The Racing Factions (2 page)

‘A very good afternoon for the first nine races, Ignatius, you took forty-five in silver off us; a pity about the last race though. Give him the receipt, Sextus.’

Ignatius leaned forward and took the proffered piece of wood bearing his signature along with the number of the bet. ‘Two hundred and eleven.’ Taking up a wax tablet from the top of a pile, he scanned it quickly, raising his pronounced eyebrows and tutted. ‘It seems I owe you money.’

‘It does look that way.’

Ignatius pulled out a heavy-looking strong-box from under the desk. ‘I’d better pay it then, although I don’t understand why you came all the way up here for such a trifling amount when you could have saved yourself the trouble and had one of my slaves pay it out.’

‘Yeah, very funny, Ignatius; that’s going to be your biggest payout today. Now get on with it.’

Ignatius shrugged and unlocked the box; he scooped out a large double handful of silver denarii and began to count them out into stacks of ten. When he had completed four and a half such piles he stopped and pushed them across the desk, toppling them with a metallic clatter.

‘That’s our business completed, I believe.’

‘I may not be able to read, Ignatius, but I can certainly count, and that is nowhere near two hundred denarii plus our original twenty-five stake.’

‘You’re absolutely right, my friend; that’s forty denarii and your original five stake.’

‘We put down twenty-five. Sextus, tell him, you laid the bet.’

Sextus nodded slowly at the memory. ‘Yeah, Magnus, the slave was a young lad with curly black hair; I gave him twenty-five in silver on the Green’s first chariot at eight to one.’

‘Well, my friends, I’ve written down on my ledger: bet two hundred and eleven, Sextus, five denarii, Green first to win, eight to one.’ He picked another tablet up from a different pile and proffered it to Magnus. ‘And this is the slave’s record of all the bets he took on the last race; it says exactly the same thing, but I suppose it’s a waste of time showing it to you gentleman as it probably just looks like a collection of squiggles to you.’

Magnus knocked the tablet away and jabbed his forefinger towards the bookmaker’s face. ‘Listen, Ignatius, I don’t give a fuck about what you wrote down; we made a bet and expect it to be honoured.’

Ignatius remained unruffled; he added another five denarii to the fifth pile. ‘Take the money I owe you plus, as gesture of goodwill, an extra five so that we’re completely even on the day’s transactions as I’ve recorded them; in fact, I’ll even make it easy for you.’ He scooped back the fifty denarii. ‘You can have it in gold.’ He smiled, coldly and without mirth, in a take-it-or-leave-it manner and placed two golden
aurei
on the desk with a couple of hollow clacks. ‘And now piss off before I’m forced to have my lads break open your skulls.’

Magnus tensed, as if he was about to leap over the desk, and felt a heavy hand clamp on to each shoulder.

‘I wouldn’t, mate,’ a voice growled in his ear as the other two guards squared up to Sextus and Marius.

Magnus’ eyes locked with those of Ignatius; he breathed deeply, suppressing the urge to explode into foolhardy action. After a few moments, feeling an icy calm settle on him, he shook himself free from the restraining hands, looked with menace at their owners and then scooped up the two aurei. ‘We’re not even, Ignatius, not by a long way. I now owe you and I pay my debts. Always.’ With a final glare at Ignatius, he pushed past the heavies and walked calmly away.

‘What are you going to do, brother?’ Marius asked, catching Magnus up.

‘Go back down and find that slave.’

‘I swear to you, master,’ the young slave pleaded through gritted teeth, ‘I wrote down twenty-five denarii.’

‘And you gave Ignatius all the money?’ Magnus pulled back the lad’s thumb even further as Sextus, looking puzzled, sat with a massive arm around him as if they were having a friendly chat. Marius stood right in front of the group to block the view of the slave’s pained face, but no one in the crowd was taking any notice; their attention was held by the twelve chariots in the second-to-last race parading around the track.

‘Yes, master. Ignatius blinded the last slave he caught cheating him.’

Magnus increased the pressure. ‘So why do you think that he wrote down five instead of twenty-five?’

‘I don’t know, master, but it’s happened before when he’s stood to lose a lot of money with a big bet.’

‘Has it now? And what about your records?’

The slave’s face screwed up even further. ‘They’re written on wax, master, the two Xs can be scraped clean leaving just the V.’

‘What’s your name, boy?’

‘Menes, master.’

Magnus released his grip. ‘If you know what’s good for you, Menes, you won’t mention our little chat to Ignatius. Now piss off.’

Menes scuttled away and disappeared into the crowd.

Sextus frowned. ‘So did we get the right money or not, Magnus? I mean, can I still have a couple of whores tonight?’

‘No, brother, we did not, but we will; and until we do you’ll just have to make do with one.’

‘Do you think the slave’s lying?’ Marius asked, sitting in Menes’ place.

‘No, brother; I think that Ignatius’ dishonesty means that he has just unwittingly declared war on the South Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood.’

‘That’s very foolish of him.’

‘Very.’ Magnus stood. ‘Come on, lads, we don’t want to be late for our senator.’

‘Magnus, my friend, I trust you’ve had luck?’ Senator Gaius Vespasius Pollo boomed, waddling down the steps from the senators’ enclosure in a flurry of wobbling belly, jowls and chins.

‘Quite the opposite, senator.’ Magnus took up his position in front of his patron, the man to whom he owed his life, with his brothers at either shoulder, ready to beat a path for him through the departing race-goers disgorging into the urine-scented, cavernous belly of the Circus Maximus.

‘That’s what comes of just betting on your beloved Greens without paying any attention to form.’

‘Once a Green, always a Green, sir.’

Gaius’ full, moist lips broke into a grin as he pushed away a carefully tonged curl of hair from his eye. ‘I find it much better to have no such affiliations; it gives me far more room for manoeuvre and a better chance of backing the winning team. That, of course, goes for politics as well as racing.’

‘I admire your lack of loyalty, sir.’ Magnus shoved a slow-moving, old man out of the way as they emerged through an arch into the Forum Boarium where the four Racing Factions had their race-day camps; horses and wagonloads of chariots trailed out, heading back to their permanent bases on the Campus Martius, north of the city. The fading, late-afternoon light washed the grand marble buildings on the Palatine above them with a warm glow, despite the dropping temperature.

‘I reserve my loyalty for family, patrons and my clients, such as yourself; it’s generally wasted elsewhere.’

‘Except on the Greens.’

Gaius laughed. ‘Have it your own way, Magnus. If it makes you happy to lose your money needlessly, who am I to dissuade you? In the meantime, I have a favour to ask.’

Magnus stopped for a few moments, giving way to a party of higher status. ‘Of course, patronus.’

Gaius nodded at the passing senator, one of this year’s praetors, preceded by his fasces-bearing lictors. ‘As you know, my eldest nephew, Sabinus, has failed for the last two years to get elected as a quaestor; obviously I can’t allow that state of affairs to continue.’

‘Indeed not.’

‘I have to make sure that he gets in this time because next year his younger brother, your friend Vespasian, will be old enough to stand and I certainly won’t be able to afford two sets of bribes; not to mention the friction it’ll cause in their already strained relationship.’

‘Surely your patron, the Lady Antonia, could help; the support of the Emperor Tiberius’ sister-in-law for Sabinus would be invaluable.’

‘I’m nervous about asking her to involve herself in matters, like quaestor elections, so far beneath her.’

‘She involves herself with some matters way beneath her.’

Gaius chuckled. ‘She’s always loved a boxer; is she still demanding your services?’

Magnus grunted. ‘Yeah, well, now and again I get a summons.’

‘I’ve made an appointment to see her tomorrow morning concerning another issue and I wouldn’t want to make two requests of her at the same time; you know how demanding her reciprocal favours can be.’

‘I do – at first hand, as it were.’

‘So I have to look elsewhere for support for Sabinus and that’s where I’ll need your particular skills.’

‘I assume, therefore, that pressure needs to be applied or an incentive offered, if you take my meaning?’

‘I do indeed; but in this case pressure would be risky.’

‘So you have someone in mind?’

‘I think it would help if the Senior Consul publically supported Sabinus.’

‘Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus?’ Magnus turned in horror to Gaius. ‘You must be mad, begging your pardon, to think about influencing him, sir, he’s a monster.’

‘He is.’

‘He pulled an
eques’
eye out in the forum just because he criticised him.’

‘And only last month he purposely ran over, with his quadriga, a small boy playing on the Via Appia. What better person to support Sabinus? If Ahenobarbus backs him a lot of other people will vote for him too, to keep on the right side of the monster.’

Magnus looked dubious as Marius and Sextus, either side of him, used their strong arms to ease their way through the crush. ‘Why don’t you just bribe him?’

‘I will, and handsomely so; but everyone else is too. He’s taking money from all the candidates and will end up supporting the one who pays him most. The trouble is I don’t know whether my bribe will be enough and I can’t afford to increase it; somehow it needs to be supplemented.’

‘So you want me to ease him in the right direction.’

‘Exactly, but without him realising that I’m behind it as I fully intend to have both my eyes still in place once Sabinus is elected quaestor.’

‘And how do you think I can manage that?’

‘I’ve no wish to know, Magnus my loyal friend; but you’ve served me well before and I’ve complete trust in your ability to solve even the most delicate of problems.’

The ceaseless night-time clatter and rumble of delivery carts – banished from Rome’s packed streets during the day – had begun in earnest by the time Magnus and his companions reached the tavern, at the junction of the Vicus Longus and the Alta Semita, that served as the headquarters of the South Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood. Magnus checked the flame on the altar of the Crossroads Lares – the deities of the neighbourhood – the upkeep of which was the original purpose of the formation of the many such brotherhoods in Rome; satisfied with it, he patted the brother guarding it on the shoulder and stepped through the door into the fug of the crowded tavern.

‘A legionary back on leave called in to see you,’ an old man with gnarled hands informed him, looking up from a scroll on the wine-stained table before him.

‘Did he leave a name, Servius?’

‘Just the one: Lucius. He said that you’d remember him from Thracia and Moesia a couple of years ago; he’s serving with the Fourth Scythica.’

Magnus looked at his aged counsellor and second in command, recalling the name for a couple of moments, and then smiled. ‘Lucius? Yeah, I remember him; Vespasian saved him from execution in Thracia; he owes him big. He used to work as a stable lad for the Greens before he joined up; he’s still got contacts there, promised me a few tips.’

‘He’s going to be at the Greens’ stables on the Campus Martius from noon tomorrow; he said you should drop by, he’d give you the tour that he promised when he last saw you.’

‘Did he now? I may well take him up on that, it’d take my mind off a couple of problems we’ve got; come through to the back room, we need to talk.’

‘Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus!’ Servius exclaimed as Magnus finished talking; his gaunt, lined face appeared waxen in the light of a single oil lamp. ‘He’s a monster; no one in their right mind would meddle in his affairs.’

Magnus poured them both a cup of wine from the jug on the table between them. ‘That’s what I said, but the senator needs him to back Sabinus.’

‘I suppose Sabinus getting elected and taking a seat in the senate could be useful for us.’

‘Possibly; and then his younger brother, Vespasian, will follow him and we’ll have three tame senators to call upon should we run into difficulties with the authorities; but Sabinus first.’

‘If we can get Ahenobarbus to support him.’

‘Which is a big “if”, brother. So what do you know about him?’

‘Apart from the fact that, just like all his ancestors, he’s violent, cruel and arrogant?’

Magnus waved a dismissive hand. ‘I know all that.’

‘He’s very greedy; he hoards money and hates giving it away. When he was a praetor he used to refuse to hand over the prize money to charioteers in the games he sponsored; he found it bad enough being forced to put on the games without having the extra expense of rewarding the winners. It’s ironic really because he loves chariot-racing; he attends every race and is a fanatical supporter of the Reds. All his family are because their beards grow that colour.’

‘I fucking loathe the Reds almost as much as I do the Blues.’

‘I know, don’t we all? But the Whites loathe them even more than we do.’

‘I ain’t that keen on the Whites either. What else?’

‘He’s married but doesn’t have children.’

‘Likes it rough the other way?’

‘Likes it rough any way. He married his wife four years ago when she was just thirteen; apparently every time she’s been seen in public since she’s had bruises all over her face and arms.’

‘He sounds lovely.’

‘Oh, he is, believe me.’

‘So how do we get to him?’

‘We’ve got time to think; the elections aren’t for another few months. What was the other problem? You said there were two.’

‘Ah, yes; Ignatius.’ Magnus downed his wine and related the events of the afternoon.

‘What are you thinking of doing?’ Servius asked, having heard the story without a flicker of emotion.