If he wasn’t mistaken, they were in the process of being kidnapped by pirates.
He had heard of events like this before: pirates were known to lure unsuspecting people onto their ship at a port, then sail away before anyone could escape. Their victims would be sold into slavery for a tidy profit.
“What’s going on?” Marcus demanded, his voice wavering with fear.
Lucretia is going to gut me if these pirates don’t do it first.
He had to master himself. There was no time for panic. Felix grabbed Marcus’s elbow, mind racing. The ship had already pulled back from the dock, putting distance between them and land. Chaos reigned on the deck as people panicked.
Most of the turmoil was concentrated on the side of the boat closest to the dock. The stern of the ship was comparatively empty. Felix dragged Marcus to an empty spot by the railing.They were already at least thirty feet from the dock, the gap widening by the moment.
A sailor spotted them and started toward them, perhaps guessing what Felix was about to do. There was only a moment in which to act, so Felix wasted no time in shoving Marcus hard over the railing.
With a shocked yell, the boy fell into the water, disappearing briefly beneath the surface. “Swim!” Felix shouted when Marcus’s head reappeared, arms flailing. He’d seen Marcus swim in the pool at the gymnasium, and knew he was more than capable of covering the short distance back to the dock.
Felix moved to leap after him, but an iron hand closed over his shoulder, and a fist smashed into his gut.
Chapter 32
Felix collapsed to the deck, choking and gasping for air.
The sailor who had punched him hauled him to his feet, then began to drag him toward the stairs that led below deck.
“Wait,” Felix gasped. He forced air to enter his lungs and spoke Greek, as it was more common in this part of the world. “I am a Roman citizen.” His voice was weak and breathless. “AwealthyRoman citizen.”
The pirate paused. “How wealthy?” His Greek had the lilt of an unfamiliar accent.
Calculations ran through Felix’s mind at lightning speed. Of course everyone knew the story of the young Gaius Julius Caesar having been kidnapped by pirates fifty years ago. The pirates had demanded a ransom of twenty talents of silver, and Caesar had insisted on it being increased to fifty, to reflect his position in one of the best families of Rome.
Felix didn’t have fifty talents, so he’d use the pirates’ original ransom demand of twenty as a starting point. Felix estimated that he was worth about half of a Julius Caesar, as his own lineage was not quite as vaunted, so that would come out toabout ten talents. But that was fifty years ago, and he would need to account for inflation, so perhaps twelve talents was an appropriate offer.
“I will pay twelve talents of silver for my safe release,” he finally said.
He knew he’d offered the right number when the pirate’s eyes lit with greed. “Where is your money?”
“Ostia,” Felix answered.
The pirate glowered. “Too far. We are bound for Crete.”
“Fifteen talents, then,” Felix said desperately. He could go no higher; fifteen talents would empty his accounts. But if he ended up in Crete, a notorious haven for pirates, he’d be sold into slavery and might never make it back to Italy. More calculations rushed through his brain. “You just captured, what, two dozen people? They’ll sell for five hundred denarii each, on average. So that’s about twelve thousand denarii for selling all these people.”
He paused a moment, as the pirate’s eyes were glazing over during his calculations. “In contrast, one talent of silver is worth six thousand denarii on its own. And I am offering you fifteen talents.”
Felix waited for the numbers to sink in. Handing over fifteen talents of silver would very nearly bankrupt him. It would wipe out the entire fortune he had built over the years of his business. He might have to sell a few ships to cover costs until he could rebuild.
But his choice was clear: give up his fortune, or lose his freedom.
Nine very unpleasant days later, the pirate ship pulled into a secluded cove south of Ostia. Felix surveyed the rocky coast with exhausted relief. He had been treated better than the rest of thepirates’ victims, those destined for slavery. Felix had been kept on his own in a different part of the hold and even allowed up to the deck for fresh air once or twice a day. Now, he stood against the rail, the breeze on his face a welcome relief from the fetid, airless hold.
Pirates now weren’t as massive of a problem as they used to be, before Felix’s birth. He had heard stories of how they used to effectively rule the Mediterranean, making trade nearly impossible and travel a serious peril. Pompeius Magnus had led a successful campaign against the pirates about forty years ago, but the great general hadn’t fully rid the Mediterranean of their incursions—he only reined them in.
The unfortunate truth was that Rome needed the pirates to a certain degree. Pirates provided a steady flow of slaves, and slaves were essential to the functioning of the state’s economy. So the pirates were allowed to operate, as long as they didn’t become too bothersome.
At least Marcus had been spared this. If Marcus had boarded their ship and returned immediately, he must be almost about to arrive in Ostia as well. Felix hoped Lucretia wouldn’t be too furious with him. He had, after all, saved Marcus.
As Felix lingered on the deck, the man he’d come to know as the leader of the pirates approached him. He bore a mangled scar on his left cheek, which Felix suspected was the result of attempting to cover up a slave brand. “Where will we find your money?” the captain asked, speaking Greek.
“Let me write a message to my secretary, Siro,” Felix replied. “I can give directions on where to find him. He will only supply the money if given a message in my own hand.”
