A huge, booming peal of thunder jolted the mountainside, so overwhelming that I could not tell if I was struck by the spear or not. I huddled, hands over my head. A moment later a hand touched my shoulder. I looked up. Distant lightning cast a pale, flickering light across the smiling face of Catilina.

'Gordianus! You look a fright,' he said gently. 'Come in out of the rain.'

On the other side of the wall that had been built to keep out goats and children, the interior of the mine was dark. A small fire had been kindled, but most of its light seemed to be swallowed up by jealous shadows. This was their kingdom, and the light was an intruder.

Catilina crouched and warmed his hands over the flames. 'Fortunately, we were able to find some scraps of wood. When we run out, I wouldn't advise pulling down any supports for firewood, though; the roof might fall in on us. The smoke presents no problem — whoever built the mine was smart enough to drill narrow shafts for ventilation. Crassus was a fool to pass up this property. I told him it was well worth the investment. But he said he'd dealt with this branch of the Claudii before and didn't care to deal with them ever again.' He stared into the flames. 'Well, what more is there to say about Crassus? He has abandoned me now.'

'Look, Lucius, they've brought bread,' said Tongilius, crouching down beside him. 'And apples — we can spit them and roast them over the fire for something hot to eat! And a roll of blankets. The inner ones are almost dry.'

The others in Catilina's party hung back in the shadows. Some were men I had seen before, when they had stayed in my stable overnight. Others were strangers. Some appeared to doze, while the open eyes of their companions glinted in the firelight. They looked older than

Meto, but considerably younger than Catilina or myself. All were heavily armed. They took turns keeping watch outside the mine.

'I don't think you're in any danger of being discovered, at least not tonight,' I said. 'No goatherds are out on a night like this, and the men who pursued you from Rome are gone. After they ransacked my house looking for you, they moved on, heading north.'

'Unless they followed you here,' said Catilina. There was no accusation or suspicion in his voice, only a pragmatic shrug. 'I haven't come this far to be slain in a hole by Cicero's bodyguards, not if I can help it. As long as we're here, we'll keep watch.'

Tongilius handed him an apple spitted on a spear. Catilina smiled. 'Food! Blankets! Did you bring a tub of hot water with you as well?'

‘Would you believe that I forgot?'

'By Hercules, too bad! How delicious it would be on such a night to settle down into a steaming tub with you and while away the hours till dawn.'

Meto brightened. 'We could go back to the house—' I stiffened. Catilina noticed and shook his head. "That would be neither practical nor safe, Meto. Too dangerous for you and your family. Too dangerous for me, as well. No, I think I can never go back to your house now, not until this crisis is settled. I wonder how they knew to look for me there? Do you think Marcus Caelius betrayed me?'

He saw the look on my face, then looked at Meto, whose guilty expression was even more pronounced. Catilina pursed his lips and a shadow of doubt crossed his face. 'It was Caelius, then. It must have been. But you didn't betray me to the men pursuing me; you guessed that I was here, but you didn't tell. Did you?' He looked uneasily towards the mouth of the mine.

'No, Catilina. We came here in secret.'

He sighed and studied the flames that danced beneath his spitted apple. 'Forgive me. These last few days have dealt me quite a blow. Men whom I thought my friends have turned their backs on me. Men whom I never thought to fear have wished me dead to my face. Cicero! May his eyes rot!'

'May his tongue turn black!' said Tongilius, with a vehemence I had never seen in him before. He picked up one of the apples and hurled it against a nearby wall, where it exploded against the stone.

'His tongue is already black,' said Catilina, 'as we know from having heard the offal that flowed from his mouth today.'

'Then let it be eaten by worms!' shouted Tongilius, who clenched his fists and began to pace. There was not room enough for his anger; after a moment he went to the wall and pulled himself over with a single bound.

'The rain will cool him off,' said Catilina, whose eyes had never left the fire.

'My son Eco was here a few days ago,' I said. 'He told me that you were under voluntary house arrest, pending charges under the Plautian Law. Why have you left Rome? What has happened?'

Catilina raised his eyes from the fire. By some trick of the flames his face appeared to be both amused and grim. 'The world has come apart at its seams and is quickly unravelling.'

'Another riddle?'

'No. For you, Gordianus, I shall bite my tongue and speak without devices. Your son Eco told you that I was under house arrest. What else did he tell you?'

"That Cicero persuaded the Senate to pass something called the Extreme Decree in Defence of the State.'

'Yes, the same tool their grandfathers used to get rid of Gaius Gracchus. I suppose I should be flattered. Of course, every bit of evidence that Cicero put forward was fabricated.'

'How?'

'He told them that I planned to massacre half the Senate on the twenty-eighth day of October. For proof he brought forth anonymous letters that had been received by certain parties warning them to flee the city. What sort of proof is that? Do you know who I think wrote those letters? Cicero's oh-so-clever secretary, Tiro, taking dictation from his master. The vile little toad.'

'Speak no ill of Tiro to me, Catilina. I have fond memories of him, from the days when he helped me investigate the case of Sextus Roscius.'

'That was years ago! Since then he's grown as corrupt as his master. Slaves follow the course of the man who owns them, you know that'

'Never mind; you say the letters originated with Cicero himself' 'Do you think I wrote them? Or some hand-wringer among my supporters, wanting to secretly alert a few friends before I set loose a bloodbath? Nonsense! The whole concoction was devised by Cicero for two purposes: to create hysteria and fear among the senators, who are always ready to believe someone is out to murder them — as they should rightly fear — and to test those who received the anonymous letters. Crassus was among them. I had thought I could count on him — if not on his overt support, then at least on his discretion — but when presented with the opportunity to turn his back on me he took it. To keep himself out of trouble, to separate his fortunes from mine, he went directly to Cicero to report the warning in the letter. Surely he must have known it came from the consul himself! What a farce, the two of them playacting for the benefit of the Senate! How could a man as proud as Crassus allow Cicero to manipulate him in such a manner? Don't worry, he'll take his revenge on the New Man from Arpinum in his own way, sooner or later.

'To keep the senators in a state of hysteria, Cicero made more shocking revelations, all based on his supposedly infallible network of spies and informers. First he claimed that on a particular day — the twenty-seventh day of October — my colleague Manlius would take up arms in Faesulae. What of it? Manlius has been training the Sullan veterans for months, and there's nothing illegal in that. But sure enough, on the very day that Cicero had predicted, one of the senators reads aloud a letter that he's received, saying that Manlius and his soldiers have taken up arms and begun to fight To fight whom, where? It's all nonsense, but Cicero nods sagely and the senators swallow hard. He predicted it, and it came true. The letter proves it. A letter, do you see? Another piece of Tiro's handiwork, taking dictation straight from Cicero's lips.