Doctor Who_ Byzantium! - Keith Topping [43]
At his heels, Antonia strode into the room without waiting for an invitation. She gave Gemellus a look of unadulterated contempt. 'You may go, little man,' she announced. 'You too, Drusus. The praefectus and I have matters of great import to discuss. And we shall not wish to be disturbed.'
Both men stayed exactly where they were and looked at the praefectus who waited for a few seconds before casually dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
When the door was closed, Thallus rounded on his former wife.
'I will not have good and loyal members of my staff spoken to in such a manner by the likes of you, Antonia. You have no power or position within this household anymore, no matter whose bed you are currently occupying. And when you march in here as if you still own the place with your demands and your outrages, I would ask you to remember that.'
There was a look of amusement on Antonia's face.
'Marriage to that vapid creature, Jocelyn, has made you bold, Thalius. Can it be that you have finally found a woman who can satisfy your unique needs?'
If Thalius felt belittled by such outrageous innuendo, he chose to hide it under a blanket of moral disgust. 'You are nothing but a common whore, Antonia,' he chided. 'A pathetic moecha of alleged maturity trying to recapture the splendour of her youth in ever more desperate ways.'
Antonia gave a short, harsh laugh and threw back her head, shaking her mane of rich, brown hair. 'You weak and flaccid fool, Thalius,’ she berated him. 'Lingua faciosi, inertes opera. I have heard about the ways in which that old idiot Gains Calaphilus is making you look like the half-man you truly are. And always were.' She turned and flounced towards the door. She had simply come to insult Thalius and, this having been done, she was leaving.
`Goodbye Antonia,’ Thalius called. And may all of the afflictions that blight you be major and painful ones.'
At the door, Antonia threw it open to be confronted by Gemellus and Ian, whom the counsellor was waiting to introduce to the praefectus once he had finished his audience with his former wife. `Lady Antonia,' Gemellus said flatly. ‘I have the honour of introducing to you Ian Chesterton, a guest of the praefectus and of the city, from Britannia.'
`Charmed,' said Ian, remembering what Gemellus had said earlier but with enough home counties breeding to take the lady's offered hand and kiss it.
À Briton?' asked Antonia with a scorpion-like speed that startled both Gemellus and Ian. 'I have heard reliable information that all of the men of the Isles are brutes and savages.'
`You were, therefore, clearly misinformed, my lady,’ said Ian who felt wonderful after he'd said it.
À pity,' noted Antonia, wiping the snigger from his lips, as she continued to stare at Ian for several lustful seconds before patting him on the cheek. 'We shall meet again, in less formal circumstances, Briton. Be sure of it.'
Somewhere on the other side of the Roman barracks that surrounded the Villa Praefectus, a furtive meeting was taking place.
When the door was locked and bolted to prevent sudden interruption or discovery; the conspirators removed their cloaks and hoods.
Ì hate this subterfuge,' said Marcus Lanilla, angrily casting his cowl aside. 'Sneaking around like rats in the gutters of Rome. We are noble men, soldiers, pure of body and heart and mind, we should not be skulking in the shadows.’
The others nodded their agreement.
'Sadly,' continued Marcus, 'circumstances force us not to reveal ourselves too early in the game, lest the hunters become the hunted.' He paused, making sure that his three acolytes were following his grandiose pronouncements.
‘We should use stealth instead of ignorant haste?' asked Fabius Actium, very pleased with his own cleverness.
`Yes,' noted Marcus. 'We mast plan for the time when we shall be ready to act.'
The two other tribunes with Marcus and Fabius were Honorius Annora and Edius Flavia. Part of the same social group, they were slightly younger but from the same cadet academy as their more illustrious companions, equally