Altar of Blood: Empire IX by Anthony Riches Page A

see you again.’
    Scaurus stood, returning the salute with grave solemnity.
    ‘Gaius Vibius Varus. It’s a pleasure to see you, even if somewhat unexpectedly. Will you join us for dinner, if the lady of the house can muster another seat?’
    Varus smiled.
    ‘I would be delighted, Tribune.’
    Silence descended upon the room as another place was set at the table, and Varus took his seat with a bow of thanks to Annia.
    ‘So, what brings a man of the senatorial class to this table? Shouldn’t you be reclining gracefully on a padded couch and listening to poetry while the house slaves feed you delicacies and young ladies compete to catch your eye?’
    The younger man took a piece of bread from the proffered basket.
    ‘Thank you. As it happens I did have a dinner invitation tonight, an invitation issued by one of my father’s closest friends. It seems I’m quite the social must-have at the moment, with a dinner to attend every night of the week and sometimes more than one.’ He sighed. ‘They all want to hear my war stories and have me tell them how I spilled blood for the emperor. As the only man of senatorial rank who took part in our mission to Syria, everyone makes the automatic assumption that I must have been in command. At first I insisted on telling the truth of it, but the collective incredulity that an equestrian such as yourself might have commanded a legion seems to be just a little too hard to believe for most of them. The ladies flutter their eyelashes at me and lick their lips, while their fathers and husbands slap me on the back and compliment me on my modesty. I could dine out for a year on the reflected glory of our victory, and probably share a bed with a different woman each night, and yet …’
    ‘And yet what?’ Julius stared at him uncomprehendingly. ‘You did your part as well as any other man, and you’ve earned the opportunity to make the most of it. Eat, drink, suffer the bullshit and f—’ He shot a guilty glance at his wife, whose eyebrow was raised in an unmistakable signal of disapproval. ‘Er, enjoy as much female company as you can. The chance might not be along again for a while.’
    Scaurus looked at the younger man for a moment before speaking.
    ‘But that’s not enough, is it, Vibius Varus? You’re not content to play the hero and take the kudos, are you?’
    Varus shook his head.
    ‘I need something more. To be alive again, and see the world in vivid colours, to feel the blood sizzling in my veins …’
    Marcus nodded knowingly.
    ‘You’ve stepped over the threshold that divides us from those men who’ve never taken sharp iron to another human being, never spilled an enemy’s blood to stop him spilling yours. And never laid awake in the middle of the night pondering those deaths.’
    The younger man nodded.
    ‘I want to march with your spears again. You’re getting ready to go somewhere, perform some mission for the emperor.’ He raised a hand to forestall the denial. ‘Don’t try to palm me off on this, Tribune, I quietly strolled down here this afternoon, with a couple of ugly slaves to make sure I wasn’t interrupted, and I watched the most amusing thing I’ve seen in a long time. Archers and axemen learning to ride? Whatever next? And so I wondered to myself what the purpose of such an exercise, unless the men in question, a small number of men, I noted, are going to have to ride somewhere a long way away?’
    Scaurus raised an eyebrow.
    ‘And your conclusion?’
    Varus leaned across the table, his eyes alight with speculation.
    ‘You’re only taking thirty or so men, from the look of it, which means it’s something covert. If the job entailed fighting for whatever it is you’ve been tasked to win, or destroy, you’d be going in strength, whereas this, I’ll wager, is something subtler. So I discussed the state of Rome’s relations with her neighbours with my father. It seems that most of the frontiers are quiet now, especially since we put Parthia