The Emperor's Knives by Anthony Riches

had displayed before, he placed it in his master’s hand with a bow. Sigilis acknowledged him with a grave inclination of his head.
    ‘Thank you. I expect you have pressing duties to attend to in the house? Please don’t allow this inconsequential matter to impede you in their completion.’
    The butler bowed again, and to Marcus’s eye it seemed that a look of relief crossed his face as he turned to make his way back through the garden and into the domus. Excingus held out a hand.
    ‘Poor man. He’s more than intelligent enough to understand the heat of the fire you’re playing with by employing my rather dubious services, isn’t he?’
    The senator dropped the purse onto his level palm with a resigned expression.
    ‘I suspect he looks askance at having to pay you to provide information to these men for which you’ve already received a substantial sum.’
    Julius frowned at the informer, still far from happy with such an unexpected turn of events.
    ‘You make him pay simply to talk to us?’
    ‘I do. And so would you, in my place. Every additional person I share my knowledge with presents an additional risk of my being betrayed …’
    The first spear barked out a laugh.
    ‘And wouldn’t that be ironic!’
    Excingus simply continued speaking, ignoring the barb.
    ‘… tortured for as long as I could stand the pain without descending into insanity, no matter what truth and lies I babbled in extremis, then summarily executed and dropped into a deep pit to rot, unmourned and most certainly unlamented.’
    Sigilis coughed as if clearing his throat.
    ‘And so, having been paid …?’
    The informer nodded.
    ‘Apologies, Senator, I was on the verge of becoming maudlin. As you say, to business.’ He turned to address the Tungrians. ‘I suggest that you abandon your prejudices, gentlemen, and pay especially close attention to what I am about to tell you, for I doubt that anyone else in Rome has either sufficient knowledge or courage to provide you with this information. There are four men who form the heart of the emperor’s policy of propping his treasury up through “confiscatory justice” …’
    He paused, waiting for any of them to comment, but none of the men sitting around him responded.
    ‘These four men bring a particular combination of skills and experience to the services they perform, not to mention their shared disregard for the humanity of their victims. They are, in different ways, intelligent, driven and successful men in their own fields, positively charming in one case, and none of them displays any overt signs of mania, and yet they are all, in their own ways, just about the most dangerous men in the entire city. Perennis gathered them to him when it became clear that the throne would not survive without financial assistance, reasoning that his own praetorian guard might be likely to draw the line at being ordered to slaughter a man and then either kill or enslave his entire familia. He gave them whatever it was that he believed would motivate them, but we can simplify that down to two things. Firstly he offered them money. A lot of money, for a relatively small amount of effort. And secondly, he extended to them the opportunity to do exactly as they pleased with some of the most respected families in Rome. Think about that for a moment, and then ask yourself how many men in the city would jump at the chance to have free licence with the women of a household like this one. Never mind the novelty of taking the mistress of the house by force while her husband’s corpse is still cooling on floor, think of the possibilities for a man with that inclination. Daughters, female slaves … more than enough helpless female flesh for everyone, eh?’
    He met Marcus’s stare of hatred with an equally frank gaze.
    ‘I won’t ask for your forgiveness for pointing out the obvious, Centurion, since I know that your own family was one of the first to suffer such a catastrophic end, but I will point out