Fireball by John Christopher

Author:John Christopher [Christopher, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7

IT WAS NICE WHILE IT lasted, but it didn’t last long. Four days later, Simon was summoned to the tablinum again. There had been another message from the Bishop: He wanted him as well.

Simon attempted to argue. “But I wouldn’t be of any value to him. There’s nothing I know which Bradus doesn’t know better. He has a fantastic memory—he can remember everything he’s ever read. Whereas mine’s terrible.”

“That may be true, Simonus.” A pause provided a moment of hope. “But His Holiness requests you, and that is enough.”

He spoke calmly but with authority. And in this world, Simon remembered, authority did not tolerate opposition. That didn’t just apply to slaves and the female sex. A son, for instance, was under the absolute power of his father, to the extent that even after he was married, he could not possess anything in his own right; he lived on an allowance, conditionally on behaving himself. And if instant obedience was required of a son, how much more so in the case of someone like himself?

He bowed. “When am I to leave, sir?”

“Immediately,” Quintus Cornelius said, “of course.”

He did manage to get a few minutes alone with Lavinia. She put her hand in his. He squeezed it and was delighted when she very slightly responded. He said confidently: “I’ll be back soon.”

“I hope so. But Bradus has not come back, and Grandfather thinks he may not for a long time.”

“It’s different with Bradus.”

The difference being, he reflected, that while Brad might have the edge where academic knowledge was concerned, cunning was something else again. The Bishop had presumably called for him in the hope that he might know something more than he was getting from Brad. He had worked out an effective way of dealing with that. He had, he knew, put up a poor show in comparison with Brad at the previous interview; that would be why the Bishop had asked just for Brad in the first place. Confusion from the Bishop’s rapid-fire questioning, made worse by his inadequate Latin, had had a lot to do with it. He reckoned that with a little thought he could appear dumber still. A couple of days of well-meaning stupidity, and His Holiness would be glad to be rid of him.

He asked: “Will you miss me?”

A small nod. “Yes.”

“Truly?”

She looked at him. “Yes, Simonus, truly.”

A sharp look round showed they were free from observation. He quickly bent down and kissed her. It landed high up on her cheek, and she immediately pulled away. But she did not look upset.

• • •

On the journey out to the villa Simon had been too preoccupied with talking to Brad to take in much of his surroundings. In the cisium, sitting beside a taciturn driver, he could observe things better. The approach to Londinium was something of a sprawl, with rows of hovels crowded alongside the road for half a mile before they reached the gate.

It was a very old gate. The brickwork was crumbling in several places, and the heavy wooden doors looked as though they had not been closed for centuries.

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