Steven Saylor - A murder on the Appian way

"We have no desire to hurt you," I said, in a gender tone than Eco had used. "What's your name?"

The boy squinted up at me. From his point of view on the ground, we must have looked like giants, especially Davus. The squint was clearly for show, another way of masking his fear; his eyesight had to be perfect to have thrown a spear with such accuracy. "My name is Mopsus," he finally said. His voice shook.

"And your friend? The boy in the stable, the one who screamed when he saw us. That's why you threw the spear, wasn't it, because he screamed and you thought he was in danger?"

The boy's squint relaxed a bit. "My little brother, Androcles."

"Ah, your brother. No wonder you were worried for him." I looked towards the stable. The door, which was barely ajar, gave a little jerk. "Androcles must be quite worried for you right now. But he needn't be. As I said, we have no desire to harm either of you."

"Then what are you here for?" His gruff voice rose to a squeak. Davus laughed. The boy turned red with anger. He thrashed helplessly on the ground, which made Davus laugh again.

"Tell this big elephant to get offme!" Anger finally drove out fear and lent a surprising authority to his voice.

"Certainly, as soon as you've answered a few questions. Why does no one come to the door? Where is everyone?"

The boy shifted and wriggled, straining against his confinement. There was no way for him to escape from his long-sleeved tunic as long as Davus stood on the sleeves. Nor could he kick high enough to strike Davus.

"You really are stuck, I'm afraid," I said.

"We could string him up, Papa. Perhaps start a fire under him, roast him like a pig — "

"Eco, don't joke! He'll take you seriously. Something tells me this young fellow has seen awful things done to helpless men. That's why he's so afraid of us. Am I right, Mopsus?"

The boy said nothing, but the look in his eyes answered for him.

"My name is Gordianus. This is my son, Eco. And that elephant, as you call him, is my bodyguard, Davus. We come to this house in peace, just the three of us. We did nothing to your brother. He saw us from the stable door, screamed and ran back in."

Mopsus wriggled in a paroxysm of disgust. "Stupid Androcles! He always was a little screamer, afraid of his shadow!"

"I am not!" squeaked a voice from the breach of the stable door.

"Androcles, you fool! Get out of there! Run to the mill! Wake them up, tell them — " Mopsus bit his tongue.

Davus and Eco looked to me. I put a finger to my lips. I walked in a circle around the brick pile, retracing my earlier steps to the courtyard, then approached the stable door from a direction that couldn't be seen from the breach. I yanked the door open, thrust out my arm and put my hand gently but firmly on the shoulder of a little boy who looked up at me with eyes like moons.

"Don't be afraid, Androcles. You're not a screamer, like your brother says, are you?"

The child looked at me solemnly and shook his head.

"I thought not. Here, take my hand. Good. Now, let us go and talk some sense into your silly older brother."

Mopsus writhed in disgust. "Androcles, you idiot! Now they've captured you, too."

Androcles looked up at me solemnly, then at Eco and Davus in turn. "I think they may be all right, Mopsus. Not bad, like the others."

"The others probably sent them, you stupid ass, to ambush us and finish us off" Mopsus's voice squeaked out of control again, making Davus laugh.

"The big elephant is funny." Androcles gazed up at Davus with a look of awe.

"You won't think it's very funny when they flay us alive, like they did to Halicor!" said Mopsus.

Androcles shuddered at the idea, but when I squeezed his hand he seemed reassured. "Halicor was the tutor of young Publius Clodius, wasn't he?" I said.

"How would you know that, unless they sent you?" Mopsus practically spat the words. Having his little brother for an audience gave him the courage to keep up a pretence of toughness.

"By they, you mean the men who killed Halicor?" "Who else? Milo's men! Maybe Milo himself sent you — " "No!" The sternness in my voice silenced him. "Look at me, Mopsus. And you, Androcles. I swear to you, by the shade of my own father, that Milo did not send me here and I have not come on his behalf."

"Who did send you, then?" said Mopsus warily.

"The day before I left Rome, I had a long talk with your mistress. Fulvia asked me to do some work for her." It was true, after all, if not the entire truth. I saw no need to complicate matters by mentioning the Great One.

Mopsus softened a bit. "The mistress sent you?"

"Fulvia asked me to investigate a certain aspect of your late master's death. I'm called the Finder. I have experience in such matters."

"Maybe he can find the men who killed Halicor!" suggested Androcles, looking at his brother with wide eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous, screamer, we know who killed him. We saw them do it with our own eyes."

"Did you, indeed? Your mistress didn't tell me that, only chat Halicor had been killed, along with the foreman and two other slaves. She mentioned no witnesses."

"That's because no one knows that we saw," said Mopsus.

"Until now!" Litde Androcles put his hands on his hips and looked accusingly at his older brother, as if to ask which of them was the stupid screamer now.

"I shall want to hear all about it," I said, "but first I want to know what you meant when you told Androcles to run to the mill and wake the others. What others?"

Mopsus looked up at me, biting his Up and debating whether to cooperate. I could almost see his thoughts at work. His littde brother seemed to be in no harm, and no real threats had been made against them; his captors had disavowed any allegiance to Milo and instead had invoked the name of his mistress in Rome, a lady probably as remote and exotic to such a boy as a goddess from Olympus. Perhaps most importantly, he was beginning to get very tired of being pinned to the ground.

"Let me up and I'll tell you,' he said.

"You won't run away? Because if you do, Davus will run after you — I can hardly stop him, he's like a dog without a leash — and when he catches you, he'll never stop kughing."

Androcles covered his mouth and giggled at the thought. Mopsus turned red. "I won't run. Just get the elephant off me!"

"Davus, step back."

Davus did so, but remained poised to chase after the boy, his long muscular legs ready to spring. He looked like one of those magnificent giant cats one sees at exotic animal shows in the arena, except for his grin, for such beasts never smile. Where had the crippling stiffness of the morning gone to? Ah, to be that young again, invulnerable like Achilles.

Mopsus got to his feet and dusted himself off. He made a sour face at Davus, who showed the good sense to suppress his laughter. "What were you saying?"

"The others you mentioned — down at the mill…"

"Asleep, probably. Like they usually are at this time of the morning after they've been drinking the night before, which they have been ever since they broke into the little house where the master stored his wine."

"Mopsus!" His little brother frowned at him and shook his head.

"What do I care? It's only the truth. It's their job to guard the house, our job to take care of the stable. They should get into trouble!"

"Then there's no one in the house at all?" I said.

"No. It's all locked up. After what happened, the mistress called all the servants back to Rome, except for the men to guard the building."

"And us, to look after the animals," added his brother. "Tell her we're doing our job."

"I shall do that," I promised.

"But don't tell on the others," said Androcles, suddenly very earnest. "Not if it means they'll be punished." He suddenly began to cry.