‘Men die in war. It happens.’

‘If not me, someone will kill the degenerate Gallienus.’ Acilius Glabrio drew himself up, as if to address the senate or posterity. ‘The tyrant is hated by all his subjects.’

‘This is not the time for a speech,’ Volusianus said.

‘Your master will die, and you will be cast down. Vice brings retribution. The gods—’

‘No more words.’

Acilius Glabrio stopped talking. He took a ring from his finger and turned it in his hands.

Again Volusianus restrained Murena.

The secret compartment unscrewed, Acilius Glabrio raised the ring to his lips, and drank the poison.

They stood watching each other, the wind sighing around them.

Acilius Glabrio choked, and staggered back against the balustrade.

Volusianus and Murena did not move.

Acilius Glabrio collapsed to the floor.

‘Why?’ Murena asked. ‘We could have uncovered everything.’

‘His family are well connected. A trial, even in the palace, behind closed doors, would have been an embarrassment.’

Acilius Glabrio’s body went into convulsions.

‘Gods below, it is bitter up here,’ Volusianus said to Murena. ‘Would you fetch me another cloak?’

Evidently surprised, Murena did as he was bidden. Volusianus made himself comfortable on a nearby bench to watch Acilius Glabrio die. It occurred to Volusianus that the death of Acilius Glabrio removed the need to keep alive the senator’s messenger to Postumus. The man would never be called as a witness, and he had no more information to divulge. The messenger had been thoroughly tortured – if anything his death would be a kindness.

*

The spasms of Acilius Glabrio had ended. Now he was motionless, hardly breathing.

It was right to have sent Murena away. In his agony, Acilius Glabrio might say something best not overheard. Murena had done well pursuing this conspiracy, but he was no longer to be trusted.

When they had been questioning the messenger in the cells, and Volusianus had mentioned the Castle of Silence, Murena had nearly pissed himself. Murena had been watched since, his secretary suborned, his movements followed. Why did Murena visit the family of one of the ten sent to rescue Prince Sasan?

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

The Elburz Mountains

THEY WAITED IN THE CAMP for three days.

The goats that Aulus and Clemens had shot were butchered and cooked. The men only lit a fire during daylight, taking care that it did not smoke. The depression was sheltered from the wind, but it was cold, and when it rained their spirits flagged. They heated stones in the ashes and placed them in their bedrolls. The stones soon lost their warmth, and did little to help them sleep.

Two men remained on watch night and day at the top of the ridge. They were out of sight of the fortress, a couple of miles from its main gate. From their lookout they could see a long stretch of the road as it toiled up from the plains. They were confident that nothing could pass unobserved.