Read Online Arms of Nemesis by Steven Saylor - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Steven Saylor
Ads: Link
then,' he said, reaching out to replace the camouflage of ivy and making a mess of it. 'Poor Lucius Licinius. I suppose Fabius has explained everything to you.'
'Not at all,' I said.
'Good! Because it's not his job to brief you. I wouldn't have thought he could keep his lips sealed around a stranger, but perhaps we'll make a soldier of him yet.' Mummius smiled broadly.
Fabius gave him a withering look. 'You seem to be in high spirits.'
'I raced my men all the way up from Misenum. A swift ride to loosen the joints after a few days at sea — that and the air of the Cup should put any man in high spirits.'
'Still, you might lower your voice just a little, in deference to the dead.'
Mummius's smile disappeared in his beard. 'Sorry,' he muttered,
and returned to the fountain to dab at the water and touch his moistened fingers to his bowed forehead. He looked uneasily at the body, and then at each of us, waiting for any notice of his impiety to the shade of Lucius Licinius to pass.
'Perhaps we should call on Gelina,' he finally said.
'Without me,' Fabius said. 'I have business to attend to in Puteoli, and not much time if I'm to get there and back before sundown.'
'And where is Crassus?' Mummius called after him.
'In Puteoli as well, on business of his own. He left this morning with word that Gelina should not expect him back before dinner this evening.' The door opened for him, pulled by an invisible slave in the shadows so that it seemed to open by magic at his approach. He stepped into the light and disappeared.
'What a prig,' Mummius muttered under his breath. 'And for all his high-flown attitude, they say his family could barely afford to buy him a decent tutor. Good blood, but one of his ancestors emptied the family coffers and no one ever filled them up again. Crassus took him on as a lieutenant only as a favour to Fabius's father; he hasn't turned out to have much talent as a military man, either. I could name a few plebeian families who've made more of a mark in the last hundred years or so.' He smiled a bit smugly, then called to a little slave boy who was crossing the atrium: 'You there, Meto, go and find your mistress and tell her I've arrived with her guest from Rome. As soon as we've refreshed ourselves in the baths, we shall call on her.'
'Is that necessary?' I asked. 'After the insane rush to get me here, do you really think we should spend time in a tub of water?'
'Nonsense. You can't meet Gelina smelling like a sea horse.' He laughed at his own joke and put a hand on my shoulder to lead me away from the corpse. 'Besides, taking the waters is the first thing anyone does when he arrives in Baiae. It's like praying to Neptune before setting out to sea. The waters here are alive, you know. Homage must be paid.'
It seemed that the relaxing airs of the Cup could loosen even Mummius's staid and stodgy discipline. I put my arm around Eco's shoulders and followed our host, shaking my head in wonder.
What Mummius had casually referred to as the baths was in fact an impressive installation within the house that seemed to have been built over a natural terrace on the side of the hill, facing the bay. A great coffered dome lacquered with gold paint arched over the space, pierced by a round hole at the summit that admitted a beam of pure white light. Beneath this was a round pool with concentric steps leading into its depths, its surface obscured by roiling masses of sulphurous steam. An archway on the eastern side opened onto a terrace furnished with tables and chairs, with a view of the bay. A series of doors around the pool defined a semicircular arcade; the doors were of wood painted dark red, the handles were of gold in the shape of fish with their heads and tails attached to the wood. The first door led into a heated changing room; the other rooms, so Mummius explained as we shed our tunics, contained pools of various sizes and shapes, filled with water of various temperatures.
'Built by the famous
'Not at all,' I said.
'Good! Because it's not his job to brief you. I wouldn't have thought he could keep his lips sealed around a stranger, but perhaps we'll make a soldier of him yet.' Mummius smiled broadly.
Fabius gave him a withering look. 'You seem to be in high spirits.'
'I raced my men all the way up from Misenum. A swift ride to loosen the joints after a few days at sea — that and the air of the Cup should put any man in high spirits.'
'Still, you might lower your voice just a little, in deference to the dead.'
Mummius's smile disappeared in his beard. 'Sorry,' he muttered,
and returned to the fountain to dab at the water and touch his moistened fingers to his bowed forehead. He looked uneasily at the body, and then at each of us, waiting for any notice of his impiety to the shade of Lucius Licinius to pass.
'Perhaps we should call on Gelina,' he finally said.
'Without me,' Fabius said. 'I have business to attend to in Puteoli, and not much time if I'm to get there and back before sundown.'
'And where is Crassus?' Mummius called after him.
'In Puteoli as well, on business of his own. He left this morning with word that Gelina should not expect him back before dinner this evening.' The door opened for him, pulled by an invisible slave in the shadows so that it seemed to open by magic at his approach. He stepped into the light and disappeared.
'What a prig,' Mummius muttered under his breath. 'And for all his high-flown attitude, they say his family could barely afford to buy him a decent tutor. Good blood, but one of his ancestors emptied the family coffers and no one ever filled them up again. Crassus took him on as a lieutenant only as a favour to Fabius's father; he hasn't turned out to have much talent as a military man, either. I could name a few plebeian families who've made more of a mark in the last hundred years or so.' He smiled a bit smugly, then called to a little slave boy who was crossing the atrium: 'You there, Meto, go and find your mistress and tell her I've arrived with her guest from Rome. As soon as we've refreshed ourselves in the baths, we shall call on her.'
'Is that necessary?' I asked. 'After the insane rush to get me here, do you really think we should spend time in a tub of water?'
'Nonsense. You can't meet Gelina smelling like a sea horse.' He laughed at his own joke and put a hand on my shoulder to lead me away from the corpse. 'Besides, taking the waters is the first thing anyone does when he arrives in Baiae. It's like praying to Neptune before setting out to sea. The waters here are alive, you know. Homage must be paid.'
It seemed that the relaxing airs of the Cup could loosen even Mummius's staid and stodgy discipline. I put my arm around Eco's shoulders and followed our host, shaking my head in wonder.
What Mummius had casually referred to as the baths was in fact an impressive installation within the house that seemed to have been built over a natural terrace on the side of the hill, facing the bay. A great coffered dome lacquered with gold paint arched over the space, pierced by a round hole at the summit that admitted a beam of pure white light. Beneath this was a round pool with concentric steps leading into its depths, its surface obscured by roiling masses of sulphurous steam. An archway on the eastern side opened onto a terrace furnished with tables and chairs, with a view of the bay. A series of doors around the pool defined a semicircular arcade; the doors were of wood painted dark red, the handles were of gold in the shape of fish with their heads and tails attached to the wood. The first door led into a heated changing room; the other rooms, so Mummius explained as we shed our tunics, contained pools of various sizes and shapes, filled with water of various temperatures.
'Built by the famous
Similar Books
