Call to Juno (Tales of Ancient Rome #3)(121)

Hathli was strong enough to lift Arnth onto her hip. Tas clasped Perca’s hand. “I’ll show you the way.”

The party of women and children ran along the colonnade alongside the terrace, winding through narrow corridors until they reached the steps leading down to the storage complex.

The air was cooler underground, shafts of light piercing the gloom at intervals through small light wells cut into the passage walls. With its huge half-sunken pithoi, the cellar was eerie. There was a ripe smell of hops and a dusty smell of grain. Most of the vessels were now filled to the brim. Semni closed the door behind them.

The Medusa’s glare was hidden by two crossed planks of wood nailed into the terra-cotta cover. Semni gulped. She’d forgotten the portal had been blocked.

Hathli noticed her hesitation as she lowered Arnth to the floor. “Is that the entrance?”

Larce let go of Semni’s hand and ran to the hatch. “It’s locked!”

Tas was studying the gorgon, too. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t used the tunnel, it would still be open.”

Nerie was whimpering again. Semni jiggled him on her hip. She scanned the storeroom, searching for something to force off the slats. There was an iron bar on the side bench used to lever open the stoppers of the pithoi. She eased Nerie to the ground and tried to lift one. It was too heavy for her. Nerie dogged her steps, crying to be cuddled again.

Hathli, farm bred, hefted the bar and wedged the end under one of the boards. It would not shift. “We need a man.”

Semni tried to calm herself. She couldn’t believe they were only the width of two pieces of timber from safety. “I’m going to find Arruns.”

“It’s too dangerous,” said Perca. “He could be anywhere.”

“He might be in the stables.”

Hathli placed her hand on Semni’s arm. “You’ll be swept along in the crush of those trying to flee outside. The Romans may already be in the side streets.”

“But they’ll find us in this cellar if they look hard enough!” said Perca.

Indecision paralyzed Semni at the thought of leaving Nerie. And yet they were trapped if she didn’t find Arruns. She surveyed the stricken faces of the three boys. “Ssh, Perca, you’re scaring the children. And Arruns will be trying to reach us, too. I know him.” She kissed Nerie, prizing his fingers away to hand him to Hathli.

Semni headed to the corridor to the service lane. Servants were crowded in the warren. The enemy was starting to infiltrate the inner bowels of the palace. If she did not locate Arruns fast, she would be cut off from the children.

When she reached the exit, she stood to the side to let the crush of fugitives spew into the street. She smelled smoke. Curls of it spiraled into the air. The shrieking in the palace was nothing compared to the frenzied screams outside. She glanced down the road to the forum. She didn’t think her heart could beat any harder or faster. It hurt to breathe. The square was teeming with Roman hoplites.

She turned the opposite way to the stables. She could hear the horses whinnying in alarm. Two grooms rushed past her.

A hand gripped her shoulder. She jumped in fright, then closed her eyes, expecting the slice of a blade or to be pushed to the ground and raped. Instead she heard Arruns’s urgent voice as he pulled her around and hugged her. “Thank the gods!”

Before she could reply, he yanked her into the stable and closed the doors. “Where are Nerie and the princes?”

“They’re hiding in the pithoi cellar. With Perca and Hathli.”

He glanced in the direction of the temple. “The king and queen . . . the sanctuary must be overrun by now.”

“It’s your family who must come first. And the princes.”

“Don’t you think I’ve wanted to search for you? I couldn’t make any headway through the service door with all those people blocking it.”

A fresh wave of screaming distracted them. Semni peered through the crack between the stable doors. Romans were disgorging from the service exit, hacking at the Veientanes choking the street. A woman screamed over and over. Each shriek higher in pitch, jarring Semni’s nerves. She cowered beside Arruns. “What are we going to do? How are we going to get back to Nerie?”

Arruns rose. “The delivery chute. We can reach it through the yard.”

He flung open the stable doors, then ran back along the stalls, unlatching each gate and standing back to allow the panicked horses to escape. Then he held Semni close, protecting her from being trampled as he let the animals gallop into the lane to add to the mayhem. “They’ll be a distraction as we cross the yard.”

Her fear enabled her to keep pace with him as they raced to the chute in the palace wall. Semni peered into the service area below. She could hear Roman voices talking to each other, then moving off. “They’re searching the storerooms!”

Arruns drew his dagger from his sheath. “We’ve surprise on our side. Follow me.” He ducked his head as he crouched and ran down the ramp. Semni scurried down the incline, too.

“Stay close,” he whispered. “Keep your back to the wall until you get a chance to run to the cellar.”

They edged into the corridor. Semni gasped when she saw a Roman striding toward them. He halted in surprise. Arruns attacked before the soldier could raise his sword, thumping into him and knocking him to the ground. Then he drove his dagger into the man’s gullet. Blood spouted from the sliced artery. Semni shuddered when she felt the warmth of the fluid hit her arm. The speed of the attack was as shocking as the expertise of her husband at killing. Arruns’s face was spattered, but he remained impassive, flicking the blood away from his eyes. He gestured her to continue. She took a deep breath and forced herself onward, almost treading on his heels in her efforts to remain near him.