After the Fall(19)
“Please, please, King Alaric,” Attalus said, raising his hands, “we have brought you all we have.”
“Bah!” Alaric exclaimed. “I will not give up the siege unless we get all of your gold and silver, as well as all worthy movable property and the barbarian slaves.”
“But, but,” the hook-nosed senator was stammering now, “what will you leave the citizens of Rome?”
The smile faded from Alaric’s face. “Their lives.”
A hush descended on the crowd, and Gigi held her breath.
Attalus broke the quiet. “Please, let me show you but a token of the wealth,” his hand shook as he motioned to his men, “and I will stay as surety, while you verify the contents of the wagons, if that is what you wish.”
Five trunks were placed at Alaric’s feet.
“The first ingots in this box are but a hint of what our wagons hold,” Attalus said, opening the lid of the nearest one. “There are five thousand libres of gold, plus thirty thousand libres of silver.”
Gigi gasped as excited chatter ran through the people watching, but Alaric’s sober expression never wavered.
Attalus opened the next two trunks. “Here are rare silks and spices out of Persia, the lands of the Indus and beyond. In total, four thousand costly tunics and chests filled with every delight of the Orient.” He drew a shimmering, red swath of fabric across his arm, his tremors now even more pronounced. “In every hue and texture, the silks will please your women, and so too, your men, while the spices will not only enhance food, they will also cure many ills and afflictions. I have brought you cinnamon, nutmeg — and pepper, over three thousand — ”
“Bah! Pepper?” Sergeric scoffed, pretending to sneeze as several of his friends laughed, clearly finding the senator’s anxiety highly amusing.
With sympathy, Gigi watched Attalus glance at Magnus, who showed no expression. Then she noticed Randegund glaring at the senator in disdain.
As if sensing her stare, Randegund turned and looked right at Gigi again. Another shiver raced down her spine, for the woman’s evil blue eyes seemed paler than before, her gaze colder and more deadly, if that were possible.
“You there,” Attalus’s voice rose up, and Gigi shifted her gaze, “show them what else we have brought.” The senator motioned to the legionnaires of the second and third wagons, who threw back their tarps, revealing heaps of skins and hides, most dyed scarlet.
“In addition to the fine crimson hides for everyday use, we also offer wonderful treasures from Egypt, Namibia, and Nubia: the furs of striped and spotted cats, crocodile hides, all exotic and very expensive,” Attalus went on as he held up a gleaming leopard skin. “Their patterns and colors are fantastical and beyond imagining. Use the leather for making boots and shoes, the fur for warmth and decoration.”
To Gigi’s relief this gift met with great approval, if the sounds of longing around her were any indication.
Attalus opened the fourth box. The senator took out a golden goblet sparkling with jewels and held it out to King Alaric. “A chalice fit for a king, my lord. We have much more here: gold and silver jewelry with gemstones of every size and color, Persian turquoise, and stings of pearls. It is all we have. We have even scraped the gold leaf off statues, columns, ornate carvings and lettering. As I told you … in all, five thousand libres of gold.”
There was little noise this time. Everyone looked tense as Alaric took the goblet and hefted it in his hand. Attalus lifted his chin and gazed at the other leaders, one by one, lastly at Magnus, before he opened the lid on the final box.
“As a token of goodwill, and a gesture to signify that, indeed, innocent Rome has laid herself bare before the steely determination of the Visigoths, and the callous indifference of our emperor in Ravenna, the Imperial Princess, Aelia Galla Placidia, has, as has all Rome, kept nothing for herself. In the most noble of gestures, she gladly hands over all she possesses, for, she said, ‘its value is as nothing, compared to the lives of my fellow Romans.’”
What was in the box? Gigi strained for a glimpse as Attalus pulled out an emerald-green silk gown with one hand, and held up an emerald and gold necklace with the other.
Gigi immediately recognized Placidia’s things from the night of the dinner. She glanced at Athaulf. He certainly did, too! A noise strangled in his throat, and he started toward Attalus, looking more shaken than angry, but Magnus moved forward and stopped him with a hand on his arm, then whispered something in his ear.