Pirate Legion (A Roman Adventure Book 2) by SJA Turney

Author:SJA Turney [Turney, SJA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mulcahy Books
Published: 2019-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Scriptor urged his tired horse on. They had ridden faster than they had ever done before, and none of them were particularly used to horses, being two foot-soldiers and a girl. Callie clung on tight behind her uncle as she had done all the way from Gortyn, too small to ride her own horse, though she remembered reading that some of the African tribes had their children riding as soon as they could stand up. The third horse, carrying their gear, pounded along behind on a rope.

Dog lolloped alongside, oddly sprightly despite his long run. He had stopped here and there to drink from streams or eat miscellaneous things, and on one notable occasion to chase a bony, scrawny cat. But even though Scriptor had refused to slow their ride to make things easy for Dog, the mutt had always managed to catch up.

Cnossus lay ahead and under normal circumstances Callie would have been fascinated by what she saw. But it was late at night after a long ride and with no sleep, and the grave danger the others might be in was too important for her mind to wander off in fun. Instead, she saw everything as they passed in a slightly menacing way. Senex had told them everything he knew about the place on the ride, which wasn’t much, but was enough to form a basic idea of the place. It did nothing to make it less menacing.

Firstly, the dry aqueduct. Why, if the town was a functioning Roman town, not repair that? Then the ruins. There was nothing untoward about the ruins, but why were they so heavily fenced off? The villa that rose nearby had lights blazing in most of its windows even now, after midnight when most country houses would have been asleep for hours. And why could she see silhouetted against the orange light the figures of guards around the perimeter wall? Yes, rich villas had guards, but what were they so concerned about late at night here to have so many men so alert? It was all very sinister.

And when they reached the edge of the town, Scriptor’s horse exhausted and close to collapse, things were no more comforting. Even though it was very late, Callie was surprised at how quiet the place was. In her life she had seen two great cities: Alexandria and Gortyn, and several Egyptian towns, as well as Lebena in the south of Crete. And one thing she expected from any Roman town at night – compared to the country houses that retired early – was life. No matter how dark it was, there were always men in taverns, beggars on the streets and the like. The poor, the wicked or the daft could always be found in a Roman town at any hour. Not here, though. The streets were empty, every door shut and every window dark.

Dog paused part way along the street to leave a small present on a house’s doorstep, then caught up again.

They reached the centre, the forum of Cnossus, and Scriptor scratched his head, wondering what to do.

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