Scandal takes a Holiday

Marcus, you damn fool!" muttered Fulvius. That was bloody careless, we're really stuck now." I refused to see this as my fault, but what he said was true. Our prison was damp, musty, and not built for two. We could stand up, but this pit was constructed for one man alone. I could not help remembering that when I was small, people had told me to avoid Uncle Fulvius because he disliked children. Many years later I had realised that that was the family way of saying he liked little boys too much. Now I was trapped in a pit in the dark with him. O Mother!

LXI

We can't see much, but light is getting in through the grid and so is air To my surprise, my uncle seemed to be taking charge. Now he began calculating odds. I was the ex-soldier; that was my job. There's one of him, and two of us."

I have a sword, though no room to use it." We were packed in very tight. Fulvius could not avoid knowing that I had come armed.

We are safe enough down here." My uncle was a complaisant swine.

That's nice," I said sarcastically. Some maniac has locked us in and we're stuck until they come with the quaking initiate tomorrow morning."

Scared, Marcus?"

Only of what I am about to find out, I really want to know," I said, as patiently as possible, what your position is in this. I was told by Caninus that you are the Illyrian."

You were told wrong."

So put me right."

Did you believe him?"

How should I know, Uncle?"

There is an alternative." I got it in first. The Illyrian could be Caninus himself?"

Oh smart boy!"

So the navy is not investigating the ransom scam."

Maybe they are," said Fulvius. What do you think / am doing here?" My uncle was an agent? Can you prove this statement?"

I don't have to prove it." When I said nothing, Uncle Fulvius insisted, You have never seen me damned well dressed like a woman."

Face paint and slippers are just not your style? Such a relief for the family! All I know is, you were going to Pessinus but you got on the wrong boat." Fulvius chuckled. I got the boat I wanted. Did you meet Cassius?."

Now I remembered the beggar behind the Temple of Rome and Augustus. Cassius?… Of course, I thought the grime looked self applied."

He likes to throw himself into things," Fulvius boasted. An i

Mother will be so pleased you have settled down! Cassius was on the boat, I take it. The boat you decided was the right one?"

He was on the boat."

I am happy for you, Uncle. But we're wasting time. We need to get out of this."

We have to stay put."

Sorry, Uncle, I'd prefer not to make Cassius jealous by lingering. I tried shoving the door. Uncle Fulvius allowed me to exhaust myself, grunting in protest as I crushed him.

Shut up and sit tight. The shrine above is the meeting place. Zeno told me. When the money is handed over, we can listen and collect the evidence."

Zeno was the boy ru

A priest of Attis is feeding him hot milk and sesame cakes." That did not reassure me. Still, the child could be extracted later. Extricating us might be more difficult.

Will your Cassius bring help?"

Of course." That was reassuring, but I still did not like being trapped underground in the dark. Waves of panic swept over me. There must be drainage, but caverns that have been drenched in gore acquire a horrendous smell. I fought claustrophobia. If initiates could stand this in isolation, I could live through the fear… Possibly.

Whatever did you have for lunch?" demanded my uncle pompously. I was breathing in his face; there was no alternative.

Funeral fare."

Onions." Oh, Fulvius was fastidious. Now I wanted to laugh. While we waited for something to happen, I nagged my uncle to tell me about his role in this fiasco. He said he worked for the navy, as a corn factor; Pa had told me that. And I knew that the army, so presumably the navy too, often made use of their corn factors to gather intelligence. Fulvius had been involved with supplying troops for years. From Salonae, where he lived, his contacts were with the Rave

Caninus?"

Got it!"

I am an informer, Uncle. Whatever you've heard from the family, I happen to be good at it. I find this unlikely I found it appalling – but are you saying you do similar work to me?"

Maybe."

No need to be secretive. I was an army scout. Now I take on imperial missions."

Good for you, boy!" Fulvius changed the subject, without admitting anything. Our paths never directly crossed until now."

Well, I'm glad that this business has not ripped up old friendships . So he tells me you are the Illyrian, and you say it's him."

You just listen to me," ordered Fulvius.

Perhaps I will Or perhaps not. How did Caninus go bad?"

He made the wrong friends when he was supposed to be monitoring the Illyrian seaboard."

Wrong friends? When we talked at that bar with Geminus, you were defending the coastal folk yourself."

I was explaining what has happened to the dispossessed," argued Fulvius. The men you call pirates come from poverty-stricken communities, where the options are few. Young lads off the land are sent to sea because it is the only option."

Cotys and the others, the Cilician community, seem happy with their lot."

Don't despise them as rifF-raff," said Fulvius. There was a long tradition of coastal groups giving shelter to men fleeing poverty often seamen of talent who simply found they could not get a ship. What you call pirate ships were high class vessels, ma

Oh Salonae is perfectly civilised!" Fulvius cried angrily. But I know people in Illyria. I know the good and the bad. I had been to Dyrrhachium. So I was asked to keep an eye on Cotys unofficially, when he seemed to have been lured into new, unacceptable ventures. I soon spotted that he was being protected by a bad apple in the Rave

Was it the first time you had been used in intelligence gathering?"

No." A horrid thought struck. Who asked you to do it? You don't work for Anacrites?" Uncle Fulvius uttered something quiet and crude. I do not." Interesting. He obviously knew who Anacrites was, though.

Who commissions you then?"

Who wants the seas kept sweet and clean?"

The Emperor?"

I suppose so, though we try to ignore that dreary aspect."

We, is you and Cassius? And who pays you two?"

You don't need to know, Marcus." If I was ever to trust him, I did need to know.

Don't treat me like a lad. I've done enough stinking official missions of my own."

We are not offering you a partnership."

I would not take it!" We both seethed quietly. It was like a low moment at a family birth day party. After a while I asked the inevitable professional question. So what is the going rate for intelligence, with the Rave

More than you get, probably." His arrogance was hard to take. Now I knew why, in the family, Fulvius had always been unpopular. Don't be too sure of that!" I said. The discomfort was getting to me. What's happened?" I wondered restlessly. Mutatus set off hours ago from the temple with the money. If this is the rendezvous, where has he got to?"

Fake trail," Fulvius said curtly. According to Zeno, Mutatus has been sent to a series of false drop sites. He'll get about three messages until he is passed here. It's to u