Pompeii

would have looked as though a party were in progress.
    Attilius slithered down into the enclosed space and set off across it. Such was the intensity of the illumination he cast a shadow. As he came closer he saw that the figures were slaves and that they were clearing the drifts of pumice where they had been blown into the three big chambers – the changing room, the tepidarium and the caldarium – digging it out like snow with wooden shovels where it was deepest, or elsewhere merely sweeping it away with brooms. Patrolling behind them was Ampliatus, shouting that they should work harder, occasionally grabbing a shovel or a brush himself and showing how it should be done, before resuming his obsessive pacing. Attilius stood watching for a few moments, hidden in the darkness, and then cautiously began to climb towards the middle room – the tepidarium – at the back of which he could see the entrance to the domed sweating-chamber.
    There was no chance he could enter without being seen so in the end he simply walked in – waded across the surface of the pumice, straight through the open window, his feet crunching on the tiled floor, the slaves staring at him in amazement. He was halfway to the sweating room when Ampliatus saw him – 'Aquarius!' – and hurried to intercept him. He was smiling, his palms spread wide. 'Aquarius! I've been expecting you!'
    He had a cut in his temple and the hair on the left side of his scalp was stiff with blood. His cheeks were scratched and more blood had seeped through the coating of dust, carving red furrows in the white. The mouth was turned up at the corners: a mask of comedy. The dazzling light was reflected in his eyes, which were open very wide. Before Attilius could say anything he started talking again. 'We must get the aqueduct running immediately. Everything is ready, you see. Nothing is damaged. We could open for business tomorrow, if only we could connect the water.' He was talking very quickly, the words tumbling out of him, barely finishing one sentence before he went on to the next. So much in his head to express! He could see it all! 'People will need one place in the town that works. They'll need to bathe – it'll be dirty work, getting everything back in order. But it's not just that. It'll be a symbol to gather round. If they see the baths are working, it will give them confidence. Confidence is the key to everything. The key to confidence is water. Water is everything, d'you see? I need you, aquarius. Fifty-fifty. What do you say?'
    'Where's Corelia?'
    'Corelia?' Ampliatus's eyes were still alert for a potential deal. 'You want Corelia? In exchange for the water?'
    'Perhaps.'
    'A marriage? I'm willing to consider it.' He jerked his thumb. 'She's in there. But I'll want my lawyers to draw up terms.'
    Attilius turned away and strode through the narrow entrance into the laconium. Seated on the stone benches around the small domed sweating room, lit by the torches in their iron holders on the wall, were Corelia, her mother and her brother. Opposite them were the steward, Scutarius, and the giant gatekeeper, Massavo. A second exit led to the caldarium. As the engineer came in, Corelia looked up.
    'We need to leave,' he said. 'Hurry. Everyone.'
    Ampliatus, at his back, blocked the door. 'Oh no,' he said. 'Nobody leaves. We 've endured the worst. This isn't the time to run. Remember the prophecy of the sibyl.'
    Attilius ignored him, directing his words to Corelia. She seemed paralysed with shock. 'Listen. The falling rock is not the main danger. It's when the fall stops that winds of fire travel down the mountain. I've seen them. Everything in their path is destroyed.'
    'No, no. We're safer here than anywhere,' insisted Ampliatus. 'Believe me. The walls are three feet thick.'
    'Safe from heat in a sweating room?' Attilius appealed to them all. 'Don't listen to him. If the hot cloud comes, this place will cook you like an oven. Corelia.' He held out his hand to her. She glanced quickly towards Massavo. They were under guard, Attilius realised: the laconium was their prison cell.
    'Nobody is leaving,' repeated Ampliatus. 'Massavo!'
    Attilius seized Corelia's wrist and tried to drag her towards the caldarium before Massavo had time to stop him, but the big man was too fast. He sprang to cover the exit and when Attilius attempted to shoulder him aside Massavo grabbed him by the throat with his forearm and dragged him back into the room. Attilius let go of Corelia and