The Legion

'As I told your scribe,' Hamedes said to Petronius and then nodded towards the corner. 'He said he was a prefect. Prefect Quintus Licinius Cato.'

'Are you certain?'

'Yes. He made me repeat it.'

'And then?'

'He struck me on the head with the guard of his sword. I was knocked cold. When I came to I was lying on the bodies of the other priests, my robes soaked in their blood. The Romans had gone. They had set fire to the priest's quarters, and they had filled the temple with wood, palm leaves and oil and set it alight. The paintings on the wall, the sacred records of the temple, all burned away. It blazed right through the night and in the morning all that remained was a scorched hulk.' Hamedes winced at the memory. 'I was alone. The temple was gone. All that was left for me to do was come here and seek justice. That, or revenge. I swear, by all the gods of my people, that I will seek out and kill this Roman, this Prefect Cato.'

'The man who attacked your temple is no Roman,' Cato said firmly. 'He is a slave, a fugitive, masquerading as a Roman. He has been murdering your people along the Egyptian coast for the best part of a month now.'

'He was a Roman,' Hamedes replied vehemently. 'Do you expect me to believe that he isn't? Were his men pretending to be Roman too? Was his ship pretending to be a Roman warship? What kind of fool do you take me for?'

'The warship was real. And those were Roman uniforms he and his men were wearing. The man's name is Ajax. He captured the ship and killed its crew. We have been pursuing him for some months now.'

Hamedes stared at Cato suspiciously. 'I don't believe you.' Petronius nodded towards Cato. 'Have you ever seen this officer before? Or the man sitting beside him?'

'No.'

'Be certain.'

'I am sure of it. I have never met them until now.'

'Then would it surprise you if I was to say that this man is Prefect Cato, and his companion is Centurion Macro?'

Hamedes shook his head. 'What trickery is this?'

'There's no trickery,' the governor told him. 'Well, none here and now, at least. This man is Prefect Cato and what he says is the truth. The one who attacked your temple and butchered your companions was an imposter. He intends to provoke your people into rebellion. He aims to fill their hearts with a desire for revenge. And he has been succeeding admirably. Now you know the truth. I need you to help us, Hamedes.'

The Egyptian still looked bewildered and Petronius softened his voice. 'You are a priest. Your people respect you and your word carries weight with them. I need you to tell them the truth. And not just them, but the Alexandrians as well.'

'What do you propose, sir?'

'I will summon the leaders of the merchants' and shipowners' guilds. I'll give them an audience in the palace and you can tell them what you have learned here.'

'Why should they believe me? You must know how the Alexandrians look down on us. Why would they take the word of an Egyptian?'

'Because I suspect that the ordinary Egyptians despise the Romans even more than the Egyptians are despised by the Greeks. If you take our side, it will give the Greeks something to think about. Better that the truth about Ajax comes from you than from us.'

Hamedes nodded. 'I understand. I just hope that I am believed.'

The following evening, Governor Petronius sat on an elaborate formal chair on a dais at the end of the audience chamber. He was flanked by Cato and Macro to one side and two scribes sitting on mats on the other side of the dais, one to take down the words of the governor, another the comments from his guests. As was his custom, Petronius ensured that there would be a record of the meeting since it might well become part of his defence at a subsequent trial in Rome should he ever be charged with corruption or incompetence.

The audience chamber was lined with towering columns with capitals in the characteristic lotus flower design of Egypt. This was the same audience chamber where the Ptolemies had handed out their decrees to their kingdom. The last of their line, Cleopatra, had played host first to Gaius Julius Caesar and then to Mark Antony in this hall, seated on the same dais as the present governor. However, the ceremonial glitter and solemn speeches of amity between two great powers had long since faded into history. In their place stood a crowd of anxious and angry Alexandrians, held in check by a line of stern-faced Roman legionaries. Hamedes had finished relating his experience and confirmed that the man who had claimed to be Prefect Cato was not the same as the man at the governor's side. Further witnesses who had been spared by Ajax were produced to support the governor's claim that the raiders were imposters.

At first only a few voices were raised to denounce the governor, accusing him of concealing renegades within the ranks of the Roman forces occupying Egypt. Petronius listened to the arguments for a moment, until too many voices were calling out for any sense to be made of what was said. He leaned towards Macro.

'Centurion, be so good as to shut them up for me.'

'Yes, sir.' Macro took a deep breath. He cupped his hands to his mouth and roared, 'QUIET!'

The chamber was designed to echo the commands from the throne, and in any case, Macro's parade-ground voice could stop a recruit dead in his tracks a couple of hundred paces away. The tongues of the Alexandrians were swiftly stilled, and when all were silent, Petronius spoke.

'I can assure you that the men who have been raiding the coastal settlements and raiding your ships are not Romans. The whereabouts of the vessels of the Alexandrian fleet are accounted for. The perpetrators are a separate element, and their leader has been identified as the fugitive slave, Ajax.' Petronius paused. 'With that in mind, I trust I can rely on you to return to your communities and help quash the rumours that are sweeping through every quarter of the city. That is the responsible course of action. If anyone here is discovered to have perpetuated the lie that Roman forces have been involved in these raids, I will have no choice but to have them charged with sedition. Those found guilty will face confiscation of their property and exile, or death.'

A handful of the crowd fell to mumbling, before a man stepped to the front and raised a hand. 'Sir, may I speak?'

Petronius nodded.

'It is one thing to discover the truth behind the raids, and quite another to put an end to them. This fugitive and his gang are still at large. What do you propose to do about this threat to our trade? I can tell you that word of our losses is spreading to neighbouring provinces. Shipowners are already refusing to sail to and from Alexandria, and those that do are charging ruinous fees. I am sure that I speak for every merchant here when I say that I pay my taxes and in return I expect my business to be protected to the fullest extent.'

'Of course!' Petronius responded loudly. 'And I am sure that you are equally concerned to protect the lives of the crewmen of the ships carrying your goods.'

The merchant shifted uncomfortably as he nodded. 'Naturally. It goes without saying that the well-being of our employees and shipping contractors is also close to our hearts.'

'Assuming they actually have hearts,' Macro muttered under his breath.

'That's quite an assumption,' Cato replied softly.

Petronius glanced at them and then turned his attention back to the Alexandrians' spokesman as the latter continued. 'Sir, the question I asked is unanswered. What are you going to do about this renegade?'

'The matter is in hand. Prefect Cato is leading a special task force with orders to find and destroy the renegade slave.'

'Clearly the prefect hasn't had much luck so far!' a voice called from the crowd. There was an angry chorus of agreement before Petronius held up his hands and demanded that they hear him out.

'I have utmost confidence in Prefect Cato. He is the best man for the job and it will only be a matter of days before he completes his mission.'