‘I would say that it is probably the other way around, Brother.’
‘Yeah, too true,’ Magnus laughed, getting up. ‘Let’s hope that he’s still got the energy for a bit of fire-starting.’ He opened the door and, stepping out into the dingy corridor, saw Aquilina appear at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Your friend has quite worn me out, Magnus,’ she said with a touch of exaggeration, ‘I’m going to call it a night, if that’s alright with you?’
‘Nothing to do with me, my girl – you work as and when you want to, so long as you pay your percentage.’
Aquilina smiled brightly. ‘Of course. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.’ She disappeared into the tavern with a little wave.
Servius joined Magnus. ‘Do you want me to have her followed?’
‘No, she might notice, and it wouldn’t do for her to become suspicious. Anyway, we know where she’s going.’
Aelianus lumbered down the stairs looking conspicuously florid. What was left of his ginger hair stuck out at odd angles.
‘How did it go?’ Magnus asked.
‘Very well,’ Aelianus replied with a grin, ‘I surprised myself and, I like to think, the lovely Aquilina too. You heard her – she said that she wouldn’t be able to have another customer for the rest of the night after my performance.’
‘Yeah? Well don’t take it too hard but that was just her excuse to get out of here and go and tell a few tales to her real master. I meant how was the pillow-talk?’
Aelianus looked slightly downcast. ‘It was fine. I told her that I’d come to warn you, as an old mate from the Cohort, that the Urban Prefect was planning a raid on one of your clients’ establishments in a few days time, someone called Terentius. That’s why you wanted me to have her as a reward.’
‘What then?’
‘Well after that she started saying that I must be very important to have that sort of information and how much important men like me excited her…What she can do with her—’
‘I know mate,’ Magnus cut in, ‘I’ve had her too. Just tell me the part I need to know.’
‘Sorry. Well she carried on asking me about the Cohort and the raid … you know … now and again … until I told her that it wasn’t to be the first raid, there was going to be one in three days time on an establishment on the Viminal owned by easterners.’
‘And she swallowed it?’
Aelianus raised his eyebrows and nodded, grinning. ‘Yeah, all of it.’
Magnus slapped him on the shoulder. ‘You did well, my friend, I hope you’ll be as successful with the fire.’
‘It won’t be a problem Magnus but I’d appreciate a couple of your lads to help me spread some oil.’
‘Fine. Come over tomorrow and collect your money.’
‘I’m looking forward to it.’
‘Oh, and leave those handcarts here, mate.’
‘They’re no good to you – they’ve got Cohort insignia branded all over them.’
‘I know.’ Magnus turned to his counsellor. ‘Brother, we’ve got work to do. Get a couple of the lads for our good friend here and see him out, and then slowly get the rest moving up to the Lamp-makers’ street in twos and threes. I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours.’
THE TWO DOORMEN outside Terentius’ establishment were equally as large as those guarding the Albanians’ place. Magnus, however, had nothing to fear from them as he and his party approached the house awhile later.
‘Evening lads, your master’s expecting me,’ he said striding up the worn steps to the door of the elegant marble-fronted house. Torches attached to each of the two columns of the portico illuminated the well-crafted drawing of an erect phallus, above the door, succinctly advertising the business transacted within.
The doormen immediately stepped aside, one giving a coded knock on the door as he did so. The viewing slot slid back and a pair of eyes perused Magnus for a few moments before the door opened.
‘One of you show my boys around the back,’ Magnus ordered, pointing down the steps where Marius and his mates stood with the handcart. Behind them the inevitable night-time parade of carts and wagons rumbled past in both directions. The shouts of the drivers and the clatter of hooves and iron-rimmed wheels filled the cold air, and the moonlit darkness was given substance by wisps of smoke and the breath of both man and beast.
Once satisfied that his brothers were being taken care of, Magnus walked through the open door into a small vestibule lined with cloaks. He recognised one as that of a Praetorian. He stepped out into an atrium furnished with couches, some empty and some holding youths in various states of undress. Oil-lamps and the orange flicker of flaming sconces, gave the room a feeling of intimacy and homeliness. The sweet chords of a lyre blended with the gentle patter of a couple of fountains at either end of the impluvium and any conversation between the boys was conducted in a soft murmur.