That Tullia was not at all unattractive. Come what may, it would be necessary to have her brought to the camp. Murena did not expect her husband to return. If he did, he could not be allowed to survive. The man knew far too much. A discreet accident would be arranged. And he might have talked to his wife before he departed. Murena would conduct her interrogation himself. There was no denying the erotic charge of having an attractive woman stripped and helpless. She might as well give him some pleasure, before she had to die.

An underling could kill her father and daughter.

Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

The Southern Shores of the Caspian Sea

WITH THE SEA TO THEIR LEFT, they travelled east. Although it was not mentioned again, the possibility of pursuit was on everyone’s mind, and they went at a good pace. At times a chill wind blew from the north, lifting whitecaps out on the water. Here summer was long gone, and autumn well advanced. But the going was good and level, and the horses moved easily, as if, like the men, they were glad to be out of high country, at least for a time.

By the end of the first day the mountains had closed in from the south, and ran in a great crescent like a huge rampart almost up against the shore. For four days they followed the narrow track between the waves and the rock wall. Lucia said that the sea level was lower now than in the past. In the time of her father the breakers had beaten directly into the base of the cliffs, and merchants had used another route through the hills. There were no dwellings along the path, and they saw no one. Yet a few times, when the wind dropped, pale-blue coils of smoke showed high above on the heights.

Streams gushed from dark caverns in the rock. Some formed strong wild waterfalls, foaming white and plunging straight down the cliffs. Others, fanning out in numerous rivulets, and flowing more gently over stepped shelves of rock, resembled the sort of elaborate architectural water feature that might grace a wealthy city, like an elaborate fountain or nymphaeum. Where the streams cut the track, the surface of their beds was slippery and treacherous. Men and horses descended cautiously, and both were soaked by the spray and the icy water when they clambered out. One river, however, threw itself from the top of the precipice with such force that its waters arced clear over the track to crash straight into the sea. The column was able to ride, wondering and dry-shod, underneath.