‘Go!’ yelled Eborius from somewhere ahead.
Cassius didn’t doubt Annia’s willingness to run but the girl was simply exhausted. She was whimpering at every step and almost fell again as they reached the rear of the temple.
‘Annia, come on.’
Eborius and Noster were just a few paces behind and only narrowly avoided running into them.
Indavara had already caught up. He shouldered his way between the two soldiers. ‘Javelin!’
Cassius gave it to him.
Eborius took Annia’s other hand and they set off round the corner of the temple with Noster.
Indavara drew the javelin back over his shoulder as the first of the legionaries charged into view. This man had evidently overtaken Mutilus, but he paid a heavy price for his enthusiasm. Again Indavara aimed low and again he hit something, because in a moment the soldier careened head first into the ground in front of him. Indavara sprang away once more.
The others had just turned left down the next street, Cassius and Eborius virtually dragging Annia along. Cassius knew it was only a matter of time before she fell again.
‘Eborius, she’s had it,’ he said. ‘We have to stop and hide somewhere.’
‘All right, do it,’ replied the centurion. ‘We’ll try and draw them off. Noster, this way!’
The two soldiers stopped, then ran back the way they’d come.
Luckily for them, Indavara was unarmed. He had just turned on to the street, and if he’d had a sword in his hands, might well have swung at the two figures speeding towards him out of the gloom.
‘Keep going!’ yelled Eborius before cutting right into a nearby alley. He and Noster continued shouting to try and attract the legionaries’ attention.
Indavara ran on, but soon realised there was no one coming after him. He slowed to a walk and listened. More shouts to the east, but he couldn’t tell from whom. And he thought he could hear quieter voices too, close by. Then came pounding footsteps from behind him and the rattle of heavy armour.
‘Got one!’
‘Over here, sir!’
Knowing he could outpace the legionaries, Indavara bolted down the street and was already pulling away when he heard a familiar voice spitting curses. He spied Cassius to his right, trying to force a door open, Annia beside him. They turned as Indavara vaulted over the villa wall.
‘Corbulo, stand clear!’
Cassius pulled Annia out of the way as Indavara sprinted past and leapt at the door. He struck it with his shoulder and knocked it clean out of the frame. Landing right on top of it, he slid into the room beyond.
Cassius hurried past him, Annia in tow. ‘They’re right behind us!’
Once back on his feet, Indavara reached down, gripped the sides of the door and picked it up. He waited until the first legionary ran into the dwelling, then heaved the door straight into his chest.
‘Uufff!’
The wood splintered as it struck the man’s plate armour, the impact sending him backwards into the others.
The villa was dark. Cassius blundered forward, determined not to let go of Annia. Pushing a table out of the way, he found himself in front of another door. He tried the latch but it too was locked.
‘Move!’ yelled Indavara.
The legionaries had recovered quickly.
‘I’ve got it,’ said Cassius. He pushed Annia aside, took a run-up and threw himself at the door. To his surprise, it gave way easily and he half fell into the next room, colliding with a chair by the wall to his left.
Vaguely aware that there was light coming from the right, Cassius turned to see Indavara and Annia bundle through the doorway, the broad bulk of Mutilus looming behind them. Lacking any other armament, he picked up the chair.
Him or me.
Summoning a roar, Cassius darted in front of Indavara and Annia and smashed the chair down on Mutilus’s helmet. The chair disintegrated in his hands but at least stopped the optio. Head still down, Mutilus struck out wildly. His arm caught Cassius a glancing blow on the face, knocking him back. Cassius hit something and dropped on to his backside. From the tone of the ensuing grunt, he realised the something was Indavara.
Suddenly there was a lot of light coming from the other side of the room. Mutilus and his men stopped just beyond the doorway. Cassius, Indavara, Annia and the legionaries all turned at the same time.
Only a few yards away, a youthful Maseene tribesman was holding up a lantern, staring at them open-mouthed. Behind him at least twenty more of the young warriors were gathered round a fire in the middle of the room, where a steaming pan hung from a spit. Most of them were holding wooden mugs and many of them spilled their wine as they overcame their initial shock and jumped up. The biggest of the youths pointed at the interlopers and yelled, then reached for his javelin.
‘Out the way!’ growled a familiar voice.
Mutilus and the other legionaries parted and Carnifex himself strode into the room, clad in muscle cuirass and helmet once more. Sweat glistened on his broad, scowling face. He aimed the tip of his sword at Cassius and Indavara as they got up. ‘I’ve had about enough of this chasing through the streets shit.’
Cassius looked over his shoulder. Annia was pressed up against the wall beside another door.
A javelin flew across the room and struck the side of Carnifex’s helmet. Without even flinching, he turned and glanced curiously at the Maseene. Raising his sword high, he bellowed at them. ‘Yaahhhhhh!’
The young tribesman with the lantern stumbled backwards and fell over.
Carnifex chuckled as more of his legionaries piled into the room behind him.
‘You know the problem with these barefoots?’ he said to Cassius and Indavara. ‘Never bothered to understand the value of a good set of armour.’
The big Maseene warrior dropped his javelin, walked to the fire and wrenched the pan off the spit. The other tribesmen dived out of the way as he ran across the room then swung it straight at Carnifex. Cassius and Indavara turned away as the pan struck the centurion’s cuirass, sending most of the boiling water straight up into his face.
There was a strange pause, then Carnifex’s sword clattered to the floor. He clutched his cheeks and fell to his knees, steam rising from between his fingers. ‘Aaaggghhh!’
Emboldened, the young Maseene warriors advanced, javelins ready.
Mutilus and the legionaries pressed forward to protect Carnifex and within moments a vicious melee had erupted.
Cassius and Indavara got ready to charge the door.
‘Let me,’ they said simultaneously.
Annia lifted up the latch and pushed the unlocked door open.
The three of them ran out into the darkness. Another party of torch-carrying Maseene were coming down the street towards them, attracted by the sounds of the fight.
‘Here.’
Cassius led the other two in the opposite direction and behind one of the stone cisterns as the tribesmen ran into the villa.
‘Now what?’ asked Indavara once the warriors had disappeared. ‘We don’t have a weapon between us and Annia’s out on her feet. We need somewhere to hide up until dawn.’
Cassius had already given this issue a little thought. ‘Follow me.’
‘Are you sure about this?’ Indavara whispered as they reached the top of the steps, stopping briefly to look out at the Via Cyrenaica. There were fewer Maseene close to the fires, but the scattered torches still seemed to surround them.
‘Last place they’d look, isn’t it?’
Cassius dragged his eyes away from the road and let them get used to the dark again. Passing the smaller columns, he reached the stairway that led up to the right side of the temple’s uncompleted antechambers. Beneath the film of dust, the stone was cold to the touch as he felt his way upwards. He waited for Indavara and Annia to reach the turn, then continued round the corner and up. The bare section of flooring formed a platform about ten yards off the ground. In daylight the position would be dangerously exposed; in darkness its only disadvantage was the lack of an escape route.