The Blood of Gods A Novel of Rome - By Conn Iggulden Page 0,101
the complex orders he could give. Two of his galleys would chase down the merchant while he dealt with this stranger who thought he could race right down his throat. Sextus watched as two of his group veered off, keeping the same speed, as he called for his remaining four ships to ease back to half.
Still the enemy galley came on, unafraid.
‘If we hit him from both sides, he’ll go down, quick as spitting,’ Vedius said, leering at the incoming vessel.
‘There are easier ways to commit suicide,’ Sextus said, shaking his head. ‘He’s risked it all to reach us. We have the numbers to take him easily, no matter what he does now.’
The galley coming at them was far from shore and the rowers would be tiring. Even if they turned and ran at their best pace, Sextus knew he could catch and ram them before the galley reached the coast. In the distance, he could see his pair of ships overhauling the hapless trader. Its sails were coming down in surrender and his men would strip the ship of anything useful before setting fires. He turned back to see the plunging oars of the single galley come up out of the water and shorten as the slaves inside pulled the gleaming lengths across themselves. Deprived of speed and over deep water, the galley bobbed like a piece of driftwood in the swell, suddenly helpless.
‘Quarter-speed!’ Sextus yelled. ‘Lavinia, go down now.’
He risked a glance back to her, but she didn’t move, holding on to the mast and staring out with her dark eyes, taking it all in. Gods, he sometimes thought the girl was a fool. She seemed to understand nothing about danger. He could not order Vedius to take her below, so he turned back, fuming. There would be words later.
His galley inched closer and closer, until he could make out the faces of men on the heaving deck. He was ready to order backed-oars at the first sign of a trick, but there were no catapults on deck and no sign of archers or spear-throwers.
‘Take me in close,’ he called to Vedius, who passed on the orders.
The vessels crept together, with the rest of his galleys forming up around them. Sextus was ready for the sudden appearance of archers as he leaned over the prow and yelled to the men waiting on the galley’s deck.
‘That ship is a fine gift!’ he shouted. ‘You have my thanks. Surrender now and we’ll kill only a few of you.’
There was no reply and he saw a team of slaves manhandling a small boat to the edge, heaving on ropes and pulleys to suspend it over the deck and then pushing it out so that it could be lowered into the water. Two men climbed down the side of the galley past the dripping oar-blades, then took up smaller oars in the boat and began rowing over to him. Sextus raised his eyebrows as he looked back at Vedius.
‘This is new,’ he said, though he felt a spasm of worry. Caesar had been made consul and it was not beyond possibility that the men in the small boat were bringing orders to relieve him of his authority. Not that it would matter. He had the sealed orders and his captains had not been allowed to read the contents. As far as they were concerned, he had command and could not be relieved unless he allowed it.
Sextus called a full halt and his stomach lurched as the galley swung and bobbed in the waves. He watched as the two men rowed right up to him.
‘Who are you then?’ he said, hardly having to raise his voice.
‘Publius and Gaius Casca,’ one of the men replied. He was gasping, unaccustomed to the hard work of rowing through the swell. ‘Free men and Liberatores, in search of sanctuary.’
Sextus considered leaving them to drown for a moment, but at the very least they would have more current news of Rome. He heard Vedius stropping a short dagger at his back and shook his head reluctantly.
‘Bring them on board and secure that galley. I know those names. I would like to hear about the assassination from men who were there.’
In the distance, he could see the merchant ship burning. He smiled at the sight of the dark plume rising into the sky like a flag.
‘Lavinia! Go below, now!’ he snapped suddenly.
‘I want to see! And to hear what they have to say!’ she replied.