Doctor Who_ Byzantium! - Keith Topping [78]
Calaphilus took a javelin from a rack by the door and weighed the spear in his hand. 'I was once able to put out a man's eye at forty paces with one of these,’ he said, as if it was a cherished memory. 'In Britannia, that was. Have you ever been to Corinium Dobunnorum?'
A memory cog rotated and clicked into gear in the back of Ian's mind. 'Cirencester?' he asked.
`Yes.’
`Sadly, I have not,' Ian replied, thankful that he had at least remembered the place's English name. 'I know where it is, though.'
`Whensoever you return to the land of your birth, Briton, do me a favour and go there. Go to the fort and the vicus settlement by the river. You will find a beautiful and unspoiled piece of Heaven on Earth. I long for the simple if harsh life that I enjoyed in your land.'
`You're not the only one there, squire,' noted Ian.
`So much more preferable to the corruption and decadence of Rome and all of its civitas replicas, say you not?'
It was a rhetorical question and, when he received no reply, Calaphilus threw the spear to the ground and sat down at a rough wooden table. He was clearly upset. 'How could so much go wrong in so little time?'
`With Rome, do you mean?' asked Ian.
The general nodded. 'Yes, with Rome, and with the Romans. We have grown soft and weak and depraved. We gorge ourselves at banquets and on gladiatorial sports and grow drunk on the power of being just who we are. And all the while, the republic grows a further and more distant memory.'
`The republic? Isn't that a rather dangerous view for a general of Caesar to hold?' asked Ian curiously.
Àll of the best Romans have been republicans. Including at least two great Emperors. The divine Claudius spent most of his time in Britannia lecturing the troops about how one day, the republic would return to Rome. Of course, there are reasons why it cannot happen at this precise moment...'
'Like, losing the empire overnight?' Ian asked.
'And would that really be such a bad thing?' Calaphilus noted as he slumped in his seat.
Ian Chesterton genuinely didn't know the answer to that one.
'Listen,' he said at last. 'I know that you told me to come alone, but I didn't. I'm sorry, but I thought it was important that someone else hear all of this.’
The general raised his head and half-stood, snarling angrily at Ian as, with as little intrusion as possible, Gemellus slipped quietly from the shadows.
'You brought the advisor of the praefectus here?'
Calaphilus yelled. 'Are you insane, Briton? This meeting, regardless of its contents, could in itself be regarded as treason.'
Gemellus shook his head quickly 'I know you are suspicious, Gaius Calaphilus,' he said. ‘That point of view has served you well in a long, distinguished career, but it has also kept men who could have been your allies at arms length when they should have been much closer. The praefectus and you are more alike than either of you would care to admit, particularly on such subjects as I have just heard you discussing with our mutual friend.'
Calaphilus began to laugh. 'Thalius Maximus is a republican, say you?' he asked, sarcastically. ‘I have heard it all now.’
'Not a republican as such,' acknowledged Gemellus, 'but he is a man whose views on the monarchy closely resemble your own. I have talked with him on such matters upon many, many occasions.'
'The reason I asked Gemellus to come with me,' Ian explained, 'is because of an old proverb from my homeland that seems to be particularly applicable in Byzantium: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".'
'The praefectus and the general are on the same side, even if they do not realise it yet,' Gemellus continued. 'The real enemies of both are within their own forces. And if something is not done about those enemies, then we all could perish under a mountain of deceit. And Byzantium shall be lost to the forces of darkness.'
The silence of the cave was shattered by a sudden thought that occurred to the Doctor. `Mark's