He would not see his daughters again. At least they were not in the city. He had sent his wife away when the soldiers came for the slave market records, understanding then what would happen and knowing he could not run with them if he wanted them to escape the wolves Sulla’s friends would put on his trail.
He had accepted that there was a small risk, but after burning the sale papers, he had thought they would never make the link among so many thousands of others. His eyes filled with tears.
‘Guilt overwhelms you? Or is it just that you have been found out?’ Antonidus asked sharply. Fercus said nothing and looked at the floor. He did not think he could stand torture.
The men who entered at Antonidus’ order were old soldiers, calm and untroubled at what they were asked to do.
‘I want names from him,’ Antonidus said to them. He turned back to Fercus and raised his head until their eyes met once more. ‘Once these men have started, it will take a tremendous effort to make them stop. They enjoy this sort of thing. Is there anything you want to say before it begins?’
‘The Republic is worth a life,’ Fercus said, his eyes bright.
Antonidus smiled. ‘The Republic is dead, but I do love to meet a man of principle. Let’s see how long it lasts.’
Fercus tried to pull away as the first slivers of metal were pressed against his skin. Antonidus watched in fascination for a while, then slowly grew pale, wincing at the muffled, heaving sounds Fercus made as the two men bent over him. Nodding to them to continue, the general left, hurrying to be out in the cool night air.
It was worse than anything Fercus had ever known, an agony of humiliation and terror. He turned his head to one of the men and his lips twisted open to speak, though his blurring eyes could not see more than vague shapes of pain and light.
‘If you love Rome, let me die. Let me die quickly.’
The two men paused to exchange a glance, then resumed their work.
Julius sat in the sand with the others, shivering as dawn finally came to warm them. They had soaked the clothes in the sea, removing the worst of months of fetid darkness, but they had to let them dry on their bodies.
The sun rose swiftly and they were silent witnesses to the first glorious dawn they had seen since standing on the decks of Accipiter. With the light, they saw the beach was a thin strip of sand that ran along the alien coast. Thick foliage clustered right up to the edge of it as far as the eye could see, except for one wide path only half a mile away, found by Prax as they scouted the area. They had no idea where the captain had put them down, except that it was likely to be near a village. For the ransoms to be a regular source of funds, it was important that prisoners made it back to civilisation and they knew the coast would not be uninhabited. Prax was sure it was the north coast of Africa. He said he recognised some of the trees and it was true that the birds that flew overhead were not those of home.
‘We could be close to a Roman settlement,’ Gaditicus had said to them. ‘There are hundreds of them along the coast and we can’t be the first prisoners to be left here. We should be able to get on one of the merchant ships and be back in Rome before the end of summer.’
‘I’m not going back,’ Julius had said quietly. ‘Not like this, without money and in rags. I meant what I said to the captain.’
‘What choice do you have?’ Gaditicus replied. ‘If you had a ship and a crew you could still spend months searching for that one pirate out of many.’
‘I heard one of the guards call him Celsus. Even if it’s not his real name, it’s a start. We know his ship and someone will know him.’
Gaditicus raised his eyebrows. ‘Look, Julius. I would like to see the bastard again as much as you, but it just isn’t possible. I didn’t mind you baiting the idiot on board, but the reality is we don’t have a sword between us, nor coins to rub together.’
Julius stood and looked steadily at the centurion. ‘Then we will start by getting those, then men to make a crew, then a ship to hunt in. One thing at a time.’
Gaditicus returned the gaze, feeling the intensity behind it. ‘We?’ he said quietly.
‘I’d do it alone if I had to, though it would take longer. If we stay together, I have a few ideas for getting our money back so we can return to Rome with pride. I won’t creep back home beaten.’
‘It’s not a thought I enjoy,’ Gaditicus replied. ‘The gold my family sent will have pushed them all into poverty. They will be happy to see me safe, but I will have to see how their lives have changed every day. If you aren’t just dreaming, I will listen to those ideas of yours. It can’t hurt to talk it through.’
Julius put out his hand and gripped the older man’s shoulder, before turning to the others.
‘What about the rest of you? Do you want to go back like whipped dogs or take a few months more to try and win back what we have lost?’
‘They will have more than just our gold on board,’ Pelitas said slowly. ‘They wouldn’t be able to leave it anywhere and be safe, so there’s a good chance the legion silver will be in the hold as well.’
‘Which belongs to the legion!’ Gaditicus snapped with a trace of his old authority. ‘No, lads. I’ll not be a thief. Legion silver is marked with the stamp of Rome. Any of that goes back to the men who earned their pay.’
The others nodded at this, knowing it was fair.
Suetonius spoke suddenly in disbelief.
‘You are talking as if the gold is here, not on a distant ship we will never see again while we are lost and hungry!’
‘You are right,’ Julius said. ‘We had better get started along that path. It’s too wide to be just for animals, so there should be a village hereabouts. We’ll talk it out when we have a chance to feel like Romans again, with good food in our bellies and these stinking beards cut off.’
The group rose and walked towards the break in the foliage with him, leaving Suetonius alone, his mouth hanging open. After a few moments, he closed it and trotted after them.
The two torturers stood silently as Antonidus viewed the wreck that had been Fercus. The general winced in sympathy at the mangled carcass, glad that he had been able to enjoy a light sleep while it was going on.
‘He said nothing?’ Antonidus asked, shaking his head in amazement. ‘Jupiter’s head – look what you’ve done to him. How could a man stand that?’
‘Perhaps he knew nothing,’ one of the grim men replied.
Antonidus considered it for a moment.
‘Perhaps. I wish we could have brought his daughters to him so I could be sure.’
He seemed fascinated by the injuries and inspected the body closely, noting each cut and burn. He whistled softly through his teeth.
‘Astonishing. I would not have believed he had such courage in him. He didn’t even try to give false names?’
‘Nothing, General. He didn’t say a word to us.’
The two men exchanged a glance again, hidden
