The Eagles 1 by Andrew Quiller

Author:Andrew Quiller [Quiller, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, action adventure, Historical Fiction, Angus Wells, Roman Empire, Gladiators, Piccadilly Publishing
Publisher: Piccadilly
Published: 2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

They didn’t find the body of the woman, though a patrol followed the smears of blood, watching them turn to trails of brains, then splinters of bone as all the blood was mashed from the corpse. Finally, there was nothing left to wear down, and the sand grew softer. So they turned back.

Another patrol went on, casting round in a large circle, and they pulled in a fish with their net. A tall man, with dark curly hair. Wearing a red cloak.

Marcus had finished his report, and had said a fond farewell to the Lady Agrippina, promising to take care and return safely. He was spared a meeting with her husband, who was out with a party of tribunes on a hunting expedition. She had called him to their tent, and had kissed him hard on the lips, letting her hot little tongue probe into his mouth. Then she had let him go. But the promise of the help as a gladiator was there. And it was a promise that he intended to hold.

A soldier stopped him, telling him that they’d taken a prisoner, and would he go to the tent of the Praefectus Castrorum. He was the senior of the professional soldiers. A short, squat man, running to fat, named Octavius Antoniarus. Although there were those who liked him, claiming he was a fine soldier, Marcus had never liked him. Sharing the more popular belief that Antoniarus was not to be trusted.

‘Come in, young Marcus. Good piece of work you did there. If Old Big Tits had died, there’d have been the devil to pay. Hear you also had a bit of trouble with some black gladiator. Tell me about it tomorrow, will you? I’ve... got a lot on tonight, you know.’

Marcus did. Antoniarus’s affairs with his slave woman was the scandal of the Legion. There was no future to it, as the word would eventually get to Flavius Silva, and he would break him for his way of life.

‘I’m glad the Lady Agrippina was pleased with what little I could do,’ he said, keeping his voice neutral.

‘Bet you managed more than a little, you young dog, Marcus. Still. That’s not why you’re here. My men caught one of those stinking Jews. Says he wasn’t on the raid, and that he’s not a Zealot. But my Centurion says that one of them had a bright red cloak. This man’s got a cloak of that color. I’ll have him brought in.’ He shouted out to his sentry, and there was the sound of marching feet. ‘Did you get a good look at him?’

Before Marcus could answer, an escort stamped into the tent, half-dragging a man between them. Tall, with curly hair, hanging low over the nape of his neck. He was naked above the waist, and his cloak, whatever color it might have been, was gone. The soldiers let go of him, giving him a push so that he fell face down on the floor of the tent. The lights

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