The Eagles Prophecy

'He came for the scrolls,' Minucius interrupted, pointing at the chest on the table. 'In that box. That's all he wanted.'

'I'm sure it is,' Telemachus replied quietly as he looked at the tribune again.'So who are you working for? I've already met the agent sent by the Liberators. So is it the Emperor? Or yourself?'

Vitellius drew himself up stiffly. 'I serve Emperor Claudius! I am his most trusted agent. If anything happens to me, you can be sure the Emperor will hunt you down and have you killed like dogs!'

'I'm sure he would pay a pretty ransom for you,' mused Telemachus.

Desperation gleamed in the tribune's face. 'Count on it!'

'Then we might have some use for you…' Telemachus scratched his chin for a moment and was about to speak again when a horn blared across the citadel.

Minucius turned towards the sound, straining his ears as more notes sounded. But these were more distant and lighter, and with a thrill of fear he recognised the sound.'Those are Roman horns! They're starting the assault!'

Telemachus snapped some orders to his men. At once two of the pirates sheathed their weapons, closed in on Vitellius and began to tie him to the bed.

'What will you do to him, Father?' Ajax asked in Greek.

'I'm not sure. He might be useful.'

Ajax gripped his father's arm and continued, 'If we survive this attack, let me be the one to kill him.'

'Kill him? Kill a valuable hostage?'

'Father, he tortured me. He humiliated me. He made me tell him about those scrolls. I must have vengeance…' Ajax pleaded.

'Later. We must go to the walls. Come! You too, Minucius. If the Romans break into the city, we'll come back for some gold and make for this boat of yours.'

Telemachus hurried from the room. Ajax followed after him. Only Minucius remained, alone with the bodies of Vitellius' bodyguards. He took a last look at the treasure, shook his head sadly.'Oh, Portia…what the hell have I got myself into?'

Then with an angry growl Minucius snatched up his sword and set off after the pirates.

06 The Eagles Prophecy

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

'What do you mean, the prisoner's gone?' Vespasian asked.

The staff officer shook his head. 'I don't know, sir. He's not there. Nor is Centurion Minucius. Nor are the sentries.'

'All of them gone?'

'Yes, sir,' the tribune replied helplesly.

Vespasian glared at him, then exploded. 'That's impossible! What the bloody hell is going on here? Damn it! I'll see for myself.'

He burst out of the headquarters tent into the predawn gloom and strode down through the camp towards the ships drawn up on the beach. As he approached the trireme a small crowd of onlookers clustered about at the water's edge watching all the activity on deck where scores of marines and a handful of officers were searching the vessel for signs of the prisoner and the centurion tasked with guarding him.

'Out of my way!' Vespasian bellowed, and the small crowd hurriedly moved aside to make way for the prefect. He climbed halfway up the gangway and turned angrily towards them. 'Stop gawping and get back to the camp!'

Vespasian continued up the gangway and jumped down on to the deck with a thud, and the men, turning towards the sound, snapped to attention at once. Centurion Macro was standing by the forward hatch, listening to reports from his marines, and the prefect marched straight over to him.

'Well? What the hell is going on, Centurion?'

Macro saluted. 'Prisoner's escaped, sir.'

'I know. So explain yourself. He was left in your charge.'

'Yes, sir.' Macro winced. 'I gave orders for Centurion Minucius to guard the prisoner overnight. I made it clear that Ajax must be watched closely and must come to no harm. Two men were left to guard the gangway, sir. There shouldn't have been any problems.'

'But now both of them are gone.' Vespasian shook his head. 'Sterling work, Centurion.'

Macro said nothing.

'When did this mess come to your attention?'

'Just before dawn, sir. I came down here with Centurion Cato to relieve Minucius and his men and collect the prisoner. Soon as we saw that the sentries had gone I knew there was something wrong.'

'Very alert of you. So where's Cato now?'

'Down in the hold, sir. Where the prisoner was.'

'Show me.'

Macro led the way through the hatch opening and down the stairs, ducking his head under the thick timber of the coaming. The two officers squinted in the gloom and Vespasian wrinkled his nose at the stench rising from the bilges. The odour had been bad enough on deck, but down here it was overpowering and he wondered that men could work in such conditions. Ahead there was a pool of broken light beneath a deck grating, which revealed the huddled form of Cato leaning over one of the massive timbers of the trireme's ribs.

'Cato!' Macro called out. 'Prefect's here.'

Cato quickly scrambled to his feet and stood to attention, head canted forward to avoid striking the deck above. He exchanged a salute with the prefect, then Vespasian glanced around the cramped hold.

'This is the place where the prisoner was being held?'

'Yes, sir. Over here.' Cato indicated an iron ring lying on the deck. Beside it was a large nail.'Someone's tried to make up a bed over there.' Cato nodded to a pile of rope and canvas on the opposite side of the hold. 'That's where Centurion Minucius must have been.'

'I see. So what happened?'

Cato shrugged. 'I can't say for sure, sir.'

'All right then,' Vespasian continued patiently. 'What do you think happened?'

Cato squatted down and picked up the iron ring, then pointed to a place on the rib that had been gouged out and was surrounded by splinters. 'That's where he was chained up to the ring bolt, sir. He could have waited for Minucius to fall asleep and then used that nail to work the bolt loose.'

Vespasian inspected the timber and nodded. 'What do you think happened to Minucius?'

'Hard to say, sir. I've found no blood, so far.'

'The prisoner might have dropped the centurion over the side.'

Cato nodded towards Macro. 'We thought of that, sir. Same goes for the missing sentries, so I had some men swim round the hull. The water's clear enough, but they didn't find any bodies. My guess is that Ajax took Minucius with him.'

'A prisoner? Why?'

'Perhaps Ajax needed him to talk his way through any watch-boats they came across, sir.'

Vespasian stared back. 'Unlikely… What if Minucius went of his own accord?'

Macro stirred uneasily. 'Are you suggesting he let the prisoner go, sir? Why would he do that?'

'No,' Cato interrupted. 'Ajax escaped. How else do you explain the ring bolt? It's clear that someone had to work it free.'

Vespasian scratched his chin. 'Perhaps it's been made to look that way.'

'That's a possibility, sir,' Cato nodded. 'But do you think it's likely?'

Before Vespasian could reply there was a shout up on deck, and moments later boots thudded down the gangway of the main hatch. A marine squinted into the gloom and saluted as he caught sight of the prefect.

'Sir, we've found the sentries.'

Vespasian and the two centurions hurried after the marine as they climbed up to the deck and went forward. The marines were helping two men out of the anchor cable locker and as they approached Cato could see the bright red weals around the men's wrists and ankles as they stood unsteadily to attention.

'What happened?' Vespasian snapped at them. 'Make your report!'

The two men glanced at each other nervously before one, the older man, replied, 'We was on guard duty last night, sir. About the fifth hour we saw someone approaching. We made the challenge, but it was Tribune Vitellius, sir.

'Vitellius? Are you certain?'