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  Janina returned and set down a wooden spoon and a bowl of stew. Liber ate the stew greedily. It was better than he had expected. The chicken was probably not rotten, and the onions were probably almost fresh. He poured himself another cup of wine, diluted it again with a few drops of water, and leaned back in his chair, content at last.

  But not for long. The argument at the next table was growing louder and more heated. Liber knew the men—sturdy laborers who drank too much and understood too little. They were arguing, of course, about the Gallians who had come out of nowhere not three months ago and conquered Urbis and, with it, the greatest empire Terra had ever known.

  “Can’t you follow me?” one of the men was saying in irritation. He had long black hair and a scar on his left cheek. His name, Liber thought, was Varius. “It’s simple. The Gallians could not have taken over Urbis if the gods did not favor them. How could that happen otherwise?”

  “It is payback for what the priests did to King Harald and his army fifty years ago,” another man agreed. He was scrawny and had a high-pitched, querulous voice. Marcus? Marcellus? Marcus, Liber decided. “The priests should not have destroyed the army like they did. The Gallians had legitimate complaints.”

  “Bah,” a third man said. His name was Nicator, and he had occasionally bought Liber a cup of wine, so Liber was disposed to like him. “These Gallians sneaked into the city in the dead of night and stole the priests’ weapons,” Nicator pointed out. “Everyone knows that. It has nothing to do with the gods.”

  “But how could they sneak into Urbis?” Varius protested. “It makes no sense. There were scarcely more than two dozen of them, I’m told.”

  “They had help, obviously,” Nicator replied. “From Affron and those other priests who were fighting against the pontifex.”

  “But where is Affron? And where are all those priests?”

  “Well, they’ve joined together somewheres—the priests and Affron.”

  “But they say that Affron was there,” Varius pointed out. “That’s how the Gallians found their way into the city.”

  “No, Affron is gone. Disappeared, long before the Gallians came. Do you understand nothing?”

  “I understand that our governor is in league with a bunch of foreigners,” a fourth man put in, slamming his cup down on the table. Callias—always eager to pick a fight. Many a time Liber had watched him being thrown out of The Hungry Lion. “We should be attacking the Gallians, not making deals with them.”

  “Governor Decius is doing what he needs to do,” Nicator said. “Winter is here. We need bread. We need work. He can’t let his people starve, can he?”

  “He has troops!” Callias said. “He should use them.”

  “Do you think the troops will go into battle against the Gallians with those magical weapons of theirs? It’s said they turn a man into ashes in the blink of an eye. Not a chance the army would agree to fight them.”

  “They can besiege Urbis,” Callias countered. “Starve the bastards out.”

  Nicator spat on the floor and didn’t bother to reply.

  “If the gods gave the Gallians those magical weapons,” Marcus pointed out, “they could surely give them food.”

  “You are such a fool,” Callias responded. “Thinking that the gods would give the Gallians anything.”

  Marcus stood up, as if getting ready to fight Callias. Nicator shoved him back into his seat. “Let’s ask our teacher here,” Nicator said. He turned to Liber. “What say you, magister? What is going on in Urbis? Should Decius have made peace with the Gallians?”

  Liber sighed. “You realize, of course, that questioning Decius in public may not be the wisest course of action,” he pointed out. “They say the governor has spies everywhere.”

  Nicator waved his hand dismissively. “Decius has more important things to worry about than people like us arguing in taverns. Come, you’re smarter than the lot of us—tell us what you think.”

  Liber wanted no part of this conversation, but he knew that Nicator was not going to give up. “I lost my last remaining pupil today,” he replied, “because his father fears that no one will want to build ships with the lumber he has imported from Germania. The times are uncertain at best. Tax revenues have dried up as a result. Decius’s soldiers are not likely to attack Urbis; they’re more likely to attack him, if he can’t pay them.”

  Nicator laughed delightedly and turned back to the other men at his table. “You see? The magister understands the situation.” He signaled to Janina. “More wine for my friend!”

  “But what of the gods?” Varius demanded. “Why are they doing this to us?”

  The gods. Liber smiled. Once upon a time he had believed in the gods, but he was far wiser now, though no happier. “I do not know what to say about the gods,” he replied to Varius. “Their ways are too inscrutable for me to understand.”

  “They must know what they’re doing,” Varius insisted. “If we are faithful to them, everything will turn out for the best.”

  Liber tried not to laugh at the poor man’s optimism. Nothing ever turned out for the best; Liber himself was a living example of this. Janina brought over another jug of wine, and he raised his cup to Nicator. “To the gods,” he murmured.

  The men at the other table automatically repeated his toast, and then continued their argument. They were frightened, of course, and they had every right to be. He, too, was frightened. But now he was drunk, so the fear didn’t bother him quite so much.

  Eventually, though, the patrons started heading out of the tavern. Time to return to their wretched insulae, their sullen wives and squalling children. Even during Saturnalia they would all need to be up before dawn, ready to put in another day’s labor in the cold gray winter, with fear lurking in their hearts. Ah, the tavern was no good when people started to leave. Liber threw his sesterces down on the table and struggled to his feet.

  “Good night, my lord,” Janina called to him.

  He waved to her and headed for the door.

  Suddenly the stocky man with the book was by his side. “Your bag,” the man said, pointing to the satchel Liber had left on the floor by his table.

  “Stupid of me,” Liber muttered, going back for it. “Thank you, friend.”

  “Allow me to help you,” the man said. He took Liber’s arm and guided him through the tables to the door.

  “Very kind,” Liber said. He actually did feel a bit dizzy.

  “Not at all.” The man opened the door, and they walked out into the cold and the biting wind.

  Liber looked around in the darkness. His mind swirled. He needed to get home, out of this wind. But where was home? Oh, why had he drunk so much!

  “If I might suggest,” the stocky man said, “I have a carriage here. Perhaps I can give you a ride?”

  A carriage? No one had a carriage in this castellum. How absurd! But there it was. And its driver, all bundled up in a heavy cloak, was approaching him.

  “Come then,” the stocky man said to Liber. “It will be warmer inside the carriage.”

  The driver and the stocky man helped him step up into the carriage. The stocky man got in after him and sat on the facing seat. The driver shut the door behind them. Liber realized that the man had bolted the door from the outside; he couldn’t get out. He stared at the man across from him. It was as if he were looking at him for the first time. His features were bland; his eyes were half-shut, as if he were preparing to take a nap.

  “You aren’t taking me home, are you?” Liber said.

  “No,” the man replied. “Of course not.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “All will be made clear. Now rest, and try to sober up.”

  “You can’t do this to me,” Liber argued.

  “Of course I can. Now be quiet.”

  The carriage started moving. Liber closed his eyes. Outside he could hear people singing a lewd song. Why were they still celebrating? Was their life any better now that the Gallians were in power? How could t
hey be so stupid?

  And he thought: How could he be so stupid? Not just tonight, but his whole life. He felt a surge of pity for himself. He didn’t deserve to be here.

  But this was exactly where he was. And he knew that no one—and especially not the gods—was going to save him.

  Two

  Decius

  Marcus Decius, governor of the empire’s Roman province, was reading in his study when Corscius arrived. Decius was a bald man, with a fringe of gray hair and piercing gray eyes. He should have been in bed long ago, but this was far too important.

  “Well?” he asked his aide.

  Corscius nodded. “I found him, my lord. He’s in the carriage. Passed out from too much wine.”

  “And you’re sure it’s him?”

  “Yes, of course. He had a good bit to say at the tavern.”

  “If you rouse him, will he be sober enough to talk?”

  “Probably,” Corscius replied. “Shall I bring him to you?”

  “Yes. And thank you.”

  Corscius departed. Decius put down the papers he had been reading and sighed. He had no wish to deal with a drunkard. But the times were dangerous, and he was becoming desperate; he had to take what was available. Perhaps the man could help; if not, Decius would have to look for someone else.

  He threw more coal into the brazier and waited. Finally Corscius escorted the man into his study. Decius studied him from the other side of the table. The man was wobbly on his feet; Corscius had him by the arm to keep him steady. His eyes were bloodshot; his robe was threadbare; his dark hair needed washing and combing. His face was wet—Corscius had presumably thrown water on it to rouse him. He looked like a beggar one would cross the street to avoid.

  And yet, bloodshot as they were, there was something about those eyes…

  “Gaius Liberus,” Decius said quietly.

  “My lord,” he replied, bowing.

  “You know who I am?”

  “Of course.”

  “And do you know why you’re here?”

  The man gave a small nod. “Quite possibly.”

  Decius motioned for Liber to sit opposite him and for Corscius to go.

  “Would you be so good as to get me a cup of water?” Liber said to Corscius. “And a towel.”

  Corscius looked at Decius. The governor nodded.

  “And kindly don’t lose my satchel,” he added. “The books in it are my livelihood.”

  Corscius didn’t bother to respond. He left the room, and a few moments later a servant entered with a jug of water, a cup, and a small towel. Liber filled his cup and drank greedily. Decius waited for him to finish. Liber wanted to demonstrate that he wasn’t afraid, of course. But Decius knew he was afraid.

  When Liber had finished drinking, he wiped his face with the towel and tossed it on the floor. Then he inclined his head to the governor, as if to say: You may begin.

  “So,” Decius said, “why do you think you are here?”

  “You perhaps think I have information,” Liber replied.

  Decius nodded.

  “But you must know that if I have the information of the kind you are looking for,” Liber continued, “then I have also taken a solemn oath not to reveal it.”

  “Surely such an oath is meaningless in the current state of affairs,” Decius pointed out.

  Liber shrugged. “An oath is an oath. And some might say that this is precisely the state of affairs when the oath should matter most.”

  “Is that what you say?”

  “I don’t know. Perhaps I need to be convinced.”

  “Well then, consider,” Decius said. “You are penniless. You are friendless, except for your drinking companions. You live in a wretched insula that is boiling hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. Today you lost your last pupil, and you have no hope of getting another.”

  Liber looked at him sharply. “The merchant—you told him to get rid of me.”

  Decius spread his hands. “Does that matter? In any case, I think you see the choice you face. I know what I would do, if I were you. But of course, I am not as brilliant as you. I was not one of the chosen.”

  “Chosen,” Liber repeated, as if the word were unfamiliar to him. “You’re mistaken, of course. Look at me. I was not chosen. But enough. I am tired and drunk. Tell me what you want.”

  “Let us begin with the obvious,” Decius said. “The Gallians have taken over Urbis. They killed most of the soldiers in the city. They possess Via. They possess the magical weapons the priests used to destroy the army of King Harald, the ancestor of their leader. No army will attack them while they possess these weapons. And yet their situation is precarious. The priests fled Urbis, but not before they burned its schola. No one remains in the city who knows how to run an empire, who knows how to deal with the gods. And no books remain to teach the Gallians what the priests knew. They have weapons but no wisdom. They have power but no legitimacy. They have conquered the Roman empire, but they do not know how to rule it.”

  “They have the pontifex, do they not?” Liber asked.

  “Tirelius will tell them nothing. Why should he? He longs for them to fail.”

  “Find some of the priests who left, then. That shouldn’t be difficult. Plenty of them despise Tirelius. They will help.”

  “They may despise Tirelius,” Decius said, “but that doesn’t mean they want the Gallians to succeed. They had something else in mind. They looked to someone else to lead them.”

  “Ah,” Liber murmured. “Affron.”

  “Yes, Affron.”

  “He wasn’t behind it, then? He wasn’t there?”

  Decius shook his head. “No one knows where he is, or if he’s still alive. Apparently a servant boy and girl from Barbarica gave the Gallians one of the magical weapons and helped them sneak into Urbis by night. But then they disappeared. No one knows where they are either.”

  Liber seemed interested by this. “Are they the children the priests were searching for back in the summer, along with Affron and Valleia and some other man?”

  “Presumably. But does it matter?”

  “I don’t know.” Liber poured another cup of water, drank it in a single gulp, and shook his head as if to clear the fumes of the wine from it. “The Gallians, of course, are terrified,” he said. “And the thing that terrifies them the most is Via. Perhaps one of them has stuck his hand inside it, and the hand disappeared. Where did the hand go? At least the hand reappeared when he pulled it back out. Perhaps someone was brave enough to walk inside it, but then never returned. What happened to the man? Did the gods capture him? Are the gods angry with the Gallians? If so, what can they do to appease the gods? Perhaps some of them are now arguing that this was all a terrible mistake, but they do not know how to undo what they have done. They need to find someone who understands.”

  Decius inclined his head. “Something like that.”

  “And then there is you, my lord,” Liber went on. “You have thrown your lot in with the Gallians. There are very good reasons for this, but you, too, are terrified. If the Gallians fail, what will happen to you?”

  “How can the Gallians fail, with the weapons they possess?” Decius responded. “They can turn a man to bits of dust from fifty paces away.”

  “But neither you nor the Gallians understand the weapons, any more than you understand Via. If the gods gave them to us, the gods can take them away.”

  “There are those who say there are no gods.”

  “Then where did the weapons come from?” Liber asked. “Then what is Via? These things are not from Terra. Surely that much is clear.”

  “I do not know,” Decius admitted. “That is why we need to find someone who understands.”

  “And you think I am that person.”

  “I think perhaps you are,” Decius replied. “You were once a student in the schola that stood right next to the temple of Via. And you were no ordinary student. You were chosen to become a viator—the highest rank among all priests. You mus
t have read those books that the priests burned when they left the city. You must have learned the deepest mysteries of Via. You must have learned about those magical weapons. But then it ended. You left Urbis and the priesthood. By choice? Or perhaps the priests asked you to leave. Did your fondness for wine cause the priests to give up on you, or was it a result of being banished? Anyway, here you are—tutoring the spawn of rich merchants for a few pitiful sesterces, which you promptly spend on the wine you drink every night. To help you forget how you’ve wasted your life, I imagine.”

  “Your network of spies is remarkably efficient,” Liber said. “You know much.”

  Decius shrugged. “It is how I survive.”

  “And you want me to tell you the mysteries of Via?”

  “Why not? Are you afraid of the gods?”

  Liber shrugged. “What does it matter? You don’t need me, after all. Go read a book about the mysteries—they exist, even if the priests tried to suppress them. I am not the only one to have ever left the priesthood.”

  “I don’t trust the books.”

  “And you would trust a drunk like me?”

  Decius nodded. “I think I would. Because I can look into your eyes and decide if you are lying.”

  Liber laughed. “A viator knows how to lie and get away with it. But here is the problem, my lord. You want me to work for you. But why should I do that? You would then use the information I give you to ingratiate yourself with the Gallians. Why should I not work for the Gallians themselves?”

  “And how would you do that?” Decius asked. “Walk up to the gates of Urbis and introduce yourself? You can only get to the Gallians through me. This ought to be clear to someone as smart as you. But we have sparred long enough. You can help me, in which case we will give you a soft bed in a warm cubiculum, followed by the chance to earn money and possibly even do some good in this wretched world. Or you can refuse, in which case Corscius will be happy to toss you out onto the street and let you find your way back to your insula, where you’ll surely be dead by the end of winter. Now choose.”

  Liber inclined his head. “You are very persuasive, my lord,” he said with a smile. “I accept your kind offer.”