Chapter 172 : The Agony of Death
"I must admit, I never knew you had such a fondness for women’s clothing."
I looked at Curio’s terrified face. From his expression, anyone would think he had just seen Death itself.
I didn’t think I looked that terrifying.
"I am truly sorry! I—I don’t know what else to say. Please, you must believe me."
Curio continued, stammering.
"Please forgive me. I committed a grave sin not only against you, but against your father as well."
"I think it’s a bit too late for apologies now."
I shrugged. Curio had been among the young nobles who assaulted citizens at night in my father’s name and mine.
I had offered them a choice after that incident.
They could apologize to the victims, compensate them, and volunteer to work on the construction of Nova Troia.
Even now, most of them were working at the construction site or helping customers at the bank.
Curio was one of the few who had rejected that offer.
But I had never intended to force the offer on them.
I had left the choice entirely to them.
That didn’t mean I could just let this recent incident slide, though.
Curio’s eyes darted around the carriage.
With my men surrounding the carriage, even Curio’s slaves were cowering.
"I caused you trouble before, and now I have allied myself with Clodius against you and your father. I don’t know how I could possibly apologize."
"If all you had done was publicly criticize my father and me, there would be no need to apologize."
He had done something far worse than that.
"You incited armed conflict in the Forum. Because of that, the Senate flew into a panic and demanded that the Final Decree be passed. If Father hadn’t intervened when he did, corpses would be floating down the Tiber by now."
"..."
Curio opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.
"I only wanted to pass the free grain law. That way, I could undermine your father’s One-Year Plan. But I never wanted a civil war to break out. That was entirely Clodius’s doing."
"Are you saying you added fuel to the fire and never expected it to spread?"
"..."
"First, tell me exactly what happened. I’ll decide what to do with you afterward."
I leaned against the side of the wagon and listened as Curio explained.
It roughly matched what I had expected.
The plan was simple: win over the poor with free grain, take control of the assembly, and meet any intervention by the Senate with force.
"Clodius was even trying to drag in the Gallic tribes and several allied cities. He was out of his mind."
"Gallic tribes and allied cities, you say?"
Now that was interesting information.
Was he trying to plunge Rome into chaos and ally himself with hostile Gallic tribes and disaffected cities?
What could Clodius possibly hope to gain from that?
"He believed that if the unrest spread far enough, the Senate would eventually be forced to negotiate. Then he could step forward as Rome’s savior, broker peace with its enemies, and..."
"Save Rome from the very crisis he had created."
That pretty much explained it.
So he intended to render the consuls and the Senate powerless, then use his control of the assembly to seize power in Rome.
Of course, it had all gone up in smoke now.
"But Clodius vanished the moment your father delivered his speech in the Forum. I have no idea where he ran off to!"
"That’s fine."
I flashed a gentle smile.
I wanted something else from Curio.
"Would you repeat everything you just told me before a court?"
"Court? Which court?"
"Isn’t it obvious? A trial of Clodius for conspiring against the Republic."
"But I can’t go back to Rome!"
Curio cried desperately.
"I’m a dead man if I go back now. My creditors will tear me apart!"
"You don’t need to worry about that. I will protect you until the trial is over."
"But after the trial is over..."
"Debts still have to be paid, don’t they? You weren’t planning to run away and leave all those debts behind, were you?"
Curio had refused the chance I gave him to compensate the citizens through public service.
But he no longer had the luxury of choice.
"I’m sure someone of your caliber will find a way. If you’d like, I could even provide you with a suitable job."
Curio trembled at my words. Trapped in a carriage in the middle of the night and dressed as a woman, he looked utterly miserable.
Who would have imagined that a scion of one of Rome’s most prestigious families would be reduced to this?
"But don’t we need Clodius in custody before we can put him on trial? It’s been days since he disappeared. He has probably already fled Italy. What good would my testimony do if the bastard isn’t even there?"
"I suppose so."
I nodded.
But I had no reason to worry about that.
"Who do you think controls the postal stations, couriers, and signal towers across Italy?"
"Don’t tell me..."
"Yes, exactly."
Countless couriers and a growing network of signal towers were now at my disposal.
I had been gradually strengthening this network ever since the attempted assassination of Pompey.
"I already know where Clodius is," I added. "The only thing left is to bring him to trial."
***
On the day Caesar delivered his speech in the Forum, Clodius slipped out of Rome with only a few slaves in tow.
"The grain law is as good as dead. There is no reason for me to remain in Rome."
He passed through the gates of Rome in disguise, unaware that Caesar’s men were following him.
They tracked Clodius from a distance and sent messages to the nearby signal towers.
[From CB to CZ: Target Two has left Rome and is traveling southwest along Route Four.]
[From CZ to CB: Message received. We will report as soon as Target Two is sighted.]
Postal couriers traveling along the road also kept watch for Clodius and his party.
Their reports passed from one relay station to the next, keeping Rome informed of Clodius’s every movement.
Of course, he could have moved through the woods to avoid the surveillance, but he would eventually have to return to the roads to obtain food, shelter in the towns along the way.
It did not take long for them to determine his destination.
"They are heading to the port of Ostia."
"He intends to leave Italy by sea. Inform the consul immediately."
Upon receiving the report, Caesar immediately ordered every ship in Ostia to remain in port.
The Final Decree of the Senate was still in effect.
By the time Clodius reached Ostia, he could no longer secure passage on any ship.
"We must continue by land, Master!"
"No matter how fast we move, we can’t outpace the signal towers. We have to get on a ship somehow."
Rather than risk traveling by land, Clodius hid in a warehouse near the harbor.
It was the very warehouse Mark Antony and his men were watching from across the street.
"He has been hiding in there all this time?"
"Yes, along with a few slaves. Only the slaves have come out a few times to buy food."
Antony stared at the building across the street.
For the past few days, Antony and his men had rented the building opposite the warehouse so they could keep watch.
Caesar had ordered them to keep Clodius under watch but not to raid the warehouse until testimony was secured.
They had obtained Curio’s testimony only the day before.
Now they could put Clodius on trial on charges of treason against the Republic.
Inside the building waited Antony’s men, two lictors, and several magistrates from Ostia.
"If he resists, wound him if you must, but take him alive."
"Understood!"
The men checked their ropes, shields, and swords. Antony tested the loop of his rope one last time.
Catching Clodius with the rope would be the easiest way to take him alive, though using it inside a cramped warehouse would be difficult.
"We’ll manage somehow."
Clodius would surely rather surrender than die in agony.
Just as Antony was about to issue another order, one of his men shouted.
"Look over there!"
"What in the—?"
Antony stared out the window.
Black smoke was billowing from the warehouse they were monitoring.
A moment later, flames erupted and began engulfing the building.
"Are they trying to escape...?"
"Follow me!"
Antony yelled as he sprinted down the stairs.
"We have to catch them before they get away!"
***
A few moments earlier, Clodius had been eating the bread his slaves had brought him.
"You still haven’t found a captain?"
"No, Master. None of the captains are willing to sail, no matter how much money we offer."
"So no one is willing to defy the ban. Caesar has already figured out that I’m in Ostia. That’s why he issued the ban so quickly."
Clodius clicked his tongue in irritation and tore off another piece of the dry bread.
His worst fear was becoming reality: Caesar had regained the initiative and was preparing to put him on trial.
He had left Rome as quickly as possible to avoid this exact situation, but in the end, he hadn’t escaped Caesar’s grasp.
"It won’t be easy to get to Massilia either," he muttered.
Massilia, in southern Gaul, was a long-standing ally of Rome and a haven for exiled politicians.
From there, he could continue influencing Roman politics without fear of prosecution or political retaliation.
"If the ships keep refusing to set sail, I’ll have to travel by land, but..."
Reaching Massilia by land while evading the postal couriers and signal towers would be nearly impossible.
Clodius’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps entering the warehouse.
Muscular men dressed in tunics walked into the warehouse.
"At last. What took you so long?"
At Clodius’s question, one of the men replied.
"It took us some time to find a captain willing to take you aboard and defy the ban. It appears Rome has already begun searching for you."
"They would not have sealed the harbor otherwise."
"Our master will see that you reach Massilia safely."
"He has my gratitude. I never expected him to continue helping me after my plan failed so completely."
Clodius chuckled as he stood up.
"Is he planning to use the Gallic tribes after all?"
"I cannot tell you that yet."
The man gave the others a slight nod.
"Please come with us. We will escort you to the docks."
Just as Clodius stepped forward to follow them, a searing pain exploded through his chest.
Blood immediately welled in his mouth and spilled over his lips.
"You son of a bitch..."
Clodius cursed as he looked down at the blade protruding from his chest.
Without the slightest change in expression, the man twisted the blade deeper into Clodius’s chest.
"I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you’ll have to die here."
It wasn’t just Clodius. The other men had fallen upon Clodius’s slaves as well, cutting them down one after another.
The moment the man yanked the sword free and drew it back for another thrust, Clodius whirled around and caught the blade in his bare hand.
Bright red blood ran down the blade as its edge sliced one of his fingers clean off.
Clodius dropped to one side, narrowly avoiding the next slash.
As he fell, he drew a dagger from his belt and drove it into the man’s ankle.
When the man buckled with a groan, Clodius drove the dagger into his throat.
Clodius staggered back to his feet and watched the remaining men close in.
One of the men was already pouring oil across the floor near the door.
Their plan was clearly to kill Clodius and his slaves, then burn the entire warehouse down.
Clodius kicked over an oil lamp, sending the flame tumbling into the pool of oil.
The flames spread in an instant, engulfing the man who was pouring the oil.
Screams echoed through the warehouse as the flames raced across the floor.
Clodius gripped the dagger in his maimed hand. He glared at the startled men and let out a mocking laugh.
"Come, then. Who’s next?"