He read carefully the scroll Constantine handed him, then rolled it up and tied it with the purple ribbon identifying it as an imperial order. “Just as I thought, they specify no route. How soon do we leave?”
“Tomorrow, as soon as the clerks finish some letters I’m to carry to father. Why?”
“Unless I miss my guess those letters will express Galerius’ concern for your safe arrival in Gaul and mention his warning about the Alpine passes to your father. And you can wager that, after we are set upon and killed by what look like brigands, the letters will somehow find their way to Constantius, absolving Galerius of any blame in our deaths.”
“The whole thing does fit into a pattern,” Constantine admitted.
The Alpine
“Fortunately we’ve been warned, so we have a chance to escape the trap.” Dacius rubbed the gray stubble on his chin thoughtfully. “The Alpine passes are bad on horses, so we can only be sure of remounts by staying on the roads of the Imperial Post, where the ambush is sure to occur. Galerius is no doubt counting on just that; the question now is how to outwit him?”
“At the Euphrates with King Tiridates and his band, our situation appeared hopeless when we were behind advance parties of the Persian cavalry,” Constantine reminded him. “So we decided to attack.”
“You decided to attack. The rest of us only agreed.”
“The point is that we did what the enemy didn’t expect us to do.”
Dacius’ grim face began to lighten. “So we follow a route the enemy in this case Galerius and his assassins don’t expect. But which way is that?”
“You’re the one who’s supposed to know the country,” Constantine said. “I’m counting on you to tell me.”
“Then we’d better start with the maps.” Dacius went to the comer where the cylindrical container in which he always carried his maps was standing. An hour later the two of them looked up from the map they had spread on the floor, the same look of satisfaction and excitement in their eyes.
“Then it’s settled?” Dacius asked.
Constantine nodded. “Galerius expects us to take the route northeast to his old capital of Sirmium on the river Save, near where it joins the Danube, and thence almost directly westward through the Alpine passes into Gaul and on to Treves. Right now he’s probably sending word to his henchmen in Sirmium to arrange our assassination somewhere west of that city.”
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