paelignus that we were travelling with Radamistus’ army. Hormus met this one soon after we arrived here a couple of months ago.’