Authors: Morgan O'Neill
Then, almost as soon as she’d begun, something caught her eye and the notes faltered, then stopped. Standard flags bobbed in the distance. People and wagons were traveling up the road. There was a delegation coming from the city!
Gigi started down the hill, slipping, stumbling, but managing to stay up. When she finally got to the flats, she ran full out, heedless of the ruts and frozen puddles. Trying to catch her breath, she arrived at Alaric’s tent with many others, just as the delegation came into view.
King Alaric was already standing beside the great central fire pit, the official meeting place. Alaric’s elderly foster-mother, Randegund, stood on his left, her birth children, Queen Verica and Athaulf, on her right, while Magnus, Sergeric and several of the other captains waited farther off. The welcoming committee.
Just then, Randegund’s gaze strayed toward Gigi, who shivered beneath the woman’s icy-blue glare. The old witch hated all things Roman, and marrying Magnus had put Gigi squarely in the enemy camp. She had tried to stay away from Randegund, but the woman was frequently in Alaric’s company and avoiding her proved impossible. At first Gigi hadn’t understood why Alaric kept Randegund so close, but then she’d pieced together the complicated relationship between the two; not only had Randegund taken him in when he was orphaned as a child, she’d given him her only daughter’s hand in marriage. It was still hard for Gigi to believe sweet Verica and noble Athaulf were scary Randegund’s biological children.
With a last, defiant look at the witch, Gigi edged her way along the fringes of the crowd. She found a decent spot to one side, where she could see all the faces, and hopefully hear something.
“Jolie! Jolie!” a little voice cried out.
Gigi looked down, surprised to see Berga, Alaric and Verica’s youngest, hopping up and down. She grinned at Berga’s continued use of the alias Gigi had first given the Visigoths — Angelina Jolie. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision so Honorius’s spies would never make the connection with the fugitive slave they knew as Gigiperrin.
“Help me up, Jolie.”
“Shhh, Berga.” Gigi rumpled the girl’s hair. “This is very important. Your parents are going to have an important meeting. We must be quiet.”
“We told her that!” two insistent voices said in unison.
Gigi looked behind her. The twin boys were there, looking annoyed with their sister. She knelt down and motioned for Berga to climb on her back, then glanced at the twins. “Go to the front to watch, but come right back here afterward to get your sister.”
They started to complain, but when Gigi threw them a look, they quickly wriggled past onlookers to a prime location.
A murmur of astonishment swept the crowd and Gigi rose with Berga, straining to see.
Berga pointed and started to giggle. “They’re funny looking. Those men have naked faces. They must get cold as girls in the wintertime.”
Gigi drew in her breath at the sight of Priscus Attalus and several other Romans. Although dressed in their finest senatorial regalia, they looked haggard and thin. Attalus was in the worst shape, his face ashen and pinched, the fringe of hair around his bald pate now snow-white. She could see the nubs of his shoulder bones poking up against his toga.
What was this about? She struggled through the mass of people, straining for a better spot. “Berga, you absolutely cannot say a word, no giggling, not one sound. Promise?”
“Promise,” Berga breathed in her tiniest voice, right next to Gigi’s ear.
“Good girl.”
Once at the front, Gigi stood in amazement. Behind the cluster of Roman senators came dozens of large wagons, each pulled by legionnaires and guarded by others marching three deep on both sides, and running the entire length of the convoy.
“ … all the worldly riches left to Rome,” Attalus was saying, his tone low and shaded with desperation. “They avail us not, since they cannot sustain life, so we give them freely, in exchange for a lifting of the siege. Rome asks you, noble King Alaric of the Visigoths, please, allow us to purchase our freedom, our very lives, but know that we ask this as citizens only, and do not speak for the Empire, since the Empire has chosen to ignore our plight.”
Do it, Alaric
, Gigi tried to force her thoughts into his.
Accept the offer.
“Tell me, Senator Attalus,” the king responded calmly, “what have you brought? All the riches of Rome, you say, but I have no need of statues and fancy paintings. You Romans owe me gold and land, and if I don’t receive my due, my men shall — ”
“What? Your men shall what?” Another senator, a tall, unfamiliar man with a hooked nose, stepped forward. “You forget,” he said, frowning, “that the people of Rome are well trained and ready to fight.”
Alaric laughed. “And I would remind you that handfuls of wheat are easier to cut than individual stalks. If you dare test us — and I would strongly advise against it! — then we shall have no choice; Visigoth scythes shall reap your Roman blades in one fell swoop.”
“Please, please, King Alaric,” Attalus said, raising his hands, “we have brought you all we have.”
“Bah!” Alaric exclaimed. “I will not give up the siege unless we get all of your gold and silver, as well as all worthy movable property and the barbarian slaves.”
“But, but,” the hook-nosed senator was stammering now, “what will you leave the citizens of Rome?”
The smile faded from Alaric’s face. “Their lives.”
A hush descended on the crowd, and Gigi held her breath.
Attalus broke the quiet. “Please, let me show you but a token of the wealth,” his hand shook as he motioned to his men, “and I will stay as surety, while you verify the contents of the wagons, if that is what you wish.”
Five trunks were placed at Alaric’s feet.
“The first ingots in this box are but a hint of what our wagons hold,” Attalus said, opening the lid of the nearest one. “There are five thousand
libres
of gold, plus thirty thousand
libres
of silver.”
Gigi gasped as excited chatter ran through the people watching, but Alaric’s sober expression never wavered.
Attalus opened the next two trunks. “Here are rare silks and spices out of Persia, the lands of the Indus and beyond. In total, four thousand costly tunics and chests filled with every delight of the Orient.” He drew a shimmering, red swath of fabric across his arm, his tremors now even more pronounced. “In every hue and texture, the silks will please your women, and so too, your men, while the spices will not only enhance food, they will also cure many ills and afflictions. I have brought you cinnamon, nutmeg — and pepper, over three thousand — ”
“Bah! Pepper?” Sergeric scoffed, pretending to sneeze as several of his friends laughed, clearly finding the senator’s anxiety highly amusing.
With sympathy, Gigi watched Attalus glance at Magnus, who showed no expression. Then she noticed Randegund glaring at the senator in disdain.
As if sensing her stare, Randegund turned and looked right at Gigi again. Another shiver raced down her spine, for the woman’s evil blue eyes seemed paler than before, her gaze colder and more deadly, if that were possible.
“You there,” Attalus’s voice rose up, and Gigi shifted her gaze, “show them what else we have brought.” The senator motioned to the legionnaires of the second and third wagons, who threw back their tarps, revealing heaps of skins and hides, most dyed scarlet.
“In addition to the fine crimson hides for everyday use, we also offer wonderful treasures from Egypt, Namibia, and Nubia: the furs of striped and spotted cats, crocodile hides, all exotic and very expensive,” Attalus went on as he held up a gleaming leopard skin. “Their patterns and colors are fantastical and beyond imagining. Use the leather for making boots and shoes, the fur for warmth and decoration.”
To Gigi’s relief this gift met with great approval, if the sounds of longing around her were any indication.
Attalus opened the fourth box. The senator took out a golden goblet sparkling with jewels and held it out to King Alaric. “A chalice fit for a king, my lord. We have much more here: gold and silver jewelry with gemstones of every size and color, Persian turquoise, and stings of pearls. It is all we have. We have even scraped the gold leaf off statues, columns, ornate carvings and lettering. As I told you … in all, five thousand
libres
of gold.”
There was little noise this time. Everyone looked tense as Alaric took the goblet and hefted it in his hand. Attalus lifted his chin and gazed at the other leaders, one by one, lastly at Magnus, before he opened the lid on the final box.
“As a token of goodwill, and a gesture to signify that, indeed, innocent Rome has laid herself bare before the steely determination of the Visigoths, and the callous indifference of our emperor in Ravenna, the Imperial Princess, Aelia Galla Placidia, has, as has all Rome, kept nothing for herself. In the most noble of gestures, she gladly hands over all she possesses, for, she said, ‘its value is as nothing, compared to the lives of my fellow Romans.’”
What was in the box? Gigi strained for a glimpse as Attalus pulled out an emerald-green silk gown with one hand, and held up an emerald and gold necklace with the other.
Gigi immediately recognized Placidia’s things from the night of the dinner. She glanced at Athaulf. He certainly did, too! A noise strangled in his throat, and he started toward Attalus, looking more shaken than angry, but Magnus moved forward and stopped him with a hand on his arm, then whispered something in his ear.
Randegund frowned at Athaulf, while Alaric and Verica looked amazed by his reaction.
Alaric stepped forward, still holding the goblet. “Senator Attalus, I thank you for your generous offerings. Please, take your ease.” He looked around and found Gigi, nodding to her. “Magnus’s wife will entertain you with her flute, and I shall call for some beer and food. For our part, we shall take leave of you, for we have much to discuss.”
As the people dispersed, Athaulf picked up Placidia’s box. “I will have no one meddling with anything inside!”
He stalked off to join the other leaders, while Gigi set down Berga, who scampered off to find the queen.
“Come, Senator Attalus,” Gigi said. “Come with me.”
• • •
The tent was crowded, already stifling from body heat and shared fervor. Magnus watched as Alaric picked up a skein and started to pour wine into the jewel-encrusted goblet.
“Alaric! No!” Randegund shouted.
Startled, Magnus, Alaric, and the others whirled about to face the old woman.
“Poison!” Her eyes were wide, ablaze with a fearsome blue light. “Do not drink from the goblet!”
Alaric shook his head. “Fear not, Mother. Senator Attalus does not seek to harm, and neither does Galla Placidia — ”
“But Honorius does,” Magnus interjected as he motioned for the goblet. “I would trust Attalus and Placidia with my life, but,” he took the cup and gazed at its interior, wondering if anything had been smeared on the gold, “but Randegund is correct. We must never forget Honorius’s arm has a long reach. If you will, I shall take the first drink.”
Randegund scowled at Magnus, but Alaric nodded.
Sweat trickled from Magnus’s forehead as he swirled the liquid, then put the goblet to his lips. He was glad Gigi wasn’t here, in case things went badly.
He took a sip and swallowed, tasting nothing but red, fruity wine.
Heart pounding, Magnus waited a long moment.
Everyone was silent, watching him, until Queen Verica chuckled. “He looks well, does he not — and he got the first drink! I would ask all here to swear an oath of silence regarding his selfless act, else his wife will be quite vexed, and none of us shall ever hear the end of it.”
She gave Magnus a smile, relief shining in her eyes. He handed the goblet back to Alaric.
The king grinned. “Magnus, I am indebted by your audacious act of courage.” He turned to Athaulf and his captains. “Any objections to Attalus’s offer?”
“I should think so!” Sergeric said as he stepped forward. “My lord, you know he lied. The Roman pigs,” he frowned at Magnus, “are holding back. This is
Rome
, after all. Their treasure hoard must be vast, much more than two score of wagons.”
Alaric turned to Magnus. “What say you to this, my friend?”
Magnus swallowed hard, his thoughts in turmoil, for he knew the truth. Scrambling for an answer, he opened his mouth to speak, but Athaulf stood and blurted, “Enough! There is enough treasure in the Roman wagons to buy us the whole north of Italia, if a homeland is what we truly seek. We should accept the offer and end the siege.”
Surprisingly, the group affirmed this with the banging of swords on shields, and even Verica nodded to Alaric. Only Sergeric scowled.
Alaric raised his hand. “No more discussion? This is it?” he asked. “Well then, I declare the siege over, and our next move shall be to the north. The noose is around Honorius’s neck now, so let us ride to Ravenna and draw it tight.” He turned to one of the sentries. “You there, go and fetch Attalus.”
As people began to file out of the tent, Magnus felt a touch on his sleeve and turned. Randegund stood there. “If the cup had been poisoned,” she said, “you would now be dead.”
He looked straight into her eyes. “Indeed, I would.”
“I thank you for protecting him,” she added and abruptly walked away.
There was something in the way she’d spoken, a spiteful edge in her tone, which made Magnus smile. He knew what it must have cost her, also knew he could not trust her, could never let down his guard.
She had not changed. She was his oldest enemy, and she would never forgive him for the loss of her husband, whom Magnus had fought beside in battle long ago. Although the death was not his fault, Randegund never wavered in her belief he had been negligent. Her hatred was all still there, despite her show of gratitude.
She was his enemy for life.
• • •
Gigi sat down across from Attalus as food and beer were placed before him, and he stared at the fare with longing. When he finally lifted his gaze to Gigi, he looked tormented.