Gladiator: Street fighter by Simon Scarrow

Author:Simon Scarrow
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Puffin Books
Published: 2012-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

17

‘What the hell were you thinking?’ Caesar said through clenched teeth as he addressed Clodius, Festus and Marcus in his study later that day. ‘Over a hundred men killed, and at least three times that number injured. By Jupiter, the Forum was running with blood by the time you’d finished. You were only supposed to put pressure on the senators, and make them change their mind about supporting Cato.’ He shook his head and waved a hand as if trying to brush something aside. ‘Not this . . . this bloodbath.’

‘Oh, tush! You wanted to step up the conflict, Caesar. Now that both sides are using the street gangs, violence was inevitable. In any case, my instructions were that I could do anything short of murder,’ Clodius responded with a shrug. He turned to Marcus who was standing quietly to one side of the study. ‘Isn’t that right, boy? That’s what Caesar told you to tell me?’

Marcus nodded and shot a quick glance at Caesar before he replied, ‘Yes, master.’

‘See?’ Clodius smiled as he turned back to Caesar. ‘Besides, only a handful of senators came to any actual harm. Not anyone who would be missed.’

‘Twenty of them were injured. One seriously. His skull was shattered when he slipped on the stairs.’

‘Not my fault then,’ Clodius responded dismissively.

‘Whatever you might think, the damage is done,’ Caesar countered. ‘You’ve caused a bloody battle right outside the Senate House, and now Cato will milk it for all it’s worth. He’ll be calling me a tyrant in front of everyone when the Senate meets tomorrow. The last thing I need is more people against me - they’re voting on whether to send me back to the middle of nowhere. I haven’t done all this for Rome just to end up in the mountains fighting slaves.’

While Clodius and Caesar argued, Marcus’s mind was turning over an idea. The conflict between Caesar and Bibulus had reached a deadly stage. First the attempt on Portia’s life, then the vote to oust Caesar from Rome, and now the street gangs spilling blood in the heart of the city. Caesar’s life was in danger, and there was only one way of uncovering any plot against his life, Marcus decided. The real battle wouldn’t be won in fist-to-fist combat in the city streets, he was sure of it. A plan was forming in his mind. If it succeeded, then Caesar would be further in Marcus’s debt. He couldn’t rely on his original plans for Pompeius’s help, but this might be a way to prove himself to both of them and obtain the one reward he really wanted.

‘He can try it on,’ Clodius was replying, ‘but since Milo played his part in things, neither side looks good. Besides, enough senators were so badly shaken up that I doubt they’ll show their faces in the Senate House until long after the year is over, when you and Bibulus have handed over to the next pair of consuls. Not that anyone will be aware Bibulus was ever consul since he’s refused to take his place in the Senate.

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