Chapter 14

A cool wind off the Mediterranean sifted across the deck of the wooden actuaria slowly moving west from Spain to Ostia. It rippled the square, white sail on the central mast and filled the smaller front sail, helping the low-set prow cut through the ice-blue waters at a slow, steady pace. Sailors continually moved across the wooden deck, checking lines and testing the wind.

Longus ignored them. Sitting with his back to the wooden side of the vessel, he simply watched the clouds drifting overhead and felt the cool spray occasionally spattering across the wale. He was headed back to Ostia on the commercial freighter, the lone passenger on the first available vessel leaving Baetica. From here, he thought about returning to Rome, even though that was no longer home.