"No! It's you we must have, Finder," said Porsenna. "Tages has decreed it."

"Just as the god previously decreed that you turn to that 'other fellow' you spoke of-the one who met with 'misfortune'? I don't like the sound of that."

Calpurnia made a sour face. "You'll at least hear me out, Gordianus." It was a statement, not a question, uttered in a tone to remind me that I was in the presence of the most powerful woman in Rome.

I took a deep breath. "What is it you want from me, then?"

"Seek the truth. Only that. And why not? It's your nature. It's the thing you were born to do; the gods made you thus. And when you find the truth, I wish you to share it with me-and with no one else."

"Truth? I thought you had Porsenna to find that for you."

She shook her head. "Haruspicy functions at one level. A fellow like you functions at another."

"I see. Instead of sifting through entrails, I dig in the dirt."

"That's one way of putting it. We each must use whatever skills we possess, do whatever is necessary… to save my husband's life."

"What is this threat to Caesar?"

"I was first alerted by my dreams-nightmares so terrible that I sought out Porsenna to interpret them for me. His divinations confirmed my worst fears. Caesar is in immediate and very terrible danger."

I sighed. "I'm surprised, Calpurnia. I thought you were not the sort to act on dreams or omens. Others, yes, but not you."

"You sound like my husband! I've tried to warn him. He scoffs at my fears."

"Have you introduced him to your haruspex?"

"No! Caesar knows nothing about Porsenna, nor must he ever know. It would only further arouse his skepticism. But I assure you: Caesar has never been in greater danger."

I shook my head. "Surely Caesar has never been in less danger. All his enemies are dead! Pompey, beheaded by Egyptians who wanted to please Caesar. Ahenobarbus, driven to earth and speared like a rabbit by Marc Antony at Pharsalus. Cato, driven to suicide in Africa. The survivors who were pardoned by Caesar, like Cicero, have been reduced to cowering sycophants."