The Eagles Prophecy

Macro nodded. 'You sound just like my mother!'

Cato glanced at him.'While I'm in Ravenna, want me to look in on your mother for you?'

As soon as he had said it Cato wished he had kept his foolish mouth shut. Memories of his calamitous encounter at the Dancing Dolphin flooded back.

'No. Leave it,' Macro said quietly. 'Don't mention her again.'

They walked in silence for a moment, then Cato changed the subject.'We'd better find this traitor soon. Before he gets another chance to sell us out.'

Macro nodded. 'But he could be anyone.'

'He could be,' Cato agreed.'But then again, he'd have to have some way of getting in touch with the pirates. That narrows things down.'

Macro smiled. He could almost hear Cato thinking. 'Anyone in mind?'

'I'm not sure. Not yet. But I have an idea where to start looking.'

06 The Eagles Prophecy

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

'Your orders.' Prefect Vitellius held out a sealed parchment to Cato as they stood on the shore. A boat was waiting to take Cato out to the Spartan, lying at anchor a short distance out to sea. The trireme was barely more than an outline as the first light of the new day filtered over the mountain peaks. 'I've empowered you to act in my name when you get to Ravenna. Don't hesitate to take what we need. If any of the locals try to hinder you, you must act ruthlessly. Extreme circumstances call for extreme actions, understand?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Good.' Vitellius lowered his voice as he held out a small sealed package to Cato. 'This is the report. Make sure it's sent on to Rome as soon as you land.'

Cato took the package and tucked it into his haversack.

'Right, then. That's all, I think.' Vitellius nodded to himself. 'I'll see you in a few days, with the reinforcements. You're to rejoin us at the earliest possible opportunity. I'll hold you accountable for any unwarranted delay.'

Cato returned his look with cold disdain. 'I understand, sir.'

'Just as long as you do, Centurion. It would be a shame to have to end our long-standing antipathy. But I'm sure I'd find fresh enemies before long.'

A thin smile flickered across Cato's lips. 'I don't doubt it, sir.'

Vitellius stared at him for a moment and then turned away and strode off. Macro approached Cato as soon as the prefect had disappeared amongst the tents. He extended his hand and the two officers clasped each other on the forearm.

'Safe journey,' Macro grinned. 'With our recent experiences of life at sea, you'll need all the luck you can get.'

'Don't I know it.' Cato smiled back. 'Macro, if we ever live through this mess you have my permission to kick my lights out if I ever so much as look at a ship with a fond expression.'

'You can count on it.'

Cato smiled. In a world determined by the whim of the fates it was reassuring to know that he could rely on Macro's steadiness. Cato patted his friend on the shoulder and turned towards the waiting boat. He clambered over the transom and the sailors ran the boat out into the gentle surf that rolled and hissed up the shingle. Once through the surf they climbed aboard, took up their oars and rowed Cato out towards the looming hulk of the Spartan. Cato turned his head back for one last glimpse of his friend and saw Macro lift his hand, and turn away, marching back amongst the tents crowded between the beach and the dark line of the rampart.

As the sun rose over the mountains the trireme cleared the bay and set her elegant bows into the open waters beyond. The sky was overcast and the sea was a steely grey with a heavy swell. A stiff breeze was blowing off the coast and the crew had sheeted the mainsail in tightly at an angle across the deck to make the most of the favourable wind. As he stood on the aft deck Cato noted that there was a tenseness amongst the sailors, and they gazed round at the horizon as if expecting a host of pirate ships to come tearing down on them the moment they ventured beyond the safety of the rest of the Roman fleet and clawed their way out to sea. He turned and paced slowly over to Albinus. The trierarch looked as anxious as his men and Cato tried to affect the same fearless calm he had seen so often in Macro.

'Reckon they're still out there?'

Albinus nodded. 'Bound to be. They'll have left a few at sea to keep an eye on us.'

'Any danger?'

Albinus looked at him. 'At sea, there's always a danger. From them, from the Gods and from the elements.'

Cato smiled faintly. 'I meant the enemy.'

'I know you did. But with this heavy sea we should make better going of it than they will.' Albinus glanced up at the grey clouds overhead. 'I'd be more concerned about the weather. Looks like we're in for a bit of a blow.'

'Bit of a blow?' Cato raised an eyebrow. 'Sounds like some kind of nautical euphemism, if ever I heard one.'

It was Albinus' turn to smile.'All right, then. We're in for a storm. High winds, heavy seas. Bloody horrible all round.'

'I think I preferred "bit of a blow" after all.' Cato glanced over his shoulder at the coastline of Illyricum, and saw that the entrance to the bay had already disappeared over the horizon and only the serrated line of mountains was still in sight.

'Sail ho!'

All across the deck, heads tilted up to the masthead, noted the direction of the lookout's arm and then turned towards the direction he indicated.

'Two… no, three sails.'

Albinus cupped his hands and shouted up, 'What's their heading?'

After a short pause the lookout made his reply, with a weary fatalism that was evident to all on deck. 'Closing to intercept us, sir! I can make 'em out more clearly now. It's them pirates again.'

'Very well. Call down the moment they make any course changes!'

Trierarch Albinus dropped his hands to his side, and clenched them tightly before he thrust them behind his back where they would not betray his state of mind to anyone but Cato and the steersman.

'Three of them,' Cato mused. 'Enough to take us on?'

'More than enough, if they're handled well. They've got the wind gauge, and they'll try and close in on us at an angle.'

'Can't we outrun them?'

Albinus pursed his lips as he calculated the relative speeds of his ship and those of the pirates. 'Not unless the weather worsens. Otherwise they'll catch us before noon. They've the edge in terms of speed and numbers. But they'll have to board us. It's too dangerous to try and ram anyone in these conditions. Besides, the Spartan's a tough ship. She's got firm sides; made from well-seasoned wood.' The trierarch nodded to himself with pride. 'They'll not hole us.'

There was a degree of certainty in his voice that went beyond mere bravado, and Cato was slightly reassured. He crossed back to the other side of the deck and, with the rest of the crew, kept an eye out for the first sign of the pirates' sails on the horizon.

Less than an hour later he saw them, three tiny dark triangles, pitching in and out of sight as the trireme rose up on the crest of each wave, then disappearing as the warship surged down into the trough.

Albinus kept an anxious watch on the enemy's progress, and as soon as they had closed enough that their sails were always in view he called out to his crew,'Hands aloft! Shake out the last two reefs!'

Some of the crew glanced at him doubtfully before they threw themselves on to the rigging and scrambled up towards the peak where the main yard hung across the deck. They quickly inched themselves out along its length and bent over to work the reefing knots loose. The sail, already taut as a drum, wrenched the heavy leather from their grip with a rippling crack and then, as the loosened sail flapped in the wind, the crew hauled in the sheets and tied them off on the deck cleats. Under the additional pressure the trireme heeled further over to windward and Cato gripped the rail as he glanced down into the foaming sea racing past a scant few feet below the side of the ship, almost submerging the oar ports. The increase in speed was immediately apparent and as Cato watched the pirates' sails for a short while he was sure that the Spartan was slowly drawing ahead of them. He moved up the canted deck towards the trierarch, blinking away the salty spray that stung his face as the bows crashed through a wave.