Lyco goes into the villa, and I take water from the impluvium.

I carry it in an
amphora, through the villa and into the kitchen. I stand at the kitchen table, and
make breakfast quietly and quickly. Soon, there are apples, bread, and four small
pies in front of me.
'I'm hungry. Where's breakfast?' My Dominus's nephew, Pliny the Younger, walks into
the kitchen. He is wearing a long toga.
'I'm sorry. It's nearly ready,' I say.
Pliny the Younger says nothing. He comes to my table, takes a pie, and begins
eating it. I look at him. He closes his eyes. 'It's good,' he says. 'Very good.'
There is a loud noise. It is my stomach. I am very hungry. But I cannot eat before
my Dominus eats.
Pliny opens his eyes and laughs. 'Are you hungry? Do you want it?' he asks.
He is older and taller than me. The pie is in his hand. Does he want me to take it?
'I must wait,' I say.
He smiles. 'You're a good slave. Take it,' he says.
I move my hand. Is he going to give me the pie? I do not know, because suddenly,
everything is shaking. The pie falls to the floor. Behind us, an amphora falls,
too. It breaks loudly.
'What's happening?' Pliny the Younger says. He is afraid, and I am, too. But before
we can run from the room, everything stops shaking.
My Dominus comes into the kitchen. Plinia Marcella and Lyco are behind him.
'Are you all right, my boy?' my Dominus asks Pliny the Younger. Of course, he does
not ask me.
'Yes,' says Pliny the Younger. 'But everything shook!'
'I know,' says my Dominus. 'But it's all quiet now. Let's go into the garden.'
After they leave, Lyco comes and works at the kitchen table with me.
'What was that?' I ask him, but he does not answer. When he is not looking, I take
Pliny the Younger's pie from the floor and put it in my tunic. Then I take the food
into the garden. Our Dominus, Pliny the Younger, and Plinia Marcella are sitting
and talking quietly. I put the food on the garden table. Before I go to the kitchen
again, I look at the morning sky. It is going to be a beautiful day, but something
is strange. What is it?
I listen. Then I know.
The birds are not singing.

THE ROAD TO POMPEII

After breakfast, we take out the raeda. It is going to take us to Pompeii. When we
are ready, Nysa comes and talks to us. She is a slave, like me, and she has lots of
questions: Why did everything shake? Is it going to happen again? What are we doing
in Pompeii? When can she go there? When are we coming back?
'Go away!' Lyco tells her. 'You have work, and we must go.' Lyco never likes to
talk much in the morning. But I cannot stop smiling. I am going to Pompeii!
When we leave, I look behind and see Nysa. She smiles at me and goes into the
villa. Across the bay, I see Vesuvius. There is not a cloud in the sky.
✠
Hour after hour in this raeda! I am tired… and hot. I look at the back of the
raeda. I want to go there and sleep. Lyco is driving the raeda, but his eyes are
only half open. 'Can I sleep in the back of the raeda?' I ask.
'No,' Lyco says. 'I need you here.'
I look up at the sky. It is bluer than the bluest sea. I look across the bay.
'That's strange,' I say. I can see a small, dark cloud above Vesuvius. Is it a
cloud, or is it smoke? 'Is there a fire on Vesuvius?' I ask.
Lyco does not answer. My stomach makes a noise. 'I'm hungry,' I say.
This time, Lyco looks at me, 'Be quiet!' he says, 'You can sleep when I sleep, and
you can eat when I eat!'
'But…' I begin.
'But what?'
'But nothing,' I say.
Lyco looks at me, and I look at Lyco. We are tired and hungry, so we are angry. For
about ten minutes, I say nothing to him and he says nothing to me. But then, he
begins to smile, and I smile, too.
After that, we sometimes talk; and we sometimes sit and say nothing. All the time,
Vesuvius is getting nearer. At our Dominus's villa in Misenum, Vesuvius always
looks small. But now, it looks very, very big.
'Do you know the story of Spartacus?' Lyco asks. He is looking at Vesuvius, too.
'No,' I say.
'He lived about 150 years ago. He was a slave near Neapolis, but he ran away
because he wanted to be free. Soon, more and more slaves across Italy ran away,
too. Thousands of them! And they all went to Vesuvius because Spartacus was there.
Spartacus was their leader: he spoke and they listened. They were an army, They
were Spartacus's army of slaves.'
I think about Spartacus on Vesuvius, and all those slaves. 'So, what happened on
Vesuvius?' I ask.
'More than three thousand Roman soldiers went there. Spartacus and his army were at
the top of Vesuvius, and they had no food. The Roman soldiers knew this, so they
waited. But when Spartacus's army left the top of Vesuvius, the Roman soldiers did
not see or hear them. Spartacus and his men killed most of the soldiers. After
that, Spartacus's army went south. But more and more Roman soldiers went and looked
for them. In the end, they found and killed six thousand of Spartacus's men. Then
they put the bodies next to the Appian Way, a long road from Rome to Capua.'
'Why? Why did they do that?' I ask.
'The Romans didn't want more slaves to run away.'
'What about Spartacus? Did they kill him?'
'They never found Spartacus.'
I think about that. Did Spartacus go and live in a different town? Did he live
happily? I like my Dominus. But I must be careful. Because I am his slave, my
Dominus can sell me or kill me at any time.
I look at Lyco. He is not looking at me. 'When you were young, did you want to… be
free?' I ask.
'We're slaves. That's all,' he says.
I want to ask many more questions. But I must not. I know that when I look at
Lyco's face.
'We aren't far from Neapolis,' Lyco says. 'Soon, we can eat. We're sleeping near
there tonight. Then tomorrow, we go to Pompeii.'

POMPEII

The next day, we are on the road early. Lyco and I do not talk much. All morning,
we drive. Then, when it is beginning to get very hot, Lyco says to me, 'At the top
of this hill, you can see Pompeii and the Herculaneum Gate.'
I cannot wait! Slowly, very slowly, the horses walk up the hill and…
'Look at that!' I say, and stand up. I can see everything. I can see the walls of
Pompeii, the streets, and the buildings.
'Sit down,' Lyco says, but he is laughing.
I sit. I cannot stop smiling. The horses are walking quickly now. We come down the
hill and soon we arrive at the Herculaneum Gate. There are more paedae there. They
are carrying apples, bread, meat…
We go through the gate, between the tall walls, and - we are in Pompeii! Look at
the people! Look at the houses!
'Apples?'
I look down. A boy is walking next to us on the street. He is small, but he is
carrying lots and lots of apples.
'Hungry?' Lyco asks me.
'I can eat ten of them!' I say.
Lyco laughs. 'You can have one,' he tells e. He takes four coins from his pocket
and gives them to the boy. Then he takes two apples and gives one to me.
'Are you going to look at it, or eat it?' Lyco is smiling and eating.
I begin to eat my apple, too. It is good, but I cannot take my eyes away from the
street. There are red, green, and blue houses and shops all along it - some small,
some big with tall doors. Men, women, and children are talking and laughing over
the noise of horses' feet and raedae on the road.
Lyco says something.
'What?' I shout.
'Look at the graffiti!' he says, and I see a picture and some writing on one of the
buildings. I laugh. The picture is of a man. He has a big nose and the writing
above the picture says: 'This is Rufus'.
'We're on the Via Consolare,' Lyco shouts. 'Down there is the house of Aulus
Umbricius Scaurus. Do you know that name?'
'No.'
°He is the most famous garum maker in Pompeii. His house is very big and looks out
across the sea.'
'Are we going to buy garum from him?'
'Yes. His shop is on the Via dell'Abbondanza. It has the best garum in Pompeii.'
We move onto a different street. It is called Via delle Terme, Lyco tells me. On
our right, we go past Via del Foro.
'Down there,' Lyco says, 'is the Forum. Everyone buys their food and goes shopping
there. It has the most important buildings in Pompeii.'
I look down the street at the Forum. There are hundreds and hundreds of people!
Some are walking quickly. Some are standing and talking to their friends. But most
people are looking at the little shops.
‘Can we go to the Forum?’ I ask.
‘Later, perhaps, when we have the garum. But it must be a very quick visit. We need
to be back near Neapolis before evening.’
We go past the Forum, and soon we are on the Via dell’Abbondanza. There are lots of
houses and shops. We are moving slowly because there are many raedae.
‘Down this street is the Amphitheatre,’ Lyco says. ‘Many famous gladiators fight
there.’
He laughs when he sees my excited face.
Gladiators! Lyco told me about them when I was young. And at Pompeii’s
Amphitheatre, I know, twenty thousand people come and watch when the gladiators
fight. I remember some of the gladiators’ names: Oceanus, Severus, Albanus. Many
were slaves. And no gladiator lives long.
On our left, there is a shop. I am hungry again.
‘Can we buy some bread?’ I ask.
‘Later,’ says Lyco. ‘The garum shop is next.’
I do not want to go to the garum shop, I think. I want to get out of the raeda and
buy bread, go to the shops in the Forum, and visit the Amphitheatre. I want to walk
in Pompeii, a free man.

A FIRE IN VESUVIUS

Lots of people are walking down the street in front of the garum shop. "They're
going home for food, I think. The sun is up above us. It is very hot, and I am
very, very hungry.
'Let's go,' Lyco says, and he and I get off the raeda and go into the shop.
'Hello!' the man in the shop says. 'Can I help you?'
‘We want four amphorae of garum,’ Lyco says, ‘Our Dominus is Pliny the Elder.’
When the man hears that, he shakes Lyco’s hand, ‘Pliny the Elder? Well, we have the
best garum in all Pompeii.’
‘How much for four amphorae?’ asks Lyco.
‘Only thirty,’ the man says.
‘That’s very expensive,’ Lyco says. ‘I can give you twenty. Take it or leave it.’
The man is going to say yes, I know it. But at that moment, everything begins to
shake again. This time, it is different. It is worse. Much, much worse. Stones fall
from some of the buildings in the street; and in the garum shop, we fall to the
floor – the man, Lyco, and I. Then there is a loud, loud noise. Is the sky
breaking? Is the sun falling? I put my hands over my ears. We run into the street.
There, everyone is looking up. Smoke is coming out of Vesuvius. It is going far
into the sky: higher and higher and higher.
‘Help us! Help us!’ shouts one woman. People are crying and running. Everyone is
afraid. I look at the man from the garum shop. He is watching Vesuvius. His mouth
is open.
‘There’s a fire in Vesuvius!’ the man says. He cannot take his eyes away from it.
But Lyco gives him some money, and says, ‘Put the garum on our raeda. Quickly!’
The man goes into the shop and brings the amphorae, and we put them on the raeda.
'Let's go!' Lyco says. 'Get on.'
Our horses begin to move, but there are many people on the road. Some are crying;
some are running here and there. 'Move!' Lyco tells them, but nobody is listening.
The raeda moves very slowly. I look up. The sky is getting darker. Where is the
sun?
After many minutes, we arrive at Vicolo di Mercurio. But there are lots of stones
on the road, and suddenly one of the horses falls. We get off the radar and look:
itsleg is bad, and it cannot get up.
‘What are we going to do?’ I ask Lyco.
‘We must leave the raeda and this horse here, and walk.’
I look at Lyco. ‘Walk to our Dominus’s villa? What about the garum? We can’t carry
four amphorae. And you can’t…’ I stop. Lyco is old, and Misenum is far away. He
cannot walk there, but I do not say it.
‘We must take some garum to our Dominus. We can leave two amphorae here. Quickly!’
he says.
We take two amphorae from the raeda, and Lyco gets onto the horse. I walk next to
them. But it is not easy. Everyone wants to be in front of us. People are afraid.
They are all thinking about one thing. Pompeii is shaking, and they want to get
out.
Soon, we see the Herculaneum Gate. It is open, but there are hundreds and hundreds
of people and raedae.
People shout and fight because they want to go through the gate. There are people
in front of me, behind me, on my left, on my right, and I cannot breathe…
And then, suddenly, we go through the gate. I see Vesuvius again. The smoke above
it goes far into the sky – up and up. When I look at it, I feel afraid.
When I arrived in Pompeii two hours ago, I was happy. Now I am happy because I am
leaving.

THE LONG WALK

I look for the sun. Is it evening now? I do not know: the sky became dark many
hours ago. We are on the road to Misenum and there are many, many people on the
road with us. We are all getting away from Vesuvius, away from Pompeii.
Everything is white. The trees, the hills, the flowers – they are all white with
ash from the fire in Vesuvius. It began falling some time ago, and it does not
stop. It is in my hair, on my tunic, in my mouth, and in my nose.
Lyco sits on our horse, and his head is on its back. His face is white, and when he
breathes, I hear a strange noise. ‘Help me,’ he says now, quietly. ‘I need to
stop.’
I take Lyco’s arm, and he gets off the horse. But he cannot stand without me. We
sit next to the road. At first, he cannot speak. Then he says, ‘It’s the ash. I
can’t breathe. I need water.’
When I look at Lyco, I feel afraid. I am young, but he is old. The ash is bad for
me, but it is worse for Lyco.
People are walking past us. There are hundreds of them.
‘Water! Who has water?’ I ask. But nobody answers. I take one of the amphorae from
the horse. ‘Give me water,’ I say, ‘and you can have an amphora of Pompeii’s best
garum.’
At first, nobody speaks, but then a man on a big horse calls out 'Boy I have water'
I carry the amphora to him. He has some water, but only half of a small amphora. I
do not want to give him our garum for that, but I must.
I take the water, and I am running to Lyco when everything begins to shake again. A
loud noise comes from Vesuvius. I look up: in the sky above Vesuvius, there is
fire! One moment, the smoke is black; the next, it is white; then black, then white
again. I watch it. I cannot move. Am I sleeping? Is this a bad dream? But the
people on the road are crying. It is not a dream: they see it, too.
I run to Lyco. He is not moving.
‘Lyco?’
Slowly, his eyes open and he looks at me. I put the amphora of water to his mouth,
and he drinks. We sit and say nothing. But suddenly, there is a strange noise. Is
it rain? Something begins to hit me, but it is not water. Small white stones are
coming from the sky. I take some in my hand. They are not big, but there are many
of them. They do not stop falling. Did they come from Vesuvius?
Lyco is looking at me. ‘Go,’ he says. ‘Leave me… and go.’
‘I can’t leave you,’ I say.
‘Yes, you can.’ He breathes loudly. ‘I’m old, and you’re young. You can go… to
Neapolis, Acherraea, Puteoli… Go!’
I look at him, and I understand. I can run away, he is telling me. I think about my
dream yesterday morning. I can be free. I can eat when I want to eat; sleep when I
want to sleep. I can live in a different town; I can have a pie shop.
I think about my father, and Spartacus. They were slaves, but they ran away. Then I
look at Lyco. He is a mother and father to me. He taught me everything.
‘Take my hand,’ I say. ‘We’re going to our Dominus’s villa.’
Lyco looks at me. He wants to say something, but I stop him. ‘No, Lyco,’ I say.
‘I’m not leaving you here.’
He takes my hand, and I help him. I get him onto the horse, and we begin moving
again. But the stones are bigger now. They hit us on the head, the arms, the legs.
We do not stop, but some people do. They fall, and they do not stand up again.
There is a dead woman next to the road. Nobody is looking at her. I take her
blanket and I put it over Lyco’s head. Now the stones cannot hit his face.
‘We’re going to die,’ Lyco says.
‘No,’ I say. ‘We’re going to our Dominus’s villa.’
All through the night, Lyco sits on the horse, and I walk next to him. We do not
see many people now. How do I move my legs? I do not know. But I walk: hour after
hour. And hour after hour, the rain of stones does not stop.

DOMINUS

It is a new day. But there is no morning sun, and the sky is not blue. Everything
is the colour of the dead: the trees, the hills, the road. The ash is falling, but
the stones stopped coming down some time ago.
I look at Lyco. He is on the horse. His eyes are half open, and when he breathes
in, he makes a loud noise. We are next to the bay, but there are only stones. When
we came to Pompeii two days ago, the sea came up near the road here. Now, it is far
away.
We walk and walk, and suddenly it is dark. What is happening? Morning came only two
or three hours ago. Then, slowly, it begins to be day again. I understand now. It
did not get dark because it was night, but because there was black, black smoke.
I am tired, very tired. I am hungry and thirsty, too. I want to sit by the road and
sleep, but I cannot stop, I know. And then I see it: my Dominus’s villa.
‘Look!’ I say, but Lyco does not hear me. I see Nysa. She is running to me.
‘Tiro! You’re alive!’ she says. ‘But what’s wrong with Lyco?’
I fall onto the road, and Nysa calls for help. I see two raedae in front of the
villa, and there are boxes on them. Someone brings me water, and I drink and drink.
And then, everything goes black.
✠
In my dreams, I am in the back of a raeda, and we are driving, driving. When we go
fast, I hit my head on something. There is smoke in my nose and in my mouth.
I am afraid, and I open my eyes. But everything is quiet. No ash is falling and no
stones are hitting me – and there, next to my bed, is Nysa.
‘What happened?’ I ask. ‘Where am I?’
‘You’re here, at our Dominus’s villa,’ she says.
‘I had strange dreams,’ I say. ‘In my dreams, I was in a raeda.’
‘We left the villa yesterday after you arrived, because the black smoke was very
bad. Some of the men put you in the back of the raeda. But last night, we came
back, and they carried you to your room. You slept for many hours. It’s the
afternoon now.’
I look at her face: she is crying. ‘Where’s Lyco?’ I ask.
‘He’s in the garden,’ Nysa says. ‘He slept, too, and soon he’s going to be well
again.’
‘Then why are you crying?’
‘It’s our Dominus,’ she says. ‘He took a ship across the bay when the ash and smoke
came. He wanted to help his friend Rectina, because she lives near Vesuvius.’
Nysa is shaking.
‘The captain of his ship came here this morning,’ she says after a moment or two.
‘Our Dominus went to Stabiae, the captain said. He slept at the home of his friend
Pomponianus, but he couldn’t breathe in the smoke and ash. He died yesterday.’
Nysa begins crying again, and the door of my room opens. It is Lyco. His face is
white and tired, and he walks slowly, but he looks at me and he takes my hand.
‘You didn’t leave me,’ he says.
‘No,’ I say. ‘I couldn’t.’
‘Thank you,’ he says, and then his face becomes dark.
‘Our old Dominus is dead. But we have a new Dominus now. And you need to get up.
He’s going to want his dinner soon.’
I get up and go to the kitchen. Lyco and I begin making dinner, and we do not talk.
Everyone is quiet.
Pliny the Elder was a good Dominus. He was not often angry with me. Is everything
going to be different now? Is Pliny the Younger going to be a good Dominus?
I think about my dream. I was a pie maker, and I was free. But that was a dream. I
am a slave. And I must work. Work. Work. Work.
‘Tiro! Come here!’
It is my Dominus.
He is calling me, and I must go.