The Last Hour by Harry Sidebottom

Author:Harry Sidebottom [Sidebottom, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2018-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

The Forum of Trajan

T

HE TWO MEN WERE SOLDIERS, without question. They might wear dark tunics and civilian sandals, and carry no swords, but their every movement betrayed them. There was a measure, almost a swagger, in their tread. As he went along, one even twirled the strap end of his belt. Service under the eagles moulded a man, made him walk as if he feared no one, would beat to the ground anyone who stood in his way. If, like Ballista, you had spent the greater part of your life in the camps, it did not matter how they were dressed; you would never fail to recognise their type. He had known them at the Mausoleum, and he knew them now.

They were soldiers, and they were looking for someone. They advanced slowly, shoulder to shoulder, almost marching. Each scrutinised just his side of the Forum. It spoke of discipline and orders.

Ballista could see no others, neither behind them at the entrance to the Forum, nor coming down the western aisle in which he stood. He had no doubt that he could slip past these two, and in any case there were other ways out of the Forum. But it was always better to know the location of your enemy. Ballista remained where he was, leaning against a column.

The raking early morning sunshine played on green and yellow marble columns, dazzled from the white marble pavement. It threw long, black shadows ahead of the soldiers. This was a place of joy, where newly freed slaves wore the cap of liberty, where debtors saw their records burnt. The dark shapes of the soldiers were interlopers. It was a wonder that no one else who was milling about registered their incongruous air of menace. But, apart from Ballista, no one else was looking.

As they drew near, Ballista moved around the base of the column, so it blocked their line of sight. It was like a child’s game of hide and seek, only with deadly intent.

Sure enough, they went by without spotting him. Intent on their task, at no point did they so much as glance back.

Ballista watched them go. They were dwarfed by their surroundings. Above the soaring columns larger-than-life statues of Dacian prisoners in white marble gazed down with resigned faces. From between the barbarians, busts of former emperors and empresses regarded everything with the detachment of the divine. Highest of all, etched against the sky, were the standards of the legions with which Trajan had conquered Dacia.

The soldiers halted at the foot of the steps that led up to the Ulpian Basilica at the north end of the Forum. They stopped to confer. Perhaps their orders had been unclear, or it could be that they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of their task. Soldiers always complain. How were just two of them expected to search the whole of the Forum? What about the basilica? Were they meant to search that too? And the libraries and the temple beyond? There were hundreds of people, all these slaves and freedmen, all these foreigners wandering about.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.