Wrath of the Furies Read online

  What role had I played in his scheme? Had I simply been a traveling companion, sent along by my father to get me out of harm’s way? And what role had my father played? He helped Antipater fake his death; had he done so knowing the old poet’s true purpose? Could it be that my father was himself an agent of Mithridates?

  Such a possibility was unthinkable. Or so I would have said once upon a time, when I was naive and untraveled and knew little about the ways of men. But now, in a world turned upside down by treachery and war, anything seemed possible—even that my father could be a traitor to Rome.

  What if he was? Where, then, should my own loyalties lie? With Rome? With my father? With neither?

  Before I could answer that question, I needed to discover the truth about my father, but that was not possible. “Are you a traitor to Rome, Father?” Such a dangerous question could never be posed in a letter, which might be read by anyone who opened it. Perhaps Antipater could have told me the truth, but I had no idea where the old poet went after he left Alexandria. I might have solved the problem by going back to Rome, to confront my father face-to-face—provided that he was still alive—but that journey I had put off time and again, either because of the danger, or the expense, or the impossibility of doing so as the seas were emptied of passenger ships by the threat of war from all sides.

  But there was another reason that kept me from returning home, eclipsing all others: I simply had no taste for the journey. Was it any wonder that I preferred to dawdle in Egypt, basking in the warm sunshine of the rooftop terrace, feasting on fish and pomegranates and dates at the eunuchs’ expense, taking long walks on the beach with Bethesda to find secluded places where we might lie together on a blanket between heat-shimmering dunes?

  I had all a young man needed to be content. Yet, in my heart of hearts, what I wanted more than anything was to pay a visit to the banker in Alexandria who received correspondence for me and to find that a letter had arrived from Rome, a letter from my father telling me that he was alive and well.

  “Well then, by all means, you must take a trip into the city to see if there are any letters for you,” said Berynus, as if he had read my thoughts. This apparent ability to read minds was a trait I had noticed in both of the eunuchs. No doubt it was one of the attributes that had kept them alive through treacherous times, and had made them such well-rewarded servants in the royal bureaucracy.

  “And take the girl with you,” said Kettel, chewing with his mouth open, then swallowing the last of his fish with an audible gulp. “You’ll want to do a bit of shopping, I imagine—if the shops are open again—and the slave can carry your purchases.”

  I nodded, thinking that any money I spent would more likely be on Bethesda than on myself, and that she would probably wear any such purchase rather than carry it. As she re-emerged on the rooftop bearing a tray of fresh delicacies, I noticed, not for the first time, how even the smallest adornments to her beauty gave pleasure to my eyes—the ivory pin in her lustrous black hair, the simple wooden bracelet on her wrist, and the copper brooch that decorated her green dress, a garment I had recently bought for her to celebrate my twenty-second birthday.

  “Very well, then,” I said. “Tomorrow, first thing, I’ll head into Alexandria, and take Bethesda with me.”

  She raised her eyebrows at this information, then looked over her shoulder, toward the city, turning her body in such a way that the sinuous line running over one hip and up to her breast took my breath away. The eunuchs paid her no attention at all.

  * * *

  In the end it was decided that I should drive a donkey cart into the city, since the eunuchs kept thinking of various provisions they wanted me to buy, provided that such were available, “and not too outrageously expensive!” as Berynus cautioned. The eunuchs had retired with considerable wealth, but wartime prices threatened to make beggars even of rich men. How wise it seemed in retrospect that they had retired to the fishing village. For food, one could practically pluck fish from the sea. For entertainment, the setting sun and the sound of waves lapping the shore provided a spectacle that cost nothing, and that never grew stale.

  There was no way of knowing what we might encounter in the city, so it seemed a good idea to make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. I wore a faded tunic with a few tears that needed mending. Bethesda wore a modest, loose-fitting garment that did more to hide her beauty than to show it off.

  The coast road was much traveled and well maintained. The two donkeys made good time, and we arrived at the city’s western gate well before noon. The document attesting our affiliation with the eunuchs got us through the gates with no problem—the seals of Kettel and Berynus still carried weight, despite the fact that they had served under the deposed king. Inside the walls, the city was more orderly than I had expected. The new king’s men were out in force, patrolling the streets with swords sheathed but with wooden cudgels in hand, and no one seemed in a mood to challenge them.

  We headed down the broad avenue that runs the whole length of the city from west to east, lined with palm trees and decorated with statues and obelisks. In some areas I saw the results of riots and street fights—damaged buildings with broken doors and shutters hanging askew, dry fountains littered with rubbish and debris, and even whole blocks that had been gutted by fire—but many of the neighborhoods seemed to have returned to normal, with open storefronts and street merchants hawking their wares.

  At one of the grand intersections along the way we turned left, toward the waterfront, and took the quickest and most direct route to the offices of the banker who sometimes held money for me and also received any letters that arrived in Alexandria addressed to me.

  While Bethesda waited outside in the cart, I stepped into the little reception room. It was crammed with people, some wanting to leave bags of coins with the banker, others wanting to make a withdrawal. It required considerable persistence just to make my way to the counter, where I was given a wooden disk with a Greek letter carved on it—λ—and told to wait and listen.

  At last a high-pitched voice called, “Lambda,” and I elbowed my way to the counter, disk in hand, where I was met by a frazzled eunuch with a stubbly head and three chins.

  “Well, what is it?” he snapped. “Deposit, withdrawal, inquiry?”

  “My name is Gordianus, of Rome. I’m wondering if there might be a letter for me.”

  He turned and called to a clerk behind him, who called to yet another clerk in another room. Behind me, newcomers clamored for attention, but the clerk studiously ignored them, training his expressionless stare on my forehead while we waited for a reply.

  A voice called from the next room. “Gordianus, did you say?”

  My heart leaped. “Yes,” I answered. “That’s me.”

  The clerk who had called from the other room appeared. This one seemed almost a twin of the other, except that his head was smooth and freshly shaved, and he had not three chins but four. “Can you write your name?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “Then you’ll need to sign for this.” He held a rolled and sealed scrap of parchment in one hand, and placed another piece of parchment on the counter before me. “Sign here, here, and here.”

  I picked up a stylus from the counter and quickly scribbled my name three times, not bothering to read the document I was signing. Who knows what becomes of all these forms that bankers require? Egyptian bankers are even madder for record-keeping than the ones in Rome.

  There was a fee to be paid. It seemed rather steep, compared to the fees I had paid for previous letters, but these were wartime prices, I told myself, as I gave the clerk a handful of coins.

  My heart sped up and my fingers trembled as the clerk handed me the tiny scroll. The seal was of red beeswax. My father usually used a cheaper wax, without pigment. Nor did the seal bear the stamp of his iron citizen’s ring. The seal bore no stamp at all.

  As I turned from the counter, I broke the seal and unrolled the parchment. I knew at once that it was not a letter from my father, for the letters were Greek, and my father always wrote to me in Latin. The handwriting looked familiar, but there was no salutation at the top and no signature at the bottom. A quick look at the page gave me little sense of what it was about. It seemed to be taken from some larger document, since it appeared to begin in mid-sentence and ended that way as well.

  “There must be some mistake,” I said, turning back to the clerk. He was already waiting on another customer, but turned to look at me with a sour expression.

  “Mistake?” he said.

  “This isn’t a letter. I’m not sure what it is. A page from someone’s diary, perhaps—”

  “So? It arrived addressed to you.”

  “But who sent it? There’s no indication—”

  “How should I know?” said the clerk.

  “But where did it come from? How did it get here?”

  The clerk sighed wearily, then turned to a table behind him to reach for a ledger. The customer he was ignoring gave me a nasty look.

  The clerk unrolled the scroll and ran a well-manicured fingernail down a column with scribbled names and dates, then tapped at the scroll with a flourish of authority. “There it is. Your letter arrived five days ago, on a ship that sailed here from Ephesus.”

  “Ephesus?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Is that where the letter originated?”

  “So it says here. The document was taken aboard at Ephesus, for delivery to Gordianus of Rome, residing in or around Alexandria.”

  “But who sent it?”

  “It doesn’t say.”

  “But who do I know in Ephesus?” I said, thinking aloud. In fact, I did know a few people in Ephesus, having stayed briefly in the house of Antipater’s old pupi
l Eutropius during our journey. But who among them would—

  “How should I know?” snapped the clerk. “Figure it out for yourself. You’ve signed the receipt, paid the fee, and taken possession of the document. So now, if you have no further business with this establishment, I must ask you to move along. I have a great many other customers to wait on, as you can see.”

  I backed away from the counter, clutching the mysterious scrap of parchment. I stepped outside and walked to the donkey cart.

  Bethesda saw the look on my face. “Bad news, Master?”

  “No. I mean … I’m not sure.”

  She glanced at the parchment. Having never learned to read, all documents were mysterious to her. “Is it from your father?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m not sure who sent it, or why. I’m not even sure what it is.” I climbed up beside her on the cart and unrolled the parchment.

  “The letters are pretty,” said Bethesda, peering over my shoulder.

  “Yes, Greek letters are prettier than Roman ones. But wait—I do know this handwriting.” My heart raced. My fingers trembled.

  “Master?” said Bethesda, with concern in her voice. She laid a hand on my arm.

  “This was written by Antipater,” I whispered.

  “Your old tutor?” Bethesda had never met Antipater, for I acquired her long after he and I parted ways, but she had heard me speak of him from time to time. I had not told her that he was a spy and an enemy of Rome—that was a secret I kept to myself—but she knew that we had parted under a cloud.

  “Yes, my old tutor.” I peered at the elegantly made letters and began to move my lips. It was not exactly my intention to read the letter to Bethesda, but in effect that was what I did, for it was easier for me to read Greek if I spoke the words aloud. When I came to the parts about myself, my face turned hot, but I kept reading:

  … I am in great danger. I fear for my life every hour of every day.

  For the time being, at least, I am allowed to reside away from the royal court, in the home of my old pupil and friend, Eutropius. Removed from the constant gaze of the king and his vicious little queen, perhaps I am out of their thoughts as well, and thus in less danger of incurring their wrath. But as a part of my living arrangements, I have been assigned two male servants from the royal household to look after my personal needs, ostensibly so that I should impose no burden on Eutropius. But who knows if I can trust these fellows? They might be assassins, for all I know!

  No man was happier than my host Eutropius to see the Romans driven from power, or more pleased at the king’s arrival in Ephesus. Yet Eutropius is not such a Roman-hater as some. It was Roman abuses Eutropius detested, not every Roman who happened to settle in Ephesus or have business in the city. Apparently Eutropius was even arranging for his daughter Anthea to marry a wealthy Roman, before the man fled for his life, like so many of his countrymen.

  When I was last in Ephesus—then as now posing as Zoticus!—it was in the company of young Gordianus, at the very beginning of the journey that would take us to see the Seven Wonders. “And how is that young Roman?” asked Eutropius. “Faring well, I hope!” For it was Gordianus who saved his daughter’s life during our visit. If only for that, Eutropius does not judge all Romans harshly.

  Ah, Gordianus! How I miss that youth—his steadfastness, his courage, his cleverness. How I could use a companion with those qualities now, if I am to have any hope of escaping the parlous predicament in which I find myself. Instead I am alone, with no one to turn to.

  And if anybody …

  My voice trailed away. Bethesda clutched my arm. “Then what does it say?”

  “That’s it. There is no more.”

  “But there must be. That can’t be the end of it.”

  I nodded and sighed. “You’re right. Something tells me this is just the beginning.”

  II

  “That final, incomplete sentence—how do you suppose it would end?” asked Berynus.

  I was back at the eunuchs’ house after a long, busy day in the city. The hour was late, but my hosts often stayed up well past sunset, talking and dining by starlight and the soft glow of lamps on the roof terrace. With the sound of waves gently lapping the beach as backdrop, the setting could not have been more serene, even as my own state of mind could not have been more turbulent. In my distress, I had taken both of them into my confidence, explaining the circumstances of my parting with Antipater and reading the fragment aloud to them.

  Holding the scrap of parchment in my hand, by the light of a nearby lamp I stared at the familiar handwriting. “What comes next? I suppose … I suppose it would say: ‘If anybody … if anybody could help me, it would be … Gordianus.’”

  “You’re certain this was written by Antipater?” asked Kettel, giving me a quizzical look and lacing his pudgy fingers beneath his multiple chins.

  “Absolutely. The handwriting is unmistakable.”

  “And that’s all that arrived, that single scrap of parchment?” said Berynus, pursing his thin lips.

  “Yes. The fragment begins and ends in mid-sentence. Clearly, it’s been taken from some longer piece of writing.”

  “From a letter, perhaps?” said Kettel.

  “Not a letter addressed to me, obviously, since he refers to me in the third person. Not a letter at all, I suspect. And certainly not an official document of any sort, or something meant for publication; that would have been dictated to a scribe, while this is in his own hand. It seems to have been written more to himself than to someone else. Or written for posterity. It’s as if Antipater wanted to record the events going on around him.”

  “But why?” asked Berynus.

  “Because he has a story to tell, but fears that he may not be around to tell it much longer. These words were written by a frightened man. A man who fears for his life.” I sighed and lowered the piece of parchment. “And here I am in Egypt, frittering away my time, unable to help him.”

  “I thought you parted on bad terms with the old fellow,” said Kettel.

  “What if I did? He still thinks of me fondly. He says so in this fragment. He wishes that I were with him.”

  “He doesn’t actually say that.” This came from Bethesda, who sat on a rug before me, massaging my feet, which were sore from so much walking that day. My hosts had grown used to my slave’s unruly manners and my tendency to indulge her, and hardly raised an eyebrow when she made bold to enter the conversation.

  “He doesn’t say what?” I asked.

  Bethesda raised an eyebrow and resumed massaging my feet. “He doesn’t say that he wishes you were with him, Master. What he actually says is that he could use someone with certain of your qualities. That is not exactly the same thing.” Like many who cannot read, Bethesda was a careful listener and had a sharp memory.

  I laughed. “You sound like a Roman lawyer, splitting hairs! Though you hardly look like one.” The soft light of the lamps picked out glints of many colors amid her black tresses, and the creamy smoothness of her forehead and cheeks shone like ivory. “The point is clear: Antipater desperately needs someone to help him, someone he can trust. Instead, he finds himself alone, and in terrible danger.”

  “Whose fault is that?” asked Kettel. “From what you’ve told us, Gordianus, the whole time the two of you traveled together, your old tutor was secretly spying for King Mithridates. And no sooner did he reveal the truth to you here in Alexandria than he vanished, leaving you to fend for yourself. Well, now you know where he ended up. He’s in Ephesus, residing with this old pupil of his, Eutropius—another supporter of Mithridates, from the way Antipater describes him. So he’s hardly alone, is he? He and his host should both be happy, since the king has virtually driven the Romans out of Asia.”

  “And yet,” I said, “Antipater doesn’t feel safe, even in the house of Eutropius. He fears for his life, and the source of his fear appears to be the king himself—or else the ‘vicious little queen,’ as Antipater calls her. Somehow Antipater must have offended them, and now he fears he may be killed at any moment.”