The silence roared for a second, then the men released the breath they’d been holding and a rabble of voices broke out – mostly questions and spiced with a few choice swearwords as they realised the bets were all lost.
Marius walked over to the prostrate figure and felt his neck for a second. Silence fell again. Finally, he nodded.
‘His heart beats. He’ll live. Should have kept his chin down.’
The men gave a half-hearted cheer for the winner, though their spirits weren’t really in it.
Marius addressed the crowd, grinning.
‘If you have an appetite, there’s a feast waiting for you in the dining hall. We’ll make a night of it, for tomorrow it’s back to planning and work.’
Decidus was revived and taken out, shaking his head groggily. The rest trooped after him, leaving Marcus and Gaius alone with the general. Renius never left his seat and Cabera stayed back as well, his face alive with interest.
‘Well, boys, you’ve made me a lot of money today!’ Marius boomed, starting to laugh. He had to lean against a wall for support as the laughter shook his frame.
‘Their faces! Two beardless boys and one puts Fulvio on his backside …’ The laughter overtook him and he wiped his eyes as they streamed over his red face.
Renius stood up, swaying a little. He walked over to Marcus and Gaius and clapped a hand on each shoulder.
‘You’ve started making your names,’ he said quietly.
On the night before the Triumph the First-Born camp was anything but peaceful. Gaius sat around one of the campfires and sharpened a dagger that had belonged to his father. All around, the fires and noise of seven thousand soldiers and camp followers made the darkness busy and cheerful. They were camped in open country, less than five miles from the gates of the city. For the last week, armour had been polished, leather waxed, tears in cloth stitched. Horses were groomed until they shone like chestnuts. Marching drills had become tense affairs; mistakes were not tolerated and no one wanted to be left behind when they marched into Rome.
The men were all proud of Marius and themselves. There was no false modesty in the camp; they knew they and he deserved the honour.
Gaius stopped sharpening as Marcus came into the firelight and took a seat on a bench. Gaius looked into the flames and didn’t smile.
‘What’s the word?’ he said, angrily, without turning his head.
‘I leave at dawn tomorrow,’ Marcus replied. He too looked into the fire as he continued speaking. ‘This is for the best, you know. Marius has written a letter for me to take to my new century. Would you like to see it?’
Gaius nodded and Marcus passed a scroll over to him. He read:
I recommend this young man to you, Carac. He will make a first-rate soldier in a few years. He has a good mind and excellent reflexes. He was trained by Renius, who will accompany him to your camp. Give him responsibility as soon as he has proved he can handle it. He is a friend of my house.
Marius. Primigenia.
‘Fine words. I wish you luck,’ Gaius said bitterly as he finished, passing back the scroll.
Marcus snorted. ‘More than just fine words! Your uncle has given me my ticket into another legion. You don’t understand what this means to me. Of course I would like to stay with you, but you will be learning politics in the Senate, then taking a high post in the army and the temples. I own nothing except my skills and my wits and the equipment Marius has given me. Without his patronage, I would be pushed to get a post as a temple guard! With it, I have a chance to make something of myself. Do you grudge it of me?’
Gaius turned to him, his anger surprising Marcus.
‘I know it’s what you have to do, I just never saw myself tackling Rome alone. I always expected you to be with me. That is what friendship means.’
Marcus gripped his arm tightly.
‘You will always be my greatest friend. If ever you need me to be at your side, then call and I will come to you. You remember the pact before we came to the city? We look out for each other and we can trust each other completely. That is my oath and I have never broken it.’
Gaius did not look at him and Marcus let his hand fall away.
‘You can have Alexandria,’ Marcus said, attempting a noble expression.
Gaius gasped. ‘A parting gift? What a generous friend you are! You are too ugly for her, as she told me only yesterday. She only likes your company for the contrast. You make her look more beautiful when your monkey face is around.’
Marcus nodded cheerfully. ‘She does seem to want me only for sex. Perhaps you can read poetry to her while I run her through the positions.’
Gaius took a quick breath of indignation, then smiled slowly at his friend.
‘With you gone, I will be the one showing her the positions.’ He chuckled to himself at this, hiding his thoughts. What positions? He could only think of two.
‘You will be like a bullock after me, with all the practice I have been getting. Marius is a generous man.’
Gaius looked at his friend, trying to judge how much of his boasting was just that. He knew Marcus had proved a favourite with the slave girls of Marius’ house and was rarely to be found in his own room after dark. As for himself, he didn’t know what he felt. Sometimes he wanted Alexandria so much it hurt him and other times he wanted to be chasing the girls along the corridors as Marcus did. He did know that if he ever tried to force her as a slave, he would lose all that he found precious. A silver coin would buy him that kind of union. The idea that Marcus might have already enjoyed what he wanted made his blood thump in irritation.
Marcus broke in on these thoughts, his voice low. ‘You will need friends when you are older, men you can trust. We’ve both seen what sort of power your uncle has and I think both of us would like a taste of it.’
Gaius nodded.
‘Then what good will I be to you as a penniless son of a city whore? I can make my name and fortune in my new legion and then we can make real plans for the future.’
‘I understand. I remember our oath and I will stick to it.’ Gaius was silent for a moment, then shook his head to clear it of thoughts of Alexandria. ‘Where will you be stationed?’
‘I’m with the Fourth Macedonia, so Renius and I are going to Greece – the home of civilisation, they say. I’m looking forward to seeing alien lands. I have heard that the women run races without clothes on, you know. Makes the mind bulge a bit. Not just the mind, either.’ He laughed and Gaius smiled sickly, still thinking of Alexandria. Would she have given herself to him?
‘I’m glad Renius is your escort. It’ll do him good to take his mind off his troubles for a while.’
Marcus grimaced. ‘True, though he won’t be the best of company. He’s been out of sorts ever since he turned up drunk at your uncle’s, but I can understand why.’
‘If the slaves had burned my house down, I’d be a bit lost as well. They even took his savings, you know. Had them under the floor, he said, but they must have been found by looters. That was not a glorious chapter in our history, slaves stealing an old man’s savings. Mind you, he’s not really an old man any more, is he?’
Marcus looked sideways at him. They had never