Our Eternal Curse I (10 page)

“
I can’t remember why the Captain chose Bromidus as
the go-between for the failed exchange but he was sent off to Antioch for a
meeting with the Proconsul.  We never saw him again after that you know?  It
wasn’t until years later I found out what happened.”  Marcus then developed a
very troubled look as he added, “I suppose it must have been because Bromidus
spoke Latin, I could speak it too but I don’t think the Captain liked me very
much.”

Julia wondered why Marcus
slipped in and out of depression so often during his drunken interrogation. 
For her wine was the perfect accelerant it was the fuel that allowed her to
function but the very same wine caused terrible slumps in his mood.  Julia
could see that it was doing him harm but she needed the information so his
goblet always remained full.  Reaching across the table in the manner she had
learned by observing other women Julia touched his hand in the way that
insecure men seemed to like.

Giving an empty smile Marcus
continued by saying, “I didn’t see him again for years but when I caught up
with him in Rome he told me what had happened.  As it turned out Bromidus was
given a private audience with the Proconsul and all seemed well until the
high-born Roman explained that his wife was in the process of cutting him off
from her family fortune because of his many indiscretions.”

“
What about that for bad luck?” laughed Marcus. “The
only reason for his wife’s sea journey was to commence divorce proceedings and
her death would be very convenient for the Proconsul.”  Marcus broke down in
fits of raucous laughter and the lonely men who looked across the tavern in the
hope of finding something to lift their spirits simply turned back in
disappointment.

Julia instinctively closed her
hood as she asked, “What became of him?”

After regaining control of his
unwarranted hysterics Marcus added, “With that the Proconsul called for his
guards, clapped Bromidus in irons and shipped him back to Rome as a deserter. 
The Proconsul made Bromidus row his way back and for the first time in the
latter’s nautical career he understood what it really meant to be a galley
slave.

“
Can you imagine that?” said Marcus falling back
into his dark mood.  “Every stroke of the oar must have been soul destroying;
the pain would have been unimaginable.  All those years on deck and never a
thought for the poor bastards down below and now he was one of them; apparently
his body was covered in chafing sores.  The constant motion of each stroke on
the oar rubbed the skin from so many parts of his body that he could no longer
find a comfortable position in which to row.” 

“
Then there was the endless flogging,” explained
Marcus who now had a hint of pride in his voice.  “He received more than the
others because the Proconsul didn’t want him to survive.  The damp sea air
would not let any of his injuries dry and they remained a constant problem.  By
the time Bromidus reached Rome he was very nearly dead from exhaustion.” 
Marcus looked deep into Julia’s eyes as he said with awe, “No other man could
have survived were it not for his incredible strength he would have passed away
at his oar.”

Julia grasped just how terrible
the journey would have been for Bromidus.  She also realized that his feat of
strength impressed her informant so she used a comforting tone to add, “He is
quite a man.”

Obviously satisfied that Julia
understood the enormity of Bromidus’s ordeal Marcus continued, “On the night
they came alongside in the harbor of Ostia the crew unshackled him and carried
Bromidus ashore leaving him lying on the quay.  The legionary in charge didn’t
even bother to tie him to anything because he seemed barely alive but the big
man escaped by rolling painfully to the side of the harbor and falling into the
water where he clung to a small piece of driftwood with all of his remaining
strength.” 

“
How about that for tough?”  added Marcus. “Not many
men would last through that lot.”

Empathetically nodding her
agreement Julia asked him to continue because this was the bit she had come to
hear and she did not want him to get sidetracked.

“
The story of his rescue from then on was one of pure
good fortune,” continued Marcus.  “A fisherman returning from a night offshore
pulled him from the water.  He didn’t care who Bromidus was because he
understood the first law of the sea; save someone who is in trouble because one
day you may be in trouble yourself.  The fisherman’s family looked after
Bromidus showing him great kindness and when his strength returned he gave his
time to the fisherman by way of gratitude.”

“
In time Bromidus walked to Rome. He was a wanted
man but so many are wanted men throughout the Republic that no one knows where
to start looking for them.”  Looking around the tavern in a melodramatic
fashion Marcus added, “I myself have a price on my head but no one touches us
in the Subra there would be a riot if anyone tried to come in to our patch to
round us up.”

Julia followed his eyes to see
if his bravado could be heard by the wrong ears but the sad men getting soaked
in the dingy tavern were too far gone to care about anyone but themselves. 
Looking back at Marcus, Julia watched his mood slump before her eyes.  There
was no apparent reason for his swing so she pushed him to finish his story
before the depression got the better of him and with sadness in his voice
Marcus continued with the words, “He returned to his childhood home to find
that his mother and father had died during his time as a pirate.  A family from
Jerusalem inhabited the Insula in which he had grown up and they invited him in
for wine on the day he returned to look for his parents.  He killed them
swiftly not for any reason to do with religion or living in his old home he
simply needed money to survive and the only way he knew was the pirate way.  It
was not personal just the need to survive.”

So many things had shocked Julia
but the futility of these murders baffled her innocent mind as she
spontaneously asked in her green fashion:  “Have you killed many people
yourself?” And her embarrassment was obvious as he replied,

“
What do you think?  I’m a fucking pirate!”  The
humiliation he caused Julia was unintentional and Marcus continued with his
story immediately to avoid prolonging her discomfort.

  “
Bromidus killed everyone who was
in authority amongst the men that lived in the Subra and he became their leader
by murder.  To this day his status is maintained by cunning and sheer
aggression.”  Marcus clearly worshiped Bromidus.  “He and I are very well
suited to the Subra. It’s like a pirate galley on dry land,” he laughed. Then
with his shoulders collapsing Marcus finished his story by snarling the words,
“I joined Bromidus as his right-hand man but look at me now?  Delivering oil!”

Julia watched in wonder as his
mood stumbled through uncontrollable changes—he had been through laughter,
anger, now empty sadness, and all within ten minutes.  With the help of her
gentle encouragement, Marcus went on by saying, “I was in the tavern on the day
he made contact with our old pirate friend. It was three years into his reign
of terror in the Subra; he was at his usual table when a familiar face walked
in to the tavern.  The face was that of our old Greek Captain and he was
looking for contacts in Rome.  He had been directed to the tavern to meet with
Bromidus and the first words from his mouth were, ‘I wondered if it was you
when I heard the name.’ Nothing more, no greeting, no questions, nothing.” 
Then unbelievably tears welled in Marcus’s eyes as he finished with, “And he
didn’t even recognize me.”

Marcus had so many weaknesses,
addictions and insecurities for Julia to exploit.  She had absolutely no
problem understanding how he had fallen from the favors of a strong leader such
as Bromidus.

Julia continued to spend many
hours drinking with her growing army of informants in an attempt to find out
more about the Greek Captain.  No one person knew everything but piecing the
tiny bits of information together revealed a fascinating story.  Apparently the
pirates who sailed from the island of Cyprus had organized themselves and were
now hunting in packs.  The Greek Captain who Marcus spoke of had become the leader
of a great number of galleys and working as a fleet, instead of an
undisciplined bunch of disparate cutthroats, had made them incredibly
successful.  The pirates were now capturing so many cargo-laden galleys they
didn’t know what to do with them all so the Captain’s plan was simply to sell
all of the captured booty to the black-market in Rome.

After so many conversations with
Marcus, Julia felt that she understood the mind of the Captain but this
aptitude for strategy showed a completely new and unexpected side.  The brutish
Greek cutthroat was now behaving like a visionary and that was just not his way
of doing things.  She surmised that there had to be someone else behind the
scenes and sure enough Julia eventually found what she was looking for during a
conversation with an old pirate who had served for a time as the Captain’s
first mate.

He explained in great detail
that the Proconsul’s wife was the brain behind the strategy.  Clitumna Livia
Drusus or “that big woman” as he referred to her had grown to love the Captain
and with derision in his voice he explained how they both carried on like a
couple of love-struck children.

Clitumna’s involvement made
perfect sense to Julia because as with all Romans the Proconsul’s wife would
have known from an early age that the success and power of Rome stems from the
ability to organize.

Things were beginning to fit
into place for Julia and she asked herself if a patrician Roman woman secretly
controlled the ocean could there not also be someone of intelligence behind the
oaf Bromidus?  In search of an answer to this question Julia probed into his
life and the more men she asked the more she become aware of what each of her
informants referred to as, “The change in him.”  Apparently everything altered
soon after her meeting with the Captain.  Bromidus started talking about life
outside the Subra he wanted more and more information about the distribution of
goods throughout Rome.  He even told his men to get jobs on the docks and to
observe everything that went on.  Bromidus also told others of his clan to go
and get work with every kind of shipping agent and food merchants.  At the end
of each working day he would question as many of them as he could, one by one,
draining them of any facts that may relate to the workings of food
distribution.

None of Bromidus’s men would
ever question his orders because they knew he would kill them but they did
wonder what on earth they were doing with regular jobs.  Part of the brief he
gave his minions was to observe their employers to see who was susceptible to a
bribe and all of the men told Julia that they understood that command better
than any of the others.

After a little too much wine one
of her spies told Julia that until the change in Bromidus they had been used to
leaving the tavern only when ordered to kill someone for a few sesterces or to
collect protection money from the shopkeepers and merchants in the Subra but a
regular job had never been heard of.

During the course of many months
of drunken interviews Julia began to understand that Bromidus was not the fool
she originally took him for.  Much to her surprise he was both cunning and a
strategist.  After interrogating so many of his men Julia realized that
Bromidus must know all there was to know about Roman commerce.  The other
surprising realization about Bromidus was everything to do with his network was
completely in his head and no other person knew the complete structure.  If he
were killed the organization would collapse and no one would benefit, it was
the perfect way of protecting himself.  His men would defend Bromidus as though
their life depended on it because their livelihood certainly did and Julia
concluded that he was not just a big brute after all.

Julia also realized that the
Marsic war would have been the making of Bromidus.  When it came he would have
hardly been able to believe his good fortune.  Almost the entire Roman war
fleet had been tied helplessly to Italian docks and the pirates who now ruled
the great ocean would deal only with him.  When the first of the stolen cargo
galleys arrived Bromidus would have known exactly who to approach with his
wares because of his most thorough preparation.

Bromidus had his hands firmly
around the throat of Rome and he could choke the whole city to death if he
wanted to but the big man was obviously far too bright for that.  He merely
held back supply and increased his prices, no one complained they all knew the
way of things just pass on the increase to the customer.  His motto was, “Give
them high prices but never any answers.”  If a trader asked too many questions
his supply of black-market produce was immediately withheld and restored only
when the retailer lost their curiosity.

Each of his men had been tasked
to find out small things about trade within Rome and by questioning them Julia
now knew it all.  At the completion of her interrogations Julia not only knew
everything about Bromidus and his network but as an additional bonus she
understood the principles of supply and demand.

Quite staggered by the sheer scale
of his black-market interests Julia set about the task of understanding why
Bromidus was entertaining the idea of doing business with her.  The realization
that he held total control and did not need another source of supply frightened
Julia.  Her naïve act of walking into the big man’s lair as an unwelcome and
unnecessary competitor should have got her killed so why was she still alive?

Pondering her good fortune Julia
surmised that Bromidus was entertaining her proposal to bring produce from
Hispania because the Captain’s pirates completely controlled his supply and
just as he was extorting Rome they must be extorting him.  Her proposition gave
him another source of produce and therefore competition.  His plan was probably
to deal with the pirates in the East until her foodstuffs started arriving from
the West then renegotiate with the Captain.

Bromidus was quite obviously a
very clever man whose understanding of commerce was extremely extensive and it
was at this stage in her pondering that Julia woke up to the fact that he must
see her as just an aid to his negotiation with the pirates.  With a shudder she
also realized that at the conclusion of these negotiations Bromidus would see
her as a threat and she began visualizing what he had done to his competitors
in the Subra which led to Julia taking a deep draft from a large flagon of
un-watered wine.

The perils of dealing with a
psychopath like Bromidus were so mind numbingly horrifying that Julia felt a
strong urge to stop everything and return to anonymity but she craved the
wealth that was required to buy her “lions”. Nothing could be allowed to come
between her and the security they represented, any risk that brought them
closer was acceptable.

Julia realized that this
knowledge may one day save her life. 
It had been worth all the money Gavius
paid for the wine
she concluded as she took another very large gulp to help
kill the growing anxiety.  Bromidus was a real danger but at least she knew the
direction death would be coming from.