Interrogation

At their evening meal Hector announced that the slave that offered them their drink had been apprehended. The members of Trix's guard had taken the woman into their custody. They learned that she had been a slave in the senator's villa since the senator was a young boy. She was one of the most trusted slaves. She had chosen to serve the family over freedom and had been justly marked.

The men who had carried Trix's litter back to the palace had been hand picked by the emperor prior to their arrival and had passed the most rigorous tests of loyalty in the past. Hector believed that there was no need to investigate them but the emperor insisted.

The interrogation of both the slave and the guards were to be done by general Cato and his men in a couple of weeks. The slave would be locked up in the palace for the mean time.