Antoninus shook his head.
‘Your brothers are in the south on a trade journey with their partner Nerva from the house of Carantus. Hadria is in the city at your aunt’s house in the Viminal quarter.’
‘Does she still speak of Valerius?’ Septimus asked, looking to his mother.
‘No,’ Salonina answered softly. ‘She deeply mourned his loss but I believe her heart is free again.’
‘So soon?’ Septimus said, a sharp edge to his voice.
‘It’s been nearly a year since his death, Septimus,’ Salonina replied, ‘and at twenty she cannot remain a widow for much longer.’
‘You know Rome’s law, Septimus,’ Antoninus added, ‘she must remarry within two years to settle Valerius’s estate. His father Casca is already stopping me in the forum and asking if I have found any suitors.’
Septimus was about to speak but he held his tongue, his mind flooded with memories of the friend he had lost.
‘Domitian!’ Antoninus called, his summons answered instantly. ‘Send a messenger to Hadria with word that Septimus has returned.’ The senior servant nodded and left immediately.
Septimus began to fill his parents in on the details of his life over the past two years. Many things had happened and many things had changed. Two hours later, when the bell rang for the forenoon meal, he was only just beginning to relate the events of the previous four days.
‘They march, Admiral,’ the man announced as permission to speak was granted.
‘When and to where?’
‘Yesterday at dawn. They are heading west.’
Hannibal Gisco nodded and dismissed the messenger. He rose from his seated position behind the marble-topped table and walked through the windblown cotton drapes out onto the top-floor balcony beyond. The building was three storeys tall and stood directly on the dock of the port town of Panormus, a magnificent natural harbour that now sheltered the growing Carthaginian fleet. Gisco watched with satisfaction as the remnants of the sixty-ship-strong second fleet dropped anchor two hundred yards from shore. The fleet had sailed up the west coast of Sicily, with orders to set up a blockade around the Roman-held city of Agrigentum. The remainder would add its precious cargo of soldiers to Gisco’s command, swelling his army to twenty-five thousand.
As Gisco surveyed the busy harbour, he calculated the rate of advance of the Roman legions, confident that the enemy were unaware of his knowledge of their movements. Over the winter months, the Roman encampment had been under constant surveillance, from both the nearby hills and from bribed local merchants who had given the Carthaginians detailed descriptions of the size and strength of the army within the walled camp. The reports to Panormus had come regularly by an ingenious method stolen from the Persians a generation before: carrier pigeon. These winged messengers gave the Carthaginians an incredible advantage against an enemy who had not yet discovered the birds’ unique abilities and so, not thirty-six hours after the Romans had marched, Gisco had been handed the chance to get one step ahead of his foe.
Gisco thought back to the messenger’s words. The Romans had left their winter encampment yesterday, marching west. Gisco knew their destination was undoubtedly the cities of Segeste and Makella to the south of Panormus. These two city-states had defiantly sided with the Romans immediately after their victory at Agrigentum, although they were deep within Carthaginian territory. Gisco had ordered the cities besieged and was confident that, given time, they would once more fall under his control. He had already decided the fate of the inhabitants of the cities, a fate that would act as a deterrent to any other city-states within his territory that were considering defecting to the Roman cause. His private promise of retribution could only be carried out if he stalled or, better yet, stopped the Roman advance.
Gisco immediately discounted the option of a direct assault. The Roman legion’s fighting abilities on land far exceeded his own army’s, a fact demonstrated by the Carthaginian defeat at Agrigentum. If he was to defeat the enemy he would need to extend his strategy of strangling the Romans into submission.
The legions were no more than a week’s march from the territorial dividing line, a demarcation running south from the coastal town of Caronia on the northern coast that had indicated the furthest advance of the Romans in the previous year’s campaign season. That line was almost exactly halfway between their start point at the winter encampment and the Carthaginians’ base camp in Panormus, and so if Gisco was going to slow their advance he realized he would have to reach the line first. The admiral turned abruptly from the balcony and called for his aide. The man entered immediately.
‘Assemble the section commanders in the main hall immediately for a briefing and send orders to the cavalry to make ready to advance before the day’s end.’
‘Yes, Admiral,’ the aide replied and left.
Gisco walked over to the table and surveyed the detailed map of Sicily. The first Roman soldiers had landed on the island only four years before. At first the Carthaginians had viewed their arrival as a mere annoyance and had not even opposed their landing at Messina, confident that they could and would defeat them at the time of their choosing. They had been wrong, Gisco thought with frustration. The Romans had proved to be better than the Carthaginians on land and now controlled the entire eastern half of the island. Gisco would redress the error of not exploiting the Romans’ vulnerability at sea. As a combined force on land and sea, the Carthaginians were more than a match for the enemy. He would make the two sides of the same coin work in unison to isolate and destroy the Romans. No army could stand alone. Gisco would make sure the Romans learnt that lesson well.
*
Atticus listened in silence as Septimus and his father discussed the threat the legions faced in Sicily. The remains of the forenoon meal had been removed from the table only moments before, the servants moving in silence, Atticus noticing that many had their ears cocked at the incredible news that Septimus was relaying. At times Septimus looked to Atticus for confirmation or agreement on a point, but Atticus noticed that Antoninus never looked his way, the older man unconsciously touching his scar as he spoke to his son about his old legion.
Suddenly Atticus’s drifting thoughts were shattered by a scream, a shriek of delight that caused all heads to turn to the dining-room entrance and, as he watched spellbound, a young woman bolted into the room and threw herself into Septimus’s arms. Atticus had never seen anyone so beautiful in all his life.
Hadria wore a simple white stola, secured around the middle with a thin braided leather belt. She was not tall, her head only reaching to Septimus’s chest, but her legs were long and tanned and she danced in her sandals an inch off the ground. Her whole body seemed to radiate vitality and health and her face was a picture of happiness as she laughed up at her older brother, her open mouth sensuous. Hadria did not have Septimus’s dark complexion. She was fair, with flawless skin that spoke of her youth. Her shoulder-length light-brown hair had elements of blonde where the sun had bleached the strands and the colour set off the light in her sea-grey eyes. Atticus had never seen such emotion expressed in anyone’s face before, and the affection she held for her brother was there for all to behold.
Septimus laughed at the infectious happiness of his sister and it was a full minute before their embrace was relaxed. Only then did Septimus turn to his friend.
‘Atticus,’ he began, ‘I would like to introduce you to my sister, Hadria.’
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hadria,’ Atticus said, captivated by her.
‘And you,’ Hadria replied demurely, her gaze penetrating, unnerving.
She broke the link and danced around to sit beside her mother as all retook their seats, the mood lifted further by her presence.
Within half an hour the conversation turned trivial, the topics lighthearted as Septimus regaled his sister with tales from his time away. Hadria sat with rapt attention as her brother spoke, her gaze never