The Gladiator

'Promote me?' Cato was stunned by the idea, until he realised it made sense. Up to a point. 'If I go in as a prefect, then it will look even more ridiculous than me holding the rank of centurion, sir.

Besides, the Legate of Egypt would still have seniority.'

'Who said anything about being a prefect? I'm sending you to Egypt with the civil rank of tribune.'

'Tribune?' Now Cato was truly shocked. The tribunate was largely an honorific title in Rome, but was still occasionally conferred upon officials sent out to the provinces to act with the authority of the emperor and his senate. Cato gently chewed his lip.' Can you do that?'

'I am the acting governor of this province, having assumed authority in the emperor's name. It's worked so far. And, as you said, what have I got to lose? I'll draw up the document, and seal it with the governor's ring. In fact, you'd better take my family ring with you to prove that I sent you. That, and your quick wits, will carry the argument.'

'They'll have to,' Macro added. 'Otherwise we're all in the shit.'

'Quite,' said Sempronius. 'If we win the day, then I'll just have to hope the emperor overlooks the fact that I've overstepped the mark in conferring the rank on you.'

Cato smiled bitterly. 'And if he doesn't, then I'll be had up for acting without proper authority. Men have been condemned for treason for doing such things. I think I'd rather stay here and face the slaves.'

'Then you're dead either way' Sempronius shrugged. 'What have you got to lose?'

Cato's shoulders drooped in resignation. 'All right, then. I'll go.'

'Good man!' Macro slapped him on the back. 'Get to Alexandria, and find us those men. And don't go and fuck it up.'

'Thanks for the encouragement.'

'You're welcome.' Macro grinned. 'Anyway, you've got it easy. It's us who'll be having to cope with those slaves and that gladiator they've got leading them. Which reminds me.' He turned to Centurion Micon, who had been keeping as still and as quiet as possible during the preceding discussion, no doubt hoping that invisibility was his best hope in escaping the shame of fleeing the battlefield that had claimed the lives of his commander and all but a handful of his men. He wilted before Macro's gaze.

'Sir?'

'This gladiator. Did that boy you captured mention his name?'

Yes, yes, he did, sir.' Micon nodded.' He said he was a Thracian, called Ajax.'

'Ajax?' Macro scratched his chin, and then his fingers froze as his eyes suddenly widened. 'Ajax!' He turned to Cato. 'What do you think? Is it possible?'

'Do es the name mean something to you?' asked the senator.

'It does. At least I think it does. The man I saw recognised me, I'm certain of it. But there's only one Ajax I can recall meeting, and it's hard to believe it can be the same man.'

Cato took a deep breath. 'If it is, and he knows that we're on the island, then we're in even more danger than I thought. Ajax won't rest until he's had his full measure of revenge.'

'Revenge?' Sempronius hissed with frustration. 'Would you mind telling me what's going on? Who is this Ajax, and what has he got against you?'

'It's a long story,' said Macro. 'But he has his reasons for hating us.

His father used to commanda pirate fleet operating out of the coast of Illyria. Until Cato and I put paid to his activities. We captured Ajax, his father and most of the pirates. We had orders to make an example of them.' He shrugged. 'Cato and I were the ones who crucified his father and had Ajax sold into slavery.'

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Two days after the news of the defeat reached Gortyna, Cato arrived at the small fishing village of Ciprana on the south coast.

The port had been recommended to him as being virtually cut off from the rest of the island by the sheer mountains that surrounded it.

Only a little-used track linked Ciprana to the plain, picking its way along steep slopes and ravines. It was unlikely that the slaves had even heard of the place, let alone knew how to find the port. There should be some craft there capable of carrying Cato across the sea to Alexandria.

He travelled on horseback with an escort of four picked men, all wearing scarlet tunics and cloaks that marked them out as Roman soldiers. Cato had been provided with an expensively embroidered tunic from what was left of the wardrobe of Governor Hirtius. He also wore the man's fine calfskin boots, which were a little on the large side, but comfortable enough after years of wearing the heavy nailed boots of the legions. In a sealed leather tube that hung from a thong around Cato's neck were two documents and the senator's family ring. The first letter appointed him to the temporary rank of tribune, signed and sealed by Senator Sempronius in the name of the Emperor Claudius. Both Cato and the senator hoped that the document would impress the legate in Egypt enough to persuade him to send aid. The second was a detailed report of the situation in Crete, which clearly outlined the dangers facing the province.