Dead Men's Sandals (Marcus Corvinus Book 21) by David Wishart

Author:David Wishart [Wishart, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-25T20:00:00+00:00

The goddess’s temple in Brundisium wasn’t exactly swish; certainly nowhere as upmarket as the one in Rome’s Mars Field, that Gaius had had built for her. After asking several local punters for directions, and getting in some cases nothing but a blank stare in reply, I tracked it down to an alleyway in a less-than-salubrious quarter near the town’s east wall.

I went inside.

Religion, like I say, isn’t my bag. Our approach to it I can live with, no problem, because it’s completely sensible. Make sure the gods are treated properly, with their rites celebrated bang on time and accurate to the last sacrificed sheep, bird or whatever, say the proper words in the proper order, make sure you don’t drop the knife or forget to sprinkle the barley-meal, and everything will be hunky-dory. You fulfil your part of the bargain and you can be certain that the Powers that Be will fulfil theirs. All very civilised and business-like, with no issues on either side.

The whacky eastern variety is another matter. Don’t get me wrong: if foreigners want to get stoned on qef and lop their own wollocks off in memory of some poor bugger a few thousand years back, or even just shave their heads and dance through the streets shaking rattles, then that’s absolutely fine with me, so long as they keep it to themselves and in their own back yard. Getting mixed up with that sort of thing just makes me nervous.

Even so.

I’d barely crossed the threshold when a shaven-headed elderly guy in a white linen nightshirt hobbled across to intercept me.

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ he said. Quavered. ‘The ceremony doesn’t begin for another hour.’

‘Actually, granddad,’ I said, ‘I was looking for someone. A friend.’

‘Pardon? You’ll have to speak up, I’m afraid. I’m a little deaf.’

I put my mouth next to his ear, raised my voice and spoke very clearly and distinctly. ‘I’m looking for a friend. A girl. Name of Marcia. She here?’

He shook his head. ‘No. Still no good. Not a thing. Come back in an hour.’

Jupiter on wheels! Maybe we could try lip-reading. I faced him square on, pointed to my mouth and then said slowly: ‘Is there someone else I could talk to?’

Preferably someone with all their faculties still in working order and who had at least partial use of their aural abilities. If that wasn’t too much to ask.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ he said. ‘You wait here. There might be someone else you could talk to.’

Gods!

He shuffled off while I twiddled my thumbs and contemplated the twice-life-size statue of the goddess at the other end of the nave.

‘Yes? How can I help you?’

I half-turned: a priestess this time, by the looks of her. Well, at least I’d got the right sex for the question. And as an added bonus she was the right side of ninety, although not by much.

‘I was looking for a young girl called Marcia,’ I said. ‘Titus Marcius’s daughter. Have you seen her, by any chance?’

Pause; long pause. ‘And you are?’ she said finally.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.