Nobilissima (31 page)

A covey of maids gathered around us in the atrium and led Sylvia and me to a suite of rooms, different from the one in which I had stayed with Ataulf. I was grateful to Ingenuus for his consideration. Sylvia muttered under her breath while the women unpacked my traveling chest and laid out a gown for me to wear for dinner. One of them brought a glass bowl of scented water and some clean linens, while another unpinned my hair and began to brush it out.

“That’s my job,” Sylvia grumbled.

“Hush, Sylvia, and relax,” I said. “They know that you must be tired and you should welcome their help. You must change your dress and sandals too and then we’ll join the others.”

When we reached the triclinium, we found Ingenuus and Felix there drinking wine.

Ingenuus smiled when he saw us. “Your Highness, I’m so very happy to see you again and also heartbroken that our reunion should be under such circumstances. However, I have a surprise for you.” He raised his hand as though to stop my arguing. “I know that you’re tired and want to rest but I assure you that this will be a happy surprise.”

“I don’t care for surprises,” I said, keeping my tone light in order not to offend the elderly Prefect.

“I just need you to be patient for a few minutes and then you’ll see.”

Succumbing to Ingenuus’s good humor, I accepted a cup of wine and took a seat on the couch next to Felix. A few minutes passed before I heard the sounds of voices and footsteps outside. A guard swung open the door and two people entered. Aurelia and Marcus.

The emotion I felt at seeing them again stopped my words in my throat and I enfolded Aurelia in a tight embrace, feeling my friend’s tears on my cheek. Then I turned to Marcus, and he held me for a minute. “We have missed you, Placidia,” he said.

“Sit, sit, all of you,” Ingenuus said. “Commander Marcus, you and your wife must be exhausted after your journey. Please make yourselves comfortable.” He snapped his fingers at the servants to bring more wine.

I sat next to Aurelia. “I’m so happy to see you,” I managed to say, finally, “but how do you come to be here? It was only a few days ago that I sent a letter telling you of my departure from Hispania.”

“We heard the reports of Ataulf’s death and planned to come to you in Barcino,” said Aurelia. “Our intention was to break our journey here at the kind invitation of Ingenuus, and we were already in Nizza when we received news that you were on your way.”

She grasped my hands in hers. “I can’t tell you how anxious I was to arrive here. We rode all last night and all day today.”

“Yes, and my whole body is complaining about it,” smiled Marcus.

For several hours, we talked about what had happened since Aurelia and Marcus had left for Rome. To me, it seemed like a lifetime ago, and yet now that I was with my friends again, it was as though we had never been apart. Aurelia’s eyes filled with tears when I told them about the death of my son, and Marcus’s flashed with anger when Felix described Sigeric’s brutal treatment of me.

“How is my brother doing?” I asked.

“Better, since the death of Olympius,” Marcus responded. “He is mercurial and eccentric in his behavior but the worst is over, in my view.”

“Thanks to Marcus,” Aurelia told me. “He’s spent a lot of time in Ravenna and has become a close advisor to the Emperor,” she explained. “His quiet counsel has calmed Honorius’s worst excesses.”

I smiled at Marcus. “I’m delighted to hear it. So what has become of Constantius? I thought that he was vying to replace Olympius?”

“As co-Magister, he’s spending most of his time in places that need military oversight,” said Marcus. “He hasn’t spent much in Ravenna.”

“That was a job well done,” commented Felix. “Constantius is a great general but his personal ambition is such that he would be a dangerous man if allowed too much power in the imperial palace.”

Marcus nodded. “That’s the problem exactly. In fact,” he paused and took a sip of wine. “I intend to resign, and allow Constantius to  be the sole Magister Militum.”

“No!” I gasped. “Marcus, you can’t!”

“It’s my leg,” said Marcus, pounding his fist on his thigh as though furious with it. “It’s never mended fully and, although I can ride well enough, I can’t ride and fight. Which is something of a prerequisite for a general…” he smiled ruefully.

“You can still command,” I argued. “And you do it better than anyone.”

“There is another reason,” said Marcus glancing at Aurelia. “Aurelia wants to move to Ravenna now that you are going home. If I remain as Magister we would have to spend a considerable amount of time apart…”

“Quite a dilemma, you see, my dearest Placidia,” said Aurelia. “But the most important thing for now is that you are safe and that we’ll be together.”

Chapter 29

It was mid-morning several weeks later when we reached the long causeway that led to Ravenna. The paved road was flanked on both sides by stretches of marsh and open water, making the city easily defensible against attack. I got down from the carriage I was sharing with Sylvia and Aurelia, and breathed in the air that smelled of brine and of decaying vegetation. The water near the road was choked with tangled sedge and clumps of reeds, and tiny brown fish darted between them. Several water birds floated lazily on the surface, their black feathers glistening with drops of water that was rainbow colored in the bright sun.

Marcus dismounted and approached the sentries who blocked the causeway a few yards further up. I watched as the soldiers jumped to attention when they recognized their supreme commander. Seconds later, they waved the carriage through and I followed behind. The journey from Gallia had been a blur of motion and fatigue, as we’d all decided to give up long rest stops in favor of reaching Ravenna more quickly. For me, the anticipation of seeing my home again was mingled with anxiety about my welcome at the palace. Although Marcus was convinced that Honorius had changed, I found it hard to forget his cruel refusal to pay my ransom at the time of the Goth invasion, or his weakness in allowing Constantius to mount the blockade at the ports in Gallia.

Aurelia had advised me to be wary of speaking too openly about my time with the Goths, but I needed no reminders that my brother, and almost everyone in his court, held no great love for my adopted people and would be very suspicious of my alliance with them.

I sighed as I kicked at a pebble on the road and watched it skip into the water, sending ripples out in slow-moving circles. The causeway seemed like a safe place to be, a neutral piece of land between my past life and the one I now had to face. I slowed further and looked out over the water to the south. A bird of prey was circling above and I saw it suddenly drop from the sky, skim the surface and then rise, a fish flashing silver in its beak.

Aware then that Marcus was riding back towards me, I sped up a little.

“You should catch up and get into the carriage now,” he said, holding his horse’s reins tight to keep its dancing feet from getting too close to me. “It’s not appropriate for you to walk into the city.”

“I doubt anyone will notice,” I said, but I walked a little faster, and Marcus trotted his horse alongside me.

The walls of the city appeared in the distance, gleaming in the sunlight, and I was able to make out the colorful banners that flew from the towers. My heart pounded faster and I was glad to reach the carriage and settle on the bench between Aurelia and Sylvia. Within a few minutes, however, the carriage stopped and in the sudden silence, we heard horses approaching. Aurelia leaned out to look and reported that several senior military officials were talking with Marcus. I felt the blood pulsing in my temples. What if Honorius had decided to bar my entry into the city? In spite of all the anxiety I’d felt about returning, I felt a sudden and urgent desire to see the city again.

Marcus rode towards us and talked quietly with Aurelia. He smiled and nodded and my heartbeat slowed.

“Your brother has ordered a holiday for the citizens to celebrate your return,” said Aurelia. “They are out in the streets waiting for you.”

“Oh Lord,” exclaimed Sylvia. “Let me see what I have here.” She dug into a small chest at her feet and produced a comb, a small glass vial, and a silk bag that contained some of my jewels.

“Tell the driver to go slowly. I need a few minutes,” she called out to Marcus.

With the deftness that comes from years of practice, she combed and pinned my hair, dabbed color on my eyes and lips and helped me put on earrings, an emeralds-studded choker and gold bracelets to match. Using the palms of her hands, she smoothed out the creases in my gown and then patted me with perfume.

“There,” she said, sitting back on the bench and admiring her handiwork. “Good enough for any triumphal parade.”

I laughed, my spirits lifted both by Sylvia’s enthusiasm and the thought that my brother had planned a welcome for me. When we stopped briefly at the main gate to the city, I took a deep breath. It had been more than five years since I left Ravenna on what should have been a visit to Rome of just a few months.

Once inside the gates, the carriage filled with the din of the crowds. People lined the streets, calling my name. I changed places with Aurelia so that I could wave at them from the window and smiled my thanks for their warm welcome. We wound through the roads towards the forum, where the crowds were dense and noisy, and then made our way towards the palace, where several hundred soldiers formed straight lines in front of the entrance. They wore the red tunics and elaborately embossed breastplates of Honorius’s imperial guard. Their helmets, polished to a high sheen, sported red plumes and they carried oval shields emblazoned with images of cockerels.

Sylvia giggled then clamped her hand over her mouth. “Why do they have chickens on their shields?” she whispered.

“Hush, Sylvia,” warned Aurelia. “It’s dangerous to mock the Emperor.”

The carriage came to a halt and Marcus dismounted from his horse. The soldiers didn’t move or blink. Their commander was Honorius and they reported only to him. A blast of trumpets signaled the Emperor’s arrival, and two soldiers marched forward to open the carriage door and help me out.

The palace was so familiar to me that I wanted to run inside, throw myself down on the wide couch in my sleeping chamber and kick off my shoes, yet I sensed a change in the place that made me uneasy. The formality of the guards was intimidating and none of the household staff had come to the doors to welcome me. Nervously, I waited, aware of the sun’s heat on my shoulders. The minutes passed and I was considering climbing back into the shelter of the carriage when another peal of trumpets broke the silence.

My brother appeared at the entryway, followed by a large group of men in togas. He stopped and beckoned me to go to him. I walked slowly up the colonnaded path and stopped to bow my head as a sign of respect. He looked no different than when I had last seen him except that his robes were more ornately decorated with gems and gold thread. He wore a gold crown encrusted with rubies and his brown hair curled over his ears. Only a few years older than I was, he still looked like a young boy and his face was smooth and unlined. There was a long pause before he spoke.

“Come closer, sister,” he commanded.

I obediently took a few steps towards him and he held out his arms. If he expected me to rush into them in grateful joy, I was about to disappoint him. But, aware of many eyes on me, I smiled and gave him a brief embrace.

“Let me look at you,” he said, holding me at arm’s length. “I see your beauty has increased and your bearing is still regal. The time with the barbarians didn’t damage you too much then. We’ll need to arrange a new wardrobe for you as I see you have not kept up with the fashions of the times.”

“Honorius, I don’t care…” I began but he cut me off in mid-sentence with a wave of his hand. I stared at him in astonishment. After such an absence and all I had been through, he cared only how I looked?

“Did you like the welcome you received in the city?” he asked. “I’ve planned a great dinner and entertainment for this evening in your honor. No one will ever say that Honorius does not love his sister and respect her above all others. Come now, I have assigned some ladies to attend you and they will take you to your rooms. Later you must visit my apartments and I will show you my newest hobby.”

He looked past me towards Marcus. “Magister, please come with me.”

With a snap of his fingers, he turned back into the palace, accompanied by Marcus. His group of followers hurried after him. Several women waited until he had gone and then dipped their heads to me.

Several hours later, I had bathed and dressed and sat with Aurelia in my old suite of rooms. Nothing there had changed and I felt comforted by their familiarity. The windows were open to views of the sea and sky, a perfect mural of azure, sapphire and turquoise. Aurelia was looking at me quizzically.

“Well, how are you feeling?” she asked.

I grimaced. “Confused. Happy to be somewhere I can think of as home. Sad to be so far from Hispania. Feeling safe for the first time in years but nervous about being back at the hub of power. I’d forgotten what it was like to have so many people thronging around the Emperor. They all looked so intense and severe.”

Aurelia nodded thoughtfully. “We’ll get used to it, I expect.”