Next morning we all trooped out to Portus with Aelianus and saw him board the Spes. The last time the Camillus brothers went abroad, they had come with us on a trip to Britain. Helena and I, always keen to travel, felt a shared pang now as we braced up to seeing one of her brothers venturing abroad without us.
Try and find a mystery for Marcus!" Helena quipped. Her mother shook her head, but her father sighed as if he would quite like to come too. Quintus looked on with special yearning, as he thought of his sibling loose among the wine, women and cultural riches of Greece. At least, I knew the first two were on his mind. If there is one certainty when you have been given a sailing time, it's that the boat will never go when you expect. If it is not sailing out of the harbour without you as you turn up on the quayside, it will sit there at anchor for several more hours. Or days, maybe. The Spes had a second mate whose duties included passenger management. That meant he ordered them to arrive early and stowed them at his leisure while nothing else was going on; at sea, his role was to hear their complaints and keep them calm in a storm. He inspected their baggage keenly when they first came abroad because in a bad storm, while the mariners struggled to control the ship's wild movements, it would be his task to decide what to chuck overboard to lighten it. There are rules, hated but fair, about how to divide any losses between owners if actual cargo is thrown off in an emergency, but casual passengers have few rights. I could see Aulus was particularly popular with the second mate. Aulus was a lad; his essential" luggage was extremely heavy. If a tempest should blow up, he was on the list to surrender all his treasures first. We put Aulus on the ship. Then we had to wait so long that he became restless and came off again. He and I sauntered around the port. He wanted to make his parents worry that he would miss the boat, while I had the excuse of trying to find drinks for the children. Yes, we had brought the children. Julia and Favonia both loved a chance to run very fast towards the edge of a wharf above a crowded harbour full of deep water. Nux had actually been in the harbour. Water called to Nux like Circe at her most sirenous. Before I could stop her, Nux had leapt off the wall and paddled around crazily until she realised there was no way out. At that point, I thought I might have to jump in myself to save her; the children were shrieking at the thought of losing their doggie and even Helena was agitated by the imminent drowning. Since I could not swim, it was a relief when a sailor fished Nux into his bumboat and returned the bedraggled lump to us, in return for the customary bribe, or price of a drink as it is ridiculously called. No drink ever cost that much.
Now I'm all wet from the damned dog. That bumboat swine lured her in on purpose… We may have to abandon you, Aulus."
I never asked anyone to come," grumbled Aulus. That was true, but of course he was touchy at the thought that we might dump him. Now he felt lonely, and he had not even left the country.
Oh Julia Justa will make us stay. Your mother still loves you."
Well, thanks, Falco." I was surprised to find that the customs desk on the arrivals wharf was manned by Gaius Baebius.
What happened to permanent sick leave after your beating?" The clerks he supervised all stared curiously. Gaius looked shifty.
I'm still in agony, Marcus. Some days I can hardly move for the pain…"
Skip it, Gaius."
You have no idea what my suffering is like I could imagine the diatribe if he got started. I said if Gaius really wanted to make a complaint, he could find Cratidas at the Aquarius, though I warned him not to go alone. Hearing my short sharp tale of knives and uplifted benches, Gaius thought he might instead hire a lawyer and sue for damages. A good move, I thought. It would be very neat if a vicious ransom gang was broken up because their leading man had to flee legal action from a malingering civil servant.
And how is darling Junia?"
Back home in Rome. I was not aware you were so fond of her, Marcus." Nor was I. I had slipped up by even mentioning her.
On the quay nothing much was happening. The first officer sauntered aboard. We took that for a good sign. The first mate arrived, bringing some sailors. They were typical mariners. I saw Julia Justa stiffen as she noted their farmyard accents, their missing eyes and their limps, their rough tunics and bare feet. She wanted her boy to be safe in the hands of elegant master mariners with boots, cloaks and Phrygian caps. Nothing less than Jason and all his Argonauts would be good enough to row Aelianus. We soothed her. Julia Justa knew we were being insincere. The captain, Antemon, arrived. He turned up at the quay with the ship's guard, carefully escorting his owners, Banno and Aline. The ransomed wife scuttled aboard, still ashen-faced. The husband remained at the end of the gangplank and stared back at the port for a moment, looking resentful. I went up to him. I'm sorry your trip ended so badly. Now you are safely leaving, is there anything you will tell me about what happened to your wife?" Above us on deck, Antemon was watching warily. More furious than frightened now, this time Banno told the story. Most matched what other witnesses had said. Aline had been seized here at Portus, almost as soon as they landed. Banno was soon handed a letter which arranged a meeting in a bar. He had to go alone, and ask for the Illyrian.
Can you describe him?" Banno looked vague. Anything you remember about his height, his build, his colouring? Did he have hair or was he bald? Teeth? Ears? Scars? Clothing? What did he wear?" I got nothing. Either the witness was short-sighted, or too cowed. He did tell me one thing. the location of the bar. It was on the river frontage at Ostia, quite near to the Aquarius. He had had to take the ransom money to the bar right next door.
Does Aline remember anything?" She had been sure she was drugged, and was kept lying on a bed in a small room where she thought there was a woman, with children. Or might it have been a single boy, Banno?" Banno could not answer that. He was unwilling to ask the still traumatised Aline, and there was no time anyway. He left me abruptly, almost in mid-sentence. The Spes was finally sailing. We all stood on the quayside with that mournful feeling that afflicts people as they watch somebody else leave the country. We saw the gangplank pulled in and the mooring ropes cast off. Nux barked loudly. The ship was manoeuvred by tugboats and its own oars, gradually prised out from its tight-packed berth, then towed slowly into the centre of the great harbour. Sailors worked frantically to adjust the square sail. The vessel turned laboriously to face in the right direction. At the rail, Aelianus, who was wearing a dark red tunic, soon became a blurred dot; we had all long stopped waving to him. We stayed until the Spes started to move independently. The tugs with their heavy towing masts fell back from her. She slipped free and made her way towards the harbour exit, sailing smoothly out through the passage on the south side of the lighthouse.
He's gone!" Aulus had his good points. Even I would miss him.