"Porcius!" "Porcius!" "Porcius!" "I know it was you." "I saw you." "I've got your medicine." "Come home." "You just wait." "Where have you been?" "It's time for lunch." "Lupus, would you care to join us?" "Hmm, I see." "Porcius, you really ought to rest a bit." "I shall come and see you tomorrow." "In the meantime, my regards to your mother." "Lucky you." "No mum." "THEY SCREAM" "Help!" "Help!" "Lupus!" "What?" "What's happened?" "Kidnap?" "Slavers?" "In Ostia?" "No, Lupus, they don't do that." "Come on!" "You, move!" "SOBBING" "My child!" "Porcius!" "Oh, Jupiter, Minerva!" "Please Captain Geminus, you have to help him." "Kidnappers, Captain." "There's children gone from all over." "Well, they're not in the harbour, I know every ship that's there." "My child!" "Please help me!" "He's gone!" "Maybe the marina?" "I'll go and see." "Get help." "Caudex, arm yourself." "I'll check northwards." "They'd left." "They'll be miles away by now." "Oh, we could try, Pater." "No-one sails faster than you." "They took 12 children." "What about Porcius?" "He's sick, he needs medicine." "It's just too dangerous." "We're merchants, not magistrates." "What are they doing?" "Half of them take money from slavers." "I fear that there's some truth in that." "I've got passengers for tomorrow." "Flavia, we have to live." "And Porcius?" "How long does he live?" "Or doesn't that matter?" "The sun... like a..." "Like a disc..." "A flaming orb of...of... ..flame." "Zetes!" "How can Porcius travel?" "He needs medicine." "You know what they do if child can't make the journey?" "Throw them from the ship." "I see this." "WOMAN SOBS" "Got it." "OK, easy, easy, easy." "That's it." "Captain Geminus." "Yes?" "I am preparing a series of odes to the sea." "I therefore need to be undisturbed at all times." "I think that can be arranged." "Good." "You've got a new one?" "That's great." "It is, Very nice, Lupus, but what's that you're saying?" "You dreamt of an owl last night?" "That'sa badomen!" "And I dreamt of a bear." "It's a warning from the gods." "The worst omen for seafarers." "Let's go!" "Come on." "No..." "Comeon,followme, hurry." "Everybody ready?" "Hey!" "I hired you for the month." "I suppose this means we can chase the slavers now?" "Not without a crew." "It's all right, Captain, I never cared much for omens." "Thanks, Cyrus." "Still a man short." "We can help." "Pater, you've taught me everything." "I can tie knots." "I've got one passenger and I'm not sailing at a loss." "Going south?" "Absolutely." "You may call me Bato." "Thank you." "But you're still short of a crew man?" "You...you looking for crew?" "Because I've done all the seas." "I'm your man." "What, you have food?" "No!" "These are my friends." "I'm Zosimus." "All right, you're hired." "And do not fear, my elderly mother, with your blessing in my heart, I will be perfectly safe." "That should help." "Cyrus, if we see a slave ship, we let the authorities know." "Yes, Captain." "And I'll keep watch here in Ostia." "They come back sometimes to catch the children they've missed." "So..." "I thought I'd say goodbye now, just in case." "Right, the first thing you can do is get those bags on board." "Then you're scrubbing the decks." "Aye-aye, Captain." "Pater!" "Captain!" "Captain!" "By Jupiter!" "Please, no harm to this man." "I'm fine, fine, thanks." "Cyrus, I thought you'd checked them." "They looked safe to me." "Sliced?" "There's a traitor on board." "It was on this ship that I was brought to Ostia." "How long have you been with Flaccus?" "I was a gift to him when he was nine years old." "I am Nubia." "And that is Lupus." "Come." "He, too, was a slave." "He cannot speak." "Where is he from?" "From Symi." "In the south." "He says he cannot speak, but he can hear." "Oh..." "I'm sorry." "Is your family still there?" "His mother, perhaps." "Well, don't you want to see her?" "I think we sail quite close to Symi." "He fears she may be dead." "But it's better to know for sure, isn't it?" "Then there is no hope." "The turquoise sea..." "Oh, Jupiter!" "The azure wave..." "Are you really a poet?" "What are you doing?" "Bato is a magistrate, but he carries a knife." "What for, peeling potatoes or cutting rope?" "Keep watch." "They're everywhere." "Father should have a rule about pets on board." "Bato isn't what he seems." "I scratched this here when this was the slave ship Vespa." "On the voyage from Africa." "The sun of my homeland." "We must save them, the children." "A list of names." "Flavia, hurry." "The number of children stolen." "Ostia 12, Neapolis 20, Syracuse 18." "I took you for brats, not thieves." "Do you know what happens to thieves at sea?" "My father is the captain." "And I am the law, as you've worked out for." "You can't stop him." "Nubia!" "I have been hunting these kidnappers for three years and I've been confounded by spies." "I will not be stopped by children." "Why should we believe you?" "Don't." "Don't believe anyone." "Who's Magnus?" "I don't know." "Nobody knows." "He's a giant." "They call him King of Slavers." "His emblem, where did you put it?" "I don't know, I..." "It cost me three lives to get it!" "I haven't seen it." "Then you're not the first to go through my things." "Find the emblem, you've found the spy." "This is Odysseus." "A blood offering?" "No, he's going home." "With a message, see." "For my mother." "It's all right, I'm used to be laughed at, but Mother wants to know I'm safe." "Right, there." "Fly safely homeward, my friend." "Where's home?" "Portus, just north of Ostia." "Ah, no, he's flying south until he gets his bearings, and then..." "Oh, he won't get lost, not that one." "Just like humans." "However far they travel, there's always something pulls them home." "I don't believe he's a poet." "He's far too stupid." "You think he's the spy?" "Why don't you read to us, Floppy?" "Come on." "Oh, that's what we call you, Flaccus, Floppy." "Nobody calls me that." "You understand?" "Whatarewe eating?" "Oh, now that looks good." "Well, anyway, I think a sea poem is an excellent idea." "I tried to write one myself once." "Best left to the experts, eh?" "Well, it's not a sea poem, exactly." "What is it, exactly?" "It's about my fellow mariners." "Ahem." "Ahem!" "With curls as sharp as wits" "And eyes like brooding coals" "The boy of mysterious thought turns his heart to home" "His mute friend says more than words" "His Africa queen carries the stars in her soul" "To voyage among these is to voyage truly" "As Jason and Odysseus" "Once sought their prizes and their loves" "So these children" "Though their loves be not yet known Seek." "You forgot my daughter." "Well, I can write only what I'm inspired to write." "No, no, Jonathan, don't struggle like that." "There are 16 different ways of getting out of that headlock." "And another five known only to me." "Here, attack my neck." "Come on, try your best, I won't hurt you that much." "Yeah, there you go." "Right." "See, you've applied a variant there, which is..." "which is excellent, but I can't..." "I can't breathe." "Jonathan..." "HE COUGHS" "Very strong arms." "Yeah." "Well, Zosimus has certainly got a thing for maps." "He is a sailor." "Feathers, of course." "Straw, for his bed, the big softie." "Flavia." "Cyrus?" "He is the spy." "I didn't trust him." "So, we're betrayed." "Cyrus, I trusted you." "How could you?" "I swear, Captain." "Captain, I swear..." "The barrels." "I can't believe you cut them loose." "I know there's a spy, it's obvious, but it's not me." "Then what about this?" "I don't know, somebody put it there." "Put it where?" "That's enough, no more excuses." "MUFFLED SPEECH" "Fire!" "Fire!" "Fire!" "Faster." "That's it, quickly, quickly." "Come on, quickly." "Here, take this." "Hurry, please." "Come on!" "More water, come on!" "Quickly, hurry up." "Let me help." "How could I have started this?" "Fire's happen, you're a traitor." "Have we beaten it yet?" "Come on." "I think we've won it." "Good." "Right, we've lost our supplies." "We're going to have to put into Symi in the morning." "If Cyrus didn't start it, who did?" "Symi?" "Is that not home for you?" "It's not far away." "Over the headland?" "Thank you." "Lupus..." "A fisherman says your grandmother still lives across the headland." "Well, you should go and see her." "Find out what happened." "Kidnappers?" "No, I doubt we'll catch up with them now." "Can you remember her, Lupus?" "Sometimes I think I hear my mother's songs." "If she lives, she would sing to you." "Excuse me, sir, where did this come from?" "This was made in Rhodes." "Lupus?" "Ah, dear boy." "Your mother." "When you disappeared, Lupus, she was heartbroken." "She went to Rhodes, to the Temple of Apollo." "She said she would offer her life for yours, hoping that you still lived." "She would do anything for you, even... ..even sacrifice herself to Apollo." "Is your mother dead?" "I don't know." "I cannot say." "It doesn't mean that she's dead." "I know sometimes Apollo demands that, but... sometimes not." "What's that?" "A note for your mother?" "Well, she'll want to know about the fire and the spy." "Lots of exciting news." "Maybe I can write a note for my father." "You'd have to write it small." "Not a problem." "The fire was started with straw." "Have you told her that?" "What do you mean, was started?" "You collect straw." "I like to be comfy." "There was a pigeon's feather found in Bato's trunk." "Well, feathers do get everywhere." "But they have their uses, like helping birds fly." "Fly where?" "South?" "He was only going south until he got his bearings." "Maybe you should read the note to us." "What is this?" "You've got your spy." "I took the drawing from Bato for my own reasons, but you work for Magnus." "HE SCOFFS" "Yeah, and if you don't mind," "I will take the skiff and pay him a little visit." ""Fire failed." "Will try again." Magnus'll come for me." "Aargh!" "Don't you worry." "Porcius?" "Lupus, we WILL find them all." "I promise you." "Where is Magnus?" "Oh, you want him, you look for him." "It'll be pleasant, those islands." "You'll be hunting him for months." "I shall see that your name is enshrined in the annals of infamy." "With what?" "Your poetry?" "The annals of a joke!" "Magnus served you well and now you despise him?" "Your freeborn slave, you like that well enough." "My father would never buy a freeborn." "Well, your father bought cheap." "I was in the party that snatched young Zetes." "His father's a patrician, like you." "Rhodes." "Magnus, he's in Rhodes." "You're dreaming." "No!" "I saw his emblem on a carpet in Symi, they said it came from Rhodes." "All right, very clever, but you'll never get there." "He can't stop us." "THUNDER RUMBLES" "Oh, yes, he can." "You see, Magnus even has the gods in the palm of his hands." "WIND HOWLS" "Argh!" "Make sure you hold onto them, all right?" "It's just come from nowhere." "I'll take the tiller." "You'd better get the mainsail down." "Come on!" "Quickly." "HE LAUGHS If we sink, you sink." "By the gods, Cyrus, hurry!" "I can't get it down." "Or we'll go under!" "It's stuck!" "We're going down." "It's stuck!" "Argh!" "I'll go up!" "No, no, you're too heavy." "You'll pull us over." "No!" "Captain, I've got to try again." "We're dead, anyway." "Get an axe." "Get an axe." "Take the axe to the mast." "Cyrus, get the axe!" "Here, take it." "Pass!" "I can't reach." "Pass it!" "Take it!" "Pass!" "Hold onto my belt." "Lupus!" "Lupus, no!" "It's our only hope."