Chapter 21.

Barbara knelt at Nero's feet, watching him carefully as he chewed his way through a bunch of grapes and listened to the latest report on the burning of Rome.

"Seven districts are still ablaze, majesty," one man reported, "Several others are badly damaged but the fires are contained."

"How sad," Nero said with a complete lack of sincerity, "We shall have to rebuild those districts, and the others may very well be so damaged that they will have to be pulled down and rebuilt as well. Is there any indication of how the fires started?"

Hypocrite! Barbara thought silently, how can you sit there and make disingenuous, contrite comments when you know full well how the fires started. She watched carefully and noted the face of the speaker as he reported. He knew full well how the fires were started, but he had to fulfil protocol and play innocent.

"I do not know for certain, your majesty, but there are reports that some members of the sect who follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth were involved."

"Really?" Nero purred like a cat that had just been given the keys to the dairy, "The Christians? How utterly frightful, we must do something about that." He reached down for his cup and Barbara made sure it was both full and where his hand would come in easy contact with it. He grasped it and lifted it without taking his eyes off the messenger. "I want you to keep a close eye on our Christian friends, report on their movement as soon as you can. You may go."

The messenger left and Barbara rose to fetch the fruit platter. Nero caught her wrist and pulled her close, wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Such happenings," he sighed, leaning his head against her hip, "It's perfectly dreadful. Rub my shoulders, my dear."

Barbara did as he asked, wishing that she could wrap her fingers around his podgy neck and squeeze the life out. Instead she dug her fingers in hard enough to bruise most people. Nero only sighed with pleasure.

A few minutes later he took her hand again and drew her around to the front. "I will go for my bath now. I expect you to serve me at table tonight, and maybe you will see to my comfort this evening, hmm?" He smiled lasciviously, probably in a way he thought was attractive.

"My lord, I will see to your comfort, but no more than that," Barbara said, fishing for any information about Ian. Did he know he was gone? Had Nero made Ian vanish? Did he know she knew he was gone? There were so many questions and no answers and she was getting tired of dancing around him.

"Well, I must be grateful for what I have, then," he said playfully, his mood light. "I will see you this evening. Don't be late!"

Barbara bowed and left in a slow, stately walk. Once she was beyond his sight she ran for the poisoners old den, where she had arranged to meet Tavius. She had been gob smacked by what they had told her. She knew from her own studies in history that Nero had been forced, by the senate, to commit suicide, but that wouldn't be for a few years yet, so any plan that these would-be assassins came up with was doomed to fail. The last thing that she wanted was to become involved with any of these hopeless attempts.

"Nero is well guarded and very wary," she had said, trying to dissuade these men from their course. She also knew from her studies that within the next year or two Nero would start seeing conspiracies everywhere and many who were close to the throne would die at his instigation, "It would be very difficult to get anyone close enough."

"I thought for a time that we had succeeded," Tavius said, "But our agent failed and now he has vanished."

"Your agent?" Barbara asked, "I saw no evidence of an assassin in the palace."

"Hmm," Tavius agreed, "He did seem surprisingly reluctant to carry out his task, despite ample opportunity. But we are getting away from the issue of you and Ian."

"Where do you think he might have been taken?" Barbara asked, "And by whom?"

"We shall find out soon enough," Caius said, "For now, you must stay close to Nero, learn what you can and be ever wary of his moods."

"That I certainly shall be," Barbara agreed.

Now she was to meet them again and see if they had any news for her. Tavius was there alone when she arrived.

"How is Nero today?"

"Happy," Barbara said, "He is busy planning his new city even before the fires have been put out. He loves every moment of the chaos he has caused. He is trying to blame the Christians for the fire, too."

"I fear his madness is spreading, we shall have to act soon before he destroys us all. Barbara," Tavius said seriously, stepping close and lowering his voice, "You are close to Nero, he trusts you."

"He only trusts me because he has, or at least had, Ian." She didn't like the way this conversation was going.

"He takes his cup from you and only you, after it has been tasted, of course. You are in a unique position."

"Tavius, I know where this is leading, and I'm sorry, but I cannot help you. I think I know what you want of ask of me, and the answer has to be no."

"What do you think I am asking of you?"

"You want me to poison Nero for you," Barbara said, wondering if she had just signed her own death warrant. How would Tavius react to her refusal? She couldn't help herself, she had to try to tamper with history, otherwise her friends, people she had come to care about, would die and it would be her fault. "I beg you, Tavius, don't try to kill Nero, not yet. He is dangerous and paranoid and only going to get worse. If you try to kill him he will find and you will pay the price. Wait a little while, the people, the senate will tire of his soon enough, and you have seen what becomes of emperors the senate no long considers useful."

"My dear girl, have you seen how the city burns? People are dying in the streets because of his madness, he must be stopped. If he is not many more will die. If he is already trying to lay the blame for the fire on the Christians there will be a riot and hundreds more will die." Tavius said. "We have an opportunity here and now, and it would be foolish not to take it."

Barbara swallowed against the lump in her throat. Tavius was bent on destruction, either Nero's or his own, and there was little she could do to stop him. She had seen such zealous fervour before and it almost always ended badly. She wanted to blurt out what she knew of history, but she had learned how difficult it was to make even the slightest difference. "Then do not include me in your plans. All I want is to find Ian and find a way home, I don't want to become mixed up in politics."

Tavius nodded, "I understand. I wish I could persuade you otherwise, but I have learned over the years not to try to change the mind of a determined lady. Does he know Ian is gone?"

"If he does he isn't letting on. If he does know he is a better actor than I would give him credit for, he is acting as though nothing is different. He invited me into his bed tonight and I rebuffed, but he didn't try to force me. If he knows he no longer has a hold over me why is he playing so cool? I would have thought he would bluster and bellow rather than try charm."

"We have tried very hard to keep Ian's disappearance a secret until we know more. We still don't know if someone took him, or Nero had him killed."

Barbara sat down abruptly. She had tried not to think of that possibility. The implications were more complex than she wanted to contemplate. "I pray to God that's not true."

"So do I, my child, so do I."

Any further conversation was interrupted by Caius, Marcus and Anthea stepping into the room. Barbara and Tavius stood up to receive them.

"A farm cart left around midnight," Anthea reported.

"The guard on duty said he was replaced at midnight, as expected," Marcus added, "But he didn't know his replacement."

"There was no guard on the door this morning," Caius said, "That must have been when they took him."

"Where did the cart go?" Barbara asked.

"No one seems to know," Anthea said, "Supply carts come and go all the time."

"Surely there must be quartermaster or someone who keeps track of them."

"Late at night the quartermaster is in his bed and the job falls to one of his assistants, and they have been known to be lax in the duties."

"Then how do we find him?" Barbara asked.

"Intuition, my dear girl," a new voice was added to the conversation, "Intuition."