The Queen of the Night

The General welcomed them in clipped tones and asked if they'd eaten. He hardly bothered to wait for their reply but immediately introduced his son Alexander, muttered that they had already met his lady wife Urbana and the Lady Cassia, whom he dismissed with a flick of his eyes, then turned back smiling to his son. Claudia learned a great deal in those few seconds. The relationship between the General and his good wife was, perhaps, not what it should be, whilst Cassia was good-naturedly tolerated. The General's attention was solely on Alexander, a pleasant-ma

'Do you understand?' he ended, leaning forward. 'Do you fully understand what I ask?'

'Yes, sir,' Murranus replied. 'I am to be your son's shadow.'

The General's severe face broke into a faint smile. He jabbed his finger at Murranus. 'I like you, man, that's the answer I wanted. Where he goes, you follow, and you're always armed. You've brought your war belt?'

Murranus explained how the General's servants had taken his weapon bundle as soon as he'd entered the house.

'They won't do that again,' the General retorted. 'Where you go, your sword, dagger and club are always with you, and where my son goes, you go as well, be it the baths, the latrines, a swim, the Campus Martius, a ride on a horse, even climbing a tree.'

Murranus again reassured the General that he knew exactly what his duties were. The General stretched as if he'd resolved a great problem.

'And Senator Carinus?' He turned to Claudia, looking her up and down. 'No news about Antonia?'

'No, sir.' Claudia barked back the reply so sharply that Urbana and Cassia lowered their heads to hide their laughter,-beside her Murranus stiffened quickly, a warning to her not to mock the General. Aurelian narrowed his eyes.

'You're only a child,' he muttered, 'a mere slip of a girl, yet the Empress is using you.' He clicked his tongue. 'But that's Helena! She always does what you least expect; she would have made a good general. In fact,' he pulled a face, 'she was,- she advised both her husband and her beloved son.' He added quickly, 'You want to tell me something, girl, don't you?'

'Yes, sir. The Vigiles Muri, the veterans from the Fretenses?'

'Ah, yes.' Aurelian's face grew severe. 'You are to find their killers. A difficult task for a slip of a girl.'

'Another one was murdered last night.'

Aurelian ignored the sharp hiss of surprise from the two women beside him.

'Who?' he exclaimed, hand cupping his ear as if finding it difficult to hear what Claudia was saying.

'Stathylus,' Claudia replied. 'I met him, Secundus and Crispus at a tavern; their funeral club meets in its upper chamber.'

The General nodded, eyes staring hard. 'Then what happened?'

'Stathylus went outside to relieve himself. He was murdered, barbarously, just like the rest.'

For a brief while the General put his face in his hands.

'Murdered!' he exclaimed, lifting his head, 'with an imperial agent close by?'

'We could not save him,' Claudia replied. 'Stathylus brought his own death upon himself. General, it's time you learned the truth.' In sharp, brief sentences she told him what she'd been told the previous evening. Once she'd finished, Aurelian sat, chin cupped in his hand, staring at the floor as if fascinated by the mosaic depicting Mars in triumph. He glanced up.

'And Sccundus and Crispus?' he asked. 'Are they guilty of murder, of deliberately slaying their officer?'

'No, sir.' Claudia shook her head. 'At the time it happened, neither was party to it. Postulus died because of Stathylus, because of the bad blood between them, because Postulus was a drinker, but most of all because of the Golden Maid.'

'If I had known this yesterday,' the old General commented, as if issuing a decree, 'I would have had Stathylus scourged. He would have been fortunate not to end up on a cross. I'll summon those other two here. I have questions for them and they'll be safer in this villa!' The old General recollected who was with him and, turning, whispered an apology to his wife, who'd sat throughout studying Claudia closely. Beside her, Cassia was not as amused or as merry as yesterday, but stony-faced and hard-eyed. Claudia realised that both women were consummate actresses, deferential and welcoming as far as they could be in the presence of the Empress, but here in General Aurelian's villa very much the patrician ladies.

'Tell me again,' Aurelian demanded, 'about what truly happened along the Great Wall.'

Claudia did so. Every so often the General would interrupt with a question, then allow her to return to her narration. At the end he tapped his sandalled feet.

'I'll ask Secundus and Crispus to shelter here. I agree with your conclusion, girl: when those men were killed, the only person who would have been able to get close would be a whore, and one armed with a dagger.' He turned to ask Urbana a question, but the door opened and Leartus walked in, black hair carefully combed, his olive-ski

'Well, girl, are there any questions you wish to ask me?'

'Do you know anything?' Claudia asked. 'Can you add to the report I've given?'

Aurelian spread his hands. 'You are talking of the province eighteen years ago. It was like an overturned beehive, people streaming along the roads, towns and villas deserted. Our greatest enemy was fear. No one knew precisely what was happening, which general was in charge, which units could be trusted. Had pirates landed on the coast? Were the Picts through the wall? Had the Scoti breached the western defences? Which tribes were in revolt?' He glanced at Cassia, smiled and stretched out a hand. 'Poor Cassia here was caught up in it. Days of blood, nights of horror,- she still can't really recall what happened.'

The former courtesan smiled tenderly at the old general, who seemed flattered. He sighed loudly.

'Ah yes, it took years to reimpose order. We were only too pleased to see the Fretenses. Of course, when we heard of their great victory, rewards and praise streamed like a river towards them.'

'Did you hear of them taking prisoners?'

'None whatsoever,' the General replied definitely. 'They were moving fast, their possessions lashed to their saddle horns, no carts, only the soldiers and their mounts. They'd even left their own wives and children.' He glanced sharp-eyed at Claudia. 'Next question.'

'Are there Pictish slaves in Rome?'

'That's a hard question.' Aurelian rubbed his chin. 'The Picts,' he said, 'it is years since we've had a campaign against them. I don't know. I suppose I could ask the Aedile or the Prefect.' He glanced at Urbana. 'Can you help here?'

His wife shook her head, her eyes never leaving Claudia's face.

'I'll make enquiries.' The old general sighed. 'But I follow your logic, girl. If that Pictish war band was wiped out, if the woman they called the Golden Maid hanged herself, who would know, who would remember?'

'Do you know anything about Postulus?' Murranus asked. 'The murdered centurion. Did he have a wife and family?'

'Not that I know of,' the General replied. 'Postulus was a loner, that's why he drank. He had a wife once but I think she died; no children, nobody here in Rome. If he had, they'd have been along to see me seeking this favour or that.'