Making sure he was moving normally, Caius Petulant of the 37th Phalanx of the 3rd Roman Legion marched out of the bath house, and turned down the road leading around the back of the opulent thermae. He felt the need clawing at him, and quickened his pace.

The merry chattering of the patrons in the baths receded. Here it was darker, out of the glaring sun of the warm Augustine day - the shadow of the Temple made detection improbable. His purpose was not one he would wish public. His strange addiction had now driven him to theft - a petty crime he would have rather died than see discovered.

He lifted the small bag from his belt, hefting it nervously - keeping it close. Out of the shadows stepped a cowled figure, his face hidden by the darkness and the hood of his monks attire. "D..Do you have it?" Caius stammered, licking his lips.

The figure chuckled. "Can you pay the price I ask?" he whispered.

"Here." said Caius bluntly, pushing the pouch into the figures hand. He waited impatiently, as the monk opened the drawstring on the pouch, and licking a craggy finger, he stuck it into the white powdery substance within. Caius glanced up and down the lane into the sunshine on the main road, shivering each time a passer-by crossed the head of the lane. If just one should glance this way... The monk licked his finger, and said "aah - just the seasoning I need. Oh for some vinegar, and a nice fresh haddock..."

"Stop your babbling old man!" hissed Caius, "I took that from the room of the Centurion, and if he discovers I stole his months wage..."

"Very well, my friend, very well." said the monk, producing a small package from within his robes. "While I savour your payment, I trust you shall find this a sweet reimbursement for your trouble" Caius grabbed the packet, and started to withdraw. "The same time tomorrow then?" asked the monk, sliding back into the shadows "and the same price."

Caius shot him a look of hatred. "I'll be here." he said, then tucked the package into his uniform and marched quickly off.

 

"Come on, Doctor! You'll feel a hundred years younger!"

"No Mel, I will not be oiled, baked, frozen and then forced to pose with a discus!"

"You won't have to pose with anything! I'm just amazed you take me all the way to Bath in Roman Britain, and then won't enjoy the facilities, that's all."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks at the head of an alleyway by the overawing Temple and baths. He glanced up at the splendour of the architecture, shading his eyes. He was unaffected by the heat in any visible way, despite his heavy coat. The clashing gaudy coloured patchwork was attracting not a few stares from the passers by, but as usual, Mel thought, he was oblivious to his costume as anything other than 'practical adventuring gear'

"I'm not sure they allow women..." he began, slyly.

"Nonsense," said Mel, tolerantly, wise to his tactics. "I quote 'Men and women enjoyed coming to the baths not only to get clean, but to meet with friends, exercise, or read at the library' - you see!"

"Ah, now the library - that sounds interesting."

"Oh come on Doctor..." pleaded Mel, adding mischeviously "Did the Romans have carrots?"

"Mmmm?"

"Doctor, you're not listening to a word..."

"Shhh, look" said the Doctor, pointing down the lane they were standing nearby. Mel turned in time to see a man in the uniform of a Roman Legionary turn, and walk away from a dark, cowled shape, which quickly merged into the shadows of the Temple. The Legionary was headed away from them, up a gentle slope to the Road on the other side of the Temple. The Doctor was already striding down the lane toward the recently vacated meeting place.

"What's up, Doctor?" whispered Mel, following him into the cool and shady alley.

"He gave him something, the monk I mean. I couldn't see what, but it looked very suspicious." Suddenly he was kneeling in the exact spot where the meeting had occurred, dabbing at a small spot of white powder on the ground. He licked his finger.

"Salt." he said.

"So?"

"Very valuable in these times," said the Doctor, standing and moving forward to where the figure had disappeared. "They used to pay soldiers there wage in salt at times." he said. "Hence the word salary... aha!" he had found, deep in the shadows, a large wooden door. It fitted snugly into the side of the Temple building, blending perfectly with the architecture, but...

Mel leaned towards the door, tried the handle. It was locked. A faint humming came from within. The Doctor frowned deeply, then suddenly turned and ran briskly in the direction the soldier had taken. "Come on, Mel - you wanted exercise."

Mel followed at a speedy trot, and she and the Doctor emerged onto the main street once more, on the far side of the building. The soldier was nowhere in sight.

"Well, that's that I suppose." said Mel.

"Wait!" said the Doctor, darting forward to the far side of the road, and snatching something from the ground. Mel hurried over, and looked at the crumpled foil in the Doctors hand. His expression was dark, as he sniffed at the foil. He strode into the gardens before them, and there in the distance was the hurrying figure of the Legionary, heading for a secluded corner of the Gardens.

"I take it they weren't paid in this stuff?" Mel said, bounding after the Doctor

"No." he replied, as they neared the spot where the soldier had vanished into the undergrowth. "It has no place being in Europe until 1519, certainly not here in Roman Britain.

Mel sniffed disdainfully. "So it's taint shouldn't be felt here for more than a 1300 years!"

"Some people can't get enough of it, Mel..." said the Doctor, ruefully. "But our friend there shouldn't have the stuff. I have a nasty suspicion I know where he got it though."

 

They rounded the cover of the trees and found before them a surprised young Legionary, mouth dark with stains, and half a bar of chocolate melting in his eager hands, even as he wolfed it down. "Well my friend," said the Doctor, snatching the remainder of the bar from his grasp, "you shouldn't be eating that until you're at least as old as I am!"

Caius gazed up in shock at the strangers. "That's mine!" he gasped "give it back."

"Oh no," said the Doctor, glancing at Mel, then leaning close over Caius. "I'm afraid we can't let this stuff clutter up the timelines!" he said. And right in front of the astonished Legionary's eyes, he popped the rest of the chocolate into his mouth, and swallowed it whole.