Tabula Rasa(32)

I hope you know that I would not ask this of you, sir, if I had any other means of fulfilling my promise to my late sister. However, since my present duties do not allow me time to travel, I find I am obliged to rely upon the goodwill of others to guide her son now that he is so far away. Candidus has always been a sensitive and intelligent boy, but rather easily led. However, I am sure that with the right encouragement, he will do well. If you would consider recommending him for a position where he could settle, I would be extremely grateful to you.



He put the letter down on the shelf beside the dice he had found in Candidus’s bag. Somewhere down the corridor, someone was calling out. He heard the feet of the night staff hurry past, then the click of a door opening and closing. He pinched out the lamp. There was no sense in lying awake: They might not need him, and then he would have wasted precious sleeping time.

He had confronted Regulus. One task off the list. Tomorrow he was going to have to think what more he could do about finding Candidus. And apologize to Tilla’s people. And demand to know why Fabius had allowed him to instigate a major search for a missing man when he must already have known that Regulus had brought trouble on himself—and if he didn’t, he should have. And deal with a visit from the legate’s physician. And—he realized he had deliberately left this until last—face Tilla, who had understood more about young Regulus than most of the Legion.





Chapter 16

“Let’s get this straight.” Tribune Accius’s manicured hand demonstrated an invisible straightness between Ruso and Centurion Fabius. As his weight shifted against Pandora’s cupboard, the stacks of writing tablets piled on top swayed sideways. “Yesterday you wanted a search for this clerk. This morning you don’t.”

“I’m still looking for him, sir,” Ruso explained, wishing more than ever that he had not pushed Fabius into authorizing that search. One of them was going to be in trouble here. Possibly both. “But I don’t think his disappearance had anything to do with the kidnapping, because it turns out the victim of the kidnapping wasn’t just a random soldier. So there’s no reason to suppose my man is being held by the natives.”

“Indeed,” said Accius drily. “As several of those natives have pointed out in their complaints this morning.”

The silence that followed was not a cue to speak. It was simply Accius leaving a space for him to consider the error of his ways. Ruso let his vision drift out of focus. It was the adult equivalent of the child closing his eyes to make himself invisible.

Accius said, “I’m told the kidnap victim was already in dispute with the family.”

No doubt the outraged natives had pointed that out too.

“Did anyone know this before we burned their houses down?”

Fabius swallowed noisily. “There was a complaint, sir. The man was disciplined.”

If he thought that was going to excuse him, he was wrong. “Why wasn’t the legate made aware of this when he was asked to authorize reprisals?”

Fabius made a sound as though he had something stuck in his throat. Ruso, even more glad than before that he had not been involved in the reprisals, was relieved to be out of the line of fire. The silence went on until Fabius ventured, “I wasn’t aware of the request, sir.”

Accius moved again, and the stacks swayed in the opposite direction. “Who received the original complaint?”

“I did, sir,” Fabius answered.

“Who disciplined the man?”

“I did, sir.”

“Who requested the authorization for reprisals?”

“Optio Daminius, sir.”

“He’s your optio, man! What sort of an outfit are you running here?”

“I wasn’t aware—”

“Well, you should have been. And as if that weren’t bad enough, the doctor here had the bright idea of annoying the natives even further by sending men out to shake them down for someone who wasn’t there!” Accius left another pause for remorse before continuing, “Obviously the legate’s ordered us to stand by the actions that were taken. No apologies. An assault on one of our men can’t be allowed to pass no matter how justified the natives thought it might be. How badly hurt is he?”

“He’s more humiliated than hurt, sir,” put in Ruso. “This all started because he mistreated a girl. I think the family just intended it as a message.”

“Well, now they’ve had their reply,” said Accius. “Centurion, you will discipline the man involved, and do it more successfully than last time. Then have him transferred somewhere out of reach. Thanks to him and you two, we’ve successfully managed to enrage every local within a five-mile radius. As a result, we have movement restrictions and a curfew we didn’t want to have to police. Any man out there on his own will be in trouble now, if he wasn’t before.”