Emperor's Axe by Alex Gough

Author:Alex Gough
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788637008
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Ltd
Published: 2020-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The basement of the royal palace had a suitably dingy and smelly cell. The Egyptian prisoner was chained by manacles to the wall, and was now fully conscious, though his face was a mess where it had impacted the masonry in the temple. The legionary closed the door behind them, muttering that he didn’t know why they were bothering to interrogate the man when everyone knew it was the Jews. Silus and Atius were left alone with the prisoner. Silus stood a foot in front of the man, who let out a long stream of Egyptian which Silus presumed was not complimentary. With index finger extended, he poked the Egyptian hard in the eye.

He screamed, rattled his manacles, tried to put his hand to his eye in vain, and then let out another stream of curses. Silus held up his finger again, and he twisted his head away. Atius took hold of his chin in a firm grip and turned his face back towards Silus.

‘I presume you speak Greek.’

Another stream of Egyptian expletives. Silus jabbed him hard in the eye again, evoking another scream.

‘Yes, yes, I speak Greek,’ said the Egyptian.

‘Progress,’ commented Atius.

‘What’s your name?’ asked Silus.

‘Ankhtakelot.’

‘You were hired, weren’t you, Ankhtakelot?’ asked Silus. ‘You didn’t raid the sacred Temple of Isis just for fun, or for a valuable statue that you would never be able to sell.’

The man grunted and Silus wiggled his finger.

‘Yes, we were hired.’

‘Good. By whom?’

The Egyptian clamped his mouth shut.

‘There are worse torture instruments than a finger, you know,’ said Silus.

‘What will happen to me?’

Silus exchanged glances with Atius. ‘You killed a priest. What do you think should happen to you?’

‘If you want to find out where the stolen statue is, or who was behind it, then you should let me go.’

‘We could just torture it out of you. You would tell us eventually, in return for a quick death.’

Ankhtakelot started to shake, his bravado evaporating.

‘I will tell you everything. Just let me go.’

Silus turned to Atius, and covered his mouth with one hand to whisper in Latin, ‘How fanatical do you think these guys are?’

‘I have no idea,’ Atius whispered back. ‘We don’t know why he has done this. You are thinking he might give us false information under torture, and then by the time we find out we have already killed him?’

‘Maybe.’

Silus turned back to the Egyptian. ‘Fine, here’s the deal. Tell us all you know. We will check it out. If you are telling the truth, we will see what we can do about getting you a lenient sentence.’

The Egyptian considered, but he knew this was a generous offer.

‘A man came to our village. We work in the fields on the banks of the Nile, near the city of Dmi-n-Hr. The Greeks call it Hermopolis Mikra. He said he would pay us well if we raided a temple and stole an artefact for him. The inundation was below expectations last year; times are hard.’

‘Inundation?’

The man looked at Silus and Atius in confusion.

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