The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits by Mike Ashley (Ed)

Author:Mike Ashley (Ed) [Ashley, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-07-06T07:00:00+00:00

I don’t know why, but when you're unusually big and strong, people tend to think you're stupid. "All brawn and no brain," they say, and treat you like a mindless bull good for strength and courage, but no use for thinking.

My patron doesn't make that mistake about me though. Tadius Sabinus knows better. I'm head and shoulders taller than him, and I've been his bodyguard for years now, ever since he bought me as a slave in the Emperor Nero's time. After he'd owned me for a couple of months I saved his life, and he said to me, "Rufus, you've got a good head on those broad shoulders. Make sure you use it, that's all I ask."

That's why I stayed with him even after he gave me my freedom, and he became my patron instead of my master. He has other bodyguards now; I'm a kind of chief guard-cum-personal assistant, and I — but you don't want to know all that; I only mention it to explain what I was doing at a family banquet given by my patron's mother, the Lady Cornelia. She probably didn't like it, but she knew that if she invited my patron, she'd have to invite me too.

Of course I didn't sit near Sabinus — I was in a distant corner with the other freedmen — but before it all started, he took me aside. "Rufus, I want you to be on the alert tonight. I'm sure Cleopatra is up to mischief. She says she's planning a surprise for my brother, and I don't trust her. Keep an eye on her, will you?"

"It'll be a pleasure!" The young lady was well worth looking at. "I promise I'll watch her every move. And if you want me to sit near her and offer her my personal protection . . ."

He laughed. "I wish I could arrange it. I think you could control that little madam. I'm not so sure Marcus can," he added in an undertone.

Marcus, the patron's young brother, would soon be marrying this Cleopatra — no, of course that wasn't her real name, she was actually Chloe; but Cleopatra was what she insisted on being called. Ever since childhood — and she couldn't have been more than eighteen even now — she'd been fascinated by stories about the celebrated Queen of Egypt, and wanted to be like her. She was from Alexandria, and Marcus had met her there and fallen as completely in love with her as Mark Antony did with the famous queen. They'd come to Rome for the wedding, and this was the first chance his mother had to show off the bride-to-be to all the friends and relatives in the city.

It was quite a party — glittering I think is the word. The forty or so guests were in for a treat, and her ladyship wanted them to realize the fact as soon as they arrived at her house, which was a grand one just outside Rome. Rooms and passages

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