Helena was intrigued when she heard of my meeting. So why didn't you recognise your uncle?"
It's been years since I met him. I never saw much of Fulvius anyway. I can't have been more than five or six the last time, it was before Pa left us. My long holidays on the farm were later; Ma used to take us all to run around and tire ourselves out, when she could get somebody to give us all a lift into the Campagna. By that time Fulvius had gone."
Gone to do what?" asked Helena. What is the real story?"
He didn't fit in."
He was driven out by the others?"
No. Fulvius voluntarily took himself off."
Unhappy?"
Just bloody awkward, I'd say."
Oh, nothing his nephew inherited then!" I got out of that by asking how Helena was progressing with the Diocles tablets. She had read them all already. I was not surprised. On a waxed tablet of her own, she had quoted bits she wanted me to see. A large proportion of what she had collated involved the meetings Albia had described, which were clearly confrontations between ships, where the named vessels came off worst. People were sold into slavery. Goods were seized and marketed for profit. Then occasionally deaths were noted.
Deaths? Unnatural ones?" Helena gave out a restless sigh. No doubt of it. We took three losses." Another time, Too many to handle; five overboard." I think that may mean thrown overboard. Later, They lost ten, the master caught it; would not give up, Lygon finished him." Yes, Lygon is named. Do you think that's the same one you are interested in?" I shrugged. We had no way of knowing, though it seemed a big coincidence. Any other familiar people?" I was hoping for Damagoras or Cratidas, but was disappointed. Helena looked up her own notes to be sure. No, but Lygon is mentioned twice. The second time is horrible, Woman screaming; Lygon took her head off for us; silence!"
Hey! I'm sorry I let you read this stuff." As I shuddered, Helena embraced me. I hoped that would distract her from the horror. We then sat huddled together, looking through the tablets. Try as we might, we could find no internal evidence as to who wrote them. Unfortunately, only schoolboys sign their personal note-tablets Marcus owns this. Hands off, or the kindly Furies will strike you… The logs must be from a captain. He never said what his own ship was called. It had travelled widely around the eastern Mediterranean, operating for years, from the Greek islands across to the Phoenician seaboard. His trade was bloody, and there was no doubt it was criminal. Nobody could call it anything other than piracy. This vessel preyed on other shipping. Plunder was its sole reason for putting to sea. It never took a cargo out, though almost always came back to land with one or more commodity for sale. To us it was theft. To the ship's captain, it was fair trade. Although we could not identify him, clues made us sure that he was a Cilician. First there was the name of his crony Lygon, who, if he was the one I knew of- came from Soli/Pompeiopolis. Apprentice sailors were mentioned, sometimes with their place of origin, also in Cilicia; many were farmhands and despite claims that the people of the mountains had no part in piracy, it became clear that there was a regular progression of young men being sent from the land to find experience, reputation and riches at sea. From time to time the logs recorded alliances with other groups and nationalities. Agreed a treaty with the Pamphyllians, Korakesians [Melanthos. Side men in, but they won't hold… Off Akroterion met the Fideliter and the Psyche. Cattle and slaves; Melanthos took the cattle; he won't stay true… Meras of Antiphellos and his Lycians joined us. Meras left us again after could not agree over the hides… Sailing off Xanthos. Good pickings if the season holds, but the Lycians don't like us being here. Met a large trader out of Sidon but Marion came up during our action and we had to fight him off. Later followed the Europa, out of Thera, but no luck; Melanthos got that… Offer to partner the Illyrians but they are faithless and too violent…"
Too violent'? That was hilarious. Once he had stripped his victims of valuables, the writer never hesitated to hurl people overboard to drown. He only took prisoners if they were suitable as slaves. Otherwise, he eliminated witnesses. He and his seamen lived by the sword. If stabbing failed, they used strangulation. Helena had found repeated notes of wounding during robberies, limbs lost on both sides, frequent records of mutilation and reckless killing. Sometimes they would go ashore in search of booty; once they sacked a shrine.
I looked for mention of Illyrians," Helena said. This sole mention of Illyrians being faithless and violent is all. But assuming the writer is Cilician, he does make partnerships from time to time, often swearing oaths of alliance with those he has quite recently quarrelled with or accused of breaking faith."
Could the Illyrian" we know of just be a nickname?"
I suppose so, Marcus. But it must have some link to where the negotiator comes from."
Now," said Helena, gathering up a small pile of tablets she had placed separately, the interesting part. I shall tell you what I believe Diocles was doing."
These other tablets are his own notes?"
Yes. The handwriting and layout match the notes we found in his room. In these," she went on, speaking calmly and without drama, the scribe is making a summary of the old logs. You could call it an outline of a proposed new work."
Do you mean that Damagoras told me the truth, Diocles really was going to help him put together his memoirs?"
No doubt of it." Helena pursed her lips. But it makes Damagoras a liar. First, he assured you, Marcus, that he just had a couple of brief discussions with Diocles, after which the scribe decided not to proceed. But for Diocles to make all these notes, the two of them must have gone into great detail together."
I was puzzled that he had given Rusticus, the vigiles recruiting officer, an address in the country, not the rental house at the Marine Gate…"
Yes." Helena was with me. Diocles probably went to live for a while at the villa. He worked up these notes while staying there. So Damagoras lied about how close their relationship was. But the main area where he lied, and he's lying through his teeth, Marcus, is this. If these ship's logs are what Diocles had to use as the raw material for the memoirs, then there is no doubt, no doubt at all, about what Damagoras used to do for a living. The captain who composed these old records was a pirate." I nodded. And I'll tell you something else, my love, I don't believe the virtuous claim that he has long ago retired. He was a pirate – and I reckon he still is." Next morning I began to read the note-tablets myself. I took them down to the courtyard and sat on a bench in dappled sunlight, with Nux fast asleep up against me and the children nearby. From time to time I had to break off, because Julia Junilla was playing at shops and wanted me to buy some pebble that was supposed to be a cake. This happened so often that I asked for a trade discount, only to be given the same surly reaction I would get at the counter of a real shop. Helena had just come down to mediate in our commercial wrangling. As she agreed with Julia that I was being mean, someone came in through the entrance looking for me. It was Virtus, the slave from the vigiles patrol house. I was surprised to see him, and even more startled that Petronius Longus had sent him with a message.
Fusculus and Petro have been called out to an incident. Apparently you will be interested, Falco. Some madman drove a chariot off the road in the middle of last night. Seems the accident" wasn't an accident, though, the horses both had their throats cut. They found a body. I can't stop; apparently the chariot is a known vehicle and I've got to go and see that man Posidonius." Tablets scattered as I stood up abruptly. Sounds as if the worst has happened. They must have killed the girl I had been too abrupt; Helena gasped. Sorry, love. Give me directions, Virtus." Helena was now calling for Albia to bring her a cloak and look after the children. I normally kept her as far from death as possible. But in Rome she had talked to the foolish girl, persuading her to confide her hopes and dreams. I knew that Helena would be determined now to pay her last respects to Rhodope.