Paul Doherty - Queen of the Night

Claudia would not tell the Augusta how, in the catacombs beneath that cemetery, she'd often met Presbyter Sylvester the powerful lieutenant of the Bishop of Rome, as the Christians called their leader. She had always been on her guard when she went there, — the Inferni were truly creatures of the dark. For an innocent girl to be found by them…

'What happened?' she asked.

'The Inferni had released her gag and were about to rape her,' Helena replied. 'Only the girl's screams alerted her parents. The Inferni fled, and she was found safe and sound. In subsequent weeks three more abductions took place, the same pattern being followed. None of the victims could tell the Vigiles anything.' Helena spat the words out, showing her usual contempt for the corrupt city police. 'They could say little more than that they'd been abducted, blindfolded, chained, kept in a cold place, fed, allowed to use a latrine, and threatened now and again by a voice.

They could tell us nothing about that voice, be it Roman or from the provinces, male or female.' Helena paused. 'Then last night, Antonia, the beloved only daughter of Senator Carinus, was kidnapped. The ransom note demanding the same sum arrived this morning. She is to be released in two days' time.'

Helena opened the small casket on the floor beside her and handed Claudia a piece of dingy and grease-marked parchment. The stark message was bluntly inscribed: 'Antonia, 25,000 gold coins on the day after tomorrow near the tomb of the tribune Marcus Sonertus in the cemetery of the Appian Way. She will be released at the ninth hour; failure or trickery will kill her.'

Claudia studied the crude letter and recalled that sprawling, lonely cemetery. She only went there because she had to. Not only did the Inferni roam there, it was also the haunt of warlocks, wizards, sorcerers and outlaws, dark souls who seethed in the shadows of Roman society. The cemetery lay beyond the city gates with many approaches, a dizzying warren of snaking tracks and twisting paths, and beneath it more passageways, tunnels and caverns.

'Claudia? Claudia?' Helena smiled at her. 'I haven't finished.'

'Augusta, I'm sorry.'

'Don't be, just stay attentive. The fate of a few children should not really concern me, but the senators of Rome are agitated, their womenfolk even more so.' Helena licked her lips. 'The peace my son has imposed has engendered a great love for the Christian religion. Groups are forming; the most important of these are the Magdalena. They are

Christians, wives of leading men in Rome who fully accept the Christian way. They believe they are administering to Christ just as the Jewess Mary Magdalene did. Every noble cause attracts their attention, especially,' Helena smiled, 'the conversion of fallen ladies, the women of the night. The Magdalena are led by the Lady Urbana, wife of Aurelian, a former comrade of my husband and son, a general who did great work for us in Britain. Aurelian held the province during our scramble for empire. I have known him since I was…'

Helena's voice had turned wistful. It was the closest Claudia had ever seen her come to talking about her early days when, according to snobbish courtiers, Helena had been a great beauty, the daughter of a simple tavern-keeper from some provincial town.

'Ah well.' The Empress smiled softly. 'I have known him since I was a green shoot. Now Urbana,' she added brusquely, 'is British, a refugee from that province. She caught Aurelian's eye and became his second wife, stepmother to the general's beloved only son, Alexander. Yes,' she added as if talking to herself, 'wife to Aurelian, one of the richest men in Rome. Urbana left Britain as a girl and came with her father, a Roman officer, back to this city. Britain was sliding into chaos; the Picti and Scoti came flowing over the wall to the north, whilst pirates were plundering the coast. The roads became swollen with refugees; families were separated. One of these refugees was Cassia, a beautiful child made mute by the horrors she had witnessed. Urbana befriended her, but when they came to Rome they drifted apart. Cassia became a leading courtesan. Urbana, years later, after she had married Aurelian, was baptised a Christian. She met Cassia and converted her, took her from a life of pleasure.' Helena's voice turned cynical. 'Cassia is now Urbana's constant companion, whilst hers is a eunuch, the Parthian Leartus who translates for her. I mention these because soon you will meet them. Treat them carefully, none of your sharp talk.'

'Augusta, why have they come here?'

'Ah, first because they brought the ransom note left at the Villa Carina where the Magdalena are still comforting the good senator. Secondly, they also brought Theodore the actor. He was with Antonia when she was abducted. Theodore claims he tried to defend her. In the struggle he allegedly knocked off the mask of one of the attackers and, perhaps, gained a description of him. Thirdly,' Helena blew her cheeks out, 'Urbana is a very powerful woman. She is, in fact, representing all the senators, merchants, administrators and generals of Rome, and more importantly their wives, who are now protesting at a so-called breakdown of law and order in the city. I need not spell out, Claudia, what is involved here. My son is Emperor of the West; one day he will march east to become emperor of the world. He'll bring that pervert Licinius to battle and annihilate him. We need these powerful people of Rome until…' Helena paused, 'until we've marched to the rim of the world, then we'll build a new empire, even a new city.' She glanced at Murranus. 'Is all this beyond you, gladiator?'

'Should it be, Augusta?'

Helena laughed. 'I asked you to come here.' She offered Murranus her goblet of wine. He took it, drank deeply and handed it back. 'Urbana is now very nervous about her stepson Alexander. I want you to be his bodyguard; you'll be paid lavishly.' Helena acknowledged Claudia's wide smile. 'I could have given them Burrus.' The Empress looked warningly over her shoulder at the hulking German still standing to attention behind her. 'But he and his lovely lads have to be kept on a firm leash, otherwise it's wine and women and anything that moves.'

Burrus nodded sharply in acknowledgement.

'Anyway,' Helena continued sweetly, 'the lovely boys would miss me. Every so often they need a good tongue-lashing to keep them in line. Well, Murranus?'

The gladiator shuffled his feet. 'Your Excellency, I…'

'Of course he would!' Claudia answered for him.

'Good!' Helena purred. 'You really have no choice. I'll introduce you to Urbana later. You will do it, won't you? You're a freed man, Murranus, a loyal subject of the Emperor. Moreover, it will do you, not to mention Claudia here, the world of good to be away from that disgraceful riff-raff down at the gladiators' school, roaring boys, all of them! Ah yes,' Helena continued in a rush, 'Claudia, for a while you will have a new guest at the She Asses: the actor Theodore, you've heard of him?'

Claudia shook her head.

'Neither have I, but he acts as if the whole world is entranced by him. He is, he was, Antonia's friend. As I said, he was present when she was abducted; he allegedly glimpsed the face of one of the attackers and swears he would certainly recognise him again.'

'Rome is a popular city.'

'So it is, Claudia, but Theodore has a description, he can give that to you, you will distribute it, among the gangs which swarm in the Suburra, the poorer quarters. Perhaps Theodore can look around that great midden-heap near the

Flavian Gate.'

'You mean the place where I live.'

'I am sorry.' Helena rubbed her eyes. 'I am tired. Well, no, I'm angry!' She took her hands away. 'I don't like being lectured about law and order and its breakdown. Rome has never been an easy city to govern, but to cut to the chase, when you are finished here, take Theodore with you.' Helena rolled the wine goblet between her hands and glanced up sharply. 'One further thing. This may not seem important, but it is to my son. As I have said, Aurelian and Constantine served together in Britain. Twenty years ago that province teetered on dissolution and destruction. The Great Wall to the north, which protected it from the Caledonians and Picts, was breached time and again. It was the Season of the Pretender, the Usurper. The Empire itself was under threat. My husband and son were drawn into the storm. Consequently, for my son, myself and our supporters such as Aurelian, that province and anything associated with it is special! Especially the men who served us. Soldiers who at a time of mutiny defined their allegiance and declared for us.' She clicked her tongue. 'One such group was an ala, a much-depleted wing of the Catephracti serving in a mile fort along the Great Wall. They called themselves the Fretenses, the Wild Boars, and did sterling work, not only in holding the fort and supporting my husband and son, but at the time of crisis in trapping and annihilating a powerful Pictish war band. They achieved all this with the loss of only one man, their centurion. Once order had been restored in that province, members of the ala received medals, decorations and piaemia, financial rewards, together with full Roman citizenship. As a group they were given honourable discharge and decided to settle in Rome.' Helena pulled a face and shrugged. 'Some died, five still live, or did until two weeks ago, when one of them, Petilius, was brutally murdered in his chamber; another died last night in the Street of Abundance near the House of the Golden Cupids. Nothing was stolen, but the manner of their murder was truly grisly. A stab wound to the belly, their throats cut, and,' Helena added, 'both victims were castrated, their penises sliced off and placed in their hands.'