‘I think you will find that I was a most uncommon slave, Governor,’ Ajax said tersely. ‘Otherwise we would not be here.’
‘All right, then. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that I agree to your demand. What makes you think that any other Roman official will honour it? In any case, you have no means of finding sufficient ships to carry your people away from Crete. How do you think you will be able to compel Rometo keep to her side of the bargain?’
‘It’s simple. I will take you, and every Roman , and the city’s leading families as hostages. You will come with us every step of the way.When we reach the frontier, and not before, we will release you. If the emperor, or any of his subordinates, attempts to hinder us, then I will start killing my prisoners, beginning with you.’
Sempronius took a sharp breath. ‘That won’t work. I’ve told you, Rome cannot agree to your demands.’
‘Then it is up to you to persuade the emperor. I take it you were trained in rhetoric as a youth. No doubt by some expensive Greek slave. Now’s the chance to put your skills to good use. Your life depends on it.’
‘This is absurd. I cannot accept your demands. You know it.’ Sempronius paused and drew a deep breath. ‘Now, let me tell you what my demands are. One: you lay down your arms and surrender. Two: you identify all the ringleaders to me. Three: all other slaves are to return to their owners at once. In return, I will send you and the other ringleaders to Rome to be sentenced before the emperor and the senate. Furthermore I will do all that is within my legal power to limit the punishment of the slaves who freely return to their masters.’
Ajax stared at the Roman with a cold expression. He had expected such disdain from Sempronius, and a refusal of his demands. It was time to demonstrate to these Romans that their danger was very real.
‘Senator, your demands are no more acceptable than mine. Yet the difference between us is that you are in no position to make demands.’ Ajax turned in the saddle and called back towards his men. ‘Chilo! Bring the wagon here!’
The line of horsemen parted and four oxen trudged forward, drawing a heavy covered wagon behind them. A driver sat on the bench, with another man who was covered in filth. His tunic was in tatters, exposing skin that was streaked with grime and blood, and marked with cuts and bruises. He was chained to the wagon by his hands and ankles and his head was bowed.
‘What’s this?’ asked Sempronius.
Ajax turned back. ‘I suspect you have been wondering why we did not advance on Gortyna immediately after the ambush. The answer is in the wagon.You see, my army bypassed Gortyna during the night eight days ago. We made for Matala instead. The com- mander of the garrison there proved every bit as arrogant as you, Sempronius. He managed to herd most of his people on to the acropolis. Those that remained in the refugee camp we put to the sword. I sent a messenger to the gate to demand the surrender of the acropolis. I told your Centurion Portillus that I wanted the food on the acropolis, not him and his people.When he surrendered, they could all go free. If he did not submit within two days, then I would take the acropolis and slaughter every person inside its walls. I am glad to say that Portillus saw reason, and surrendered the very next day.’ Ajax paused as the wagon rumbled up, turned to one side and halted behind him. He caught a waft of death and decay and heard the buzzing drone of flies as he continued. ‘Sadly, as far as the people of Matala are concerned, it was necessary for me to make an example of them in order that you would believe me when I came here to make my demands to you.’
‘What have you done?’ asked the centurion behind Sempronius.
‘I did what was necessary. I had the garrison and townspeople marched out of the city and then I told my men to kill them.’
Sempronius shook his head. ‘You’re lying.’
‘Yes, I thought that would be the reaction. So I brought proof. Chilo, remove the cover.’
Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Chilo edged his horse towards the side of the wagon and grasped one corner of the cover. With a savage heave, he wrenched it away and let it fall to the ground. A swirling mass of insects rose into the evening air. Sempronius covered his mouth with a hand and stepped back. The nearest of the auxiliaries squinted at the contents of the wagon and then turned to one side to vomit. Ajax watched their reactions with quiet satisfaction as they gazed upon the severed heads heaped on the bed of the wagon.
‘That is what is left of the soldiers of the Twelfth Hispania. The rest we left out for the carrion and the dogs.’ Ajax turned to the driver of the wagon and pointed at the man chained beside him. ‘Release him! Then leave the wagon and get back to the camp.’
‘Yes, General,’ the driver replied and then ducked down to release the pins that fastened the shackles to the wagon. As soon as he had done that, he roughly pushed the man off the bench and he tumbled on to the ground beside the wagon with a thud and lay there groaning.
‘Get up!’ Ajax ordered. Chilo leaned down from his saddle and grasped the prisoner’s hair and hauled him to his feet.With a thrust from Chilo’s boot, the man stumbled towards Ajax and the two Romans.
‘You may not recognise him now,’ Ajax stared at the men in contempt, ‘but I believe you know Centurion Portillus, lately the commander of the garrison of Matala. I thought I might spare him so that he could confirm what I have told you. Here, Senator, the prisoner is yours.’
Chilo goaded Portillus towards Sempronius, who could not help recoiling at the soiled, stinking creature that confronted him. The senator swallowed and forced himself to control his voice as he addressed Portillus.
‘Is it true?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ Portillus mumbled, barely able to meet his superior’s eye. ‘Are they all dead?’
‘Yes, sir.’ The centurion’s voice quavered. ‘I saw them die. All my men. All the civilians, every last one of them, even the infants.’
‘I see.’ Sempronius glared at him. ‘And is it true that you surrendered without a fight?’
‘We had no choice,’ Portillus protested. ‘They threatened to put us to the sword.You heard.’
‘It seems they did it anyway.’ Sempronius’s expression became severe. ‘You have disgraced yourself.’
‘Don’t be too hard on him,’ Ajax intervened. ‘I betrayed him in turn. He wasn’t to know’
‘Wasn’t to know what?’ Sempronius spat back. ‘That you should never trust the word of a slave?’
‘What does my word matter? Or yours?’ Ajax paused a moment. ‘All that matters is that you know what the consequences are ifyou refuse to meet my demands. For the last time, Senator. You will surrender Gortyna to me. If you do not, then you and everyone else will share the fate of the people of Matala. You have until noon tomorrow to decide.’
He turned his horse towards the camp, then paused and turned back, gesturing at Portillus. ‘I return this man to you. I have no further need of him.’
Sempronius looked briefly at Centurion Portillus and then cleared his throat. ‘I don’t want him. Neither I nor my men will be contaminated by his cowardice.’
Ajax shrugged. ‘So be it. Chilo!’ ‘Yes, General?’ ‘Finish him.’ Chilo nodded and dismounted. He pulled out a broad-bladed dagger from his belt and advanced on Portillus with a cruel smile. The latter’s eyes widened in terror and he lurched towards Sempronius, the chains causing him to tumble to his knees.
‘Spare me! For pity’s sake, don’t let him!’
Sempronius stepped back nimbly. ‘Don’t you dare beg me, you cur!’
Chilo stood behind Portillus and grasped him under the chin with one hand, and before Portillus could make more than a strangled whimper, the blade slashed across his throat. A great rush of blood spurted out and splashed on the ground. Chilo released his grip and stepped back. For a moment Portillus frantically clasped his hands to his throat, then he slumped back and rolled on to his side, his body trembling as he bled out.
Chilo wiped the blade on his tunic.
‘Bastard,’ the centurion who had acc
ompanied Sempronius growled. He drew his sword and stepped forward.
‘Put that sword away!’ Sempronius shouted.
The centurion ignored him and advanced towards Chilo. ‘Let’s see how good you are against a man who can fight back!’
‘Leave him!’ Sempronius grabbed the officer’s shoulder. ‘I gave you an order, Centurion Macro! Leave him.’
Ajax froze. He was still for an instant, then twisted round in his saddle and stared at the Roman officer. ‘Macro? Centurion Macro?’
His heart was filled with a rush of emotions. Bitter hatred, rage and a strange joyful exultation. His limbs trembled with excite- ment and there was an almost inhuman desire to throw himself on Macro and tear the Roman to pieces. Blood pounded through his veins as he raised his hands, fingers clawed, as if he would wring the other man’s neck. Then the moment passed, and self-control struggled to control his thoughts. N o t now. N o t while there were higher stakes.
‘Ajax, the pirate’s son.’ Macro nodded slowly, sword raised and braced to defend himself against any sudden attack. ‘You remember me, then?’
There was a keening groan in Ajax’s throat as he fought to restrain his rage.
‘I remember you well enough, lad,’ Macro continued. ‘And I remember your father.When this is over, you’ll share his fate. By the gods, I swear it . . . Unless you want to fight me now. Come on!’ He raised his sword. ‘Man to man.’
Ajax was breathing deeply. His senses were heightened to a feverish pitch of sound, sight and smell, just as they always were in the arena when the signal to fight was given. Slowly, slowly he forced himself to calm his desire to hurl himself at Macro. Instead he eased his sword hand to his side, and sat erect, still staring fixedly at the Roman.
‘We will have our fight, Centurion. Not here, not now. But the time will come. No god, no fate, no person would deny me the right to kill you with my own hands.’
Ajax abruptly turned his horse away and kicked his heels in, galloping back towards his army. His heart was filled with overwhelming resolve. When Macro was defeated, he would learn what it meant to die in the most humiliating, agonising manner,just as Ajax’s father had done.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ust what did you think you were doing back there?’ Sempronius Jsnapped the moment they reached his headquarters in the acropolis. ‘You were goading him. You saw his expression at the end there. He was insane. For a moment I thought he’d go for you with his bare hands.’ ‘Might have been better for us if he had, sir,’ Macro replied coolly.
‘Then I could have had him.With Ajax gone, how long do you think that ragbag army of his would hold together?’
Sempronius gave him a calculating look. ‘What makes you think you could have beaten him? The man looked as tough as any fighter I have ever seen in the arena, and he’s been trained to kill.’
‘So have I. And I’ve had rather more experience at it. Besides, what good would all that gladiatorial training have been ifhe had lost his head and thrown himself into a fight?’
Sempronius nodded. ‘I see. That’s what you were counting on. That’s why you provoked him.’
‘ O f course, sir. First rule of war – always try and get the enemy to fight on your terms.’
‘Well then, I owe you an apology. For a moment I thought you had lost control of yourself.’
‘Me?’ Macro looked pained. ‘Lose control of myself?’
‘In any case, thanks to your intervention, I doubt that Ajax is going to be predisposed towards sparing anyone if he does take Gortyna.’ Sempronius sat down behind his desk and turned to gaze over the city. Macro had given orders for torches and braziers to be lit along the wall, in case the rebels made any attempt to attack under cover of darkness. The usual watch had been doubled and the rest of the men were quartered in houses close to the walls. Some half-mile outside the city were clusters of camp fires, arranged in a great arc that enclosed the hills to the rear of it. As soon as night had fallen, several sections of men had been sent out from Gortyna to start sowing the caltrops along the approaches to the weakest lengths of the wall. Now there was a tense stillness as the defenders beheld the enemy host and waited.
Sempronius turned away from the window. ‘If the city falls, he will take his hostages and kill the rest. I am sure of it.’
‘Then we must make sure that we hold Gortyna.’
‘Easily said, Macro. We have to think through all the choices open to us.’
Macro’s eyes widened. ‘You’re not seriously considering surrender?’
‘No,’ Sempronius replied. ‘But it is an option, none the less. We’ll have to put the situation to the ruling council.They have to be told.’ Macro shook his head. ‘Sir, if we let a bunch of civilians have their say, well, it’s obvious they’ll take the offer to save their skins.’ ‘Then we must persuade them that Ajax is not to be trusted.’ W h y ask them in the first place? Just tell them we ain’t giving in and we’ll fight the rebels until the last man, or until Cato returns with reinforcements.’
‘We have to keep them on our side even though I doubt that the idea offighting to the last man is going to win much support.We’ll have to play up the idea of the city being relieved.’ Sempronius yawned and ran a hand through his grey-streaked hair. ‘Either way, we must assemble the council and explain the situation. I’ll have them brought here within the hour. I want you with me.’
Macro’s shoulders slumped for an instant. ‘It’d be better if I remained on the wall, sir. In case the enemy try anything on.’
‘No. You’ll be here. That’s an order. If this city can be defended, then they’ll need to hear that from a professional soldier.We have to talk them out of considering surrender, so you’d better be persuasive, Macro.The last thing we need is a divided city at our back when we face the rebels.’
The city’s councillors entered the office with anxious expressions and took their places on the benches that Sempronius had ordered for them. He had considered making them stand, but had decided that it would be better if he stood and they sat. It was an old technique for establishing authority that he had learned from his Greek tutor of rhetoric. As the last of them entered and settled on to the benches, Sempronius glanced at Macro sitting on a chair in the corner of the office. The centurion was leaning forwards, elbows on knees and fist supporting his chin as he stared down at the floor with a resigned air. Sempronius frowned briefly, then turned back to his audience, who were talking in muted tones.
‘Thank you for coming, gentlemen . . .’ He waited for them all to fall silent and focus their attention on him. ‘As you are no doubt aware, the rebels have arrived to lay siege to Gortyna. Some of you will have heard that my senior military officer and I met their leader, Ajax the gladiator, at dusk. He gave us his demands, namely freedom, and free passage out of the empire for him and his followers.’
‘Then why don’t you agree to his terms?’ One ofthe councillors, a fat merchant, leaned forward. ‘Give him what he wants and get him away from us.’
Several of his companions nodded and muttered their agreement.
Sempronius fixed his gaze on the man. ‘Polocrites, isn’t it? Olive oil exporter.’
The man nodded, and folded his arms, as Macro muttered to himself, ‘Like father like son. No stomach for a fight.’
‘It isn’t as simple as that, Polocrites. Even if I agree to his demands, Ajax wants to take hostages to ensure that we keep our side of the deal.To that end he wants us to surrender the city and hand ourselves over to him. It is his intention to keep his hostages until he has made good his escape from Roman territory’
As the import of his words sank in, another of the councillors spoke up. ‘That’s preposterous. He can’t hope to take the entire city with him. How would he feed such a multitude? How could the rebels stop them escaping?’
‘Ajax does not intend to take everyone hostage. Just the Romans . . .’
Polocrites nodded. ‘That’s fair.’ ‘And
the richest families of Gortyna,’ Sempronius continued. Polocrites glared. ‘That’s an outrage! This gladiator’s fight is between him and Rome. We have nothing to do with it.’ ‘Why don’t you go and tell him that?’ asked Sempronius. ‘Now be quiet and hear me out. Ajax wants high-value hostages. He hopes that the emperor will think twice before reneging on any deal I may make regarding freeing these slaves if it means putting our lives at risk. I have to tell you that I do not think for a moment that Claudius would permit a mass revolt of slaves to succeed. Indeed, I think he will do everything in his power to have Ajax and his followers tracked down and destroyed. If that means we are killed, then that’s a price he will be prepared to pay’ He paused, steeling himself to continue. ‘And there’s worse news. It is my belief – my conviction – that if Gortyna is surrendered to the rebels, they will take their hostages and put the rest of the population to the sword.’
‘How can you possibly know that?’ Polocrites scoffed.
‘It’s quite simple. Some days ago the garrison and people of Matala surrendered to the rebels and now they are all dead.’
For a moment there was complete stillness and silence in the room, before one of the councillors asked, ‘Dead? All dead? H o w do you know?’
‘Ajax told us.’ Sempronius indicated Macro. ‘He brought us the heads of the men of the Twelfth Hispania, and had their commander confirm the details before being murdered in front of our eyes. If you don’t believe me then you can see for yourself at first light. Ajax left the heads in front of the main gate. He said he wanted to provide us, and those back in Rome, with proof of his ruthlessness. It’s possible that he also needed to burn his bridges to make sure that his followers realised there was no going back. Not after they had massacred an entire town. For the slaves there is, from now on, only freedom or death.’
‘If he has proved his point, then he does not need to kill our people,’ said Polocrites.
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