David Wishart - Sejanus

Agron pushed him down. 'Easy,' he grunted.

'By the gods, I'll have you strangled for this, you wretches!' Well, he was gamer than I thought he'd be, even if he did sound like a character in a third-rate comedy. 'Let me go at once!'

'Sure,' Agron said. 'When we've finished.' He looked at me. 'You want to take over now?'

I'd been studying Silanus with interest. Late thirties, skinny, weak chin, watery eyes. He'd be short-sighted. I hadn't seen him around, and his face wasn't familiar from Paullus's drawings, either, so he hadn't been one of Vitellius's callers. I hoped we hadn't made a mistake. If Crispus had put one over on me after all I'd have the bastard's scrotum for a dice bag.

'Appius Junius Silanus?' I said. I didn't use my hick Campanian accent, and the patrician vowels came over loud and clear.

'Of course.' He was staring at my beard and long, bound hair. I could see him making a mental reassessment, wondering whether perhaps I might be worth his consideration after all. 'And who might you be?'

'The name's Marcus Corvinus.'

' Corvinus? Good grief, man, you're supposed to be…' He half-rose again, eyes wide, before Agron's hand stopped him.

'Yeah,' I said. 'Your pal Sejanus tried to set me up with a treason rap. Only I decided I wasn't going to play.'

'Sejanus is no friend of mine!'

I glanced sharply at Agron. Sure, it could've been bluster or an automatic denial, but he obviously didn't think so either; that had rung true. Shit. Maybe we had made a mistake after all.

'Is that so?' I said carefully.

'That is so. Sejanus was responsible, as you perhaps know, for my father's exile among many others. And if that is your reason for kidnapping me then whatever you're planning you can forget it. I'm no friend of Sejanus's, I don't know anything about your little feud with him and he would certainly not care whether I went missing or not. Now get your fellows to take me back where they found me please.'

'When we've had our talk.'

'Talk? What on earth do we have to talk about?'

Ah, well. In for a penny. 'Your plans to assassinate the emperor in forty days' time.'

I'd been watching his eyes, but I didn't need to look for any subtle signs of guilt this time. The guy went grey as an old wash-leather and collapsed into the chair like someone had sucked his bones out.

'What?' he said.

'You heard,' I said. 'You care to deny it, maybe?'

'Of course I deny it!' He licked his lips. 'The idea is preposterous! Why should I want to murder Tiberius?'

'I was hoping you'd tell me that yourself.'

'You're mad.' He glanced back at Agron. 'Both of you.'

'Oh, we're not mad. We're not wrong, either. Sejanus is going to cash in his winnings on the twenty-eighth of next month, and you're going to help him do it.'

'I've told you, I have nothing to do with Sejanus!'

There was something screwy here. I'd got him cold and he knew it: the date had hit him hard, and he was frightened; but I had a gut feeling that he was also telling the truth.

'Okay,' I said. 'So if not Sejanus then who are you working for?'

'No one! I don't know what you mean!'

A lie. I looked up at Agron. 'You got your knife handy, pal?' I said.

Silanus shrieked; at least he started to, but Agron whipped the gag across his open mouth and pulled it tight. The shriek turned into a gurgle, and above the gag Silanus watched me with terrified eyes.

Agron handed me his knife. I held it against the guy's cheek.

'Okay, sunshine,' I said. 'We won't kill you. We'll just carve little bits off until you decide to talk. You can choose to co-operate or not, but you only get one chance. Understand?'

The eyes blinked rapidly. Then, slowly, Silanus nodded.

'Take the gag off,' I said. Agron did. Silanus never moved. 'Right. So I'll ask you again. If you're not working for Sejanus then who are you working for?'

He passed his tongue over his lips.

'The young prince, of course,' he said. 'Gaius Caesar.'

I sat back. This I hadn't expected. It didn't make sense, either. Why should Gaius want Tiberius dead? He hadn't a hope of taking power. He was only nineteen, hardly more than a kid. His mother and brothers were gone, the Julian party was smashed, he was living on sufferance already. And if he were stupid enough to put Tiberius in a hole then Sejanus would gulp him down like a shark swallowing a guppy.

Of course, there was the other obvious explanation…

'So tell me,' I said. 'What is the plan exactly?'

'I'm going to stab him. With a dagger built into the spine of a letter-roll. Servaeus…' He stopped and put his hand to his mouth. It was almost comical.

' Quintus Servaeus?' Uh huh. This was beginning to fit together. I remembered Servaeus, sure: one of the original Julians, a close friend of Germanicus and Agrippina, and the principal prosecutor in the Piso trial. The very crooked Piso trial. And Servaeus had been appointed to the College of Priests by the Wart shortly afterwards, together with his mate Vitellius. Oh, yes. I remembered Servaeus. 'Come on, Silanus! I knew you couldn't be in this on your own. So Quintus Servaeus is involved?'

'Yes. He's having the letter-roller specially made.' Now Silanus had been rumbled the poor sap was almost garrulous. 'And of course he's the one responsible for my inclusion in the senatorial party to Capri.'

'And how did he manage to do that, pray?'

'Oh, Quintus is a very astute man. Very aware. He pretends to be a friend of Sejanus's but of course that is a necessary and useful ploy. His loyalty is and always has been given, like mine, to the Julian family.'

Oh, sure, I thought. And I'm a blue-arsed Briton. 'So you go to Capri and stab Tiberius while he's reading his mail. This is fascinating. What happens next?'

'Tiberius's death is the signal for a general rising throughout the empire. The armies will give their oaths of allegiance to the Julians and to Gaius in particular.'

'Is that right now?' Jupiter! I couldn't believe this guy! He was so politically naive it wasn't true. Even Agron was smiling. 'And what's Sejanus doing all this time? Playing marbles with the consuls?'

Silanus gave me a stare like he'd just found me in his salad.

'Sejanus will be gone,' he said. 'He won't last five minutes with the emperor dead. He derives his power from him, and the only reason he wields the influence he does is that Tiberius is a victim of delusions. You know that.'

'Do I?'

'Of course you do. You're no friend of Sejanus's yourself, either. No one can be who has Rome's best interests at heart, even if they're pretending otherwise at the moment. The senate will have him arrested and executed as soon as the news breaks.'

'What about the Praetorians? Sejanus is their commander.'

'They won't support even him against a son of Germanicus, especially Gaius Caligula. And with Sejanus gone there'll be no one else left. We will have won, and Rome will have a Julian emperor at last.'

'Does he know about all this, by the way? Prince Gaius himself?'

Silanus hesitated. 'It was decided not to tell him,' he said. 'That way he couldn't be implicated if anything went wrong.'

Surprise, surprise. Well, that about wrapped it up. I looked at Silanus consideringly. He was glowing with honest patriotic pride and self-satisfaction. I hated to spoil things for him, but it had to be done.

'Silanus,' I said, 'you've been had.'

He stared at me. 'What?'

'Had. Swindled. Conned.' I was getting through at last. He was beginning to look less smug. 'Sold down the river. Screwed right left and centre.'

'That's nonsense!'

'It isn't nonsense. Servaeus has been Sejanus's man for years, and Gaius hasn't a hope in hell of being acclaimed emperor. I've followed this up from the other end and believe me I know what I'm talking about. It stinks. Take it from me, sunshine, it's Sejanus's scam from start to finish.'