Lionslayer's Woman Read online

  ‘Lion-heart? Who do you mean?’

  ‘One of the slaves we brought with us. The tall one with the beard he refuses to remove. Caesar gave him to me after he killed a lion, unarmed, in the arena. I call him Cor Leonis just because he doesn’t like it. He’s like a high-spirited stallion I’m trying to master. It doesn’t go well.’

  Her husband shook his head. ‘You underestimate yourself, my dear. The man knows he owes you his life and he’s suitably subservient because of it. I wouldn’t trust him quite yet, but he’s intelligent enough to know he has few options now.’

  ‘So we send Nexus and this lion-heart to Rhodos with the commission to remove the family to safety until Domitian calms down. Where will they go?’

  ‘I have an estate on the Black Sea that’s far enough away that they’d go unnoticed but not an arduous journey from Rhodos,’ Titus suggested.

  ‘He’ll be unwilling to leave his ludus,’ Livianna said thoughtfully. ‘If he’s still the man I know, then he’ll have to have real incentive to upend his life again. He did that once; he won’t be happy to do it again.’

  ‘Nexus can be very persuasive when he needs to be,’ Livia said, her tone more confident and hopeful now. ‘I’ll go into town now and try to find him.’

  ‘You can’t do that. Send for him. Make him come to you. I am his patroness, after all. He owes me a debt,’ Livianna said with outrage. Lucius shifted nervously in her arms as he sensed her annoyance. It had been building ever since Cyrianus had been mentioned.

  ‘No, for this to work I have to go to him. I know him. This is the only way.’

  With more determination than she’d exhibited since their arrival the day before, Livia strode back toward the house. With a glance over her shoulder she said, ‘You’ll look after Lucius for me, won’t you Mater? He’s due for his nap. His nursemaid will explain the procedure. It takes rather a lot of manoeuvring to get him to sleep during the day. Too much going on.’

  ‘Of course, dear heart. I’d love to. I do have rather a lot of experience with boys. Your brothers were quite a handful… But are you sure…’

  ‘I am sure. I’m well enough to ride into town in a carrus. And I’ll take a driver and a guard. If Allyn were here, he’d go with me. But he isn’t, so I will go alone. I’ll be fine.’

  Livianna found it hard to believe this was the self-conscious half-wild creature who’d lived in the woods alone with her madman father only a few years ago. This confident young woman could have been raised in the finest villa in Rome. Her self-assurance was impressive.

  ‘Be careful then, and good luck.’

  ‘Thank you, Mater. I’ll need it.’

  Nexus reclined across a wooden bench outside the public house. It was just after midday from the position of the sun, and already his vision was blurred and the world had already taken on a far more ambient appearance. The amount of rough local beer he’d consumed was having the desired effect. The pain around his heart was easing. He could almost breathe again.

  ‘Nexus,’ a familiar female spoke his name gently. Who did it belong to? Not Niobe. But someone else he loved. Not his mother, she was long dead in Africa, heartbroken from the loss of her son. It must be Livia.

  He turned his head upward and saw her standing at his side, her swollen belly mere inches from his head. When had she fallen pregnant again? It felt like only a few days ago he’d seen her lithe and fit. Now here she was big with child. This wasn’t a dream was it? Was he dreaming of the time when Lucius was in her belly? Or a nightmare from the time when he feared he’d caused her downfall by getting her with child?

  ‘Livia,’ he replied unsteadily.

  ‘Can I join you?’

  Nexus scrambled upright and shifted up so that she could join him on the bench. The weak April sun was shining down on them and it felt good. The townsfolk moving around then on the narrow streets seemed more cheerful than usual. Maybe they felt that winter was finally over. For him winter would never end.

  Livia sat beside him and leaned back on the mud-packed wall of the tavern. This was no place for her, but in this moment, he was pleased to have her company. He felt closer to Niobe somehow. And knowing Livia didn’t blame him for her friend’s death was a salve to his open wound. He was to blame, he knew that. Had he returned when he should have instead of staying overlong in Africa with what was left of his family, he might have been able to save her. Instead, he’d been beyond the far reaches of the Empire, oblivious to her pain and fear.

  ‘I have a favour to ask of you,’ Livia said, after a few companionable minutes of silence.

  ‘I’m not up to running your estate quite yet. Give me another month. In a month, I’ll be ready.’

  ‘It isn’t the estate. I’ve had some terrible news. My mother brought it from Rome. I don’t know where to turn. You’re the only one I can think of who can help.’

  Nexus drew himself up and tried to focus on Livia’s face for the first time. She was every bit as beautiful as she had been three years ago when he’d seen her at her father’s graveside. Back then, she’d been so fragile and lost, unknowingly walking into the web of a spider. Back then, he’d loved her as a supplicant loves a goddess. But his soul and heart had belonged to another, the little Epirian handmaiden, Niobe. Together they’d worked to save this innocent victim from their master’s plots.

  He didn’t allow himself to remember the time she’d come to him in the gladiator ludus, the night before he expected to die. Memories like that defiled her and Niobe. It should never have happened.

  He drew away from the memory and tried to focus on the moment. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Domitian has put together a list of suspected rebels he wishes eliminated. A little girl I grew up with, the daughter of a Stoic friend of my father’s, is in danger. Her father is on that list. He and his whole family are in great danger.’

  ‘Send him a message,’ Nexus said, losing a little of his interest. He thought it was some harm that threatened her. This was nothing to do with him.

  ‘I can’t. It might be intercepted. And more than likely Donicus will ignore it. He already left his home once because of Vespasian’s threats to philosophers such as himself. He is unlikely to want to do it again under this emperor.’

  ‘Then what do you expect me to do?’ He rubbed a filthy hand through his overlong, kinky hair. It came away with a piece of dirty straw between his black fingers. Was that from the hay he slept on last night? Had he not even bothered to clean himself up this morning? Surely, he hadn’t sunk so low.

  ‘I’m asking you to go to the Isle of Rhodos and convince them of their danger and then help them escape it as quickly as they can. Sabinus has an estate on the Black Sea you can take them to. They’ll be safe there. Please, Nexus. You’re the only person who can do this. Galeria is my age and unmarried and she has a little sister who is only eight. If the Emperor sends assassins, they might die with their father. Or if, at the very least, it is soldiers that come to take their father away, it will devastate them. They don’t deserve this. They’re innocents. Do this for me, please.’

  Nexus frowned as he tried to get his foggy brain to process the information she was giving him. A girl the same age as Livia and Niobe and another who was still a child? They’d be in real danger if their father were taken away. Women alone were always in danger, no matter what their class, inside or outside of the Empire.

  But was he up to travelling across the world again? He was heartsick and as weak as a kitten. The alcohol he’d consumed over the last months, compounded with lack of food, had weakened his body badly. He was not the man he had been when he came here. He would never be that man again.

  ‘Nexus?’

  He gave his head a little shake. Niobe would want him to do this. If she were here, she’d tell him to stop wallowing in self-pity and start thinking about someone other than himself. If Livia needed him, then she’d want him to help her in whatever way he could. He was no longer the man he was. He would be lucky to be half
the man he was, but maybe there was enough in the dregs of his soul to carry out this simple mission. If he could save these innocents, then maybe it would help to clear some of the guilt from his soul.

  ‘When do you want me to leave?’

  ‘You will go?’ Livia said with delighted relief.

  ‘Of course. Niobe would have wanted me to.’

  ‘Yes she would. I miss her so much. But she wouldn’t want either of us to mourn her too long. She’d want us to be happy.’

  ‘She would. But unfortunately, on that particular point she won’t have her way. I don’t deserve to be happy and I doubt I’ll ever be happy again. But I can do this for her and for you.’

  ‘For now, that will be enough. My mother wants you to take her new slave with you in case you hit trouble. He fought a lion barehanded in the arena.’

  ‘And lived to tell of it?’ That surprised him. He remembered the lioness he and his best friend had hunted when they were little more than children. He forced his mind away from that painful thought so he could focus on his current pain: If only he’d come back earlier…

  ‘He killed it. I don’t know all the details but it was enough to gain him his life. Mater calls him Cor Leonis. He doesn’t like it.’

  ‘Why does she want him to go with me? Doesn’t she trust I can carry out this mission alone?’ He felt insulted. Livianna had given him the task of finding her daughter and bringing her safely home. He’d done that hadn’t he? Why would she think he needed help now?

  ‘I think it’s more about training the slave. He’s quite unmanageable, I gather. She thinks being with you, something might rub off on him. You were always a leader of men, Nexus. Festus’ slaves all feared and respected you.’

  He nodded his head silently, brushing off another stray piece of hay that clung to his filthy tunic. When had he last changed clothes? Not for days, maybe weeks. How could his delicate mistress sit so close to him when he must reek like a pigsty?

  ‘I’ll do what I can, but I couldn’t kill a lion so I might be outmatched with this slave. Let me clean myself up and I’ll come back to the estate with you. What was Allyn thinking to let you come all this way alone in your condition?’

  ‘He doesn’t know. He’s at his father’s at the moment. And even if he were here, he wouldn’t tell me no on something this important. And I’m not alone. Look, there’s Akmon and Certes.’ She pointed over to the carrus where two burly slaves stood waiting.

  ‘All right. Give me a little time to make myself presentable. I would go to the baths but that would take too long.’

  ‘There’s no time to waste.’

  ‘No. You’re right. I’ll check on ships heading south before we leave.’

  ‘Of course, I should have thought of that. I’m so glad you’ve agreed to do this. I feel so relieved, and so will Mater.’

  He grunted his acknowledgement. But it was good to hear. For the first time in a very long time, he felt like a man again.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  5 June 82 CE, AEGEAN SEA

  Decaneus leaned on the railing of the sleek little island clipper on the final leg of their four-day journey from Isthmia to Rhodos. The night before they’d slept in a comfortable tavern on the beautiful island of Astypalaia, its mountainous hills, white cliffs and clear teal waters had been one the most pleasant places they’d stayed on their very long journey.

  Astypalaia was one of the twelve large islands that made up the Dodecanese. Rhodos was another. He wasn’t sure if it was the peaceful elegance of the Aegean Islands, or the fact that they were finally reaching their destination after thirty-five gruelling days travelling that made it more appealing. Of course, he then had to add the three weeks or more it had taken to journey from Rome to Britannia in the first place. He’d barely got his land legs back when he was ordered back onto another rotting crate heading back to the mainland of Gallia.

  He didn’t understand any of it. Back in September, he’d woken up after his fight with the lion to find the beautiful older woman he’d seen in the Imperial box looking down at him with interest. Her husband, the cousin of both Emperors Titus and Domitian, had stood at her side, discomforted by his surroundings. When he’d looked around, he’d found that he was in some kind of surgeon’s cell. The smell of vomit and blood had hung heavy in the air.

  Livianna Honoraria had named him Cor Leonis. At first, he’d been confused, thinking she mistook him for someone else. But then the words began to make sense. She was calling him Lion-heart because he had killed the lion, just as the crowd at the amphitheatre had done. It was a stupid name and he resented her use of it. The Romans had taken everything else away from him, now they were taking his name?

  She’d told him that he was now her slave and that they’d be moving him to their home on Palatine Hill as soon as he was fit enough. He was to be her bodyguard, or one of them. He still didn’t understand why a family so wealthy and already surrounded by a huge household of loyal slaves would require another, especially one like him. He was about as far from a civilised house slave as it was possible to get.

  For a while, he thought he might have been bought for other reasons. He knew the Romans used slaves for all their needs, including their sexual ones. Although it was common knowledge that patrician women, who were considered above such base drives, didn’t take part in such sexual indulgences. But he couldn’t be sure, and so he’d watched the beautiful Livianna for some time, waiting for her to ask more of him than just his protection.

  But no such order came. It seemed she was the epitome of Roman virtue. He still wasn’t sure if he was pleased or disappointed by that outcome. Even as old as she was, she would have made an attractive bedmate, and he’d been missing that aspect of his life since his capture. Not that he’d been fit for much until well into the New Year, what with a broken leg and the deep gouges the lion had inflicted on his thighs. But eventually he had healed and now he had only a slight limp and some ugly scars to show for his near death experience in the arena.

  The farther away he got from the lion slaying, the more unreal it seemed. How could he possibly have fought and killed a full-grown lion armed only with a strip of material? It beggared belief. But he was alive when he shouldn’t be, so it must have happened, and now he was the possession of one of the most prominent matrons of the Roman Empire. If his brother could only see him now!

  He sniggered as he thought of Borieus. Even his survival would be a fly in his brother’s soup. When he’d arranged for Decaneus to lead that last disastrous raid into Roman-held territory, Borieus had planned for him to die. It wasn’t until Decaneus saw the carefully laid trap that he realised the depths to which his brother had sunk to get rid of him for good. It was bad enough that his betrayal had lost him his freedom, but good men had died that night because of Borieus’ insane jealousy.

  ‘Not long now,’ said the big black liberti who had been his travelling companion and watchdog since leaving Britannia. He came to stand at Decaneus’ side, looking out at the impossibly blue water, the stiff breeze catching at his cloak. The man looked ten times better now than he had when they’d started their journey. His skeletal frame had filled out and his muscles were taut and defined, if still less developed than his frame required.

  At the time he first met Nexus on the evening before they left on their rescue mission, he’d looked so weak that Decaneus was sure it would take nothing for him to escape the man somewhere closer to home. But he soon realised that Nexus was not so easy to outmatch, and over the last weeks he’d reluctantly come to respect the man for his quiet strength of will and regal bearing. They hadn’t shared much about themselves on the trip, but Decaneus knew from the estate gossip in Britannia that Nexus had saved his mistress’ daughter from Vesuvius and had loved a woman who had died while he was away. His physical and emotional collapse was a result of losing that woman.

  Decaneus couldn’t understand how some men came to love like that. His father, King Duras, had loved his mother in just such a way.
And the fact that Duras hadn’t been married to her, but to Borieus’ mother, didn’t seem to figure into it. He’d adored her until the day she died in childbirth, and Duras had favoured Decaneus above his other sons because of his mother.

  He’d been nine years old when his mother died, and he’d grieved bitterly for her. Especially as his newborn sister had been taken away from him, too, to be raised by a woman in the nearby village. In one foul swoop, he’d lost everything, and his father’s grief had isolated him even farther. It was a year before the king could look at him again.

  ‘You seem lost in thought,’ Nexus said into the silence.

  ‘Just remembering my home.’

  ‘Is it like this?’

  Decaneus gave a short, sharp bark of laughter. ‘As far from this as it’s possible to get. My home is in Dacia – dark, mountainous hills cloaked in fog and dense forests filled with spirits. The sun is mild there, not this bleaching, scorching light. Britannia felt more like home to me, even for the short time I was there.’

  ‘How did you do it? Kill the lion? I’ve wanted to ask you a hundred times, but now that we’ve reached our destination, I need to know the nature of the man I’ll have at my side.’

  Decaneus grimaced and shrugged his shoulders, brushing a windblown lock of hair out of his eyes. He’d been expecting this question for a month and it was finally here. He’d rehearsed his answer a dozen times, trying out modesty and then bragging to see which might do him the most good with a man like Nexus.

  In the end, he opted for honesty. He needed someone to talk to about what had happened that day. Someone who might understand. It had eaten away at him like an empty belly for too long.

  ‘When they dropped me on the floor of the arena I thought I was a dead man. They’d beaten me unconscious for my unwillingness to fight in the gladiator school, and I knew I’d been sentenced to death for it. But when I saw the lion coming toward me it didn’t seem real.’ He paused, wondering where to go from here.