The Emperor's Knives by Anthony Riches

Author:Anthony Riches [Riches, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Action & Adventure, War & Military
ISBN: 9781444731941
Google: XaUBAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2014-02-12T08:00:00+00:00

6

Marcus rose before sunrise, having slept fitfully. Sitting on the bed, he mused briefly on Scaurus’s final words in the officers’ meeting the previous evening.

‘Last night we did a great service to Rome, gentlemen. We removed a dozen of the most depraved men in the Senate, and with a little luck we will have knocked a large enough hole in their ranks for a little fresh air to get in. And, let us not forget, we have also dealt out justice to the third of the men who slaughtered our colleague’s family. However …’ Marcus had already known what was coming next. ‘I can see no way that we’ll be able to bring that justice to the fourth of them. For one thing we no longer have the dubious services of the informant Excingus on our side.’

‘And for another, the bastard lives in a gladiatorial ludus among hundreds of men who revere him as their unofficial leader.’

The tribune took a sip of the wine he’d broached to celebrate their victory of the previous evening, nodding at Julius’s comment.

‘Quite so, First Spear. And so it is with regret that I am forced to concede that, for the time being, we will have to wait for an opportunity to arise. I hope you can understand my caution in this matter, Centurion?’

Marcus had nodded.

‘I can only profess my gratitude at the support you’ve given me so far, Tribune. To do anything else would be churlish.’

For a moment he was convinced that Scaurus had not fully believed his show of acceptance, but at length the tribune had nodded, raising his cup again.

‘Very well then, gentlemen! To victories gained, and one last victory to come!’

The officers had raised their cups, echoing the chorus, and Marcus had done the same despite his utter clarity as to what he had to do the next morning. He dressed in the darkness, having laid out the tunic and boots he intended to wear the previous night, and silently made his way to the bedroom’s door.

‘You’re leaving without saying goodbye?’

He froze at the door, realising that his stealthy exit had failed, then turned back and sat on the bed beside his wife.

‘I thought we said it all last night?’

Felicia sat up and knotted her fingers in his hair.

‘Not everything.’ She kissed him hard on the lips, her eyes wet with barely restrained tears. ‘You know you won’t come back this time. You know that once you’ve killed this man, his followers will tear you limb from limb. You know all this, and still you go to take your revenge no matter what the cost will be, despite the fact that this man Pilinius’s death has left you just as empty as the two you killed before him.’

He shrugged helplessly.

‘I still have no choice. Any day now we’ll be posted away, either back to Britannia or to whichever of the empire’s borders is creaking the loudest, and I’ll never see this city again, or finish the act of vengeance that I’ve begun.

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