Read Online Gladiator: Vengeance by Simon Scarrow - Free Book Online Page B

thing I’ve eaten in months.’
    He lay back on the ground and stared at the night sky, a pool of stars fringed by the trees surrounding the clearing. Every so often a brilliant red spark swirled up to join the cold, steady pinpricks of the stars before swiftly fading out. Around them the forest was pitch-black, but the occasional light crack of a snapping twig, or rustle of undergrowth, revealed the animals who were abroad under cover of darkness. At first Lupus had been nervous, thinking the noises to be the sounds of men stalking them. Born and raised in Rome, he had little experience of the natural world. But he was growing used to it, and starting to enjoy the experience. Even the shrilling of the cicadas no longer bothered him.
    ‘I could learn to live like this,’ he muttered happily.
    Festus grunted, chewing slowly on a morsel of meat. When he swallowed he wagged a finger at the scribe. ‘It makes a nice change right enough. But that’s because summer is coming. You wouldn’t want to be out here in the winter. Believe me.’
    Marcus had already finished his meal and sat staring into the flames. He nodded as he recalled the winter that had just passed, and the cold of the Apennine mountains that had seeped into his bones. He shivered at the memory. But he could understandLupus’s feeling. Sleeping under the stars on a warm night filled his soul with a tranquillity he had rarely known since being torn from his previous life.
    ‘Anyway,’ Festus continued, ‘we can’t stay here. Too close to Stratos. Word of Pindarus’s death and the hunt for his killers will spread out. We have to stay ahead of that and then find a way of disappearing from view. We should be able to manage that in a city the size of Athens.’
    ‘But we didn’t kill him on purpose,’ Lupus protested. ‘We’re not murderers.’
    ‘That’s not how it looks,’ Marcus interrupted. ‘It’s hardly as if we were invited into his house. No one will believe it was an accident. The only thing we can do is make sure we are not caught.’
    ‘He’s right.’ Festus nodded. ‘We’ll have to travel as far from Stratos as we can tomorrow. Better if we get some sleep. We’ll need all our strength for the road.’
    Lupus smiled. ‘Sleep. Just what I want. Can’t tell you how exhausted I am.’
    He reached for his cloak and pulled it over his body, then curled up with his back to the fire. His breathing soon became deep and even. Marcus and Festus sat in silence for a while as the fire began to die down and cast a wavering glow across thetrees round the clearing. At length Marcus sighed, then spoke quietly.
    ‘I wonder how Caesar’s campaign is going?’
    Festus shrugged. ‘It’s early days. Last I heard he was dealing with some tribes from Helvetia who wanted to settle in Gaul. You can be sure he’ll make short work of them.’
    There was a certain bitterness to his tone that caught Marcus’s ear. He thought quickly, and wondered if Festus resented being ordered to help him. Marcus cleared his throat. ‘Do you wish he’d taken you with him?’
    Festus took a deep breath. ‘I suppose I do. Having served him loyally for so many years I thought I would always be at his side.’
    ‘Do you mind being told to help me?’
    The man looked sharply at Marcus. ‘No. Not now. At first, perhaps. It may sound strange but I find this situation more … comfortable. Being with Caesar is like walking a narrow mountain path. The view may be impressive, but you miss your step and you will fall. Do you understand?’
    Marcus considered these comments then nodded. ‘Even though I came to admire him, there was something about him that always scared me. I never thought he saw me as a person. More of a useful tool.’
    ‘Exactly. That’s how it seems to me, now I am no longer with him and can see things more clearly. That said, if he had decided to take me with him I would have gone willingly.’
    Marcus shuffled a little closer to the dying fire before