Jack Whyte - The Skystone

" He jerked his eyes away from mine and moved towards the window.

"That sounds like Seneca, " I said. "He was always good to look at, providing you didn't look too deeply. Did he offend you personally?"

"Aye, you might say that. " His voice was low and deep in his throat.

"You might indeed. " He moved back to the small counter he had been leaning against and began to smooth his thumb over its wooden surface, concentrating tightly on the grained pattern of the wood. "I had a son, a boy of five. He disappeared, and we never saw him again. Wolves, we were told, or a bear in the woods. Stupid to say the boy knew he was forbidden to go into the woods. He was gone. My wife was, too, soon after... " His voice choked into silence, and I saw his shoulders shake, but then he went on. "Later, months afterward, I found out that there were five young boys went missing that summer. Five of them. And it worked out that they all disappeared while Quinctilius Nesca's unpopular houseguest was in residence. And there were witnesses who saw the houseguest with two of the boys just before they were reported missing... Seneca. His name was Seneca...

"When we went looking for him. he had gone, back to the Court in Constantinople. Nesca laughed at us and threw us off his land. And the witnesses against his houseguest disappeared, the same way the boys did."

"I see." It was time to change the subject. My host's self-possession was deteriorating rapidly. "What business were you in?" He blinked his eyes rapidly, clearing them of the tears that were gathering there, and he flipped the gold coin again.

"I was a wine importer. Not a big one, but comfortable. I learned the ins and outs of shipping the stuff while I was in the navy. Started small, once I got out, and did well. Then I saw a chance to operate on a bigger scale and borrowed the money to do it. "

"And?"

"The ship sank. Or pirates got it. Either way, it makes no difference to me. Nesca took everything I had. "

"How long were you in the navy?"

"Fifteen years. Got out when I was thirty. "

"And after fifteen years, you risked everything on one shipload?" He smiled, without humour. "No, on two, but the second one didn't arrive within three months of its expected date. By the time it did, it was Nesca's. "

I felt a stab of sympathy. "He wouldn't wait any longer?"

"He wouldn't wait at all, the fat son of a whore. He paid the second shipmaster to take a tour. I found out afterwards. That was seven years ago, so you can keep your money, it's too late to do me any good. I'll get my satisfaction out of cheating that fat pig out of his. Are you hungry?" Suddenly I was ravenous. I nodded.

"Good, " he said. "Let's eat. There isn't much, and it isn't epicurean, but it'll fill our bellies. I'm Tertius Pella. "

I gripped his outstretched arm. "Publius Varrus. " He produced bread and cheese and onions pickled in sour wine and we devoured them, and then he brought out a jar of truly wondrous wine, rich and red as blood, and I stopped with the cup halfway to my lips.

"What's the matter?"

I lowered the cup. "Guilt. You're giving me your hospitality and I've brought you more trouble than you know. "

"How so?"

"There are two dead men in your stable, under the hay. "

"Ayee!" He twisted his face. "That's awkward. Two of Nesca's?" I nodded. "I'm sorry. "

"So am I! They're bound to come back this way and search again. We'd better move them. "

"Move them? Where to?"

"Dump them into the cellar under the floor and cover the door with straw. I'll bury them later. "

"What about the blood stains? If they search, they'll see them. "

"Are they bad?"

I nodded. "They bled like pigs. "

"Not inappropriate. But where are they? I didn't notice them when I was out there. "

"You weren't looking, otherwise you couldn't have missed them. "

"Damnation! I can't claim ignorance, even though it's the truth. They'll never believe I didn't know the bodies were there when I wouldn't let them search. They'll haul me in front of Nesca, and as soon as he sees my face I'm done for. He knows I know he robbed me. This will be a perfect chance for him to silence me for good. "

He stopped and looked at me strangely.

"Where will you go when you get away from here? Where do you live?"

"On a villa, about forty miles south of here. "

"A villa, eh? You own it?"

I shook my head. "No, it belongs to a friend of mine. You'd like him. "

"Can I come with you?"

He had surprised me again. "Come with me? You mean for good? What about your business?"

He looked around the shop. "What business? Nesca can have it, as a shrine for the bodies in the cellar. I'm sick of it. " I laughed, quietly. "Tertius Pella, " I said, "if we ever get out of here alive, you will be welcome at our villa. "

"Excellent!" He lifted his cup in a toast. "Here's to new friendships, new futures and a lingering, evil death for fat thieves!" We emptied our cups, and he rose and went again to the shutters and stood there for a time, peering out through the cracks. The noise in the street outside had died away almost completely. Finally he spoke over his shoulder.

"You said you had a wagon being loaded with hemp. Is your driver a big, red-haired fellow, wearing a blue tunic?"

I was at his side in a second, and there was my own wagon, outside in the street.

"That's it! Get him in here! Can you do that? His name's Cerdic. "

"Cerdic. Give me a minute. "

It took him about three minutes, and then they were both back, Cerdic as glad to see me as I was to see him. My men had recognized me from the description they were given by the searchers, although they had said nothing to any of them. They had split up then and were now combing the town looking for me. Cerdic had stayed with the wagon, unwilling to abandon it. They had planned to reassemble at our camp outside of town and spend the night there before renewing their search for me tomorrow. Cerdic was in a fever to get me into the wagon and covered up from sight. He had just been searched, he said, at the end of the street, and if we moved quickly, he thought he could go back the same way without being searched again. It was time for a quick and dangerous decision. Tertius showed him the back entrance and I waited there for them, opening the door when I heard them returning. Cerdic backed the wagon in immediately and I dived into the evil-smelling hemp and burrowed deep. I could feel Tertius Pella rearranging the load to hide all signs of my entrance. We pulled out again immediately and within ten minutes we were back at the checkpoint where Cerdic had been searched. I heard the watchman's challenge.

"Come on, man!" Cerdic roared. "You've just searched me! You've been through the whole whoreson wagon! I went to the end of the street to pick up my friend, here, at the mansio. Do you want us to strip for you? Want us to empty the whole whoreson lot right here on the road? If you're going to search, get to it! I've got better things to do than waste my time squatting here while you shed your fleas all over me. " I couldn't hear the answer he received, but we sat there for long, long minutes. I felt somebody's weight moving around on the wagon bed, standing on the cargo piled above me. I imagined whoever it was to be stabbing at random among the hemp with a spear, and my mouth dried up as I waited for the point of it to find me. It was hot and uncomfortable under there, and I started to have difficulty breathing. My throat grew dry and raspy, and I began to develop an urge to cough. I worked my tongue frantically, trying to generate saliva to kill the dryness. And then the wagon lurched forward and we were moving again, for a few paces. I heard Cerdic shouting something else, but I couldn't hear what he said. After a few more minutes, we moved on. The relief was overwhelming, and I lost the urge to cough.