Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [5]
‘An astrologer?’ asked Gracilis.
‘That’s the very thing,’ the chubby man replied. ‘I heard she predicted that Hadrian was going to rebuild the Pantheon. And he is!’
‘That’s nothing,’ put in a customer from the next bench, through a mouthful of bread and cheese. ‘She told me that I was going to have a big row with my wife – and it came true!’
‘Well, yeah,’ said the chubby man, ‘but you’d just been trying to chat up the girl in front of your wife. I could’ve predicted that. Anyway, I heard she’s said the Empire’s going to fall in a few centuries. I’m thinking of moving the family, just to be on the safe side.’
Rose tutted. ‘Oh, come off it,’ she said. ‘Who are you trying to kid? Astrology’s a load of rubbish.’
‘You would say that,’ said the Doctor. ‘Typical Taurean.’
She raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Come on. You’re not telling me you believe in that stuff…’ But the Doctor shushed her as Gracilis pushed himself from his seat.
‘Tell me, where is this famed woman? How can I find her?’
As the cafe owner gave directions, the Doctor and Rose got to their feet too, the Doctor cramming in the last of his pastry as he made ready to leave.
Gracilis turned to them. ‘My friends, I am truly grateful for your assistance, and would be glad to offer you hospitality in my villa if ever you happen by, but I will trespass on your goodness no longer.’
‘You must be joking,’ said the Doctor. ‘We’re not going to miss an opportunity to meet a lady who can tell the future, are we, Rose?’ And he looked at Rose and grinned.
She grinned back. ‘Not a chance.’
* * *
TWO
The Doctor, Rose and Gracilis made their way to the Via Lata, passing by Trajan’s Column itself, which pierced the sky with its carved tales of Trajan’s victory over the Dacians. It looked even morer impressive close up – marble panels spiralling away from a sort of temple thing at the bottom (‘That’s got Trajan’s ashes in it,’ the Doctor said). This nearby, Rose had to crane her neck right back to see the emperor’s statue standing on the top, over 100 feet above her. There was a viewing platform at the top of the column and she could see the Doctor just itching to climb up to it, but Gracilis was a man on a mission and so they were forced to hurry on too.
Eventually they came to the place named by the cafe owner. An apartment in a block, it was not the most salubrious of locations, but it was a great deal better than the area in which they’d first arrived. Really, it wasn’t all that different from the Powell Estate – several blocks of apartments were built around a courtyard, and there were even some shops on the ground floor, but selling olive oil and kitchenware rather than cigarettes and Chinese food.
They climbed up the stairs to the apartment in question, where the Doctor took the lead and knocked on the door.
After a moment it opened slightly and a narrow‐eyed man in a grubby tunic peered out at them. ‘Well? What do you want?’
The Doctor smiled at him. ‘We’d like to see the young lady who lives here. You know, the prophet? Astrologer?’
The man’s demeanour changed instantly. Suddenly he was obsequious, gushing, as he pushed the door wide and stood back to let them in.
‘Ah, my pleasure, gentlemen and lady, my very great pleasure. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Balbus, and you shall see the lady, the reader of the stars, the interpreter of planets, she who knows what is to come. For only the smallest of small fees, you shall see her.’
‘Cross her palm with silver,’ muttered Rose. ‘Nothing changes.’ She expected Gracilis to haggle at the sum mentioned, but he was obviously too anxious about his son to quibble over money, and he gave the man a handful of coins without protest.
The scruffy man led the way into a back room, where someone was sitting huddled in a corner. ‘Visitors for you, Vanessa,’ he said, rubbing his hands avariciously in the manner of someone who’d got a good bargain. ‘Tell them what they want to know.’
The figure looked up, and Rose was taken aback. She’d unconsciously expected a fairground gypsy type, elderly