The King's Gambit(81)

“Now, Decius, how do you expect people to believe hat? The boy needs military experience if he’s to stand for office. What more natural than that he should join Lucullus? The Eastern army is where the action is, where reputations are to be made. And why should Publius want to attack Lucullus’s authority? His elder sister is married to Lucullus. His elder brother, Appius, has been with Lucullus for years and has served loyally all that time. All logic says he would serve his own best interests by pushing Lucullus’s fortunes to the best of his ability. If in spite of all that, Publius should rebel against his brother-in-law …” Pompey shrugged and smiled. “Well, then, that’s just Publius being Publius, isn’t it?”

“The night grows late,” Crassus said, “and our Consulship grows shorter. Decius, do you really think that you have any evidence of wrongdoing to bring against my colleague or me?”

I thought of the documents in the Temple of Vesta. They could be subpoenaed, of course, but only at the cost of compromising the Virgo Maxima, my great-aunt and a lady of such irreproachable worthiness that I would not have endangered her reputation to save myself from the cross. I thought of the document in my house, proving Hortalus’s extralegal freeing of Sinistrus. I dismissed it. As part of a far larger case, that document would have been a solid stone in the wall I was building. By itself, it was proof of a petty corruption too minor to warrant attention.

“There was an amulet among my effects when I was arrested, a bronze camel’s head.”

"I am aware of no such object,” Pompey said. “These items were taken from you.” He gestured to my dagger and caestus, which lay on the bench beside him. “Quite improper, going armed within the pomerium, but we’d have half the population up on charges if we tried to enforce that law strictly.” Somehow, I wasn’t surprised that the token of hos-pitium had disappeared. They were right. I had nothing. With the two murderers, Sinistrus and Chrysis, already dead and a legal confession from Chrysis, I would look like a fool if I tried to reopen the case. I had no proof of criminal conspiracy, no proof of treason. What I did have, for the moment, was my life. All I could do now was try to keep it.

Crassus studied me with his cold eyes. “Decius, we have tolerated your irrational and pernicious behavior thus far out of respect for your family and your father, the Urban Praetor. He has requested that you be released from further duties and precede him to Hither Spain as his legate. We have decided to grant that request.” He handed me a small scroll bearing both the senatorial and the consular seals. “Here are your orders. At first light, when the gates are opened, be on your way to Ostia. You will leave on the first cutter heading west.”

I took the scroll. “Taking a ship in December might be interpreted as a death sentence,” I commented.

“There are less pleasant ways to die than by drowning,” Crassus said. “A generous sacrifice to Neptune might help.”

“Of course,” Pompey put in, “just getting from your house to the gate might be a bit of a problem. Publius Claudius, or rather Clodius, as he’s taken to calling himself, is a man who holds a grudge. You might have to make your way through quite a few of his supporters tomorrow.”

"And,” Crassus said, “I hear that Macro has ordered all his men to stay out of it. He’s reined in that rascal Milo. That being the case, you’d better take these.” He tossed my dagger and caestus to me and I caught them. “You are going to need them at first light.”

Pompey returned to his paperwork. “That will be all, Decius. Best of luck.”

My father was stone-faced when I came out, but I could hear a muted sigh of relief. To my astonishment, Titus Milo was with him. “I was told you were let out of the Mamertine tonight and came here. Thought I’d join you.”

“Does anything happen in this city without your knowledge?” I asked.

“I try to keep up on things.”

“What happened in there?” Father asked.

“I received a suspended death sentence, of sorts.” As we walked, I explained what had transpired, although for my father’s sake I left Hortalus’s name out of it.

“Better than you might have expected,” Father said. “Sea travel at this season is risky, but you can sail north along the coast and put ashore at the first sign of bad weather.”

“I expect to be quite occupied just in getting to Ostia,” I informed him.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you there,” Milo said.

“So I heard.”