The Eagle's Vengeance (44 page)

‘Come on then, let’s not keep the second most influential man in the palace waiting.’

Albinus strode forward, the grin on his face telling Marcus that he was enjoying being in control of the situation. At the concealed door he greeted the waiting man with a bow before taking his hand in a firm clasp.

‘Aurelius Cleander, how very good it is of you to open this hitherto undisclosed entrance to the palace for us. You are clearly a man for whom the pursuit of justice and the protection of our beloved emperor come above any other consideration.’

Cleander inclined his head in turn, although to Marcus’s eye the gesture appeared little more than perfunctory, as if it were expected but hardly heartfelt. He spoke, and his voice was rich in timbre, mellifluous and persuasive, as much a weapon of persuasion as a means of communication.

‘Greetings, Clodius Albinus. You are indeed most timely in your arrival, for I fear that our mutual adversary is close to issuing his assassins with the order to strike against our beloved emperor. There is not a moment to be lost.’

He gestured to the passage behind him, the tunnel-like walls lit by lamps placed every few feet in sconces built into the walls.

‘Follow my men into the palace with your chests, and I will join you shortly. I must ensure that the workmen who will renew the mortar that conceals this door understand the importance of their task, and what unpleasant fate will befall them if I am able to discern any hint of its presence in the morning.’

Albinus bowed again, dismissing his bodyguard with a nod and a wave of his hand. Cotta bowed in turn to his master and took his men away into the darkness while the senator led the Tungrians into the tunnel behind the man Cleander had set to be their guide. He looked at the staircase that climbed up into the wall and shook his head in evident awe.

‘We are privileged, gentlemen, to witness one of the imperial palace’s greatest and most closely guarded secrets. This is one of the escape routes built into the palace walls to be used in the event of insurrection, and its presence is completely unsuspected by anyone who is not privy to the secret. For Cleander to be willing to reveal its existence to so many men is a mark of just how seriously he regards the evidence presented by these coins. Not to mention the risk he believes we’re running in attempting to put that evidence before the emperor. Come on then, let’s go and see what fate awaits us.’

He led them up the stairs, stepping lightly as he climbed, while from behind him Marcus could hear the heavy breathing and muffled curses of the soldiers as they muscled the heavy chests up the steep stone staircase. Reaching the top of the stairs he turned back to find the first of the chests close behind, the faces of the soldiers contorted with the pain of their climb but still set determinedly. Albinus and Scaurus followed them onto the flat stone landing at the stairs’ top, stepping round the gasping Tungrians to join Marcus.

‘You called him Aurelius Cleander?’ Marcus could barely hear Scaurus’s whispered question to Albinus. ‘He’s a freedman?’

‘Indeed I am, Rutilius Scaurus.’ Cleander had approached them silently up the stairs, his footsteps muffled by soft slippers. He shot Scaurus a sardonic smile, his eyes and teeth gleaming white in the darkness. ‘And there’s really no need to look so surprised, a man doesn’t rise to the heights I’ve reached without being very sure to understand every situation into which he chooses to place himself. My full name, as you’ve clearly guessed, is Marcus Aurelius Cleander. I was freed by the last emperor, may the gods grant rest to his departed spirit, and since taking his name in gratitude for my freedom I have continued to give service to his family since his death. I am fortunate to have gained some small measure of responsibility for the running of our divine emperor’s household.’

He signalled to his man to open the door ahead of them and put a cautious head around its frame, looking about him intently for a moment before nodding in apparent satisfaction.

‘There are no praetorians to be seen, so now seems as good a time as any. Follow me as quickly as you can.’

He led them through the wide doorway and strode swiftly away from the shadow of the wall behind them, making for an imposing building a good hundred paces distant. The Tungrians followed as quickly as the men shuffling under the weight of the gold chests could carry their heavy burdens, Marcus and Scaurus looking about them for any sign that the guardsmen standing sentry on the palace had detected the incongruous sight of their procession, while Albinus hurried ahead of them in the freedman’s wake. Reaching the building Cleander knocked on the door to which he had led them, speaking briefly to the doorman before waving the party inside.

‘Let’s get that door closed … good. We’re safe from prying eyes here; the praetorians never come to this part of the palace.’

With a sudden jolt Marcus realised where they must be.

‘This is the Augustana Palace?’

Cleander fixed him with a narrow-eyed stare.

‘Yes. But how would you know that, Centurion, unless you’ve been here before?’

The young officer shrugged.

‘I’ve heard that the emperor spends most of his time in this building, so it was a natural enough deduction.’

The stare lingered for a moment longer.

‘Deduction. I
see
…’

He turned away from Marcus, his momentary bafflement seemingly forgotten as he addressed Albinus.

‘And there, Senator, is the most difficult part of this thing done, other than the moment when we confront Prefect Perennis with the evidence of his planned treachery. I’ve sent my man to check that our route to the throne room is clear of anyone that might take exception to our carrying those chests to the door. While we wait for his return perhaps I ought to tell you what to expect once we’re in front of Commodus?’

Albinus nodded his head gravely, and the freedman paused for a moment before speaking again.

‘The emperor is a young man, and is in consequence … how shall I put this … a little
impulsive
in his manner. On top of that, he likes to devote his energies to pursuits other than the running of the empire, which has created something of an opportunity for a man like Prefect Perennis to take a good deal more control of imperial matters than might ordinarily be deemed healthy. Within a short space of time the prefect has grown in power to the point where it is he, and not the emperor, who controls both Rome and the wider empire. Be under no illusion gentlemen, when we step into the throne room for our audience with the emperor we are choosing a fight which we must win, for if we fail to open Commodus’s eyes to the truth we will find Perennis an implacable and merciless enemy. You told me that you had incontrovertible proof of his plan to usurp the throne and install himself as emperor?’

Albinus gestured to the nearest chest, pulling a gold aureus from his belt pouch.

‘Each of these boxes is full to the brim with gold coins just like this one.’

Cleander regarded the coin for a moment before his eyebrows raised in amazement as he realised just what it was that he was looking at.

‘Show me.’

Scaurus gestured to Marcus, who unlocked the nearest chest and opened the lid. The freedman pushed his hand deep into the box before pulling out a handful of aureii, looking at them one at a time to confirm what had surprised him so much.

‘By Jupiter, but that’s brazen even by Perennis’s standards! You, the deductive centurion, unlock the other chests. I sense the opportunity for a little theatre …’

The slave who had been sent to check that their route to the throne room was clear returned and nodded respectfully to Cleander in confirmation. The freedman took a deep breath with his eyes closed, then turned to the waiting officers with a faint smile.

‘The next hour will either see us all dead or basking in the glory of having saved the emperor himself from an ignominious demise. Shall we go and meet with that fate?’ He turned away without waiting for them to reply. ‘Follow me.’

The freedman led them through the palace by a route calculated to avoid the praetorians set to guard the approaches to the emperor, down ill-lit corridors and through rooms which were clearly not in regular use, lit sparingly by single lamps whose light struggled to penetrate their corners. Halting at length before a closed door, he took a deep breath.

‘Beyond this door lies the main access corridor to the emperor’s throne room. If any of you are carrying knives, then you
must
leave them here. We will be searched before being allowed into the imperial presence, and the detection of a weapon of any sort will not end well for any of us.’ He waited while they pulled out the daggers they had hidden in their togas and placed them in a neat pile. ‘Good. Now, the gold must stay here for the time being. What I have in mind will not work unless we are completely innocent of its presence when the guards search us. Senator, you and your companions will accompany me into the throne room while your porters will stay here with my man.’ He turned to the household slave. ‘Listen carefully, and when you hear me call for the gold don’t hesitate, but bring it into the emperor’s presence at once.’

He opened the door and beckoned them through into a broad, well-lit corridor whose walls were richly decorated with embroidered hangings and with an exquisitely rendered mosaic underfoot. The passageway broadened out into an anteroom at its far end, and Marcus could see a pair of guards in full ceremonial uniform standing sentry duty in the royal palace, each man armed with spears whose blades and butt-spikes shone like polished silver. Cleander gestured to the door behind the guards with a smile, his words muttered so quietly as to be almost inaudible.

‘Follow me, and look confident. These men are trained to look for the signs of fear and nervousness.’

He strode up the corridor and into the anteroom, greeting the guards with the weary patience of a man for whom the approach to the throne was simply a dull routine.

‘Good evening, gentlemen, here I am again! I have with me a noble Roman senator and two illustrious officers from one of Caesar’s foremost cohorts, distinguished men to whom Caesar has most graciously granted an audience in light of their devoted service in Britannia, Germania and Dacia! Search us please, and allow us admittance so that these officers can receive the thanks of their grateful emperor!’

The older of the two guards frowned.

‘We’ve had no instructions to admit any senators or soldiers, Chamberlain, only yourself.’

The freedman frowned.

‘
No
instructions? This audience has been planned for weeks! Are you telling me that I must turn away one of Rome’s most exalted senators, a hero of the Dacian war, simply because your superiors have managed to mislay the detail of the evening’s proceedings?’ Shaking his head, he gestured to the men standing behind him. ‘And how many men does Prefect Perennis have inside the throne room, all armed with spear, sword and dagger? A dozen? Twenty? What possible threat can three unarmed men, whose loyalty to the emperor has been proven on the field of battle time after time, present in the face of such an overwhelming strength of the finest soldiers in the empire? Shall I tell the emperor that you refused to permit his honoured guests admittance?’

The guardsman pondered for a moment before reluctantly nodding his acquiescence.

‘We’ll let your guests in, Chamberlain, and I’ll send my colleague here to tell my centurion of the change to what’s on the roster.’

He signalled to the other praetorian, who set off down the corridor at a brisk pace, and Cleander bowed graciously, gesturing for his companions to step forward and surrender to the praetorian’s brisk but thorough search. Once all four men had been cleared to access the throne room Cleander led them through the door and into a large round chamber whose domed roof towered a full thirty feet above them at its peak. The walls were decorated in the same manner as the anteroom, and the floor was patterned with a mosaic of dazzling quality and meticulous detail depicting a circle of gladiators of all types in combat. In the middle of the chamber stood a single heavily decorated chair on a wide, one-foot-high dais, and eight spear-armed praetorians in full armour stood around the wall’s circular sweep. Cleander pointed to a spot midway between door and dais.

‘Stand here, one pace forward for you, Senator Albinus, you are the senior man in your party. When the emperor enters you must stand to attention and keep your gaze fixed on the wall before you. Commodus does not like to be challenged by any man, and that includes meeting his gaze unless he has invited you to speak.’ He smiled wryly at some memory or other. ‘And even then I advise you to meet his eyes
only
when you speak, and to avert your gaze at all other times. Trust me on this, you do not want to provoke Caesar, or like others before you, you may find that he is swift to anger and has
very
little forgiveness in him.’

The soldier closest to the door barked an order for the guards to come to attention, and a small door on the chamber’s far side opened to admit a man in his mid-twenties. Despite the chamberlain’s warning Marcus found himself unable to turn his gaze away from the emperor, watching through narrowed eyes as Commodus walked across the room and stepped up onto the dais. Where the young centurion was wiry and muscled from years of military conditioning, the emperor was more heavily set, with a wrestler’s powerful shoulders. His beard and hair were styled in the same fashion that Albinus sported, and he was dressed in a purple toga of the highest-quality wool, intricate gold embroidery stitched around the hem to complete the traditional garment usually worn by a victorious general. Cleander strode forward across the chamber and bowed deeply to Commodus, holding the position in silence as the emperor sat down on the throne and arranged his ornate garment about him.

‘Stand up, Chamberlain, and detail our business this evening. And it would be to your advantage were this meeting a brief one. I have unfinished business elsewhere in the palace, and a damned sight more fragrant than this collection of guardsmen and …’ He looked at the three soldiers properly for the first time, a frown creasing his brow. ‘And whatever it is that we have here. What
do
we have here, Chamberlain?’