The Gladiator

'Then see to it. At once. We will attack as soon as they are ready'

'Attack?' Chilo could not hide his astonishment. The ope

'But General, the men have marched most of the day. They will be settling in for the night.'

'That's too bad. Besides, the Romans will have seen us make camp. They won't be expecting any attack so soon after we have arrived. That's why we must do it. To catch them unawares.' Ajax thought a moment. 'We'll make for that section close to the main gate. It's been repaired, but it looks weak, and they haven't been able to raise it back up to the level of the rest of the wall.' He nodded to himself. 'Yes. We'll attack there, out of the darkness.'

The gleaming helmets of the sentries were clearly visible by the light of the flames flickering along the wall as Ajax thrust his hand up to halt the column behind him. Chilo repeated the gesture and the men drew up, still and silent as shadows. Ajax had ordered them to leave all u

Chilo's men were barefoot and wore scale armour and helmets.

They carried shields and spears with daggers thrust into their sword belts. Ajax waved his hand and the men gently eased their shields down and crouched beside them. Ajax lowered his own shield and spear to the ground and removed his helmet, softly ordering Chilo to do the same.

He gestured to Chilo to accompany him and they crept towards the walls, no more than a hundred paces away. They kept low and moved slowly, edging towards the glow cast by the light of the torches up on the wall. The gatehouse was just to their right, and the flames of a brazier mounted on the squat tower over the gate flared into the night, occasionally sending up small swirls of bright sparks that quickly flickered and died. Ajax was keen to get as close to the wall as he could to see where the repaired section looked weakest. If they could rush the wall and break into the city, then the gatehouse could be quickly taken and the gates opened for Kharim and his men to finish the job. He was about to creep further forward for a closer inspection of the defences when Chilo suddenly seized his arm and held him back.

'What?' Ajax hissed fiercely as he glanced round.

'Look there.' Chilo released his grip and pointed into the grass two feet ahead of them. At first Ajax could see nothing out of the ordinary, and then he spotted it, a dark spike, u

'Very clever, our Roman friends,' he whispered. 'They've sown the approaches with these... things. They'd break a charge beautifully'

He stared at it a moment and then tossed it to one side. 'We have to clear a path before we bring the men forward.'

Chilo nodded, then suddenly froze, straining his ears. He turned his head to the right and pointed. 'There.'

Ajax squinted in the direction indicated and saw a dark figure backing away from them, hunched over a wicker basket, which he dipped into, tossing something to one side.

'Should we wait until he's gone, General?'

'No. He might see us, or come back this way. Wait here,' he ordered, and pulling out his dagger he half rose and slowly circled round to his right. The enemy soldier continued with his task, occasionally pausing and raising his head to glance towards the rebel camp, at which Ajax froze until the Roman returned to his work, and then moved on again. Once he had crept round behind the man, he closed in, step by step; then, clenching his fist around the handle of the dagger, he sprang forwards, sprinting the last few feet. The Roman heard the rustle of grass and glanced back just as Ajax slammed into him, knocking him down. He clamped his hand over the man's mouth and thrust his head down against the ground as he smothered the Roman's lighter frame and brought the tip of the dagger up under the soldier's chin. By the faint glow of the torches he saw that his enemy was aged and scrawny, a veteran auxiliary close to the end of his enlistment.

'One move, one sound, and you're dead.' He pressed the blade so the man would realise his peril. 'Understand?'

The man nodded slightly, eyes wide with terror. He winced as the point bit into his skin.

'Good,' Ajax whispered, then slowly lifted his hand from the man's mouth. 'Are you out here alone?'

'N - no. Don't kill me.'

'You'll live if you answer me truthfully' Ajax inched his knife back.' Now then, how many more of you are there?'

'Four. There are four of us. Two on the other side of the gatehouse and one going in the other direction.'

'Will he come back this way?'

The Roman thought briefly and shook his head.' Not for a while.

He had more ground to cover.'

Ajax nodded towards the basket the man had been dragging.

'Those things you're sowing on the ground.'

'The caltrops?'

Ajax half smiled - so that was what they were called. 'Yes, the caltrops. How deeply have you laid them?'

'Over ten, fifteen feet.'

'I see.' Ajax suddenly clamped his hand down and thrust the dagger up through the Roman's throat and into his skull, twisting the blade left and right, scrambling the man's brains. The soldier spasmed violently, but he made no sound apart from a light gasp, then he went limp. Ajax lifted his hand from the man's mouth and pulled the dagger out, feeling a warm rush of blood spurt over his fist. He eased himself off the body, and wiped his blade on the man's tunic before sliding it back into his belt and making his way back to Chilo.

'There's another of them over to the left.' He spoke softly as he knelt down. 'Send one of your men to deal with him. Then you and I have to clear a path through to the wall.'

Ajax crept back and took spears from four of his men before returning to the first caltrop. He thrust two of the spears into the ground, twenty feet apart, and then went down on his hands and knees and groped through the grass until he found the next caltrop.

He tossed it to one side and edged forward until he found and disposed of the next. Chilo joined him to the left, together with another man, and worked through the grass towards the wall. They were about halfway through the task when there was a strangled cry from their left and they froze for an instant, staring towards the city to see if there was any sign of alarm. Ajax watched the nearest sentries, but they seemed not to have heard the noise and continued the patrols along their allotted stretch of the wall.

'Back to work,' Ajax whispered and edged himself forward in the grass, cautiously extending his hand to feel for the next spike. He breathed a sigh of relief that the alarm had not been raised. At that moment there was a shout from further along the wall, relayed from sentry to sentry, and then the shrill blare of a horn cut through the cool night air. Ajax jumped to his feet and ran back to retrieve his shield and spear. He swung the point towards the wall and bellowed to Chilo's men, ' Charge! Charge ' em and show the bastards how well a slave dies!'

Chilo sprang towards him. 'We haven't finished removing the caltrops! General, you must stop the men!'